Why Did Jesus Run Away?

The Finding of Jesus in the Temple

One day while I was out my rosary walk I happened to be saying the Joyful mysteries. The 5th Joyful mystery is the Finding of Jesus in the Temple. Aside from Jesus' birth, presentation, and much traveling, this is the only story the Bible gives us about Jesus' childhood. I wondered, as I often did, about this mystery. For a long time it troubled me that Jesus ran away from his parents and when they asked him about it his response sounded almost snide to me. [Luke 2:49] "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"

Previously, I tended to feel a little bitter over this particular mystery, thinking that surly Jesus knew what he was doing and why would he cause such heartache for his parents? It took them three whole days to find him. They had no cell phones, no vehicles to travel back to the city quickly, how would they every find their son? They must have been frantic, especially knowing how even as a baby people wanted to kill him. When they finally do find him, they find him calm and sitting with the Temple teachers. [Luke 2:48] ".... His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."

On this particular day I considered that Jesus never sinned, so running away from his parents at the age of 12 was not a sin. Likewise, his parent's failure to realize that he wasn't with the group for an entire day, was also not a sin, because we know that Mary never sinned. This was an important realization for me because in enabled me to ask that if this event was not a sin then what was it? What was the purpose?

The Purpose

As I was praying the rosary, the Lord helped me to understand the significance of this story. Jesus never does anything without a purpose and this childhood tale is no exception. It took Mary and Joseph 3 days to find him. 3 days he was lost from them, this points to the Cross, 3 days he was lost to whole world as he lay in the tomb. So this was a preparation for Mary, likely to help her cope later in life, she had lost him for 3 days before and she would again, but in the end all would be made well again.

So while this event had personal significance for Mary, it also has a very important significance for us today. First of all, sometimes Jesus will hide from us. He doesn't do this to be cruel, he knows that this will benefit us in someway. He knows were we are and he is calm as he waits for us.

Secondly, Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the Temple. He showed us where he waits for us and where his presence may be revealed. He is in the temple, his temple, the Church! I am referring to the Eucharist. Jesus is physically present in the Tabernacle in every Catholic Church, body, blood, soul, and divinity! When we feel as though we have lost the Lord, or that he is far away, all we need to do is go to the Church to be with him. There are many lessons within the Finding of the Child Jesus story, but I believe the main lesson is to help us know where to find Jesus today. It is also worth mentioning that Mary and Joseph were able to find him, so if you go to the Church and you still can't find Jesus there, ask Mary and Joseph to help, they can help you find him!