Luke 2:48

And not only those strangers were astonished, but also the parents: whence it is added: And seeing him, they wondered: Matthew seven: "The crowds wondered at his teaching." And truly it was wondrous that he answered what he had not learned: John seven: "The Jews …

The Mother of God calls Joseph father, even though she knew that he was not the father. Without doubt, she names Joseph His father for the sake of the Jews, so that they would not conceive any impure thought concerning His birth. Otherwise: since Joseph …

He was born in the days of Augustus Cæsar, when the Roman empire extended itself further than ever before or since, including Parthia one way, and Britain another way; so that it was then called Terraram orbis imperium--The empire of the whole earth; and here that empire is called all the world (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

And when they saw him they were amazed,....

Why hast thou thus dealt with us? - It certainly was not his fault, but theirs. Men are very apt to lay on others the blame of their own misconduct.

These verses should always be deeply interesting to a reader of the Bible. They record the only facts which we know about our Lord Jesus Christ during the first thirty years of His life on earth, after His infancy. How many things a Christian would like to know about the events of those thirty years, and the daily history of the house at Nazareth! But we need not doubt that there is wisdom in the silence of Scripture on the subject. If it had been good for us to know more — then more would have been revealed.

THESE words are very interesting because they are the first recorded utterances of our Divine Lord. No doubt He said much that was very admirable while yet a Child, but the Holy Spirit has not seen fit to record anything except these two questions, as if to teach us that childhood should be retiring and modest—a stage of preparation rather than of observation. We hear little of a Holy Child, for modesty is a precious part of its character.

These verses should always be deeply interesting to a reader of the Bible. They record the only facts which we know about our Lord Jesus Christ during the first thirty years of His life on earth, after His infancy. How many things a Christian would like to know about the events of those thirty years, and the daily history of the house at Nazareth! But we need not doubt that there is wisdom in the silence of Scripture on the subject. If it had been good for us to know more — then more would have been revealed. Let us first, draw from the passage — a lesson for all married people. We have it in the conduct of Joseph and Mary, here described. We are told that "they went to Jerusalem every year, at the feast of the Passover." They regularly honored God's appointed ordinances — and they honored them together. The distance from Nazareth to Jerusalem was great. The journey, to poor people without any means of conveyance — was, doubtless, troublesome and fatiguing. To leave house and home for some two weeks, was no slight expense. But God had given Israel a command, and Joseph and Mary strictly obeyed it. God had appointed an ordinance for their spiritual good — and they regularly kept it. And all that they did concerning the Passover — they did together. When they went up to the feast, they always went up side by side. So ought it to be with all Christian husbands and wives. They ought to help one another in spiritual things, and to encourage one another in the service of God. Marriage, unquestionably, is not a sacrament , as the Romish Church vainly asserts. But marriage is a state of life which has the greatest effect on the souls of those who enter into it. It helps them upwards or downwards. It leads them nearer to Heaven — or nearer to Hell. We all depend much on the company we keep.

THESE words are very interesting because they are the first recorded utterances of our Divine Lord. No doubt He said much that was very admirable while yet a Child, but the Holy Spirit has not seen fit to record anything except these two questions, as if to teach us that childhood should be retiring and modest—a stage of preparation rather than of observation. We hear little of a Holy Child, for modesty is a precious part of its character. We ought, therefore, to give all the more earnest heed to these words because they stand at the very forefront of our Lord's teaching and are, in some respects, the announcement of His whole life. Spoken, as they were, at 12 years of age, we may regard them as the last words of His childhood and the first words of His youth. He is just passing away from the time in which He could be called a child into that in which He becomes, in the eastern clime, where men ripen faster than here, a young Man, a son of the Law, fit to sit among the doctors in the temple and to be instructed by them. The early days of youth are very perilous, for then it is that the rest of life is often shaped. Happy, indeed, is he who so early begins with God and chooses as his business the service of the Lord! If all our youth had the same mind which was in Christ Jesus, what evidence we should have that the Spirit of God had been working upon our children and was now about to speak through our youth! I suppose that these words must have come into Luke's Gospel through Mary, herself. How, otherwise, could the evangelist have known that, "they understood not the saying which He spoke unto them," or that Mary, "kept all these sayings in her heart"? Mary evidently narrates the words of the Holy Child, words which she had pondered again and again. She treasured up for us the gems which dropped from Jesus' lips.

Why hast thou thus dealt with us? - Why hast thou given us all this trouble and anxiety, in going so far and returning with so much solicitude? Thy father - Joseph was not the “real” father of Jesus, but he was “legally” so; and as the secret of his birth was not commonly known, he was called his father. Mary, in accordance with that usage, also called him so. Sorrowing - Anxious, lest in the multitude he might not be found, or lest some accident might have happened to him.