Finding in the Temple
Encyclopedia
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
depicted in the Gospel of Luke
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...
. It is the only event of the later childhood of Jesus mentioned in a gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
.
The episode is only described in . Jesus at the age of twelve accompanies Mary and Joseph
Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....
to Jerusalem on pilgrimage, following "the custom of the feast" (NKJV) - that is, Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
. On the day of their return, Jesus "lingered" in the Temple, but Mary and Joseph thought he had gone ahead of them. Mary and Joseph headed back home and after a day of travel realized Jesus was missing, so they returned to Jerusalem, finding Jesus three days later. He was found in the Temple
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
in discussion with the elders who were amazed at his learning, especially given his young age. When admonished by Mary, Jesus replied "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?" The story was slightly elaborated in later literature, such as the apocryphal 2nd-century Infancy Gospel of Thomas
Infancy Gospel of Thomas
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is a pseudepigraphical gospel about the childhood of Jesus that dates to the 2nd and 3rd centuries. It was part of a popular genre of biblical work, written to satisfy a hunger among early Christians for more miraculous and anecdotal stories of the childhood of Jesus...
(19:1-12).
The later Jewish custom of Bar Mitzvah for boys at thirteen, considered the age at which a Jewish male would attain responsibility for learning and adhering to the commandments, is recorded some centuries after the description in Luke but may have been the reason for Jesus' visit to the temple and study of the scriptures.
The losing of Jesus is the third of the Seven sorrows of Mary
Our Lady of Sorrows
Our Lady of Sorrows , the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows , and Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is referred to in relation to sorrows in her life...
, and the Finding in the Temple is the fifth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary
Rosary
The rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...
.
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In art
The episode is frequently shown in art, and was a common component in cycles of the Life of the VirginLife of the Virgin
The Life of the Virgin, showing narrative scenes from the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a common subject for pictorial cycles in Christian art, often complementing, or forming part of, a cycle on the Life of Christ. In both cases the number of scenes shown varies greatly with the space...
as well as the Life of Christ
Life of Christ
The Life of Christ as a narrative cycle in Christian art comprises a number of different subjects, which were often grouped in series or cycles of works in a variety of media, narrating the life of Jesus on earth, as distinguished from the many other subjects in art showing the eternal life of...
. In early Christian depictions, Jesus is usually shown in the centre, seated on a raised dais
Dais
Dais is any raised platform located either in or outside of a room or enclosure, often for dignified occupancy, as at the front of a lecture hall or sanctuary....
surrounded by the elders, who are often on stepped benches. The gesture usually made by Jesus, pointing to his upraised thumb (illustration), may be a conventional rhetorical gesture expressing the act of expounding text. These depictions derive from classical compositions of professors of philosophy or rhetoric with their students, and are similar to medieval depictions of contemporary university lectures. This composition can appear until as late as Ingres
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was a French Neoclassical painter. Although he considered himself to be a painter of history in the tradition of Nicolas Poussin and Jacques-Louis David, by the end of his life it was Ingres's portraits, both painted and drawn, that were recognized as his greatest...
(Montauban
Montauban
Montauban is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse....
, Musée Ingres http://mini-site.louvre.fr/ingres/1.4.5.1.1p_en.html?&&newWidth
764&&newHeight
632) and beyond. From the Early Medieval period the moment shown is usually assimilated to the finding itself, by the inclusion of, initially, Mary, and later Joseph as well, usually at the left of the scene. Typically, Jesus and the doctors, intent on their discussions, have not noticed them yet. From the 12th century Jesus is often seated in a large throne-like chair, sometimes holding a book or scroll.
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
's version in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.
From the High Renaissance
High Renaissance
The expression High Renaissance, in art history, is a periodizing convention used to denote the apogee of the visual arts in the Italian Renaissance...
onwards, many painters showed a "close-up" of the scene, with Jesus closely surrounded by gesticulating scholars. Rembrandt, who enjoyed depicting Jewish elders in the Temple in various subjects, made three etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
s of the subject (Bartsch
Bartsch
Bartsch is the German name of the Barycz River in Poland. It is also the name of the Eastern-European soup, called borscht in English, in East Prussia.- Family name :People with the surname Bartsch include:...
64-66) as well as one of the much more unusual scene of "Jesus returning from the Temple with his parents" (B 60). The Pre-Raphaelite painter William Holman Hunt
William Holman Hunt
William Holman Hunt OM was an English painter, and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Biography:...
painted a version called The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple
The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple
The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple is a painting by William Holman Hunt intended as an ethnographically accurate version of the subject traditionally known as "Christ Among the Doctors", an illustration of the child Jesus debating the interpretation of the scripture with learned rabbis...
, now at Birmingham, as one of a number of subjects from Jesus's life, for which he travelled to the Holy Land to study local details.
The subject has attracted few artists since the 19th century, and one of the last notable depictions may be the one painted, as a forgery of a Vermeer, by Han van Meegeren
Han van Meegeren
Han van Meegeren , born Henricus Antonius van Meegeren, was a Dutch painter and portraitist, and is considered to be one of the most ingenious art forgers of the 20th century....
in front of the Dutch police, in order to demonstrate that the paintings he had sold to Goering were also fake.
Main source
- G. Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I,1971 (English translation from German), Lund Humphries, London, pp. 124-5 & figs, ISBN 853312702
Life of Jesus Gospel harmony A Gospel harmony is an attempt to merge or harmonize the canonical gospels of the Four Evangelists into a single gospel account, the earliest known example being the Diatesseron by Tatian in the 2nd century. A gospel harmony may also establish a chronology for the events of the life of Jesus... |
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New Testament The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament.... Events |
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