Origen · a new plain-English translation from the Greek and Latin
Mary was seeking and came; they sought him. They found him "in the temple" among the teachers, and being in the midst of the teachers, he was seated there as a teacher to such a degree. Jesus was of benefit to the teachers, teaching as he spoke in their midst, and in a certain way he stirred them up to seek what they did not know, and to investigate what, up to that point, they had not been able to know, whether they knew it or were ignorant of it.
Jesus, then, is found "among the teachers," and having been found, he says to those who sought him: "Why is it that you were seeking me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" First, let us take this in its simple sense and arm ourselves against the impious heretics who claim that the Creator is not the Father of Christ Jesus, nor the God of Law and Prophets. Behold, the Father of Christ is here declared to be the God of both the Law and the Prophets. Let the Valentinians be put to shame
when they hear Jesus saying, "I must be in my Father's house." Let all the heretics be put to shame who accept the Gospel according to Luke and yet despise what is written in it. Let these things, as I have said, be understood in the simpler sense. But since it is then added, "and they themselves did not understand the saying," let us sift the sense of the scripture more diligently. They were so foolish and senseless that they did not know what he meant,
when he said, "I must be in my Father's house" — whether he meant "in the temple," or whether he meant something else, something higher, and something that would build up his hearers more. Each one of us, if he is good and perfect, is a possession of God the Father. The Savior, then, taught this generally about everyone: that no one ought to be anywhere except among those who belong to the Father.
If any one of you belongs to God the Father, he has Jesus in his midst. Let us believe him indeed when he says, "I must be in my Father's house." And I suspect that this is the more reasonable, living, and true temple of God, rather than that one which was built in a typical way by an earthly work. Hence, just as he was in that temple in a typical sense, so too he withdrew from it in a typical sense.
For "he went out" of the earthly "temple," saying, "Behold, your house will be left to you desolate," and leaving that house he came to the possession of God the Father — the churches scattered throughout the whole world — and he says, "I must be in my Father's house." At that time, then, "they did not understand the word that he spoke to them."
At the same time, note this too: that as long as he was in the possession of his Father, he was above. And because Joseph and Mary did not yet have full faith, for that reason they were not able to remain above with him, but it is said that he came down with them. Often Jesus comes down with his disciples; he does not always dwell on the mountain, nor does he hold to the heights without end. On the mountain he is with
Peter, with James, with John, and again in another place with the rest of the disciples. Furthermore, because those who were laboring under various infirmities were not able to climb the mountain, for that reason "he came down and came" to those who were below. Now too it is written: "he descended with them, arrived at Nazareth, and submitted himself to them." Let us learn, children, to be subject
our parents: the lesser is subject to the greater, and because he saw that Joseph was greater in age, he therefore honored him with a parent's honor, giving to all sons an example, that they should be subject to their fathers, and, if they have no fathers, that they should be subject to those who have the age of fathers. Why do I speak of parents and sons? If Jesus the Son of God is subject to Joseph and Mary, shall I not be subject to the bishop who
has been established over me as father by God? Shall I not be subject to the presbyter, who has been set over me by the Lord's condescension? I think that Joseph understood that Jesus, who was subject to him, was greater than himself, and knowing that one greater than himself was subject to him, he exercised his authority with trembling. Let each person consider, then, that one who is lesser is often set over those who are better, and it sometimes happens that the one who is subject
is better than the one who seems to be set over him. When the one who is higher in rank understands this, he will not be puffed up with pride because he is greater, but will know that a better man is subject to him in the same way that Jesus too was subject to Joseph. Then it follows: "But Mary kept all these words in her heart." She suspected something more than a mere man; whence also
"she kept all his words in her heart" - not as of a boy twelve years old, but of one who had been conceived of the Holy Spirit, whom she saw "advancing in wisdom and grace before God and men." Jesus "advanced in wisdom" and seemed wiser as each age passed. Was he not wise, that he should become wiser?
Or was it rather that, because he had "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant," he was resuming what he had lost, and being filled again with the powers which, a little before, on taking a body, he had seemed to relinquish? He "advanced," then, not only "in wisdom," but also "in age." There is a progress of age as well. Two ages are spoken of in the scriptures, the one of the body, which is not
in our power, but in the law of nature; the other of the soul, which properly belongs to us, according to which, if we wish, we grow day by day and come to its full measure, "that we may no longer be as children, swayed and driven about by every wind of teaching," but that, ceasing to be "children," we may begin to be "men," and may say: "
when I became a man, I did away with the things that belonged to a child." Of this age, as I have said, which is the growth of the soul, the increase is in our own power. But if this testimony is not enough, let us take another example, from Paul: "until," he says, "we all come to full manhood, to the stature of the fullness of the body of Christ." In
us, then, it lies to "attain to the measure of the age of the body of Christ," and, if it is in us, let us strive with all effort to put off the child and to destroy him and to arrive at the remaining ages, so that we too may be able to hear: "But you shall go to your fathers in peace, nourished in a good old age" - a spiritual old age, of course, which is truly old age
good, growing gray-haired and reaching all the way to the end in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.