Those of us who teach the gospels generally divide the traditions about Jesus into three groups: the infancy narratives (or stories), the ministry narratives, and the passion narratives. The last group of traditions takes its name from the suffering and death of Jesus, but actually includes stories from the triumphal entry into Jerusalem through the resurrection and ascension. Most Christians realize that these stories which now survive to us in the gospels leave a gap of some thirty years in the life of Jesus a time which many New Testament pseudepigrapha attempt to fill with various miraculous accounts. But a few genuine traditions from this pre-ministry period do exist in our scriptures: Jesus in the temple at the age of twelve, the baptism of Jesus, and his temptation in the wilderness. The first two of these traditions are the subject of this brief study.

The quotation found in the title comes, of course, from the heavenly pronouncement which Jesus received just after he had been baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. The full text is: “You are (Mt ‘This is”) my beloved son, with you (Mt. “him’) I am well pleased”. This has been a familiar text to me for many years. But recently, a strange thought occurred to me- I hesitate to credit this thought to the Holy Spirit, but whatever the source, this study is the result of it. The thought is this: why this strong statement of approval, when Jesus has not yet begun his ministry? Soon he will be preaching the gospel to the poor, casting out demons, healing the sick and raising the dead but so far, be hasn’t done any of these things. So why this heavenly approval? I believe we can reach some tentative conclusions, at least, by careful examination of the few traditions which have a bearing on this matter, and by filling in a few gaps by “inferential exegesis”! Or maybe I should just invent a new methodology- “guessegesis”! Hmmm. Now that I reflect back on some of the sermons I’ve heard, perhaps it’s not so new after all! Anyway, what I hope will come out of this study is new insights into the life of Jesus, our great example not just in his ministry and atoning death, but even before he entered into public life.

We find the story of the visit of the family of Jesus to Jerusalem in Luke 2:41-52. They came and departed in a large group likely neighbors, friends and kinfolk. After the Feast of Passover, Jesus parents return home but discover after a day’s travel that no one in the group knows where he is. The return to Jerusalem requires another day of travel, and on the third day they finally locate him, engaged in theological discussion with the teachers in the temple. We might wish for more detail in this brief account, but I see no need to resort to unwarranted reconstructions which suggest that Jesus has prematurely begun his ministry and now must be reined in by his parents, or that he is practicing for his ministry by ripping apart all of the arguments of the rabbis! Instead, Luke records that those who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers”, indicating that he was both a ready listener and a deep thinker who was able to respond to what he heard with insightful questions. In other words, his parents (and the by-standers!) realize for perhaps the first time how hungry Jesus is for theological discourse and how much potential he has for serious study.

Indeed, Mary remembers him as growing in both stature and wisdom, and finding favor with God and men (Luke 2:52). We might even hypothesize that Jesus aptitude and willingness to learn brought him to the notice of one or more of the scribes in Jerusalem when he was brought to them to be prepared on this visit for formal entry into the religious community next year when he would be thirteen. Perhaps this could explain where Jesus ate and slept when he was separated from his family for two nights and three days; a scribe might have offered lodging to this exceptional student who was so eager to learn. Such a reception would account for the statement that he had found “favor with men”. Perhaps Jesus even hoped that his parents would notice his potential and allow him to remain in Jerusalem until they returned the following year.

But it was not to be. Understandably worried and upset, Mary gently chides her son for the concern he has caused her and Joseph. Jesus gives an enigmatic reply: they should have anticipated that he, now twelve years old and on the threshold of manhood, would need to be “among the (plural article- “things”?) of my Father”. Many versions of the Bible have “in my Father’s house” and this translation certainly does reflect the setting in which Jesus is found. But the words can also be an expression from the heart of Jesus that he belongs not just in that place, but in the context of learning with the spiritual leaders of the nation as he prepares for the work of his Father. And so his parents realize that a separation between them and Jesus is beginning to appear. The concerns of his heavenly Father now exist in tension with his filial responsibilities to his earthly parents. Nevertheless, “he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them’.

Just why did Jesus return home with his parents? The text, of course, doesn’t say, but we may find a clue later on in Matthew 13:53-58, the passage that features the well-known saying “only in his own hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor”. This passage also provides a rare glimpse into Jesus’ family by naming his brothers (James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas) and further asking “aren’t all his sisters with us”? More than one sister is obviously indicated, and two would probably be indicated by “both”, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to read into this “all” that Jesus had at least three sisters, as well as four brothers. And John provides another helpful note near the end of his gospel when he recalls Jesus entrusting his mother into the care of his favorite disciple, John. Obviously, by this time Joseph is deceased; not surprising at a time when women (girls, really) were often betrothed to men who were twice their age, and when the average lifespan of a male was approximately 30 years.

Now for some simple calculations. If we put the age of Mary when she was betrothed to Joseph at a conservative 16, and that of Joseph at 30 (though in the Protoevangelium or Book of James, written about 150, Joseph is said to be an old man when he is betrothed to Mary); and if Mary has one child every two years on the average, then by the time that Jesus was twelve, there could easily be four or five children at home. As the oldest, Jesus assistance in carpentry or some other trade would certainly be needed to help support this large family. Now let’s suppose that Joseph lived to the age of fifty. Jesus would then be about twenty, and if he was followed in birth by one or two sisters, they could be in their middle teens by this time. Even so, it’s unlikely that more than two would be married yet, leaving at least five children still at home, not counting Jesus, Finally, let’s suppose that the last of the seven children born after Jesus was a female, and let’s further suppose that she became betrothed to a man at the age of sixteen, like her mother had. Using the two year average, Jesus would be about 14 or 15 years of age when his last sister enters the family, and when she is betrothed sixteen years later and no longer needs support at home, Jesus would be 30 or 31 years of age, corresponding exactly to Luke 3:23 “now Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his ministry”.

By now, it’s not hard to see why Jesus waited so long to begin his ministry. Perhaps that conversation in the temple really went something like this. Jesus: “didn’t you know I must be about my Father’s business”? Mary: “Yes and your father’s business is carpentry! So come on home and get busy! We have hungry mouths to feed.”

So Jesus is basically stuck at home, helping provide for his younger brothers and sisters. We can only imagine how difficult it was to see the education for which he had so much promise, pass him by. And what of all the energy, the potential, of his late teen years and the decade of his twenties-all spent at home! And then the final straw. Just as the last of his siblings was reaching the age of marriage or (if male) financial independence, his cousin John (the Baptist) steals his thunder by suddenly appearing from the wilderness before Jesus can leave home and begin his ministry!

But of course I’m reacting from my perspective: Jesus conducted himself quite otherwise. I can only stand in awe as I watch this man, confined so long at home in a backwater village of Galilee, finally leave his home– not to begin his own ministry, but to support by a public gesture the ministry of someone else! Someone, I might add, with far less potential than his own. Moreover, he took the risk of being misunderstood, since supporting John meant being baptized with the baptism of repentance though he was without sin and didn’t need to repent. Obviously, personal issues were less important to him than taking a public stand in agreement with John’s message, and so provide encouragement to John as he faced the opposition of the Pharisees.

What are we to make of all this? Here’s how it looks to me. Remember when Jesus taught that if while we are bringing a gift to God we remember that we have a problem with someone else, we should leave the gift at the altar and go and make every attempt to be reconciled with that other person’? Then and only then are we to return to the place of worship. This principle makes me nervous– people before God? But we’ve already seen in the prophets that God doesn’t want our fasts and festivals when our fellow humans are being deprived of justice. I must conclude therefore that we serve God best when we show His love and mercy to those around us.

In putting this principle into practice, Jesus first shows us the importance of respect for authority. We all play many roles during life some by birth and hence relationship to others. We are given other roles through employment, still others by marriage. These roles make society possible. We choose public servants from among ourselves and then give them authority over us so that they can carry out duties in behalf of the rest of us: catching crooks, administrating a city, county or state. When respect for authority is gone, they can’t do their jobs well and soon chaos results.

I believe we learn (or fail to learn) respect for authority at home, the place where we first encounter authority figures. By respecting his parents, Jesus contributed to a harmonious family life and gave a good witness to his community. Everyone knows everyone else in a small town, and so when his ministry did begin, the integrity of his personal life demonstrated that his teachings were not just empty words. In the end, his mother repaid his fidelity to her by a lifelong support of him. She was there to offer her encouragement at the cross, she was among the believers when the Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, and I believe her continuing presence as an eyewitness in. the Christian community was a crucial factor in the historical accuracy of the gospel of Luke.

Jesus next shows us the importance of providing for those in need. How many times have we heard of this family or that marriage which has suffered because of neglect due to someone’s zealous commitment to the ministry? But once again, the example of Jesus reminds us that our testimony begins at home– often the most difficult place to be a Christian!

This is not an easy issue for me to work through. My heart goes out to anyone who has the hunger and potential for study, and I hate to see that potential go unfulfilled. So when I weigh in one hand the brothers and the sisters of Jesus– especially the sisters, destined in that society for early marriage, little if any education– and place in the other hand the development of Jesus’ academic potential for the enhancement of his ministry which shall eventually lead to the salvation of the world, Jesus’ choice seems incredible to me! And yet, did he have to have a Ph.D. to die on the cross? And weren’t his sisters the very kind of people he came to save? How logical is it to neglect those related to us so that we can proclaim the love of God to strangers?
A thought comes to me at this point. We don’t always receive a vision or a prophecy directing us to the God’s call for our lives, but we often view the talents and abilities God gives us by birth as one way of discerning God’s purposes for us. So then, why not also view the home which we are given as the place where our ministry, our service to Him can begin?

How did this turn out for Jesus? Well, at least two of his brothers later became Christians, and we have the books of James and Jude from them. We have no information on his sisters, but it’s likely that as they married and joined the network of women in their community, they would be a source of affirmation for their brother when he began his ministry. No wonder then that Luke tells us that women came to hear him this person so different from the rabbis who generally refused even to speak to a woman in public. And coming to hear, they were touched by his message, healed of diseases, freed of demons (seven in the case of Mary Magdalene), and expressed their gratitude by financially supporting his ministry, (Luke 8:1-3). The bread he had cast upon the waters for so long had now come back to him in the time of his need!

And while I’m on this subject, I’d like to pause briefly and point out the significance of the private life of Jesus for our times today when so much theology is being written from a feminist perspective. Then, as now, actions spoke louder than words. And what could be more eloquent than the choice of Jesus to put his ministry on hold for at least a decade so that he could help provide for women, even though they had comparatively little value in his society. Even today, we still have a long way to go in taking this part of Jesus’ message to the cultures of our world.

Finally, Jesus put the ministry of another before his own. John, we are told, did no miracles while Jesus performed many. John never cast out a demon, nor promised to rise from the dead and return to judge the earth. Yet Jesus put him first. And what was the result? John felt affirmed, something we all need now and then. But that’s not all. In putting the attention on John, Jesus received back what he was giving. John proclaimed him the one who was to come, And even while undergoing the baptism he didn’t need, Jesus emerged from the water to receive the filling of the Spirit he did need. And then the heavenly pronouncement of commendation, which brings us full circle.

Now you must not think that I am suggesting that it’s best to delay a call to ministry or that Jesus did all these things for the benefits I’ve indicated. I’m concluding rather that ministry should be viewed as service, and that ministry has already begun when we address the needs of those around us, even our family members. A public ministry may have a formal name, address, staff and many other things, but in the last analysis, I believe it still ought to be the sharing of God’s love to our world by both word and deed.

The little evidence left to us suggests that Jesus began this servant lifestyle long before he entered into public life. We all know that he is our great example, and now through this reconstruction which I feel is reasonably sound we have a model to help us when we have to relate to parents, kinfolk and perhaps even some in the ministry who seem to compete with us, hold us back, or distract us from our full potential. I would respond that in following the example of Jesus we can feel secure in ministering faithfully in little things, knowing that in due time. God will enlarge the sphere of our service for Him.

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