Finding in the Temple

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The Finding in the Temple, also called "Christ among the Doctors" (the usual name in art), and formerly the Disputation, was an episode in the early life of Jesus. It is the only event of the later childhood of Jesus mentioned in the gospels.

The episode is only described in Luke 2:42-51. Jesus at the age of twelve accompanies Mary and Joseph to Jerusalem on pilgrimage, following "the custom of the feast" (NKJV) - that is, Passover. On the day of their return, Jesus "lingered" in the Temple, but Mary and Joseph thought he had gone ahead of them. So Mary and Joseph went back home without him, leaving Jesus in Jerusalem for the three days it took them to reach home, realize their mistake, and return to Jerusalem. He was found in the Temple in discussion with the elders who were amazed at his knowledge of the scripture, 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 Gospel of Thomas.

The later Jewish custom of Bar Mitzvah for boys at thirteen, considered the age at which a Jewish person would attain responsibility for learning and adhering to the commandments, started some centuries after the Finding in the Temple.

The losing of Jesus is the third of the Seven sorrows of Mary, and the finding in the temple is the fifth joyful mystery of the rosary.

[edit] In art

The episode is frequently shown in art, and was a common component in cycles of the Life of the Virgin as well as the Life of Christ. In early Christian depictions, Jesus is usually shown in the centre, seated on a raised dais surrounded by the elders, who are often on stepped benches. 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 (Montauban, Musée Ingres[1]) and beyond. From the Early Medieval period the moment shown is usually made into 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.

In late medieval depictions, the Doctors, often now carrying or consulting large volumes, may be given specifically Jewish features or dress, and are sometimes overtly anti-Semitic caricatures, like some of the figures in Albrecht Dürer's version in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.

From the High 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 etchings of the subject (Bartsch 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 painted a version called The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple, now 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 Hans van Meegeren in front of the Dutch police (to demonstrate that the paintings he sold to Goering were also fake)[2].

[edit] Main source

G Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I,1971 (English trans from German), Lund Humphries, London, pp. 124-5 & figs, ISBN 853312702

Boy Jesus at Jerusalem Life of Jesus
Preceded by Settlement in Nazareth, further preceded by Massacre of the Innocents	New Testament    Events	Followed by Pilate made Prefect of Judea, further succeeded by Baptism of Jesus‎