Imagine Mary, Jesus’ mother, witnessing her son’s crucifixion. While this would surely be agonizing for any mother, Mary might have recalled an experience from Jesus’ childhood which would have reassured her that he was not so easily lost to her, or to the world.
The Gospel of Luke tells us of an occasion in Jesus’ youth that foreshadowed his ultimate victory and the fulfillment of his holy mission. When he was twelve years old, he traveled with his parents in a caravan of relatives, friends, and acquaintances to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. After journeying toward home a full day following the feast, his parents discovered Jesus wasn’t with them. Turning back to the city, they searched for him and eventually found him the third day in the Temple, in conversation with the doctors of Jewish law. When his parents scolded him for scaring them, he responded, “How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49).
As Christ Jesus traveled to Jerusalem at the end of his ministry, crowds confirmed his identity as the promised Messiah with shouts of “Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest” (Luke 19:38). Soon after, he was unjustly put on trial for insurrection, condemned to crucifixion, killed and buried, with a large stone blocking the entrance to his tomb. Now, about two decades after his boyhood journey to Jerusalem, it appeared that Mary had once again lost her son there around the time of Passover. But three days after his burial Jesus would reappear, as he had prophesied, this time having overcome death.
