Maybe I am all wrong but I seem to have read or have been taught through the years that Jesus began his public ministry about age 30 which lasted about three years and then died at age 33?
I can’t quote a source for this but somehow I just know this (but again I may be all wrong)? Is there scriptual basis for this and what if anything do the Church scholars teach us or have to say about how old Jesus was?
Well, po18guy already gave Luke 3:21-23, so I’ll answer the other one.
The idea that Jesus’ ministry lasted for
three and a half (the correct duration of time) years actually comes
not from the Gospels themselves, but from the application of an OT prophecy to Jesus.
There is no passage from the Gospels which overtly indicates as to how long Jesus’ ministry lasted. The Synoptic Gospels mention only a single Passover within the narrative, the one where Jesus dies. Based of this, as well as what is seen as clues within the Synoptics - for example, in Mark 2:23-28 grain is eaten raw, which suggests early summer; in 6:39 it is spring since the grass is green; Jesus then goes to Jerusalem for Passover in 11:1, presumably during the same spring as chapter 6 - there are people who think that the Synoptics imply a year-long ministry, between one early summer or late spring and the next spring.
Critics point out that the problem with this theory is that it fails to consider that Matthew, Mark, and Luke often arrange their (episodic) material differently, and that it is actually very difficult to examine the chronology of the Synoptics precisely because of the episodic nature of their material. To use, say, the time indicators in Mark one would have to assume that the events happened in the
exact order as Mark arranged them, which would place one into a dilemma when you compare his Gospel with say, Matthew or Luke, both of whom place some pericopes in a different order than Mark. So, even these clues are not exactly helpful in determining how long Jesus was out in public.
The Gospel of John, meanwhile, explicitly mentions three Passovers (2:13; 6:4; 11:55ff.). He also mentions an unspecified “
feast of the Judaeans” in 5:1, while chapter 7 is set during Sukkoth, aka the Feast of Booths (cf. verse 2) and 10:22ff is set during Hannukah, aka the Feast of the Dedication. According to this reckoning, Jesus began His ministry somewhere before the first recorded Passover, which would make the length of time He was in public only slightly more than
two years. (And this does not take into account the possibility that John only recorded a small portion of what Jesus actually did (cf. 21:25); if we imagine that John only recorded a small fraction of Jesus’ public ministry, then the actual duration could even be longer.)
Much speculation has arisen over the identity of the unnamed feast of chapter 5. One suggestion is that it also refers to Passover (which would make the total of Passovers in John into four, hence supporting the idea of a three-year ministry), another that it is a reference to
Shavuot, aka Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, yet another as a reference to Purim. There are yet other hypotheses besides.
Late March-late April (Spring): First Passover (2:13)
??: Unnamed feast (5:1)
Late March-late April (Spring): Second Passover (6:4)
Late September-late October (Autumn): Booths (7:1ff.)
Late November-late December (Winter): Dedication (10:22ff.)
Late March-late April (Spring): Third Passover (11:55ff.)
This nugget of popular wisdom actually derives from a Christological interpretation of Daniel’s prophecy of the Seventy Weeks, more specifically 9:27: “
and he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” There are two ways of interpreting this passage: one interpretation popularized by Origen and Eusebius, is that the “
he” who would make the sacrifices cease refers to Christ: “
midst of the week” = half a week = three days and a half = three years and a half. (The other interpretation, more well-known nowadays, is that the “
he” is actually the Antichrist.)
Therefore it is written, “
and in the midst of the week shall be taken away sacrifice and libation;” (Daniel 9:27) and it is clear that with the Passion was forcibly taken from them * sacrifice and libation, when according to the Evangelical Scripture “
the veil of the Temple was rent from the top to the bottom” (Matthew 27:41).
- Eusebius, Prophetic Eclogues 3.46*
