Monday, April 6, 2015

On Killing Jesus: Who Taught Jesus Scripture?

In the movie version of Killing Jesus,  it was said that when Joseph and his family fled to Egypt to escape the death dictate of Herod, that there Joseph taught Jesus the scriptures! I believe that statement to be totally erroneous! I'll make two points:
John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
These verses say so much! The first thing which is paramount is that Jesus is "The Word" and as such is the voice of God and that he was there at the beginning! The second thing is that Jesus is "The Light". What does that mean? He IS Truth because HE IS "I AM": He is God!
John 8:12 "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
"Darkness" is ignorance about spiritual matters. "Light" is knowledge and that knowledge must be truth. If we look again, "the flesh", God incarnate called Jesus is "full of grace and truth". It should be clear that spiritual light is about God's truth, the ultimate truth, and the teacher of that truth is he who was "The True Light", meaning Jesus!

Jesus is God and he teaches truth because he is "The Light"!

The third thing which is most important is that "The Word" was "made flesh" meaning that the teacher of truth became God incarnate, Jesus. As such Jesus didn't need anyone to teach him scripture because he knew what he had spoken over all the ages of mankind. Whenever God spoke to man throughout the Old Testament  (OT) times, it was the pre-incarnate Jesus speaking!

My conclusion then, is that Joseph never had to teach Jesus scripture because scripture was always in Jesus' omniscient mind! Jesus was all-knowing and never had to be taught! Indeed Jesus knew more about God than was ever written down! He was quite aware of what his own will was!

To validate my contention, I can find no where that the Bible even claims that Joseph was the teacher of truth to Jesus. He was a mere carpenter! Truth is divine. Joseph was not divine!

As a young child Jesus taught those who were well-trained: Let's look at the earliest mention of Jesus teaching:
Luke 2:40 "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. 43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. 46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. 47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. 48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. 49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? 50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. 51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.  52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

According to this Joseph didn't understand scripture himself! "They understood not the saying which he spoke unto them"! Joseph and Mary failed to understand. that Jesus was the OT  Messiah and he came to preach and teach. He came to present the gospel truths!  Joseph and Mary had not the basic understanding and knowledge of prophecy, and were certainly not inspired, yet Killing Jesus claims that Joseph taught Jesus scripture!!! (Oh Really, O'Reilly?)

Neither father nor mother knew what Jesus meant by saying "my Father's business"!  The Father told all in the OT and the discerning and wise knew that the OT  Messiah was this young child! Because the parents failed to understand scripture they "they sought Jesus sorrowing" as they didn't understand "the why" as taught throughout scripture.

The child Jesus grew and was strong in the spirit of God. He was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him. Jesus was spiritual, powerful and wise because he not only IS God, but God's grace was upon him. His spiritual fortitude and wisdom were a gift of the Father so that Jesus could teach others, including his own father! Joseph wasn't the teacher, but merely the student! He learned from Jesus and Jesus taught Mary even very plainly in the scripture above!

Even the "doctors were amazed". These were the most educated men of the temple! Jesus at twelve years old "astounded" the creme de la creme. Surely these doctors who were learning from the child Jesus were more knowledgeable than the carpenter, Joseph!
Mark 6:2 And when the sabbath day was come, he (Jesus) began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?
I believe those in the synagogue asked two questions rhetorically: "From whence hath this man these things?" and "What wisdom is this which is given unto him?" The answers to these questions were intuitively obvious! Jesus knew these things which he taught because he IS The Word and he was speaking what he had said before! The answer to the question of "what wisdom" is that his wisdom is God's because The Word was made flesh and is "The Light". Jesus knew God's truth because he IS God! He was wise on his own because as God he is omniscient!

Saying that Joseph taught Jesus scripture is insulting! An analogy would be that a fetus told the OB-GYN how to properly deliver him! That would be insulting. The child had never been born before so how could he tell the knowledgeable on who had "been there, done that"! It would be preposterous.

Jesus spoke his own wisdom and knowledge of scripture because they were his words and his knowledge... PERIOD. His truth was never contaminated by any others' imperfect knowledge and lack of wisdom. Jesus taught truth because he is "The Light". He is Truth!

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