I know it seems I'm fixating on the fact that Mary and Joseph had more than one child. Recall I blogged before that Jesus would not be called the "first born", if there were not more to follow.

Now, let me present another reason why Mary didn't remain a virgin, for which she's been iong venerated by so many and declared a saint. When all she needs to be venerated is the fact that God chose her to be the mother of His son.

I refer to a passage in Luke, where it mentions that Jesus was 12 years old and they had attended the Passover in Jerusalem; but after Mary and Joseph left with the caravan going north to Nazareth,  when they were probably about 10 miles away, they discovered that Jesus was not with them

Now,  even an aaverage parent would know that their only child  was leaving with them.  

And needless to say, God didn't choose a below average parent for His son. But Jesus was 12 and in those days that was considered on the cusp to being a man..life expectancy was short.

Now, if Mary and Joseph had other children, they would have their hands full just gathering them together, caring for them, because they would be very young..Mary was probably carrying one (no strollers back then).

This would make sense as to why  Jesus would not be missed until that night..both parents were too busy taking care of other children, and they probably thought that Jesus was with his buddies and he'd be there for suppper, when they stopped for the night.

When he didn't appear for supper, I expect that Joseph went to his friends and that's when he discovered that Jesus was still in Jerusalem..I imagine panic set in, especially with his mother.

They couldn't travel at night, so they left at  dawn headed back to find their errant son.

It took three days for them to find him in the Temple, where he  was conversing with the elders.

Imagine that the city, cosmopolitan for the period, was still teeming with people, and there were many places that he could''ve been.  I suppose the last place they would expect to find him would be in the Temple.

But what did he say, when Mary chastised for making them worry?

He said, "Did you not know I would be in my father's house"?

I can't imagine how they would react to his actions, but remember they were frantically searching for him for three days!

I chose this episode to inject a little artistic license and humor in my play, ROAD TO BETHANY..The Passion Play, reacting to being spanked by my father..not without rhime nor reason, because in those days sparing the rod, was said to spoil the child..bob