These words that fell from the lips of the Boy Jesus show that
there was no growth in His self-consciousness and no growth in
His outlook on big questions of His life. At the tender age of
twelve His mind is decidedly made up on His special characteris-
tic title for God, "My Father," for expressing His special rela-
tion to Him, — indeed this was the most characteristic of all
Christ's teachings. He is emphatic with His "must," for ex-
pressing His responsibility and obligation arising from His Divine
origin and relation; He is clear and explicit in enunciating His
attitude towards His earthly relations who are to be always sac-
rificed when God and God's work are concerned. Fundamental
attitudes and policies that are characteristic of His later life, and
that mark Him off from every other historical person, Christ em-
phatically announces as a boy. The laws of human develop-
ment and psychology were certainly outwitted and frustrated by
Him.
We wish to draw attention to the fact that our conclusion in
this chapter is based on the study of the words of the text, is ar-
rived at from the evident reading of what is before us, is deduced
from the representation of the Evangelist. We are not concerned
with the question how Christ's words appealed to the Doctors
and bystanders who probably heard them; most likely they did
not understand them to express real Divine Sonship, although
the special and close relation to God that the Boy Jesus an-
nounces must have astonished the Doctors and bystanders just as
much as His understanding and answers had previously done.
