1998 Luke’s Infancy Narrative (Prison Writings)

1998 Luke’s Infant Narrative (Prison Writings)

Reflection by Fr. Frank Cordaro, December 1998

Luke’s Infant Narrative:

Luke will raise many of the same concerns and themes and use many of the same Old Testament references as Matthew does in his infant narrative. However, Luke will do so in an entirely different way, with a different sequence of events, from an entirely different perspective. In Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth the main actors and speakers are two women, two pregnant peasant Jewish women; Elizabeth and Mary. It is from their point of view that the story is told. Luke tells his story by telling us the story of John the Baptist’s birth along side of Jesus’ birth. The account presents parallel scenes of angelic announcements of their births, of the births themselves, of their circumcisions and presentations. In each sequence Jesus’ importance over John is noted.

Announcement of the Birth of John (LK 1:5-25)

Luke’s infant story begins by introducing us to Zechariah and Elizabeth, a righteous couple before the Lord but childless. Zechariah was of the priestly clan. Once while in Jerusalem serving in the temple, Zechariah was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary to bum incense. The angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and told him that his wife, Elizabeth will bear a son and he shall be named John. Gabriel tells Zechariah that John will be great in the sight of the Lord, filled with the Holy Spirit and in the spirit and power of Elijah he will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. Zechariah voices his doubts, how can this be, he and Elizabeth were too old to have children. Right then and there the angel strikes Zechariah dumb. He will not speak again until all that the angel had said comes to pass.

Zechariah blew it! Once his doubt was voiced he was struck dumb. Now all the action shifts from the temple and the center of institutional Israel to its margins and the homes of the poor and humble. The drama also moves from the world of men to the world of women.

Announcement of the Birth of Jesus (LK 1: 26-38)

Six months later, the angel Gabriel goes to Nazareth to the home of Mary, a virgin betrothed to Joseph of the house of David. Gabriel tells Mary that she will bear a son and she will name him Jesus. This child will be the son of the Most High, a king like David whose rule will last forever. Mary asks how this can be since she has no relations with a man. Gabriel senses no doubt in Mary’s concern. He tells her she shall conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit. As a sign of what he is telling Mary is true, Gabriel tells Mary that Elizabeth, her relative has also conceived in her old age for nothing is impossible for God. Mary freely assents to what Gabriel was asking of her. Thus the great divine mystery of the incarnation.–“God made man”, in human history, in time and space, in bone and flesh with the free consent of this simple, lowly, Jewish, young and virgin woman.

Mary visits Elizabeth (LK: 1:39-45)

The most pro-life, pro-birth, scene in all of scripture, Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, two pregnant peasant Jewish women meet to support each other. In modem terms, each considered a problem pregnancy. Elizabeth, thought to be too old to have a child, is now six months into an unplanned pregnancy. In the same situation today, she would be a frequent visitor to the doctor, assigned a special counselor to deal with the stress and anxiety of an untimely birth and a sought after guest for television talk shows. Mary a child herself, just old enough to conceive is with child and the baby is not the child of the man she is engaged to. She would be a prime candidate for the abortion mill, a quick fix to a sticky problem. Yet neither of the women sees their pregnancies as problems but as reasons to rejoice and to be thankful to God for his abundant blessings!  Mary travels the hill country to Elizabeth to be of help. No sooner does she enter Elizabeth’s home than the yet to be born John the Baptist leaps in his mother’s womb. [Oh I really like the Baptist; even before his birth he makes his mission known.] Elizabeth taking her lead from her unborn son puts words to John’s leaping “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Elizabeth the older pays homage to Mary the younger for her great leap of faith to take and accept at face value the mysterious and unexplainable mission God has entrusted to her.

Mary’s magnificat (Lk: 1:46-56)

Filled with over flowing joy from Elizabeth’s greeting and affirmation Mary sings out her famous Magnificat, a song and prayer of praise and thanks for what God is doing “in” her. In the Magnificat Luke lays out the socio-economic and political implications of the birth of Jesus. What Matthew makes clear in the dramatic plot of his infant narrative, Luke spells out in this song of Mary’s. Little wonder that Mary’s Magnificat is the scriptural anthem for liberation theologians.

The Birth of John the Baptist (LK: 1:57-80)

John is born. When the time came for him to be circumcised Elizabeth declared his name was to be John. Relatives and neighbors are confused. They consult Zechariah. Zechariah is given a tablet to write on. He writes, “John is his name.” No sooner does he do this than his speech is returned to him. Zechariah lets loose with his own song of praise. Confirming much of what Mary proclaimed in her Magnificat. And he cites the mission of his son John, “and you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.” All present were amazed and wondered what this child would be and do.

Birth of Jesus (LK: 2:1-20)

Caesar calls for a worldwide census. Everyone must respond. In Palestine that means each must go to their region and city of origin. For Joseph betrothed to Mary, that meant they must go to Bethlehem the city of David because Joseph was of the family of David.

According to Luke’s version of the birth of Jesus, the political ‘powers that be’ are left in the dark. They are out of the loop, no star to guide them. All the action takes place on the margins of society, far away from the main stream, in the poorest and humblest of settings.  When Joseph and Mary get to Bethlehem, Mary’s time to give birth to Jesus was upon them. With no room for them in the Bethlehem inn they had to settle for a manger on the outskirts of town. Jesus’ first home was a barn, his first bed an animal feeding trough and his first clothes bam yard rags. In this story of the Savior’s birth an inhospitable world can only afford him a pinhole of space, a crack in human society to be born. But it is just enough, all that is needed to bring God’s son into the world.

Luke’s birth announcement is heavenly in origin but not as cosmic or public as Matthew’s. A host of heavenly angels appears to a group of shepherds in fields surrounding Bethlehem. The first and greatest Christmas concert is given to a bunch of no account shepherds. So insignificant are shepherds in the socio-economic pecking order that their numbers were not important to Caesar’s census-they did not count. Yet in the socio-economic pecking order of the kingdom of God these shepherds ranked high. They were the chosen representatives of the human race to be told of the birth of the Messiah, the Savior of the world. After their heavenly concert they went to see the body of Jesus and pay their respects. They found the Holy Family just as they were told and left praising God for what they saw. And the text says Mary kept all these things in her heart.

Jesus is circumcised and is named (LK: 2:21)

Jesus is presented in temple (LK: 2:22-40)

At the appropriate time and in accordance with Moses’ law Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to officially present him as their first born son. The story comes full circle. It started with Zechariah in the sanctuary of the temple and now ends with Jesus’ presentation in the temple.

Mary and Joseph do what the law prescribes. They pay a poverty level ‘sliding scale’ fee for the services. Nothing special about this presentation as far as official temple clergy and their records are concerned. Poor parents do as much every Temple business day of the year.

However a couple of people at the temple did take notice of Jesus and his parents. They were nobody that the official temple cult would recognize but elders whom the Holy Spirit inspired. They were Simeon a righteous and devout man and Anna the prophetess. Both praised God for the child and the promise he would fulfill.  Simeon took Jesus in his arms and thanked God for fulfilling his promise to him that he would live to see the Messiah before his death. He looked at Mary and said, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”  After they did what the law prescribed, they moved back to Nazareth where they lived and raised Jesus.

And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. (LK 2:19)

It may be an unfortunate happenstance of our times but to the modem mind our Mary dogmas are problematic and often serve to distance Mary from the central faith experience of the believing Christians. Part of the problem is the dogmas themselves. While true in themselves, they are not the whole truth. They squarely put Mary in her heavenly realm but do little to affirm her earthly being. Lets face it, how many women in our lives do we know who are immaculately conceived, virgin mothers and when dead, bodily assumed into heaven? The issue again is not what is true but what is a balance of truth.

Luke’s portrait of Mary in his infant narrative goes a long way in balancing the heavenly characteristics of our Mary dogmas with her human existence. In Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth, Mary’s humble assent to cooperate with God’s divine plan tells the story of a humble Jewish peasant girl’s blind and radical faith in her unseen God. And according to Luke the true records of these early happenings were imprinted on Mary’s heart, a very human heart filled with all the love and joy any mother would have for her child. It would be the same motherly heart that would experience the full measure of sorrow and pain that came with witnessing her son’s passion and death.

Rev. Frank Cordaro, a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Des Moines in Iowa, is currently imprisoned as part of the “Gods of Metal Plowshares” witness. On May 17, 1998 Srs. Ardeth Platte and Carol Gilbert, Ms. Kathy Shields-Boylan, Rev. Frank Cordaro and Lawrence Morlan began disarming a B-52 bomber at Andrews Air Force base in Maryland, thus beating a nuclear sword into a plowshare. They await sentencing in January 1999.