Come Be My Follower - Jehovah's Witnesses Official Media Web Site

“LOOK! THE LION THAT IS OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH” 37
parents after the Passover festival in Jerusalem. For three
days, Mary and Joseph searched frantically for the boy.
They finally found him in the temple. And what was he
doing there? “Sitting in the midst of the teachers and listening
to them and questioning them.” (Luke 2:41-50)
Consider the setting for that discussion.
8 Historians say that some of the foremost religious leaders
would customarily remain at the temple after festivals
and teach at one of the spacious porches there. People
would sit at their feet to listen and to ask questions.
These teachers were learned men. They were well versed
in the Mosaic Law and also in the endlessly complex manmade
laws and traditions that had multiplied over the
years. How might you have felt sitting in their midst? Intimidated?
That would be only natural. And what if you
were just 12 years old? Many young ones are shy. (Jeremiah
1:6) Some try desperately to avoid attracting the attention
of their teachers in school; these youths fear being
called on, fear being singled out, fear the possibility of being
embarrassed or ridiculed.
9 Yet, here we find Jesus, sitting in the midst of those
learned men, fearlessly asking them probing questions.
And he did still more. The account tells us: “All those listening
to him were in constant amazement at his understanding
and his answers.” (Luke 2:47) The Bible does not
tell us what he said on that occasion, but we can be confident
that he did not parrot the falsehoods that were so
favored among those religious teachers. (1 Peter 2:22) No,
he upheld the truth of God’s Word, and his listeners were
surely amazed that a 12-year-old boy could express himself
with such insight and courage.
10 Today, countless young Christians are following in
10. How do young Christians today imitate Jesus’ courage?