In this post, we will begin looking at specific events in
Jesus’ life, and what they reveal about him to us, and our relationship to him. We are going to go through the events of his
life much too quickly. However, throughout
the year, the Church in her liturgy gives us opportunities to mediate on each of these
mysteries/ life events more deeply by making them present to us. Our purpose here is just to give quick
snapshots, and get very basic ideas of what is revealed and taught in each life
event of Our Lord. In this post, we will
focus in on his early life.
First off, there was a lot of preparation done by God
for the coming of Christ. God gradually
revealed himself over thousands of years throughout the Old Testament through
rituals, prophecies and symbols. Over time, the expectation for a Messiah
grew. The immediate preparation was the
person of John the Baptist. In Christ,
God finally reveals himself fully, and he does save, but not in the way it was
expected. During the Advent liturgy each
year, this expectancy for a Messiah is made present to us.
So Jesus is the full revelation of the God, our Savior,
and we need to wait in joyful hope for him.
When he is born,
he is born in a stable. We read in the
Catechism (#525): In this poverty heaven's glory
was made manifest. Christ
became man, and shares in our humanity. If we wish to share in his divinity, we too, must become like a child.
When Jesus is circumcised,
we see his incorporation as a descendant of Abraham, and submission to the
Law. Jesus is a Jew. He was one of the chosen people. By following him, we are chosen as well.
Next up, we have the Epiphany,
in which the Magi, non-Jews, come to Jesus and pay him homage. We read in the Catechism (#528): Their
coming means that pagans can discover Jesus and worship him as Son of God and
Savior of the world only by turning towards the Jews and receiving from them
the messianic promise as contained in the Old Testament. Jesus
is for all people, even as he comes from the chosen people of Israel. We must try to love all, as well, even
those who are not like us, even as we do honor and revere our families of
origin.
At the Presentation of
Jesus in the temple, Jesus is
revealed as the firstborn Son who belongs to the Lord (#529). (Jewish law required first-born sons to be consecrated
to the Lord, but Jesus’ presentation takes on much larger meaning since he is
the first born Son of God, not just the son of Mary and Joseph.) This is also where Jesus is truly recognized
as Messiah. We read further in #529: Jesus is recognized as the long-expected
Messiah, the "light to the nations" and the "glory of
Israel", but also "a sign that is spoken against". We, too, as followers of Christ, must be consecrated
to God. We must be dedicated to him.
The flight into and
return from Egypt is full of meaning.
The Catechism (#530) states: Christ's whole life was lived under the sign
of persecution. His own share it with him. Jesus' departure from Egypt recalls the exodus
and presents him as the definitive liberator of God's people. (It) make(s) manifest the opposition of darkness
to the light. Christ is light,
and because of that, he will suffer because the world is dark. We, too, must be lights that shine in the
darkness, and sometimes, that will cost us, too.
All of the above are considered part of the infancy narrative, which describes Our
Lord’s childhood. The next stage of his
life is what is called his hidden life.
From basically the time he was maybe no more than a few
years old, until the time he was in early 30’s, not much is written about
him. This hidden life is not spoken
about much in homilies because it seems that it lacks meaning or purpose. But the Catechism (#531-#533) has some rich
words about Jesus’ hidden life which I will quote in full here:
During the greater part of his life Jesus shared the condition of the
vast majority of human beings: a daily life spent without evident greatness, a
life of manual labor. His religious life was that of a Jew obedient to the law
of God, a life in the community. From this whole period it is
revealed to us that Jesus was "obedient" to his parents and that he
"increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man."
Jesus' obedience to his mother and legal
father fulfills the fourth commandment perfectly and was the temporal image of
his filial obedience to his Father in heaven. The everyday obedience of Jesus
to Joseph and Mary both announced and anticipated the obedience of Holy
Thursday: "Not my will. . " The obedience of Christ in the
daily routine of his hidden life was already inaugurating his work of restoring
what the disobedience of Adam had destroyed.
The hidden life at Nazareth allows everyone to enter into fellowship
with Jesus by the most ordinary events of daily life:
Jesus is obedient in all things, and so must we be to
whatever our state in life is.
The finding of Jesus
in the temple is the only event that breaks the silence of Jesus’ hidden
years. We read in the Catechism (#534): Here Jesus lets us catch a glimpse of the
mystery of his total consecration to a mission that flows from his divine
sonship: "Did you not know that I must be about my Father's work?"
Mary and Joseph did not understand these words, but they accepted them in
faith. Jesus is totally devoted to his mission, and so must we
be.
In the next post, we will begin to look at the public life of Jesus when as a grown
man, he begins to preach, teach, and heal.
Joseph, foster father of the Son of God, pray for us.
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