Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 2:51

"And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and he was subject unto them: and his mother kept all [these] sayings in her heart." — Luke 2:51 (ASV)

Was subject to them.—There was, therefore, in the years that followed, no premature assumption of authority—nothing but the pattern of a life perfect in all its home-relationships. In such a household as that of the carpenter of Nazareth, this subjection must, in the nature of things, have involved much manual and menial work—a share in the toil of the workshop and the house alike.

His mother kept all these sayings.—The repetition of words like those of Luke 2:19 is significant. The twelve years that had passed had not changed the character of the Virgin Mother. It was still conspicuous, more even than that of Joseph, for the faith which accepted what it could not understand, and waited patiently for the solution of its perplexities.