The Early Life of Jesus

The Hidden Life of Jesus (Matthew 2:19-23; Luke 2:39-52)

According to Matthew, after the Visit of the Wise Men, the Holy Family had to escape the wrath of Herod by seeking refuge in Egypt. Luke, on the other hand, tells us that Jesus was circumcised and named 8 days later, and was presented to the Lord in the Temple.

While Matthew falls silent after the Holy Family’s settlement in Nazareth, Luke tells of Jesus’ lost and finding in the Temple when Jesus was already 12 years old. After this event, Luke, like Matthew, tells of Jesus growing in wisdom and stature, in Nazareth where he was obedient to his parents. After this, we see Jesus as already an adult.

This part of Jesus’ life has always been referred to as His Hidden Life. The gospels may be silent about it but reflecting on how Matthew and Luke summarized what happened to Jesus during this time, the following lessons may be gleaned:

• that life, for its greater part, is lived in ordinariness and regularity where the constant challenge is to recognize God Who silently works with, through, and in us.
• that the silence of the gospels with regard this part of Jesus’ life is an invitation also for us to observe periods of reflective silence to review our lives and contemplate our growths and areas for formation
• that family life is important wherein parents and children form one another, doing the role proper to each one.
• that work is ennobling when learned and done in much sincerity

The Baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17; Luke 3:21-22)

The gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus publicly starts His ministry when He was already around 30 years old. This was also the time that John the Baptist started preaching to the people about the need to repent and reform their lives in preparation for the Messiah. A highlight in John the Baptist’s ministry would be his baptizing people as an external sign of their desire and willingness to change their lives (metanoia). Jesus, sinless as He was, availed of the same baptism which John very reluctantly administered.

While Jesus was being baptized, according to Matthew, three things happened: the heavens opened, the Spirit of God descended on Him in the form of a dove, and a voice was heard saying, “This is my beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased.”

The baptism of Jesus, therefore, can be said to have the following meanings:

• that Jesus, once again, fully identifies with the rest of humanity by availing of the same baptism that is supposedly reserved only for sinners.
• that Jesus truly is the Son of God, the long-awaited Messiah, in Whom the fullness of God’s Spirit resides; it is Jesus’ formal investiture with the messianic with the messianic office.
• that the baptism of Jesus marks the start of His public ministry.

The Temptations of Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11)

After Jesus was baptized, Matthew and Luke both tell us that it is the Holy Spirit Himself which leads Jesus into the desert, a symbolic place for moments of purification and testing. This is not to say that it is the Holy Spirit or God Himself which leads us into temptations, but it is He who prepares us in overcoming these. Hence, the Spirit’s “driving” of Jesus in the desert should be interpreted as the Spirit’s strengthening of Jesus for the inevitable: Satan will try and try to overthrow Jesus’ mission.

Matthew tells us that Jesus fasted for 40 days, reminiscent of the 40-year sojourn of the Israelites in the Sinai desert, prior to His being tempted by the Devil. But unlike the Israelites, Jesus would prove to be victorious over the Devil.

In the accounts of Matthew and Luke, Jesus was tempted three times.

• In his weakened, hungry state, the First Temptation was to turn into loaves of bread common stones. This temptation tried to question Jesus’ (and in turn, our) identity: “If you are the Son of God…” The Devil uses as leverage Jesus’ divinity in order to make His mission easier. But Jesus refuses to give in to this temptation of pride. In the end, it is God’s Will expressed through His Words from which man’s true and everlasting nourishment comes from. Shortcuts by the use of extraordinary means may be convenient and advantageous but most of the time it also cheapens and does injustice to man’s capacity to fully develop himself extraordinarily through ordinary means.

• The Second Temptation, according to Matthew, is to test God’s love for us and fidelity to His promises. Though it starts with the same “If you are the Son of God…” what is peculiar and frightening to this temptation is that it shows that the Devil can quote and is most probably an expert with regard Sacred Scriptures. This temptation therefore warns us against false and twisted ways of showing faith and trust in God: like the bahala na ang Diyos and kung ikaw nga nang Diyos mentality. By refusing this challenge of Satan, Jesus teaches us that the true value of our faith and trust in God lie not so much in what is spectacular, fatalistic or supernatural. Rather, true faith is the hope, trust, and love we render to God despite our intellectual poverty, away from the cheering crowd, and without self-satisfaction.

• The Third Temptation, still according to Matthew, is a temptation to worldly power. Many times have our world been called the Kingdom or Domain of Satan not because the world is evil by itself, but because we often get attached to the things and affairs of this world which take us away from worshiping and developing an intimate relationship with the true God. Satan toys with Jesus’ Jewishness by promising to make Him the ideal Messiah of His people and therefore be speedily acceptable to them. And yet, this is not God’s will. By refusing this temptation and finally banishing Satan away, Jesus teaches us that we may be in this world, but we are definitely not of this world. Nothing in this world will fully satisfy man’s eternal longing for meaningful and everlasting satisfaction save God alone Who was the One Who placed that longing in us as our supposed link to Him. To link and fill this longing using the world may satisfy us but only for a while.

In all three temptations, Satan tried to make Jesus question His own identity and consequentially His own mission. By refusing all these, Jesus in turn teaches us never to let this world make us forget our identity as children of God.

Temptations are not sins by themselves but invitations to commit sins. At the same time, temptations are also opportunities to put into action the graces that God bestows upon us as His children, and therefore, opportunities also for doing what is good. Our worst temptations are those that hit our weakest spots. That is why self-knowledge is key to overcoming temptations especially habitual ones. The Devil exactly knows where and how to trap us that is why constant vigilance aided by the values of Jesus, the wisdom of the Church, and the experience and testimony of others will properly equip us in our daily spiritual warfare.