Pit Señor to all our readers!

It’s the Feast of the Child Jesus or the Sto. Niño de Cebu and this is now the 39th year that we have been celebrating this festival. Actually this is the only day in our liturgical calendar where there are two gospel readings. But since we are in the Philippines, the gospel reading is similar to the gospel reading during the Feast of the Holy Family in December 30, 2018 about the Boy Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem. You can read it in Luke 2:41-52.

“41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover.42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.

“46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” 49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

“51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”

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Luke pointed out that every year Joseph and Mary would go to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. In bringing Jesus at 12 years old, it was a year early for him to have his Bar Mitzvah where Jewish boys are inducted into adulthood and counted in Jewish society. This is when a Jewish boy is granted all the rights and obligations of an adult. It is a milestone for a young Jew where he is asked to read passages from the Torah. If you remember the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 if you read that Bible passage you will note that there were actually more than 5,000 people whom the Lord Jesus fed as women and children were not counted. But Jesus was still 12, so it was probably in preparation for his Bar Mitzvah.

Anyway, the parents of Jesus left Jerusalem in the caravan thinking he was with his friends, after all, a caravan is a huge parade of people. After a day’s travel they realized that Jesus was not in the caravan, so they returned to Jerusalem to search for him.

Since they spent a day in the caravan and perhaps another day’s journey to Jerusalem, they probably spent another day searching for Jesus until they found him in the temple sitting with the teachers. So they asked him “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”  Jesus replied to them, “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.” To my mind, I believe Jesus was actually testing the teachers or scribes on what they were teaching the Jews from the teachings of God or the Prophets in the Torah.

Then Jesus returned with his parents to Nazareth and was obedient to them. And as Luke pointed out in his gospel “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” We only know about the story of the birth of our Lord and his travel into Egypt, but when they returned to Nazareth we didn’t read about Jesus again until his gospel story. Mind you the 12-year old Jesus is not the age as our Señor Sto. Niño, but he is the same Jesus the Son of God that we know.

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