Day 73: Christ's Life Is Mystery

Christ's whole earthly life - his words and deeds, his silences and sufferings, indeed his manner of being and speaking - is Revelation of the Father. Jesus can say: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father", and the Father can say: "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" Because our Lord became man in order to do his Father's will, even the least characteristics of his mysteries manifest "God's love. . . among us". CCC 516

In today's reading, the Catechism reflects on the mystery of Christ's life. We'd love to know more about the details of Christ's life which the Gospels unfortunately are silent on. Jesus is fully God and fully man. It is the latter on which most curiosity falls. Even seeming ordinary things like did he ever stub His toe or sprain an ankle? Did He play outside with the boys of Nazareth in whatever sport or activity was popular during His time on earth? Were His lips ever chapped and His skin burned from the harshness of too much sun? When adolescence came, did He have acne, go through a period where His voice would "break" when speaking, or even have the common cold? It is reasonable to assume He experienced most of these, but we just don't know. The Catechism Companion, Vol I speaks of this period:

The Bible - apart from discussing his birth and his dialogue in the Temple with the teachers of the law at age twelve (see Luke 2:41-52) - is largely silent about Jesus' life before his public ministry. So there are many things we would love to know! The Catechism, though, refers to the details of Jesus' childhood and young adulthood as things merely "of interest to human curiosity" (CCC 514). This period of Jesus' life, which constitutes most of his time on earth, is known as his "hidden life." Of course, we know that he lived in Nazareth with Mary and Joseph, that he was a part of the life of his community, and that he loved as an observant Jewish man, obedient to God's law. (p. 151)

The details we do have about Jesus' life on earth is what is the most important part of Him: "Christ's whole life is a mystery of redemption" (CCC 517). It is the purpose of the Incarnation, His ministry, the Crucifixion and Resurrection. All of those point to what is at the heart of the Gospel message: Christ is Lord and He calls us to believe in Him and be redeemed (Jn 3:16). How many billions of humans have lived their lives and died in obscurity? We know nothing about what they thought, believed, loved, how they lived their day-to-day lives, or even in most cases that they existed at all. The life of Jesus is mysterious in some aspects, but the message He had for all of us isn't. He is the ultimate role model for us, living His life in loving, obedient service to the Father. Redemption is why He came, but also to "share in the divine nature" (2 Pet 1:4). As the Catechism Companion notes:

Jesus lived his life for us. He is our example. By his grace, he enables us to imitate him. "We are called only to become one with him, for he enables us as the members of his Body to share in what he lived for us in his flesh as our model" (CCC 521). Salvation is not just God redeeming us and giving us access to the Father, but also making us capable of living as Christ, to participate in the mysteries that Jesus won for us. (p. 150)  

Christ washes the feet of His disciples at the Last Supper in a model for us all of humility, service, and love (Jn 13:1-17)