ACC ~ Luke 2 v39 - 40

JESUS IS FILLED WITH WISDOM

ORIGEN: In the Gospel of Luke, the Holy Spirit writes this of him before he reached the age of twelve: “But the boy grew and was strengthened, and he was filled with wisdom.” Human nature itself does not permit this, that wisdom is perfected before the twelfth year of life. It is one thing to participate in wisdom, another thing to be filled with wisdom… .

The Son of God “had emptied himself,” [1] and, for that reason, again he is filled with wisdom. “And the grace of God was upon him.” He possessed the grace of God not when he reached young manhood, not when he taught openly, but already when he was a small child. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 19.1-2. [2]

[1] Phil 2:7.

[2] FC 94:80-81.

THE WORD MANIFESTED WISDOM PROPORTIONAL TO THE AGE THE BODY ATTAINED

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Do not think to yourself, “How can God grow?” “How can he who gives grace to angels and to men receive fresh wisdom?” Rather reflect upon the great skill with which we are initiated into his mystery. For the wise Evangelist did not introduce the Word in his abstract and incorporeal nature. He says of him that “he increased in stature and wisdom and grace,” but after having shown that he was born in the flesh of a woman and took our likeness, he then assigns to him these human attributes. Only then does he call him a child and say that he grew in stature, as his body grew little by little, in obedience to corporeal laws. So he is said also to have increased in wisdom, not as receiving fresh supplies of wisdom. God is perceived by the understanding to be entirely perfect in all things and altogether incapable of being destitute of any attribute suitable to the Godhead. So God the Word gradually manifested his wisdom proportionally to the age which the body had attained.

The body then advances in stature, and the soul, in wisdom. The divine nature is capable of increase in neither one nor the other, seeing that the Word of God is all perfect. With good reason be connected the increase of wisdom with the growth of the bodily stature, because the divine nature revealed its own wisdom in proportion to the measure of the bodily growth. COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 5. [1]

[1] CGSL 63-64**.

WHY LUKE OMITS THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT

BEDE: Luke here omits that which he knew was already sufficiently recorded by Matthew. After this the Lord, lest he be discovered and slaughtered by Herod, was taken into Egypt by his parents. When Herod was dead, he returned finally to Galilee, and began to live in his own village of Nazareth. Individual Evangelists are prone to omit certain things, which they see were recorded by others, or which they foresee in the Spirit will be recorded by others, so that in the continuous thread of their narration nothing seems omitted. What has thus been passed over, the diligent reader will discover by carefully going through each of the Gospels in turn. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 2.39. [1]

[1] SSGF 1:168-69.