Where was Jesus from 16 to 32 years?

Answer 1

Many people have wondered this over the years, and the truth is, only Jesus himself could say for sure. In The Bible there is a time gap between those ages; however, many people subscribe to the belief that for those 18 years of his life Jesus was having fellowship time with his father as well as preparing for what he knew he had to do in the future. Remember, no one just all of a sudden decides to live a perfect life and die a horrific death on a cross, that takes about 18 years of preparation.

Answer 2

The period from age 12 to age 30 of Jesus life is sometimes know as "the lost years". We simply have no records in the Scripture of where he was or what he did - lots of speculation, but nothing concrete.

Answer 3

In his gospel Matthew records the birth of Jesus up until the age of about 2 years. Luke simply records the birth of Jesus and one incident at the age of 12 years.

Outside these references the rest of the written records of Jesus (both Biblical and secular) begin at the start of his ministry around the age of 30, and end with his crucifixion, resurrection and ascension at the age of about 33. The reason for this is simple: The writers of the gospels were concerned not with Jesus' life but with his ministry. Even the birth and childhood stories in Matthew and Luke were only included because they set the scene for his later ministry. Therefore, the gospel writers were unconcerned about his life, say, as a carpenter before he began his mission, as this was irrelevant to it.

Between the ages of 12 and 30, then (and not 16 and 32 as above), we know nothing of Jesus' life except that he is likely to have helped in Joseph's carpentry shop.

There are some people who have fanciful ideas that Jesus spent part of those intervening years in various places; one theory is that he went to Gt Britain with Joseph of Arimathea who, after the ascension, set up a church at Glastonbury. Another theory is that he went to India, another that he went to China. However, all these theories have one common thread; there is absolutely no evidence for any of them to be even remotely true.

So the fact remains; we know a great deal of the birth of Jesus and a huge amount about his ministry, miracles, teaching, mission and so on. But as to his life before this we know absolutely nothing.

Answer

The Bible gives very little information about Jesus as he was growing up. Luke 2:4 says, "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him." Later in the same chapter, in verse 52, it says, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." Little else is said of him until he starts his ministry. The lack of information regarding this time in his life is most likely explained by the fact that those who recorded the books of scripture in the New Testament did not know Jesus before His ministry, so they did not have the information. In addition, the events during this period in His life were of far less consequence than the teachings He gave and the miracles He performed during His ministry.

Because nothing else is said, it is likely that Jesus' years from 12 to 32 were spent much as any other Jewish man's were: learning the scriptures, earning a living, and spending time with family.