Jesus From Baby To Boy

Jesus from Baby to Boy

Many people are fascinated with the life of Jesus but say there is a lack of information about his early years. I want to address that concern and show you we know more about Jesus early years than people think. What we need to remember is that the gospel writers were intent on telling us about Jesus and His ministry not about giving us an in depth autobiography that centered on his personal life. Still the bible does give us more of Jesus biography than you might realize.

We have windows in the bible that allow us to see Jesus as a baby and as a child and as an adolescent. Today I will spend some time looking into these windows in the hope that we can all see Jesus more fully.

We know that Jesus had to be circumcised on the eighth day according to Jewish law.

Luke 2:21-24, 39-40

After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. . . When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Barnes Notes on the New Testament pg. 192, Kregel Publications;

After giving birth, a Jewish woman had to wait forty to eighty days before going through the process of purification. Then she would enter the temple. It was at this time that verse 22 tells us about Jesus being presented to the Lord. So the child was anywhere from one and a half to three months old at the time of his presentation. The first-born son was always dedicated to service for the Lord. In the event of the father’s death, the first-born son assumed the spiritual leadership of the family.

By Mary offering these turtledoves she showed her poverty. And our Saviour, by coming in a state of poverty, has shown that it is not dishonorable to be poor. No station is dishonorable where God places us. He knows what is best for us, and he often makes a state of poverty an occasion of the highest blessings.

This scripture passage allows us to see the baby Jesus at 8 days old and at 3 months of age. We know that the Wise Men visited Jesus around this time.

Hosea 11:1 NIV - When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

We know that Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus fled to Egypt to avoid King Herod and the massacre of the innocents in Bethlehem.

Matthew 2:13-15

…an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up, he said, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: Out of Egypt I called my son.

We know from history that Herod the Great died in 4 B.C. and that his son Archelaus took over the throne in 4 B.C. until 6 A.D. Then Herod's other son Herod Antipas took over until around 39 A.D.

So we see Jesus the toddler in Egypt until he is about 4 years of age and returns to Jerusalem. There is much speculation about what Jesus may have done in Egypt but he was after all only there until he was about four or six years of age.

That meant that Jesus learned to walk and talk in Egypt, it meant that he cut his teeth in Egypt and experienced the pain of childhood growth. He may have bit his tongue and skinned his knee or had a fever or an ear infection.

Some people think that Jesus never knew sickness or pain until the cross but that thinking is contrary to scripture.

Philippians 2:6-8

6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-