THE SECRET DRAMA OF LIFE

NovembER 24, 2007

Most of us don’t think of our lives as filled with drama, but they are, in the same secret way that Jesus’ life was.

What was the most striking aspect of Jesus’ life and ministry? We are understandably inclined to focus on what was most visible, such as his great majesty, his unbounded compassion, the divine power he displayed in his numerous miracles, his unforgettable parables, his commanding authority to expel demons, the startling originality of his teachings, his immense courage in handing himself over to be put to death for our salvation, and his glorious resurrection.

Yet, one of the most dramatic but easily overlooked aspects of the mystery of his person and ministry was his relationship with the Father. While the Gospels seem to be about Jesus’ engagement with the events and people around him, they are also about his ongoing engagement with his heavenly Father. The Gospels tell us about God the Son entering into our midst to love and save us, but they also reveal the love between God the Father and his Son, Jesus. The good news of our salvation begins with God sending the Son to save us, and ends with the Son fulfilling the Father’s will and completing his saving mission.

The first evidence of this hidden yet central Gospel theme was when the boy Jesus entered the Temple in Jerusalem to teach the elders. After three days of frantic searching, Joseph and Mary found him there, and Mary, his mother, asked him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety." And he answered, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" (Lk 2:41-49).

Jesus' intimate relationship with the Father is presented in the Gospels as his prayer activity. When we search for Gospel passages which mention Jesus' prayer, it begins to stand out how central his communication with the Father was in his life. We see Jesus praying before the decisive moments of his public ministry. He prays before he presents himself for baptism (Lk 3:21) and before he is transfigured on Mount Tabor (Lk 9:28). He prays before he selects his Apostles (Lk 6:12), and again before he selects Peter to be their head and the head of his Church (Lk 9:18-20). He prays, further, that the head of the Apostles may not fail when tempted (22:32).

He prays before daybreak (Mk 1:35), and in solitude in lonely mountain places (Mk 6:46; Lk 9:28). At the close of the Last Supper, he prays to the Father (Jn 17: 1-26). He prays for all those entrusted to his care by the Father (Jn 17:9), and for those who believe in him (Jn 17:20). He thanks the Father for always hearing his prayer (Jn 11:41f), and for the joy given by the Spirit (Lk 10:21f). He prays during his agony in the garden (Mt 26:39-44). Hanging from the cross, he prays for those who crucified him (Lk 23:34), and cries out in anguish to the Father (Mt 27:46). Finally, when it is finished, he offers a final prayer of self-surrenders to the Father (Lk 23:46).

When his disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, they must have been motivated by an awareness of how much he was a man of prayer. In responding to that request he offered the world the model of prayer we know as The Lord's Prayer or The Our Father. This most familiar and beloved of all prayers reveals the intimacy Jesus had with the Father, and which he desires us to have with him, too. The prayer’s simplicity teaches us that our prayer should possess the same simplicity and bold trust that little children have toward their parents. For God is, in fact, our Father and we are his children. Jesus teaches us to use the word small children use when addressing their father: "Abba", which is rendered "Daddy" or "Papa".

The Gospel story has rightly been called the greatest story ever told because it is a story about the greatest and most dramatic love that ever was or will be. We must understand again, though, that it is not simply the story of God's love for his people, lost in sin, but the story of the love between the Father and the Son. This is the great, hidden drama in Jesus' life, and it is also the great hidden drama in our own lives.

It is the drama of God’s call and our response, of our lifelong relationship with God, even when we feel lost from him and cannot find our way. It is the drama of our opening ourselves in prayer to the Father's love, listening with our whole mind and heart to his word to us, discerning his will and learning to conform our own will to his, sharing our secret joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, and our innermost being with him, and making our lives a project of giving him glory by our good works, and of fulfilling the unique mission he has entrusted to each of us.

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 26-Nov-2007 8:36 sitemap