Q: #136. What was Jesus' childhood like?
A: We know virtually nothing about Jesus’ childhood. The Bible only mentions one incident in Jesus’ childhood, when He was 12 and visited the Temple, speaking with and listening to the teachers (Lk 2:41-52).
We can be sure, however, that He went through and faced the same things as any normal child. He cried, caught colds, skinned His knees, got hungry and tired, played, learned to speak and read, etc… Since He was the son of a carpenter (Mt 13:55), He likely practiced carpentry too as He got older. Carpentry was not a very good paying job in those days, so His family likely did not have a lot of money.
Since Jesus lived a sinless life on this planet, we know that He did not fail in ANY of the areas that most children fail in while growing up. He perfectly obeyed His parents. He did not become angry when wrongs were done against Him, and forgave each person for those wrongs. He never lied, cheated, argued, complained, or gossiped. (Can you imagine being the parent of a child like this? He never even needed to be spanked to correct His behavior!)
There are extra-Biblical books (not God inspired) that mention certain incidents in Jesus’ childhood, and say He supposedly worked miracles such as breathing life into clay birds, bringing down food from Heaven, etc… These are NOT credible, and actually go against the Bible. (Jn 2:11) says that Jesus’ FIRST miracle was done in Cana at the wedding feast when He turned water into wine. In addition, Jesus purposely desired to conceal His first miracles (See: Q: #94.). Why would He do this if He had previously done miracles? He already would have been known as a miracle worker.
The Bible contains everything that God wants us to know. Since Jesus’ childhood is not mentioned, obviously God did not feel it necessary for us to know about it. (The same is true for how Jesus looked: [See: Q: #9].)
