5. Mary and Joseph continued to seek teachers for their son
Undeterred by the bad conduct reports from school, Mary and Joseph continued to seek teachers for their son, according to the Apocrypha, with less than satisfactory results, at least from a parental standpoint. According to the Infancy Gospel, the young Jesus entered his new school, seized the book of lessons from his teacher, and began to read aloud, replacing the words of the text with those of his own. According to the Apocrypha, Jesus’ words were delivered with, “such power that the master himself fell to the ground and adored him” (Pseudo-Matthew 30-39). Joseph was informed that his son was not a student, but rather a master.
It should be noted that the Gospel of Luke refers to an incident during Jesus’ youth, when following a visit to Jerusalem his parents noticed that the boy had been left behind in Jerusalem. Returning to find their 12-years old boy, they discover him after three days teaching in the temple, where the masters were amazed at his knowledge and wisdom (Luke 2: 40-52). It is the only reference to Jesus’ education and training in the Bible accounts, and presents him as a figure of wonder, rather than as the precocious and somewhat temperamental child described in the Apocrypha.