This took place in the spring when Jesus was twelve and one-half years old, and yet His understanding amazed the teachers at the Temple. Now how could this be? Most twelve and one-half year olds would get a smile and a pat on the head from a rabbi, and they would say, "Oh! Isn't that cute?" But this young fellow was amazing them at the things that He understood.
I think that we have to conclude that Jesus not only had an extraordinary mind, as is revealed here in Luke 2, but also He must have had an extraordinary education—one that was unique in that the greatest mind that ever lived was able to, at the age of twelve, confound or amaze those who had studied the word of God perhaps twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years. That indicates not only an extraordinary mind, but also an extraordinary education. None of us has been able to do anything like that.
