There are a large number of paintings of Jesus’ nativity, of
his crucifixion and resurrection, and of various other events in his adult
life. Many fewer paintings have been made of his childhood as we have little information on his life up to the age of twelve. We know that he lived with
Mary and Joseph who, like almost all parents, were dedicated to looking after him.
This is shown in the account in Luke’s Gospel [1]:
“And the child grew, and waxed
strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. Now
his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And
when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the
feast. 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. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s
journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and
acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to
Jerusalem, seeking him. 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. And all that heard him were astonished at
his understanding and answers. 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. And he said unto them, how is
it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s
business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto
them. 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. And Jesus
increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”
The meeting in the temple is shown in paintings by Steen
(from 1660) and by Hoffmann (from 1884) shown below. At this time, Jesus is effectively
embarking on adult life, although there are a few more years to go before he
actively pursued his Ministry. In Steen’s painting, Jesus is portrayed as an
innocent child, with divine light shining upon him, whereas Hoffmann captures a
more confident moment,
We are left with a number of questions about Jesus’ boyhood – did he grow up as other children do, or did he know everything because he was the Son of God (as implied in Luke’s gospel)? Clearly, the incident in the Temple shows that Jesus had a superior knowledge, but how did he acquire it? Alternatively, if he knew everything all along, what did he spend his childhood years doing? Before addressing this question, let’s look at two more paintings; one by Murillo (from ca. 1681), who made many images of children, and one by Millais (from 1850). The painting by Murillo (below) is clearly for veneration and worship, with Jesus standing on a block to show that he was not bound to Earth, and emphasising the link between his Earthly parents and also to God and the Holy Spirit (as represented by a dove; a conventional device used by artists to portray something that cannot be seen). I’ve written before about this painting [2] and it has always impressed me, showing, as it does, many tender emotions and, in Joseph, a sense of apprehension.
Millais, in contrast, takes an everyday approach (above), with Jesus and Mary in Joseph’s carpentry shop. There is little sign here that Jesus is the son of God, or that Mary was chosen to have the special, and unique, role of becoming his mother, even though she was a virgin at the time of divine conception. We know that much from the accounts in The Bible, but we would not guess that was part of the story from the domestic scene shown by Millais. As might be expected, the painting caused controversy when exhibited, and among the critics was Charles Dickens who wrote an article in Household Words [3] that attacked the Pre-Raphaelites in general and, especially, the painting by Millais. These extracts come from that piece:
“You behold the interior of a
carpenter’s shop. In the foreground of that carpenter’s shop is a hideous,
wry-necked, blubbering, red-headed boy, in a bed-gown; who appears to have
received a poke in the hand, from the stick of another boy with whom he has
been playing in an adjacent gutter, and to be holding it up for the
contemplation of a kneeling woman, so horrible in her ugliness, that (supposing
it were possible for any human creature to exist for a moment with that
dislocated throat) she would stand out from the rest of the company as a
Monster, in the vilest cabaret in France, or the lowest gin-shop in England.
Two almost naked carpenters, master and journeyman, worthy companions of this
agreeable female, are working at their trade; a boy with some small flavo[u]r
of humanity in him, is entering with a vessel of water; and nobody is paying
attention to a snuffy old woman who seems to have mistaken that shop for the
tobacconist’s next door, and to be hopelessly waiting at the counter to be
served with half an ounce of her favourite mixture. Wherever it is possible to
express ugliness of feature, limb, or attitude, you have it expressed.”
From which we conclude that Dickens did not like the picture
one bit, or it’s representation of the Holy Family. Of all the paintings in the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood exhibition, it was this work by Millais that created
much criticism and the press “reacted ferociously to what they viewed as a
repulsive, near blasphemous representation of the Holy Family” [4]. But why?
Surely, the view that Jesus had a normal childhood can be accepted, and the
scene in Millais’ painting is just one of everyday life, although we note that
the wound in Jesus’ hand reminds us of the stigma of a nail, anchoring the
image into the story of what is to come (see detail below). We also see a
splash of blood by the nail in the door that is on the work bench and a splash
on Jesus’ foot just to emphasise the point, and Joseph is holding Jesus’ hand
open so that we can get a better look. The atmosphere is completely different to
that in the painting by Murillo.
So, we are left with the two main questions: What was the childhood of Jesus really like; and was he all-knowing from the moment of birth? Of course, we don’t know the answer to either, but we do have some further information on the former.
As Mary was a virgin, we know that Jesus was her first-born
child, but we also know that, by the time he was twelve, he had four brothers
and at least two sisters [5]. We know, therefore, that he had the advantage of
being the first-born, but we can only imagine what family life was like and
whether Jesus played games and enjoyed the other activities of growing
children. In the view of an atheist, Jesus’ upbringing was that of any child,
although he was certainly unusual in having the talents that he later displayed
as a great religious leader. To a Trinitarian, like the majority of Christians,
Jesus was not only the Son of God but also part of God, together with the Holy
Spirit. As such, we cannot know whether he learned much during childhood, or
whether it was a matter of learning how to connect human development with being
divine.
A third approach to the rรดle of Jesus, Arianism, was advocated by Isaac Newton who, in
addition to his extraordinary scientific achievements, studied early
Christianity by consulting a large number of original sources. It is likely that
he spent as much time on these researches as he did on scientific and
mathematical investigations, but, because of likely hostility from many parts
of the establishment, he kept his notes private. Richard Westfall [6] tells us
that:
“The conviction began to possess
him that a massive fraud, which began in the fourth and fifth centuries, had
perverted the legacy of the early church. Central to the fraud were the
Scriptures, which Newton began to believe had been corrupted to support
trinitarianism. It is impossible to say exactly when the conviction fastened
upon him. The original notes themselves testify to early doubts. Far from
silencing the doubts, he let them possess him..
..The earlier corruption of
doctrine, which called for the corruption of Scripture to support it, occurred
in the fourth century, when the triumph of Athanasius over Arius imposed the false
doctrine of the trinity on Christianity..
.. The mere thought of
trinitarianism, ‘the fals infernal religion’, was enough to fan Newton into a
rage.”
What would Newton have made of the paintings by Murillo and
Millais if he saw them? To the eyes of an atheist or an Arianist, Jesus working
in his father’s carpenter’s shop seems quite natural and the adoration shown in
the painting by Murillo difficult to reconcile with any kind of normal
childhood. Trinitarianism, and its sub-branch the worship of Mary, are embedded
in the Catholic Church and have been since the early days of Christianity. Trinitarians
worship Jesus through all his life, death and resurrection as he was/is part of
God. They seem disinterested in questions regarding his childhood, while
focussing on his life before, and after this time. This is also true of artists
through the ages and reflects commissioned work from Christians.
Yet there is one point that is worth stressing and that is that Jesus, whether he had innate knowledge or not, was brought up in humble surroundings and his discourse in the Temple came as a surprise to the learned gathering. It’s a good way of showing that Jesus was at one with all strata of society. How Trinitarians tie that in with his divinity is not known (or important to them?). For atheists (and possibly Arianists), however, it presents Jesus as a great leader with a “grass roots” base of believers and thus of general appeal. The tragic events of his later life, essential to the idea of redemption, then led to the adoption of the Trinitarian view of Christian doctrine by the Catholic Church, an organisation that was certainly hierarchical and probably corrupt. It remains the basis for most Christian belief today.
[1] Luke 2: 40-52 in the Authorized King James version of The Holy Bible.
[2] https://rwotton.blogspot.com/2018/04/murillos-heavenly-and-earthly-trinities.html
[3] Charles Dickens (1850) Old Lamps for New Ones. Household Words 1(12): 265-267.
[4] Christine Riding (2006) John Everett Millais.
London, Tate Publishing.
[5] Matthew 13:55-56 and Mark 6:3 in the Authorized King James version of The Holy Bible.
[6] Richard Westfall (1993) The Life of Isaac Newton. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
