Good morning, RTB’ers!
Today’s reading is another story with which most of us are familiar. It’s a story that children love – I guess, because Jesus is a young boy himself and children can relate to Him at this age. For adults, however, this story raises questions about Jesus’ divinity. How much did He know of His birth, of Mary’s and Joseph’s stories? What was His relationship with His Father? Was His Holy Spirit within Him from birth or must we wait for tomorrow’s reading where we see the Holy Spirit descending upon Him and the Father speaking of/to Him? And more questions! Good questions for discussion next Sunday at our RTB gathering!!
Today’s verse 51b, “…and His mother treasured all these things in her heart…” is a repeat from verse 2:19 from two days ago, “But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.” We saw at the first day of this year’s readings that Luke was serious about getting the story correct: “…it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account…” I have always imagined that Jesus’ mother, Mary, was one of Luke’s key sources. Now Luke is telling us that Mary was also serious about getting all these details correct. Folks, we can take confidence in these words written some 2,000 years ago. It’s a true story; it really all happened, just as we read it. Glory!
Finally, “…they thought that He was somewhere in the caravan…” (v. 44a, NASB). The ESV translation has “group” instead of caravan. Later today I will hope to write to you all what Carol and I learned about caravans a few years back.
Blessings!
My note from earlier today said that I had one further comment. That comment has to do with Luke 2:46a, After three days they found Him in the temple… The journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem was likely a 2-3 day journey. My Study Bible suggested that Mary and Joseph would spend one day going north toward Nazareth, then one day back to Jerusalem, then one day looking for Jesus. It probably would have taken only one day in Jerusalem to find Jesus, and the temple was a good place to start. But why a full day out?
Back in 2017 Carol and I were visiting Turkey when we learned about caravanserai. An Internet search yielded two definitions. The first was “an inn with a central courtyard for travelers in the desert regions of Asia or North Africa”. The second was simply “a group of people traveling together; a caravan”. As to the first, Carol and I visited a caravanserai in Turkey. Along this one particular road, caravanserai were located approximately every 30 miles (50 km), the distance a camel could travel in one day or a ten-hour trip for humans walking three mph. With robbers aplenty back in those days, these caravanserai were “safe havens” for travelers.
For Mary and Joseph, the second definition above is probably more realistic – one day out for Mary and Joseph makes sense. They were probably traveling in a group and possibly did not start looking for Jesus until they reached the caravan stopping point. They certainly would not have wanted to return to Jerusalem alone and not unless they were certain they could make it back before dark. At a reasonable “caravan” stopping point they would probably meet other travelers headed to Jerusalem. Traveling in a group was always safer. So they could reasonably continue traveling north that first day until the entire caravan stopped, then reverse directions the next day. One day looking and we’ve got Luke’s three days. It’s always nice to connect our own personal experiences with Bible history!