Paper 129 Overview: The Later Adult Life of Jesus

Jesus had finally separated himself from managing his family's affairs and was ready to begin his life's mission. He loved his family deeply, and this love had grown stronger because of his many years of caring for them. His family had slowly realized over four years that Jesus was preparing to leave them.

Jesus spent the next three years traveling and learning about the world before starting his public ministry. During these years, he gained valuable experience working with different kinds of people. This time of travel and preparation was important to complete his human experience before beginning his work as a teacher and minister.

Jesus had completely separated himself from managing the Nazareth family but continued to help with money and showed interest in everyone's spiritual well-being. He had prepared himself to leave his home permanently, which was not easy for him. Jesus truly loved his family, and his love had grown even stronger during his years caring for them.

The family had begun to realize that Jesus was preparing to leave them. For more than four years, he had been gradually getting them ready for the time when he would no longer be with them regularly. They were sad about his planned departure, but they understood it was coming.

In January of this year, Jesus left his family without much ceremony, saying he was going to visit cities around the Sea of Galilee. He never again lived regularly with his family after this day. He spent about a year working with Zebedee, a boatbuilder, and created a new and better style of boat.

Jesus lived in Zebedee's home during this time and enjoyed working alongside a father figure. The Zebedee family loved Jesus, and he would often hold question-and-answer meetings after dinner. During this year, Jesus continued to send money to his brother James each month and also grew spiritually through greater connection with his inner divine spirit.

In March of this year, Jesus left Capernaum and asked for a small amount of money for his trip to Jerusalem. He promised the Zebedee family he would stay in Jerusalem until Passover, and they agreed to meet him there. Before leaving, Jesus had a long talk with John Zebedee, asking him to send money to his family in Nazareth each month.

John promised to watch over Jesus' family as if they were his own and to handle the money matters as Jesus directed. John and his father Zebedee used Jesus' money to buy a house in Capernaum and applied the rent toward paying off the mortgage. Jesus spent almost two months in Jerusalem before joining a wealthy Indian merchant named Gonod and his son Ganid for a trip around the Mediterranean world that would last nearly two years.

Jesus spent his entire twenty-ninth year completing his journey around the Mediterranean world. During this trip, he was often known as the Damascus scribe, though on the return journey many knew him as the Jewish tutor. This was an important time in Jesus' life, though he never told his family about most of his experiences.

When Jesus returned to Palestine, he allowed his family to continue believing he had been in Alexandria. Only Zebedee the boatbuilder knew the truth about his travels, and Zebedee never told anyone. Jesus was careful not to build too much fame for himself and wanted to focus on his mission of revealing the heavenly Father to people.

For the celestial beings watching Jesus, this Mediterranean trip was one of the most fascinating parts of his earth life up to the time of his crucifixion. This was an interesting period of his personal ministry before his public work began. He was still known as the carpenter of Nazareth or the boatbuilder of Capernaum during this time.

By the end of his twenty-ninth year, Jesus had essentially completed his human life experience. He had lived through all the normal struggles of human existence and learned what it meant to be human. His life received complete acceptance from the Universal Father as a perfect revelation of God to mortals and as an example of perfect human life lived in submission to God's will.