"Jesus: The Hidden God" Colossians 2: 1-3; I Corinthians 2: 6-13

1. Nouwen focuses on the hiddenness of God.

a. He writes: “I don't think you'll [Marc] ever be able to penetrate the mystery of God's revelation in Jesus until it strikes you that the major part of Jesus' life was hidden and that even the 'public' years remained invisible as far as most people were concerned” (68).

b. Nouwen contrasts this with the way of the world that seeks publicity and maximum exposure with the way of God who “prefers to work in secret” (68).

c. Nouwen writes these words before the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapshot, not to mention “selfies.”

d. In some ways in our world today, the value of what people do depends on the publicity it receives, almost as if we do things with the public announcement of the action in mind. In Christ, the value of what God does it found in the act itself, not the publicity the act receives.

2. Nouwen suggests that his ability to stay true to his calling is closely connected to all the people who have prayed for him who remain completely unknown to him (68).

a. I resonate with that thought, particularly when I think about people who ask to be put on our prayer chain. Even though they do not know the people who will be praying for them, they find great comfort in knowing that people are praying for them.

b. Although Nouwen does not connect this with belonging to a faith community, his statement reminds me of the power of belonging to a faith community.

3. Nouwen offers the example of Marthe Robin.

a. Nouwen notes how many people attributed their faith in Jesus to Marthe Robin.

b. He shares her story. If you want to learn more about her, you can do an Internet search and read about her.

c. I am not sure if it is a Catholic thing that I don't connect with readily or if I just don't connect with the story of Marthe Robin, but I find it hard to imagine a person who is kept alive on the bread and juice of the Eucharist that she receives once or twice a week (according to one of the web-sites, she could not eat, so it was miraculous who the bread and wine were able to "eaten” by her).

d. Here is a prayer of Marthe Robin that summarize well her life of love:

“I am Thy prey, oh Jesus, in the Cross and in joy, in cruel trials and in sharpest pain; oh how sweet it is to suffer when it is a sacrifice to Thee! And when one has as one's sun the great fire of Thy heart. I know where love dwells, I have seen the shining of Its flame, And for Thy heaven, oh Jesus, I would gather flowers. Painful torments bloody my soul, but unceasingly I repeat, 'I thank Thee, my Savior."
"Oh Virgin Mary, let me each day be more docile, more patient, more simple; unnoticed and forgotten. I do not ask that God bring about in me things that are visible, but only that I be a small, lowly child, sweet and humble of heart."
"My Lord and my God, to You I abandon myself. You wish me here, and here I shall remain, with no thought of leaving; if you wish me elsewhere, that is what I too wish. I know, oh Jesus, that always and everywhere You are saving me for yourself. Oh my Jesus, how thy little victim suffers, but how she loves Thee, with as much love as she has received ... oh Jesus, keep me always. I belong to Thee; give me patience and peace in everything." http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2009/11/marthe-robin-mystic-stigmatic-victim.html

Conversation starter: What do you think of the story of Marthe Robin?

2. Nouwen suggests that there is nothing spectacular about Jesus' life.

a. Jesus did not “heal or call back to life people in order to get publicity (71).

b. Nouwen notes the irony that in our world today millions of people utter Jesus' name everyday even though Jesus' revealed God in hiddenness (72).

c. Nouwen asserts that Jesus' life nor his death nor his resurrection wee intended to astound us with the great power of God. God became a lowly, hidden, almost invisible God” (72). I'm still pondering that thought!

d. Nouwen further suggests that whenever the gospel of Jesus bears fruit, we encounter Christ's hiddenness.

e. Nouwen argues that “the initial reaction of someone who has a really personal encounter with Jesus is not to start shouting it from the mountaintops, but to dwell secretly in the presence of God” 72). I'm not sure if I agree with that position. Certainly we live in a world where people speak about Jesus a lot (I wonder what Nouwen would think of the many athletes who point to the skies when something good has happened on the field?).

f. Nouwen also notes that living in a publicity-seeking world means people are continually challenging why God is not visible in the events of the world (73).

3. Nouwen's discussion of the hiddenness of God reminds me of the “Messianic secret” work that has been done on the way Jesus tells people not to tell anyone what he has done.

4. Nouwen connects the hiddenness of God to the spiritual journey.

a. Jesus makes himself known to us in secret, which requires that we start looking for him “in your own seclusion; It is his [Jesus'] seclusion, his hiddenness, that invites you to enter into your own” (74).

b. this takes us back to our hearts, which Nouwen suggests we avoid because we are afraid of it (74).

c. It is when we look to the heart to find Jesus that we can also find ourselves through Jesus (74).

d. “The more you learn to love God, the more you learn to love yourself” (75).

e. Nouwen points out the difficulty we have in making ourselves available to be touched by God. Typically, we are too busy filling our lives up with things and activities we have no space available for God (75).

f. Nouwen notes how much discipline is required to make space for God (75).

Conversation starter: How do you make yourself available to God in the busy-ness of your life? Do you have any type of routine for slowing down?

5. As I have come to expect, Nouwen connects the hiddenness of God with the Eucharist.

a. he mentions Mother Theresa telling him that a person “cannot see Jesus in the poor unless you can see him in the Eucharist” (77).

b. he notes that “When your heart is touched by the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, then you will receive new eyes capable of recognizing that same presence in the hearts of others. Hearts speak to hearts. Jesus in our heart speaks to Jesus in the hearts of fellow men and women. That the Eucharistic mystery of which we are a part” (77).

c. The Eucharist also teaches us to find the God who works in secret and with divine patience (77).

Resources: Letters to Marc: Living Spiritually in a Materialistic World, Henri Nouwen

http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2009/11/marthe-robin-mystic-stigmatic-victim.html