When the apostle Paul says, “For me to live is Christ!” (Philippians 1:21), we do not find it difficult to understand. Paul had been a faithful servant of Christ from the time that Christ confronted him on the road to Damascus (AD 30) and through Ananias told Paul that he must testify before Gentiles, king, rulers, and the people of Israel, and also suffer many things for Jesus’ sake (Acts 9:15-16). That would have been about 30 years before Paul wrote the epistle to the Philippians (AD 62 ?).
In 1 Corinthians, written perhaps in AD 55, some years before Philippians, Paul could say, “I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). Again, also to the Corinthians, Paul wrote:
Are they ministers of Christ? — I speak as a fool — I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness — besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burnwith indignation? (2 Corinthians 11:23-29).
What Paul suffered, he suffered for Christ and because of Christ. His deep concern for all the churches was the expression of Christ’s love and care for the churches. More than any of the other apostles, Paul stands out as the man who could say, “For me to live is Christ!”
But it is also clear that Paul is not saying that unless all Christians leave their homes and go on missionary journeys, performing miracles and provoking riots, they cannot participate in the kind of daily devotion to Christ that characterized Paul’s life.
How can we be sure of that? The answer is clear. Think, for example of Jesus’ life — about which we actually know so little, though just enough to reverently speculate. We know that Jesus grew up in Nazareth and lived the life of a “normal” child —- needless to say, for Joseph and Mary, their sinless son was not just “normal.” But He was a 3-year old, a 7-year old, etc. We know that at 12, when He visited the temple, He was already far advanced in His knowledge of God and His Word. Though the Holy Spirit no doubt blessed Him richly and answered His prayers for growing understanding of the Holy Scripture, we do not assume that He did not study or pray or seek. On the contrary, as any “normal” human must, “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52).
A related issue is important to consider. We cannot be certain when Joseph died, but again, we can speculate on the basis of evidence in Scripture. On the one hand, Jesus is known as the “son of Joseph,” suggesting that in the small town of Nazareth, Joseph and Mary had been well-known and that Joseph — originally probably the only carpenter or builder in Nazareth — was still well-remembered. On the other hand, by the time of Jesus’ rejection at Nazareth, He Himself has become “the carpenter” (Mark 6:3). We can be certain, I believe, that Joseph died before Jesus’ public ministry began, for there is no mention of Joseph, even when other family members are named. If Joseph died when Jesus was a teenager, it would explain how Jesus was still remembered as Joseph’s son and at the same time how He could be regarded as “the carpenter” from Nazareth.1
The point of this speculation is this: Jesus had four brothers, named “James, Joses, Judas, and Simon” (Mark 6:3). He also had, it seems, at least three sisters: “And His sisters, are they not all with us?” (Matthew 13:56) — “all,” I take it, implies at least three. This makes a minimum of seven brothers and sisters. Assuming that Joseph died when Jesus was a teenager, Jesus would have been like a husband to Mary in the sense that His work would provide for the family — no doubt an economically struggling family — and like a father to His younger siblings — not only providing for them, but also teaching and guiding them. Jesus functioned in His family in the role of a husband to Mary before He became the Husband to the whole Church. He functioned in His family as an older brother before, through death and resurrection, He became the Old Brother of all who believe in Him!
Think now: if Joseph died when Jesus was 15, it would mean about 15 years of Jesus functioning as the head of the family. If Joseph died when Jesus was 20, it would mean Jesus functioned at the head of the family for about 10 years. Even if Joseph died when Jesus was 25, it would still mean that Jesus led His family for more years than He labored as a prophet to Israel. I am inclined to the younger estimate. But in any estimation, the first 30 years of Jesus’s life were lived as a “common” Jew in Nazareth!
Returning then, to Paul. If Paul could say, “for me to live is Christ,” how much more could Jesus say so! Let that sink in!
Remember now: most of Jesus’ life — from birth until 30 — was lived in obscurity. There were no miracles, no prophecies, no public lectures or sermons. There was nothing to draw attention to Him as special. Savor this: the Second Person of the Trinity incarnate, the eternal God manifest in human flesh, form, and nature, was — until the age of 30 — one of the most unextraordinary humans in the entire Roman empire!
Although we should assume that, one the one hand, people in Nazareth should have noted His godliness and humility; on the other hand, when He made His public appearance, they did not respond with anything like: “We suspected all along that He was Messiah-material.” They did not suspect! We should, I think, attribute this, first, to gross spiritual dullness — which I think the Gospel accounts clearly imply — but there is also, second, the fact that, as Isaiah prophesied, “He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street” (Isaiah 42:2).
For Jesus to live as Christ meant that until we was 30, He lived an inconspicuous life in a village of perhaps about 400 people.2 He worked a full-time job as a carpenter or builder — not, by the way, as He was depicted in the movie Ben Hur, where a customer complains that Jesus is neglecting His work.3 The table the customer ordered was not done on time! In the movie, Joseph defends Jesus for being late to finish the table because He has more important business. Then, we see Jesus walking in the hills presumably meditating, doing “His Father’s work” as Joseph says. This part of the movie is unspeakably horrible. In fact — though we do not have a movie to prove it — no other worker in Nazareth, or in any other place or age worked as faithfully as Jesus. The movie suggests that for Him to be truly Christ involved the neglect of everyday duties. The Bible presents us with exactly the opposite picture: “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him” (John 8:9). We should not doubt that Jesus pleased His earthly father no less than His heavenly Father.
Paul’s life was exceptional. Remarkably, by contrast, most of Jesus’ life was not exceptionable. Maybe your life is extraordinary or maybe it is most-ordinary. Jesus’ life was both. Thus, we can live as devoted Christians, following Christ earnestly, even in the everyday circumstances of whatever place God has placed us. Did not Jesus sometimes help Mary in taking care of the little ones.? We can imitate Him in that. For Jesus to live was indeed to live as one who loved God with all His heart and mind and strength. However, He is not only our example during the years of His ministry, but also during the silent years about which we can only speculate. For those years, the Bible gives us enough information to fill the silence with the sound of the sunrise: the Word tabernacled among us and we beheld His glory (John 1:14).
Ralph Smith is pastor of Mitaka Evangelical Church.
Notes
- I visited my home town in Ohio many years after my father died, but one day at a store, the lady behind the register — whom I did not know — looked at me and said, “Aren’t you Doc. Smith’s son?” I am sure my home town was much more populous than Nazareth, but small towns have large memory banks. ↩︎
- From the Anchor Bible Dictionary: “As inferred from the Herodian tombs in Nazareth, the maximum extent of the Herodian and pre-Herodian village measured about 900 x 200 m, for a total area just under 60 acres. Since most of this was empty space in antiquity, the population would have been a maximum of about 480 at the beginning of the 1st century A.D.” edited by David Noel Freedman, (New York: Doubleday, 1992), Volume 4, p. 1050. ↩︎
- In my version, this scene is at about the 9 minute mark. ↩︎