Here’s a unique take on the “hidden life” of Jesus that I read just now from one of the Brothers at the Society of St. John the Evangelist. Even though we have been told that Christ was/is “fully human and fully divine” I wonder how many of us can stretch our imaginations to think of him as bumbling. A worthy exercise today, perhaps. Give it a try.
What was going on with Jesus during those twenty “hidden” years when he was growing up? We don’t know for sure. But his humanity must parallel our own, or he cannot be our Savior. I presume that Jesus was as lost as many of us were, and for long stretches of time. I presume that Jesus made as many mistakes as I have, as you have, in finding his way into life. I presume that Jesus was as much as clueless as you were, as I was, trying to find and claim his identity and destiny. Lots of bumbling. — Br. Curtis Almquist
For any of you who follow the Catholic Bishops’ website to find Scripture readings for each day, and/or anyone who hears those readings at daily liturgies, you must have been wondering yesterday why I used the reading from next Thursday. I was wondering that myself just now since the battle I spoke of as a great success for Saul and David had not happened by then or in this morning’s text either! It’s not even as if I skipped down to the same day in next week on the calendar. (Yesterday was Wednesday!) My only conclusion is about serendipity. The jealousy theme was already in my head when I opened to the Scripture texts and the story of Saul and David gave me a great example of what I was thinking.
I remember the day, early in his papacy, that Pope Francis said, “I am a sinner” in public. The quote, as we say now, “went viral.” It’s rare to have a public figure admit during an interview or a widely attended speech that s/he has imperfections. We all know that none of us is perfect but admitting it to the world – especially using the word sin to describe our actions – is not a common practice. At first I was dismayed about his admission because I think that religious people tend to focus more on sin than on giftedness and good deeds. I grabbed onto Barbra Streisand’s line that “there are no mistakes, just lessons to be learned” and used it to talk about sin from that perspective. I still think we either overplay our imperfections sometimes or try to hide them by prevaricating (i.e. “skirting around the truth or delaying giving an answer, especially to avoid telling the whole truth”) but being able to follow the Pope’s example can be very freeing. If we are honest enough to offer our true selves to others we may find that we are accepted in spite of ourselves because nobody else is perfect either!
Today’s first reading from the Book of Genesis tells the story of world-wide famine and the fact that Joseph, the boy whose brothers had sold him into slavery, used the power he had gained as governor of Egypt to feed starving people everywhere. It’s when his brothers appear before him that Joseph has his most important moment. It’s one of the great mercy stories of the Hebrew Scriptures and has many lessons to teach. (GEN 41-42)
