Marie de Nazareth
To Jesus, through Mary
Taking a closer look at the beginning and end of the story, we can read an event of the revelation of God, as the revelation on Mount Sinai begins by climbing up (Lk 2: 42) and ends with a descent (Lk 2:51 ). At the temple, situated on the holy mountain of the Lord, Jesus revealed his wisdom in talking with the doctors of the law, and affirms his divine affiliation by suggesting a degree of autonomy in relation to his earthly family.
We can also read a paschal omen as many Fathers of the Church did, as well as several exegetes of today. Here are the paschal hints in the story:
Jerusalem is where the Paschal Lamb of the Jewish Passover was offered and where the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus took place. Jesus stayed at the temple and astonished people by his wisdom. Later Jesus taught crowds in the temple, but the priests, scribes and elders used this as a pretext to sentence him to death. "He taught in the Temple every day.
The chief priests and the scribes, along with the leading citizens, tried to do away with him, but they could not find a way to carry this out because the whole people hung on his words" (Luke 19:47-48).
Jesus stayed at the temple after the feast of Passover (Luke 2:43), and it was also after a supper, i.e. after celebrating the Jewish Passover, that of the Old Covenant, that Jesus gave the bread and wine of the New Covenant. (Lk 22:20-27)
Joseph and Mary were "anxious": the Greek verb expresses the pain of childbirth, and they "searched" (Lk 2:44-48). Similarly, at the time of the Passion, the disciples search (Luke 24:17) and the women seek him (Luke 24:5), but they look among the dead.
Jesus’ parents found him after three days [1] (cf. Luke 2:46) in the temple which is the house of his Father. Likewise, the resurrection of Jesus is announced on the third day after his death. (cf. Luke 24:21) He is now the right hand of the Father: "Now raised to the heights by God's right hand, he has received from the Father the Holy Spirit, who was promised, and what you see and hear is the outpouring of that Spirit" (Acts 2:33). Jesus says that he "must" be in the house of his Father, that he should realize the divine plan. Later, Jesus says he "must" suffer his Passion. [2]
Mary and Joseph did not understand what Jesus told them (cf. Luke 2:50). How should Jesus be in the house of his Father? Why, then, does he descend and go back to Nazareth? Similarly, the disciples did not understand when Jesus spoke about his Passion (cf. Luke 9:45). But there is a big difference between the attitude of disciples and that of Mary, since "his mother stored up all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:51). It was not until the resurrection that everything became clear.
[1 ] The phrase "after three days" is equivalent to the phrase "third day," it refers to the day of God’s mercy, as in the sacrifice of Isaac, the event of Sinai…
[2 ] Lk 9:22; Lk 24:7.26.44.46 depending on the version.
A.SERRA
Cf. A. SERRA, articolo Bibbia, in Nuovo Dizionario di Mariologia,
a cura di S. de Fiores e S. Meo, ed. Paoline, Milano 1985, quarta stampa 1996,
pp.240-245.