In the Gospels we hear of the birth
[1] of Jesus to a virgin
[2]; of a census/tax scheme
[3], of the massacre of the Innocents
[4] and the flight to Egypt
[5]The next we hear of our hero is that he is preaching to the synagogue and getting big rounds of applause
[6] All then goes quiet. Tumbleweed blows. There is silence. Then suddenly there is Jesus aged about 30, being baptised by John the Baptist.
Christians happily accept this. Did Jesus do nothing at all of significance during that time? Two years old to thirteen? Thirteen to thirty? Nothing?
There are late writings, [wiki]Infancy Gospel of Thomas[/wiki] that purport to fill in the blanks. This was written in “the 2nd century. It was part of a popular genre of biblical work, written to satisfy a hunger among early Christians for more miraculous and anecdotal stories of the childhood of Jesus than the Gospel of Luke provided.”
But it never made the cut at Nicaea.
Now, if the public
[7] were demanding stories, did they not demand other stories about Jesus? I’m sure they must have done. Miracles, resurrection ascension to heaven, are all good plot lines.
But the main point is that although Christians are hot on telling you how historically accurate the New Testament is, and how there was an historical Jesus
[8], I have read very little that relates to Jesus prior to age 30. Why? Is there nobody looking for it? Have they given up on this one but not on Exodus or the Resurrection?
It makes you wonder what and where Jesus was prior to his sudden appearance as an adult. Son of God who did nothing? A simple human who had not yet realised his genetics?
And what happened to Joseph
[9]?
There was a sect that believed that Jesus descended from heaven, fully grown and then re-ascended
They based their belief on
John 6:38: "I came down from heaven."
John 6:51 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven."
John 6:58 "This is that bread which came down from heaven."
Also John 16:28-30:Of course the sect was all killed by forgiving Christians, but at least they provided a story that did not rely so much on so many invented words.
So, has anyone any ideas, information, etc, about the Young Jesus?