The Child Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:39-52)

2,500-words All scripture quotes are from NRSVA, unless specified. Neil Taylor 14/09/2018 Exegetical Essay The Child Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:39-52). Summary As Luke closes the narrative of Jesus’ birth, before opening up the details of the public course of John’s and Jesus’ adult ministries, he provides a vignette of Jesus’ youth. In one respect, Luke’s frontispiece is typical; it portrays Jesus and his family living out their customary routines as a devout Jewish household.1 In another respect, we see Jesus contending with his divine calling, albeit conditionally, and we are apprised of God’s unremitting χάρις (joy, liberality, pleasure) for the sake of the child as he reaches adulthood. We will hear Jesus speak for the first time as identity and mission meet in his adolescent voice, and he will shoulder the responsibility foretold for him.2 With this disclosure, we are rehearsed for the forestalled resumption of John’s story (cf. 1:80), who will ἑτοιμάζω (provide) a way for Jesus’ public ministry (1:76-77).3 Context The pericope comes at the close of Luke’s “John-Jesus”4 parallel infancy stories (Luke 1-2) and is significantly secured to its narrative context. On one level, the pericope is an illustrative bridge that connects Jesus’ infancy narratives to his adult ministry,5 however, on a more important level, it provides a necessary prophetic context. Firstly, it is secured to Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary that her child would be called “Jesus”, “holy”, and “the Son of God” (1:31-33, 35). Thus far, the child has been named “Jesus” (2:21) and described as “holy” (2:23), however, only in the pericope does he emerge as the Son of God (2:48-49). Secondly, with the account of Mary’s διατηρέω (thoughtful, careful, continual keeping) in 2:51b, and the predominance on the identification of Jesus’ father (2:49), the context of the pericope is a reminder of the enduring weight in Luke 1-2 on defining decorously the implication of these episodes and individuals in God’s history of deliverance. Thirdly, and pre-eminently, the 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. J.B. Green, The Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 154. J.T. Carroll, Luke: A Commentary (Louisville: John Know Westminster, 2012), 82. Carroll, Luke, 84. Green, The Gospel of Luke, 153. Carroll, Luke, 84. 1 pericope is united to its greater context by the “John-Jesus” congruence so ubiquitous in 1:52:52. Explicitly, the pericope finds its coextension in 1:80, mutually providing succinct and corresponding accounts of their subjects; while eliciting the expectation of their subjects’ future public appearances – John’s public ministry to Israel is imminently projected, whereas Jesus’ is preveniently existing in the temple event. Distinct from the one-verse summation allocated to John, Jesus receives two such summations, a graphic narrative, and remarks about his mother’s treasuring “all these things in her heart” (2:51b). The context of the temple story – ending in parental witlessness (2:50): an unexpected event, in light of 2:39-40 – and the διατηρέω of 2:51b together serve as a reflective, interpretive coextension to the whole narrative of Luke 1-2, and notably, to provide a bridge within the story.6 Parallels One can hear paralleling echoes in 1 Samuel 1-2 – frequent words and phrases resonating – uniting the context and the subtext of the pericope. At large, with substantial literary cleverness, Luke narrates his story thusly to evoke that the birth and the early years of Jesus occupy – so centrally – a role in the long culmination of God’s salvific goal.7 J.T. Carroll advocates that Luke has rooted his Gospel so securely in Israel’s history and Scripture that he parallels the events and circumstances around Samuel’s and Jesus’ birth and childhood.8 Both births were marked by God’s miraculous intervention, which result in the respective mothers, Hannah and Mary, offering a (similar) prayer of thanksgiving (1 Samuel 2:1-10; Luke 1:46-55). Expressly, both Hannah and Mary accentuate that God humbles the proud and exalts the humble. Just as Mary and Joseph did, Hannah and Elkanah routinely travelled on pilgrimages to worship God (1 Samuel. 1:3; Luke 2:41). Samuel, in his youth, served under Eli the priest (1 Samuel 2:11), whereas Jesus deliberated facets of Torah with teachers at the Temple in Jerusalem “when he was twelve years old” (2:46-47). Luke also underlines the correlation between Samuel and Jesus when he writes: “Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour” (2:52), an ostensible allusion to 1 Samuel 2:26. 6. 7. 8. Green, The Gospel of Luke, 153. B. Byrne, The Hospitality of God: A Reading of Luke’s Gospel (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2000), 18. Cf. Green, The Gospel of Luke, 149. Carroll, Luke, 24. There is also a strong correlation between Samuel and John’s Lukan birth narrative. 2 David Daube highlights, that within rabbinic lore the boy Samuel, on one occasion, challenged and corrected Eli on a technical detail concerning sacrificial rites. If this anecdote survived the first century, it could advance why Luke saw Samuel's childhood as archetypal of Jesus' childhood.9 Social and Cultural Background Brendan Byrne suggests that Luke only had a cursory “book knowledge”10 of relevant Torah legal requirements and therefore has conflated two distinct legal obligations within a Temple setting: 1. Firstborn males (Exodus 13:1 and 13:11-16); 2. The cleansing of the mother of a child approximately forty days after childbirth (Leviticus 12:1-8). By his conflation, Luke firstly underlines the fidelity of the family, and secondly “provides a motive for bringing Jesus to Jerusalem and presenting him”11 to God. However, Luke’s mixing of the two cultic requirements has a deeper context formed by the infancy stories, namely, Jesus at the Temple (2:21-52). Firstly, as an eight-day old infant, circumcised and presented (2:22-40), and secondly, as a lost and found twelve-year-old boy (2:41-51). Structure There are two literary structures within the pericope; the first forms an inclusio. J.B Green proposes that 2:39-40 forms an inclusio event with 2:21-24.12 However, Joseph B. Tyson suggest that 2:39-40 forms a much larger inclusio event.13 Beginning in Luke 1:8-11, before the births of John and Jesus, with Zechariah in the temple (Luke 1:8-11), continuing through Jesus' birth (2:1-8) and closing with Jesus' family in the temple (2:22-40) – establishing Jesus’ preliminary βῐyος. Secondly (excluding v.39), a chiastic structure (2:40-52) showing the relationship between the different facets of the pericope. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. David Daube, The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism (Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), 13-14. Byrne, The Hospitality of God, 34. Byrne, The Hospitality of God, 34. Green, The Gospel of Luke, 152. Joseph B. Tyson, Literary Studies in Luke-Acts: Essays in Honour of Joseph B. Tyson, Ed. Richard P. Thompson, Thomas E. Phillips (Mercer University Press, 1998), 187. 3 A Filled with wisdom and the favour of God (v.40) σοφία, χάρις B His parents went to Jerusalem (vv.41-42) ἐπορεύοντο C His parents did not know it (v.43) οὐκ ἔγνωσαν D They returned to Jerusalem to look for him. (vv.44-45) ἀναζητοῦντες E After three days they found him in the temple (v.46) εὑρίσκω D’ Your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety (v.48) ἐζητοῦμέν C’ But they did not understand what he said to them (v.50) οὐ συνῆκαν B’ He went down with them and came to Nazareth (v.51) κατέβη A’ Increased in wisdom and the favour of God (v.52) σοφία, χάρις Commentaries on Jesus’ flourishing in wisdom and favour brackets 2:41-51 (vv.40, 52), and the event at the heart of the pericope demonstrates his wisdom (vv.46-47). Yet, Jesus’ awareness has to do predominantly with his relationship with God and the effects it holds for his life and calling.14 Analysis 39-40 Whatever length the conceived inclusio might be (Green: beginning at 2:21-24; Tyson: beginning at 1:8-11), it is clear that v.39 forms the finishing bracket concluding this section of Jesus’ infancy narrative. Guided by the literary fidelity repetitions from Luke 1:5 onwards, the narrator once again draws our attention to the faithfulness of Jesus’ parents – “they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord”. Hereafter (v.40), this concluding comment tells us that Jesus will be nurtured in a family headed by parents who hold to God’s objective. Carroll cites that in the biographies of great men, it was wont to show them, even as children, exhibiting the strength of character they demonstrated as adult protagonists.15 14. Carroll, Luke, 85. 15. Carroll, Luke, 83. 4 Luke alone amid the canonical Gospels has the only recorded incident of Jesus’ youthful years a narrative that builds a link to his life as an adult and reveals him confirming the prerogative titles made of him earlier in the account. The stage is now set for Jesus’ public ministry, but not before the transitional pericope delays its leave and loiters around Jesus’ youth, waiting for “him to find his voice as the Son of God.”16 41-49 We have received recurrent evidence collaborating the consummate faithfulness of Joseph and Mary (cf. 2:21-24, 27, 39), confirming that Jesus would be nurtured in a godly household – a witness designed to exemplify the growth of the child Jesus in wisdom and divine favour. First, as we would assume of a devout Jewish family, journeys to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover were yearly (v.41) and long-established (v.42) – stressing that Jesus’ family is a household that serves God.17 The parents’ unproductive hunt for their lost son creates tension (vv.43-45); since Jesus is not with the Nazarene caravan – “the group of travellers” (v.44) – which Alfred Plummer highlights, could have consisted of the inhabitants of a village or of several villages.18 Totally ignorant of Jesus’ decision to remain behind (v.43), his parents make the journey back to Jerusalem, and after a three day search of the festival, they finally locate Jesus “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (v.46). The focal interest is now shifted from the Passover ceremonial to Jesus’ self-awareness (v.47), amid his parents’ lack of understanding (vv.43, 49, 50) and in the face of the earlier extraordinary revelations they have been party to.19 Eye-opening revelations have seemingly slipped Mary’s mind – the things she treasured in her heart were undoubtedly briefly eclipsed by her frustration (v.48a). One would expect the boy to have bowed his head, shamed by the scolding and his reckless thoughtlessness. Not so, Jesus’ reply (the Gospel’s first pronouncement story) moves the attention from his error to their own. In response to the reprimand of his mother, comes a tender reproof within his questioning response (v.49). Then, perhaps deliberately, in answer to Mary’s mention of Joseph as his father (v.48b), Jesus quantifies that he was in his Father’s 16. Carroll, Luke, 81. 17. Green, The Gospel of Luke, 154. 18. Alfred Plummer, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Luke (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1969), 75. 19. Carroll, Luke, 84. 5 house (vs.49), rightly where the Son should have been. 50-52 Wanting a resolution, the scene draws to a close without Mary or Joseph truly comprehending what was transpiring (v.50). The public ministry of Jesus remains future, however, his amazing exchange in the temple furnishes us with a foreshadowing of what is to come.20 Mary “treasured all these things in her heart” (v.51) — an expression evocative of similar responses to the extraordinary in 1:29, 66; 2:19. All she could do was to lay these events beside the others she had experienced, anticipating the day when the significance of everything would become clear. As with Mary, the reader is invited to respond in kind, putting aside hurried conclusions, and maintaining a candidness to the possibilities the story will take as it expounds these themes further. The affair was over as suddenly as it transpired and Luke’s birth narrative achieves its climax on a positive note. Jesus went home with his parents, back to Nazareth, to live with them, and was “obedient to them” (v.51). Yet, life would never be moderately the same. Jesus’ flourishing; physically, spiritually, and socially continued (v.52). Two decades would elapse until the public ministry of Jesus would start, however, his awareness of devotion and mission regarding his vocation can be observed, even in this childhood episode. The Lukan Community: What the Passage Reveals The Lukan Gospel, unlike a Pauline letter, is not a style of writing that deals clearly and effectively with the immediate and specific problems of a particular community.21 John K. Riches highlighted this when he said: “Luke's parish seems to be a wider one than that of either of the other two Synoptic evangelists, and his concerns are those of the emerging churches with its various settlements scattered across the Empire.”22 The literal and broad purpose of the Lukan Gospel is that of a journey: shaping the disposition of communities for the long distance. Therefore, the pericope is a part of Luke’s rich and significant journey narrative; scooping up all church communities far flung from the geography, tradition, history and 20. Green, The Gospel of Luke, 157. 21. Robert C. Tannehill, Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: Luke, (Abingdon Press, 2011), 24. 22. John K. Riches, “The Synoptic Evangelist and Their Communities”, Christian Beginnings: Word and Community from Jesus to Post-apostolic Times, Ed. Jürgen Beckerm (Westminster John Knox Press, 1993), 233. 6 religious practices of Christian beginnings. The Lukan narrative provides way-points and entry levels – for an outsider to join the journey, and to be an initiated and intimate part of the story.23 The journey that began with the annunciation event, and led a young mother with child to Bethlehem, did not end there. With large story-patterns, particularly the pericope’s context within the infancy narrative, repeated echoes of words and expressions from earlier stories come into focus, for example: Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-10).24 Luke’s infancy stories inform the far-off reader that they too can be caught up in the on-going journey – the neverending story, that the reader can go on treasuring in their hearts (2:19, 51). Luke advances a challenge to his communities – then and now – to be a witness to the miracle and joy that endures at the core of this specific account of the birth and childhood of Jesus of Nazareth: Holy, Saviour, Son of God.25 Theological Conclusion As often in Luke’s Gospel, a deft suggestion to the Old Testament is the basis of his illustration. To “keep” or “treasure” (διατηρέω) something in one’s heart is a regular refrain in the Old Testament (see, for example, Genesis 37:11; 1 Samuel 1:13; Malachi 2:2; Proverbs 31:11; Psalm 119:11; Daniel 1:8; 4:28; 7:28). Such a refrain is often found in circumstances where individuals have had some kind of revelation from God, which is wholly outside the understanding of the individual. In such circumstances, two responses are likely. One can simply be “amazed”, and move on (2:18). Conversely, in harmony with biblical wisdom, those who treasure in their hearts do not cast-off the unfathomable. For the faithful, the revelation is guarded and meditated upon, unpretentiously awaiting God’s time. Importantly, Luke used this Old Testament motif to speak into the posture of Mary.26 The circumstances that surround Mary are indeed amazing and confusing (1:32-35; 2:48-50), however at no time in these accounts is Mary depicted as a woman in charge of her own circumstances. Repeatedly, she is depicted as someone who is wholly open to God’s directions, as she “treasures” the christologically unfathomable, and confidently anticipates the completeness of God’s revelation in God’s time. 23. 24. 25. 26. Francis J. Moloney, The Living Voice of the Gospel: The Gospels Today (Collins Dove, 1986), 112-113. Byrne, The Hospitality of God, 18. Moloney, The Living Voice of the Gospel, 113. Moloney, The Living Voice of the Gospel, 110-111. 7 Through the value of the phrase “to treasure in one's heart”, Luke has equally located Mary first amongst all believers, and simultaneously he has revealed, through her, the focal import of God's salvific history. This history is not ours to determine. Accordingly, she is the exemplar for disciples of all ages,27as we are persuaded anew, not only to journey in faith, but to also διατηρέω. 27. Moloney, The Living Voice of the Gospel, 112. 8 Bibliography Brown, Raymond E. The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in the Gospels of Matthew & Luke. Doubleday: New York, 1999, 235-255. Byrne, B. The Hospitality of God: A Reading of Luke’s Gospel. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2000. Carroll, J.T. Luke: A Commentary. Louisville: John Know Westminster, 2012. Daube, David. The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism. Hendrickson Publishers, 1994. Green, J.B. The Gospel of Luke. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997. Riches, John K. “The Synoptic Evangelist and Their Communities”, Christian Beginnings: Word and Community from Jesus to Post-apostolic Times. Ed. Jürgen Beckerm, Westminster John Knox Press, 1993, 213-241. Moloney, Francis J. The Living Voice of the Gospel: The Gospels Today. Collins Dove, 1986. Plummer, Alfred. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Luke. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1969. Tannehill, Robert C. Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: Luke. Abingdon Press, 2011 Tyson, Joseph B. Literary Studies in Luke-Acts: Essays in Honour of Joseph B. Tyson. Ed. Richard P. Thompson, Thomas E. Phillips, Mercer University Press, 1998. 9