When his parents saw
him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Child, why have you
treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in
great anxiety. (Luke 2:48 NRSV)
Commenting on this verse, John Nolland
wrote the following:
The parents’
amazement has a different cause from that in v. 47. The growing apprehension about
the boy’s safety and well-being that the three-day separation has produced in
the parents stands in sharpest contrast to Jesus’ total preoccupation with
other matters. It is a little surprising that the mother should speak, but she
makes it clear that she speaks for both parents, and at a literary level, only
with Mary as speaker can we get the pairing of “your father” (ο πατηρ μου) and “my Father” (του πατρος μου, v. 49). Note the
prominence given to “your father” by what is, for Greek, the odd word order “your
father and I.” Pesch (BZ 12 [1968] 245-48) has argued that not only does
τι εποιησας ημιν ουτως “why have you done this to us,” reflects a fixed formula of accusation (cf. Gen 12:18; 20:9; 26:10; 29:25; Exod 14:11;
Num 23:11; Judg 15:11) but that also the accusation involved is always one of
deception or betrayal. Jesus is accused of having betrayed his parents, that
is, of having betrayed the calling that was his as son of Joseph. οδυνασθαι, “to cause pain,” is
a strong term used elsewhere in the NT only at Luke 16:24-25; Acts 20:38. (John
Nolland, Luke 1-9:20 [Word Biblical Commentary 35A; Dallas: Word Books,
1989], 130-31, emphasis in bold added)