Luke's two-chapter description of the events surrounding Jesus' birth concludes with a kind of epilogue. After following prescribed law and presenting the baby Jesus at the temple, Joseph takes his family and returns to Nazareth. Instead of then fast-forwarding to the beginning of John the Baptist's preaching ministry, however, Luke freeze-frames an event in Jesus' childhood. Although several non-canonical "gospels" relate miraculous tales of remarkable feats performed by the boy Jesus, Luke's re-telling of Jesus' solo visit to the temple is the only scriptural account of an event in Jesus' childhood.

Dr. Luke begins by allowing us a tiny glimpse into the pattern of family life that surrounded a growing Jesus. In keeping with tradition and custom - but not a specific law - the entire clan …