Cousins

The Early Years of Jesus and John the Baptist

Archibald Asberry

• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781649521446
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Cousins: The Early Years of Jesus and John the Baptist is a story that starts out with John the Baptist's imprisonment by Herod Antipas. John, while in the dungeon, is thinking about his parents and the times with his cousin Jesus the Messiah. John reminisces of the wedding of his parents, Zacharias and Elisabeth, and of the childhoods of Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus Christ. He takes us through their births and journey together as two young boys that were chosen by God to bring their people back to Him. We see why God has entrusted Joseph to be the father of His only begotten Son. We learn why God chose Mary, who was virtuous, righteous, loving, and holy, even after her faith was tested by a Roman soldier. We see how John the Baptist, at a very young age and to his death, did not grasp the coming of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We see how Jesus, from a very young age, knew his purpose here on earth and was brilliant beyond His years and eager to learn. Jesus takes in everything he observes and speaks of them later in ministry. We see how childhood friends of Jesus, Mary, and Martha, with their brother Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, knew that Jesus was the Messiah. We see how loving Jesus was with his siblings and grandparents. The book tells the lives of Jesus and John up until their ministries. This is a must-read for the whole family! I am in no way trying to diminish the deity of our Lord but to amplify that He is our Lord and Savior and He came to earth for our salvation. Thank you for reading this book!

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Teen Years

Jesus grew both tall and wise and was loved by God, family and friends. He was thirteen years old now, taller than his father, Joseph and just as skillful a carpenter as his father. The rabbis at his synagogue school, knowing of the knowledge of Jesus, insisted to keep on asking him to teach at the school, but Jesus always declined. In his mind, he knew that his Father Jehovah had a much different route for his ministry. Jesus decided to help his father Joseph in his carpentry business, especially since his grandfather Jacob had retired from the business.

One summer, a female cousin of Jesus, who was one of the daughters of one of Joseph’s brothers, who lived in Bethlehem, persuaded her parents to allow her to come up to Nazareth to take care of Grandfather Jacob. Her name was Rebekah, and she was very beautiful. Rebekah was thirteen years old, and she and Jesus would only see each other during the festivals in Jerusalem. She was infatuated with Jesus, so this was her way of getting closer to him. Every day, she would stop by the carpentry shop to see Jesus.

One day, Jesus’s best friend, Eli, was visiting him at the shop, and Rebekah came in to say hello to Jesus. After she left the shop, Eli shouted, “Jesus Bar-Joseph, who is that beautiful girl?”

Jesus said laughing, “That’s my cousin Rebekah from Bethlehem. She is here taking care of our grandfather Jacob.”

“You must introduce us, my friend,” pleaded Eli.

“I would have introduced you just now, but I noticed you were hiding behind that cabinet over there,” Jesus joked.

Eli, with an embarrassed expression on his face, said, “Oh, I was not hiding. I just don’t look appropriate to meet someone right now, that’s all.” Jesus and James looked at each other and laughed.

Most of the relatives in Nazareth saw that it was obvious Rebekah was smitten by Jesus. Grandfather Heli came to the shop to visit his grandsons, and Rebekah stopped in and said hello to Jesus and dropped off some fresh baked bread that she made. After she left, Grandfather Heli said, “Well, Jesus. Looks like you have an admirer! She’s a beautiful girl! She will make a great bride!” Jesus continued working and said nothing.

Later that evening, Heli asked his daughter Mary, “Is Jesus interested in betrothing Rebekah?”

Mary said, “Oh no, Father! Jesus told me that the only marriage he wants is to be his bride that Jehovah promised him!”

“And who is that bride, dear?” asked Heli.

“Israel, Father—he says that Israel is his bride!” exclaimed Mary.

Heli said with gusto, “Wow! What a great, dedicated king he will be!”

One morning, Eli ran into the carpentry shop with nice new clothes and smelling of frankincense, yelling, “Jesus Bar-Joseph, has she come in yet? Has Rebekah come in yet?” Jesus and James looked at Eli wide-eyed and then at each other, both sniffing the air.

“What’s that smell?” yelled James. Jesus and James walked over to Eli and sniffed on him.

Eli, annoyed by their teasing, ran around the shop to keep them from smelling him and said laughing, “Stop it! Stop it, guys!”

Suddenly, the shop door opened, and in walked Rebekah while they were horse playing. Eli was embarrassed, and Jesus, trying to change the atmosphere, said, “Oh, cousin Rebekah! I want you to meet my best friend in Nazareth, Eli! Eli, this is my cousin Rebekah.” They both shyly greeted each other, and then Rebekah left.

“Well, that went well,” muttered Eli. Jesus and James laughed profusely.

Jesus and John would meet up more frequently because the age of thirteen came with more freedom and independence. The two boys would meet each other in a caravan midway between Nazareth and Jerusalem. They would go on what they would call an “excursion” when they met. This time, the boys journeyed to the Sea of Galilee. It was very late at night, so the boys decided to stay in Tiberias for the night. After seeing a light in the house of the physician Rabbi Saul, they knocked on the door. When Rabbi Saul saw who it was, he told them, “I expected no visitor tonight, so I have no bread for you. I will knock at my neighbor’s door, who is a friend of mine, and he will give me bread.”

So the rabbi knocked at his friend’s door, saying, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. Some friends of mine have arrived at my house for a visit, and I have nothing to give them to eat.”

The neighbor called down from his bedroom, “Please don’t ask me to get up. The door is locked, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything.” The rabbi looked embarrassedly at Jesus and John standing there staring at him. Out of embarrassment, the rabbi kept knocking with persistence until his friend gave him what he wanted. Jesus admired the rabbi’s perseverance.

When the boys walked in Rabbi Saul’s house, they noticed he was packing up his belongings. “Are you going somewhere, Rabbi?” asked Jesus.

Rabbi looked at the boys with a discontented face and said, “Boys, this is probably your last time visiting me here in Tiberias! Tiberias has become a pagan city! Herod Antipas has corrupted this once great city where I lectured and taught upcoming rabbis. I must take my school elsewhere!”

Jesus, seeing the anguish on Rabbi Saul’s face, walked over to him and put his hand on his shoulder and said, “Rabbi, I know it is sad for you to leave your homeland, but you are doing the right thing, and I will never step foot in Tiberias again! But I assure you, Tiberias will once again become a great city for Rabbinic learning!”

Rabbi Saul looked at Jesus and chuckled, “I hope you’re right, son. Finish your bread so we can get some sleep.”

The next day, after the boys helped Rabbi Saul pack up, they journeyed to the Sea of Galilee. John said to Jesus, “That was nice what the rabbi did for us last night, getting us bread. But it took his friend a while to bring him bread.”

“Yes, John, I don’t know if he received the bread from a friend or from someone who was just tired of the knocking. Nevertheless, it was the rabbi’s persistence, John! Abba wants us to be persistent in our asking of Him. Because when we keep asking, we receive. When we keep seeking, we find, and when we keep knocking, the door will open!”

It was a hot summer, so the boys wanted to be close to water. They would work on the fishing ships for extra money, but most of the time, they lay on the shore and talked about revelations from God. One day, sitting on the shore, Jesus was just gazing out to the sea for a long time. John asked him, “What are you staring at?”

Then Jesus asked John, “Have you ever wondered why a big ship does not sink in the water?”

John looked out in the sea at the ships and shouted, “Yes! How do those big ships stay afloat? I’m sure it has something to do with how they’re built, right?”

“Yes, John, I’m sure that has a lot to do with it, but the main thing is, when the boat weighs less than the maximum volume of water it could ever push aside, it floats! You see, John, the boat sinks into the water until its weight and the up thrust exactly balance, so if the boat weighs more than the total volume of water it can push aside, it sinks,” explained Jesus.

John looked puzzled, and Jesus used another example. “Have you ever looked in a bucket of water and seen dead gnats floating on top of the water? That’s because the gnat weighs less than the water in the bucket, so it floats!”

“All right, what’s your point, Lord?” asked John.

Jesus stood up and said, “My point is, I weigh less than this sea, so I should be able to walk on it without sinking!”

John just chuckled and said, “You will have to have a lot of faith to walk on water.”

Jesus looked at John and said, “With men, it is impossible but not with Abba. With Abba, all things are possible!”

The boys left the Sea of Galilee and headed to Uncle Esrom’s farm. They loved being out in the farmland. They would ride on the donkeys. They would work for his uncle in the barley and wheat fields or in his vineyard. Jesus would observe how his uncle treated his laborers. He thought his uncle was a fair boss. His uncle had many servants, and Jesus would observe how after the servant would work all day in the field, he would come in the house, and his uncle would tell him to prepare him supper and the servant just did as he was told. And he was not even thanked.

One day, his uncle saw Jesus and John lying around the farm idle and said, “Why are you boys just lying around doing nothing? You know when you’re at my farm, especially during harvest, you must work!”

“No one asked us to work, U...