and in His manner which puzzled them, which set them to thinking of holy
things in a wondering way; but Mary was the only one who dwelt upon the
mystery of His life with a constant prayerful questioning as to just
what the meaning of it was.

Mary treasured all His sayings in her heart and believed that the time
would come when everyone would know that He was not simply an ordinary
child like those around Him.

After Joseph had brought his family back from Egypt because, now that
Herod was dead, it was safe for them to come into their own country
again, they lived in the city of Nazareth, and so the words of the old
prophets were true, that Jesus, the Savior of the World, should be a
Nazarene, or dweller in Nazareth.

Every year the Jews held a feast at Jerusalem called the Feast of the
Passover, in memory of the time when God passed over, or spared, His
chosen people in Egypt, although He destroyed the first-born of the
Egyptians. When Jesus was twelve years old He went to Jerusalem with
Joseph and Mary to attend this feast.

There were many of the relatives and friends of the family there, and
when they started home after the feast, there was probably some
confusion about getting the company under way, for they traveled in a
train consisting of people on foot and mounted upon donkeys, and they
had, of course, some needful provisions to take with them, together with
the things which they had brought for their comfort upon the journey and
during their stay in Jerusalem; and as the parents of Jesus did not
think of His remaining behind, they neglected to look for Him, supposing
He was somewhere in the train; so, when they had traveled for a day on