Luke 2:49

And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? knew ye not that I must be in my Father's house?

What did Jesus mean? He was saying, Look, we were all in the temple; I did not leave it; you did. I did not leave you; you left me!

In my Father's house ... This is the first recorded utterance of Jesus; and, in it, he laid claim to a relationship to Almighty God, in a sense that distinguished his relationship from one that is open to other men; and throughout his ministry, this claim of Jesus was often repeated. Clearly, this statement of Christ so early in his life is the principal thing Luke intended to be taught by this episode. Like the apostle John, Luke also regarded the spiritual implications of such an event; and, in this quality, he is more like John than the other synoptics. As Robertson said:

The Christ of Paul and of John is in the synoptic Gospels. In all essentials, the picture is the same in Luke as in John and Paul.[33]