When Jesus was a boy -- how a pastoral counselor reads the Bible

When Jesus was a Boy

When Jesus was a boy, his life was very hard. He and his parents were refugees. Because they were foreigners, and his parents didn’t know the language very well (they had Egyptian as the official language legislation), his father had to take whatever odd jobs he could get; mostly as a gardener or as a farmworker, even though he was a skilled tradesman. His mom worked as a domestic and took in laundry. Some Egyptians hated them because they were foreigners. They said they came in and undermined the economy and put a burden on all the social services. They made fun of them and Jesus had to watch where he went because the local kids would beat him up.
Later, when they moved back to Palestine, life was better economically, but it was still hard. There were very few boys Jesus’ age to play with, because most of them had been killed. Some parents resented Joseph and Mary because they had a son. The only boys were half-breed shepherds, and they were mostly at work. Sometimes Jesus would go out into the hills and hang out with them, but Jesus also played with girls a lot.
Some of the local kids had heard their parents (mostly their moms) talk about how Jesus was illegitimate, so they made fun of him for that, too. You’d think people would just let that drop, but some don’t; they never forget. And they don’t let you forget, either.

©Warren Sapp
Revised 3/30/08