By Peter Longley
The other day after the Wednesday 10:30 a.m. Holy Communion service I was asked if I thought Jesus was dyslexic. This set me thinking of what we know and don’t know about Jesus. I can’t comment on whether he was dyslexic for complete lack of evidence, but the question did lead me to explore some interesting thoughts. If he was dyslexic it would more or less assume that he could read and write, even with some difficulty, otherwise he would not have known he was dyslexic. Personally, I have always believed that Jesus was literate, but again, this is speculation as he has left us no written record. The gospels, written some sixty years after the crucifixion, give us some clue that Jesus might have been able to read as we see him acting somewhat like a rabbi in Capernaum and easily quoting from Jewish scripture. Only about 10% of the population in the first century were able to read and write and this was probably higher than in the middle ages, so if Jesus were literate, we might question his lowly birth.
Did Jesus know his birthday? In an illiterate world the answer would probably be “No.” I don’t think Jesus had a birth certificate as we do today, and with no written record and the likelihood that his probably illiterate parents didn’t know on what day or month he was born, that answer would be no surprise. Possibly they knew the season, assuming that their world was agrarian. The idea that Jesus was born in late December in the year zero is a fourth century fabrication, probably based on the fusing of the Roman festival of Saturnalia with a celebration of Jesus’ birth. In the post-Constantine era much of Christianity was fused with imperial Rome.
The Gospel of St. Luke, which has the fullest nativity story, was probably written around 95 A.D. but gives us the idea that Jesus was born in the reign of the Jewish king, Herod the Great. This became an interesting stumbling block for the Millennium celebrations nineteen years ago as we do know from the Roman calendar that Herod the Great died in the spring of 4 B.C. If we believe in the slaughter of the Holy innocents in Bethlehem a short while after Jesus’ birth, and we do know that King Herod, being terminally ill, was pretty irrational at this point, then Jesus was either born very early in 4 B.C. or late in 5 B.C. This, incidentally, does make the approximate date of December 25 quite likely.
But, then there is the matter of the Magi and the Star of Bethlehem. What was the mysterious star that we celebrate every year on January 6 at Epiphany? There are basically four contestants. Was the star a comet, something often portrayed on Christmas cards? A bright comet was recorded by Chinese astronomers as visible on Earth in 5 B.C. It was in the constellation of Capricorn and probably would have been visible in the Middle East for a period. Another possible candidate is our old friend Halley’s Comet that was visible in 12 B.C. That would still have made Jesus’ birthday in the reign of King Herod the Great, although it would give less credence to the all be it slightly far-fetched story of the slaughter of the Holy innocents. It would also mean that Jesus died at about the age of 45 rather than the usually accepted 33 years. That is, provided we accept the only real historical evidence in our record of Jesus’ life, that he died under Pontius Pilate. Comets, however, were nearly always seen in ancient times as bad omens and not ‘tidings of great joy.’ The story of the Magi is one of great respect and joy, the exact opposite of a bad omen.
A triple conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn quite often occurs when there is an alignment between our sun, Earth, Jupiter and Saturn. The alignment usually occurs three times over a short period that could just about cover the Magi story. However, as this occurs quite often it would probably not have been seen as the portent of a really important event, and could have occurred several times between 12 B.C. and 4 B.C.
Finally, we come to a nova, the visible birth of a new star. These are quite rarely visible with the naked eye from planet Earth, but one such nova was recorded by the Chinese in the constellation of Aquila in 4 B.C. right before the death of King Herod the Great. This could be the elusive ‘Star of Bethlehem’. As late as 4 B.C. it would give little credence to the slaughter of the Holy innocents, but it could be that Luke embraces the idea, based on the illogical tantrums of Herod in the suffering of his last year, as a means to explain how Jesus finds himself in Egypt and later in Nazareth, rather than being brought up in Joseph’s village.
I believe that Jesus spent the first twelve years of his life in Alexandria in Egypt where he became literate and acquired the extensive knowledge of the scriptures in one of the greatest learning centres of Judaism in the ancient world. This would account for his astonishing the learned men of the Jerusalem temple at the age of twelve or puberty. That he then lived in Nazareth until his ministry I would not dispute. If he was ever a carpenter, it would have been at this time. Although the New Testament never mentions it, there were astounding opportunities for the trade in the massive building of the Roman garrison city of Sepphoris just six miles from Nazareth.
Were any of Jesus’ apostles literate? This would be unlikely among the fishermen, but possibly Levi the tax collector might have been literate, and in my speculation, Judas Iscariot, who was possibly one of Jesus’ most important apostles as the provision master and steward of the group. This would give him some motive for jealousy when the fishermen Peter, James and John become the inner three.
The truth is we know almost nothing about Jesus’ life from a truly historical perspective other than the record that eventually becomes written down on oral here-say some sixty years and more after his death. Other than possibly Mark, who does not mention the nativity, it is unlikely that any of the gospel evangelists were living witnesses of the life of Jesus, and if they had been, they would probably not have been literate.
In the popular image, the Christmas nativity story has become the greatest religious celebration of the western world. In Great Britain, 2018 has been quite a year with royal births, royal weddings, and royal expectations. There is something wondrous in the miracle of birth expressing the joy that millions of nominal Christians still celebrate on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Epiphany. This miraculous birth with all its anticipation and hope is an inspiration for us all whether we are literate or illiterate, prince or pauper, and has the potential every Christmas to bring us together in love and harmony.
(Peter Longley is the author of Star of Destiny that is a fictitious but plausible life of Jesus prior to his gospel recorded ministry. For further information call 0208 650 2176 or e-mail plongley@hotmail.com)