Finally, one notes that Joseph and Mary search for Jesus for "three days." When an early Christian heard the phrase "for three days," one of their first associations would have been to think "resurrection." Jesus had been raised from the dead after "three days." Virtually every first century Christian would have made this association automatically. This would indicate that the story should be understood and seen in light of the resurrection.
But, could this narrative prefigure the transfiguration instead?
In the transfiguration narrative, Jesus appears in gleaming white and is accompanied by Moses and Elijah. Peter, awestruck, fumbles with his words and wishes to build booths so that they all might remain there. In the midst of religious ecstasy, Peter's first inclination is to stay.
Is this not what happens in the Temple story? Jesus, as a young man, is filled with ecstasy attending a festival at the Temple. Everything in him desires to remain there "in the things" of his Father. He does not want to come down off of his own mountain.
The pain of Mary and Joseph changes him. He not only comes out of the place of ecstasy, his attitude toward his parents (and toward us all?) changes. His life is no longer about pursuing what he wants.
For Jesus, at this moment, his religious direction turns away from the pursuit and nurturing of internal ecstasy. The direction of his ministry changes to the needs of the people away from the temple. I think it is significant that he does not return to the Temple until the passion narrative.
It is at this moment that the text changes. Previously, the Lukan narrative had been about the people around Jesus. It is when he leaves the Temple, when his religious pursuit has changed, that the text becomes about Jesus' actions.
It's not about him until it's not about him.
At this point, it would be easy to berate ourselves as a church. We could chide ourselves for too much focus on what happens inside our sanctuary. We could challenge ourselves to move like Jesus did - out into our community. We could adopt the pithy motto, "it's not about us until it's not about us" as our mission statement. All of that would be in line with this text.
However, I think it might be better to take a moment and realize that our inclinations (the desire to remain in the sanctuary) were, at one point, Jesus' inclinations. Jesus also desired to stay in the company of like minds and warm settings. His ministry out in the world was not an innate impulse. Jesus had to resist the temptation to make religion about the church.
Having resisted it, Jesus understands our temptation - and he will help us fight that temptation.
