There’s not a whole lot of ancient writings about the boyhood of Jesus, and much of what was written, well, it’s some pretty crazy stuff. For example, in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, written mid-to-late-2nd century AD, there are several stories of the boyhood of Jesus. In one story, the boy Jesus makes another boy wither up for breaking up the little fish ponds he made and only later, with some parental prodding, heals the boy, partially, as a warning to others, not to mess with Jesus. Then there is the story of a boy jumping on Jesus’ shoulder which makes Jesus angry. What did the angry boy Jesus do in return? According to the story, Jesus killed the other boy. It appears in these stories that Jesus had an anger issue. How about this story, some other kids tattle on Jesus and for this, the boy Jesus makes them blind. Of course, Jesus’ dad, Joseph, does reprimand Jesus, “Why do you do these things that hurt other people, so that they in return hate us and prosecute (legally) us?” Obviously, the boy Jesus was quite the little tyrant.
There are some kinder stories that we don’t want to miss and you might be familiar with. Jesus and some boys are making animals out of clay, and so not to be outdone by the other boys, Jesus makes his clay animals come to life and walk about, even the birds he made out of clay flew away. There are other stories where he heals the sick. Yes, the boy Jesus can even perform a miracle or two.
Though these stories are not in the Bible, it is essential to remember that they were still Gospel stories that some early Christians believed were true and treated as gospel. As mentioned in the past, there were many other stories and Gospels that early Christians used as their sacred text that never found their way into the Bible.
So what does the Bible say about Jesus’ boyhood? We only have one story in the Gospel of Luke 2:41-51 where Jesus is in the Temple talking with the religious teachers. Supposedly, Jesus' parents left for their home in Nazareth and didn’t know they had left Jesus behind until the third day of traveling. When they discovered he was not with them, they quickly turned around and headed back to Jerusalem to find their son.
Where did they find the boy Jesus? He was in the great Temple of Jerusalem “sitting among the teachers”. The phrase “sitting among the teachers” suggests that Jesus had also reached the plateau of great intellectual scholarship, just like the other teachers he was sitting with. The boy Jesus was not just a spectator, he was a scholar of the Law. But what would one expect, as he told his parents, “I must be in my Father’s house” referring to Jerusalem’s Jewish Temple where God dwelt. If God is his Father, well then, of course, Jesus would be a gifted boy of great intellect, and of course, the boy Jesus would know and understand the Law of God better than anyone else.
In our next article, we will look at the relationship the Apostle Paul had with Peter and Jesus’ brother James, which was not always a good one.
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