Life is Ministry and Ministry is Life: Jesus’ First 30 Years…

The Gospels are full of stories, events, and teachings of the life of Jesus during His official ministry years on earth.  Most all of the accounts of Jesus and what we know of His messages and life are caught up on these three years.  But I have always wondered: What about the other 30?

Scholars believe that Jesus lived about 33 years here on earth.   So with the 3 years of official ministry that kind of kicked off at His baptism, that means He lived on earth for 30 years before that.  While there are some accounts of His life during those years, it cannot be denied that His first 30 years were spent differently than His final 3.  John 1:14 says that Jesus came down to earth and “dwelled among them”.  For 30 years, Jesus simply dwelled among people.  He lived.  He learned.  He laughed.  For 30 years, He contented Himself to simply be one of us.  And then His ministry finally began… or did it?

How come the time that Jesus spent simply dwelling with people and sharing life with the people around Him doesn’t count as “ministry”?  Granted, He might not have been giving sermons and healing all kinds of people and things like that – but does that mean that the things that He was doing don’t count as ministry?  It can be argued that without the first 30 years of Him simply dwelling among people, He wouldn’t have been in a place to speak into their lives.  He wouldn’t have known their plight.  He wouldn’t truly be one of them.  He wouldn’t have their trust.  He wouldn’t have the right to speak into their lives.  He had to spend time simply “dwelling among them”.

And that’s where this notion comes to the forefront: Life is ministy and ministry is life.  To Jesus during those first 30 years, His ministry was simply to live with those around Him.  And His life – his very life, the eating, talking, sleeping, walking, working, playing, life – was His ministry.  He didn’t need to do some kind of ministry from 9 – 5 and then shut it down and go back to his “regular” life.  There was so separation for Jesus.  His life was His ministry, and His ministry was His life.

This is something that God has been opening my eyes to lately.  Ministry as life and life as ministry – kind of like how Jesus lived during His first 30 years…

Just wanted to share.