Child in the Temple

Child in the Temple, hearing and learning,

Asking his questions, living his call;

All there who heard him found him discerning, 

Thoughtful, amazing; so said they all.

 

Joseph and Mary, busy with travel,

Saw their son missing, not to be found!

Searching, their minds began to unravel

Till they found Jesus there safe and sound. 

 

“How could you do this? What were you thinking?

We were so worried, fearful for you?” 

But then his answer left their hearts sinking:

“This is my Father’s business I do.”

 

Babe in the manger, child in the Temple,

God on the cross, our Savior is he; 

Let us behold and joyously tremble

And show his greatness for all to see.

 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, December 2021, after Luke 2:41-52

MUSIC: Tune BUNESSAN, Gaelic melody.

 

 

Following after an older hymn, “Child in the manger,” this one takes up the twelve-year-old Jesus’s experience staying behind in Jerusalem as his family returned home. The final stanza offers a reminder of who this child was and will be.