While the family were in Jerusalem they found friends with whom they stayed, and in their house the Passover feast was eaten. It was a very simple meal, just a roasted lamb, some vegetables and bread made without yeast, in thin cakes, like soda biscuit, only larger. They ate the meal lying down on couches around the table, their heads toward the table, their feet away from it. It was the custom or rule of the Jews, at this feast, to have the story of the first Passover. Perhaps Joseph said to Jesus:
"My son, you know what took place when this passover was eaten for the first time. Tell us the story."
David street, Jerusalem, looking toward Olivet
Then the boy Jesus told of the terrible plagues that fell upon the land of Egypt; of the last and greatest sorrow, the death of the oldest son in every house; how the Israelites sprinkled their door-posts with the blood of the slain lamb and were passed over by this death-angel; how they ate the lamb on that night, dressed for their journey; and how they went out of Egypt and marched through the Red Sea.
The family were in Jerusalem for a week, and every day Jesus went up to the Temple to worship in its services and to learn what he could from its teachers. The last day of their visit came, and at its close the families going to Galilee met together for their homeward journey. A horn was blown and the caravan or company started northward. Mary missed her son, but thought that he was somewhere in the crowd, talking with other boys of his own age. But when night came, the company stopped to rest and Jesus did not appear. Mary was alarmed. They looked through all the crowd, but no Jesus was to be found.
Then in great trouble, Joseph and Mary hastened back to Jerusalem, looking for their boy. They asked for him among the friends at whose house they had stayed, but he had not been there. They wandered up and down the narrow streets, but while they saw many groups of boys, their boy was not among them. At last, on the third day, they looked for him in the Temple. In one of its courts a crowd of people were listening to the teachers who seemed to be talking with someone. They drew near, and Mary's heart began to beat as she suddenly heard a boy's voice sounding from the middle of the throng. She knew that voice, in its clear, rich, honest tone! She pressed her way in; and there stood her boy, the center of a company of the learned scholars. He was asking questions of these men, and they in their answers were asking him questions in turn, while all around were people listening and wondering at this boy's deep knowledge of the truth.
Mary hastily rushed up to Jesus, and said:
"My son, why have you treated us so unkindly? Your father and I have been looking for you, in great trouble, for three days!"
Jesus looked up at his mother's face, with surprise, and said: