Year by year the family climbed to keep the Passover,

And when Jesus turned twelve they made the journey as before.

The feast was done; the company began the road away,

But Jesus stayed in Jerusalem when evening closed the day.

His parents thought He walked among the relatives and friends,

A day's road passed before they learned the search would have to bend.

They looked through every face they knew, but nowhere found the boy,

Then turned again to Jerusalem with fear replacing joy.

Three days searching through the city,

Three days asking where He'd gone,

Then they found Him with the teachers,

Hearing, asking, answering on.

Every listener sat astonished

At the wisdom in His words,

While His parents stood amazed there

At the child for whom they'd searched.

Mary spoke the sorrow of the days they'd looked in vain,

The worry Joseph carried and the weight of searching pain.

He answered with a question they could not yet understand:

Why seek Him elsewhere, when His Father's business stood at hand?

No rebellion marked the moment, no departure from their care,

For He returned to Nazareth and lived in order there.

Mary kept the saying guarded though its meaning still was wide,

A sentence waiting years before the road would open out.

His Father's business,

A phrase too large to fit the room.

His Father's business,

A calling showing early bloom.

He grew in wisdom, grew in stature,

Favor with both God and man.

The teachers saw the questions,

But not yet the whole design.

The Passover road led homeward,

The hidden years resumed,

Yet Mary's heart held one more saying

Waiting for its time to bloom.

His Father's business,

Before the crowds, before the load.

Three days ended in the temple,

Then Nazareth received Him still,

Growing toward the hour appointed,

Growing toward the Father's will.