Luke could have ended with the birth.
Angels announced it. Shepherds witnessed it. Prophets blessed it—God had come to dwell with His people, wrapped in human flesh, laid in a manger.
But Luke didn’t stop there.
He gave us one more scene: Jesus at twelve years old, sitting in the temple, teaching the teachers, asking questions that left the scholars astonished (Luke 2:41-52). (Also see the JST)
Luke was showing us Jesus moving from First Fruits to Shavuot, from the waving of the first grain to the finished offering that feeds the world.
First Fruits: The First Temple Visit
“And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast” (Luke 2:42).
The Feast of First Fruits required Israel to bring the first sheaf of the barley harvest to the temple. The priest would wave it before the Lord—not as a finished offering, but as a consecration of everything that would follow (Leviticus 23:10-11).
The barley wasn’t milled yet. It wasn’t baked into bread. It was just tender grain, the very first of the harvest, lifted up to say: “This belongs to God. Everything that grows from this point forward is holy because the first portion has been consecrated.”
Jesus at twelve was that first sheaf. Not yet fully grown. Not yet beginning His public ministry.
The Counting of the Omer: Three Days
After the Feast of Passover and First Fruits, Israel began counting the Omer—forty-nine days of counting from the barley harvest to the wheat harvest, from First Fruits to Shavuot (Leviticus 23:15-16).
It was the ripening season. The time between consecration and completion. The grain growing, maturing, preparing to be harvested and transformed into bread.
Luke shows us a miniature version of this counting.
Mary and Joseph returned home from the feast, assuming Jesus was with their traveling companions. After a day’s journey, they realized He was missing. They searched for Him, traveling back to Jerusalem. “And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple” (Luke 2:46).
This was the Omer count compressed—the space between the first offering and the final harvest, the period of waiting and searching and wondering where He had gone.
And where did they find Him? In the temple. In His Father’s house. Right where the firstfruit belonged.
Shavuot: The Second Temple Visit
When they found Jesus, He was “sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luke 2:46-47).
This wasn’t the tender barley sheaf anymore.
Shavuot celebrated the wheat harvest fifty days after Passover. The offering at Shavuot was two loaves of leavened wheat bread, baked and presented to the Lord (Leviticus 23:17).
Jesus sitting among the teachers was that leavened bread. The bread of life.
The Return Home
“And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:51-52).
This is the harvest blessing.
After Shavuot, after the wheat was gathered and the offering made, Israel returned home carrying the blessing of the completed harvest. The grain had been consecrated at First Fruits. It had ripened during the Omer count. It had been harvested, milled, baked, and offered at Shavuot. And now the blessing came: abundance, favor, increase.
Jesus returned to Nazareth and increased. In wisdom—the divine understanding working through His human mind. In stature—His body growing, maturing, preparing for the work ahead. In favor with God and man—both heaven and earth recognizing the bread that had been prepared for them.
The Pattern Complete
From trumpet blast on Rosh Hashanah to the harvest home of Shavuot, Luke showed us Christ fulfilling every feast, every season, every rhythm of covenant life.
| Luke | Feast | Leviticus |
| Luke 1:5-7 | Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets) | Leviticus 23:23–25(First day of the seventh month; memorial of blowing trumpets.) |
| Luke 1:8 – 2:7 | Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) | Leviticus 23:26–32(Tenth day of the seventh month; atonement and purification.) |
| Luke 2:8-20 | Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) | Leviticus 23:33–36 and 23:39–43(Begins on the 15th day of the seventh month; seven-day festival.) |
| Luke 2:21-24 | 8th day of Sukkot | Leviticus 23:36(Referred to as a “solemn assembly” on the eighth day.) |
| Luke 2:25-35 | Passover | Leviticus 23:4–5(The 14th day of the first month.) |
| Luke 2:36-39 | Feast of Unleavened Bread | Leviticus 23:6–8(Begins on the 15th day of the first month; seven days.) |
| Luke 2:40-52 | First Fruits/Shavuot | Leviticus 23:9–14(Offering of the first sheaf after entering the land.)Leviticus 23:15–22(Count seven weeks from Firstfruits; then offer new grain.) |
Every feast testified of Christ. Every pattern pointed to Him. Every season revealed another aspect of who He is and what He came to do.
And Luke knew it. He structured his gospel as a testimony.
Just like Nephi knew it. Just like both of them used Leviticus 23 as their framework for writing sacred records that would stand as witness at the judgment bar of God.
The feasts weren’t abolished when Jesus came. They were fulfilled. Completed. Made perfect in His life, His ministry, His sacrifice, His resurrection.
And Luke preserved it all—feast by feast, pattern by pattern—so we could see Jesus at Christmas more completely than we ever had before.
The series is complete. If these patterns have deepened your understanding of Christ, share this series with someone who loves scripture. And subscribe to keep exploring the hidden depths of the gospel—because there’s always more to discover in the feast that never ends.
Feasting with Nephi 
Have you ever thought about this scripture this way? Share your thoughts!