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THEre ARE Various
Versions of THE CHILDHOOD AND
YOUTH of Jesus Christ, SO to be INTELLECTUALLY HONEST, I MUST GIVE each
VERSION AT LEAST some mention.
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Divine CHILD
Some
devout Roman Catholics, of the type that enjoy medals and pictures of
the type shown above, are encouraged to believe in a Jesus who was
divine from birth, had no human father, and therefore was devoid of
any childhood or search for an identity of the type I will attempt to
present on this web page. Jesus would know, of course,
that he was divine as soon as he knew anything at all. His
divine childhood would be just a prelude to his divine adult-hood
pictured below. This Jesus had no real brothers and
sisters, so was also spared sibling strife. Mary, the
ever-virgin, never had sex with Joseph, and Jesus' adolescence was
never marred by sexual desire or, perish the thought, wet dreams or
masturbation.
He spent
his youth without any interest in having a girl-friend, of course was
never married, never became a father, never quarreled with a wife,
never watched a real child of his own get sick or die, and was
crucified by the Romans in the prime of life without ever doing
anything wrong or sinful, and became our "Sacrificial Lamb"
on the cross so that we need not die, but instead receive
"Eternal Life".
"A Latin Infancy
Gospel: The Birth of Jesus"
"Christian
Apocrypha"
"The Other Bible" Edited
with Introductions by Willis Barnstone - HarpurSanFrancisco-1984
Page
405 "Joseph said, 'Mary, Behold, I have brought you a midwife,
Zachel, who stands outside in front of the cave, who because of the
brightness not only dares not enter the cave, but even
cannot.' When she heard this, Mary smiled.
Joseph said to her, 'Do not smile, but take care; she comes to examine
you in case you need medicine.' He ordered the midwife to
enter to Mary and she stood before her. For hours Mary permitted
herself to be watched, then the midwife cried with a loud voice
and said, 'Lord, great God, have mercy, because never has been
heard, nor seen, nor even dreamed of, until now, that the breasts
should be full of milk and a male child, after birth, should make his
mother known to be a virgin. There was no offering of
blood in the birth, no pain occurring in the parturition.
A virgin conceived, a virgin has given birth and after she gave birth,
she remained a virgin."
"[The midwife is asked to relate what she had seen to Symeon,
Joseph's son. See Matt. 13:55; Mark 6:3. The following is,
therefore, a flashback.]
"When I looked to the maiden, I found her face looking upward;
she was inclined toward Heaven and speaking to herself. I truly
believe that she prayed to the blessed the Most High. When I had
come to her, I said to her, 'Daughter, tell me, do you not feel some
pain, or is not some part of your body gripped with pain?'
She, however, as if she heard nothing, remained immobile like solid
rock, intent on Heaven."
"In
that hour, everything ceased. There was total silence and
fear. For even the winds stopped, they made no breeze; there was
no motion of the tree leaves; no sound of water was heard.
The streams did not flow; there was no motion of the sea. All
things produced in the water were quiet; there was no human voice
sounding; there was a great silence. For the pole itself ceased
its rapid course from that hour. Time almost stopped its
measure. All, overwhelmed with great fear, kept silent; we were
expecting the advent of the most high God, the end of the world."
"As the
time drew near, the power of God showed itself openly. The
maiden stood looking intently into Heaven; she became as a grapevine
[or, she became snow-white.]. For now the end of good
things was at hand. When the light had come forth, Mary
worshipped him to whom she had given birth. The child
himself, like the sun, shone bright, beautiful, and was most
delightful to see, because he appeared to be as peace, soothing the
whole world. In that hour, when he was born, the voice of
many invisible beings in one voice proclaimed 'Amen'. And the light,
when it was born. multiplied, and it obscured the light of the sun
itself by its shining rays. The cave was filled by the
bright light together with a most sweet odor. The light
was born just as the dew descends from Heaven to the earth. For
its odor is fragrant beyond all the sweet smell of ointments."
"I, however,
stood stupefied and amazed. Awe grasped me. I was gazing
intently at the fantastically bright light that had been born.
The light, however, after a while, shrank, imitated the shape of an
infant, then immediately became outwardly an infant in the usual
manner of born infants. I became bold and leaned over and
touched him. I lifted him in my hands with great awe, and I was
terrified because he had no weight like other babies who were
born. I looked at him closely; there was no blemish on him, but
he was in his body totally shining, just as the dew of the most high
God. He was light to carry, splendid to see. For a
while I was amazed at him because he did not cry as newborn
children are supposed to. While I beheld him, looking into
his face, he laughed at me with a most joyful laugh, and, opening his
eyes, he looked intently at me. Suddenly, a great light
came forth from his eyes like a great flash of lightning."
Introduction by David R.
Cartlidge and David L. Dugan
"This
excerpt includes selections from the Arundel Manuscript, chapters
68-74. From David R. Cartlidge and David D. Dugan, eds. and
trans. Documents for the Study of the Gospels (Philadelphia
Fortress Press, 1980), pp. 104-106)
"This is a medieval document that exists in two
manuscripts. Most of this Gospel is based upon Pseudo-Matthew
and the Gospel of James. However, there are
passages that are unique to this gospel, which appears to use a source
that is probably from the Church's early years, and which have a birth
narrative unknown elsewhere. M. R. James, who first published
the Arundel and Hereford manuscripts of the gospel, claims that the
birth narrative may be from the second century. We have
selected passages from the Arundel manuscript --- it is more primitive
than the Hereford version --- which rely upon the unknown
source." |
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MIRACLE-WORKING
CHILD
The Infancy Gospel of
Thomas is one of the earliest infancy gospels, written about AD
150, and was extremely popular in the first centuries. It
appears in translation in many languages. The gospel deals with
the period between Jesus' birth and the incident of Jesus in the
temple.
"I, Thomas the
Israelite, announce and make known to all you brethren from the
Gentiles the childhood and great deeds of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
he did when he was born in our country. This is the
beginning."
"When
this child Jesus was five years old, he was playing at the ford of a
stream. He made pools of the rushing water and made
it immediately pure; he ordered this by word alone. He made soft
clay and modeled twelve sparrows from it. It was the Sabbath
when he did this. There were many other children playing with
him. A certain Jew saw what Jesus did while playing on the
Sabbath; he immediately went and announced to his father Joseph, 'See,
your child is at the stream, and has taken clay and modeled twelve
birds; he has profaned the Sabbath.' Joseph came to the
place, and seeing what Jesus did, he cried out, 'Why do you do on the
Sabbath what it is not lawful to do?' Jesus clapped his
hands and cried to the sparrows, 'Be gone.' The sparrows flew
off chirping. The Jews saw this and were amazed.
They went away and described to their leaders what they had seen Jesus
do."
"The son
of Annas the scribe was standing there with Joseph. He took a
branch of a willow and scattered the water which Jesus had
arranged. Jesus saw what he did and became angry and said
to him, 'You unrighteous, impius ignoramus, what did the pools and the
water do to harm you? Behold, you shall also wither as a tree,
and you shall not bear leaves nor roots nor fruit.' And
immediately that child was all withered. Jesus left and
went to the house of Joseph. The parents of the withered one
bore him away, bemoaning his lost youth. They led him to
Joseph and reproached him. 'What kind of a child do you have
that does such things?'"
"Once again he was going through the village, and a child that
was running banged into his shoulder. Jesus was angered and said
unto him, 'You shall go no further on your way.' And immediately
the child fell down dead. Some people saw this happen and said,
'From whence was this child begotten, for his every word is an act
accomplished?' The parents of the dead boy went to Joseph
and blamed him: 'Because you have such a boy, you cannot live with us
in the village; your alternative is to teach him to bless and not
curse, for he is killing our children.'"
"Joseph
took the child aside privately and warned him, saying, 'Why do you do
such things? These people are suffering and they hate us and are
persecuting us!' Jesus said, 'I know that these are not your
words, but on account of you I will be silent. However,
they shall bear their punishment.' Immediately, those who
accused him were blinded. Those who saw were very
frightened and puzzled, and they said about him, 'Every word he
speaks, whether good or evil, happens and is a miracle.'
When he saw what Jesus had done, Joseph arose and took hold of Jesus'
ear and pulled it hard. The child was angry and said to
him, 'It is fitting for you to seek and not find. You have
acted very stupidly. Do you not know that I am yours? Do
not vex me.'
"A man
named Zaccheus, a teacher, was standing there and he heard, in
part, Jesus saying these things to his father. He was
greatly astonished that he said such things, since he was just a
child. And after a few days he approached Joseph and said to
him, 'You have a smart child, and he has a mind. Come, hand him
over to me so that he may learn writing. I will give him
all understanding with the letters, and teach him to greet all the
elders and to honor them as grandfathers and fathers and to love his
peers.' He told him all the letters from the Alpha to the
Omega plainly, with much discussion. But Jesus looked at
Zaccheus the teacher, and said to him, 'You do not know the Alpha
according to nature, how do you teach others the Beta? You
hypocrite! First, if you know it, teach the Alpha, then we
shall believe you about the Beta.' Then he began to
question the teacher about the first letter and he could not answer
him. Many heard as the child said to Zaccheus, 'Listen,
teacher, to the order of the first element, and pay attention to this,
how it has lines, and a central mark which goes through the two lines
you see, they converge, go up, again come to head, become the same
three times, subordinate, and hypostatic, isometric ... [the text is
unreliable.] You now have lines of Alpha.'"
"When the teacher, Zaccheus, heard so many allegories of the
first letter spoken by the child, he was puzzled about such
expoundings and his teaching. He said to those present,
'Woe is me, I am wretched and puzzled; I have shamed myself trying to
handle this child. I beg you, brother Joseph, take him
away. I cannot bear the severity of his glance. I
cannot understand his speech at all. This child is not
earthborn, he is able to tame even fire. Perhaps he was begotten
before the world's creation. What belly bor him, what womb
nurtured him, I do not know. Woe is me, friend, he
completely confuses me. I cannot follow his
understanding. I have fooled myself; I am thrice
wretched. I worked anxiously to have a disciple, and I
found myself with a teacher. I consider my shame, friends;
I am an old man and have been conquered by a little child, what can I
say? What can I discuss about the lines of the first
element he spoke to me? I do not know, O friends, for I do not
know its beginning and end. Therefore, I beg you, brother
Joseph, take him into your house. He is something great: a
God, an angel, or what I should say I do not know.'"
"When he was six, his mother sent him to draw water and to bring it
into the house, giving him a pitcher. But in the crowd he had a
collision; the water jug was broken. Jesus spread out the
garment he had on, filled it with water, and bore it to his mother.
When his mother saw the miracle she kissed him, and she kept to herself the
mysteries which she saw him do."
"Again, during planting time the child went with his father to sow seed
in their field. While they planted, his father sowed, and the
child Jesus planted one grain of wheat. When he reaped and threshed
it, it yeilded one hundred measures, and he called all the poor of the
village to the threshing floor and gave them the grain. Joseph
took the remainder of the grain. He was eight when he did this
sign."
"His father was a carpenter and at that time made ploughs and
yokes. He received an order from a certain rich man to make a
bed for him. One beam came out shorter than the other, and he
did not know what to do. The child Jesus said to Joseph his
father, 'Lay the two pieces of wood alongside each other, and make them even
at one end.' Joseph did as the child told him. Jesus stood
at the other end and grasped the shorter beam; and stretched it and made it
equal with the other. His father Joseph saw and was astonished,
and embracing the child he kissed him and said, 'I am blessed because God
has given this child to me.'" |
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