“Poor mother,” he said, drawing her head down on his breast, “let us go and place our trouble before the Lord.”

And when they had gone up into the Temple, there, among the scholars and the men learned in the law they found Jesus.  The youth sat among the grey-bearded rabbis, and carried on a lively conversation with them, so that his cheeks glowed and his eyes shone.  Judgment had to be pronounced on a serious case of transgression of the law.  A man in Jerusalem had baked bread on the Sabbath, because his neighbour had been unable to lend him the oven the day before.  The Pharisees met together, and eagerly brought forward a crowd of statutes regarding the culpability of the transgressor.  Young Jesus listened attentively for a while, and then suddenly stepped out of the crowd.  Placing himself in front of the learned men, he asked:  “Rabbis, ought a man to do good on the Sabbath or not?”

They did not know at first whether to honour this bold young man with an answer.  But there is a precept in the law which declares that every inquirer must be answered, so one of them said curtly and roughly:  “Of course a man should do good.”

Jesus inquired further; “Is life a good thing or not?”

“As it is the gift of God, it is a good thing.”

“Should a man then preserve life or harm it on the Sabbath?”

The wise men were silent, for they would have been compelled to acknowledge that life must be preserved on the Sabbath, and their accusation of the man who had baked bread for his food would have fallen to the ground.

Jesus walked quickly up the steps to the table, and said:  “Rabbis, if a sheep fell into a brook on the Sabbath, would you leave it there till the next day?  You would not first think:  To-day is the Sabbath day, but you would pull it out before it was drowned.  Which is of greater value, a sheep or a man?  If a sick man comes on the Sabbath day, and needs help, it is given him at once.  And if you have a splinter in your flesh, no one asks if it is the Sabbath; the splinter must be taken out.  But you come with your laws against a poor man who was obliged to prepare his food on the Sabbath, and you imagine yourselves better than he is.  No, that will not do.  The intention must decide.  If any one bakes bread on the Sabbath, I should say to him:  ’Is it for your own good or for gain?’ In the first case you are acting rightly, in the last you desecrate the Sabbath.”

As they now did not know what to say, they decided that the youth was too insignificant for them to dispute with.

Jesus, still excited, came down and joined the crowd, where his mother was wringing her hands over the boldness with which her son had spoken to the elders and the wise men.  She stretched her arms towards him.  “Child! child!  What are you doing here?  Why treat us so?  What we have not suffered on your behalf!  We have sought you for three whole days in the greatest anxiety.”