Where did Jesus do from 12 years old until He showed Him self the first time?

[wina]

Hi,
I always wonder about what Jesus do from 12 years old until He showed Himself the first time. I mean in the scripture, there’s nothing talk about it. The last is when His parents looked for Him and He was in the temple. Then, there’s nothing until He was baptized.
Can anyone explain about it??

 

[buffalo]

Jesus did not start His public ministry until around 30 years of age.
Chronology of the Life of Jesus Christ

 

[Fidelis]

Hi,
I always wonder about what Jesus do from 12 years old until He showed Himself the first time. I mean in the scripture, there’s nothing talk about it. The last is when His parents looked for Him and He was in the temple. Then, there’s nothing until He was baptized.
Can anyone explain about it??

Scripture doesn’t mention it and the Church has no official stance on it so we can conclude that God has deemed our knowing the details of this period of Jesus’ life not directly essential for our salvation. Apart from that God is not obligated to satisfy our idle curiousity.

There are some pious legends surrounding this time, but they are neither reliably historical or reveled truth. Some people are able to take them for what they are and derive some spiritual benefit from them. Others treat them as facts and almost inspired and bristle at anyone pointing out they are neither. If one wants to “fill in the gaps” as part of their own private meditations, that’s OK. But the danger is when people get so attached to these to the extent they build false doctrine and practices around them and thus fall into error (or lead others there).

 

[MrS]

He was home schooled after the Holy Family returned from Eqypt.

They were there for a number of years, I would suppose, until Joseph guided them back to safety.

Can you just imagine Mary had the unique chance to learn all about God… from God.

 

[justinthemartyr]

This is precisely another proof of scripture NOT being a blow by blow account of the life of Christ nor what he did, either as a child or as an adult. Yet another reason why Sacred Scripture ALONE cannot be the sole authority of God.

 

[Todd_Easton]

Jesus was known as a carpenter (Mark 6:3), the presumed son of Joseph, a carpenter (Matthew 13:55). It seems reasonable to assume that Jesus spent his “hidden” years, between the ages of 12 and 30, learning and practicing the carpentry trade.

 

[ABostonCatholic]

This is precisely another proof of scripture NOT being a blow by blow account of the life of Christ nor what he did, either as a child or as an adult. Yet another reason why Sacred Scripture ALONE cannot be the sole authority of God.

The fact that this is missing does not disprove sola scriptura. It just means that what was not included is not necessary for salvation.

 

[Al_Masetti]

Anne Rice wrote a book that suggests some interesting speculations on just this question.

annerice.com/

“Christ the Lord”

 

[wina]

Jesus did not start His public ministry until around 30 years of age.
Chronology of the Life of Jesus Christ

Thanks for giving me the Chronology of the Life of Jesus Christ. And yes, there are some parts that I always wonder when I read the scripture.
When did Jesus realized that He is a Son of God?? when he was 12 exactly or…?? and before He started His ministry at 30, so why He didn’t start earlier??

 

[wina]

This is precisely another proof of scripture NOT being a blow by blow account of the life of Christ nor what he did, either as a child or as an adult. Yet another reason why Sacred Scripture ALONE cannot be the sole authority of God.

Well, sorry that I don’t agree with you. Yes, the scripture doesn’t tell us about it but it’s still our guidence for our lives (my opinion)

 

[buffalo]

Thanks for giving me the Chronology of the Life of Jesus Christ. And yes, there are some parts that I always wonder when I read the scripture.
When did Jesus realized that He is a Son of God?? when he was 12 exactly or…?? and before He started His ministry at 30, so why He didn’t start earlier??

His Divine Nature knew it immediately.

 

[CapIV]

some non-canonical gospels have accounts of Jesus as a child. Is some of them, he is even portrayed as a trouble maker. But then again, they are NON-CANONICAL. And are probably non-canonical for good reason, so they are probably worth ignoring all together actually.

 

[buffalo]

Hypostatic Union

then read

The Incarnation

then

Knowledge of Jesus Christ

 

[patrick457]

Hi,
I always wonder about what Jesus do from 12 years old until He showed Himself the first time. I mean in the scripture, there’s nothing talk about it. The last is when His parents looked for Him and He was in the temple. Then, there’s nothing until He was baptized.
Can anyone explain about it??

Those are termed as the ‘hidden years’ of Jesus, since the Bible does not relate anything about Jesus from His birth until His twelfth year, and from there until His appearance (as a thirty year-old) at the Jordan Area.

We can presume that, like Joseph, He worked as a ‘tekton’ (a carpenter/workman), perhaps doing anything from making tables to working on buildings.

Just as mentioned above, there are many Apocryphal Gospels which show Jesus, first as some kind of ‘holy terror’ and an ‘infant prodigy’ (such as pushing off His playmates from a roof and raising them up again, striking blind and lame the parents of playmates who complain to Joseph and Mary, correcting and explaining the letters of the alphabet in depth to a teacher who offered to teach Him His letters) who eventually, as He grows up, use His Power for more benign purposes (such as healing James from a snake bite and a man or boy who accidentally chopped off his foot, lengthening a piece of wood by stretching it or carrying water using His cloak since He broke His pitcher).

As for why Jesus started when He was already 30, this was because back then, a man below his thirties would still be considered ‘young’ and a ‘juvenile’. I guess He decided to start at the age wherein He would be considered as living in the prime of His life, i.e. a full-fledged adult.

 

[Ghoti]

Luke 2: [sup]51[/sup]Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. [sup]52[/sup]And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Seems fairly straightforward to me. He spent the intervening years with His parents, growing in wisdom, maturing, until He was ready to start His ministry.

 

[CryptoCatholic]

There is some interesting material to the effect that Jesus spent years in Northern India and Tibet. The material is comprised of Tibetan Buddhist scriptures on the life of a man they call “Saint Issa.” I have a translation of one of those scriptures, unfortunately in the form of a chapter in a book published by a New Age Christian group. There is nothing New Age about the translation itself, though.

There is some other evidence, going in the opposite direction, that the Middle Ages Church made Buddha a Roman Catholic saint.

Because there are some indications that we really are closing in on the end, I wonder if we are not looking at some dusty old tools, buried in the past by Jesus and the Holy Spirit, which will soon be employed to mass-convert the world’s Buddhists.

 

[Al_Masetti]

Thanks for giving me the Chronology of the Life of Jesus Christ. And yes, there are some parts that I always wonder when I read the scripture.
When did Jesus realized that He is a Son of God?? when he was 12 exactly or…?? and before He started His ministry at 30, so why He didn’t start earlier??

When Mary was pregnant with Jesus, she went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John (the Baptizer). When Mary got there, John is said by the Bible to have leapt in the womb.

This suggests that John knew immediately that Jesus was the Lord, the Son of God. It is reasonable to assume that Jesus knew from His very conception that He was the Son of God … from always.

Why didn’t Jesus start earlier? It might have had something to do with the credibility of having more years. Or there might be an Old Testament prophecy that He wanted or needed to go along with.

[In fact, in a sense, He did start as a 12-year old when He was found to be lecturing and teaching the priests and others at the Temple in Jerusalem. ]

Jesus remonstrated His Mother at the famous incident at the marriage feast at Cana; He said that His time had not yet come.

So, there was a definite plan for Him to start at a particular point. And that was later rather than sooner.

 

[MrS]

The Jewish custom of the time for one to enter ministry (Rabbi, Teacher…) was to have attained the age of 30, until (I think) the age of 54.

Thus the Jews had one less reason to doubt that Jesus could be a teacher.

Additionally, Joseph had to have died by this time. For a man to claim to be a “king” when his father still lived would have been insulting. Since the Jews thought of Joseph as Jesus’ father, they might have used that to question His “kingship”.

None the less, they invented enough as they feared a loss of their own authority to such a “rebel” as the Lord.

.

 

[ac23]

The Jewish custom of the time for one to enter ministry (Rabbi, Teacher…) was to have attained the age of 30, until (I think) the age of 54.

Thus the Jews had one less reason to doubt that Jesus could be a teacher.

Additionally, Joseph had to have died by this time. For a man to claim to be a “king” when his father still lived would have been insulting. Since the Jews thought of Joseph as Jesus’ father, they might have used that to question His “kingship”.

None the less, they invented enough as they feared a loss of their own authority to such a “rebel” as the Lord.

.

This is great information! Would if be possible to link the sources for me to read and refer to?

 

[MrS]

This is great information! Would if be possible to link the sources for me to read and refer to?

I remember learning this in a conference…Jeff Cavins I beleive.

Perhaps another poster could verify… but I will look for the link/source.