Friday, October 16, 2020

John Nolland on Luke 2:48 and Mary Accusing Jesus of Betraying Herself and Joseph

 

 

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)

 

 Luke had no issue of having Mary issue a false accusation against Jesus in his Gospel. This shows that Luke and the earliest Christians knew nothing about the personal sinlessness, let alone the Immaculate Conception, of Mary.


For more on Mariology, see my book:


Behold the Mother of My Lord: Towards a Mormon Mariology (2017)