INTRODUCTION:
This sub-theme on "WHERE DID JESUS REALLY GROW UP?" will answer some questions about JESUS' childhood and give us a clear idea of the biblical accounts of his childhood and most importantly lead us to discover the true geographical location where Jesus grew up and its prophetic interpretation.
WHERE DID JESUS REALLY GROW UP?
To find the true place where Jesus grew up, we must look in Galilee, a province in northern Palestine where Mary and Joseph lived together before the birth of Christ.
WHAT IS GALILEE?
Galilee is a mountainous region in northern Israel. According to the Gospels, Jesus grew up in Nazareth, a small farming village in the Galilee region. But the problem here is that Galilee at the time of Jesus was a remote region of Israel and an isolated Jewish enclave, as the region was Romanized and influenced by foreign cultures and their deities. This therefore affected the reputation of the Galilee region among the Jews because it was a cosmopolitan city, that is, a mixture of cultures, including pagan culture with its idols. For this reason, being called a Galilean was not a compliment but an insult in the Jewish community of the time.
This is why most Jewish religious leaders at the time of Jesus rejected the messiahship of Jesus simply because of the shame it brought to the Galilee region. They considered it a shame and an insult to their God to recognize a Galilean as the Messiah of Israel, because they did not believe that the Messiah could come from this cosmopolitan corner that had been neglected and despised in the Jewish community.
MAP OF GALILEE AT THE TIME OF JESUS:
MAP OF PALESTINE AT THE TIME OF JESUS:
Je vous encourage à regarder d’abord la carte de la Palestine à l’époque de Jésus pour comprendre où se trouve la Galilée, puis à regarder la carte de la Galilée à l’époque de Jésus pour localiser le village de Nazareth où Jésus a grandi avec ses parents Marie et Joseph.
WHAT DO THE SCRIPTURES SAY? ( LUKE 2:39-40 )
39 When Joseph and Mary had fulfilled all that was required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their hometown of Nazareth. 40 The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
RETURN TO NAZARETH:
When Jesus was still a baby, Mary and Joseph returned from Judea to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born in a cave, and settled again in this village in northern Israel, Nazareth in Galilee, the city where Jesus was raised by his parents, Mary and Joseph.
LUKE 2:39-40
39 When Joseph and Mary had fulfilled all that was required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
A HIDDEN CHILDHOOD:
Jesus Christ our Savior had a "hidden" childhood. For the Bible reveals little information about his childhood and adolescence. According to the biblical account After his birth in Bethlehem, the Bible remains silent on his story until it presents him to us again at the age of 12 in the temple.
The hidden period is a period when Jesus grew up in the intimacy of his family in Nazareth and it is proof that while being God he accepted with humility to grow up like any other child with his family in Nazareth.
JESUS AT 12 IN THE TEMPLE: ( LUKE 2:41-52 )
41 Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem every year for the Passover feast. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up with him, as was the custom for the feast. 43 Then when the feast was over, they departed, but the child Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, unbeknownst to his mother and Joseph. 44 Supposing he was with their companions in the journey, they went a day’s journey, looking for him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 But they did not find him, and they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” 49 He said to them, “Why did you look for me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them. 51 He went down with them to Nazareth and was subject to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.
JESUS CELEBRATES PASSOVER WITH HIS PARENTS:
The Holy Family, Joseph, Mary and their 12-year-old son Jesus, celebrate Passover in Jerusalem. Passover, also called Pesach in Hebrew, is one of the greatest festivals in Judaism. It commemorates the history of the Hebrews and their liberation from slavery in Egypt during the Exodus led by Moses.
THE CHILD JESUS KNOWS WHO HE IS:
Jesus, from his earliest childhood, knew that he was the son of God! Jesus, as a child, was aware of his identity.
We see here that from his first appearance in the Bible and especially in the temple which represents his father's house, the first words of Jesus reported in the Gospel confirm his belonging to the heavenly father rather than to Joseph the adoptive father.
Here is the passage: ( Lk 2, 48-49 )
"And his mother said to him: My son, What have you done to us? Behold, your father and I are seeking you with sorrow. He said to them: "Why were ye seeking me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?
AT 12 YEARS OLD JESUS PRESENTS HIMSELF AS MASTER IN THE TEMPLE:
( THE BAR MITZVAH OF JESUS )
If Jesus grew up humbly, far from prying eyes, why does the Gospel specify that Jesus was twelve years old, which teaches us something ? EXCELLENT QUESTION!!
And here are the answers: first, in the Jewish tradition, 12-13 years old is the age at which a child begins to attend the temple study house ( also called yeshivah in the later Talmudic tradition ).
This is also the approximate age of the Bar Mitzvah holiday, which celebrates adulthood in the Jewish community. Traditionally, at his Bar Mitzvah, the boy is supposed to read a passage from the Torah and then answer a number of questions posed by the elders, in order to ensure that he knows at least a minimum of the fundamentals of Jewish law.
However, in this scene, the model is reversed: it is not Jesus who learns and answers questions, but Jesus who teaches and questions the sages and doctors of the Law. In other words: Jesus presents himself as a teacher, not as a student.
THE REACTION OF HIS PARENTS AFTER FINDING HIM IN THE TEMPLE:
The reaction of Mary and Joseph to their son Jesus is surprising: while they have been looking for Jesus for three days, they do not react at first with a tone of reproach, but with the silent admiration of a mother and father faced with the precocity of their child in a cultured environment.
When Jesus’ parents asked him the question mentioned in the Gospel of Luke 2:48-49: “His mother said to him, ‘Son, what have you done to us? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you, sorrowful.’
This is Jesus’ answer in Luke 2:49
“He said to them, ‘Why were you looking for me ? Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?’
JESUS’ RESPONSE TO HIS PARENTS:
Jesus’ response to his parents after he was found 3 days later in the temple is not to hurt Joseph or disrespect his loving parents, but it teaches us that Jesus is not just the son of Mary because he expresses in his answer his total dedication to his Father and his work which is more important to him.
Here is the passage: (Luke 2:48-49)
“And his mother said to him, ‘Son, what have you done to us? Behold, your father and I have been seeking you, sorrowful. He said to them, Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?
WHY IS HE NAMED JESUS OF NAZARETH?
Why do we say Jesus "of Nazareth" when Christ was born in Bethlehem? We say that Jesus is "of Nazareth" when he was born in Bethlehem, why this name?
He is popularly known as "Jesus of Nazareth" when two of the Gospels place his birth in Bethlehem. This name first refers to the clan to which Christ belonged, the Nazarenes, who claimed descent from King David and founded the city of Nazareth in the 2nd century BC. In Hebrew, "Nazareth" means "the seed", like the one announced as the Messiah by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 11:1).
It is also important to know that Nazareth is officially, according to the Gospels, the place where Jesus grew up, so this is also one of the reasons why his identity is more attached and linked to this city than to Bethlehem because he spent a large part of his life in Galilee in Nazareth and not in Bethlehem the place of his birth. This is why he is named by the Gospels Jesus of Nazareth, the man of Galilee.
The next question we will explore is why did he grow up in Nazareth?
And what does this teach us prophetically?
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