He became like us…

For by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man. He worked with human hands, He thought with a human mind, acted by human choice and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us, like us in all things except sin. (GS24)

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Hb. 4:15

Sinlessness

The New Testament is clear in its belief that Jesus was sinless.  Jesus sinlessness does not exempt him from normal human development and the ups and downs and interactions of human life.  In fact, I think it allowed him to enter more fully into growing up and growing into his understanding of his deep identity.  He would not have had the neuroses we have that filter reality.

The Liturgy

The Christmas season continues until the feast of the Baptism of Jesus.  From the journey through Advent to Christmas-tide we have listened to the readings that celebrate the great titles of the One to come and woven into the birth narratives of Matthew, Luke and John.

These stories were written to be read aloud at the gatherings of the early communities.  The listeners would have understood the rich tapestry of allusions to the Hebrew Scriptures and understood the deep meaning of the stories.

This is rich fare, and the liturgy has spread it over many weeks so we are able to reflect on the meaning of these stories that seek to understand the deep significance of Jesus.

Sometimes I think that with such splendour, let alone the legends that elaborate the stories, the reality of a new born child at a particular time and culture may become obscured.

What sort of world was Jesus born into?  What was life like for free-born Jewish children in this time?  Sadly, very little evidence is available however archaeology, anthropology and surviving writings give us some insight. 

The documents that survive are written by elite, educated men, so these don’t give us much insight into the daily practicalities of children’s lives.  The Rabbis who compiled the Talmud (a later document which may reflect earlier practices) laid down precepts for both the mother and child around birth and nurture.

What follows applies to free-born children and families not slaves belonging to those families.  In society slavery was common and generally practiced.

The parents: 

Under ancient Jewish law a girl could marry at 12 years of age.  However, at this time the Rabbis preferred girls to marry between 14 and 20.  Usually marriages were arranged by fathers or close male relatives. 

Men usually married at around 18.  However, a man may enter into several serial marriages given the mortality rate of women in childbirth.  Therefore, a husband may be older than his wife and have had children by a previous marriage/s.

Weddings were whole village affairs.  Everyone participated and the celebration would last for days.  Appropriate bridal clothing was important. If the bride or guests could not afford a wedding garment, the village would supply it. 

Conception and Birth: 

The Jews believed that there were three entitles in every conception – the mother, the father and God.  It was God alone who gave life.  For this reason, pregnancy was welcomed as a blessing, part of the Jewish inheritance from God and hope for the future.  Children also ensured economic and social survival.

There is no evidence that Jews exposed, abandoned or aborted babies.

Birth was women’s business.  A midwife and helpers were present to ensure a safe birth.  The newborn was rubbed with salt or oil and then swaddled.  Salt or oil was believed to strengthen the skin and swaddling was to straighten the baby’s limbs.  It was also comforting.

By Jewish law, both mother and child had days of quiet after the birth and the mother was released from religious obligations.  She was considered ritually unclean and would be purified by water immersion a week after the birth of a boy and two weeks after the birth of a girl. 

On the eighth day a boy child was circumcised as a sign of the covenant between God and Israel.

Birth was a dangerous time for the mother and the child.  Of eight pregnancies two or three children would survive.

Writings of the time pass over who had the authority to name the baby.  However, from evidence in the Scriptures, the mother usually named him or her.

Home and Family life:

Excavation of 1st Century house under Sion Convent, Nazareth

Recent excavations in Nazareth show that the village was larger than previously thought.  It was a relatively prosperous large village/town.  Archaeologists in Nazareth have found several ‘courtyard houses’ which were large enough to accommodate several families.  Often their livelihoods were carried out in the precinct.

Whatever the social or economic status of the family, the new baby was born into an extended and multi-generational family of grandparents, uncles and their wives, their children as well as the child’s siblings from the current or a previous marriage.  Other relatives and their children may well be residents also.

Women went to live with the family of their husbands whose houses were likely to be in proximity to the house of their birth.  So, in one way or another, residents of a village tended to form the larger extended family.

From both archaeology and linguistics, it appears that the Nazareth house was that of economically comfortable people.  It is thought that the Greek word translated as ‘carpenter’ means a highly skilled tradesman, probably a contractor.

Living in Nazareth meant that Sephoris was only a few kilometres away – and Sephoris, a Greek influenced city, was undergoing a building boom.

Excavations in Nazareth of the house thought to be that of Joseph and Mary show a substantial first century CE residence partly built into overhanging rock and partly of stone, supplied with its own well.  First century jewellery and children’s toys have been found.

So, Jesus was born into this large, multilayered family.  The Gospels mention four brothers (James, Joses, Jude and Simon) and two sisters who are unnamed.  As a baby and a child, he would be under the authority of his father. Jewish fatherhood was very unlike the Roman paterfamilias.  Tacitus, the Roman historian wrote disparagingly that for the Jews ‘it is even a crime among them to kill a child’.  Jewish law enshrined the obligation of both parents and the community to care for, feed, educate and provide for their marriage.

Jesus would have been breast-fed until he reached three years of age, most of this time would be with the women of the household until he was weaned and old enough to begin to learn the work of his family. This meant he learnt to interact with the wider village community including customers and other tradesmen.

Jesus would have learned the ways of the Jewish life and belief from this close-knit family, the villagers and from the local Synagogue. 

Children were loved and desired but far from pampered.  From birth they were formed in Jewish society and Torah.  They were expected to take on activities suitable for their age so they grew up understanding their part of family life was both important and expected.

Courtyard house first Century

A boy would be prepared for his work and a girl would be prepared for household work and marriage. 

However, this did not mean that life was just work. Village and religious festivals including marriages were celebrations for everyone.  The gentiles of the Roman world thought that the Jewish Sabbath was a terrible waste of trading and work time.  They just couldn’t see the point.

In some excavations, children’s toys have been found and from finger print imagery it is evident that the children learned to make their own.  It was all part of learning about what would be expected in life.

Children were immersed in the relationships of ‘the courtyard’ with all the complexity of different personalities and opinions but also the solidarity of a close-knit family, which gave some economic and political security.

By about twelve years of age a boy was deemed ready to read the Torah in the local Synagogue (Bar Mitzvahs were a later development).  This would indicate that literacy was more widespread than originally thought – at least functional literacy.  The Jews valued learning.

From excavations, it is evident that Nazareth was a very orthodox Jewish town.  In fact, from archaeological digs, most of Galilee was with the exception of a few Romanised towns.

Given this context, Jesus would have absorbed a strongly orthodox observance of the Torah in all its aspects.

The story of the adolescent Jesus in the temple gives a sense that this was an ‘in between’ age.  Was he an adult and therefore stayed with the men, or was he still a child and with the women and other children?  His behaviour is somewhat typical of edgy adolescence.

Roman rule:

Judea was under direct Roman rule.  However, Galilee under Herod Antipas (4 BCE-39 CE), while still under Roman rule its influence was less obvious.  Either way, the Roman empire demanded obedience and Jesus would have grown up with stories of spasmodic Jewish revolts which were brutally quashed.  He, like everyone else would know that their land, given to Israel by the Holy One, was not free.

Grown up:

Jesus did not follow the family trade.  He chose to be a travelling Rabbi.  We have no way of knowing what this meant to the family.  We do know from Gospel passages that Mary and Jesus’ brothers were concerned about him and John writes that his ‘brothers did not believe him’ (Jn 7:5). Yet, in Acts and the Pauline writings, Mary and some of Jesus’ siblings were members of the earliest community.  So perhaps, they gradually came to understand him.

From Jesus’ popularity as a teaching Rabbi, it is obvious that he was a gifted preacher who could hold the listeners enthralled.  The Jews placed high value on good preaching that both entertained and instructed. 

Unlike the Rabbis, Jesus did not choose his disciples from his clan or class.  Discipleship was open irrespective of class, education or gender.

Jesus’ teaching has deep roots in the Torah and Jewish practices.  However, there are aspects that don’t resonate with the Judaism of his time. So, one could ask what was the influence of his early life that gave him these insights.

In his preaching, Jesus calls his disciples to put him before family.  Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me (Mt 10:37).  Jesus calls his disciples to put the Reign of God before every other priority.

In a culture where family and tribe are foundational, how did Jesus’ family hear these words?  What is he asking?  How do we understand this in our culture and time?

 19th century photograph of a Judean village

Conclusion:

So, where is all this leading?  The great titles of the Messiah and the theology of the Christmas narratives are attempts to see Jesus ‘from inside’.  To express the meaning of this man.  They are read in the light of Jesus’ death, resurrection and sending of the Spirit.  They knew how the story ended.

When we talk about incarnation, we are talking about the fleshtaking of the Divine – the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us (Jn 1:14). For the Jews, flesh is humanity and creation in its glory, messiness and temporality.  If we believe that in Jesus, we see the Divine we must also say that we see the human.

I think that over the two millennia of Christianity, we can sometimes forget that those great titles belong of a human being   This meant that Jesus was born in a particular family, faith, time, place, culture, economy, political system that shaped him – just as we are.    

By virtue of our Baptism, the great titles found is Isaiah are also about us – who we are in our particularity of time and place.

Just as the Word became flesh in a Jewish village of the Roman empire, the Word becomes flesh in and through us now – in this place and time.  In the ordinary of our particularity and daily life here and now.