T CHAPTER I HE successor to John was his kinsman, Jesus, who up to the time of John's imprisonment, had been an earnest though silent worker in the ranks of the Essenes. Jesus' parents, Mary and Joseph, were both of the tribe of Judah, who inhabited the southeasterly part of Palestine. "While Mary was still a child, her father Joachim and her mother Anna, died, and as no one seemed willing or able to offer the little orphan a home, she was sent to Jerusalem, and permitted to live in the temple quarters.' 991 When Mary attained the age of fifteen years, she met Joseph, a kind, simple-hearted young man, who had stopped over in the holy city to visit the temple and see the sights before proceeding to his destination in Galilee. Being a comely maiden, Mary was soon wooed and won by Joseph, and after being wed, the couple departed for Nazareth, there to found a new home. As Mary's sister, Miriam Cleophad (Elizabeth), mother of John the Baptist, together with other relatives, had preceded her to this part of Palestine, she was in touch with relatives and friends at all times. Joseph followed the trade of carpenter, at which vocation he eked out a bare living. The family was very poor and suffered many privations. The home con 1I. M. Wise, Second Commonwealth. sisted of a few rooms in an adobe hut, which also served as shelter for the sheep and the goats. It was in such simple, poverty-stricken surroundings that Jesus and his brothers and sisters were born and reared. Little is known of his sisters. They seemed to have played no part in the illustrious life of Jesus. But his brothers, Joses, Judas, Simon and James, especially the latter, are often mentioned. Saul, who became known as St. Paul, in his epistle to the Galatians, Chapter II, verse 9, tells of a visit to Jerusalem when "James, the Lord's brother, gave me the hand of fellowship," after he had been refused recognition as an apostle by Peter and the other disciples. Very little is known of Jesus' childhood days. He seemed an average lad of a reserved and contemplative nature, a day dreamer, shy and timid. He was not popular with his brothers nor playmates, and to this fact may be ascribed his dislike for Nazareth, the place of his birth. According to Jewish custom, he received from his mother the rudiments of his education, which were later supplemented by attendance at school in the Synagogue over which presided the Rabbi, who initiated him and his fellows into the subtleties of the Talmud. On attaining his thirteenth year, he accompanied his father3 to Jerusalem, there to be ordained a member of the Temple. It was customary before joining the Synagogue to bring a sacrifice to the Lord in the shape of a lamb, the meat of which was distributed among the poor, while the pelt was a perquisite 2St. Mark, VI:3. St. Luke, II:41-42, 48. |