We can sort through and learn who Jesus was through a few different sources. The most abundant source is of course the scripture. But it’s not by far the only source. For example, just the fact that he was Jewish tells us a lot. His family and friends probably called him Yeshua bar Yosef, which basically meant Jesus son of Joseph. He grew up mostly in the village of Nazareth, in the province of Galilee. That was the back woods of the Middle East at the time, and far from anything the Romans would call civilized.
One of the most significant things to understand about Yeshua is his life as a peasant. He is identified in the gospel of Mark as a tekton -- Greek for hand worker. He would’ve been trained to this trade by Yosef himself. They also would’ve traveled across Galilee together looking for work.
The first most apparent life lesson to the boy would’ve been the inequality of the poor. Life is not fair, and we all learn that from a young age, but in Yeshua’s time this was disproportionately the case.
He would’ve seen the Romans squeezing the people for every bit of power they could, then repaying what they got by torturing and murdering the people. He would’ve seen the priests who were meant to be the shepherds guarding and guiding God’s people, instead abusing their authority as well. And he would’ve seen frequent rebellions formed by citizens, who wanted to take that power back, but instead got a lot of innocent people killed and drove the Romans to tighten their grip.
Also, in Luke's view, Yeshua could comment authoritatively on scripture ever since he was a boy. He recites a story probably told to him by Mary, about when he was in the temple at age twelve. He was later found discussing scripture with the teachers in the temple.
What are your thoughts on the childhood of Jesus? What else do we know about his upbringing?
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Comments (76)
@JCCroom@xanga -
I am a sceptic with the tattered remnants of a Christian past hanging off me like rags. Some of which still stick but most of which is falling or has fallen away. I am closer to being a heretic than an atheist. Some sort of agnostic I suppose and the more I read and ponder the further I move from certainty.
I shared on what I suspect is idolatry, possibly because my concept of God does not include notions that smack of Hercules.
To make a coverall response to your offered assumptions, they are assumptions and to discuss them as if they are true when I doubt it, is a pointless exercise. Why don’t you ponder such assumptions as if they are not true? They are interpretations at least and historically have been challenged since the first day of the gospel accounts.
The hearsay of the gospel stories speaks of many strange things and the words of the main character have always been open to conflicting interpretation, not least of which is that offered about his relationship with the Creator of the Universe.