Like John, Jesus too was brought to the temple when he was eight days old; and there Simeon, being filled with the Holy Ghost (which had, we are expressly told, brought him to the temple for that purpose; cf. Luke 2:27 [Luke 2:5]), took the babe in his arms and proceeded to recite from Isaiah the restoration of that which had been prepared as a glory to the people of Israel as well to the nations (Luke 2:28-32 [Luke 2:5]). The next blessing was bestowed by the prophetess Anna, who never left the temple, where she engaged in fasting and prayer day and night.
One cannot help but wonder what those people did who spent all their time in the temple. Fasting and prayer were not a full-time activity, and much in the early Jewish and Christian literature indicates that there was much more to be done. Specifically what it was we are never told, for these things were not divulged to the world.
What is to be noted is how all this activity centers in the temple. In October 1983, I attended a conference of Jews and Christians on Holy Land studies in Washington, D.C. The subject was the restoration of the temple, and the three words constantly discussed—which would have been taboo just ten years before—were restoration [not reformation], dispensation, and revelation. Some of the clergy are beginning to want the temple back. It was at the temple that Simeon and Anna gave their prophetic blessings of Jesus, and that Gabriel hailed the work of John the Baptist, this babe who was surprisingly “to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children” (Luke 1:17 [Luke 1:3]) (instead of the other way around), and to bring a great light to them who sat in darkness—plainly his ministry of baptism was to apply to the dead as well as the living; and it was the same in the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was at the temple that Jesus as a child revealed his special calling to do his Father’s business (Luke 2:46-49 [Luke 3:2]). And it was there that he made a general announcement of his messianic calling. After he had gone, the saints spent their days, Luke tells us, constantly meeting and praising God in the temple (Luke 24:53 [Luke 14:8]). The early church, in fact, was built around the temple, a thing which many new in-depth studies are bringing to light for the first time.
The Boy Jesus in the Temple
The child grows in wisdom; at twelve he is found in the temple among the teachers, and gives his first recorded words: “I must be about my Father’s business.”
Note. Luke alone preserves a scene from the boyhood of Jesus; the JST shows the temple teachers learning from the boy.
? How to read this edition
The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.
40And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon him.
41Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover, 42and when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom to the feast. 43And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and his mother knew not that he tarried, 44but they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk his kindred and acquaintance. 45And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
46And it came to pass after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions., and they were hearing him and asking him questions. 47And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. 48And when they his parents saw him, they were amazed. And his mother said unto him, Son, why have you thus dealt with us? Behold, your father and I have sought you sorrowing. 49And he said unto them, Why is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business? 50And they understood not the saying which he spoke unto them. 51And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them. And his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. 52And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
He Had All the Intelligence, and Was a Boy Only
Not Always Wise to Relate All the Truth
On the morning of the day he was killed, in the upper room at Carthage Jail, Joseph Smith reasoned from this scene. The boy who astonished the doctors already had everything needed to govern, and no strength at all to defend himself; so he concealed what he knew and restrained his feelings, and waited. Joseph read the Church’s own position in that boyhood, eleven days after the Nauvoo Expositor was destroyed and hours before the mob came.
History, 1838–1856, volume F-1, p. 177 (27 June 1844, Carthage Jail) · History of the Church 6:607–608 · Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 392 · Joseph Smith Papers ↗Our lives have already become jeopardized by revealing the wicked and blood thirsty purposes of our enemies; and for the future we must cease to do so; all we have said about them is truth, but it is not always wise to relate all the truth. Even Jesus the son of God had to refrain from doing so, and to restrain his feelings many times for the safety of himself and followers, and had to conceal the righteous purposes of his heart in relation to many things pertaining to his father’s kingdom. When quite a boy he had all the intelligence necessary to enable him to rule and govern the kingdom of the Jews, and could reason with the wisest and most profound doctors of law and divinity, and make their theories and practice to appear like folly compared with the wisdom he possessed; but he was a boy only, and lacked physical strength even to defend his own person, and was subject to cold, to hunger, and to death.
So it is with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; we have the revelation of Jesus, and the knowledge within us is sufficient to organize a righteous government upon the earth, and to give universal peace to all mankind if they would receive it; but we lack the physical strength as did our Savior when a child, to defend our principles, and we have of necessity to be afflicted, persecuted, and smitten, and to bear it patiently until Jacob is of age; then he will take care of himself.
Every Stage of It Announced in the Temple
Nibley read Luke’s opening chapters as a sustained temple narrative: Gabriel behind the veil, Simeon and Anna over the infant, and then the boy at twelve declaring his Father’s business, each stage of the coming declared in the same place.
Margaret Barker takes up this same scene (“he impressed temple teachers when he was only a child”) while asking what tradition formed his mind; that passage is quoted in “The Mustard Seed and the Leaven,” where she reads his parables of the kingdom as his own account of that growth.