Day Thirty – Jesus was a Young Adult

Question: A striking feature of the Rule is the way in which it includes an implicit “theology of aging,” with references throughout the text to the various stages of human life:  young adulthood, the onset of middle age, and the particular challenges of old age. How did this theme find its way into the conversation—or did it?

Br. Jonathan Maury: Oh, it did and it was intentional!  It was a way of fully appropriating the grace of the Incarnation.  And it also reflected the demographics of the Community at the time, with men in every decade from their 20s through 80s.  We knew we had to think harder about what it meant to be followers of a man who died when he was still, what we would today describe as, a “young adult.” Jesus was never a middle aged man, let alone an old man.  I think that’s one of the reasons why the witness of the Beloved Disciple (2, 47) emerged as such an important feature of our shared experience of the life.