Big Idea: Already in his childhood Jesus is aware both of a special relation with God as his Father and of a special calling.

Understanding the Text

With this unique glimpse into the period of Jesus’s adolescence, Luke bridges the thirty-year interval between Jesus’s infancy and the beginning of his public ministry. His special relationship with God that is revealed in this story begins to fill out the promises associated with his birth. Mary and Joseph remain central to the story, as Jesus is still in their care; Mary in particular continues in her role as a thoughtful observer of her son’s development (cf. 2:19, 34–35). But the setting in the temple among the religious teachers also foreshadows the confrontation that will take place in the same location when Jesus has grown up (chaps. …