The Childhood of Jesus
The Gospel of James
Biographical Gospel of the Lord
- Chapter 295 -
A Memorable School Episode
FOLLOWING THIS the Boy Jesus worked no more wonders, but was like all other children of men;
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for He liked to be with Joseph, who made such implements as: plows, yokes, chairs, tables, beds and the like, and never failed to make anything right.
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Since the Boy was already going into His tenth year and did not seem to be at all different from the other children,
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Joseph one day said to Mary, 'See, the people around here speak ill of us because we are letting Jesus grow up without any schooling whatsoever, when He is after all supposed to have such wonderful talents and potentialities!
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I well know that Jesus has no need of worldly instruction;
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but to cut off the gossip of the neighbors, I would like to apprentice Him to a teacher.
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And since two new schools have now been set up in the town, of which both teachers are supposed to be very able, I would like to try out one or the other.'
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Mary agreed to this, for she also realized the apparent necessity of it.
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And Joseph took Jesus and led Him to one of the teachers.
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The latter took charge of the Boy and said to Joseph, 'First, because of the many Greeks among us, He shall learn Greek and only then Hebrew.
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I do indeed know of the peculiarities of this Child and am a little afraid of Him.
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But just the same I will do what ought to be done; only you must turn the Boy over to me completely.'
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To this Joseph agreed and gave Jesus wholly into the teacher's house.
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For three days Jesus enjoyed the usual freedom here; and on the fourth day the teacher took Him into the schoolroom.
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There he led Him to the blackboard, wrote down the whole alphabet before Him and began to explain it.
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After he had explained it through a few times, he asked Jesus what He remembered about it.
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But Jesus acted as if He knew nothing of what had been explained, and gave the teacher no answer.
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And the teacher plagued the Boy and himself for three days and never received an answer.
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But on the fourth day in school he became exasperated and demanded of the Boy Jesus under threat of a sound punishment that He answer him.
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Here the Boy Jesus said to him, 'If in truth you are a teacher, and if you really know the meaning of the letters, then show Me the true meaning of the Alpha, and I will tell you that of the Beta!'
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At this the teacher became angry and struck Jesus on the head with the ruler.
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This hurt the Boy and He demanded of the teacher, 'Is that the proper way to cover up your ignorance?
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Truly, I am not with you for the sake of being struck, and that is not the way to teach and educate people!
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Now you shall be struck dumb and insane by Me because you, instead of giving Me a proper explanation, struck Me!'
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And the teacher sank down on the spot - and, as one raving, was bound and brought into another room.
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Jesus then promptly went home to Joseph and there said,
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'Another time I would appreciate another teacher who does not come to school with a stick in his hand; for that one now suffers for his misdeed against Me!'
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Here Joseph knew what had surely happened again, and said to Mary, 'So then we must not let Jesus out of our hands any more, for He disciplines everyone who is not according to His mind.'
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And Mary was satisfied with that, and no one dared to reproach Jesus.