No divine trick up His sleeve

Recently, a group of us in a writers’ workshop were brainstorming ideas about Jesus’ childhood. Our enthusiastic instructor, Ginger Kolbaba, asked us to imagine Mary’s reaction when her little boy Jesus ran to show her what he could do. Demonstrating the scene, Ginger extended her arms, twisted her fingers as though fiddling with an object, and then exclaimed, “Look. Ma!” as she opened her empty hand.

Can’t you see it? No clumsy shuffling of shekels here. No feigned smile of surprise on the face of Mom. This was the real deal—the doves fluttered and flew, the coin vanished.

Were they both surprised? Mary knew He was special; still, did she chide him to not show off in front of his friends? When did Jesus know who He was and what He could do?

Imagine. The Son of God in short pants and sandals. He grew in wisdom and stature to become Glory in a brown tunic. Both God and man. As God, He could not sin. As man, He was tempted yet did not. Not because He was able to pull a divine trick out of His sleeve, but because He would show us how we could live under the control of His life in us.

Lord, may we know today, in all that befalls us that with You is the fountain of life. In your light, we wish to see light.—Psalm 36:9