Anonymous: Jesus' hidden years...and yours

by Alicia Britt Chole

somehow in the thick of those long, undocumented years, Jesus awakened to his divine nature and calling. He realized and accepted that he was the Son of God, eternally existent as God and yet temporally present as a man. More than a prophet and more than a king, Jesus was with God in the beginning, created all that is, and was now on earth to offer his sinless life as a sacrifice for our sins.

He wore his divine power with humility and grace.

waking up each morning and walking throughout his town and region. Most folks would probably not even notice him (after all, he was an un-celebrated boy from an un-royal family). Some might possibly even scorn him (because of his roots or the rumors that may have surrounded his conception). And all would definitely underestimate him. (How could they do otherwise?!)

Jesus submitted to a seemingly delayed destiny. A God-sized mission pulsated in his heart, but he was not free to explain it, proclaim it, or actively pursue it. Onlookers saw only the tip of the iceberg of who Jesus truly was, and they could have never imagined the indestructible greatness growing just beneath the surface of Jesus’ unapplauded life.

What would that experience build in someone? What does it build in us? What grows in that underestimated gap between God’s calling and others’ perceptions, between our true capabilities and our current realities?

But in anonymous seasons we must hold tightly to the truth that no doubt strengthened Jesus throughout his hidden years: Father God is neither care-less nor cause-less with how he spends our lives. When he calls a soul simultaneously to greatness and obscurity, the fruit—if we wait for it—can change the world.

“In a word: yes. Today is the day, Son. Leave your tools on the table. I’ve made an appointment for you with a holy man in camel’s hair.” There.

Where is there for you? What does it look like? What do you think it will feel like? There, for Jesus, was a miraculous but misunderstood journey toward a splintered, bloody cross.

He apparently traveled alone those thirty to sixty miles from Nazareth to somewhere along the Jordan River. Historically, he walked from the scorned to the significant. Spiritually, he journeyed from anonymity into global renown.

John challenged his hearers to take personal responsibility for their sins and not rely smugly on their ancestry for acceptance in God’s sight. When people responded to John’s message and stepped into the Jordan, they were saying, “I have sinned. May God forgive me. May he strengthen me to follow him in holiness and prepare me to receive the Messiah he has promised to send.”

not Jesus. Instead, he calmly navigated his way through the people and waded into the Jordan toward John. And all the people gasped and thought, There he is! There’s our long-awaited Messiah! Doubtful. My guess is that they were all thinking, There’s one more repentant sinner. I think that makes at least fifty-two today.

“I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. (Matthew 3:14

Jesus’ anonymous season had prepared him for this moment. The choices he made in the Jordan River are reflections of choices he had been making before the Jordan River. Something in surrendering to hiddenness strengthened Jesus to not make a name for himself, to not be his own PR person.

Hidden years, when heeded, empower a soul to patiently trust God with their press releases. All that waiting actually grants us the strength to wait a little longer and not rush God’s plans for our lives.

patience.

Truth is, I do not have enough character to walk through doors I open for myself.

I liken God’s purposes to a pure but unpredictable river. Impatient self-promotion actively seeks out a speedboat to outrun the current and rush toward the future. Fear of failure stands on the banks cautiously to observe before even getting her feet wet. But perhaps obedience simply wades into the center and lets the current of God’s presence set the pace, be it swift or still.

Jesus appears to have walked unstressed and unhurried. His peaceful pace seems to imply that he measured himself not by where he was going and how fast he could get there but by whom he was following and how closely they walked together. Patience grows well in such soil. She is the ally of a soul that makes God its primary pursuit, because in this journey called life, regardless of the scenery, such a soul is deeply contented in the Company.

The baptism only lasted a moment, but John had been waiting a lifetime for that moment. His Godsize dream was to prepare the way for the Messiah, and he had risked all to fulfill God’s call. Now, looking into Jesus’ face under the clear waters, John realized with relief-filled joy that God’s chosen One had come. Jesus’ time was beginning, and his own was fading. What happened next certainly fortified John’s faith for the disillusioning days to come.

But he chose a dove, once again as after the Genesis flood, symbolic of a new day on this old earth of ours. (See Genesis 8:10–12.)1.

Good news. Freedom. Release. Favor. Vengeance. Comfort. Provision. Beauty. Gladness. Praise. As the Spirit descended like a dove upon Jesus, these images of transformation—affecting individual lives and the fabric of entire communities—flooded John’s and Jesus’ minds. But God was not finished yet.

The curtains were drawn. The blessing had been given. Now Father God had something he wanted to say.

affirmation from above

If your ears were going to hear God’s voice only once, what words would you long for him to speak?

Jesus and John could certainly have benefited from all of the above. But evidently there was something they both needed to hear more than explanations of the past or foretelling of the future: And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

But considering the river and the crowds and the distance, we can safely assume that God was not whispering. Surely his voice that day was deep, full, and forceful like an ocean—resonating throughout their whole beings.

Father God’s pronouncement contained three essential elements. First, he acknowledged Jesus as his Son.

believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” (John 10:34,

Was Jesus fully man? Yes. Was Jesus fully God? Yes. We call that a mystery—one that Father God shouted from the heavens and Jesus echoed on earth.

They were relational: “This is my Son.”

Father God next affirms his commitment to Jesus:

This is my Son, whom I love. (Matthew 3:17)

in addition to being his Son—Jesus is also his beloved friend whom he treasures with tenderness.

The first element was relational and the second committal.

The third speaks of God’s approval ove...

Well pleased comes to us from a Greek word that combines a prefix meaning “well” or “good” with a verb that means “to consider, believe, or suppose.” In various translations, it can be rendered “enjoy, be pleased with, take pleasure, think good of,” and “delight.” This phrase—“with him I am well pleased”—communicates the emotional pleasure the Father had in the Son.

after decades of anonymously stewarding God’s global cause and call in his soul, the heavens finally parted, and God said, “You are my Child! Know that I deeply love you and tenderly treasure you. Rest assured that I am so very delighted in who you are!”

Dick Schroeder, a wise teacher and friend, once noted that the first time Jesus heard these words thundered from the heavens, God spoke them before Jesus had ever done anything for which we call him Savior. True God sounded his affirmation from above over Jesus’ life before Jesus ever preached one sermon or enlightened one mind, before Jesus ever healed one body or saved one soul.

These loving words were spoken over Jesus before the timeless teachings, the dramatic deliverances, and the many miracles. They were spoken over his hidden years. God declared his full acceptance and pride over what Jesus had become through his anonymous season. In unseen places over underestimated years, Jesus had been making unrecorded, unapplauded choices that had prepared him for everything to come. And Father God—who values the seen and unseen alike—was very, very pleased.

Before we get that promotion or even get out of bed, Father God is already shouting. Not because of any stunning accomplishment but because of who we are: through Jesus, we are his!

Allow God’s affirmation from above to echo in your soul: “I love you, my child, my friend. You are my treasure. And I am so very proud of you.” Is there anything else in the whole wide world that our souls truly need to hear?

God is pleased with my hidden years. He does not view anonymous seasons as boring and unfortunate preludes to be rushed through quickly so I can move on to some other season that is more productive and exciting.

like any parent, I am sure God finds joy in every season of our lives, it will not surprise me if in the end we learn that he enjoyed our hidden years the most.

They seem less cluttered with the glittery stuff that distrac...

I wonder if, in my own life, God feels like I believe he is enough.

In hidden years, God is our only consistent audience. Others come and go, but only he always sees. God alone realizes our full potential and comprehends the longings in our souls. When no one else is interested in (let alone impressed by) our capabilities and dreams, God is still wholeheartedly with fatherly pride shouting his love over us.

Anonymous seasons afford us the opportunity to establish God as our souls’ true point of reference if we resist underestimating how he treasures our hiddenness and take the time to decide whose attention and acceptance really matters in our lives.

Generally speaking, this series of events makes us a little uncomfortable. Can following God’s Spirit lead us straight into a desert? Would obedience deposit us in a wasteland? Could God’s loving will direct us to wander about in barren places?

We just do not talk about it often. Our earthbound hearts prefer to consider how following God leads us into happiness or health or wealth. “God led me into a desert! (hallelujah)” is just not the stuff T-shirts are made of.

From Jesus’ perspective, his hidden years were good years: neither wasted nor unwanted. Therefore, we find no evidence of resistance when the Holy Spirit directs Jesus into another type of desert. Matthew simply states that Jesus was “led” there.