“And the child [Jesus] grew and waxed strong in spirit” ([ii, 40]).
Between the growth of the man John and the growth of the God Jesus there is, according to the Evangelist, no difference, and the growth of each is identical with that of the demi-god Samson.
70
What custom did Jesus’s parents observe?
Luke: “His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover” ([ii, 41]).
The preceding verse ([40]) shows that Luke means every year following the birth of Jesus. In the succeeding verse ([42]) it is clearly implied that Jesus always accompanied them. It is impossible to reconcile this statement of Luke, who evidently knows nothing of the enmity of Herod and Archelaus, with the statements of Matthew who declares them to have been his mortal enemies.
71
On one of these occasions where did they find him?