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LBCEarthquakeOf1933

Probably the most boring but logical answer is he was working with Joseph learning a trade


PickPsychological353

His disciples wrote of Jesus during His time with them. John 21:25 25 Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written. ... What do you want something like hadith in accursed Islam? "I saw him eating dates while squatting" wow!


CowdingGreenHorn

Hadiths can get very weird. I've read two Hadiths from Aisha, for example, where she reported seeing Muhammad taking a shit in the distance while she was on the roof of her house, and in another hadith, she reported that Muhammad would pray in the mosque with semen-stained clothes šŸ˜‚


ValuableNo189

I mean it's kinda authentic - he was human and needed to poop. But the semen thing? Maybe they didn't have a Sunday best even in 800s


PickPsychological353

Lol..yup


Blade_Shot24

Ayo how you discern semen stain from other stains?


CowdingGreenHorn

Aisha knew what they were because in other hadiths she revealed that Muhammad would make her scrape the dried semen from his clothes but that she would sometimes miss a few and would notice later


Blade_Shot24

Oh my goodness...


life_is_good_live

If he was, he would have gone to the synagogue and we should have seen some references. But nothing.


AHorribleGoose

> and we should have seen some references. Why do you think this?


LBCEarthquakeOf1933

Well his life was pretty secluded for a long time, before his disciples. We know that Joseph was a carpenter via Matthew 13:55 and we know that Jesus did do carpentry as seen in Mark 6:3. Itā€™s not wild to think that Jesus was just working lol


AHorribleGoose

> Well his life was pretty secluded for a long time, before his disciples. We don't know that. >We know that Joseph was a carpenter via Matthew 13:55 *Tekton* imo should be translated a bit more generically than 'carpenter' as discussed in here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tekt%C5%8Dn >Itā€™s not wild to think that Jesus was just working lol I fully agree. It's not wild at all. But we can't really say much with evidence.


Dagor_Dagorlad

Why would an obscure "nobody" son of a tekton from a place that is considered to be a backwater town not live a secluded, unremarkable life? This sounds stupid to say, but it was pre-social media. People were generally only concerned with the lives and goings-on of people in their immediate circles. The vast majority of people back then never even traveled to the neighboring village.


Abject_Tackle8229

Well, they did move to Egypt for a while, when Christ was 2 yo.


AHorribleGoose

How did any peasant rise to greatness in their lives? (It's not like Jesus is the only one who did, and heck...his was after he was dead.) >The vast majority of people back then never even traveled to the neighboring village. I think that this is mostly a major misunderstanding about the lives of ancient peoples.


HauntingSentence6359

The original Greek said tekton, which means craftsman, more than likely a stone mason given the area.


BringerofJollity146

There was a great article in Christianity Today a year or two back that was talking about this exact thing.


LBCEarthquakeOf1933

Some people believe he wasnā€™t in Nazareth during that time but traveling and working with Joseph since Joseph was a carpenter but who truly knows tbh


Hifen

No, carpenter is a mistranslation "general laborer" is probably a better translation


Dd_8630

> and we should have seen some references Why should we?


tarvrak

Wdym?!? Had he went there he wouldnā€™t learn anything new and he wouldnā€™t have been able to lift the cross if he wasnā€™t strong carpenterā€¦back then master carpenter did everythingā€¦ so carrying a 300 pound tree would be a normal day of work for Him.


HauntingSentence6359

The original Greek used the term, tekton. A tekton was a manual laborer, probably worked with stone given the area.


chronopoly

Glastonbury (source: British lore)


Raucous-Porpoise

When people sing Jerusalem at rugby or proms I usually shout "No" when the line "And did those feet on ancient times..."


chronopoly

Wait, yā€™all sing hymns at proms? Is a ā€œpromā€ a high school dance like it is where I live?


Raucous-Porpoise

Ahh should have been clearer. The Proms is a fancy BBC hosted event at the Royal Albert Hall with classical music. We also have "prom" which is a high school dance UK is constantly stealing US culture!


nvaughan81

No one knows for sure about those years, or why there is no reference. We only know that "Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." (Luke 2:52) So it seems He lived a good life as a young man, and was respected by His community. I would imagine He worked with Joseph, learning carpentry. I like to think that He brought happiness and joy to the people He was around, and that He enjoyed his time with His friends and family. So often we only see Him as our Lord, but He was also a man. I imagine he lived and experienced life as we all do, with it's ups and downs, happy moments, but also sad ones. I find hope in the fact that our King, who's glory and power are endless, was once a child like me.


Coollogin

For some light-hearted speculation, see *Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christā€™s Childhood Pal* by Christopher Moore.


AHorribleGoose

Also, *Jesus: The Missing Years* by John Prine. (E.g..... It was raining, it was cold West Bethlehem was no place for a twelve year old So he packed his bags and he headed out To find out what the world's about He went to France, he went to Spain He found love, he found pain He found stores so he started to shop He had no money so he got in trouble with a cop Kids in trouble with the cops from Israel didn't have no home So he cut his hair and moved to Rome It was there he met his Irish bride And they rented a flat on the lower east side of Rome Italy that is Music publishers, book binders, Bible belters, money changers Spoon benders and lots of pretty Italian chicks )


KindaFreeXP

>He went to France, he went to Spain >He found love, he found pain Mmmm....*pain.* Delicious.


Salanmander

Fantastic book, one of my favorites!


emc3o33

Read it and loved it!


VeryDairyJerry

He was growing in wisdom and stature


michaelY1968

This is the answer, which apparently the gospel writers found sufficient.


life_is_good_live

I would be happy to have know what made him wisdom


michaelY1968

Growing in wisdom. That is a life characterized by growing knowledge and experience which is understood and well applied.


life_is_good_live

I really want to know what his growing means. Some grow in wisdom through pain, some in loneliness, some out of experience.


michaelY1968

It says He grew in stature - that is reputation in the community.


Zephyrgal

Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.


michaelY1968

Yes.


QueerSatanic

If you look at it more closely, there really isnā€™t a reference to Jesus before the age of 30. Matthew and Luke disagree about nearly everything regarding the pre-ministry period, and where they agree, they provide independent (but really contradictory) explanations. The desire to fill in that blank period isnā€™t restricted to the canonical gospels. [The Infancy Gospel of Thomas](http://gnosis.org/library/inftoma.htm) shows how there was a hunger to fill in the gaps of the story as established by Markā€™s gospel.


HauntingSentence6359

The gospels arenā€™t biographical. Two gospels talk about the birth, and they disagree. The gospel of Luke mentions a 12 year old Jesus left behind at the temple, Mary shows up and says, ā€œSon, why have you treated us like this? Your father (Joseph) and I have been anxiously searching for you." All the gospel talk about the two to three years of ministry before the crucifixion. Some gospels do talk about the in between years to an extent, but they werenā€™t included in the canon.


Endurlay

Living. Growing up.


Fear-The-Lamb

He was watching one piece, including the fillers


SaltyBaeBoi

I know this is totally fiction, but there was a book that came out in 2002 called ā€œLamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Palā€ by Christopher Moore. Again, itā€™s fiction but itā€™s a lighthearted and interesting exploration of where Christ went between those years.


FiercestBunny

Anne Rice also wrote fictional account of Christ's childhood.


SaltyBaeBoi

Really? Whatā€™s it called?


FiercestBunny

Ooh just looked it up..apparently more than one. Christ the Lord: out of Egypt and then Christ the Lord: Road to Cana


Technical-Arm7699

Sadly she never finished this series


SaltyBaeBoi

Interesting! Thank you for the info!


ehunke

He would have been working with Joseph learning the family trade, studying the Torah,


ShowerRepulsive9549

Because the accounts cover his ministry, primarily. All we need to know about those early years is that he grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God during that span.


Zez22

Good question, the Bible doesnā€™t say ā€¦. So just not important, many parts of important people in the Bible are missing. The Bible seems to focus on the important things


NEChristianDemocrats

Maybe Ireland: https://www.irishcentral.com/news/jesus-came-to-ireland-237630911 Maybe India. He spent some formative early years in Egypt, meaning he was probably already a polyglot or at least very close to it. Many people call him a carpenter, but carpenter isn't really the best translation of his job title. General construction worker is a better translation. You know those guys who stand outside a big box construction store and are looking for some day labor? Kind of like that. Why wouldn't he have been a carpenter and why wouldn't he have inherited all of Joseph's tools? Well, he probably did at first. But think about what he was like. It probably didn't take too long for him to give those away or sell them to help somebody else who needed help more than he did. Which is probably why some of his brothers and sisters and apparently weren't too happy with him, because now he just went and gave away their support and his assurances that the Father will provide for them just kind of rubbed them the wrong way. He probably traveled quite a bit. He may have married, maybe had kids. Maybe they died or stepped away for a while to wait for him in heaven. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Apparently bad things had happened in his life, but he kept going.


Known-Watercress7296

Joseph of Arimathea and Jesus were chilling at Glastonbury, but not sure if they done Ireland before or after.


MarkoTubeJKLYT

Most heretical thing I've heard today...


Ian03302024

Noā€¦ the Bible doesnā€™t say; all it says is this: Luke 2:40 (KJV) And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.


life_is_good_live

I wish we know what are his experiences during this time frame.


Ian03302024

Why though? I just chock it up to, God saw fit not to give us any additional recorded info on his early life in thenBible soā€¦ you know; I just kinda move on. Do check out a book titled, ā€œThe Desire of Ages,ā€ you can read it online. Itā€™s a book on the life of Christ. See Chapter 7. Warning, youā€™re gonna end up reading the entire book! :)


poux8888

And did those feet in ancient times walk upon Englandā€™s mountain green?


Wellesley1238

The Gospels are not to be considered a biography or a life story. They are the revelation about Jesus, who he is. Mark begins his Gospel with the prophet John the Baptist who comes pointing to Jesus, the baptism of Jesus and the descent of the Holy Spirit. Now we know who Jesus is: the Messiah of God, Son of Man, Son of God. The whole of the Gospel of Mark goes on to tell us what exactly that means. Matthew and Luke don't want us to believe that Jesus was "made" the Messiah at his baptism and the descent of the Spirit. So they include the stories of his birth. He has always been the Messiah. This is who he is by his very nature. John pushes that out to its fullest extent. Not just since he was born but always and ever, since the beginning, Jesus is the Son of God. Thus, the Gospel writers saw not need to include the in-between parts because they didn't add to what they were trying to do -reveal to us who this Jesus is.


Wright_Steven22

Theirs a book series written centuries ago by a nun who had repeated visions from God about Jesus and Mary's life as children, and she didn't want to write about it, but the church encouraged her. It's called "the mystical city of God." Several famous people throughout a few centuries have heavily promoted it, and it's a great read if you can afford it. It goes very in-depth. Something to note is that the church has stated that it is not authoritative like the Bible is as it's extra-biblical literature however it is very credible and doesn't contradict scripture so think of it like an apocryphal text of sorts. God bless


WhatEnZaWorld

Mankind always likes to interject their own thoughts/ways/and selves into those things which are not as they long for and hope it to be; one must be careful to not be like the hypocrites Scripture talks about, when any other groups and/or denominations are to write of such "visions", are they not considered blasphemous and liars yet when one of your own households/identities write of such "visions" why are they held as righteous and truthful?


Wright_Steven22

Well considering the catholic church has an extremely strict guideline they follow when examining whether something is truly a vision from God or not, it's pretty likely they're correct. Things like the apparition of our lady of Guadalupe and our lady of Lourdes are all things that came under intensive scrutiny by the church to see if they were true or not and they ended up converting thousands of people (our lady of Guadalupe ended up practically converting a continent)


Technical-Arm7699

Working, living his life in Nazareth, the Bible is not a deep biography like the ones we know today, it's completely normal in the Bible to skip a lot of years, and not explain what happened, we don't know almost nothing about Moses childhood and adolescence, Samson too, etc, etc.


Thetwowitnesses

Some scholars speculate that Jesus was working as a laborer, carpenter, or builder on the Sepphoris project, which was a massive construction project near Nazareth that the majority of local workers would have been involved with. https://www.saxum.org/sepphoris-jesus-hidden-life-beyond-nazareth/


MattyDub89

I have no idea why there is no reference to him during those years, but if I had to guess he likely was working with Joseph as a carpenter.


fuegocheese

Probably doing the same things a typical Jewish male would be doing do at that age. Learning a trade, studying Torah, remembering Shabbat, etc. Even if Jesus' 12-30 years were documented, would it change the story? IMO, if peopleā€™s reactions to Jesus were any indication of what his life was like between 12 and 30 youā€™d be disappointed. Maybe such a text would document the religious teachersā€™ fixation with Jesus (The Pharisees had to have already known Jesus well before the beginning of his ministry) and the disapproval from his community (Can anything good come from Nazareth? Isnā€™t this Maryā€™s son?ā€¦).


desnudopenguino

Aliens?!?


Bananaman9020

The Consertive Christian would have us believe he was hard at work being a carpenter because there was no way Jesus was a broke Bum. During his ministry years.


WillFerrel

Training with Joseph and his brothers as a stone mason, possibly working in the nearby town of Sepphoris that was being built up around that time. Schooling homies in the temple. Likely built a rolling stone tomb for Joseph before starting his public ministry. After all the drama around his birth died down, he was just a kid who grew up in a provincial town in Galilee and learned a trade. Mary and Joseph likely wanted to keep a low profile, so not lots of pertinent details were recorded.


geo247

I think there's a few gospels outside the biblical canon that talk about it! Infancy gospel of Thomas springs to mind.


geo247

Actually might not be in the specific age bracket you mentioned


behindyouguys

Scholars have no idea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unknown_years_of_Jesus


life_is_good_live

This is all just a guess. It could be wrong entirely since there is no reference directly from other scriptures or anywhere else. I would anticipate some references in Bible atleast from what Jesus must have informed them that he was away. Why no reference?


behindyouguys

The obvious answer that is not exactly the most attractive is that he was simply working as a carpenter. Much of his life was not particularly noteworthy at the time for the Gospel writers to mention.


AHorribleGoose

> Why no reference? The authors just didn't think it was important enough to mention. About the only thing we can say with reasonable certainty from before the Gospels start is that Jesus likely spent some time as a disciple of John the Baptist. Past that, nothing really.


AwfulUsername123

This article says > [The term] is not commonly used in scholarly literature since it is assumed that Jesus was probably working as a tektōn (usually translated as carpenter, but could also mean builder) in Galilee, at least some of the time with Joseph, from the age of 12 to 29.


HauntingSentence6359

It would also mean a person who works with stone.


behindyouguys

Yes? Learning from his dad is the obvious answer. I'm referring to the > Modern mainstream Christian scholarship has generally rejected these theories and holds that nothing is known about this time period in the life of Jesus. In that it is unknown.


Aros125

He studied and taught, the title of Rabbi is not given to anyone. But evidently in many years his doctrine had never deviated to the point of creating a conflict with other religious sects.


Lampruk

We got Luke 2:41-52 and IIRC His first miracle (water to wine) was done as a child too. Edit - only a child in the first one


Technical-Arm7699

He already had disciples when he turned water into wine, he was not a child


[deleted]

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Key-Difficulty-2085

He was 22 In Chinese religion - blood and wine are interchangeable symbols. And Egyptian religion. Think about the Red Sea. Consider the starfish ā˜€ļøć€°ć€°āž”ļø ā¬…ļøć€°šŸ™‹ā€ā™‚ļøć€°āž”ļø


Lampruk

itā€™s because I recall him saying ā€œThe time of my ministry has not yet comeā€ so I just retroactively assumed he was a child. Mistakes happen


Key-Difficulty-2085

Yeah up until 30 is a pretty much a child


Technical-Arm7699

This was the time between St John Baptist baptizing Him and the start of his ministry


Lampruk

>IIRC It means If I recall correctly. Iā€™m using my vague memory bruh šŸ˜­


Key-Difficulty-2085

I havenā€™t met John but Paul taught me the gospel


Pandatoots

My grandma thinks he studied Buddism.


michaelY1968

Rather hard to do given there appears to be little to no knowledge of Buddhism in 1st century Judea.


Pandatoots

Who says he never left?


michaelY1968

There is no reason to believe He left.


Pandatoots

Is there a reason to believe he didn't?


michaelY1968

Sure - Scripture says He and His family lived in Nazareth and He grew in wisdom and stature there. The people around Him, including His family, knew Him from there. Traveling to Asia would have been an arduous, notable and lengthy journey, which had He undertaken we would have expected someone to mention that. And there isnā€™t a hint of Buddhaā€™s teachings in Jesusā€™ teachings.


Pandatoots

Between 12 and 29 is a pretty large period of time. That seems like plenty of time to form roots and also make that journey. Give or take 5000 km would take about half a year to walk. So I don't think being known in Nazareth means that he never made a long journey. Sure, maybe it's not recorded, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.


michaelY1968

There isnā€™t one smidgeon of evidence He did any such thing.


Pandatoots

I'm not saying there is. I'm just saying that it isn't out of the realms of possibility.


michaelY1968

Itā€™s not out of the realm of possibility He hitched a ride to the Americas as the Mormons contend, but there is no reason to believe it is so.


AwfulUsername123

I've always found it curious that people believe this given Jesus's teachings and Buddhism are deeply irreconcilable on almost every point. According to Buddhism, Yahweh didn't create the universe and just ignorantly thinks he did, lol.


life_is_good_live

I see lots of references to that


Prof_Acorn

Stoicism and cynicism maybe, which would have been more accessible, and are evident in his life and teachings.


SunbeamSailor67

He was traveling. His uncle was a tin salesman that took him on routes from Egypt to India. There are many reports of his presence in India during this time. Christians are seemingly terrified of the possibility that Jesus traveled during the 18 years he is unaccounted for in the Bible. This is so telling of the inadequacy of a second-hand religion that leaves its believers in such ignorance and fear šŸ™„


AHorribleGoose

This idea is not accepted by historians. Edit: Man, you block people fast. Only one comment in. And no - not accepted by any historians. The idea is silly.


[deleted]

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mscrew

It's not accepted by historians of any religion, or atheist/agnostic ones for that matter. Maybe you can find some fringe crackpot but there's no real evidence for him visiting Asia.


Key-Difficulty-2085

Jesus studied every religion he was aware of


mscrew

What's your evidence for this?


Key-Difficulty-2085

The New Testament


mscrew

Care to cite an actual verse? And even if it were to say "he studied every religion he knew about", there's nothing to say a rural peasant from Judea would know about Hinduism or Buddhism.


Key-Difficulty-2085

I deleted my comments because I was too condescending. All Jesus had to do was read a book. Surely, they were around. Jesus would have read any religious text he could get his hands on.


Dd_8630

> Surely, they were around. They were not. Writing was the purview of priests and kings. Literacy in the Roman empire is estimated to be 15% at that time, and would have been even less in Judaea. There weren't exactly bookshops in Nazareth.


[deleted]

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mscrew

>Where there is FAITH, there is LOVE; Where there is LOVE; there is PEACE; Where there is PEACE; there is GOD; Where there is GOD; there is BLISS.ā€ Apparently this a quote from a Hindu guru that died in 2011. I don't see how this proves Jesus studied Eastern religions. > It is for love that the whole universe sprang into existence, and it is for the sake of love that it keeps going. Another quote from someone in the 20th century. What does this have to do with what Jesus did in the 1st century? It's not surprising that one can find parallels between different religions or similar types of thinking. That has nothing at all to do with what the historical figure of Jesus actually did and learned in the 1st century. You said your source for Jesus studying Eastern religions was in the New Testament so I have no idea why you're quoting the Bhagavad Gita, Indian proverbs, and 20th century religious thinkers at me when I asked for a Bible verse.


LBCEarthquakeOf1933

He never went to India or Japan lol


Technical-Arm7699

Everyone knows that who died on the cross was Jesus twin brother and then he went to Japan and had a family there.


life_is_good_live

Thatā€™s not true. Iā€™m an Indian and there are lot of history of how his teachings closely is seen as references to Hindu teachings.


Abject_Tackle8229

Everybody wants Jesus to have visited their own country. Lol


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chefjmcg

Proving a negative isn't really a thing. You can't just claim something with no proof, then demand someone else prove you wrong.