Sorry! I can’t see Jesus in a suit . . .
When I picture Jesus, I see him moving about the village fishing boats, talking to the fishermen and their catch and what fish are in season. I can picture Jesus casting a careful eye over there boats looking for repairs that may be need.
Of course I am picturing Jesus before he begun his public ministry. The gospels do not record anything of his life between Jesus’ early childhood and the beginning of his public ministry. What we do know is Jesus was the ‘son’ of a carpenter and most like spent much of his early childhood years watching ‘his father’ craft the would. Perhaps as a teenager Jesus started to learn his father’s trade.
We could assume Jesus was at very least known to the local fishermen. In Matthew 4 we see Jesus wandering about the boats by the seaside. 18As He was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He noticed two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, throwing a dragnet into the sea, for they were fishermen.
19And He said to them, Come [m]after Me [as disciples--letting Me be your Guide], follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men!
20At once they left their nets and [n]became His disciples [sided with His party and followed Him].
21And going on further from there He noticed two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets and putting them right; and He called them.
22At once they left the boat and their father and [o]joined Jesus as disciples [sided with His party and followed Him].
Reading the passage makes me see that Jesus was at home. These were familiar surroundings for him. We also know that fishing continued to be part of the disciples’ activities, we know Jesus us fishing stories in his public teaching and display his authority as the Son of God. One of the last recorded stories of Jesus is set by the sea and Jesus ate fish to prove he was fully man after his resurrection.
So I think it is safe to assume Jesus was comfortable around boats and fishermen and frequently in their company. Where did Jesus spend his time? We know much of his public ministry was through encounters with people. Not by prearranged times or teaching in the temple. When are not told of any formal training in the scriptures and we know Jesus was not a Pharisee.
We see only a few occasions recorded in the bible where Jesus was in the temple. Although Jesus being a Jew would of attended the temple on holy days and Jewish feasts, one could also assume the his disciples we with him but didn’t see the need to record these other than those which you can read for yourselves.
However, one note worth occasion was in Matthew 21 12And Jesus went into the temple ([e]whole temple enclosure) and drove out all who bought and sold in the [f]sacred place, and He turned over the [g]four-footed tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who sold doves. 13He said to them, The Scripture says, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers.
There were many times Jesus found himself at odds with the Jewish religious leaders. Which is the one factor largely that lead to his crucifixion. Jesus earthly mission was to bridge the gap between us and God. So the old Jewish sacrificial system would no longer need. This would not only threaten the religious system but the income of the temple priests.
In one sense the Jewish System had become part of secular life and its religious customs were perform out of duty. From what we read in the Gospels Jesus sort to distance himself form temple practises and his death and resurrection established a new pattern of relating to God.
New Testament believers moved away from meeting at the temple to meeting in their homes. And eventually meeting in or at something Paul referred to as ‘church’ but mostly likely looked and functioned very differently to what we recognized as churches today.
In many ‘church’ meetings men at least where a tie, if not a suite. I seem to have trouble picturing Jesus in a suite or attending some of these meetings we call ‘church’. Jesus was a man of the people, he lived among people, he encountered all people not just those who meet at the temple. In other words Jesus was one of us and made no attempt to set himself aside.
It is easier for me to picture Jesus having fish & chips on the foreshores at Sandgate, talking to people who gather around him or poking round at the fish markets talking to the fishermen and fishmongers and maybe spending a day on a trawler than a Church meeting, with ordered chairs and ordered services, dressed in formal clothing.
What about you? Where would you expect to find Jesus ministering if he was alive today?
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