The Obscure Years XII

The obscure years began at the moment of holy conception in Nazareth when the Word became flesh among us.  It was, of course, a moment no one witnessed, a moment likely not realized at first even by Mary in whose womb the miracle took place, but in an unknown moment the Invisible Light of the World came into the darkness which was a part of this world.  Little is known about the early part of the journey of the Christ in our world.  There was a trip to Bethlehem, and Egypt, and then back to Nazareth.  And then there were journeys here and there until some thirty years later the One who had all but been invisible though visible among us made Himself visible for all to see.    

Those obscure years which began at conception and ended at the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized by a kinsman known to Him as John, but by everyone else as John the Baptizer.   The Word tells us that John leaped for joy in the womb of his mother Elizabeth when the just pregnant Mary came with the beginnings of the Christ child within her.  John had a role to play as the obscure years began and still another to play as they came to an end.  As the waters from the Jordan River began to dry upon the body of Jesus, washing away the invisibility of His presence, the obscure years came to an end.     

As the obscure years ended, the public years began.  The obscure years had been thirty or so in process and the public ones would last for about three years and then the now visible Christ would once again enter into the realm of the Invisible.  However, through all those years the Light of the World which has shined since before the beginning shined among us dispelling not only the darkness of the womb, but also the many shades of darkness present in the world.  During those final years of Jesus being visible among us, everyone would see that no darkness, no matter how great, no matter how personal, could prevail against the Light which came into Nazareth and prevailed even against the darkness of death itself.