What happened after Jesus "went down with them to Nazareth?"

Lately, I have come to observe that there is a tendency in some Catholic circles to view the Holy Family as plaster statues. That is, they are still, solid, and unmoving. In a word, this is erroneous. The Holy Family, being the most perfect human beings to ever walk the Earth in every sense of the term, had human needs and concerns. Like you and I, they ate, they drank, they spoke with one another, and they did household work. Mary did not sit and pray all day. She mended garments, baked bread, washed clothes, fetched water from the community well, and had relationships with the neighbors. It was similar for Jesus and Joseph. 

The Holy Family did not exist in a bubble. They were far removed from everyone in only one sense: sin. In everything else, they shared the same sort of life you and I live in the here and now. When one realizes this, we can connect with them better, and come to a greater understanding of the hardships they faced while on Earth. One such hardship was felt in the immediate aftermath of the Incident in the Temple when Jesus was twelve. Aside from mentioning that Jesus went "down with them to Nazareth, and was subject to them," all the while advancing in "wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men," as well as the fact Mary kept "all these words in her heart," Holy Scripture does not reveal the changes that took place after the Incident in the Temple. It has been left to later authors to offer some text for meditation on the subject.

One such author was Reverend Franz Michel Willam. We provide the following from his book Mary the Mother of Jesus for your august meditation. God love you.

Mary and Joseph were both consoled and surprised when Jesus joined them again and went down with them to Nazareth. Would it not have seemed natural for Him to attach Himself to one of the doctors of the law and remain in the vicinity of the Temple? But "he went down with them, and came to Nazareth."

After the anguish of their search in Jerusalem other mental sufferings awaited them on their return to Nazareth. What should they say to the inquisitive neighbors who would rush to the doors and besiege them with questions: "How long did you look for Him? Where did you find Him?" What answer should they make, now that they themselves no longer understood the Boy? They could indeed tell how they found Him in the Temple, but not the answer He had given them, that "word" which they did not understand: "Did you not know, that I must be about my Father's business?" They could not tell of these words of their Son, which they themselves did not understand, and reveal them to others who might misinterpret them. 

How quickly gossip flew back and forth in the neighboring houses in Nazareth upon their return? We must remember how in these small villages everyone is interested in any unusual occurrence and how the matter is discussed and judged again and again. Mary and Joseph were obliged to submit to all of this. Jesus' stay in the Temple was not only a manifestation of Himself to the doctors in the Temple; it was also a revelation to Mary and Joseph and to His relatives. For Mary all this was a prelude to that loneliness on Calvary when she could not justify her Son before men because she was too close to Him and knew the mystery of His being.

"He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them." This sentence may lead us to believe that, after the mysterious occurrence in Jerusalem, life continued in Nazareth as before. But it was not so.

After those anxious days of the Passover pilgrimage, life in the home at Nazareth was very different. Nothing changes and intensifies our love for another so much as to lose him for a while. A mother stands at the bedside of her sick child; it is night and she is alone with him. Beads of respiration stand on the youthful brow - she does not know whether it is a sign of strength or weakness; the breathing is softer and softer - she does not know whether it is health-bringing sleep or a gradual sinking into death; little sounds come from the child's lips - are they signs of that he still lives or they the last expiring sighs. In the moment when her anxiety has reached the breaking point, and in them is the look of one who has returned to himself. Now a new love awakens in the mother's heart; and from now on her attitude toward the child will be changed. 

 After Jesus' return to Nazareth, Mary's love for Him experienced this change and intensification. But He did not recover from some sickness which, if it should recur, would be promptly recognized. He had gone from her unexpectedly and, when she found Him, gave no clear explanation for His act, leaving the future uncertain. Possibly He would again be in similar circumstances; would again separate Himself from Her without giving word beforehand. From this day on, Mary's love for Jesus was mingled with anxiety.

Mary could no longer feel secure that the morrow or the next year would be as today. The days went by uneventfully, and for Mary and Joseph this itself was incomprehensible and mysterious. Jesus' obedience was as incomprehensible as His remaining in the Temple. The shadow of sorrow which had enveloped Mary during the search at Jerusalem never left her. Her joy in Jesus and her anxiety for Him increased with her love for Him; she could no more cease being anxious for Him than she could cease loving Him.

In pictures and legends popular fancy has supposed many wonderful events to have happened during the period of the hidden life. Among these the most cherished scene is as follows: Jesus is working in the shop of His foster father, imitating Joseph at work after the manner of children. He takes some beams of wood and forms a cross while Mary and Joseph, deep in thought, look on. A similar thing actually happened in the spiritual realm, not once, but daily. And every day Mary recalled the words of Simeon and thought of all the pain and sorrow awaiting her Son.