MY EARLY LIFE and EXPERIENCES
IN THE DESERT
I was born in Palestine. My mother was convinced that I would be
a Messiah. Contrary to popular belief, I was not a saintly child.
1.67.1 When taken to the Temple, aged twelve years old, to be interviewed
by the Chief Priests to determine whether I would be fit to enter Jewish
Religious Training, I was rejected as being too opinionated.
to raise me in the sanctity which marked her own demeanor at all times.
1.68.1 This was an impossible task for I was, above all things,
an individualist and unruly in behavior.
1.68.2 I resented my mother’s guidance and her attempted discipline.
As a youth, I became unmanageable – a true rebel!
and traditions, preferring laughter to sanctimonious attitudes.
1.69.1 I refused to learn a trade which would have bound me down to routine.
1.69.2 I chose to mix with all and sundry of the poorer classes,
drank with them, knew prostitutes, and enjoyed talking,
arguing, laughing, and being bone idle.
When I needed money, I went into the vineyards
for a day or two or took other jobs paying me enough
to eat and drink and give me the leisure I craved.
indolent attitudes, my self-will and ego-centric determination
to think my own thoughts irrespective of what others might try to tell me,
I cared about people very deeply.
you would call me ‘over-reactive’, ‘over-emotional’.
had a warm, compassionate, empathetic heart.
1.71.1 I was deeply moved in the presence of sickness, affliction and poverty.
1.71.2 I was a staunch supporter of what you call the under-dog.
1.71.3 You might say I was a people’s person.
1.71.4 I lived with them closely, in a spirit of comraderie;
I listened to their woes, understood, and cared.
youthful characteristics because these were the goads
which pushed and prodded me into eventual Christhood.