Paper 129 Overview: The Later Adult Life of Jesus

Jesus had finally and completely separated himself from managing the Nazareth family's domestic affairs while continuing to contribute financially and maintain interest in their spiritual welfare. He had made all necessary preparations to permanently detach himself from his home, which proved challenging due to his deep affection for his family—a natural love that had been intensified by his extraordinary devotion to them over the years. His family had gradually become aware of his impending departure over the previous four years, a realization tempered by his methodical approach to preparing them for this transition.

The subsequent three years of Jesus' life were dedicated to traveling and gaining diverse life experiences before commencing his public ministry. This period was characterized by journeys across the Mediterranean region, employment as a boatbuilder, and interactions with people from many cultures and backgrounds. These experiences provided Jesus with crucial insights into human nature and worldly affairs that would later inform his teaching ministry. This phase of preparation completed his human experience, equipping him to fulfill his divine mission with a profound understanding of mortal existence.

Jesus had completely separated himself from managing the Nazareth family's affairs, though he continued to contribute financially and maintained keen interest in the spiritual development of his family members. He had thoroughly prepared himself for the permanent separation from his home, a separation that was not accomplished easily. His love for his family was genuine and deep-rooted, and this natural affection had been significantly enhanced by his extraordinary dedication to them throughout the years of his guardianship.

The more completely one dedicates oneself to others, the more deeply one comes to love them, and Jesus had given himself fully to his family. His family had gradually awakened to the reality that Jesus was preparing to leave them. For more than four years, they had discerned his intention to eventually separate from them, which made the anticipated departure less jarring. Though they understood it was coming, the prospect of his leaving still brought sadness to the household.

In January of this year, Jesus departed from his family without ceremony, explaining only that he was visiting Tiberias and other cities around the Sea of Galilee, and never again became a regular member of the household. He spent a week in Tiberias before traveling through several lakeside towns and eventually arriving in Capernaum, where he visited his father's friend Zebedee, a boatbuilder. Jesus, being skilled in both design and woodworking, accepted Zebedee's invitation to join his boatbuilding enterprise, where he worked for slightly more than a year.

During this time, Jesus created an innovative boat design and established new methods for steaming boards, which significantly improved the safety of vessels used on the lake. These innovations were so successful that within a few years, most boats on the lake had been built in Zebedee's shop, making Jesus well-known among Galilean fishermen. While living with the Zebedee family, Jesus held evening question-and-answer sessions, continued to send money to James each month, and registered as a resident of Capernaum for tax purposes. This year also marked significant spiritual growth for Jesus, as he achieved higher levels of conscious connection with his indwelling divine spirit.

In March of this year, Jesus said goodbye to Zebedee and Capernaum, requesting a small sum of money for his journey to Jerusalem. He had been sending most of his earnings home to his family in Nazareth, with either Joseph or Jude coming to Capernaum monthly to collect it. Before departing, Jesus had an important conversation with John Zebedee, explaining that he planned to travel extensively until "his hour should come" and asking John to send money to his Nazareth family each month until his funds were exhausted.

John promised to watch over Jesus' family as he would his own mother and siblings, and to share his own earnings if necessary. Unknown to Jesus, John and his father invested Jesus' remaining money in a house in Capernaum and used the rental income to pay off the mortgage. In Jerusalem, Jesus spent almost two months studying at the temple and visiting various schools of the rabbis. During Passover, the Zebedee family joined him at the home of Annas, where Jesus met a wealthy Indian merchant named Gonod and his son Ganid, who hired Jesus as their interpreter and guide for a journey around the Mediterranean world that would last nearly two years.

Jesus' entire twenty-ninth year was devoted to completing his tour of the Mediterranean world. Throughout this extensive journey, he was known as the Damascus scribe in many places, though during the return trip he was often called the Jewish tutor. This proved to be a significant period in his life, during which he made many valuable contacts with fellow humans, yet he never revealed these experiences to his family or later to his apostles.

Upon returning to Palestine, Jesus did nothing to correct his family's assumption that he had been in Alexandria during his absence. Only Zebedee of Bethsaida knew the truth about his travels, and he maintained this confidence. Jesus was careful not to build an overly attractive personal career that might distract from his primary mission of revealing the heavenly Father to his fellow mortals. Through this Mediterranean journey, Jesus practically completed his educational contact-training with the diverse peoples of his day, learning how humans lived and worked throughout the known world.

To the celestial intelligences observing Jesus' life in the local universe, this Mediterranean journey was the most captivating of all his earthly experiences prior to his crucifixion. This period of personal ministry, in contrast to his later public ministry, was fascinating precisely because he was still known as the carpenter of Nazareth or the boatbuilder of Capernaum rather than a public figure. He had not yet achieved complete mastery of his human mind, nor had the divine spirit within him fully counterparted his mortal identity; he remained, in many ways, a man among men.

The purely human religious experience of Jesus—his personal spiritual growth—nearly reached its peak during this twenty-ninth year. His spiritual development had been a consistently gradual growth from the arrival of his divine indwelling spirit until his baptism, when his relationship between his material mind and spiritual nature was confirmed and finalized. By the end of his twenty-ninth year, Jesus had essentially completed the living of life required of mortals. He had progressed from the divine fullness that was manifest to humans to the human perfection that was prepared to be manifest to God, having learned through actual experience what it meant to live a human life, from birth through adulthood, in ways that revealed God to humans and humans to God.