And rising, He went with his mother (who “kept all these words in her heart" [1]) and His foster-father[2] to Nazareth, and was subject to them. And Jesus increased [3] in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men.
COMMENTARY.
The Two Natures in Jesus Christ. Our Lord is at once true God and true Man. The foregoing story manifests both His natures to us. As Man, Jesus was the Child of Mary; as Man, He increased in age, and with time developed into boyhood, youth and manhood. Each of the foregoing chapters testify also to Jesus being true God, though we have hitherto seen the Incarnate Son of God in a state of humility, poverty, and persecution, and have heard no word proceed from His mouth. In this last chapter we hear Jesus speak for the first time, and His words are words of superhuman wisdom, and bear most clear testimony to His divine nature. As soon as Jesus had completed His twelfth year, He was an adult in spiritual matters, so now, for a time, He withdrew Himself from the protection of His parents, and came forward, according to the will of His Father, as a teacher of the law, and allowed a few gleams of His divine wisdom to escape Him, thus preparing the way for His future public appearance as fulfiller of the law and prophets. He Himself refers directly to His divine nature by the words: “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” He calls God His Father, and thus proclaims Himself to be the Son of God. This was our Lord’s first declaration of His Divinity.
- ↑ In her heart. She pondered over them and compared them with what she had heard from the angel, from the wise men, from Simeon &c., and thus she entered more and more deeply into the mystery of Redemption.
- ↑ Foster-father. Our Lord passed among the people for the son of Joseph the carpenter, though He was the Son of God, and St. Joseph was only His foster-father.
- ↑ Increased. Shortly before (Luke 2, 40), the Gospel says: “The Child was full of wisdom”, and yet now (Luke 2, 52) it says: “He advanced in wisdom and grace.” How then is this increase of wisdom to be understood? In a literal sense, Jesus could neither increase nor decrease in wisdom and grace, for from the first moment of His Incarnation He was full of grace and truth (John 1, 14), but He appeared in the eyes of men to increase in wisdom and grace as He advanced in age, by revealing, with increasing years, more and more of the hidden fulness of wisdom and grace which were within Him. Jesus increased in favour with men, because, the more they came in contact with Him, the more they loved and appreciated Him; and in favour with God, because, the more Jesus did for the glory of God, the more His eternal Father was pleased with Him.
