The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 71

way to It, and It could not have been justly denied him. TI le human race was no lon:;er in the Father's sight utterly depraved. A redeeming feature bad appeared in the person of the holy Child Jesus in Nazareth. God's attitude tow!!.rds the world w!!.s thereby nlterod, and justly so. There are persons who give a halo of holy attraction to the sphere in which they live. Nazflfeth became redeemed from universal suspicion because ~f one litUe Child who was living there.1 It is for us to rejoice in such a Sr.viour as we have in Josue, One who passed through the stages which we individually experience, and wns sinless in them all. Childhood attains new interest for us, and its innocency was once a perfect reality as the little feet of the Lord of life and glory trod the streets of Nazareth.-R. M. E. Vere. 41-62.-The viaie of Je3ua to Jerusalem when a Boy. We now proceed to the solitary circumstance in the Child-life of Jesus which is given in the Gospels. He had been growing for twelve years in strength and in spirit, and the Lord loved him. The Child in Nazareth redeemed in God's eyes all the world. It was the one absorbing interest in the Divine outlook upon our race. And now he is taken by his pious parents to the Passover Feast in Jerusalem. It is his second visit to the temple; this time he comes himself; the first time, as we have seen, he was presented. The following points deserve attention in this narrative. I. TIIE PARENTAL OARE EXERCISED OVER JESUS. The pious pair, Joseph and Mary, went, as we are told, every year to Jerusalem to the Passover. And they had given the holy Child committed to their charge such advantages as Nazareth afforded. 'l'he home school especially, not to speak of synagogue services, to which he was doubt- less regularly taken, evidenced their interest in the welfare of the Child. No sooner, therefore, has he n•a.ched the age of twelve, at which time little ones were deemed a.hie to become" children of the Law," than he is ta.ken up by them to see the Passover at Jerusalem. Their 1-ious, consistent life was nn excellent preparation for the !olernnities of the great feast. Jesus came face to face with the ceremonies after experiencing most tender home care. .And the history before us affords ample evidence of the parental cnnsi<leration. If it was not perfect parental care, this is only to e.llow that neither Joseph nor Mary was sinless. Indeed, 011e of the German preachers bases an admirable discourse on parental duty upon this history, fiuding in it six separate hints upon it. 3 But let us pause a moment over the care with which they must have explained to him all the ritual. Doubtless he saw more in it than they did, but he must have received gratefully their help in the circumstances. To them tile Passover spoke of a great deliverance afforded to their fathers; to him it spoke of a great sacrifice yet to come. His insight must have been a deeper thing than they could then appreciate. And now let us pass to the oversight of which the parents were guilty. Their care was great, but it was not absolutely perfect. In the bustle of preparation for the home-going, the parents startc<l with the caravan unu.er the impression that he must be in the com- pany of the boys who were in considerable numbers attached to the procession. They should have made sure, and not left such a Child to the chances of travelling. We have no right to impute the separation or Jesus from his parents to any lack of dutiful- ness on. his pa.rt, but solely to an oversight on theirs. What were a.II their bits of ba2:- gage and their acquaintances in comparison with the safe custody of" the holy Child"? And in consistency with this view, it has been suggested that underneath Mary's apparent expostulation and reproof there is a latent confession of her fault, which she and Joseph tried to atone for in their diligent search for the missing Boy. II. THE LONELY Boy TURNED INSTINCTIVELY TO THE TEMPLE. The seven days of the Passover Feast had been a rare feast to Jesus. The priests and ritual and e.11 the varied lire which thronged the temple court must have been a revelation to him. He brought the consciousness of a Jew instructed in the Law to bear upon the temple and its services. We must luok into his mind through the Old Testament. We there find the idea of God's Fatherhood in relation to his people several times referred to (Deut. xiv. 1, 2; Hos. xi. 1; ,Jer. xxxi. 9, 20; Ps. ciii. 13, etc.). To the little thoughtful Boy, therefore, the temple was regarded as the home of him who was a Father to all 1 Cf. Manning's • Sermons,' vol. ii., on • Holiness in Childhood.' • Cf. Gerok's • Pilgerbrod,' s. 196; see also his 'Aus Ernster Zeit,' 1. 97, for a.nollior vie'!f of the sawo passage.  82 THE GOSPEL .ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [oH. n. 1-52.