Jesus' Twenty-Second Year - New Job in Sepphoris 

In the year 16 CE, when Jesus turned twenty-two years old, he was kept busy as a father-brother to his family of seven siblings who ranged in age from seven to eighteen years old. Most were emerging into adolescence and were dealing with many adjustments of intellectual and emotional growth. And this period continued over several years.

Rather than being a carpenter like his older brothers, Simon began working as a stone mason with Jesus’ old friend, Jacob. The family decided that it was best to have different professions for the boys, so that there would always be enough work for all of them. Jesus continued his carpentry work, but spent a lot of time at the caravan repair shop, alternating shifts with James.

Later in this year, when the carpentry work was slack, Jesus left James in full charge of the repair shop and he put Joseph in charge of the home bench. During this period, which lasted about six months, Jesus went over to Sepphoris to work with a metal smith where he learned metal working and became skilled at the anvil.

But before Jesus left Nazareth for Sepphoris, he called a family meeting at which he formally installed James, who was now eighteen years old, as the head of the family. Jesus promised his full support to James and made all the other siblings promise to obey James as they had obeyed Jesus. And from this day on, James assumed responsibility for the family finances with Jesus giving James payments on a weekly basis.

Sepphoris was close to Nazareth and Jesus could have just walked home every night after work, but he did not. He stayed away because his true purpose for taking the job in Sepphoris was to wean his family from his constant presence and to train James and Joseph to take on new responsibility in caring for the family. But he did return every week for Sabbath and, if needed, he would come home at other times to give advice or to observe how the new arrangement was working.

Jesus used his time in Sepphoris for learning metalwork, but living there also gave Jesus the chance to study closely the lives of gentiles and their viewpoint on life. Each day, he worked and lived with gentiles and this gave him a unique vantage point from which to observe and understand their habits of living and thinking.

After six months of working in Sepphoris, Jesus was ready to return to Nazareth. This was a city under Herod Antipas’ rule, and it had a low moral standard – even lower than the caravan city of Nazareth. In addition, the group that he worked with were getting ready to start a public project in Sepphoris and the new city of Tiberias and Jesus did not want to be associated with any kind of work that would be under Herod Antipas’ supervision. For these and other reasons, Jesus decided to go back home. But when he returned, he allowed the arrangement of the family responsibilities to remain with James and Joseph who were then overseeing both the home and the financial administration of the family budget.

This is an example of Jesus' wise parenting. He was thoughtful and deliberate in his means of preparing his family for his eventual withdrawal from family affairs.