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The Passover Visit
This chapter is based on Luke 2:41-51.
Among the Jews, the twelfth year was the dividing line between
childhood and youth. In keeping with this custom, Jesus made the
Passover visit to Jerusalem with Joseph and Mary when He reached
the required age.
The journey from Galilee took several days, and travelers united
in large groups for companionship and protection. The women and
old men rode on oxen or donkeys over the steep, rocky roads. The
stronger men and youth traveled on foot. The whole land was bright
with flowers and glad with the song of birds. Along the way, fathers
and mothers repeated to their children the wonders that God had
done for His people in ages past, and brightened their journey with
song and music.
Passover observance began with the birth of the Hebrew nation.
On the last night of their slavery in Egypt, God directed the Hebrews
to gather their families in their own homes. Having sprinkled the
doorposts with the blood of the lamb they had slaughtered, they were
to eat the lamb, roasted, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. “It
is the Lord’s Passover.”
Exodus 12:11
. At midnight all the firstborn
of the Egyptians were killed. Then the Hebrews went out from Egypt
as an independent nation. From generation to generation, they were
to repeat the story of this wonderful deliverance.
After the Passover came the sevenday feast of unleavened bread.
All the ceremonies of the feast were symbols of the work of Christ.
The slain lamb, the unleavened bread, the sheaf of first fruits, repre-
sented the Savior. But with most of the people in the days of Christ,
this feast had become no more than formalism. But how significant
it was to the Son of God!
For the first time, the Child Jesus looked on the temple. He saw
the white-robed priests performing their solemn ministry and the
bleeding victim on the altar of sacrifice. He witnessed the impressive
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