The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (John 6:41-42)

They Knew Jesus As A Young Man

One of the great problems the people had with Jesus was to see past His humanity and understand His divinity. This was especially true for the people who lived in the town of Nazareth. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea but grew up in Nazareth. Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth when the angel told them of the conception of the Son of God. After going to Bethlehem for the census in the days of Caesar Augustus, the family remained for just over two years. Being warned by an angel Herod sought the life of Jesus; Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt, where they stayed until the death of Herod. Returning to Israel, Joseph took the family back to Nazareth, where he worked as a carpenter.

Nazareth was in the secluded valley of lower Galilee, north of the Plain of Esdraelon. It was in Nazareth Jesus attended the local synagogue, learned the trade of the carpenter, and increased in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man. Joseph and Mary would welcome four brothers and at least two sisters to the family of Jesus. Life in the small village of Nazareth was filled with daily chores, trips to Jerusalem (eighty miles) to the Temple, and working in the carpenter’s shop. In a small community, everyone knows everyone; and everyone knows Jesus.

Jesus did not begin His ministry until he was thirty years old. The people of Nazareth watched the son of Mary grow from adolescence to teen years and then manhood. What they never saw was disrespect, mischievousness, dishonor, or anything that marred the character of Jesus. He never disobeyed his parents or disrespected the Roman government. His life was perfection – in the literal sense. To say Jesus lived a blameless life is factual. No one in the community could bring any charge against Jesus for any reason, small or large. Everyone knew the kind of man Jesus had become.

When Jesus began His ministry, He taught the people with authority. At the age of twelve, He shocked the religious leaders at the Temple. Now, He was going through the regions of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee with thousands of people following Him. Multitudes flocked to Him to be healed of every disease known to man. Jesus raised the dead. He fed thousands of people with almost nothing. His teachings struck a responsive chord in the hearts of the common man and anger in the minds of the Jewish leaders. Jesus was a man to be reckoned with.

Following the feeding of more than five thousand people with five barley loaves and two small fishes, the multitudes flocked to Him again, seeking the abundance of the food enjoyed the day before. Jesus began to show the purpose of His mission was not to feed the belly but the soul of men. The Jews complained about the teachings of Jesus, suggesting they knew Him as the son of Joseph and Mary whom they knew and He could not have come down from heaven. It seems they could not see the forest for the trees. Standing before them was a man they knew, and a sinless life of three decades did not help them see the incredible man that stood before them.

Blindness comes in many forms. Most men see what they want to see, refusing to see what they do not want to see. The people of Nazareth and the Jews did not want to see the man they knew from Nazareth as the Son of God. They failed to remember the unusual son of Mary was perfect. If they could have stopped to think about the past thirty years in the life of the carpenter’s son, they would have seen who He really was. His life was a testimony to the will of the Father. They thought they knew Jesus, but they did not. Do you know the Jesus of scripture?