The stories about Jesus’ infancy in the first few
chapters of the Gospels of Luke and Matthew are not legends or
imaginative reconstructions. They are not “midrash” either, that is, interpretations of the Scriptures through narrations, typical of Hebrew literature.
They are “history, history which really took place, history which was certainly interpreted and understood on the basis of the Word of God.”
Benedict XVI writes this in “The Infancy Narratives” (Rizzoli- Vatican Publishing House, pp. 174), the third volume in the series of books dedicated to Jesus of Nazareth. This book is shorter than the other two. The first was about Jesus’ public life and the second about his passion, death and resurrection.
The Pope goes back to writing as a theologian and exegete, completing a work he had wanted to write for years, with a volume on Christ’s birth.
He finished the book despite the fact he was elected as Pope in the Conclave held after the death of John Paul II.
Luke and Matthew’s sources
Who told Luke and Matthew the story contained in their narrations?, Ratzinger asked himself. To which he responds: this is obviously based on family tradition.
“Sometimes” Luke “alludes to the fact that Mary herself was one of his sources,” when he writes: “Her mother held all these things in her heart.”
“Only she could tell the story of the Annunciation.”
The Pope admits that the modern “critical” exegesis considers such links “naïve”, but asks himself: “Why would Luke have made up the comment about Mary holding words and events in her heart, if there was no concrete reference to this?”
He also explains that the late appearance of the Marian traditions in particular, is explained by the Virgin Mary’s discretion”: These “could not become public tradition” until her death.
Mary, “a courageous woman”
Regarding Mary’s reaction to the Angel’s announcement – from the emotion it caused to the inner reflection on the message received – the Pope writes: “Mary comes across as a courageous woman who is able to maintain self control even in the face of unexpected events. At the same time, she is presented as a deeply spiritual woman who uses her heart and reason to think and tries to understand the context of God’s message in its totality.”
The virgin birth. Myth or truth?
Benedict XVI demonstrates that he does not believe one little bit in the comparison put forward in the history of religions, between the “virgin birth of Jesus” and the myths about unions between humans and deities.”
There are no real parallels.
The Gospel stories completely preserve the uniqueness of the one unique God and the infinite difference between God and creation. There is no mixing; no demigod … The narrations in Matthew and Luke’s Gospels are not myths that have been developed further” and in terms of their concrete content, they come from the family tradition, they form part of a transmitted tradition that preserves events.”
Therefore, Ratzinger concludes, the answer to the question regarding the truth of what the Creed says about the birth of the Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born from the Virgin Mary, “is definitely yes.”
With Jesus’ birth comes the end of astrology
Regarding the star which guided the Three Wise Men in Matthew’s Gospel, Benedict XVI recalled that “between 7 and 6 BC – which today is considered to be the likely date of Jesus’ birth – there was a conjunction of the planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.”
According to the great astronomer Kepler, a supernova explosion occurred in addition to this and there seems to be trace of this on Chinese time charts dating back to 4 BC.
Quoting Gregory of Nazianzus, the Pope writes that “the moment when the Wise Men bowed down before Jesus, signalled the end of astrology because as of that moment, the stars are said to have followed the orbit established by Christ.”
The massacre of the Innocents
It is true, Benedict XVI observes that “biblical sources tell us nothing about this event, but taking into account all the cruelty Herod was guilty of, this does not prove that this misdeed did not take place.”
The Pope shares the opinion of Jewish author Schalit: “The suspicious despot sensed betrayal and hostility everywhere and a vague rumour he heard could have easily planted the idea of killing children that had recently been born in his ill mind.”
Ratzinger claims he is convinced that these “are historical events, whose meaning was interpreted theologically by the Jewish-Christian community and by Matthew.”
Freedom in the family
Finally, the Pope focuses on the episode, found in Luke’s Gospel alone, where a twelve year old Jesus is found by his parents in the Temple of Jerusalem, after they had lost sight of him on their return from the Easter pilgrimage.
Mary and Joseph notice his absence after one day.
“This may surprise us given our possibly small-minded perception of the Holy Family. But it is a beautiful illustration of how freedom and obedience went hand in hand in the Holy Family. The twelve year old was given the freedom to decide whether to join his peers and friends and spend the journey with them.”
Jesus was found teaching some doctors in the Temple. His response to his concerned parents, to Mary who scolded him, was: “I am exactly where I am meant to be – in my Father’s house … It is not Joseph who is my father, it is Another – God himself.”