Consider Jesus: Part 1...wives and children

There is a lot that scripture does not tell us about Jesus. The first 30 years of His life are but a few paragraphs. I was considering/dreaming/questioning about these years and began to understand that Jesus was a real man and had real human experiences...the following is how I think His life may have been like.

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It was the time when the young men began to marry. There was an excitement in the air and many of the youth in the neighborhood had already gotten engaged. In the 21st century, you might get a car when you turn 16, but in the 1st century, you got a wife! He wondered when it was going to be his time to get married. Some men didn't marry until they were a little older so he wasn't that worried. But he was a little uneasy because of all that God was doing in his life. He knew God had called him to something that would set him apart from most men, but sometimes he still longed to just be a normal man. Was it wrong that he had a desire to find a wife and have children?

Everyone liked him and he had a handful of good friends that he had grown up with, including a few really awesome girls. One of them was a young woman who feared the Lord, had a pure and humble heart, and knew how to have fun! They used to play together all the time when they were kids, playing tag, climbing trees and being heroes who would save the world. The last few years things had begun to change in their relationship. As they started to grow up, they began to look at each other in a different way. Parents and friends started making comments and wondering if the two would be good for each other. One day Jesus came home and layed out his heart to his mother, saying "Mom, I have found a woman that pleases me well and I think I want to marry her." She looked at him deeply and after a long pause replied, "She a great girl, son, if the Father says yes then I fully support you." He left the room with a skip in his step and began to dream about the future. Being the oldest son, he grew up playing with and taking care of all of his younger brothers and sisters. He loved wrestling with them, making up games and just being goofy and childlike. The desire to be a father and have his own kids was stirring strongly inside him.

He had been praying a lot about this girl lately and hadn't gotten any checks in his spirit from the Father. Feeling a freedom to go forward with the relationship, he began to think about proposing to her. It was looking better and better everyday until the Lord spoke to him in one of his morning prayer times. The Father quickened the passage about Abraham giving up Isaac to him in Genesis 22 and began to speak to him. "I want you to give her up as an offering to Me, my beloved Son." "What!!" he replied, shocked and feeling that horrible sinking feeling in his stomach. "I thought everything was ok...I've been praying about this for years and you've given me the ok to go forward. Is something wrong with our relationship? You know it's been completely pure and we've fully submitted it to you. I don't understand." The Father repeated Himself again, "I want you to give her up as an offering to Me." Jesus began to weep and cried out, "Why Lord? Why would you do this to me? I love her!" The Father didn't respond. Jesus fell on His face and wept, pleading with the Father to take back the command. The dirt became mud, as his tears flowed and flowed and flowed. Something was breaking in Him and he began to mutter..."But I love you more Father. I love you more....You know that..." He began to feel the strenght in His spirit moving his emotions and thoughts...finally he stopped weeping and he felt a peace come over him. Weary from crying, covered with dirt, and curled up on the ground he looked up to heaven and said "Not my will, but your will be done, Father." All of a sudden the glory of the Lord surrounded him and a voice came from heaven. "Because you have obeyed me and given up a wife on this earth, I promise you that as part of your inheritance you will receive a bride in whom you will have more joy than you could ever imagine. Because you have given up fatherhood on earth, I say to you that your descendants will be more than the stars in the sky." Jesus fell to the ground and the Father began to give him visions. Visions of a wedding feast, visions of a beautiful bride without spot or blemish, visions of intimacy and joy...then he heard singing...it was quiet at first, but then he recognized the words...the Lord began to sing and prophesy a love song over him...it was the song of songs...and Jesus arose and began to sing, with a passion stronger than he had ever felt before, the part of the Lover, in perfect harmony with the Father. As the song came to a close, the glory began to fade and Jesus found himself sitting out on the mountainside again. The young woman came to his mind and he felt pain shoot through his heart. He clung again to the words of the Father and found strength to move on because of the joy set before him. As he walked down the mountainside, he knew that it was over with the one he loved but that what the Father had in store was far better. He looked up and said to Him..."Thank you Father. You know what you are doing...I trust you."

" And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son...'" Matt. 22:1-2

“'Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.' And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. " Rev. 21:9-11

"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life." Matt. 19:29

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish...This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. " Eph. 5:25-27, 32

"Behold, you are fair, my love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove’s eyes."
Song of Solomon 1:15

My lover spoke and said to me, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me." Song of Solomon 2:10-13 (NIV)