His brothers called Him Lord.^
2. How is the text to be translated ? The Authorized Version is "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" The Eevisers have changed this into " Wist ye not that I must be in my Father's house ? " The Greek, taken literally, says, " Wist
ye not that I must be in the of my Father ? " The
Authorized Version supplies "business"; the Eevised, "house." There is no noun in the Greek, and the article " the " is in the plural. To translate it as literally as it can be translated, making of it an English sentence, the saying stands, " Wist ye not that I must be in the things of my Father ? " The plural article implies the English " things " ; and the question is then, What things does He mean ? The word might mean affairs or business. On the other hand we might translate, " Wist ye not that I must be in my Father's ? " Then, in almost all languages " house " would be understood. We commonly say to one another, " I am going down to my father's," or "I shall spend the evening at my brother's." Everybody knows that we mean "house," and that is just how the Greek here runs.
(1) Both translations are linguistically correct, but the Greek phrase is most common in the sense of " in my Father's house " ;
* B. Waugh, in Hymns of Faith and Life, 95.
io8 ALWAYS AT HOME
and this is the translation of the Syriac, of the Fathers, and of most modern commentators. "My Father's house" seems also most relevant in this connexion, where the folly of seeking is emphasized — the certainty of His place is more to the point than that of His occupation.
(2) But, as Alford properly enough says, we must not exclude the wider sense which embraces all places and employment of " my Father's." The locality carried the occupation with it, for why must He be in the Father's house but to be about the Father's business, "to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple " ?
At the same time it is not wise to attempt to combine both translations in one exposition. We shall find sufficient material here for two sermons. Then, if we take first the translation of the Eevisers, we shall see that Jesus, by His question, " Wist ye not that I must be in my Father's house ? " claimed the freedom of a "child of the law." But freedom from parental control was at the same moment recognized as a greater obedience and deeper responsibility — the responsibility of a Son to the Divine Father. And so from that moment He is to be found at home, not with earthly parents, but with the Father in heaven, whether in His Temple, where worship is wont to be made, or in the wider universe of His presence.
Freedom.
1. In the question of the text Jesus claimed His full liberty. He could not deny Himself the right to act for Himself, to in- quire for Himself, to make good His own independence. The hour has struck for Him when He must break through the limitations and restraints of His childhood, and must choose His own way of going about His Father's business. He has responsi- bilities towards that Father which He must fulfil, even though at the cost of some severance from the tender ties of home, yea, even at the cost of some pain to the mother whom He loves so dearly. Eemember that, to a Jewish boy, reaching the age of twelve made an epoch, because He then became "a son of the
ST. LUKE II. 49 109
law," and took upon himself the religious responsibilities which had hitherto devolved upon his parents.
^ When He had completed His twelfth year, on His thirteenth birthday, Jesus would be recognized as a young man, and called " a son of the law." For at this time every Hebrew lad had his fate put into his own hands, and became responsible for his own actions. Up to this time his parents were held to be responsible for him : now he had to answer for himself both to man and to God. On the morning of this day he put on for the first time the two phylacteries which every Jew wore when he prayed, one on the head, and the other on the left arm. These phylacteries were small square boxes made of parchment, which were attached to the arm and the forehead by long slender straps ; in each box there were four tiny cells ; and in each cell there was put a strip of vellum on which was written a passage from the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy (Ex. xii. 2-10, 11-16 : and Deut. xi. 13-22, vi. 4-9). On this thirteenth birthday, before morning prayer, the lad put on, first, the phylactery for the left arm, saying : " Blessed art Thou, 0 Lord our God, King of the Uni- verse, who hast sanctified us with Thy commandments, and enjoined us to put on phylacteries." Then he put on the phylactery for the forehead, and uttered a similar thanksgiving. From this moment he was regarded as " a son of the law," or " a son of the commandments " ; i.e. he was bound to keep all the commandments of God ; bound, therefore, to be always about his Father's business, doing God's will in whatever he did ; bound also to go up to Jerusalem at the annual Feasts, and to sit at the feet of the Temple doctors.^