“And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.”
But they did not understand what he was saying to them — the non-understanding of the parents at Jesus' first self-disclosure is the initial instance of a pattern that will recur throughout the Gospel: those closest to Jesus do not fully understand what he is communicating about his identity and mission. The non-understanding is not culpable — it is the genuine incomprehension of those who have received remarkable revelation but cannot yet hold its full implications.
Church Fathers on Luke 2:50
The Evangelist having said before that the Child grew and waxed strong, verifies his own words when he relates, that Jesus with the holy Virgin went up to Jerusalem; as it is said, And when he was twelve years old, &c.
His indication of wisdom did not exceed the measure of His age, but at the time that with us the powers of discernment are generally perfected, the wisdom of Christ shows itself.
Or the twelfth year was the commencement of our Lord’s disputation with the doctors, for this was the number of the Evangelists necessary to preach the faith.
Read all 27 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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