The Hidden Years of Jesus

What we can learn from Him. (Via Colleen Hammond.)

Whom did He obey? Mary and Joseph, doubtless two holy souls, who could command nothing but what was wise and just, but who, after all, were two of His creatures who derived from Him being, life, and movement. In what did He obey? Mary and Joseph had nothing great to command Him to do; they could only ask of Him, the one to practice His mechanical trade, the other to perform little domestic duties. Up to what age did He obey? Up to thirty years, that epoch of life in which a man believes himself to have a right to command and to govern himself. Nevertheless Jesus obeys, as a servant obeys his master; He executes instantly all that is commanded Him, all that is hinted to Him to do, and all that is desired of Him, repeating meekly in the bottom of His heart His favorite words, “The Son of man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister.” (Matt. 20:28) He has no will except to sacrifice it to obedience, He does nothing for the sake of His own satisfaction, (Rom. 15:3) and He dispenses Himself from nothing, either from displeasure or repugnance. All His enjoyment consists in allowing Himself to be guided by the authority of His holy parents, and to abandon Himself in all things to their direction, in a spirit of humility and meekness. Oh, how great, then, in the eyes of God is the virtue of obedience, since it was the life of a God during thirty years, and since it is the sole characteristic of this life during thirty years which the Holy Spirit has revealed to the world. We may give to God all our wealth, all our labors, the sweat of every moment, but it is all as nothing, if we do not add to it the sacrifice of self-will; without it, there may be devotion, but there is no virtue; or else it is a varnish only of virtue, a phantom, an appearance of virtue; it wants the foundation, the reality, the seal of the life of Jesus Christ, which is obedience.