Jesus shows his parents, as all children should, that parents have to free themselves from the possessiveness of their children so that they can be truly free. This text shows us the normal development of a teenager in a healthy family.
Jesus does not abandon his parents, he only points out that he is no longer a child, now he is the son. This is necessary to interpret it in its historical context. Life expectancy was very limited in Jesus' time. Studies carried out by archaeologists in cemeteries of the first century, show that the average life of the deceased was 25 years.
Then at age twelve a person was an adult. For a synagogue to function, even today, the presence of at least ten men whose age is thirteen years and up is needed. This is necessary in order to represent the community of believers. Our Lord Jesus Christ makes it much simpler: "Wherever two or more meet ... I will be there with them."
In the same way, today's parents, we must accept that our children belong to God, which grants them freedoms and imposes limits. Parents must remember that we are also under the sovereignty of God. This reality can be illustrated with what a mother told me recently. "The last of my children finished high school, for that reason we had a great family party." That same night I had a very strange dream: in the dream I entered, by mistake, into a men's room and met a man who was doing his needs
When I realized my mistake I tried to leave quickly but, suddenly, my son came in, the one who finished high school, slipped and fell through the narrow hole that was used as a latrine. He grabbed and we only saw his hands. I was in a hole full of poop. The man pulled the chain and between the two of us we managed to get him out of the hole.
It was covered in a jelly-like substance and blood. My son was not worried but happy and smiling and said: THANK YOU MAMA. I do not know why I relate this dream to a birth. I do not think it is necessary to insist much more so that everyone realizes that this mother understood, unconsciously, that the baby that one day gave birth did not exist anymore, that it had disappeared. Now I did not have a child anymore, but I had a son. And he would continue to have it throughout his life.