Missing Years of Jesus
I am aware that, in the Bible, Jesus is mentioned, at the age of twelve, discoursing with the learned men in the temple who were amazed at the wisdom of this young child.(Luke 2:41,46,47)The next time he appears is to be baptised by John the Baptist at the age of thirty, shortly after which he began his ministry which was for three years.(Luke 3:21,23)
The Bible does mention that after he left the temple, at the age of twelve, he went with his parents to Nazareth and was subject to them. (Luke 2:51).
However, considering the impact of his ministry on the lives of others, and the effect it has on history, this is very inadequate information on what transpired with regard to Jesus, between the ages of twelve to thirty.
What really took place during this period?
Several books have been written by others which seek to fill this gap.
The general concensus seems to be that during that period, Jesus was in the “East”, including India and Tibet.
At the birth of Jesus, the gospels state that “wise men” from the East came to visit him.
If Jesus was in the East during that period, could it be that his teachings, to some extent, were influenced by that “Eastern Wisdom”? Several persons have expressed such a view.
For more information on the subject, do a google search on “lost years of Jesus” which gives several links including the following:
Several “scriptures” have been written, which refer to Jesus, that are not included in the Bible, e.g. “The Gnostic Gospels”.
Did some of these make reference to Jesus spending time in the East during the period from ages twelve to thirty? Were these deliberately omitted?
Who decided which “scriptures” were to be included and which were not?
What was the rationale for such a decision?
Comments (10)
Good blog Socrates...
When I was in my early teens, I took a correspondence course on the Bible. One of the questions asked was: "Who wrote the Bible?"
I can still recall the answer which was based on 2 Peter 1:21 - "Holy men of God spake as they were guided by the holy ghost"(KJV)
I honestly accepted and believed it at that time.
I also believed that the books of the Bible were selected by God.
However, after learning about the council of Nicaea, it appears now, that it was a matter of politics.
Let us hope you are right and that those copies still exist and were not burned.
Most probably, since he would have gone through his manhood ceremony at 12, he probably helped his father in his carpentry business.
Since there is also no mention of when or how his father died, only that he did,he may have provided for his family (but this is just speculation). That is assuming his father died in the early part of this period.
There can be many theories. But in reality we are not told and it was not recorded.
Everything written about this period in the physical life of Jesus of Nazareth is pure story without basis in truth or fact.
JMO.
Thanks for your comment.
I respect and admire your faith.
However, it is strange that there is no significant comment about the life of Jesus in the Bible between the ages twelve to thirty which is a major part of his life preceding his ministry.(It is more than half of his adult life). One cannot help but wonder about his experience during that period in relation to his ministry.
No, not really Socrates, there are not to be any significant readings about the Jesus' life after 12 year old, because it was no longer a need to prove who He was after such time. Nor is there any more information other than what we should know about His life as a baby after He was circumcised on the 8 days of his birth. We know nothing about when he started to walk or talk or his first teeth, none of these these... because this is not important to know or believe spiritually in Him by faith...
Again, we need no more information to believe by faith that He was the Son of the living God based on the prophecies of the Old Covenant prophets and His introduction given before His birth by the angel announcing His birth.
Scriptures teaches us, that the gospel of the Bible focuses on His spiritually divine deity and humanness which started at birth and then, we see a peek at age 12. It is by faith that we must not concern ourselves after He made His divine appearance to the teachers and priests of that time. Not knowing the in'sand out's of His early life, would suggest that His life was normal just as the other children born, up until it was His time to appear again at the age of 30 years of age. As Jesus also states many times when his brothers and others tried to get Him involved with matters that were going on... Jesus would tell them, "It is not my time yet". This was all a part of God's doings, plans and purpose to increase our faith to believe even so, in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and it is up to us to believe by faith.
As I asked the question, if all Jesus' life was recorded, would people believe in Him any more?... No, they would come up with other excuses as to why they don't believe.
We also have no records on others spiritual leader's childhoods who say they were sent of God and/or claim equal to Jesus as prophets... yet, no one questions their existence. How much information do we find of the childhoods and growing and young adult years of Joseph Smith, Muhammad, Confucius, Buddah, etc., Not having such information has not stopped or hindered people from believing in them, nor do those who believe in their spiritualleaders question or think it is important to know the what, how, where, when or how of their early childhood or young adult lives.
What we only have found recorded are synopsis of what's important ... nothing else matters nor prevents people from believing in them by their faith. One either has faith to believe in Jesus the Christ or they don't and doubt...
As John's gospel so states in his writings about Jesus: "And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen." John chapter 21