Why did Jesus disobey his mother and leave her only to be found in the temple?  I thought Jesus didn’t sin and disobedience to one’s parents seems sinful to me!

When discussing Bible stories, it’s always good to carefully re-read the text in question. Fact is, the story doesn’t say for sure that Jesus was being disobedient. Luke 2: 43-45 says that “the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him.” It’s very likely that the entire situation was a misunderstanding rather than a case of Jesus deliberately defying his parents’ instructions.

It’s also worth looking at what Jesus says when Mary and Joseph do find him: “Why were you searching for me?  Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”(49) By staying and speaking with the teachers in the temple, he was fulfilling the will of his father – God. Looked at from that point of view, Jesus was actually showing filial obedience rather than disobedience.