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JESUS THE MESSIAH |
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His Life and Times |
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No. 22 The Retirement to Nazareth
It seems to us that Jesus may have taken a step downward with His quiet, immediate, unquestioning return to Nazareth with His parents and his willing submission to them the rest of the time that He lived there. Even though by this time He must have known that He had a great mission, He also knew that it wasn't time and had much self-submission which made Him all the more great. This act must have also made a huge impression upon Mary and was just another piece to fit into her huge puzzle. She was learning to spell out the word 'Messiah', and each great thing that happened taught her a fresh letter as she was keeping all these things in her heart and putting all the pieces together. With His return to Nazareth, Jesus began His life of youth and early manhood. We have no clue as to whether he went to Jerusalem each year with His parents to the recurring Feasts. Only once, though, would there have been a bursting forth of His Real Mission and Being. Every other time would have just been going to worship in the Temple like everybody else. That fresh revelation happened on the very first time. It was probably not very long after He got back to Nazareth that His School-education must have ceased. After this, the Nazareth-influences on the Life and Thinking of Jesus may be grouped progressively as He advanced from youth to manhood under the following particulars: Home, Nature, and Prevailing Ideas.
1. Home - Jewish Home-Life, especially in the country, would have been very simple living. Even in luxurious Alexandria it seems often to have been such as just regarding the furnishing of the house and the provisions of the table. The morning and midday meal was probably very plain, and even the larger evening meal was nothing fancy most of the time, with the exceptions being on the Sabbath and the different Festivals. Nazareth was definitely not the city of the wealthy or influential, though. All the various receptions, evening entertainments, and array of guests that happened during the Festivals in Jerusalem would rarely ever have been witnessed in this quiet small town. With the same simplicity would the people have dressed and used manners. The great thing about it were the close and loving bonds that members of the families had there. From antiquities, it seems that Jesus and His half-brothers and sisters may have also been very close as they exerted their influence upon Him just as any other family would have there. It is probable that it even took most of them a while to truly accept that their own brother could have been the Messiah. After living with Him just as a normal brother and man, it must have taken some winning over on their part. As we have talked about earlier, it was deemed a religious duty for each man to learn a trade, provided that it did not minister to luxury, nor tend to lead away from personal observance of the law. At this time in Nazareth, there was not such separation between rich and poor as with us, and while wealth might confer social distinction, the absence of it in no way implied social inferiority. It could not have been much otherwise where wants were so few and life was so simple. Jesus spoke in later years about many of the great things he had experienced from His own childhood - the love of parents to children, the reverence towards parents by their children, and the love of brethren which Jesus had learned from His own home. All these things must have just formed a natural basis for many of His teachings. Also from His childhood came His deep sympathy with all sorrow and suffering, and His love for the family circle, as evidenced in the home of Lazarus. His early years had much to do with how he taught when His Mission finally came to full circle.
2. Nature and Every-day Life - There are many teachings of Jesus that show how much He must have loved nature and how keenly observant of it He was. On His lonely walks He must have had an eye for the beauty of the lilies of the field, and thought of how the birds of the air received their food from an Unseen Hand. He also must have thought about the love of a hen for her chicks as she gathered them under her wing to keep them from harm. He had also watched the sower and vinedresser as they went forth to their labor. To Him, though, the vocation of the shepherd must have had the most meaning as He led, fed, and watched his flock. He would have spoken to them with a well-known voice, brought them to the fold, also followed and tenderly carried back those that had strayed, being ready to defend them even at the cost of His own life. He also even watched the habits of the fox in its secret lair. But he also equally knew the joys, sorrows, wants and sufferings of the busy multitude of people as they went about their everyday activities. The play in the market, the marriage processions, the funeral rites, the wrongs of injustice and oppression, the urgent harshness of the creditor, the bonds and prison of the debtor, the palaces and luxury of princes and courtiers, the self-indulgence of the rich, the immense desire for wealth of the covetous ones, the excessive and unjust demands of the tax-gatherers, and the oppression of the widows by unjust judges, must have all made an indelible impression on His mind. Yet this evil world was not one which he hated and withdrew from, though He did withdraw for seasons of prayer and refreshment. On the contrary, He confronted evil, and concentrated on giving the people the Water that would forever change their life and be eternal. He recognized the good and the hopeful, even in those to who it seemed most lost. He didn't have contempt for the world, but had much sadness for it; He didn't condemn man, but drew Him to His Heavenly Father; He didn't despise the little and the poor, but encouraged and adopted them, having insight into all the things they had tried to mask and exposing them with love and giving them a hope that they had never had before.
3. Prevailing Ideas - These were the many things all around Him that there was no way that He couldn't be aware of. James and Jude, two of his brothers, were Shammaites before they became heart and soul followers of the Messiah. There was also a different idea of the true Kingdom that was suggested by the Nationalists. Then there was the dreamy thoughts of the prophetic literature of the times, which sought to read the mysteries of the coming Kingdom, as well as who His forerunner would be and who His kinsmen would be also. Thus, Jesus must have been pretty well read and knew about most of the current beliefs even though He was in a simple, out-of-the-way place. Above all, He was intimately connected with the Scriptures of the Old Testament. By this time in the Synagogues, He must have seen much to show the hollowness, self-seeking, and pride that only just a mere observance of the Law had created. He read the Law of Moses and all the writings of the Prophets and found them all to be literally true. No one knows what His inner thoughts were during all this period of time growing up in Nazareth. We dare not even venture to enter into the mystery of His inner conversations with God, the unfolding of His spiritual receptiveness, and the increasing communication from God. We can't even really imagine what His bodily appearance may have been. All these things God did not see fit to tell us about Jesus. Maybe He wanted them to go down in history as just personal and not to be messed with in any human way. We only just have glimpses of Him. His manner and mode of receiving and dealing with men, we can portray to ourselves from the life that He lived. So it is best to remain content about all this with the simple account of the Evangelic narrative: 'Jesus increased in favour with God and Man.' For more information from this book, go to the archives page at my site www.cathydeaton.com There are other articles of interest there also. This text is taken from the book Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah written by Alfred Edersheim. This book has been used by permission.
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