Nazareth was worthy of its lowly name. It held the lowest place in public estimation. Nathanael’s question reflects this fact: “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”55 The larger town just next to Nazareth was Sepphoris.56 According to the best scholarship we have, Nazareth was small. It probably had a population of fewer than four hundred, and it was not very well-to-do.57
As the son of an artisan, Jesus would not have been poverty-stricken. Artisans were not at the bottom of the social strata; they certainly were not peasants. Tenant farmers, shepherds, and agriculture workers were poorer.58
At the same time, many scholars believe that to call Jesus “middle-class” or “rich” isn’t accurate either. Jesus was certainly familiar with poverty. Paul said of Him, “Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”59 The riches Paul mentioned here may have referred to the riches of the heavens that Jesus possessed before His incarnation, a wealth He forfeited by becoming a man born to a nonwealthy family.
Although not extremely poor, from scriptural evidence we can assume that Mary and Joseph were likely not wealthy.60 While prosperity teachers have tried to take certain portions of the Gospels to transform Jesus and Joseph into opulent men, their arguments have been strongly challenged.61 N. T. Wright has put it this way:
Jesus, with all the “riches” of his life in the glorious mystery of God’s inner being, became “poor,” both in the sense that becoming human was an astonishingly humbling thing and in the sense that the human life he took on was not royal, rich and splendid in the world’s terms but instead poor, humble and eventually shameful.62
Some scholars believe that Joseph and Jesus worked in Sepphoris. Sepphoris was roughly an hour’s walk from Nazareth, about four or five miles away. Bible scholar and archaeologist Jerome Murphy O’Connor asserts that Joseph and Mary settled in Nazareth because of its proximity to Sepphoris.63 After 3 BC, Sepphoris was the center of a building boom and provided daily work opportunities for artisans like Joseph. It’s certainly possible that Jesus worked in Sepphoris as well as in Nazareth, but there is no proof one way or the other.64 So while the idea that Jesus was an illiterate, uneducated, landless peasant doesn’t fit the evidence, the notion that He was rich is built on questionable scholarship as well. It is clear from the Gospels that Jesus could read.65 Josephus pointed out that it was expected that Jewish children be taught to read.66 And Armin Baum has concluded that the evidence is overwhelming that first century Jews memorized large portions of the Torah.67 Jewish people emphasized education more than most cultures (this was recognized even by Gentile writers). Thus literacy among Jews was generally higher than among most people groups in the Roman world.68
It appears that Jesus gave the bulk of His teachings in Aramaic, He had a basic knowledge of Hebrew, and He knew at least some Greek.69 Like most Jewish males of His day, His primary education took place in the synagogue. This is where He would have learned to read.70 Jesus would have also learned the Scriptures at the local synagogue in Nazareth, which He attended every Sabbath.71 And His parents would have trained Him in the Jewish way of life. The fact that Jesus had tassels on His garment indicates that He was a Law-observing, pious Jew.72 There is no question that His parents, Joseph and Mary, were devout Jews as well.73
A PEEK INTO JESUS’ YOUTH
The only peek into Jesus’ youth that the Gospels give us is found in Luke 2:42–50. A twelve-year-old Jesus went up to Jerusalem with His family to celebrate the Passover feast. After a day passed on their journey home, the Lord’s parents suddenly realized Jesus was missing. They searched for Him among the caravan of relatives and friends, but He was nowhere to be found. Frantically worried, Mary and Joseph headed back to Jerusalem to look for Jesus. After three days of searching, they found Him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to and quizzing them.
Mary and Joseph were astonished and asked Him why He didn’t return with them. Jesus responded, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”74 He then returned to Nazareth and “was obedient to them.”75
There are echoes in this story of the burial and resurrection of Jesus. In both cases, Jesus was lost, and three days later He was found. Luke used the phrases “after three days” and “the third day” to describe these events.76 Jesus’ responses in both situations were similar: “Why did you seek Me?”77 . . . “Who are you looking for?”78 And in both cases, we have women remembering the event: “His mother kept all these things in her heart”79 . . . “And they remembered His words.”80 Luke seemed to see this story as an anticipation of the resurrection.
The story also gives us a window into understanding that Jesus was a precocious young man—so much so that He confounded the Jewish teachers with His probing questions and deep understanding. Jesus was, in effect, assuming the posture of a teacher—sitting. He would assume this posture again when He turned thirty and began teaching in the synagogue in Nazareth.
Interestingly when Mary found Him, she said, “Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” Jesus responded by saying, “I must be about My Father’s business,” speaking of God.81 Jesus was surprised that His parents didn’t expect Him to be in the temple. At age twelve He was clearly aware that God was His Father, and He had a special mission on earth.
We must understand that a twelve-year-old boy in the ancient Jewish world was not viewed as a child any longer. So Mary and Joseph shouldn’t be regarded as bad parents for losing sight of Him. The extended family was very powerful in Jesus’ day. So Mary and Joseph naturally assumed He returned home with relatives.
Luke went on to say, “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”82 In other words, He grew physically in height and age, and He grew mentally and spiritually in wisdom and insight.83 And God’s favor was upon Him.
WHAT DID JESUS LOOK LIKE AS HE GREW INTO MANHOOD?
As far as Jesus’ appearance goes, nothing is said about it in the Gospels or Epistles. This is interesting because the human memory recalls human faces better than it does words and actions. Thus the absence of a physical description of Jesus appears intentional. The post-apostolic literature that claims to describe Jesus’ physical appearance is flimsy at best, and most scholars consider them to be forgeries. Perhaps the truth of Plato’s “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is nowhere more evident than in the question of what Jesus looked like. For Isaiah, Jesus is plain-looking if not ugly: “There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.”84 But then there is the Messianic psalm: “You are the most handsome of all.”85
The Isaiah description fits the entire narrative of Jesus. Jesus entered into this planet in a way no one anticipated. His birth was the exact opposite of what one would expect for a king, let alone the King of the world, God’s own Son. He wasn’t born in a palace, and He constantly associated with the lowly and downtrodden. Humans put great emphasis on outward appearances. This was just as true in the ancient world as it is today. Recall when Jesse put forth all of his sons before the great prophet Samuel. Samuel assumed that the best-looking and tallest was God’s choice. But it wasn’t.
When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.”
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”86
God’s choice was the youngest of Jesse’s children, the shepherd boy, David. No one expected this. To be sure, there is unspeakable beauty in the new David, Jesus. But just like the tabernacle of Moses, the beauty of Christ resides inwardly. Outwardly, the tabernacle was covered with badgers’ skins, which were dull, drab, and mundane. From the outside, the tabernacle was a plain and ordinary sight. But inside, the house was filled with gold, fine-woven white linen embroidered with blue, purple, and s
carlet thread. It was a glorious sight to behold, “full of grace and truth.”87 Jesus is the real tabernacle of God.88
The words of Frederick Buechner sum it up well:
The faces of Jesus then—all the ways he had of being and being seen. The writers of the New Testament give no description of any of them because it was his life alive inside of them that was the news they hawked rather than the color of his eyes.89
Yet Jesus was incarnated in human form, and as human beings, we can make some assumptions about what He may have looked like as a Jewish male in His culture at that time. Most male Jews in Jesus’ day did not have long hair, defined as shoulder-length hair or longer. Long hair was a sign of rebellion and dissent. Short hair wasn’t cropped but lay trimmed neatly along the neck. Jesus is presumed to have had this kind of short hair because Paul stated, “Isn’t it obvious that it’s disgraceful for a man to have long hair?”90
Whatever the length of his hair, however, Jesus was careful about grooming: “when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting.”91 Or in other words, do not look gloomy. Jesus combed His hair, looked good, and smiled.
Perhaps His smile is the most telling feature of Jesus. The ancients knew it was the content of the Lord’s character, not the quality of His appearance, that mattered.
This all provides the backdrop to how God the Father prepared Jesus for His incredible ministry.
CHAPTER 6
................................................................................
Jesus’ Preparation for Ministry
Preach Christ . . . He is the whole gospel. His person, offices,
and work must be our one great, all-comprehending theme.
—CHARLES SPURGEON 1
N. T. WRIGHT HAS PLEADED FOR THE IMPORTANCE OF DOING responsible historical and biblical reconstruction on Jesus, saying, “If we don’t make the effort to do this reconstruction, we will, without a shadow of a doubt, assume that what Jesus did and said makes the sense it might have made in some other context—perhaps our own.”2 According to Wright, if we don’t interpret the available evidence correctly, “we shall simply squash Jesus into the little boxes of our own imaginations rather than seeing him as he was.”3
While every interpretation has some element of subjectivity, we do have one possible scenario of what Jesus was doing between the ages of twelve and thirty to prepare for His adult ministry. Based on a plausible reading of Scripture and the cultural information of His era, let’s go back in time, and imagine.
TWELVE-YEAR-OLD BOYS IN AD 8
It is the year AD 8, and we are in the town of Nazareth. If Jesus was born in 4 BC, as many scholars suggest, Jesus is now twelve.
Throughout Galilee, other young men, part of a select group, are also twelve. They are part of the tribe of Levi. These young men are planning to relocate to Jerusalem to be trained for the priesthood. Older priests will apprentice them, teaching them the details of the Law and tutoring them in the temple sacrificial system. They will learn how to manage the furniture inside the Holy Place. They will learn how to slaughter bullocks and lambs and how to remove the fat according to the Law. They will be trained to be expert butchers. They will also learn all the rituals associated with the temple. This training will go on for years. They will not be able to receive their ordination and begin their priestly service until they reach age thirty.4
There is another group of young men who are twelve. They will soon begin their education as scribes. Each is being tutored by an older scribe under whom the boy has chosen to study. Some are studying under village scribes. Others, desiring a more advanced education, are moving to Jerusalem to study. They will learn the rare skill of writing and be schooled in the fine points of the Law as well as the oral tradition. They will seek to master how to preserve, apply, and defend the Torah. (In the first-century world, rabbis didn’t recruit or select students. Students chose the rabbis under whom they wished to study, much as a student today chooses a professor under whom to study.)
There is yet another group of twelve-year-old Jewish males who have selected rabbis to disciple them.5 (Paul of Tarsus was tutored under the rabbi Gamaliel, for instance.6 Again, rabbis were simply teachers. The rabbis of Jesus’ day could be likened to the pastors and Bible teachers of our time, where the scribes could be likened to our Bible scholars and theologians.)
But what is God doing in AD 8 at age twelve?
Jesus could have trained to be a scribe. And He could have been trained as a rabbi. Those two choices were before Him. He could have gone the route of the religious professional.7
But that’s not what He did.
Think back to how He came into this world. He was born in the place where animals were kept. No priest, scribe, or rabbi was present at this birth. Who showed up? Shepherds. And some time later, some pagan astrologers.
No, God incarnate did not choose any of the accepted forms of “religious training” of His day. Here again, our Lord burst the boundaries of all expectations. His ministry preparation was to become a craftsman—part of the working class. Jesus, God incarnate, chose to be a blue-collar worker.8 That was His preparation for spiritual service.
A BLUE-COLLAR MESSIAH
Since it was the practice of a father to teach his son his trade or skill, we can assume that Joseph trained Jesus for the vocation of being a tekton. (The fact that Matthew 13:54–56 says Joseph was a tekton and Mark 6:2–3 says Jesus was a tekton confirms this.) The Greek word tekton used in Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 has been commonly translated “carpenter.” However, the wide consensus among Greek scholars today is that the word means “artisan”—someone who works with stone and wood.9
So Jesus of Nazareth was a builder. He was a craftsman who worked with His hands. And for the next eighteen years, He would work in an artisan’s shop as well as on outside projects. He would perspire. He would toil. He would get His clothes dirty. He would become exhausted. He would learn the physical labor of cutting wood, mixing mortar, hauling stone, and working with a mallet, ax, and trowel. He would know the agonies of labor as well as its joys. Just like most of us.
After Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem at age twelve, Joseph is never mentioned. So it’s probable that Joseph died sometime after Jesus turned twelve.10 This would have meant that Jesus, being the oldest son of the family,11 would have been largely, if not fully, responsible for supporting His mother, His four brothers, and His sisters.12
If that’s the case, Jesus knew the pressures of having steady employment to put food on the table, not just for Himself but for others. The idea that because Jesus was the Son of God, He simply snapped His fingers and created tools, buildings, furniture, or even coins out of thin air goes against the grain of how the Gospel writers portrayed Him. Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh and lived as an ordinary human being yet without sin.13 He didn’t live like a superhero.
................................................................................
Angels watched as Mary changed God’s diaper. The universe watched with wonder as the Almighty learned to walk. Children played in the street with him. And had the synagogue leader in Nazareth known who was listening to his sermons . . . Jesus may have had pimples. He may have been tone-deaf. Perhaps a girl down the street had a crush on him or vice-versa. It could be that his knees were bony. One thing’s for sure: he was, while completely divine, completely human.
—MAX LUCADO 14
................................................................................
Think about it: Jesus the craftsman, falling and scraping His knee while running to make an appointment. Jesus the journeyman, hitting His thumb with a hammer after overshooting the nail by a centimeter. Jesus the artisan, with hands callused and scarred from years of plying His trade.
Watch Him after a full day’s work, with splinters in His fingers and sawdust in His hair. His toe was bruised and swollen from a falling stone. H
e was physically spent. He would have loved to spend the next day resting to recover, but He must rise early in the morning to finish a job He had begun. Day in and day out, He worked, He sweated, and He dealt with fallen human beings, whom He was trying to serve.
The artisan from Nazareth who worked with stone was the very person who created stone with the words of His mouth. The iron in which His tools were crafted was extracted from the ore that He created. The water that so refreshed Him when He perspired in the scorching Eastern sun was the water that He Himself spoke into existence. And the wood with which He was so familiar, the material upon which He would one day be crucified, came from His own hands.15 The Second Testament states five times that Jesus died on a tree.16 And not only were trees all created by Him, but they were created for Him.17
Jesus knew not only the rigors that came with manual labor but also the boredom that was attached to it. For eighteen long years He filled His days with the mundane. Sure, some days were probably more exciting than others, but there was no glory there. There were no miracles there. There were no crowds there. There was only perspiration, toiling for hours in indescribable heat, and the pleasure and pain of dealing with customers. All in all, it was an ordinary—sometimes boring—occupation.
Human nature doesn’t change. And neither do the challenges that come with working for others. So we can assume that Jesus knew the scourge of unsatisfied customers. Imagine: A local farmer in Nazareth has hired Him to repair one of his plows. Jesus spends three days fixing it. It’s not an easy project. It turns out to be more complicated than first assumed. The job is finished, and the farmer sees what Jesus has done. But he’s not satisfied, so he spreads word around Nazareth that Jesus does poor work.
Jesus Page 12