Learning Jesus

Stephen D. Jones

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781666711950, 9781666711967
• eBook ISBN: 9781666711974
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Systematic Theology & Ethics

Some Christians are satisfied with an "Arrived Jesus, " a Jesus who had fully arrived at the moment of his birth in Bethlehem. He had nothing to learn, nothing to discover, no choices to make, and no place to go except to follow God's tight script for his life. His life was static.Yet, other Christians believe in a "Becoming Jesus, " a Jesus who faced many crossroads and decision points, struggles and crises, all of which shaped his faithful response to God. This "Learning Jesus" was born into a world of stereotypes and bias and he, like others, had to overcome these human boundaries in order to become the Savior of the world. Jesus was an imaginative learner and an inspiring teacher. Like all human beings, he was a human becoming.

Chapter One

Stories of Jesus Learning

First-person stories, told from Jesus’ perspective, of events from the four Gospels that reveal his pilgrimage as a learner.

Jesus’ mother treasured all these things in her heart.

—Luke 2:51b

My Home Had a Secret

My home had a secret. A well-kept secret. I’m not sure how old I was when I became aware of it. I guess old enough to learn not to speak of this with my friends in the village of Nazareth. You must understand that keeping a secret in a small village is really a challenge! Everyone knows everyone else’s business. Your missteps are the conversation of the village for weeks. And every child has missteps growing up. It’s how you learn. It’s how you mature. It’s how you grow. It’s humanly impossible to painlessly navigate every crossroad or challenge.

I think this secret held in our little trio in our home, mom, dad, and me, likely delayed my parents having another child, for my next oldest sibling, James, was born seven years later. How would another sibling be added to “the secret”? And since the secret was about me, and about my identity and my calling, how could a second or third sibling be expected to keep it?

My father wasn’t a big talker. He was good with his hands. He was the village carpenter. He could build or design anything. When working, he spoke few words and didn’t like to be interrupted. I asked lots of questions. It was his deep desire that I learn from him, so that I could take over the carpentry business. So, he conversed with me more than anyone else. But we talked mostly about wood. As my father got older, I was his helper lifting big pieces of wood into place while he honed each piece to his high standards. Nothing was sloppy or mediocre in my father’s shop.

So while our family secret was held by my father, he rarely spoke about it with me. That was my mother’s role. Everyone in the village respected my mother. I knew that from the youngest age. It was obvious in the way women and men interacted with her. Had the synagogue been a place where women could vocalize their faith, my mother would have been a leader. Instead, she found ways to express her faith behind the scenes, with other women, but even, in private, with men in the village whom she trusted and even more important, who trusted her. Many neighbors regularly sought her counsel. Eventually, my mother became a de facto spiritual leader in Nazareth. It was better that no one stated this out-loud.

It didn’t surprise anyone that I showed spiritual aptitude from my earliest years. No one would expect anything less from Mary’s son. My mother would sing psalms while washing clothes, sweeping the house, preparing meals—she seemed to be praying or singing psalms unceasingly. She never did it for show. My father and I were the only ones to see the depth of her devotion to God. She taught me, “When you pray, Jesus, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Mt 6:6) Throughout my life, I followed my mother’s example and found private places to pray.

Nazareth was an out of the way village and people rarely traveled through Nazareth. King Herod was building one of his new cities from the dirt up just a few miles down the road from us. And that is where all the action was. Not in Nazareth.

We Nazarenes kept to ourselves and turned our back, as best we could, on Herod’s designs down the road. We did not want to be corrupted by his worldly influences.

Our ability to turn inward was how our family kept our secret. My mother told me, “Jesus, at your birth, your father and I separately had visions, like a visit from an angelic messenger.” I naturally exploded with questions, dozens of them, but mother was measured with her answers. And always, whenever she would reveal anything about my birth, she would remind me of our family secret. “Tell no one,” she would say. I would respond, “But, mother, if what you are saying is true, isn’t this wonderful? Isn’t God awesome? Won’t my friends want to know?” And she would look sternly at me. “Wonderful? Yes, Jesus. Awesome? Yes our God is awesome. But tell no one, Jesus.”

“Mother,” I asked one day, “is it good to keep this a secret?” She responded, “Nothing is hidden that will not someday be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not, in God’s good time, come to light.” (Luke 8:17) She continued, “But if we testify about ourselves, it seems we are seeking honor for ourselves. Rather, in good time, you will seek to honor God with your call.” (John 7:18)

As I got older she explained why my family kept this secret. She said, “People in our village would resent it if they felt you were more special than other children. They would resent our family. They would pick on you and you would be miserable. It’s for your own protection, Jesus. I want you to have a loving childhood in a normal home, even though God has extraordinary plans for you. Of that, I am certain. And in God’s good time, when your Father in heaven knows you are ready, then you will begin your public ministry. But only in God’s good time, Jesus, not ours.” Another time she spoke again, “Right now, your work is to learn the Torah. Learn it well. As the prophet Jeremiah said, ‘I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God and they will be my people.’ (Jer 31:33b) But even more important, Jesus, learn God! Learn about your heavenly Father. Learn to speak with him. Learn to listen to him. You cannot do what God has called you to do unless you and the Father are one.”

So, we kept the family secret. James, too, and my other siblings, kept the secret. Mother was amazing at bringing all of them into our circle of trust.

When I became a man, I continued to live in Nazareth and I took my rightful place in the synagogue. I remember the first time I was asked to read from the Torah. And the first time I expounded on it. My father was so nervous because these were roles that made him uncomfortable. He wasn’t a strong reader so he was seldom asked.

But the other men in the synagogue were impressed that such a young man had these insights. They would look at each other, and out of my father’s hearing they would say, knowingly, “Mary.” I was Mary’s son. I learned carpentry from my father and faith from my mother. Certainly the ability to articulate, to teach, to ask questions, to seek God in the midst of life’s daily realities.

And I grew in wisdom, in stature, and I was held in favor by my fellow Nazarenes (Luke 2:40), no doubt because my family knew how to keep a secret.

Jesus at Twelve (Luke 2:4—51)

There is no more special occasion for a Jewish family than when the first-born son becomes a man. In my day, this is celebrated during the lad’s 12th year, assuming he has completed his Hebrew and Torah studies in his local synagogue. And there is no better place for this rite of passage to occur than in the Temple in Jerusalem. They say the Temple is one of the celebrated wonders of the world, glistening in its gold dome in the Jerusalem sun. The first time I saw it, it took my breath away. I had never seen anything so grand. I’d heard the grumblings about Herod who built it, and the many peasants who were taxed so unjustly to raise the funds for it and the many slaves and builders who worked for next to nothing to create it. Still, nearly completed when I was a child, it was a wonder!

On our 12th birthdays, young boys are invited to come to the Temple to meet the scholars of the nation, and to read publicly from the Torah. Fear surpassing all fears, if any scholar decides to ask you a question or to probe your understanding of the Scripture you have read.

When my parents took me to Jerusalem for this occasion, the scholars handed me the book of Genesis, and I read to the elders the story of Noah. Of course, I was nervous. I had never stood before such an impressive group of scholars. There isn’t opportunity for anything like this in southern Galilee.

After reading Noah’s story in Hebrew, one scholar asked, “Tell me, lad, of what village do you come?” And I responded, “I am Jesus of Nazareth.” He responded with a wry smile on his face, “Nazareth? Has anyone here ever been to Nazareth?” Not one hand was raised, but he did raise a fair amount of laughter over the prospect of my coming from such a lonely outpost. He concluded, “No, I didn’t think so! So, tell me, Jesus of Nazareth, what is your thought about what you have just read to our solemn assembly?”

I paused just a moment, and then gave him my honest opinion. That’s what my father said I should do. I said to the assembly, “I think it shows that God is capable of changing His mind, of relating to mortals in a new way.” There was stunned silence.

“God is capable of changing His mind? Is that your response, Jesus of Nazareth? Are you sure of this, lad?”

“You may correct me, to be sure, my Lord. But from what I read, God gave a new promise to those who dwell on earth. God said that He would never destroy the earth again, and He gave us the rainbow as a sign of this promise. Every time I see the rainbow over the skies of Nazareth, I am reminded that no matter how wicked we become or how far we have strayed from God’s will, God will not destroy the earth again.”

As I was speaking, a growing crowd of scholars walked toward me, encircling me. I couldn’t tell whether they were upset by my answer or simply wante...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Stories of Jesus Learning
• Chapter 2: Jesus as a Learner
• Chapter 3: Learning Jesus
• Bibliography