If you haven’t come across it yet, Anthony Esolen has been writing a series of articles–expositions, really–covering the seven “lively virtues,” counterparts to the more widely-known deadly sins, for Crisis. This morning the third in the series, on meekness, went up. Considering the finding of Christ in the Temple, Esolen writes:
The poet sees what a theologian might miss. Mary has what any mother would consider just cause for anger – what Thomas Aquinas calls parvipensio, to slight, to treat someone as if he counted for little. Yet her words are not angry. She pleads for understanding; she waits for the answer from Jesus. We can imagine the boy shaking his head quizzically, wondering about their wondering. His reply is not defiant, but half amused. Where else did they think he could possibly be? Mary did not understand, but she “kept all these sayings in her heart” (Lk. 2:51). The Greek suggests that she kept watch over them, she held them close, just as she kept and pondered the tidings of the shepherds when Jesus was born (Lk. 2:19).
Mary did not brood; she pondered. She is here our exemplar of meekness, that sweet and mild virtue that, like the soft answer, “turneth away wrath” (Prov. 15:1). Jesus identifies himself with the virtue, saying, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light” (Mt. 11:28-30).
As in much of his work, Esolen blends a critical approach with a meditative mood, and backs it up with ample Scriptural citations and literary allusions (including, of course, to Dante). See his latest here, and his two previous pieces (covering humility and solicitude, respectively) for an engaging read.
May 8th, 2012 | 5:29 pm
Mr. Cantrino,
There are few essayists today who write as eloquently as does Professor Esolen. He is always a pleasure to read, and he always offers new insights from which to learn.
Pax et bonum,
Keith Töpfer
May 9th, 2012 | 8:20 am
Esolen’s article today (Wednesday) at “The Catholic Thing” is also quite good, as always.
May 9th, 2012 | 10:50 am
I had the sense while rereading the story from Luke 2 that the Mary who is puzzled by Jesus’s words is not the same Mary in Luke 1 who is told by the Angel Gabriel, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary speculates that the story of Jesus in the temple comes from a source that is unaware of the virginal conception.
It is interesting that Mary says, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” The “to us” is what makes it interesting. Jesus hasn’t merely done something that, from the point of view of Mary and Joseph, he ought not have. He has done it to them. Characterizing his response as “half amused” does not, in my opinion, make the 12-year-old Jesus endearing. If actors were to read the lines of Mary and Jesus, it seems to me there would be many, many ways to interpret them. Little hint is given in the text as to the emotions expressed. Esolen’s interpretation is not implausible, but it is one of many. I think it may not be helpful to read the story as a little family drama. It allows us to raise the question why, if Jesus says, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” he then disappears from the scene for twenty years.
What are we to make of the fact that Joseph not only doesn’t speak a word here; he doesn’t speak at all in the Gospels.
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