Did Jesus have a normal childhood?
score:6
There are simply no extant records on the life of Jesus that are recognized by scholars as having any validity.
There are fictional accounts of the life of Jesus, such as the Gnostic Infancy Gospel of Thomas which relate stories such as:
Jesus making sparrows out of clay on Sunday
Jesus blinding Pharisees
Jesus resurrecting one of his playmates.
The problem is that this fictional account is just that - it was never recognized as anything other than a story by any of the respected church fathers. These stories are inconsistent with the character of the Jesus recorded in the Gospel.
Upvote:0
Exactly how normal of a childhood Jesus had is unclear. The Bible is mostly silent on the matter: we never hear even hear what happened to Joseph after the incident in the temple.
That said, I find the passages already quoted in this question and the answers to it to be telling in their own way. Consider Matthew 13:55-56, quoted in @Joshua's answer: the people who knew Jesus and his family while he was growing up still don't seem to have had any clue as to his origins. It's surprising what can happen in normal-seeming families, but there are limits: there may well have been extraordinary elements to the childhood of Jesus, but at the same time, it must have been normal enough to pass for mundane in the regular society of the time.
Upvote:8
James: Why don't you ever punish Jesus? Is He your favorite?
Joseph: He never does anything wrong.
James: Jesus always knows the right answer, its not like He is God or something.
Mary: Actually He is, so go back and try again.
Humor aside, this is illustrative.
We know that He had siblings according to Mat 13:55-56
“Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”
So He had at least 4 brothers and 3 sisters based on the grammer.
We also know that had emotions. He often greeted His friends/disciples with "Rejoice". "Rejoice and be exceeding glad" (Matthew 5:12). Also consider that The One enthroned in heaven laughs (Psa 2:4). He also cried, see Jhn 11:35-36
Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
Jesus is fully human and fully God according to many passages; like Hbr 2:9
But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Based on all this we can surmise that Jesus did normal childhood things, except he always obeyed and never got in trouble. There is no recorded history of Him running and playing or having a dirty diaper or scraping His knee but I am reasonable sure He did all of those things and more. It is important, according to the Bible, that we be able to identify with Him.
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