He's one of the most discussed people in human history, but there are some things about Jesus
that get swept under the rug. These are some of the stranger details about Jesus that practically everyone tries to ignore
Given the long history of Christianity, you'd think there would be a pretty impressive collection of sermons, parables, and stories about Jesus' life
And there are, judging by the closely packed text of the Gospels alone. But while you could get at least a solid year of Sunday school lessons out of all that, the
reality is that Jesus probably only preached for about three years. The Gospel of John mentions three specific Passovers, so we know at a minimum Jesus was
active for three years. Also, Jesus was a bit of a late bloomer. After what must have been over a
decade spent working as a craftsman alongside his earthly adoptive father Joseph, he went into the
ministry at about the age of 30. This was shortly after he was baptized in the River Jordan by his
cousin John the Baptist. Now, while he was hardly considered an old man at this point, he was no
fresh-faced whippersnapper either. Considering his importance in human history, you'd think we'd
know more basic facts about Jesus, but we still can't even be sure whether he was single or married
"...Jesus married Mary Magdalene." However, even raising that question may make your resident religious figures blanched
That because in many churches the traditional view is that Jesus was not only single but that he remained celibate for the entirety of his life Some deviate pretty widely from that view For instance early leaders in the Mormon church maintained that Jesus had multiple wives
More recently, the papyrus fragment known as the Gospel of Jesus' wife contains a mention
of Jesus' spouse, but serious doubts have been raised about its authenticity
The Gospel of Mary. It specifically says that Jesus loved Mary more than the other disciples
In fact, they actually put that in the mouths of one of the disciples. The uncomfortable reality is that the Gospels neither definitively say Jesus had a wife
or that he didn't. That leaves theologians digging for details, like noting the absence of a wife in passages
where it would have been a slam dunk to mention her, including Paul's take on marital relationships
in 1 Corinthians 7. For some, that's good enough, but for plenty of others, the possibility of a Mrs. Jesus
is an open question. To the faithful, it's hard to consider anyone more of a big deal than Jesus
Too bad that wasn't his real name. Well, the book says so
And there ain't nothing written in the book that ain't the truth. The man in question started with the Greek name of Yeshua, a shortened version of Yehoshua
So Yeshua came out as Yehous, the best the Greek writers could manage
Then when English came along Yehous got translated again morphing into Jesus In short if you could travel back in time to first century Galilee and greet the man himself by name calling him Jesus would probably be met with a confused stare What did you call me
The name thing is so awkward that some churches just ignore it altogether. What makes things even more strange and confusing is that there are plenty of Yeshua's in the Bible
It's just that their names were often translated as Isaiah or Joshua. Even the prisoner released by Pontius Pilate in place of Jesus right before the crucifixion
was in some accounts named Jesus Barabbas. If I was you, I shouldn't loiter. I'd want to see the back of this place before they change their
minds. Step out of your time machine and shout the name Yeshua, and a fair portion of the crowd
around Jesus might turn in your direction. While there may be a passing reference or two to Jesus
humble beginnings as a carpenter, the Bible quickly moves on to the whole Messiah thing
Few people focus on Jesus' earliest job in life in his hometown, perhaps because doing so would
make him seem less sophisticated. Though it's a bustling city of more than 70,000 people today
today, Nazareth was considered a remote town in Jesus' time, with a population that topped
out around 400. That put him at a serious disadvantage when convincing people to follow
him. For instance, according to John 1.46, a future follower of Jesus, Nathaniel, was
initially skeptical of a preaching handyman from next to nowhere, asking, there be any good thing come out of Nazareth To the faithful that downright insulting but to many of Jesus contemporaries it was perfectly reasonable Oh and the carpenter thing isn quite right either
The original Greek version of the Gospels refers to Jesus as a tecton
While many English translations of the Bible interpret this as carpenter, the true meaning
is more vague. A tecton could have worked as a carpenter, sure, but also as a stonemason, builder, and
general artisan. It may be more accurate to think of Jesus as a general contractor
In Mark 11, a rather odd incident occurs. The day after entering Jerusalem on a donkey, Jesus finds that he's hungry and walks up
to a fig tree. But when he finds that the tree hasn't produced any fruit, he essentially tells the tree off
Later in the chapter, after Jesus has famously flipped the tables of the moneylenders in
the temple, Peter notes that the tree has withered. The incident is also related in Matthew 21, 18-22
And in Luke 13, 6-9, Jesus urges a farmer to dig up a non-fruiting fig tree
Jesus seems to be in a mood and lashes out at a tree, which isn't committing any obvious wrong by being barren
The lesson, at least according to Mark and Matthew, is that if the disciples have faith, they can do much the same
from cursing reluctant fig trees to flinging mountains into the sea. In fact, Jesus says
"...and all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.