<p>2:49 <i>And he said to them: How is it you searched for me? Did you not know that I would be in my Father's house?</i>- I suggested on :45 that the Lord had in fact told them that He was going to be in His Father's house, the temple, for three days. They had misunderstood or ignored His words; just as His followers would do to His later predictions of His three days 'disappearance'.</p><p>There are Biblical examples of refusing to take guilt when others feel that it should be taken. The Lord&rsquo;s own parents blamed Him for &lsquo;making them anxious&rsquo; by &lsquo;irresponsibly&rsquo; remaining behind in the temple. The Lord refused to take any guilt, didn&rsquo;t apologize, and even gently rebuked them (Lk. 2:42-51). In similar vein, Paul wrote to the Corinthians: &ldquo;Even if I made you sorry with a letter, I do not regret it&rdquo; (2 Cor. 7:8). He would not take guilt for their being upset with him. Likewise Absalom comforted his raped sister not to &lsquo;take it to heart&rsquo;, not to feel guilty about it, as it seems she was feeling that way, taking false guilt upon her (2 Sam. 13:20).</p><p>A window into the Lord's self-perception is given here in the record of His behaviour in the temple at age 12. Within the psychological matrix in which the young Jesus existed, as well as within the cultural norms of first century Palestine, it was rude for a 12 year old to retort to his mother: &quot;Didn't you know I would be about my father's business?&quot;. It appears insolent towards Joseph too. But that statement, in the Lord's case, was not a sin, nor a typically precocious childish comment- although it would've been on the lips of any other 12 year old. Instead it reflects an abnormal degree of detachment from His mother and step-father, and a remarkable statement as to how much He was Himself, how mature and strong was His sense of identity as the uniquely begotten Son of God.</p><p>A sense of compulsion was found in the Lord&rsquo;s whole life of service, leading up to the cross as it did (see on Mk. 14:49):<br />&ldquo;Wist ye not that <i>I must be</i> about my Father's business?&quot; (Luke 2:49 AV). &ldquo;And he said unto them, <i>I must preach </i>the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent&quot; (Luke 4:43). &ldquo;He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And he <i>must needs </i>go through Samaria&quot; (John 4:3-4). This is significant, as this was not from geographical necessity. The Lord was in the Jordan valley (Jn. 3:22) and could easily have taken the valley road north through Bethshan into Galilee, avoiding Samaria entirely. &ldquo;I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work&quot; (John 9:4).</p>