Charles tried to live the life of Jesus in Nazareth, which was unknown to all. Life of Jesus, not as “the prophet, the King of the Jews, the Son of God” but an ordinary person.
ALEX TUSCANO
Brother Charles has opened the great wealth of spirituality to me and that is the spirituality of Nazareth. I had taken it for granted and had accepted Jesus from the day he was baptized till his resurrection and ascension into heaven. But this was a period of just three years. He spent thirty years of his life hidden in Nazareth, ten times more than the public
life of three years. This is not just an accident.
It is a mystery equally important and a part of the redemptive life of Jesus. Jesus grew up in Nazareth and the people knew him before he ventured into the public life. “Is he not the son of Joseph, the carpenter and his mother Mary and his brothers and sisters living with us?” Jesus himself said “prophet is not recognized in his own country” (Luke 4:22). Jesus lived 30 years of his life among these people in Nazareth. Nothing much is written about this part of his life.
John the evangelist concludes his Gospel with these words: “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world it- self could not contain these books that would be written.” Whether John refers to the life ‘hidden in Nazareth or only the public life of Jesus is not specified. But he affirms that there would be much more to be written about the life of Jesus. And John indicates that what is written about Jesus is mere fraction of what should have been written.
What does this leave us to imagine? The basic mystery about the hidden life of Jesus is that we do not know what role he played till about the age of 30 years. Did he not observe what was happening in Judaea? One could imagine, as a youth he should have responded to the unjust things taking place in the house of Israel. Finding of Jesus in the temple (Luke 2:41-50), at the age of 12 gives us a flavour of his awareness about the scriptures and his ability to have conversation with the priests and the Jewish leaders in the temple. We do not have a record of any miracle he performed or any controversy he might have created.
Though we have a very few references to Joseph and Mary in the gospels, we believe that Mary was born without original sin. Her mother, Anna and father, Joachim, were people with exceptional life of charity. Elizabeth, a cousin of Mary was chosen to give birth to John the Baptist who was filled with the Holy Spirit before his birth, speak volumes about the spiritual life of all these people. Jesus too was well-known to the people of Nazareth, as the son of Mary and Joseph, the carpenter. Though Jesus was like all common people undoubtedly, he radiated, in the ordinariness of His life, the spirituality of his being the Son of God.
Brother Charles tried to unfold this life of Jesus in Nazareth, hidden from the rest. He tried to live the life of Jesus in Nazareth, which was unknown to all. Life of Jesus, not as “the prophet, the King of the Jews, the Son of God” but an ordinary person. When Jesus was confronted by the Jews and demanded to say if he was the Son of God, the Messiah, Jesus replied “the work that I do in my father’s name proclaim who I am. (John 10:25-26). In this manner Jesus’s life in Nazareth revealed to his neighbours and in the surrounding villages that he was the Messiah, the king of the Jews.
Brother Charles was a military officer in Algeria. After he left the military service, he explored the geography of Morocco. He prepared a map which earned him one of the prestigious awards. He remained an explorer even after
he left his past life. After his conversion he was exploring the hidden life of Jesus. In the process he had realized that Jesus had immense love for him. In spite of his wayward life Jesus had taken him as his closest friend. He in response, loved Jesus immensely. I dare to say that Jesus took him to the inner chamber of His life to reveal that His love for him. He learnt that Jesus’ love for the humanity began from the crib. He lived every minute of his life loving and redeeming.
Brother Charles was absorbed in the ordinariness of the life of Jesus, along with that of Mary, Joseph and their ancestors. They were the people with no influence in the corridors
of wealth and political power. When Jesus was arrested, tried and condemned to death on the Cross, His carrying the cross to the mountain, these family members and their associates were helpless people who could only mourn and follow Jesus on His way of the cross.
Brother Charles reveals to us that Jesus’ way of the cross started with his birth in the manger in Bethlehem. If that is so this part of His life, about which nothing is written, can be under- stood with the spiritual eye of Brother Charles. He was able to join the dots between His birth and His resurrection. This is by no means an insignificant achievement of the spirituality of Brother Charles. It is equally important part of the mystery of redemption.
Whenever we think of, meditate on the Crucifixion of Jesus, we think of three nails
that crucified Jesus to the cross. But there was a fourth nail on the cross. May be this nail was relatively small. But this was important nail which fixed a plaque on the cross of Jesus above his head. On that plaque it was written “Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews” (John 19: 19). The name Nazareth is very significant. It was not
a well reputed place. No body spoke well of the place Nazareth. “When Philip found Nathanael, he said to him, “We have found the one whom Moses wrote about in the Law, and the prophets as well: he is Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” Nathaniel replied, “can anything good come from Nazareth.” (John1:46-49)
The plaque which was nailed on the cross
of Jesus, above his head revealed the truth of Jesus and his mission. It was on the cross Jesus glorified God His Father and the Father glorified Jesus. It is through the Cross Jesus became the King. And he was from Nazareth. This truth about the life of Jesus was hidden.
There were many followers of Jesus. A huge crowed brought Jesus seated on a donkey to Jerusalem. They took branches of palm trees shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel” (John 12:12-15). But on the final day of reckoning they left him. They were harbouring hopes beyond and contrary to what Jesus had come to fulfil. Since Jesus did not fulfil their aspiration of becoming a king and rescuing them from the Roman rulers, they turned against him crying out “crucify him” (John 19:6). “He came to
His own, yet His people did not receive Him; but to all those who did receive Him, who believed in His name, he gave power to become children of God.” (John 1:11)
Nazareth for Brother Charles was almost like what Nathaniel had understood. Hidden in this understanding lies the spirituality of Nazareth. But like Nathaniel Brother Charles exclaimed, “Master you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49)
Though there is nothing written about the life Jesus in Nazareth the plaque on the cross above Jesus’ head brought into the forefront the mystery of the hidden life of Jesus. The spirituality that Brother Charles understood was this spirituality: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” sitting on donkey going into Jerusalem to be rejected and crucified.
After the resurrection Jesus asked his apostles to go to Galilee as he was going there ahead of them. “Now go and tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there just as he told you.” (Mark 16:7). After his resurrection Jesus did not meet his apostles in Jerusalem, a centre in Judaea, the seat of power, where he was rejected and crucified but in Galilee where Nazareth was located, his birth place and from where nothing good could come.
For Brother Charles this part of the life of Jesus assumed great importance. His vocation was to unravel the hidden life of Jesus. The life of Jesus in Nazareth, in final analysis is not hidden life. Yes, it was hidden from those powerful, from those who expected the Messiah to come with big bang and establish his kingdom with great army and drive away the Ro- mans and make the Jews free from the Roman rule, and where he would appoint people as his ministers and emissaries.
What leaves this for us is to fathom this mystery of the life of Jesus, as significant as his death. If we accept Jesus totally it leaves us no chance but to search for him in the by lanes of Nazareth, under the trees, at the well and in the desert carrying out his duties with his foster father Joseph. We need to understand his life of obedience to his mother Mary. The great mysteries about Jesus are spoken in whispers. The plaque nailed to the cross above his head whispers it. We cannot divide Jesus into “the prophet” and as “a poor carpenter’s son”. The totality of Jesus Christ is put in a nutshell by St Paul in his letter to the Philippines chapter 2, verses. 5 to 11. “Christ Jesus, though being divine in nature, he did not claim equality with God, but emptied himself, taking on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness and in appearance found as a man. He humbled himself by being obedient to death, even death on the cross.”
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