Lesson 5 Jesus’ Early life

At the outset, I would like to emphasize that to gain knowledge and understand the
early life of Jesus is important. It is also known as the Hidden years. It refers to time from
Jesus’ birth to his baptism.

We have very little historical information about Jesus hidden years. The gospels
actually speak only of Jesus’ public life. The first Christians later included some stories about
Jesus’ birth and childhood.
These stories do not exactly give historical information. Yet they are very valuable because
of the religious message they contain.

This module will focus on the early life of Jesus which intends to learn the salient
points of the early life of Jesus to help everyone understands it and deepens one’s faith.

JESUS’ EARLY LIFE

Jesus’ early life includes:
• The Incarnation -(Lk.1:26-38)
• The Birth of Jesus- (Lk.2:1-20).
• The Circumcision. (Lk.2:21).
• The Epiphany (Mt.2:1-12).
• The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Lk.2:23).
• The Flight into Egypt and the Massacre of the Innocent. (Mt.2 13-18).
• The Finding of Jesus in the Temple (Lk.2:49).

THE BIRTH OF JESUS (Lk 2: 1-20)

Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary (Lk 1:26-38; Mt 1:18-25). Both Luke and Matthew narrate
how Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary through the intervention of the Holy Spirit. This
identifies Jesus, the Christ, as anointed by the Holy Spirit from the very beginning of his
human existence. The birth of Jesus by a virgin mother makes a profound statement: Jesus
is unlike any other person ever born. He is the Son of the Father, the word, who has taken
on human nature to become one of us (Jn 1:14).

The Incarnation, that is, the eternal Son of God becoming human in Jesus, is totally
unparalleled in human history. The good News of our salvation in Jesus Christ, announced
by the angel Gabriel, is born into the world and begins God’s New Covenant with our human
race.

Jesus was born in the time of King Herod the Great (Mt 2:1; Lk 1:5). Matthew tells us that
Jesus was conceived and born during the reign of King Herod the Great. Luke tells that John
the Baptist and Jesus were both conceived during Herod’s time. Most scholars agree that
Jesus was born before 4 B.C. Luke added that the time of Jesus’ birth coincided with the
great census decreed by Caesar Augustus, when Quirinius was governor of Syria (Lk 2:1-2).

The inclusion of some historical facts in the Infancy Narratives stresses Jesus’ birth
was historical. It was customary in the early times to attach the names of kings to establish
the time and identify of someone’s birth.
Angels brought the Good News (Lk 1:26-28; Mt 1:20). The presence of angels signifies the
sacredness of a place or an event by indicating the presence of God’s power in a visible way.
It is a literary form very common in the Old Testament, and is used here to symbolize the
birth of the child as God’s action. The message of the angels (as well as the star in Matthew)
points to the divine hand in the birth of the child being announced.

We have seen that the inspired Infancy Narratives have to be appreciated according
to what they intended to do, that is, to reveal to us Jesus’ true identity, by means of a
literary form that attempts to draw the divine and human history together. We could do no
better today. Only Luke breaks the Gospel silence about the hidden life of Jesus.

THE MEANING OF THE BIRTH OF JESUS

1. Jesus own sense of MISSION was his realization that he had been born for a purpose
“to speak about the Truth” (Jn 18:37-38)
2. He saw his task and responsibility in the world as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s vision of
the servant of men/women – his appearance in the synagogue.
3. He saw it as a mission to the masses: the disposed; the exploited; sick; the unjustly
treated, etc. this was also anticipated by Mary in her Magnificat.
Not only was Jesus’ birth interpreted as “ the fulfillment of a divine promise but the
promise itself was fulfilled in a totally unexpected way.
New Testament writers affirm that the appearance of Jesus in the human scene was the
fulfillment of an ancient promise which God had made to the religious community of Israel.
(Gal.4:4)

Part of Jesus’ own mission was his realization that He has been born for a purpose. (Jn. 18:
37-38)

He saw this task and responsibility in the world as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s vision of the
Servant of men (Is. 61:1-2) showing His mission to the masses.

OLD COVENANT:
The conviction that the birth of Jesus was the fulfillment of a divine promise.
The background for the conviction that Jesus was the Promised One in the history of Israel’s
faith that God had mercifully liberated them from Egyptian slavery, because he looked upon
the Israelites as his special agents in the family of nations.

NEW COVENANT:
The coming of the Messiah regarded as the realization of a divine promise
The New Testament writers saw this new covenant fulfilled in the coming of Jesus as the
Christ.
This is why the second part of the Christian bible is called the “New Testament” (meaning
new covenant)

Childhood, Youth and Early manhood of Jesus/Hidden Years

There is no authentic records of Jesus’ early childhood. Because of this, imaginary stories
sprung up.

There is no written document of what had happened really during this early days in the life
of Jesus. We will look at the Gospels (faith summaries) and see if we can make certain
observations about his unique humanity.

This is how Jesus must have been:

1. Jesus is a man of profound sensitivity

a. Touch
 Mt. 17:1-8 – Transfiguration
 Mt. 8:1-4 – Healing of the leper
 Lk. 8:40-48 – Curing of the woman with hemorrhage

b. Eye Contact
 Lk. 22: 61 – His looks moved Peter to weep
 Lk. 7: 36 - 50 – The woman who anointed Jesus’ feet
 Jn. 8: 1-11 – Jesus intervened for a woman caught in adultery

His mercy extended to another kind of person. He associated with all kinds of
people. His compassion included men and women (rich or poor) and justified by
saying: “A physician comes to heal the sick and not the well.”

His gentle touches, powerful healing, glances of understanding and kindness, words
of comfort, friendly encouragement, being with people depicts him a strong man of
good will and love. He was a true gentleman, sensitive to the basic need for
acceptance all humans have.

2. Jesus and Friendship

Jesus is a loyal friend. He is shown in the Scriptures to have had deep friendships.

Jn. 11:33-36 – his friendship with Lazarus

Jn. 15:14-16 – Jesus calling his apostles friends

3. Jesus as a teacher
He is a brilliant teacher. He uses parables in teaching about the kingdom of God.

4. Jesus is a genuine person

Jesus is a real kind of person. His genuineness is shown in his actions.

Sayings and Parables of Jesus (glimpse of what his early years may have been like)

Mt. 13:33 – Jesus watched his mother using leaven to bake.

Lk. 15:4-6 – Jesus was stirred by the care of the Shepherd for his sheep.
Mt. 11:16ff – Jesus have observed children playing at weddings, funerals in village streets
Lk. 15:8ff – Jesus knew what it meant for a woman to search for a lost coin
Mt. 13:47 – Jesus watched fishermen casting their nets
Mt. 13:1-8 – Jesus watched farmers sowing seeds
Mt. 9:16 – Jesus knew what would happen if someone poured new wine into an old bottle

THE MESSAGE OF THE HIDDEN YEARS

The fact that the Gospels are “silent” on these years in Jesus’ life is a message itself. Young
people today live in an environment of constant noise. Their natural restlessness and
frenzied ways produced a myriad of unstudied activities that only leave them feeling more
bored and empty. Often, they find it difficult to focus on simple everyday tasks.

Jesus’ hidden life at Nazareth allows us to enter into fellowship with him by means of the
most ordinary events in our daily life.

Pope Paul VI described the home of Nazareth as the school in which we begin to understand
the life of Jesus narrated in the Gospels.

“Three lessons are clear. First, the lesson of silence. As we grow toward maturity, we learn
to esteem silence as an indispensable and admirable quality of the mind. Second, a lesson in
family life. Nazareth can teach us what family life is really about: communion of love, with
austere and simple beauty. Third, a lesson in work. Nazareth was the home of the
‘Carpenter’s Son’, in whom we come to understand and exercise the redeeming law of
human work.”

The hidden years of Jesus represent his long years of preparation for his public ministry. His
wisdom, prayer, discipline, strength of character, fellowship with others, and especially his
compassion for the poor, the sick, and the sinners of his society, could only be the result of
those years of formation.

The adolescent phase of our lives consists mostly of work that is hidden. It is the time of
gaining experience and discipline, of relating, of training, and of obeying. These years form
our hidden lives. What we see accomplished in the young Jesus is surely a legitimate good
for young people.

THE PERSON OF JESUS (CFC, 500-5020)

500. From this biblical sketch of Jesus as Prophet and Savior, what can we answer to Jesus’
own question: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mk 8:29). We could begin by answering with
Peter: “You are the Christ.” We thus affirm that the historical Jesus of Nazareth is the
Messiah, foretold by the prophets (cf. Acts 2:29-32), anointed by the Holy Spirit as prophet,
priest and king. (cf. Acts 10:38). He was sent by God to bring salvation to the world and fulfill
all history (cf. CCC 436-40). But to fulfill that mission, who must Jesus BE? From what he has
done, can we discover who he IS? The Scriptures ground three fundamental truths about
the Person of Jesus: Jesus is true man, true God, and one. (cf. CCC 480; NCDP 189). A. Jesus
Our Brother: True Man

501. The Scriptures and constant teaching of the Church are one in asserting that Jesus is
truly a man. So the Creed proclaims: “He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and
born of the Virgin Mary” (cf. CCC 484-87). To be our Savior, Jesus “had to become like his
brothers in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God on
their behalf, to expiate the sins of the people” (Heb 2:17). “Born of a woman, born under
the law” (Gal 4:4). Jesus “progressed steadily in wisdom and age and grace before God and
men” (Lk 2:52). He experienced hunger (cf. Lk 4:2), thirst (cf. Jn 4:7), temptation (cf. Mt 4:1-
11), deep emotions (cf. Jn 11:33), and great pity for the people (cf. Mt 15:32). In brief,
Scripture presents Jesus as fully human.

502. In a memorable passage, Vatican II has stressed Christ’s humanity: He who is ‘the
image of the invisible God’ is himself the perfect man . . . For by his incarnation, the Son of
God has united himself in some fashion with every man. He worked with human hands, he
thought with a human mind, acted by human choice, and loved with a human heart. Born of
the Virgin Mary, he has truly been made one of us, like us in all things, except sin (GS 22).
503. There can be no doubt, therefore, about the Catholic Faith’s insistence on Jesus’ true
humanity. But for many Filipinos, Jesus as truly human is not a familiar image (cf. NCDP
182). The actual problem is not with the truth of Jesus as man, but with translating this truth
into an ever-deepening personal relation with Jesus, in our thinking, doing and praying.