"Solitary floweret," says Stier, referring to this incident, "gathered from the wonderful enclosed garden of the thirty years and plucked precisely when the swollen bud, at the age of twelve years, was about to burst into flower."
The incident is specially valuable as indicating so perfect an understanding between our Lord and His mother. He wondered that, knowing Him as she did, she could have lost Him, or should have failed to seek Him in His Father's house. The stress is on Wist ye not? Here, however, He seemed to pass into a new attitude toward His life-work. May we not say that He caught sight of its absorbing character, to which all else must be subordinated?
Let us never suppose that we are in the company of Jesus, when, in fact, we may have lost Him. Never rest till you and He have found each other! [source]
Chapter Summary: Luke 2
1Augustus taxes all the Roman empire 6The nativity of Jesus 8An angel relates it to the shepherds, and many sing praises to God for it 15The shepherds glorify God 21Jesus is circumcised 22Mary purified 25Simeon and Anna prophesy of Jesus, 39who increases in wisdom, 41questions in the temple with the teachers, 51and is obedient to his parents
Greek Commentary for Luke 2:45
Seeking for him [αναζητουντες αυτον] Present participle of the same verb. This was all that was worth while now, finding the lost boy. [source]
Seeking him [ἀναζητοῦντες] All the way as they went. Force of ἀνὰ , as above. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 2:45
Acts 11:25To seek for Saul [αναζητησαι Σαυλον] First aorist (effective) active infinitive of purpose. Αναζητεω Anazēteō is a common verb since Plato, but in the N.T. only here and Luke 2:44,Luke 2:45, to seek up and down Barnabas knew his own limitations and knew where the man of destiny for this crisis was, the man who already had the seal of God upon him. The hour and the man met when Barnabas brought Saul to Antioch. The door was open and the man was ready, far more ready than when Jesus called him on the road to Damascus. The years in Cilicia and Syria were not wasted for they had not been idle. If we only knew the facts, it is probable that Saul also had been preaching to Hellenes as well as to Hellenists. Jesus had definitely called him to work among the Gentiles (Acts 9:15). In his own way he had come to the same place that Peter reached in Caesarea and that Barnabas now holds in Antioch. God always has a man prepared for a great emergency in the kingdom. The call of Barnabas was simply the repetition of the call of Christ. So Saul came. [source]
What do the individual words in Luke 2:45 mean?
andnothaving found [Him]they returnedtoJerusalemseekingHim
Greek Commentary for Luke 2:45
Present participle of the same verb. This was all that was worth while now, finding the lost boy. [source]
All the way as they went. Force of ἀνὰ , as above. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 2:45
First aorist (effective) active infinitive of purpose. Αναζητεω Anazēteō is a common verb since Plato, but in the N.T. only here and Luke 2:44, Luke 2:45, to seek up and down Barnabas knew his own limitations and knew where the man of destiny for this crisis was, the man who already had the seal of God upon him. The hour and the man met when Barnabas brought Saul to Antioch. The door was open and the man was ready, far more ready than when Jesus called him on the road to Damascus. The years in Cilicia and Syria were not wasted for they had not been idle. If we only knew the facts, it is probable that Saul also had been preaching to Hellenes as well as to Hellenists. Jesus had definitely called him to work among the Gentiles (Acts 9:15). In his own way he had come to the same place that Peter reached in Caesarea and that Barnabas now holds in Antioch. God always has a man prepared for a great emergency in the kingdom. The call of Barnabas was simply the repetition of the call of Christ. So Saul came. [source]