Painting “Jesus and His Mother,” by Del Parson

I love the above painting, because it shows so much more than a boy and His mother. The painting depicts his devotion to His family. Jesus wasn’t like any other child. He was perfect. He revered His mother, respected and emulated His stepfather. and cared about those in His community as well as all mankind. In this weeklong series I’ve tried to look into the daily life of Jesus as He walked as a human being so many years ago. Much of the information is based on what daily life was for people of His time. Some is based purely on speculation. I’ve enjoyed digging into the Bible to find as much information as possible. We read very little in the New Testament about His early years. His immaculate conception, His birth, and His presentation at the temple. We’re told about He was left behind as a child, and later found in the synagogue reading from the scriptures. It is very telling that He referred to doing His Father’s work. His Devotion to studying the Scriptures was apparent. His knowledge and understanding of them was equal or greater than the scholars of the day. He was twelve at the time. Then there is nothing until He begins His ministry at the age of 30.

The Word of God has a lot to say about the Messiah. In the Old Testament. There are over 300 prophesies written about Him and what He would do – how He would live and die – those He’d associate with – His mission and more. Here are just a few:

Isaiah 53:1, 3* – “Who has believed our message? To whom will the Lord reveal His saving power? He was despised and rejected – a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way when He went by. He was despised, and we did not care.”

Isaiah 53:7-8 – “He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet He never said a word. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, He did not open His mouth. From prison and trial they led Him away to His death.”

Psalm 22:14-16* – “My life is poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melting within Me. My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of My mouth. You have laid Me in the dust and left Me for dead. My enemies surround Me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on Me. They have pierced My hands and feet.”

The man He became, says a lot about His upbringing and character. He was friendly and knew how to communicate to the common man. I imagine He had an amazing speaking voice – gentle and kind, yet loud enough to reach the ears of thousands. He honored His earthly parents as well as His heavenly Father. He had a servant attitude up to the point of laying down His life for the world and their sins. He knew about fishing, carpentry, walking on water, calming a storm and being useful in His community. He was able to heal people and raise them from the dead. He was generous, spoke the truth, knew what was in people’s hearts and minds and enjoyed being with them. He was also determined in His mission for mankind, which required a great amount of focus.  He was angry with the corruption of God’s Word and wasted no words in stating His displeasure.  He prayed fervently for His people.  He loved and continues to love everyone.

All we really need to know is this. Jesus was born a natural, yet supernatural birth – Son of God and Mary’s Son. His presentation at the temple before Simeon, made it clear that He was the awaited Messiah. He escaped death by Herod when the family fled to Egypt. Later, He shared His Word with the masses, fed them, prayed with and for them, healed them, led them to repentance, suffered the pain of torture, abuse and scorn and eventually hung on a cross to die for you and me. He then conquered the devil and rose to life again.

Jesus was a man, but He was also God. This is a most amazing concept and difficult to understand, but because of man’s fall into sin, our connection to the mind of God had been broken. Someday it will all make perfect sense to us. What we need to know about Jesus, is that He loved us so much that He died for us. He rose again, on the third day. We can be sure that He conquered death. Because of that, we’ll also rise.

WITH GOD, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.