THE CHILDHOOD YEARS OF JESUSForewordThe question could be asked: why a Life of Jesus? Is it not enough to read the Gospel? The Gospel isindeed capable of throwing sufficient light on the teaching and example of Jesus. But since itscompilation, almost twenty centuries have run, and life is much changed. Palestine is an orientalcountry, very different from our West. In addition, the Semitic language in which Jesus and theevangelists thought and expressed themselves is of a completely different cultural pattern. Manypassages of the Gospel are no longer clear to us. For us, the literal meaning of a parable needs to beexplained, while to the contemporaries of Jesus it would have been self-evident.The author has attempted to write a life useful to all: priests, faithful, and non-believers. Hismissionary activity in the Orient has thrown useful light on many passages. Indeed, life in India ismuch more similar to the Palestine of Jesus’ time than to that of modern industrialised Israel. Thebook, together with its first part, Palestine in the Time of Jesus, is the result of six years study, reading,reflection and Scripture lessons. May it spur the reader to deeper study of Holy Scripture and theimitation of our Divine Model.The Author1I. INTRODUCTION TO THE INFANCY GOSPELS1. OriginsAccounts in this connection formed no part of the earliest catechesis. The first meaning of the word‘gospel’ is ‘joyful news,’ namely the salvation brought to us by Jesus, the New Testament. That is themessage of salvation preached by Jesus. Consequently, this first meaning also includes the notion of‘travelling preacher.’ Only in the second century did St. Justin first employ the word 'gospel' in thesense of a written testimony. In the beginning, there was nothing written: the apostles were, after all,eye-witnesses: they needed no books.In the Acts, we can find summaries of the earliest sermons1. And we find, each time, the same basictruth: the Resurrection and the Glorification. Nobody ever went...