In this section of Luke, and in the story of Jesus’ birth, Luke writes that Mary “kept all these things in her heart.” We know that Luke was not one of the twelve apostles, but an associate later of St. Paul. By guidance of the Holy Spirit, he would have likely written his gospel not from his own experience, like Matthew, but from asking first person sources, like a historian, and for this section, especially Mary. One could imagine Mary telling Luke the story he asked, the one of Jesus’ birth, that we heard on Christmas Eve – but then interjecting – actually, there’s another story, when Jesus was twelve, and it was actually quite embarrassing for me, at the time…
