Early Life Of Jesus
CHAPTER THREE
Early Life Of Jesus
Jesus was an intelligent
child. He was obedient and dutiful to his mother and was very kind to every
one. Due to his pious upbringing he spoke words of wisdom from his early
childhood. Whenever he was confronted with difficult and complex questions, his
answers were so enlightening and wonderful which were not expected from a child
of his age.
Jesus was merely a child when Mary decided to go back to her people. They were riding a donkey when they entered the town. When people learnt of their return they came out of their houses and surrounded Mary. They began to ridicule and taunt her and behaved mischievously towards her. They censured her for her sin, which they believed she had committed, by saying, "O Mary, surely you have committed a monstrous thing. Your father was not a wicked man, nor was your mother an unchaste woman!"
There were many a rude
remark from the people. Mary was deeply hurt but she did not say anything in
reply. Instead she pointed towards Jesus meaning that such a blessed child who
was already showing signs of being in communion with God, could not have been
the fruit of sin.
They said, "How can we
talk to one who is merely a child in the cradle?" meaning that the boy was
too young to give them a meaningful explanation.
Jesus told them, "I am
a servant of Allah. He has given me the Book and has made me a Prophet; and He
has made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and has enjoined upon me Prayer and
almsgiving so long as I live ; and has made me dutiful towards my mother, and
has not made me arrogant and graceless.”
People were amazed to listen
to such talk. It seemed that God had already informed Jesus, perhaps in his
dreams, of the spiritual heights he was to climb. Many children because of
their love of God are shown such signs. We read another example of such a case
from the Holy Qur'an. Joseph, son of Jacob, when he was a small child, was also
shown such dreams regarding his high spiritual status in the future.
After listening to Jesus
some of the people were very impressed and stopped bothering Mary any more,
while others thought that Mary had put all this into the child's mind which he
was just repeating parrot fashion. Jesus lived in Nazareth, a small secluded
town amongst the hills of Galilee, the land of pastures, olive groves and vineyards.
There is a curtain of obscurity over the period from his childhood to the time
he was raised as a Prophet. We do not know much of this period of his life.
QUESTIONS
- Why did people ridicule Mary when she returned with the child Jesus to Nazareth?
- What was Mary's response to the accusations?
- What did Jesus say to the people?
