Did Jesus have a bar mitzvah?

[H B Gill]

It's interesting to me and I think it's always fascinating to explore any aspect of Jesus' earthly life, without arguing with others over insignificant things.

In Luke 2 Jesus is said to be 12: not the age commonly taken now for boys to be bar mitvah, 13.  He obviously knew it was time for Him and he wasn't obliged to go home with Mary and Joseph.  Since the teachers were discussing with Him, presumably they had accepted this too. Yet in v51 "Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. " (NIV) so He wasn't asserting His independence of them, just taking up His responsibility and privileges with respect to the Torah.

Edited February 15, 2022 by H B Gill
misspelling

[Norseman82]

On 4/30/2006 at 2:52 PM, Charms717RM1 said:

Something about a Jewish boy becoming a man?

On a humorous note, I recall an SNL episode where I believe Phil Hartman was playing Frank Sinatra performing at a Bar Mitzvah, and he tells the boy to get him a refill on his drink since he's now a man...