From Bethlehem to Nazareth

Christmas is over... maybe. I believe in some traditions the Christmas celebration takes place on Jan 6th, so the season can hardly be over there. And in my tradition, I'm too lazy to take all the decorations down yet. They look pretty, and I've other stuff to do (like washing and cleaning).

But January Coffee Break restarts tomorrow, so here is our next study from the Gospels, appropriately (for just after Christmas) looking at the childhood of Christ. Enjoy!

(6) Childhood Tales

The holy family flees to Egypt, fulfilling prophecy (Read Hosea 11:1). Who else “fled” to Egypt in the Old Testament?

1.       Read Matthew 2:13-15 Why Egypt? Where in Egypt? And what kind of support might they have found there?

2.       Read Matthew 2:19-23 Why Nazareth? (Read Luke 1:26, Luke 2:39-40) What kind of support might they have found there?

3.       Why not Bethlehem? Or even, why Bethlehem in the first place? Why didn’t they go straight home after Jesus was born? (And why doesn’t Luke mention the flight into Egypt?)

4.       Read Matthew 2:16-18, Jeremiah 31:15 (Ramah is mentioned early in the Bible… Judges 19:13,22, 1 Samuel  8:4… It becomes a fortified place, and the exiles were gathered there before being taken to Babylon – Jeremiah 40:1.) Why does Matthew quote Jeremiah? How big would this event have been in history?

This is all we know about Jesus’ childhood from the Bible, until he gets lost in the Temple at age 12 – a story that’s only told in Luke. Various authors (including me) have written about Jesus as a child, trying to imagine what he was like. Just out of interest, have you ever tried to imagine him at age 2, 5, 9…? Do you imagine him like any other child, asking “Why?” all the time, perhaps a little more obedient than most… or do you imagine a know-it-all telling everyone else what to do… or a miracle-worker healing his friends’ cuts and bruises while raising birds and animals from the dead…?

1.       Why didn’t the Gospel writers write about Jesus’ childhood?

2.       Why didn’t early Christians – people reading the Epistles perhaps – argue about Jesus’ childhood?

3.       Why didn’t the Christian church accept the non-Biblical “gospels” of Jesus’ childhood?

4.       What “childhood” stories have you heard, from what sources?

Non-Biblical sources give some interesting, not necessarily believable stories and timelines. What might encourage you to believe or not believe the following stories?

1.       Able to talk to his mother from birth (First Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus, 2^nd century)

2.       Foreskin preserved after circumcision became the ointment used before Jesus’ death (First Gospel again)

3.       Swaddling clothes didn’t burn (Zoroastran) and had healing power, as did bathwater (First Gospel)

4.       Cave dragons bowed down to him on way to Egypt (Psuedo-Matthew, around 650AD)

5.       Robbers in Egypt became robbers at the cross (First Gospel)

6.       Back to Nazareth (Urantia, 1924: age 3)

7.       Indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Urantia: age 4)

8.       Starts asking questions about his destiny (Urantia: age 6)

9.       Little Judas tried to bite little Jesus. Little Simon and little James healed of snakebites. Boy falls off roof and is healed (First Gospel)

10.   Makes clay animals that come to life (First Gospel , Thomas’ Infancy Gospel, and Urantia)

11.   Leader of the lads (Urantia)

12.   Told off for making artistic images, then learns to keep quiet about what he can do (Urantia: age 9)

13.   Follows Joseph’s advice and separates from Mary (Urantia: age 10 – Protoevangelion says Joseph much older than Mary – also says Jesus born in a cave). Opposing teachers fall dead (First Gospel)

14.   Harmonizes convictions and obligations (Urantia: age 12) then hides miracles till age 30 (First Gospel)

The one Biblical story of Jesus’ childhood takes place just as he becomes a man at age 12. Read Luke 2:41-51

1.       Is Jesus a child prodigy in this story? Is he being careless about family relationships?

2.       Were his parents careless to lose him?

3.       What might be important about three days?