After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. Luke 2:46-47

Was it difficult for Joseph and Mary to give Jesus a normal upbringing? Was he a normal villager’s kid? In this one account from Luke, Jesus goes to the temple when He is twelve, asks a few questions, offers some insights in response, and the scholars are amazed.

How do you hide the Light of the world in a dark and oppressive Roman society? In Nazareth, there very well could have been stories among the villagers about Jesus. Though His first public miracle was at the wedding at Cana, did things happen earlier that could only have been explained by the word ‘miracle’? We’re not told but I find it interesting that Mary turned to Jesus at the wedding and casually asked if He would do something about the wine that had run out.

I wonder if the presence of God, resident in Christ, caused cataclysmic reactions at various points in His childhood. Surely something extraordinary happened in the temple when Jesus was twelve. His divinity was on display that day.

Thirty years of age is a long time for Jesus to wait to be released into public ministry. In God’s wisdom, there were thirty years of preparation for three years of ministry.

You and I may be aware of spiritual gifts that lie in waiting. We strain to exercise them and second-guess God’s wisdom of how long it will be until the door of our calling is opened. Could there be a lifetime of preparation for a few short years of ministry? Yes. John the Baptist was a flash of Light for a very short time, but never, according to Jesus, did anyone burn brighter.

I submit to Your wisdom and timetable. Amen