Christmas is over.
In
today's Gospel, Jesus is eight days old.
He's
been presented in the temple; Simeon and Anna have made their
prophesies.
We're
told that the Holy Family returns to Nazareth.
That
Jesus grew and became strong, filled with
wisdom;
And
the favor of God was upon him.
We'll
hear very little of Jesus' life for the next thirty years.
Matthew
tells briefly of the family's flight into Egypt.
Luke
gives us one more quick peek.
We
hear that every year the family visited the temple in Jerusalem.
And
that when Jesus was twelve years old he was “lost” in the temple.
After
three days, Mary and Joseph found him there, talking with the
scholars.
They
returned to Nazareth, and Jesus was obedient to his parents.
That's it.
No other Gospel details
for thirty years.
Jesus—the Son of God,
God Himself—living among us.
But no report on what he
was doing.
Just that he was growing
in body, strength, wisdom and God's favor.
Those
many years are referred to as Jesus' hidden
life.
What are we to make of
those years?
Why wasn't more about
those early years revealed to us?
Did he do nothing
noteworthy?
Actually,
that lack of note is
the message to us.
The ordinary day-to-day
routine of that hidden life is the lesson for us.
Jesus spent all those
years—well into adulthood—living that simple life.
The son of a humble but
righteous carpenter in a small obscure town.
Perhaps a humble
carpenter himself.
Perhaps later living with
and supporting his widowed mother.
By living those hidden
life years, Jesus sanctified our own ordinary human lives.
We don't need to be
famous, we don't need to perform mighty deeds.
We need only do what it
takes, day-to-day, to grow in wisdom and in God's favor.
6th Day in Octave of Christmas
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