Luke comments, “Every year his parents went to Jerusalem”. The Lord God required all men to appear before the Sovereign Lord at the temple in Jerusalem three times a year. (Exodus 23:14, 17, 34:23; Deuteronomy 16:16)
Since Alexander the Great controlled Palestine, many Jews had been scattered throughout the Greek and Roman world. Traveling to Jerusalem three times a year was hard, if not impossible for many Jews. So the religious leaders declared that each male Jew didn’t have to go to Jerusalem three times a year, but should try to get to Jerusalem for at least one of the three main feasts. Luke’s comment in verse 41 seems to indicate that Joseph and Mary was sure to visit Jerusalem on Passover, the most important feast at the time, but perhaps not the other two feasts.
Since the foundation of New Testament Temple at Pentecost in the hearts of God’s people and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. we can’t go to a physical temple. Rather we are to present ourselves before his temple in our hearts. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; and 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:21)
