The family’s return to Nazareth started a new phase in Jesus’ young life. Everyone in Nazareth knew of his talks in the temple at Jerusalem, and they were proud that someone from Galilee was finally going to become a great teacher. Mary still thought she would be planning Jesus’ future, but she soon became disappointed as he spent more time with his dad and less with her.
Jesus’ mind was developing quickly; He spent a lot of his time just trying to make sense of what was happening. As the Son of God, he was more self-conscious of his divine nature, and better able to talk with the Thought Adjuster in his mind. As Jesus the son of man, he was going through the same confusing years all teenagers do. His experiences at the Passover weighed heavily on him, and as his love and pity grew for his people, so did his anger for the hypocritical Jewish leaders. He knew that some of the scribes, or writers of the Jewish law, were honest, and some of the Pharisees, which were a cult of Jews that thought they were more religious than everyone else, were truly devoted to their faith. But most of them weren’t, and Jesus only had contempt for those who used God to make their money.
His Fourteenth Year (A.D. 8)
By the time Jesus was fourteen years old he was making yokes for the caravans, and cabinets for the town people. He could sew both canvas and leather, and of course, he was becoming an expert carpenter like his father. His uncle had taught him to fish, and he knew how to garden and how to care for the family’s animals. Jesus was becoming well versed in the ways of his people.
When he wasn’t working with his dad, Jesus spent his time thinking, praying, and meditating. There was a hill close by that in the ancient days had been called the “high place of Baal,” where he’d go and sit. In Jesus’ time it was known as the hill of Simeon, after a holy man who was buried there. From this summit, Jesus would look out over the countryside and re-tell himself all of the ancient history of the Jewish people that his father had taught him. At the temple Jesus continued to study the scriptures, and at home he was learning to play the harp and helping to raise his brothers and sisters.
Joseph and Mary were as confused as usual when it came to their son. Jesus was smart and fun to be around, but he was also really difficult to understand. And he would spend so much time off by himself, thinking. But even worse, and this was especially hard for Mary to understand, he wasn’t performing any miracles. Back in those days, everyone believed that holy people showed they were really holy – that they really were speaking the word of God – by doing miraculous things. It proved their divinity. Mary was always waiting for Jesus to show everyone that he really was special, and she became more and more discouraged as time went by and he never did. Joseph, though, still thought Jesus would go to Jerusalem to study when he was fifteen years old, and he’d already started putting aside money to pay for his schooling. All in all, this was a good year for the family and their future looked bright.
The Death of Joseph
Then in September, tragedy struck. Joseph got hurt by a falling derrick while working in Sepphoris on the governor’s house. Mary grabbed James, who was ten years old at this time, and headed off to see her husband. Jesus stayed behind in Nazareth to take care of the other kids. But Joseph died before Mary got to him, so he was brought home and buried the next day.
Jesus is fourteen years old and now has to take on the job as head of the household. All other plans were put aside, and no longer did he have to think about maybe going to the academy in Jerusalem. When it’s said that Jesus sat at no man’s feet, this is what they mean: He never learned from other people what he later taught on Earth. The source of his teachings was divine, and it came from within himself, from his Thought Adjuster, and not from any other source. Jesus had seven brothers and sisters, Mary was pregnant again, and it was now his job to support the family. He was responsible for teaching the kids and punishing them if they did something wrong, and managing the money Joseph had set aside before his accidental death.
The family was sad and they all missed Joseph. It was made worse because they never had a chance to see him before he died. Jesus did his best to make things better, and in the evenings the neighbors would come by the house to hear him tell stories or play the harp or read to them from the scriptures.
The Fifteenth Year (A.D. 9)
Jesus’ baby sister, Ruth, was born on April 17. Jesus’ had to take care of his mother, who of course was super sad because Joseph wasn’t alive to see his last child. Jesus was now a father to a newborn baby as well as his brothers and sisters. His duties were piling up. The family funds were running out, so they sold one of the houses that Joseph and Jacob the stonemason had owned together. They bought another cow, and Miriam started selling milk to their friends. James was put in charge of tending the doves that Mary kept up on the roof.
Jesus knew his first responsibility was to care for his family, so any idea of starting his mission for God was put off. Mary just kept getting more confused about her boy. Sometimes everything seemed fine, and then he’d do or say something to cause her to doubt her beliefs. For Jesus, he was learning to keep quiet about his thoughts, and from this year on he spoke less of them to others.
With Joseph gone it was now Jesus’ responsibility to teach his brothers and sisters how to pray and worship God. The family had a whole bunch of different prayers and things they’d say when wanting to pray to, or praise, God. But like Jesus had argued with his dad years before, he believed it was better to pray by having a personal private talk with God in your mind. For the Jews, formal prayers were all about sending them off to some God far away from us. But for Jesus, a part of God is in our minds and we should talk with him like we’d talk to a trusting father. His family, though, couldn’t grasp these ideas and would always fall back on repeating the prayers they’d memorized. After a while Jesus gave up, and one night he sat down and wrote out a family prayer for everyone on a piece of cedar board. Later in his life, Jesus taught this same prayer to his apostles because they couldn’t grasp the idea of personally talking to God either. For us today, this was the “The Lord’s Prayer.”
Jesus had a lot of contradicting ideas to figure out. The Jews were waiting for someone to save them, but Jesus knew he was never going to lead an army to war. He knew he’d never sit on the Throne of David as the King of the Jews. Furthermore, he knew he wasn’t on the planet just for the Jews, but for all people. So, if he wasn’t the messiah, what was he? Or who was? What would he tell the people, and what was he supposed to call himself when he did go out to teach?
Then one day when he was studying in the synagogue library, he came across the Book of Enoch. In it was a passage that talked about a “Son of Man” who would someday come to earth. It said that this son of man had once walked in heaven with God the Father, but that he’d given-up all of that divine glory to come down to Earth and save its people. When Jesus read this, he knew there was more truth in this short passage from an old almost forgotten book, than there was in any of the other Jewish beliefs about a coming savior. He decided that when he did go out to teach, he would call himself the Son of Man.
Another question had to do with his family line. Joseph had said he was not in the line of David, but his mother still said he was. And, a lot of times Mary was right, not Joseph. He also wondered why there were so many prophecies about a Jewish savor. Jesus had already decided that his mission was to bring God to all people, not just the Jews. But if he wasn’t this future messiah, who was? Or, did the prophets just get everything wrong? All of these questions, and many more, rolled through young Jesus’ mind as he went about his duties as head of the family. And he bore all of this weight alone.
First Sermon in the Synagogue
When Jesus turned fifteen years old, he was old enough to conduct the services at the synagogue. He’d been asked to read to the people before, but this was the first time he could actually run the services for that day. So the chazan scheduled Jesus to conduct the next morning service at the synagogue. Jesus then had to select the scripture he would read. When that sabbath morning came, the people of Nazareth saw a new Jesus. Never before had it looked so majestic, or read with such earnest solemn sincerity.
For his first sermon, Jesus chose to read:
“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the meek, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to set the spiritual prisoners free; to proclaim the year of God’s favor and the day of our God’s reckoning; to comfort all mourners, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy in the place of mourning, a song of praise instead of the spirit of sorrow, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, wherewith he may be glorified.
Seek good and not evil that you may live, and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you. Hate the evil and love the good; establish judgment in the gate. Perhaps the Lord God will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil and learn to do good; seek justice, relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless and plead for the widow.
Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, to bow myself before the Lord of all the earth? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousands of sheep, or with rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? No! for the Lord has showed us, O men, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to deal justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?
To whom, then, will you liken God who sits upon the circle of the earth? Lift up your eyes and behold who has created all these worlds, who brings forth their host by number and calls them all by their names. He does all these things by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one fails. He gives power to the weak, and to those who are weary he increases strength. Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness, for I am the Lord your God. And I will hold your right hand, saying to you, fear not, for I will help you.
And you are my witness, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen that all may know and believe me and understand that I am the Eternal. I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no savior.”
The Financial Struggle
This fifteenth year saw the family getting poorer each month. Jesus was working longer each day for less pay each month. Since he had no time to do so himself, he’d send James up to the camel lot to find out news from around the world. When Jesus had gone to Sepphoris to get Joseph’s back pay from Herod Antipas, he was cheated out of all of it. From that point on Jesus never again trusted Herod, calling him “that fox.” The family was having trouble paying taxes and the various fees to attend the synagogue. The Roman tax collector even threatened to take Jesus’ harp. It got so bad that Jesus was worried that they might find and take his copy of the scriptures in Greek, so instead Jesus gave them to the synagogue library.
Their food was plain, but it was healthy. Most of it came from their gardens and three cows, four sheep, and a flock of chickens. They had plenty of vegetables and eggs, milk, butter, and cheese. The older kids worked their own garden plots to help out the family, and the younger ones had their daily chores. Jesus wanted to move the family to the country, but they just couldn’t afford it. He was a practical lad, and he met his problems how and where he found them. Jesus did his best to adapt to the situation and to make it as good as possible for everyone. The family didn’t have much, but they well used what they had under Jesus’ guidance.
At the time, Jesus’ future didn’t look good. All of his plans, even those not finalized, had been destroyed. But he didn’t get discouraged. Yes, Jesus was an idealist and he had a mission to do, but throughout all of these hardships he kept his chin up and met his duties as best he could. Jesus taught people for all time that no matter what great plans any of us may have for the future, the most important thing is to take care of the day’s immediate concerns. There’s never been more of an idealist with a greater reason to become disillusioned than Jesus, yet he showed us how to keep our faith with grace. Living in the present and not in the past or future is a difficult lesson for many of us.
At this point, Jesus the lad is on the verge of becoming a man. He’s about to begin the mission for which he came to earth.
Okay, folks, that’s it for Son of Man, Chapter 5, “The Two Crucial Years.”
Next week’s Chapter 6 is titled, “The Adolescent Years.”
Have a fantastic week out there.