My 17-month-old daughter signals me to replay the “Freeze Dance” song for the 10th time in a row. A look of repetitive torture creases my brow as I sigh and rewind one more time. My baby girl once again dances when commanded and then freezes when prompted. Meanwhile, I just stare blankly at the television screen, my enthusiasm used up about eight dances ago. I would love to do anything else, but I keep hitting play for my daughter. This is what I call my hidden life in Nazareth.
Jesus spent 30 years in Nazareth, a small, backwater town about 60 miles from Jerusalem. This leads to a big question: What exactly did Jesus do for three decades during these hidden years of Nazareth?
Answers to this question can prove elusive because there is very little written record or information about Jesus from this time. Gnostic Gospels, such as “The Infancy Gospel of Thomas,” even try to fill in the blanks of this period by giving an apocryphal account of Jesus’ childhood. We have no detailed answer as to what Jesus did during this time except for one episode in the second chapter of Luke in which Jesus is lost for three days in the temple. Luke gives a vague statement at the end of the chapter, “And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and Man.”
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How was Jesus able to grow in wisdom and favor before God and Man in such a small place, around the same people, doing the same old tasks day in and day out? The simple answer is Jesus is God. However, Nazareth also played an important role in developing Jesus’ human nature as well. There, Jesus likely experienced what I felt when I watched the “Freeze Dance” with my daughter for the 10th time: The monotony of everyday life. This is what helped him grow in wisdom and holiness.
Here are a few things that I imagine Jesus could have experienced on a day-to-day basis:
- On the way to a carpentry job with Saint Joseph, Jesus meets the neighbor who says the same thing to him for the thousandth time, “Hey, Jesus! Working hard or hardly working?” (Complete with a wink, finger point, and goofy smile.)
- At night, Jesus sticks his fingers in his ears and prays for patience as Saint Joseph’s snoring kept most of the neighborhood awake.
- The Blessed Mother prepares the same meal for multiple days in a row. Jesus learns to be thankful and enjoy it for the nourishment and sustenance it gave him.
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These examples are silly, but it is entirely possible that Jesus grew in wisdom and holiness through instances like these. He learned to give of himself for the love of his neighbors and to treat them with a smile and a kind word. It is in Nazareth that he likely did the same things every day, as we often do, and learned humility and abandonment of self to the will of God. Nazareth taught Jesus to detach from worldly things and embrace the spiritual. This is what our hidden lives of Nazareth teach us as well, by learning to drop our selfish desire to do anything but watch the “Freeze Dance” again with our children and see this normal life as a beautiful gift from God.
I would like to share three Scripture verses and reflections to help you contemplate your own hidden life in Nazareth, and how to detach from the world and embrace the spiritual life.
- “Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me’” (Matthew 19:21).
There is nothing in the world as important as living for Jesus. All our money, honors, and dreams will someday die with our final breath. Our eternity will be based on one of the following questions: Did I follow Christ? Did I not follow Christ? The answer will depend on whether we die to our own selfish will and follow God’s.
2. “If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well” (Matthew 5:40).
I often find myself worked up or anxious about worldly things I encounter daily. I worry about money, if I am doing my job correctly, my family, and how people perceive me. These worries keep me focused on myself and on things that pass away with this life. I aim to hand them over to Christ and practice detachment.
3. “And to another he said, ‘Follow Me.’ But he replied, ‘Lord, let me go first and bury my father.’ But he answered him, let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:59-60).
God wants us to follow him. Is there anything more beautiful than knowing that the creator of the world wants us to be with him? To do this, he asks that we let go of the sins we are attached to before we are buried with them in the ground. What sins do we need to repent from that keep us from life?
Remember when you find yourself dragged down by the monotony of the day, that Jesus endured this too. He embraced his Nazareth, loved his Nazareth, and learned in Nazareth to obey the will of the Father. May we imitate him in the daily routines of our lives.
