Jesus Stays Behind at the Temple

Our lesson today is Jesus staying behind in the temple when He was 12. There is a song with a flip chart, and since He was in the temple, I made scrolls for the students.

 

We are studying the life of Jesus. The last couple of weeks we talked about Jesus being born in a stable and the shepherds coming to visit Him.

Jesus was about one and a half to two years old when the wise men were able to see Him. The wise men took gifts of gold, frankincense and Myrrh to Jesus.

An angel of the Lord went to Joseph in a dream and told him to take Mary and Jesus and escape to Egypt. They left during the night and are told to stay there until the angel contacts Joseph to tell him it is safe to leave. Herod is looking for baby Jesus. Herod is extremely angry because the wise men didn’t come back and tell him where this new King of the Jews could be found, and he sent his soldiers out to kill all the children that were under 2 years old. (Matthew 2:12-23)

After Herod and his son died, an angel came to Joseph in a dream. He told Joseph that he should take Mary and Jesus back to Nazareth. Today's scripture is Luke 2:40-52.

As Jesus grew up, The Bible tells us He became stronger in spirit and was filled with wisdom. (Luke 2:40) Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem every year to celebrate the Passover. Remember that the Passover was started when the Israelites put lambs' blood around their doorposts and the Lord Passed Over and the first born would live. God told the people to keep this memorial every year. (Exodus 12:12-14)

When Jesus was 12 years old, the family made the yearly trip from Nazareth to Jerusalem. They traveled with a group of people.

When Joseph & Mary had completed their worship in the temple, they left Jerusalem, but Jesus had stayed behind. They didn’t know Jesus wasn’t with them! Mary and Joseph started looking for Jesus after a day of traveling. They asked their relatives and friends if they had seen Jesus. (Luke 2:44)

When Mary and Joseph didn’t find Jesus, they went back to Jerusalem looking for Him. (Talk about being lost and how it would feel not knowing where their son is.)

Finally, after 3 days of searching for Jesus, Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the temple! He was sitting with the teachers. Jesus was asking questions and listening to their answers.

They asked Jesus why He had done this! Jesus answered them saying 'Why are you looking for Me? Don't you know that I would be doing My Father's business? (vs. 49) They didn’t really understand that answer and as Jesus grew up, Mary ‘kept it in her heart.’

Jesus grew up and continued in His wisdom. And He found favor in God and men. (Luke 2:52) Jesus stayed in Nazareth until He was about 30.

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I put these scrolls together before class and used them as discussion starters. After printing on regular paper (so they are easier to roll up), cut off the copyright info and this will leave enough paper to glue the scrolls together. I purchased the craft 3/16" dowel rods that are already cut in 12" lengths and my husband cut them in half for me. I keep different sizes of these in my craft supplies since I use them a lot. (Any size will work, just so they are longer than the paper.) After I had each set of 4 sheets glued together, I added glue on the ends and laid the cut dowel rod on it and let them dry. I will keep them flat, let the kids fill in the blanks, and then roll them up and tie the finished scrolls with ribbon (string will work also). Answers: 1. Old, New 2. God's Creation 3. Moses 4. God, 10 5. Old Laws 6. New Laws 7. Jesus 8. Different answers. You can print them here.

I have added this single page scroll because I have a much larger class and wanted something easier and less paper to print. It is the same basic scroll as the above but is black & white only. I printed it onto color paper. After we answer the questions, the students will roll it up and tie a ribbon around it. Click here to print this single scroll.

Click here to see and print several other project choices for this lesson.

Click here to download the worksheet.
Print the Spanish worksheets here.

 

Bible Verse: Luke 2:49 

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.  Used by permission.