How often we hear theologians
and spiritual orators lamenting from their pulpits that insufficient knowledge
exists about the youthful years of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Unjustified are the lamentations. Sufficient is our knowledge. This unrevealing time humbly formulates
before our very eyes, an early
life’s image, slowly and
reluctantly adjaring itself in historical tales and tradition.
What image of Christ does the
Gospel sketch for us? In the small
distant city of Nazareth, we read in the Gospel, that in an ordinary little
house Jesus grew in age. Although, His birth occurred in Bethlehem, the city of David, eyewitnesses of this
great and wonderful account were
now deceased. Among those who remained
living in Jerusalem or Bethlehem news of their whereabouts was soon
forgotten. Many thought that this child was amongst those
victims killed under Herod’s
suspicions.
In Nazareth, no one knew or
even suspected that Mary and Joseph guarded these truths in the secrecy
of their hearts, not divulging them to
anyone because, no one would
understand them and they
themselves found it difficult to
completely decipher. Keeping Her
reflections to Herself, the Holy Virgin
Mary hardly spoke of these events to
Her Son. How could She tell Him? In the meantime, young Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, in favor with God and man ( Luke
2: 52).
In such a home dwelled Jesus, where Joseph labored for the well
being of his family, Mary’s graciousness filled the home with gentleness and
righteous love, while adolescent Jesus, with a heavenly light
illuminated it. Undoubtedly, this was a home of faith and
piety, angelic purity, and
peaceful perfection. A home which shone
for the whole world ,
looked upon favorably
by angles and saints alike.
Eighteen years passed after visiting Jerusalem for
Passover, Jesus spent nearly all of His life
in the city of Nazareth, where the Son of God, Our Saviour, lived thirty years of His earthly life.
Nazareth, His place of birth and
place of residence, for the
exception of three to four years, the
city whose name, then not so
famous, was recorded in scorn and derision on His Cross.
A city that He was not
ashamed to call His own, when referenced to in His persecutor Saul’s
vision (Luke 2:51; Acts 22:8).
Nazareth’s peaceful
valley’s and hillsides saw
Him slowly grow and mature from
adolescence to manhood, like any son, brother, citizen, neighbor, or
friend. His Godly might did not appear
suddenly and miraculously. Like the growth of a seed in the fields by His
Nazareen home, it went unnoticed. Slowly, one could notice a change, for His eyes began
shinning with a bright heavenly
light and His soul unnaturally
covered itself with untimely
solitude. From the onset, His needs were above everything
earthly, appearing heaven bound, where not one unclean word
or thought were proper in His presence.
Once a youth, more pronounced
became His solitude, only to magnify in the years to follow. Because of His sinless nature, how then
could He be close to sin and
weakness? It was natural of Christ to draw closer to the elderly rather than the young. Respectful of Joseph, He showed a son’s full devotion to him and to His Mother. Habitual in His later years and even
in the days of His youth, He often withdrew to the furthest point
in solitude, to the surrounding
valley’s and hillsides of Nazareth,
and eventually even the Virgin
Mary stopped alarming
herself of His whereabouts.
Passover, being the most
important religious holiday of the year,
represented only a fraction of
all holidays consecutively followed in
the Jewish calendar. Four times during the year, in July, October, January, and Marc h these
holidays were celebrated by
the whole Jewish community
living in Nazareth. Fifty days
after Passover, crowds of people
congregated in Jerusalem to celebrate
the feast of Pentecost, the
feast of firstfruits. Such a gathering of multitudes is
referred to in the II Chapter of Acts. The third holiday of
importance, undoubtedly foresaw, Jesus and Joseph’s families participation in
its celebration. Pilgrims living in
Nazareth and its surroundings intending to go to Jerusalem, gathered first in
the city as a meeting place to discuss the upcoming journey. They had to arrive before the 6th day of
“shibanah”. On this day and the 7th day
the feast was celebrated. For this
reason, pilgrims left their homes a few days earlier. For the most part, the first harvest was already gathered, enabling
them to leave their homes. Alongside
the crowds of people dragged long lines of mules and camels laden with
provisions and donations for the temple or the elderly and weak. While passing cities and villages they were
joined by other pilgrims. Everyone rose
early with shouts “Arise and let us go
to Zion, to Our Everlasting God”!
Thereafter, began the playing of flutes and the journey commenced with
the singing of Psalm 121, “I was glad
when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord”. When Jerusalem came into view, many became
overwhelmed, falling to their knees and prayed with uplifted hands.
Immediately began the glorified singing
of Psalm 48:2, “Beautiful
for situation, the joy of the
whole earth, is Mount
Zion, on the sides of the
north, the city of the Great
King”. The ending of the Psalm, exalted
in song: “For this God is our God for
ever and ever: He will be our guide
even unto the death (Psalm 48:14) “.
Every group of pilgrims displayed
the banners of their cities or villages. Upon reaching the walls of Jerusalem, priests in their white robes
greeted the pilgrims, accompanied by a multitude of city dwellers,
in holiday dress. Reentering through
the gates, the priests sang
loudly, accompanied by the playing of
the flutes: “I was
glad when they said unto me, let us go
into the house of the Lord. Our
feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem!”. (Psalm 121:1-2). On the street and at their doorstep busy
faces of merchants, in honor of
the procession, rose and greeted them
with words, “people from Nazareth (or elsewhere)
welcome!” With the approaching
pilgrims, huge crowds filled the air
with joyous shouting. On the Temples elevations, rich and poor
alike were participants in these processions, placing their baskets on their shoulders and climing into the male courtyard, where they were greeted by
the Levites, who joined the
procession singing along to the music of their instrument, beginning with the following words:
“Praise ye the Lord. Praise God
in His sanctuary: praise Him in the firmament of His power” (Psalm 150). “By
this I know that thou favorest
me, because mine enemy doth not
triumph over me.” (Psalm
40:11). Doves tied to baskets, where now handed over to the
priests for burned offerings. The first
fruits and gifts were
removed from the baskets with
spoken words written beforehand by Moses:
“I profess this day unto the Lord
thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto
our fathers for to give us.” “And now,
behold, I have brought the first fruits
of the land, which thou
O Lord, hast given me” (Deut. 26:3).
Then the pilgrims left the temple escorted by a large crowd. Some of them went to rest with their
relatives and friends, others with some of the many homeowners who invited
them. No doubt Christ was a
participant in all of these events. In
the early days of His life, He often
saw how these overcrowded cities were
encircled by pilgrims
situated on rooftops in tents; how windows and doors were covered in branches and flowers.
The next holiday in August
attracted many to Jerusalem. In the
middle of this month, all Jews were obligated
to bring firewood to the temple, this being the reason for big
celebrations in the capital. Therefore,
in the religious calendar of October 1st,
was celebrated the New Year or the Feast of the
Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah. No work was allowed that day.
This was the day according
to the Jews, when God
received an account of everyone’s actions of the previous year. This was a day of atonement, in
which your fate for the coming
year was sealed in heaven’s book. It was more a day of fasting, than
merrymaking. Special
ascending prayers filled the Synagogue and no one could eat before noon or sunset.
The following eight days,
the Jewish Great Lent, in which
were prepared meals for the Day of
Atonement. This last day
considered the most triumphant and holy,
was merely called DAY. It was the Sabbath of Sabbaths, a day of complete peace according to the book of
Leviticus 16:1-34 and Numbers 29:7-11.
By the testimony of historian
Josephus Flavios, all fasted in the course of 24 hours. All communal or domestic obligations
were stopped, no one even
washed. This whole day was spent in
the Synagogue where everyone stood dressed
in white garments and
covered heads and where this attire
thereafter, was used for their burial. Each one, according to the law, confessed
their sins before God. This day was
significantly jubilant in the Jewish year. Christ could hear early on, how in seven days at the dawning of the great day, the high
priest repeated all ceremonies and
purified himself by sprinkling the water of separation.
Christ could have heard also,
how the high priest spent the night before
the great day: before Him or He
Himself read loudly to keep from falling asleep, because he could not sleep before the sunset of the following
day. How shallow the teaching of the Rabbis
must have seemed , when He found out that they had to change their clothes six times this day, wash their hands
and feet eight times and their
whole body five times between
dawn and sunset. Our Saviour, often
saw, how the high priest in head dress with barren
feet, entered once a year the Holy of
Holies clad in a curtain of
frightening darkness, where only he was
allowed to enter. According to
historian Josephus Flavios,
the high priest only spent a split of a second in this small, dark, and
gloomy room. The rituals performed where too numerous and complex, even
this historian of Judaism had no intentions of naming them all.
Worship performed by hundreds of priests, completed after confessing thrice the peoples’ sins. The numerous gathering of pilgrims, at every
mention of Gods
frightful name, three times fell
to the ground sobbing: “Blessed be This Glorious Name, unto the ages of ages”. The high priest answered after each
wail: “you are cleansed!” All of this
Our Saviour had to observe.
Five days after the Day of
Atonement, began the last celebrated
holiday of the year, the Feast of
Booths or Tabernacle, which commemorated
the forty days of wondering of the Jews in
the dessert. As the other
Jews, Jesus participated, dwelling
in booths made of leafy tree branches built in every courtyard, on every roof top,
in streets and in open spaces of Jerusalem. Christ also saw, crowds of people
bringing the best of their harvest to
the temple. Joyously, each one carried palms or lemon
branches. A time for happiness in every
home, a city drenched in lights and
total rejoicing.
The 25th of December, Kislev, commemorating the rededication of the Temple by Judas Maccabeus, Hanukkah,
the temple being defiled by the Syrians (1 Macc 4:52-59). The
public gathered in the Synagogue , carrying palms and other branches
in hand, participated in festive
services. In every family the young listened
to agitating stories of Maccabean
triumph and were inspired to
noble confrontations. To this were
added heroic achievements of Judiphus
and the Syrian Olophern. In Nazareth,
no child remained ignorant of
these events.
Purim, celebrated in the interval between the Feast
of Booths and Passover on the
fourteenth and the fifteenth of
Adar (March), was a
remembrance celebrating the freeing of the Jewish people in Persia,
with the helpful assistance of Ester,
from the evil plot of
Haman. The Book of Ester was read in the Synogogue with the intent to save a living memory of the significant
event. Children raised
the loudest and most threatening shouts at every mention
of the name of Haman. The gathered stamped their feet shouted forth with all
their might, damned curses: His name be
effaced, perish the name of the impure.
Every year in the Synagogue of Nazareth, Jesus had to see all this and hear, how the reader wanted in one breath to read verses in which Haman
and his sons were mentioned, to
emphasize the fact, that they were hanged simultaneously.
Such was the Jewish religious year with its 59 celebrated holidays, visually
observed by Jesus. Every event with its distinctive differences and its
constantly repetitive influences on the
peoples voice, thought,
and life materialized in
numerous forms. Religion
and politics always fused in a theocratic society. In this fashion, these two principles
exhibited greater influences on
mankind, a constant worry for every
Jew. In such an atmosphere, Christ
spent His life on earth.
But, neither the services performed in the Synogogue, nor the
holidays celebrated in Jerusalem and
attended lovingly by the Galileans, did not extend , so to
speak, the greatest influence on the developement of wisdom in Jesus. As in the teachings of the Rabbi, these festive holidays served
in various ways as a means for grasping and understanding the Holy
Book, in which His Heavenly Father
revealed Himself to Israel. On every page of the Gospel, it is evident, that Christ as Timothy (II
Timothy 3:15), from childhood
knew the Holy Scriptures. With
confidence we can say, that in Joseph’s
house the Scriptures were read daily,
perhaps stricter than
elsewhere. In agreement with the
teachings of the Rabbis, accordingly
“three sitting together and not discussing the Law”,
were likened to people eating
pagan sacrifices. The teachings of Christ stand out for their
clarity, joyousness, and
simplicity and exemplify
purity and holiness, as a result
of His clean and saintly
upbringing. Remembrances in
images of His home life and a
childhood filled with love, the Gospel speaks of them. Hints of innocent child like play, their
nearness to the Kingdom of God; images of a father defenseless against his
sons pleas; deeply touching, the show of His homelessness; Christ
comparing Himself with the birds of the air and foxes who have their holes (Matt 8:20; 11:16;
19:13-15; Luke15:12), showing us that in the course of His entire life , He
always returned in thought to His pure
and happy Nazareen life.
We undoubtedly know, the first teachers of Christ were the Virgin
Mary and Joseph. While sitting at their
feet, He learned to read the
Scriptures. According to Josephus Flavious,
pious Jewish parents
seriously concerned themselves
with the acquisition of ancient
hand written manuscripts,
on which was inscribed the law in ancient Jewish lettering and
guarded them as a saintly family inheritance. More affluent families possessed complete sets of the Testament in scrolls or Egyptian papyrus,
the less fortunate possessing lists of Laws or Psalm Books. Christ’s deep understanding of Scripture
is found everywhere in the Gospel, so profound was His knowledge that even
His enemies had to concede and recognize
Him as a Teacher. He often
disputed the opinions of Pharisees and
said to them “Have ye not read?” (Matt
12:3). The Old Testament in its
entirety was as familiar to Jesus as it was to the Virgin Mary, exalted in song “my soul doth magnify the Lord”.
And in His childhood Christ absorbed
a heavenly wisdom, quenched by
purest waters of ancient
writings. He referred to the Bible when rejecting things of little importance
and of no value, when it related to his religious teachings of the day.
Long years spent in
Nazareth’s solitude and humbleness
, reflected a time not wasted frivolously or engulfed in idleness or in the dependency on
others. Residents knew that Jesus,
like Joseph, labored to earn His daily bread . To the Jews, knowledge and handiwork were closely knit together, and were not regarded as matters of incompatibility. Love the work of thy
hands, said Shemaya,
Hillel’s teacher and in Gamaliel’s family there was a saying, a
joining of studies of God’s
Law with the studies of commerce could guard against sin, whereby studies alone were considered
dangerous and damaging (Delitch) . Rabbis
dedicating one third of the day
to studies of God’s Law, one third to
prayer, and the last third to work,
commanded a special
respect. Stories fondly told of famous teachers bringing their own handmade chairs to class and how
the Rabbia Finees worked as a mason
while being elected High Priest.
According to the words of F. B. Farrera, Rabbis who commanded such respect in Christ’s time, some were
flour grinders, others carpenters, shoemakers,
tailors, bakers, doctors,
builders, money exchangers, scribes,
carriers, ironsmiths, and
servers in the Synagogue. In this
nation, whose teachers could not receive payment for their
instruction, honest work enabled such
teachers a means of livelihood without
any false offenses. Years spent in
Nazareth were equally divided
between studies of written revelations and carefully observed phenomenon in the environment and in
man’s surroundings. From the Bible we can fully observe that nothing escaped from
Christ’s view. Lilies and grasses of
the fields, mentioned in His Sermon on the Mount; hens gathering lovingly their chicks under the wing; birds of
heaven scattered all over the world,
while feeding themselves without a care; sheeps following their shepards
and loosing their way and
perishing in the desert; dogs so well
known in the Eastern cities; foxes having their dens in wooded thickets;
plants and flowers; all of these were noticed and
taken into account when
preparing for His Ministry. And
human beings were also not
exempted from His site; their childish play, pleasures of a riper age; a
bridegroom and his bride; the
wailers and death; fortresses and
palaces of Kings; satin dresses of
noblemen; rich owners of lands and vineyards; guards,
merchants, voyagers, paupers,
debtors, sowers and
laborers in the vineyards or fisherman by the sea,
fatiguing work, the
imprisoned and anguished, were all seen and heard by Christ
and remembered. His overview not superficial, of man’s pertinent traits; their happiness,
suffering, actions and deeds, their
traditions, pride and humbleness, their pretences and sincerities, failures and accomplishments. This constant permeability characteristic of a
great innate trait possessed by Christ namely:
amongst all imperfections and
mistakes prevalent to man, He
never lost sight of man’s innermost dignity,
who often considered himself a
lost sinner.
He did not reject publicans
and sinners. Even in them He found
good qualities. In Zaccheus He saw the son of Abraham, in
Mary Magdaleen a weeping sinner asking for forgiveness, and in the dying
thief, the return of a prodigal son.
On all of these occasions,
hearts secrets where not only discovered through permeability,
a property of man ‘s mind.
The all knowing Christ, penetrated
the very secrets of the soul and
joined them together with the very
breath of a flaming love (Matt. 7:9-11; 12:35; Luke 13:16; 19:9). Like a brother and a friend to all, coming
forth to seek and to save that which
was lost. He looked upon all men with an unending love, regardless
of their origin.
Nazarean life in her tranquil
obscurity was sparingly referred to by
the evangelists, but in God’s concerns
it had from the start to the finish, a
definite purpose and a wise objective,
serving as a preparation for the
great events culminating in the last
days of Our Lord’s Life, Christ’s incarnation of God’s Word, even though partly this word was sealed in silence. He was the light, as spoken by St. Gregory
the Theologian, which had
to “shine in darkness, even though for a short time this light was
concealed from people’s view”. He had
to excel above all surrounding people,
in the highest spirit of His nature and was separated by it from all
friendliness to evil. Because of His
human nature, He had to mature the same
way, gradually as His fellow man. Such a steady development in His
everyday achievements, made His Life outwardly resemble the lives of His contemporaries.
Otherwise, they could not be
surprised when He revealed
Himself. Spending these years in quiet
solitude, Christ observed the world of man
in the same manner He often
observed the beautiful view of the surrounding cliffs of Nazareth.
Year after year passed by and even though He was busy with everyday work, His Hour had not yet come. Excelling in humble patience, tremendously good natured and always actively kind, of gentle love and disposition to everyone in His surroundings, loved and respected but, dressed in the Divine Light of His perfect humanity, fully aware of His Godly Origin, so, peacefully Christ spent thirty years of His Life.