They Did Not Understand the Statement Which He Spoke to Them

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Keraza Magazine issue 31-32 August 12, 2016

In the life of St. Mary, and her relationship with the Lord Christ, are many mysteries which she lived with Him since her pregnancy with Him. Someone meditating in the Holy Bible would drift in thought, trying to imagine how the Virgin spent every moment of thirty-three years in the presence of Christ on earth. During those years, how did she carry Him, nurse Him, watch His face, look into His eyes, cuddle Him, kiss Him, sit with Him, talk with Him, listen to Him, feed Him, take care of Him, in short, how did she experience His presence for her, and her presence for Him? If the mind is unable, no matter how it tries, to comprehend that relationship in all its minute details, yet the heart yearns eagerly and zealously over the beloved God, until it unites with this God on the same level that the Virgin united with Him.

Perhaps the reason divine Economy refrained from mentioning such specific details in the Holy Bible was to assure that the path of every human soul, represented by St. Mary, in her relationship with God, is a mysterious path that matures within the chambers of the heart, behind closed doors, away from observation: "A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed" (Song of Solomon 4:12).

However, the Holy Bible did intentionally mention that the Virgin’s unity with Christ did not guarantee her full understanding of all His Economy. When the shepherds saw the Child Jesus and told of the words which were spoken concerning Him, the Virgin "kept all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19); when she heard the words of Simeon the elder, "Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him" (Luke 2:33); and, when Jesus responded to the Virgin’s rebuke (when He remained in the temple) that He must be about His Father’s business, it was said of her and of Joseph: "But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them… but His mother kept all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:50-51). As if the spirit experiences the continual presence of God before the mind experiences understanding; surety of faith occurs before the mind sees. Therefore, the spiritual puzzle and the veiling of the mind from spiritual insight is an integral part of the spiritual path. Spiritual perception and intelligence are not complete from the first moment of being born of the Spirit, but they grow just as a child’s perception and mind grow. As if God is addressing every human soul that gradually grows spiritually: "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now" (John 16:12). The Lord Christ spoke to the multitudes "in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them" (Matthew 13:34), yet He told His disciples, "The time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father" (John 16:25). This means that the confusion of not knowing is a transitional state, connected with spiritual childhood, through which all spiritual giants have passed, like Abraham who went out not knowing, Job who struggled to understand, the Virgin and Joseph who wondered without understanding, and St. Paul who summed up this experience: "We are perplexed, but not in despair" (2 Corinthians 4:8). Continuing to walk along the path, despite looking "in a mirror, dimly" is an evidence of a faith that awaits patiently the fulfillment of the promise that says, "but then face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Bishop Youssef
Bishop, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States