In order to enter public life, you have to leave private life. In order for Jesus to change the world, He had to say goodbye to His world. He had to give Mary a kiss. Have a final meal in the kitchen, a final walk through the streets. Did He ascend one of the hills of Nazareth and think of the day He would ascend the hill near Jerusalem? He knew what was going to happen. God chose Him for this purpose long before the world began. — 1 Peter 1:20 Every ounce of suffering had been scripted — it just fell to Him to play the part. Not that He had to... Nazareth was a cozy town. Why not build a carpentry business? Keep His identity a secret? Return in the era of guillotines or electric chairs, and pass on the cross. To be forced to die is one thing, but to willingly take up your own cross is something else... The day He left Nazareth is the day He declared His devotion for you and me. He... made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. — Philippians 2:7–8 Christ abandoned His reputation. No one in Nazareth saluted Him as the Son of God. He did not stand out in His elementary classroom photograph, demanded no glossy page in His high school annual. Friends knew Him as a woodworker, not star hanger. His looks turned no heads. His position earned Him no recognition. In the great stoop we call Christmas, Jesus abandoned heavenly privileges and aproned earthly pains. He gave up His place with God and made Himself nothing. — Philippians 2:7 God hunts for those who will do likewise. The greatest discovery in the universe is the greatest love in the universe — Gods Love. He Left the Carpentry Shop The heavy door creaked on its hinges as He pushed it open. With a few strides He crossed the silent shop and opened the wooden shutters to a square shaft of sunshine that pierced the darkness, painting a box of daylight on the dirt floor. He looked around the carpentry shop. He stood a moment in the refuge of the little room that housed so many sweet memories. He balanced the hammer in His hand. He ran His fingers across the sharp teeth of the saw. He stroked the smoothly worn wood of the sawhorse. He had come to say good-bye. It was time for Him to leave. He had heard something that made Him know it was time to go. So He came one last time to smell the sawdust and lumber. Life was peaceful here. Life was so... safe. Here He had spent countless hours of contentment. On this dirt floor He had played as a toddler while His father worked. Here Joseph had taught Him how to grip a hammer and on this workbench He had built His first chair. I wonder what He thought as He took one last look around the room... Perhaps He stood for a moment at the workbench looking at the tiny shadows cast by the chisel and shavings. Perhaps He listened as voices from the past filled the air. I wonder if He hesitated. I wonder if His heart was torn. I wonder if He rolled a nail between His thumb and fingers, anticipating the pain... It must have been difficult to leave... after all, life as a carpenter wasnt bad. It want bad at all. Business was good. The future was bright and His work was enjoyable... I wonder if He wanted to stay. I could do a good job here in Nazareth. Settle down. Raise a family. Be a civic leader. I wonder because I know He had already read the last chapter. He knew that the feet that would step out of the safe shadow of the carpentry shop would not rest until theyd been pierced and placed on a Roman cross. You see, He didnt have to go. He had a choice. He could have stayed. He could have kept His mouth shut. He could have ignored the call or at least postponed it. And had He chosen to stay, who wouldve known? Who would have blamed Him? But, His heart wouldnt let Him. If there was hesitation on the part of His humanity, it was overcome by the compassion of His divinity. His divinity heard the voices. His divinity heard the hopeless cries of the poor, the bitter accusations of the abandoned, the dangling despair of those who are trying to save themselves. And, His divinity saw the faces, some wrinkled, some weeping, some hidden behind veils, some obscured by fear, some earnest with searching, some blank with boredom. From the face of Adam to the face of the infant born somewhere in the world as you read these words, He saw them all. And you can be sure of one thing, among the voices that found their way into that carpentry shop in Nazareth was your voice, your silent prayers uttered on tear-stained pillows were heard before they were said. Your deepest questions about death and eternity... He left because of you. * * * Your Turn Have you thought about what Jesus private life was like before He became the increasingly well-known rabbi? What do you think of this Jesus who lived such a normal life and left that life to bleed for you?
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 13:45:58 +0000
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