The Daily Jesus
Posted by Connor on March 28th, 2007
As this Easter season approaches I find myself pondering the daily Jesus. Not so much the Jesus whose miracles and teachings are recorded in holy writ—I’m thinking of the Jesus we might learn of were we able to read “many other things”:
And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. (John 21:25)
The Jesus we know is a teacher, a Savior, a miracle worker. He healed, He comforted, He served.
But what did He do when He wasn’t doing those things?
A few passages in the scriptures give us purposefully vague descriptions of Jesus’ developmental activities:
And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. (Luke 2:40)
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. (Luke 2:52)
And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace;
And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness; (D&C 93:12-13)
I find myself wondering what Jesus was like on a day to day basis. No doubt He was not any different from the Man who performed miracles—but what was He like to talk to? To have a conversation with? To share a meal with? To observe playing with His friends as a teenager? To watch as He worked as a carpenter?
In Gerald Lund’s “Kingdom and the Crown” series, the reader gets a special (albeit fictional) glimpse at exactly these types of things. Lund uses historical fiction to fill in some of the gaps and show what Jesus might have been like to interact with on a daily basis.
After reading this series I felt so much closer to the Savior. He came alive to me, as I was able to picture Him in normal settings and interacting with normal people like me. I envisioned Him running errands in the marketplace, smiling to strangers, helping those in need, and teaching those who would listen.
I testify that Jesus is our Savior, our Redeemer, and our King. But He was—and still is—a Son, a Friend, a Brother, and a Person. I look forward to one day being able to interact with Him on a daily basis.
You guys are getting me pretty jacked up for Easter and Conference.
Comment # 1 left by Eric Nielson on March 28th, 2007
Sorry I don’t have anything of substance to add. I just wanted to say this is a great question. I believe most of his day to day activities were spent preaching the gospel and setting up the church. It is harder to say if he ever talked about other things that would be “small talk” of the 1st Century. He is shown eating a lot with friends and strangers in rather informal settings.
Most of my questions about daily activities are the 30 years before his ministry began. All I can think of is that he worked hard at a worldly vocation and studied (not unusual for a Jew of the time) the Scriptures.
Comment # 2 left by Jettboy on March 28th, 2007
There are, of course, apocryphal accounts that encompas Jesus’ younger years, but, well, they are apocryphal.
I have known people whom I have wondered if the Savior were like during his mortal life and ministry. Funny that we seek to be Christlike in our daily lives, and yet, you’re right, do we truly know what He was like in His daily life? Perhaps the trick is to live our daily lives such that the sum total of our life resembles the sum total of His–which we do have a sense of…
Comment # 3 left by Naiah Earhart on March 28th, 2007
as warm and fuzzy as it may be, i dislike the idea of a daily jesus who spent his every waking moment preaching and exhorting scripture. for a divine being who took on human nature, he would have sure seemed to miss so much of what makes us human.
one of jesus’ first miracles was his turning water into wine… for a wedding celebration. he was accused of sitting down with publicans and sinners. i’m guessing that he often enjoyed participating in activities “unbecoming of a savior.” i’m sure that if he were in his ministry today, we would find him sitting back and laughing with a bunch of homeless drunkards at the park, playing some football, watching some movies, and all sorts of other activities.
look at joseph smith. prophets are supposed to typify the savior. he certainly enjoyed roughing it up, playing games, downing a few beers, and cracking a few jokes.
Comment # 4 left by the narrator on March 28th, 2007
These are very interesting thoughts.
The glimpse we have of Jesus talking with a bunch of adults in the temple when he was 12 seems to show that he was no ordinary kid. I might speculate that for most of his life he may have known he was different from the other kids. He may well of been in the world but not of it to a large degree.
But even with this there seems to be a level of tolerance that he had for most everyone.
I of course do not know, but I picture the daily Christ as someone who was strikingly different from most people, but often in a way that would be thought of positive and at time charismatic.
I wonder if we lack the day-to-day stuff for good reason. It is fairly important to our faith to believe in a sinless life for Christ. Some of us may have a tendency to over lable some things as being sinful that really are not.
Comment # 5 left by Eric Nielson on March 28th, 2007
A very thought-provoking post. I, too, am curious about what Jesus’ daily life was like! But knowing only the essentials of the Savior’s life probably helps me to remember how truly great His condescension was. He, the Creator of this earth and many others, left the realms of glory to live on earth and suffer all that was necessary to accomplish the Atonement on our behalf.
Although Jesus loves each of us beyond our ability to comprehend, He clearly wants to lift us to eventually live at His Celestial level, not lower his behavior to our telestial level. I imagine that even while associating with all types of people during his earthly life, and participating in the normal activities common to Jewish culture of His time, He always said and did the right things–thus committing neither sins of commission nor sins of omission. Yes, He is our elder spirit brother, and He desires us to be His friends. But it is probably quite salutary for us to remember that He was in no way, shape or form “just one of the guys.”
I liked the comparison Narrator (#4) drew with Joseph Smith, who was faulted by some for acting in a way they considered “un-prophet-like”. I also agree with Eric (#5) that, “Some of us may have a tendency to over label some things as being sinful that really are not.” Perhaps we would be way too prone to criticize if we knew more about Christ’s daily mortal life!
Comment # 6 left by RoAnn on March 28th, 2007
I can’t help but parse together in my mind all the things we are counseled to do in our daily lives in terms of interactions with others, fulfilling our daily duty, work, prayer, etc. and combining them all to give a good picture of what His life was like…all just raised to the level of perfection. But still with growth (grace for grace).
I also imagine He had some rough days, getting sick just like anyone did, being tired, etc. (a la Al. 7:11-12).
Comment # 7 left by Michelle on March 28th, 2007
SIN OF PRIDE
BY DEAN SILVA
We would all like to think we are not prideful well let’s look at this from a different perspective. We need to look at our motives why we are doing something, is it for the praise of man ,or are we learning new things to say we are better then others. Yes God says our hearts are deceitful! Now so often I tell myself wow I am a great songwriter or singer people love me. This is called self worship and God despises this kind of behavior! This is a trap of the enemy
self-righteous pride the only one who should be getting the glory is Jesus he gave us our gifts to use for his kingdom at his disposal, and in his time not our own so when we try to go ahead and advance our lives without a direct calling we get ourselves in a lot of trouble front sliding is what it’s called so often in our churches people are put in position of leadership because of the lack of talent in the church so many times people can not handle the warfare that goes on in a leader of the church especially praise and worship leaders the devil works overtime to destroy them and if you are not ready he will! We want to help right away and jump head first most of the time with the right motives but, God isn’t going to bless this kind of advancement I know first hand of this the hard way we have to wait and humble ourselves and he will exalt us in his time any other way is a form of pride. The sin of pride is what brought the fall of Lucifer down he wanted to be like God stand on the most high and be praised for his beauty in Isaiah 14:11 it says your music and the sound of your harp will be thrown into the pit. It was his pride that destroyed his life so pride is basically coming against God making yourself better then him he then becomes our competition now I don’t want to be in competition with God almighty! So I confess my problem with pride and humbly ask for his help because I can’t do it on my own. So here are something’s to ponder if you struggle with pride like I do.
(1).DON’T LOOK DOWN ON OTHER’S YOU ARE NOT BETTER THEN THEM
(2).BE MORE CONCERNED WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S INTRESTS AND WELL BEING OTHER THEN YOUR OWN
(3).CHECK YOU MOTIVES WHY YOU ARE DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING EXAMPLE: IF YOU ARE LEARNING SOMRTHING TO PROVE SOMEONE WRONG THIS IS PRIDE BUT IF YOU ARE LEARNING SOMETHING TO TEACH OTHERS THIS IS GOOD
(4).BE A SERVANT FIRST LEARN TO SERVE OTHERS BEFORE YOURSELF LIKE JESUS THE GREATEST LEADER OF ALL TIME HE WASHED THE DISIPLES FEET AT DINNER.
REMEMBER GOD GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE AND HATES THE PRIDEFUL!!
Comment # 8 left by DEAN J SILVA on August 15th, 2007
Hello
Our Lord Jesus is God Almighty , the Creator of ALL things. He “upholds ALL things by the Word of His power.”
Be sure that you dont have the wrong jesus !!! There are man made jesus’s but the Jesus of the Bible is the ONLY Saviour of the Old Testament.
God says in the Old Testament “IAM the ONLY Saviour” HE said He will not give His glory to another.
So either Jesus is a liar claiming to be the ONLY Saviour or we may be guilty of believing in “another” jesus. If your jesus is NOT God Almighty then you have “another” jesus
Sincerely June
Comment # 9 left by june on July 23rd, 2008