One of the mysteries of the Bible has always been where Jesus was during his twenties. There is a huge gap in the biography from puberty until about three years before the crucifixion. The simplest inference is that he was working as a carpenter with his father and that nothing remarkable happened to him during this period. This prosaic scenario, Jesus as a salt-of-the-earth working man, is in character with the rest of what we know about him, and there is no good reason to invalidate it.
One rumor that has circulated for years has been that Jesus went to India during this time. There were well-established trade routes, so it would not be impossible.
If Alexander the Great got there several centuries earlier, why not Jesus?
Exactly where was Jesus during his teen years through his 20's?
2006-11-30 11:06:22 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
This is the fun thing about the Bible is that it is loaded with mystery - so much like real life. I like the gap because it creates an opportunity for you and me to create an image of Jesus we can approach.
Volumes are written about the Beginning and the End. God as creator, God as redeemer and/or Judge. His birth, his death. But we don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about the time in between. What does his life mean? What the heck is he up to today? You coined it best when you called it a mystery.
He is doing both or possibly neither. Whatever he is doing I suspect he did it the same way he did everything else read about him - by accepting and comforting.
And just as I believe he does it in the years pinched between the Gospel verses, he does it now and always - mysteriously present in us and us in Him.
2006-11-30 12:24:49 · answer #1 · answered by johnatplayct 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
All of the posted answers I've read so far are honestly about as good as I can offer. It is all speculative. Neverthelss I will throw my two cents in anyway. Whatever Jesus was doing (and we know he was doing something), it was very human and age appropriate. In other words, Jesus was not super-human, or sub-human. He was a boy, a teen, a young man and an adult. How can I know this? Deductive reasoning based on how he appears and behaves in the gospel narratives. He comes across human in the gospels even though every movie made about him seems to make him appear freakishly mystical or like Superman, without the costume. He gets tired, hungry, irritated, lonlely, depressed, angry, passionate, and a host of other perfectly normal human emotions. At times he eats too much and drinks too much, so much so that his enemies use it against him. He loses his temper, rambles at times trying to get his point across, becomes frustrated with his dearest friends, and appears weary of doing good deeds. Because he eats, sleeps, bleeds and dies, it is not too hard to imagine that he also pees, poops, sweats, smells (at times, we all do) and has morning breath. The long and short of it is, whatever he was doing between 2 and 30, was starkly human and probably pretty boring. So much so, that nothing was written about it. I have a hunch, that he was having some fun being 5, 10, 16, 29 and everything in between. And like the rest of the folks on the planet I assume he was experiencing buckets of crap, disappointments and heartache as well. I know this might not be the answer you're looking for Matthew, but what do you expect from an old gasbag theologian?
2006-11-30 11:57:39 · answer #2 · answered by Mike 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Another posssiblity is that he was secreted away to Egypt to a mysterious cult known as the Zealots. These people had been warring with Rome for many years, attempting to force them out of the Holy Land. What the Zealots needed was tofr their Messiah to hurry up and arrive so that HE would personally cast the Romans out of Jerusalem.... So, they arranged the marriage between Mary and Joseph (both being members of the House of David and House of Abraham) and had them produce offspring which they could then mold into the Messiah they had been waiting for. They trained Jesus for years in the Jewish traditions, and then sent him back to Jerusalem to start a war.... He was intended to go to the temple and was SUPPOSED TO tell the people to not pay taxes to Ceasar - but instead, Jesus said to "give Ceasar what is his." This made the Zealots VERY MAD - and ends up being the reason the Jews had Jesus crucified.... They had to get rid of this "false prophet" that they had created.
Read "The Jesus Papers" for more history on this subject.
2006-11-30 11:14:04 · answer #3 · answered by YDoncha_Blowme 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Council of Nicea did not include all the available ancient books on Jesus. The council wanted to make sure that the Bible that they put together echoed the churches views. There is a vast library of ancient books on line that you can read and research. I've begun reading some of them. The Catholic Church would probably label them heretical. The Gnostic gospels contain some of the early life of Jesus. As for the reliability of any ancient text be it in the Bible or not-----I am no scholar so I hold my opinion to myself. Just use the web site that Woody gave you or http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/
2006-11-30 11:55:34 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The common knowledge between true Christians is that the Bible is full of mysteries that are beyond our understanding. Alot of information was lost during the time frames of those days and it simply might have not been found. It was written from where and what they found. God also makes things this way because certain things are his business and his business alone, none of ours.
2006-11-30 11:09:35 · answer #5 · answered by KelBean 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
He may have went to england or werever too to hang out with the druids at stonehenge and some other cool trippy places . But I also believe there were some other books written during this time which were remitted by the catholic church ( one of the many beasts).
2006-11-30 11:11:33 · answer #6 · answered by . 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe he was probably at home helping out with the family. Learning how to be a carpenter. Probably making tables and chairs as shown in the Passion of the Christ movie.
2006-12-01 08:36:21 · answer #7 · answered by Jeff Smith 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some scholars speculate he belonged to the Essenes, a monastic Jewish communities (they were responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls). Perhaps he was with them and decided to share his wisdom?
And this might get some thumb downs, but Buddhist missionaries were in Greece at the time, and possibly Palestine. Since there are some similarities between Buddha and Jesus, perhaps he was in contact with them.
2006-11-30 11:10:47 · answer #8 · answered by The Doctor 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
www.meta-religion.com
This site has all the missing books of the bible which includes books written about Jesus and his early years.
2006-11-30 11:24:20 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It makes you wonder but its not important that we know everything and some day Im sure the Lord will give us a glimpse of the past , Where was John the Baptist all them years Also ,They where cousins ya know
2006-11-30 11:13:24 · answer #10 · answered by Terry S 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋