The Quiet Years Series

Introduction:

A. Art Linkletter is best known for interviewing kids, because “Kids Say the Darnedest Things.”

1. A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood.

a. Trying to make the matter clearer, she said, "Now, class, if I stood on my head, the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the face." "Yes," the class said.

b. "Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn’t run into my feet?"

c. A little fellow shouted, "Cause your feet ain’t empty."

2 On another occasion, the children had been photographed for the class picture, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy.

a. "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, ’There’s Jennifer, she’s a lawyer,’ or ’That’s Michael, He’s a doctor.’

b. A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there’s the teacher, she’s dead."

3. Kids are really somethin’.

B. Do you ever wonder what Jesus was like as a child?

1. Some have referred to the childhood of Jesus as “the hidden years” or the “years of silence.”

2. That’s why I titled this sermon “The Quiet Years.”

3. After the events of his birth, we are told hardly anything about the life of Jesus before he began his ministry.

4. But this lack of information raises so many questions.

5. What was Jesus like as a child?

6. Did He travel with his parents to places besides Egypt?

7. How old was he when his family returned to take up residence in Nazareth?

8. Did Jesus know He was God as a youth?

9. Did He have miraculous powers and do miracles as a child?

C. There are so many questions that the Bible just doesn’t answer.

1. We have to remember that the Bible wasn’t written to satisfy our curiosity and to answer all our questions.

2. The Bible was written to tell us what we need to know to believe in and obey God.

D. But why is the Bible so silent about the childhood of Jesus?

1. It could be that the Gospel writers wanted our eyes to be focused on the ministry and teaching of Jesus that he began around age 30.

2. Incidentally, it is interesting that in the Jewish culture at the time, a man had to be 30 years old before he could be considered a wise, well-learned, mature rabbi worthy of respect.

3. Another possible reason for the lack of information about Jesus’ earlier life was that if we were told more details about Him, like how He dressed, what His favorite colors were, or His favorite activities and foods, then we would try to imitate Him in things that are unimportant.

4. And that would take our attention away from the most important things about Jesus.

5. As far as we can tell, Jesus’ childhood was very normal.

6. This is another reason that the Gospel writers had no reason to write about his childhood or adolescence.

E. Throughout history people have been wondering if Jesus performed miracles as a child.

1. The first recorded miracle of Jesus in the Bible is found in John 2, when He turned the water into wine.

2. In the second century there were some books written which contained fables about Jesus performing miracles when he was a boy.

3. These miracles included things like breathing life into clay birds He had made, and being able to speak as a newborn, and bringing down tables of food from heaven, raising a childhood friend from the dead.

4. If Jesus really did these things as a child, then His fame would have spread long before the miracle at Cana.

5. Even Nathaniel, from the nearby town of Cana, had not heard of Jesus before. He exclaimed: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (Jn. 1:46)

6. Had Jesus been doing miracles, Nathaniel would have said, “Can anything good come from Nazareth? Oh, yeah, the kid who does miracles comes from there!”

F. The citizens of Nazareth who were Jesus’ relatives, friends and neighbors could hardly believe that it was their very own “Jesus” who was reportedly performing many miracles as an adult.

1. They said, “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” (Mt. 13:55-56)

2. We learn that in Nazareth, “He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith” (Mt. 13:58).

3. This show that Jesus had a normal life prior to starting His public ministry.