Author: Economides

What kind of childhood and life did Jesus have before starting his ministry ?

The bible tells us very little about the kind of life that Jesus had before starting his ministry, but what it tells us makes us believe that he had a terrible life.

Terrible indeed !

“God’s ways are not our ways!”, the Bible tells us. (Isaiah 55: 8)

And one of the reasons why the only Son of God had to become a human being was to experience much of the many awful circumstances that we, humans, go through in this life so as to be able to relate with us, on Judgement Day!

It had to be so, since Jesus is to judge us all. He had to experience all of the tragedies we go through, so that no one could ever say to him:

“How can you judge me? You do not know what it is like to suffer as I did, to be hungry, poor, unloved, desperate, rejected, sick, to be tempted, treated unjustly, to be betrayed by those you love most, hunted, tortured, and feeling abandoned by God himself…

God’s only beloved Son had to experience the worse treatment that we, humans can have in this life!

So, God the Father made sure that Jesus was made as insignificant, troubled and vulnerable as many of us are, in order for him to experience all of these unpleasant times that mankind goes through, hopefully without him ever failing to do what is right and pleasing in his Father’s eyes in every circumstance, thus being a model for us to follow and to be judged by!

God the Father made his beloved Son suffer much, more than most of us will experience throughout his life, and even in death.

We would all agree that dying as Jesus did, having been tortured, crucified and feeling perplexed and abandoned by all, even by his heavenly Father, is the worse way of dying…

Jesus cry: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matthew 27: 46) says it all.

Jesus death, and the subsequent suffering that he experienced in the world of the dead, having been “counted among the lawless ones”, (as it is written in Isaiah 53:12), was the final test he had to go through.

But, much of his life was much worse than most of us will ever go through:

Consider Jesus’ birth: When Mary was due to give birth, she was made to travel a long journey to Bethlehem, and no sooner had she and her husband arrived there, her birth waters broke…

They could not find a room in Bethlehem, where she could give birth and Jesus was born practically in the street, in a dirty, smelling barn!

What a place for the most important human being to be born!

There was nothing cute or romantic about it, as we portray it at Christmas.

His parents must have been perplexed as to why God allowed his Son to enter this world in such a way… Little did they know that it was indicative of what kind of treatment God had in store for him through his life!

As soon as the baby Jesus was born, his parents had to hide him and rush him away to another country, Egypt, so that he may not be killed! (Matthew 2: 14)

Jesus was a refugee when he learned to walk and talk…not the best environment to be in for any baby!

There, his parents were at the bottom layer of society struggling to survive in a dignified way!

A few years later, the family could return to their country, but, out of fear that Jesus, (the future King of Israel), would be discovered and eliminated, they had to settle in one of the less reputable towns of the country, Nazareth, of which it was said: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?!” (John 1: 47)

So, Jesus did not grow up among the best of people and must have had many unpleasant experiences there in his youth, living among people of the worse reputation. His heart must have been constantly grieved by what he saw and went through there.

He could not have had a pleasant youth.

No wonder that as soon as Jesus started his ministry, the Nazarenes were the first ones who tried to kill him by attempting to throwing him down a cliff!

(Luke 4: 29)

Which brings us to my next observation:

While Jesus was preaching in the synagogue of Nazareth, he told them:

“You have heard of the many healings I have performed in Capernaum, and you must be thinking: Why don’t you first heal yourself?” (Luke 4:23)

What was wrong with Jesus that made his compatriots think: “Why doesn’t he heal himself?”

The writings of the New Testament do not tell us, but we know, from the Old Testament prophesies (that speak of the future Messiah) that Jesus would be subject to sicknesses (Isaiah 53: 3)

What exactly, we do not know, but the effects that one of them had on him is clearly depicted:

It made him ugly, very ugly, at least for some time:

In Isaiah 52:14 it is written:

“Many were appalled by his face, so ugly and disgraceful it was, it’s shape being more distorted than that of any of the sons of men…”

And, in Isaiah (53: 2-3) it goes on saying:

“He was totally unattractive, without any charm whatsoever for us to even like him. He was despised and rejected among men, a man filled with sorrows and so affected by disease that all would turn their faces away from looking at him, considering him to be a no-one…”               

From those passages we gather that Jesus contracted a disease that distorted badly his face, at least for some period of time…

His Father had decided that it had to be that way!

Yes, God loved mankind so much that he gave his only begotten Son over to so much suffering, trouble and disgrace, in order that that some of us may learn to love him for all that he endured for our sake…and they…, be saved! (John 3: 16).

In contrast, we believe that God wants us, Jesus’ followers, to have the best of this age, as well as the future one: he wants us to be happy, blessed, healthy, successful…

But: Can the disciple expect to be treated better than his Master?

Would we still love him if God was to allow us to experience what he experienced?!

 For his Only Son that he loves above all, God had in store the worse treatment we can think of!

Jesus must have lost his father while still young…He had to work as a carpenter for his family to survive.

For the last three years of his life he was living in the bushes, followed by his disciples!

The rulers of the country wanted to kill him, and he had to move all the time, fearing for his life…

He once said to someone who wanted to follow him:

“Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8: 20),

Emotionally, Jesus must have been a wreck, witnessing all the evil that people do to one another!

He was constantly distressed, and when his time came to die, he sweated drops of blood so anguished was he about what he knew was still coming his way. (Luke 22: 44)

To top it all, he was betrayed by one of his closest friends and abandoned by all of them…

The words of the prophet Isaiah all came to be true:  

 “The Messiah, even though he is seated at God’s right hand, will be like a tender green shoot whose roots are buried in a hard, dry ground. (Isaiah 53:1)

He will be despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, used to grieving; our sorrows and our sins will weigh him down.

He will be pierced on a cross for our rebellion towards God his Father, beaten and whipped so that our sins could be erased…

He will be oppressed and treated harshly, unjustly condemned though he would do no wrong and never deceived anyone.

His life will be cut short at midstream for the rebellion of mankind.

It was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and to cause him so much grief.

And when his life will be made an offering so that our sins to be forgiven…he will be pleased and satisfied that through all this, he made it possible for many men to be counted among the righteous!”    (Isaiah 53:  1-11)

It was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and to cause him so much grief.

Similarly, it often is the Lord’s good plan to crush us also, and cause us much grief, for through suffering our faith is tested, our soul is cleaned, and we become much more like Jesus, our role model!

Jesus told his followers: “no disciple is greater than his master!  (John 13: 16)

Meaning: You are not entitled to have a better treatment than he had in this world!

The Scriptures make it clear that is not normal if some of us have it nice and easy in this world…

Couldn’t it be that those of us who manage to live such an easy and pleasant life do so simply because they we are not willing to “pick up their cross, daily, and follow Jesus’ example” (Luke 9: 23).

Many “Christians” avoid suffering by not giving when they should give, not helping when they should help, not suffering when they should endure hardship instead of managing to avoid suffering by immersing themselves in the sinful pleasures that this treacherous world offers us?

Let us mean business when following Christ, and not avoid the cross that we have to bear.

Ours is lighter, much lighter than what our Lord and Saviour was given by his loving Heavenly Father!

Constantin Economides