Letter from Pastor Tony
In the next few weeks in church we will be reading some of the early texts of Jesus ministry such as the Wedding at Cana. We don’t really have that much in our Bible that tells us about Jesus early years or his childhood.
The environment in which Jesus grew up was complicated by religious and political forces at work in Judea and the surrounding territories. While the details of Jesus's childhood are sparse, we can learn a great deal from the country and area of His youth: Israel and Galilee.
The one aspect we can be sure of is that Jesus's youth served to fulfill an important part of His ministry. That is, though fully God, He grew up as any human does. We can expect that Jesus grew up in an atmosphere filled with the teachings and words of the Old Testament. He also likely attended a Jewish school by age six, since these were common even in remote areas.
Beyond this, the content of His parables and teachings may suggest the everyday sights of His youth: shepherds with their sheep, parties in celebration, foxes in their lairs, tax collectors at the door, widows at work looking for lost coins, bakers in the middle of kneading bread, and the poor in the street.
And then there is the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Really though, they tell us little about the childhood of Jesus. We know only a handful of events: the family's escape to Egypt (Matthew 2:14) and return to Nazareth (Matthew 2:23; Luke 2:39); His increasing wisdom (Luke 2:40-52); and His visit to the Temple in Jerusalem at age 12 and obedience to His parents (Luke 2:41-51).
However, there are the “unofficial” childhood documents that we have that DO in fact give us quite of bit of information of Jesus life as a child. These works are not authoritative or inspired and sometimes not even accurate records of the life and teachings of Jesus.
Some of this material is found within the Books of the Apocrypha. These books can still be found in the Catholic version of the Bible. The word apocrypha is from the Greek word for “obscure” or “hidden.” The apocryphal gospels are so named since they were not prominent in the early church. The term apocryphal gospel applies to any non-canonical early work that suggests to record the life and teaching of Jesus.
Many of the apocryphal gospels were considered by the early church to be useful but not considered authorized. In the years since, more works such as the Gnostic gospels have come to light, which the early church would have considered heretical.
Now I have read many of these documents and have found them very interesting but some of the information does not really fit into our Lutheran understanding that Jesus is the “sinless Lamb of God.” They do, however, help us see that Jesus was indeed a child who dealt with child-like issues and problems. He was loved and a part of a very special family in our faithful history.
If you would like more information on these child-hood stories of Jesus, come and lets visit! I have copies of many of these books and would love to share them with you!
Peace,
Pastor Tony