6: Infancy Gospels Flashcards
What drove people to be interested in Jesus’ origins (his infancy)?
What did people most want to know about Jesus and in what order?
( 1 ) What Jesus did and what Jesus taught (actions and teachings)
( 2 ) How Jesus suffered and died (passion narratives)
( 3 ) How Jesus rose from the dead
With their curiosity satisfied about Jesus’ life, death and resurrections, only then did people begin to wonder… If Jesus was the messiah and a performer of powerful deeds as an adult, what was he like as a child?
Hence, at a later stage in time, when Matthew and Luke were writing their Gospels, the demand was great enough for them to include an infancy narrative of Jesus
Not the first to be written
The birth narratives are (arguably) the last parts of the Gospels to be created. The Gospels are not history in the strict sense of the term. They were probably the last pieces to be written in order to serve as “overtures” (introductory pieces meant to give reader a foretaste of the plot of the Gospel). When you read the birth narratives, you have the idea of what Jesus is going to be.
Retellings of the narrative are a weave together of Matthew and Luke, thus it is hard to tell them apart.
Canonical Infancy Narratives:
(1) Gospel of Matthew (2) Gospel of Luke
There are only two infancy narratives: one in Matthew and one in Luke. In John, there is a theological reflection.
Of the 4 Gospel writers, only 2 thought that Jesus’ birth was worth writing about
The Nativity Story (one of the more faithful adaptations of the story)
Distinguishing Characteristics of the Birth Narratives in the Non-Canonical Gospels
Christian imagination of the Child Jesus:
They emphasize the Wonder Working characteristics of the Christ Child. Jesus was a working wonder as a child. If Jesus was a wonder worker as an adult in his working ministry, as a child he must have worked lots of miracles. SO the emphasis in these Gospels is that Jesus was a wonder worker as a child too. This shows a growing emphasis on the divinity of Jesus Christ in the faith of early Christianity. As time went on, this image of Jesus became more and more prominent in the hearts and minds of Christians; people became more invested in the divinity of Jesus.
Infancy Narrative of Matthew
Jesus’ Genealogy
Angel Appears to Joseph
Joseph is a main character in Matthew’s story.. The angel appears and tells Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. Joseph is troubled because they have not yet had sex but she is pregnant, but the angel assures him it is a child from God. There is no movement from Nazareth to Bethlehem, so Matthew’s community would assume Mary and Joseph are from Bethlehem.
Visitors: Wise Men from the East
However, they drop by the palace on their way and tell about the new king being born.
Herod’s Plot and Action/Family escapes to Egypt
He is a jealous person, thus becomes furious, he sends out his soldiers to kill all the Hebrew infant boys, Joseph takes Mary to Egypt.
Infancy Narrative of Luke
Announcement of John the Baptist’s Birth
He starts off dramatic, only Luke tells us that John the Baptist’s family is relatives with Jesus’ family.
Announcement of Jesus’ Birth
The angel announces to Mary that she will be Jesus’ mother.
Census/Joseph and Mary move from Nazareth to Bethlehem
The Emperor from Rome orders everyone to take a census (which requires that everyone must go to the town of their ancestors and fill out the census, a census is a form of tax collecting that requires filling out information).
Birth of Jesus
Angelic Appearance Visitors: Poor Shepherds, Jesus’ Circumcision (8 days after birth), Jesus’ Presentation at the Temple (40 days after his birth)
Parents of Our Lady (Proto-Gospel of James)
The mention of the parents of Mary is a major theme in the Infancy Narrative of James
Sts. Joachim and Anne (Parents of Our Lady; Grandparents of Jesus)
By tradition Joachim and Anne are considered to be the names of the parents of Mary, the Mother of God. We have no solid historical evidence. Details cannot be verified historically.
What were the stories told about Mary and her parents in the Proto-Gospel of James?
The legend told in the Gospel of James says that after years of childlessness, an angel appeared to tell Anne and Joachim that they would have a child. Anne promised to dedicate this child to God.
Much like Samuel was dedicated by his mother Hannah in Samuel 1. Hannah is graced with a child, brought the child to the priest, and Samuel became dedicated to the Temple as a Nazarite. The burden of proof is on the miracle.
Thesis: Gospel of James used Samuel 2 to compose his miracle
Whatever their names or the facts of their lives, the truth is that it was the parents of Mary who nurtured Mary, taught her, brought her up to be a worthy Mother of God. It was their teaching that led her to respond to God’s request with faith “Let it be done to me as you will.” It was their example of parenting that Mary must have followed as she brought up her own son, Jesus. It was their faith that laid the foundation of courage and strength that allowed her to stand by the cross as her son was crucified and still believe
Ann is the patron saint of Christian mothers and women in labor.
“Protoevangelium Jacobi”
Latin name for Proto-Gospel of James.
Why “Proto”? “Proto”: an infancy Gospel about the beginnings of Jesus
Anne’s story about how she gave birth to Mary can be compared to the story of Hannah, mother of Samuel, in the Hebrew Bible (1 Samuel 1 here).
Mary lives in the temple like a “temple virgin”
When she reaches 12, she is given in marriage to an old widower (Joseph)
Immaculate Conception
Story about Joseph as an old man with children (#9)
What is the rationale of this piece of literature?
Why is Joseph portrayed as an old man?
Because Mary is portrayed as a virgin
If Joseph is an old man, there is less danger for them to have sex
This view is maintained by the Eastern Church especially, who views Mary as a perpetual virgin
So the brothers and sisters of Jesus are viewed as children of Joseph from a previous marriage
The Catholic Church maintains that these siblings are Jesus’s cousins
Why is it important that Mary is portrayed as very holy, even as a perpetual virgin and without sin from the beginning?
The second Dogma proclaimed by the Church on the Virgin Mary is her Perpetual Virginity, defined under anathema in the third canon of the Lateran Council held in the time of Pope Martin I (649), insisting the Council that Mary remained “ever-Virgin.”
Virgin Mary was a virgin before, during, and perpetually after the birth of Christ, a belief also re-asserted during the first decades of the Protestant reformation.
(antepartum, in partu, post partum)
This is a belief also re-asserted during the first decades of the Protestant reformation.
Even before that, the Council of Constantinople II (553-554) twice referred to Mary as “ever-virgin.”
Other Councils also refer to the perpetual Virginity of Mary as ever-Virgin, and the Dogmas proclaiming the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption also refer to Mary as ever-Virgin.
Story of Salome
Salome: unless I thrust in my finger, and search the parts, I will not believe a virgin has brought forth
Salome is punished for her disbelief and must ask for forgiveness from God. She doubted Mary is a virgin, and stuck her finger in to believe, like the story of Doubting Thomas.
How did the non-canonical gospels portray Jesus as a child? Why? (important!)**
Non-Canonical Infancy Gospels:
( 1 ) Infancy Gospel of James
( 2 ) Infancy Gospel of Thomas
If Jesus was a miracle-working Son of God as an adult, what was he like as a child?
Both of these Gospels present that he was a miracle-working wonder child. Both of these Gospels lean towards the position that Jesus is divine.
The various (“heretical”) Christian groups had their own ideas about who Jesus was, and one of the main questions they debated was: “Was Jesus just a man?”
Yes, Jesus was just a man! (Adoptionists, Ebionites)
Jesus was divine, and only divine. Whatever seemed human was only an appearance. (Gnosticism, Docetism)
Adoptionism: Jesus was just a man, and God adopted him
Gnosticism: The spirit of God possessed him at a certain point in his life
The Proto-Orthodox walked in the middle; the “middle-way”
As Christians became more and more invested in the divinity of Jesus, they began to present him as a child who performed wonders.
Are the Birth Narratives probable stories?
When Jesus goes back to his home town in Nazareth in the Gospels, people are shocked asking who this person is. They are shocked that Jesus has become such a famous person
That indicates that when he was a child, there was nothing extraordinary about him, so it is is an impossible scenario. The Nazareth people in the Gospels are so surprised that Jesus has become a wonder-worker and miracle figure.
