{"id":3464,"date":"2016-02-06T22:03:17","date_gmt":"2016-02-06T22:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=3464"},"modified":"2016-02-18T22:03:20","modified_gmt":"2016-02-18T22:03:20","slug":"jesus-as-a-teenager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=3464","title":{"rendered":"Jesus as a teenager?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"James<\/p>\n

\u00a0James Dean<\/a>\u00a0– the quintessential teen “rebel without a cause<\/a><\/em>…”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Did you ever wonder when Jesus came up with the idea that He was<\/em> <\/strong>Jesus.<\/p>\n

\"Christ,That He was\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u201cspecial?\u201d \u00a0That He was<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 literally \u2013 the Son of God?<\/p>\n

That leads to even more questions: \u00a0Did Jesus \u00a0know the minute He was born that He was “the Son of God?” \u00a0Did He \u2013 even as a newborn child \u2013 have a fully formed adult personality?<\/p>\n

Some time ago there was a bracelet trend, \u201cWWJD<\/a>?” \u00a0What would Jesus do? \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Turning that question around \u2013 \u00a0“thinking outside the box”<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the question could be put like this:<\/p>\n

What would you<\/em><\/strong> do\u00a0\u2013 with a fully formed adult personality, able to see and know all around you \u2013 yet you were trapped in the body of a baby?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And\u00a0that in turn raises some more interesting questions. \u00a0Like: \u00a0What would you<\/em><\/strong> do if you could only communicate with those around you, with a smile, a frown, a gurgle or a belch?<\/p>\n

To most of us, that would be a living nightmare. \u00a0It would be a nightmare to be trapped inside the body of an infant, but have a fully formed adult personality.<\/p>\n

Yet many believe that’s just what Jesus went through, from the moment of birth on.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if that isn’t<\/em><\/strong> the case, when did Jesus find out? \u00a0The only rational alternative is that Jesus did not <\/em><\/strong>know who He was at that very minute He was born. \u00a0And if that<\/strong><\/em> is true, the question becomes: \u00a0\u201cAt what point in His life journey did <\/em><\/strong>Jesus find out?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sen.In modern terms \u2013 borrowing a page from yesteryear<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the question could be phrased, \u201cWhat did Jesus know, and when did He know it?<\/em><\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

If Jesus didn\u2019t<\/em> know \u2013 the minute He was born \u2013 that He was<\/strong><\/em> the Son of God, He had to find out later in His life. \u00a0And one interpretation of that theory came from the man who wrote\u00a0Zorba the Greek<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Nikos Kazantzakis<\/a>\u00a0also wrote\u00a0The Last Temptation of Christ<\/a>. \u00a0(In 1955<\/em>. \u00a0It became the movie that caused such a stink when it was released in 1988.<\/em>) \u00a0Anyway, in his novel,\u00a0Kazantzakis theorized that at some point in His life, Jesus started \u201cto hear voices:\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI fasted for three months. I even whipped myself before I went to sleep. At first it worked. Then the pain came back. And the voices. They call me by the name: Jesus.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So according to Kazantzakis, Jesus may not <\/em><\/strong>have known the minute He was born just how special He was. \u00a0He didn’t find out until some time later in His life.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

\"\"Whatever the merits of such a contemplation<\/a>, it seems pretty clear that throughout the first 30 years of His life, Jesus must have had a world<\/em> of patience. \u00a0And in all likelihood, at no time was that more true than when He was a teenager.<\/p>\n

Of course He did<\/em><\/strong> have that one chance when he was 12 years old, to impress the elders in Jerusalem. \u00a0(See Luke 2:41-50).\u00a0 But except for that one or two days of \u201cmountaintop experience,\u201d it seems that Jesus still had to endure 30 long<\/em> years of pure, mundane drudgery.<\/p>\n

He had to live quietly and unobtrusively \u2013 for 30 long years \u2013 before starting His life’s work. \u00a0And He had to do this before the people around Him started getting the idea who He really was.\u00a0\u00a0(It must have been something like spending all day in a county tag office, multiplied by 10,950.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Which brings up another compelling question: \u00a0What was Jesus like<\/em><\/strong> as a teenager?\u00a0\u00a0Suppose \u2013 just for the sake of argument \u2013 that by the time He was a teenager, Jesus did <\/em>know that He was in fact the First-born Son of God. \u00a0For one thing, He could see into the future. \u00a0And He knew, absolutely knew<\/em><\/strong>, everything that ever was or ever had been.<\/p>\n

So maybe as a teenager, Jesus did <\/em>know everything there ever was to know, and everything possible that ever could<\/em> be known. \u00a0Yet there He was, stuck in that backwater, hayseed town of Nazareth, far away from any possible excitement, like what He might find in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

And, probably the worst thing of all for Him was that He had to take orders from older people, people who He knew<\/em> didn\u2019t know a fraction of what He knew about \u201creal life.\u201d \u00a0Of course:<\/p>\n

Since every teenager in the history of the world has felt exactly the same way, how could the people in Nazareth know\u00a0this<\/span> teenager was any different?<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The upper image is courtesy of\u00a0James Dean \u2013 Wikipedia<\/a>. \u00a0The caption: \u201cDean in Rebel Without a Cause.\u201d \u00a0The article noted, \u201cDean\u2019s premature death \u2026 cemented his legendary status.\u201d<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n

The image of Jesus is courtesy of\u00a0Jesus (name) – Wikipedia<\/a>. \u00a0The caption: \u00a0“Christ <\/strong>by Heinrich Hofmann.” \u00a0The article noted that the name “Jesus” is a “rendition of the Hebrew<\/a> Yeshua<\/a><\/i> (\u05d9\u05e9\u05d5\u05e2), also having the variants Joshua<\/i> or Jeshua<\/i>.” \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Re: \u00a0\u201cWhat did Jesus know, and when did He know it?\u201d \u00a0One of many phrases \u2013 like \u201cIrangate\u201d or \u201cBenghazi-gate\u201d \u2013 that can be traced back to the 1972 Watergate scandal. \u00a0The phase is credited to Senator Howard Baker, who famously asked, \u201cWhat did the President know and when did he know it?\u201d \u00a0The question was originally written by Senator Baker\u2019s counsel and former campaign manager, future U.S. Senator [and Hollywood star], Fred Thompson. \u00a0(See, en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Howard_Baker<\/a>, and firstthings.com\/blogs\/evangel\/2011\/04\/what-did-jesus-know-and-when-did-he-know-it<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

The image to the right of the \u201cwhen did He know it\u201d paragraph is courtesy of\u00a040 Years Since The Watergate Hearings | Getty Images<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0Senator Baker is at left, covering the microphone. \u00a0Senator Sam Ervin is at the right of the photo, arms folded.<\/em><\/p>\n

The image to the right of the “contemplation<\/a>” paragraph is courtesy of that Wikipedia article. \u00a0The caption: \u00a0“Statue The Spirit of Contemplation<\/strong>\u00a0by Albert Toft<\/a>.” \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The lower image is courtesy of\u00a0krustofsky.deviantart.com\/art\/Teenagers-Act-Now-261044948<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0And an ironic side note: \u00a0Harassed<\/a>\u00a0has one “r” and two “s’s.”<\/em><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

This post was gleaned from earlier posts in my other blog,\u00a0On Jesus as a teenager<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0On Jesus as a teenager \u2013 REDUX<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0James Dean\u00a0– the quintessential teen “rebel without a cause…”   Did you ever wonder when Jesus came up with the idea that He was Jesus. That He was\u00a0\u201cspecial?\u201d \u00a0That He was \u2013 literally \u2013 the Son of God? That leads to even more questions: \u00a0Did Jesus \u00a0know the minute He was born that He was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3464"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3575,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3464\/revisions\/3575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}