And he said to them, “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” – Luke 2:49
To follow on from last week’s post on the Presentation, this week we shall be examining Heinrich Hofmann’s Jesus in the Temple (1881) to complete the series on the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, began with the first main post on this blog.
German painter Heinrich Hofmann was well known for his paintings of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, particularly illustrations of His ministry around Galilee. Hofmann shows Jesus surrounded by some doctors and scholars of the Law, as St. Luke’s gospel recounts: After three days [Mary and Joseph] found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers (Lk 2:46-47). Even though in this scene, no one’s mouths are open, it is clear that a complex discussion is occurring. With his hand, the young Jesus points to a book held by one of the scholars as the other figures in the image all stare intently at Him and what He is presumably saying. While we are never told in the gospel what questions Jesus asked, the painting expresses without words that the Child is speaking with an understanding beyond that of a boy His age, for He is speaking with a greater authority on the Law than even the wisest teacher in the Temple (Mt 7:28-29).
However, Jesus is not only being the true Teacher in His words in this Mystery, but also in His actions. Jesus demonstrates even at an early age that the will of His Father takes the ultimate precedence, even above those of His very holy, yet still human, parents. To fulfill the Father’s will was the reason Christ was sent to us. This is indeed the reason that Jesus gives to His Mother when questioned about why He left them for three days. Jesus shows a true detachment from the world; that the will of God is of more importance than our own human wills and attachments. Nevertheless, discerning God’s will can be a complicated matter, and Mary and Joseph’s reaction illustrates this well: they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them (Lk 2:50). Pope St. John Paul II summarises the Mystery in such words: “The revelation of his mystery as the Son wholly dedicated to his Father's affairs proclaims the radical nature of the Gospel, in which even the closest of human relationships are challenged by the absolute demands of the Kingdom.” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 20)
One interesting feature in this painting is that all the figures surrounding Jesus appear engrossed by His questions and answers. Other artists who have depicted this scene occasionally will portray some of the scholars and doctors as disinterested, or even resentful of Jesus, foreshadowing the eventual hatred and betrayal He would experience from the Jewish scribes and Pharisees. Hofmann is thus more positive in his portrayal of the scene. This attentiveness can serve as a reminder that we also need to be attentive to what Christ says to us, whether it be through prayer, inspirations, or through what we read in Scripture. By pointing to the book held by one of the doctors, Jesus identifies Himself with the Scriptures that the Jews so venerated. Unlike some of the scribes, let us find Jesus and listen to His voice as He speaks through the Scriptures, for, as Jesus said in another scene in the synagogue: Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing (Lk 4:21).
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