Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/258

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
142
APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.

CHAPTER XIX.

And when he was twelve years old, his parents went, according to custom, to Jerusalem to the feast of the passover with their companions, and after the passover, they were returning to their homes, and as they returned, the child Jesus went up to Jerusalem; but his parents thought he was in the company. And when they had journeyed one day, they sought him among their kinsfolk, and not finding him they were sorrowful, and went back to the city seeking him; and after the third day they found him in the temple sitting among the doctors, and hearing the law and questioning them. And all gave heed and marvelled how he, being a child, puzzled the elders and doctors of the people, resolving the chapters of the law and the parables of the prophets. And his mother, Mary, came to him and said, Child, why hast thou done this to us? Behold, we have sought thee sorrowing. And Jesus said to them. Why seek ye me? Know ye not that I must be about my Father's business? And the scribes and Pharisees said. Art thou the mother of this child? And she said, I am. And they said to her. Blessed art thou among women, for God hath blessed the fruit of thy womb; for such glory and such virtue and wisdom, we never either saw or heard. And Jesus arose and followed his mother