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picture that Mary used to weave. The family perhaps lived in a small house where they carried out the typical daily routine of an average Jewish life in a village. It is also possible that Mary and Joseph taught the boy Jesus how to read and write. We can imagine as the boy grew older he perhaps attended services with his father at a local Jewish synagogue,l4 and likely would have had some religious education. As the eldest son, Jesus would have looked after his younger brothers and sisters and also helped with the household tasks. From his earliest childhood Jesus was compassionate and always treated others with kindness. As Jesus grew older he would have learned the trade of carpentry from his father. It is thought by some that Jesus was a carpenter in Nazareth until the age of 30 when his public ministry began. We will discuss this again later and see some other possibilities of what Jesus did during those years.
From the tales that have been preserved in the traditions, it seems that all who knew Jesus in these early years were amazed by his truthfulness and honesty. In one of the historical records we are told that at the age of 12 Jesus went to Jerusalem with his parents to celebrate the Jewish festivals at the Temple. During this visit to Jerusalem Jesus was greatly affected by seeing the priestly rituals of animals being sacrificed. We can imagine that he would have been curious about the religious meaning of all the
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