Jesus’ Twenty-Fourth Year 

The first part of Jesus’ twenty-fourth year was spent working at carpentry and preparing the family for his eventual, permanent departure. Jesus, being the eldest son, had taken on the role as head of the family ten years earlier when his father was killed in a construction accident. The next oldest son, James, had recently assumed that role and was doing well with occasional help from Jesus. Therefore did Jesus have time to travel during this first year of comparative freedom from family responsibilities.

Jesus was well-known as a righteous man with exceptional talent for teaching. In April, just after Passover, he was approached by a courier from Alexandria who requested that Jesus meet with a group of Jewish leaders from that city. The meeting was set for the middle of June in Caesarea, a city on the coast of Palestine, not far from Jesus’ home in Nazareth.

At this meeting, five prominent Jews asked Jesus to become a religious teacher and assistant to the chazan (chief priest) at Alexandria’s main synagogue. They told Jesus of their belief that the center of Jewish culture was shifting away from Palestine and that Alexandria was destined to become its headquarters. They foresaw a suicidal Jewish rebellion in Palestine and a quick defeat by the Romans.

Jesus listened to the Alexandrians and thanked them for the honor, but rejected their offer, saying essentially, “My hour has not yet come.” They were stunned by this outright refusal and returned home disappointed. Before leaving, they presented Jesus with money as a token of their esteem and for the expense and time of his trip to Caesaria, but he refused this also. He told them, “The house of Joseph has never received alms, and we cannot eat another’s bread as long as I have strong arms and my brothers can labor.” That ended the episode and he returned to work at Nazareth.

In later years, on hearing rumors of a spiritual teacher who was creating a great commotion in Palestine, only a few Egyptians suspected that he was the same Galilean who had unceremoniously declined the invitation to become a teacher at Alexandria.

The remainder of this year was the most uneventful six months of his whole career. He enjoyed this temporary respite from the usual program of problems to solve and difficulties to surmount. All the family looked up to Jesus as they would a father, even though his brother James had recently replaced him as head of the family. In December, James told Jesus he was in love and wanted to marry a young woman of Nazareth named Esta. Jesus consented on the condition that Joseph, the next male in line to assume the role as family head, was properly trained. Miriam, the eldest girl, also asked for Jesus’ permission to marry. She had fallen in love with one of his boyhood friends, Jacob, a stone mason. Jesus granted it, but with two conditions: first, that Jacob come to him with a formal request, and second, that the next oldest girl, Martha, was fully trained and able to take on the role of eldest daughter at the Nazareth home.

When Jesus was not traveling during this year, he worked at his trade, taught at the local school three evenings a week, read the Scriptures often in the synagogue on the Sabbath, visited with his mother, taught the children, and in general conducted himself as a worthy and respected citizen of Nazareth in the commonwealth of Israel. When not otherwise occupied or obligated, Jesus communed much with the Father and worked diligently at mastering his human mind.