Jesus' Youth

               “As you know, he (i.e. Jesus) was a member of the Essenes. …The various groups of the Essenes… all had their own way of living. Jesus was a member of that, as was his mother, Mary, and Joseph, as were most of the disciples who followed him, with the exceptions of Peter and Andrew; they were not members of the Essenes.

               Now, one of the rules and regulations of the Essenes was that married couples did not live together. They came together (i.e.. in December) and made physical contact for the idea of bringing forth children who would be born in the month of September.

               …Now along came Mary, Jesus’ mother, who was with child that would be born in the spring. Now this was not allowed. This was considered breaking the rules. This was considered dishonorable, and that is the meaning of the words in your Scripture where it says ‘Joseph was of a mind to put her away privately.’ Now, what that meant was, there was a group in the Essenes who took care of what was considered illegitimate children. Jesus was considered illegitimate because he was not born in September. …These children were usually not raised in the family circle, rather raised in a commune who did nothing but raise children. Now it was debated whether or not Jesus should end up there.

               Now Mary and Joseph knew the truth about Jesus. Now the story goes that they had to leave and go to be registered in Bethlehem. …But because Jesus was considered illegitimate and because he would be taken from them, Joseph and Mary decided to leave the compound. A few devoted people went with them, and they journeyed to Bethlehem thinking to find a place.

               Now, when Mary and Joseph got to Bethlehem, they sought other Essenes to assist them. They went to an inn whose owner was a member of a different group of Essenes and they presented their case. …here he’s got two… well actually, there were five people asking for a place to stay. …So he offered them a cave where animals were kept …Jesus was born in a cave.

               …If they had returned to the compound, he would have been taken from Mary and placed in the sect that raised the children. So they had to go somewhere else, and so they fled to Egypt. Now it tells you in the Scriptures that Herod was after them. Well, I’ll tell you a little secret: Herod wasn’t after them at all. Herod didn’t even know about them. It was within their own group that they fled.

               They remained in Egypt until there was a transition in the power in the Qumran (i.e. their Essene community) and it was safe for them to return. …Now when they returned, Jesus was nearly twelve years old.  

               In the meantime, when Jesus was four, Mary had another son, James. Now, James was properly born in the month of September. Therefore, James was considered by the Qumrun sect to be the legal heir to the throne, as it were, or to leadership. Now when James was four years old, Mary had another son, Joseph. Now Joseph, being the youngest, was not considered a threat to James at all, for he was the eldest son. And up to this point, James was considered the only one to be a legal heir to the rulership of the Qumrun sect of the Essenes. But James did not have the knowledge, the spirituality, or the background that Jesus had. Jesus could out-talk James like that, and they all knew  it. They knew in Jesus they had a leader, and in James they had an heir.

               Now, they didn’t throw him out because they feared there were too many who listened to Jesus and knew that he was someone to be reckoned with, and he, even as a youngster, had a certain amount of people who favored him.

               When Jesus was about thirteen, he began to travel. Now, they sent him off traveling for two reasons: one, Mary and Joseph were concerned for his life; the other thing was he wanted out of there. He wasn’t happy with the situation; it was too restricting. Too many rules and regulations and, if there’s one thing Jesus knew how to do, it was to break a regulation. So Jesus went off traveling.”

12/14/2025 Blog. Archangel Gabriel and Jesus, CHRIST BECOMING - The Lives of Jesus & His Path to the Christ, Pgs. 101-108. Copyright 2018 Rev. Penny Donovan. All right reserved. To buy this book, please click here.