His Proudest Moment

"It was my proudest moment..."

We've all heard variations on these words. It's a common phrase.

It occurred to me the other day, however, that I've never seen those words applied to Jesus. What was Jesus' proudest moment? I'd never thought about it before. Hmmmm.

Good Friday came to mind quickly. Was it his dying on the cross? Who can overstate how much Jesus accomplished on Good Friday?

But then I began to think about what defines our own proudest moments. It seems fair to say that they involve days or moments when by means of skill, hard work and perhaps a bit of luck we rise above our ordinary level of achievement in some sphere of life.

These criteria don't work so well with Jesus. He always did everything right, and it never had anything to do with luck. Good Friday was just like any other day for Jesus on that score. Meaning... Jesus did everything flawlessly on the uneventful days too. He didn't rise to the occasion on Good Friday. He was simply ready for the occasion on Good Friday.

So that got me thinking more.

So. Was every day the same to Jesus, so to speak? Would he rank them differently? Give some days a better grade than others? Feel better about some miracles than others? Hmmm.

The more thought I gave to this question, the fewer answers I had. I have no idea how Jesus "ranked" his experiences.

But here's my hunch. In some senses, I wonder if it's a bit like me playing simpler versions of Duet. (Duet's been my mindless distraction game of late, as noted in another recent blog.)

When I play the easiest version of Duet, I have no proud moments. I succeed. But I don't get worked up about it.

As I go to higher levels, it's more of the same thing... I continue to succeed, but I don't care about it.

It's only when I succeed at the stages I struggle with that I have my happy moments.

I wonder how it was for Jesus. He "succeeded" at every level. He was perfectly able to do the little things right. The bigger things. The amazing things. He was able to do them all. Perfectly.

I wonder if perhaps Jesus felt the same about all of them. Giving a smile to the beggar. Sight to the blind. Life to the world.

Jesus may not have had a proudest moment. At the risk of taking this reflection too far, I suppose if he did have such a thing, it would be when he felt the Father's pleasure was greatest. If Jesus had one goal, it was to honor, serve, and obey his heavenly father.

So inextricably, if there even could be such a thing as Jesus' proudest moment, he would have let God the Father pick it.

Does/did God the Father have an opinion on this matter? Who am I to say. but I have a hunch God was simply endlessly proud of his son, and not for any one thing.

When Jesus looks back at the entirety of his life here on earth, he can rightly say that he made God the Father proud. All the time.

Now that's something to be proud of.

To be continued...