All of God's people traveled to the temple in the city of Jerusalem for a special holiday called Passover.  Jerusalem was the capitol of Israel and its biggest city. It was where Solomon built the first great temple and a place where priests and religious people came to study together.

 
When Jesus was 12 years old he and his family traveled with all of their family - Jesus' aunts, uncles, and cousins, to the temple to celebrate the Passover holiday.
The celebration went on for many days.  Mary, Joseph and all of their family packed up and started home.  They thought Jesus was with his cousins and it wasn't until they stopped for the night that they realized that Jesus wasn't with them.

The next day, Mary and Joseph walked all the way back to Jerusalem to look for him.  They hunted for three days and finally went to the temple.  ! After Passover was over Jesus wanted to learn all he could from the priests about God, but he didn't tell his parents. They finally found him at the temple.  Mary scolded Jesus and told him how worried they had been about him. 

Jesus was surprised that he would be at the temple.  He told them that was where he needed to be, because that was where his Father's work was being done.  Mary and Joseph were confused that Jesus would talk about God as his father instead of Joseph, but they were happy and relieved to have found him safe and sound.

They learned that the priests had been amazed by how much this young boy knew about God and the smart questions he asked, but it was time for Jesus to go back to Nazareth with his parents.