Every year, Mary and Joseph went to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. It was a special journey they made to celebrate and worship God in the Temple. When Jesus was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem as usual.

Imagine Jesus, a twelve-year-old boy, making that journey with his family. Jerusalem was a great and important city, and the Temple was magnificent, covered in gold, the holiest place for God's people.

They spent the days of the feast in Jerusalem. Jesus saw the Temple, joined in the prayers, listened to the teachings, and watched everything closely. For a boy who loved God, every moment there was a treasure. But when the feast ended and everyone began the journey home, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, without saying anything to Mary and Joseph.

Mary and Joseph did not notice. The caravan heading home was large, full of relatives and friends, and they thought Jesus was somewhere in the group. And so they walked a whole day's journey.

When night came and everyone stopped to rest, Mary and Joseph went looking for Jesus. They searched among the relatives, and He was not there. They searched among their friends, and He was not there either. They asked everyone, and no one had seen Him.

What a fright for Mary and Joseph. Their beloved son seemed to be lost, and they did not even know where to begin looking.

They returned to Jerusalem at once, hurrying along the dark road, worried, praying with every step. The road that had seemed short before now seemed to have no end.

Mary and Joseph searched for Jesus for three whole days. They walked the streets of Jerusalem, asked everyone they met, looked in every corner, in the squares, in the markets, in the homes of people they knew. Where could He be? Was He safe? Was He hungry? With every passing hour, their hearts grew heavier.

Finally, at the end of the third day, they found Him. And do you know where He was? In the Temple.

Jesus was sitting among the teachers of the law, very wise men, masters of the Scriptures, who had spent their whole lives studying the things of God. And He was not just listening: He was asking questions, and answering theirs as well, with calm and confidence.

Those wise men, who had studied all their lives, were amazed by a twelve-year-old boy. Jesus knew the Scriptures deeply and understood the things of God in a special way, because He was no ordinary boy. He was the Son of God.

When Mary and Joseph saw Jesus, they were astonished. There He was, safe and sound, sitting among the great masters as if He were one of them. But Mary's heart was still aching, and she said:

Mary called Joseph "thy father" because it was Joseph who was raising Jesus, even though he was not His true father. And she said "sorrowing" because the two of them had suffered greatly during those three days of searching.

Jesus answered with a question:

Jesus called the Temple His Father's house. He did not say "God's house", or "our Father's house". He said "my Father's", showing that He had a bond with God like no other. Even at only twelve years old, Jesus already knew who He was: the Son of God, who needed to be about His Father's things.

Mary and Joseph did not fully understand what Jesus meant. It was something deep and mysterious. But Mary kept all those words in her heart, thinking them over slowly.

Then Jesus went down with them and returned to Nazareth, and He was obedient to Mary and Joseph, like a good son.

Jesus grew like any child: He learned and became wiser, He grew taller and stronger, He loved God more each day, and people were fond of Him. The Son of God chose to pass through every stage of human life, growing up slowly, one day at a time.

From the time He was small, Jesus loved the house of God and knew that doing His Father's will mattered most of all. And even though He was the Son of God, He obeyed Mary and Joseph with love.