Luke 2:49

‘And he said to them, “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” '

But Jesus was equally astonished. He too uttered a kind of rebuke. Why had they had to search for Him? Surely they must have known where He was? How could they possibly have needed to look for Him? Surely they must have realised that  it was necessary  for Him to be in His Father's house? (It was so obvious to Him that He could not believe that it was not obvious to them).

There is an interesting parallel between this question ‘how is it that you sought Me?' and the question of the angels in Luke 24:5, ‘why do you seek the living among the dead?' There too they sought Him where they should have known He would not be. Both indicate how blind were the eyes of those who loved Him most, because He was so much beyond their understanding.

There is here a contrast between ‘your father and I sought you' and ‘I must be in MY Father's house'. He is by this making it clear that supremely God is His Father and He must obey Him, and that it is that filial obedience to His Father which must come first. And the implication is that He would expect His parents to agree with Him. The word ‘it is necessary' regularly indicates the divine necessity, as it does here. He was not here by chance. Jesus had felt that He had no option but to be here. He was hungry to learn about His Father. That surely was the purpose in coming to the Feast, that He might take every opportunity of learning about His Father. And He had expected them to realise it. He had yet to realise that others were not guided by the Spirit in the same way as He was.

His astonishment releases Him from blame. It was not that He had been careless or selfish. During the festivities of the Feast many young boys of His age apparently stayed away from their parents days at a time in order to enjoy the festival atmosphere. Their parents knew that they would not get into any trouble and that they were with their friends and that there were relatives all over the place to whom they could look, and generous-hearted people always ready to help youngsters who were hungry. They let them go and enjoy themselves (they were seen as the equivalent of older teenagers today, almost adults). They would come home when they were ready to. And to such boys time would seem to stand still. They would not realise how the days were passing. It had been the same for Him. The only difference between Him and them was where they spent their time. But He had been sure that His parents would know exactly where He must be, and what He must be doing, and that they would therefore have sent for Him when they wanted Him. He just could not understand how they could have been so misguided as to not to have known. He was genuinely puzzled. He did not feel that He was to blame.

‘My Father's House.' The Greek is literally ‘the -- of My Father' but is an expression regularly signifying someone's house. See Genesis 41:51 LXX where we find the same phrase. However we translate it the significance is the same. ‘The things of His Father' were to be discovered at ‘His Father's House', the Temple. He still at this stage saw the Temple from the viewpoint of a young boy who had heard stories about the Temple in his synagogue, and therefore saw it as something wonderful where all was good. He had not yet learned about its darker side. So how could anyone have not known that if He was in Jerusalem that was where He must be, spending His time in order to learn about His Father and in getting to know His Father? Was that not what the Passover was all about? Why then had they not come for Him? Why had they not realised where he was?