The Silent Jesus

Book excerpt: Although it is never made explicit in the text, when we read the Gospels as story, we can picture a Jesus who, for most of the time, walked through life in unhurried peace and calmness. So unrushed was he that two people in need of his healing died because he would not allow himself to be dictated to by circumstances. God received greater glory through Jesus, later raising both Lazarus and Jairus's daughter from the dead. But in a busy world full of need, poverty, and sickness, Jesus walked through first-century Israel with apparent ease. He desires us to live in the same way. But how do we do that in a demanding and stressful, modern world? How did Jesus manage it? Much of the answer lies in Jesus's personal prayer life and his relationship to the Father. In these pages, join the author in his long quest to follow Jesus into that most intimate of relationships to experience something of the "unforced rhythms of grace" (Matt 11:28-30, MSG) and the deep love of the Father.