Essay: Parents and Child – The Infancy Gospels

I chose to write about the parent to child relationship between Jesus and his parents. I felt this would be the best analysis of the Infancy Gospels, mostly because it is literally about Joseph/Mary and Jesus. Throughout the story the author shows how Joseph and Mary respond to raising the Son of God. All the sections involve the child Jesus doing something extraordinary. Jesus constantly brought attention to them as well, good attention for the most part. Through all the stuff that happened, they never lost their faith in the Lord or Jesus. It really showed the love/patience only a parent could have. I would assume all the attention Jesus brought, had to try their patience. To have their patience tested and then to still love Jesus through it all was cool. They went through scary moments as well. For instance, having to flee to Egypt and than stay in robbers’ cave/hideout was definitely scary; however, they believed in Jesus and loved him like parents could.

Jesus did a great job at returning the love and respecting them. He knew all things and had the power of God, yet he still listened and obeyed them. He was always very respectful and loving. I wrote in my Reading Diary about Jesus and Joseph’s relationship, and how it was cool to read about. Jesus still respected and helped Joseph throughout the section. Jesus showed the same to Mary as well, and it is very evident with her in his adulthood. For example, when Jesus was in the temple, Mary and Joseph came looking for him and told him to come on. Jesus was doing great work by teaching the people scriptures, but he lovingly respected them and listened. The story’s main point was about Jesus, but thee idea of a loving family relationship is a very evident underlining theme to me.

Image from a view from the right

Storytelling Week 3: The Carpenter and His Son

There once lived a carpenter, who was not very skilled at his work. He could complete projects here and there, but the projects where either ugly or misshapen. The carpenter knew nothing else, so could only use what little skill he had in carpentry to provide for his family. He had a son who wanted to go along with him on his work, but the carpenter never took him

“He will only hinder what little capability I posses,” said the carpenter.

            One-day the boy’s mother had to leave for town, and she persuaded the carpenter to take his son with him today

“The boy needs to see what you go through for us,” said the mother, “He needs to learn how to do this later on anyways.

            The carpenter reluctantly agreed. He and the boy gathered the equipment for the day and headed out. The first project they had was to repair their neighbors’ table. The legs of the table were uneven, and their job was to level an uneven table. The carpenter was shorting through the bag of tools, when the boy walked up to the table and stretched the wooden legs like they were gum. The boy completed the job with perfection in only 2 minutes.

The carpenter, completely dumbfounded, thought, “How was that possible, wood can’t do that and the child did that good without any tools or help?”

            After the carpenter witnessed what the boy can do, he took him everywhere. Any projects the carpenter couldn’t complete or messed up on, the boy (using only hands) would go fix his errors.  The work quality of the carpenter spread throughout the country, and he was getting more projects than ever before. The kind himself even heard of the carpenter!

“I am in need of a new throne,” said the king, “I will request that this carpenter and his son make it for me.”

            The king summoned them to his throne room to show them the original throne. He wanted an exact recreation of his original one. The carpenter knew that this project would be difficult. The design of the throne was so intricate that it would be impossible to recreate. To top it all off, the king said that they would be put to death if they made any errors. The carpenter started to build the throne, and when he was finished, every detail was identical to the original. When he went to put it in its place, he realized the diminutions where off! The carpenter made the throne too narrow. The boy stepped up to the throne and told the carpenter to grab the other side. They began to pull and pull, finally the throne gave way and stretched out to fit the original size. Once again the boy saved his dad’s hide.

“You will make a fine carpenter son, and very fine carpenter,” said the carpenter.

(Image from Bringing It All Back Home)

Author’s Notes: This story is an adapted version from TheLost Books of the Bible by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr. (1926). I took the section “Jesus and Joseph” and created a more detailed story of the two reacting. I also tried to turn the focus to Joseph, instead of Jesus.

Reading Diary B - The Infancy Gospels

Two stories within the Infancy Gospels stuck out to me in the latter half: “Jesus and Joseph” and “Jesus and the Philosophers”.

Jesus and Joseph stuck out to me, because of the relationship it showed between him and Joseph.  There is nothing in the Bible that even hints at that relationship. It was just nice to see that Jesus (even though he is the Son of God) still loved, helped and respected Joseph. I really enjoyed the short glimpse of that.

            Jesus and the Philosophers was probably my favorite story in the unit. I loved reading about the knowledge Jesus had even as a child! The all-knowing characteristic really showed up for this story. I just loved hearing that Jesus knew every from the universe all the way to the human body. It helped remind me that he really did create all things. The story just “wowed” me. Mostly because the human body is what fascinates me, and reading the brief part about Jesus telling about the veins and such made get super excited. The story was so fun and interesting to read, even with it being pretty short.
                                             

( found from Freestock)

Reading Diary A - The Infancy Gospels

My favorite part of this unit is Matthew’s retailing of the three wise men. It sets them up perfectly as men of power and prestige. They met with Herod the king, and were his guest. Even men of such statute fell in worship of the baby Jesus; that background adds a great deal of foreknowledge as to whom Jesus truly is. I don’t know about anybody else, but I don’t think I would bow and worship a baby (unless it was a baby like Jesus). I also like the info Mathew gave about the angel of the Lord coming to them in a dream, how they should avoid Herod. They knew how important this child was, and took the risk to protect him.

It also shows their commitment to the Lord they serve. They followed a star to find the child, and brought great gifts to his family all to see the glory of God. They literally came and left. The wise men only wanted to see Jesus, even if it was only for a night. I would do they same for sure.

(This depiction of the Three Wise Men was done by Val Stokes)

Brainstorming Topics

Topic: The Before and Beginning of Mankind

(Image pulled from Creativity Now)

Comments: I chose this topic because I don’t know the back-story of Adam and Eve. The Bible shares very little about them; furthermore, I think it would be really interesting to learn more about them, even if it is just other people’s assumptions and hunches. It would be time well spent for me.

Possible Stories: I do not know what books outside the Bible that would be good to read, besides the two that are on the un-textbook; however, I know my friends in seminary have read books about Adam and Eve, so I am sure they can point me in good directions to find good books about the two.

Sample Story Comments: I found a poem written about not only Adam and Eve, but it included the fall of Satan as well. It goes back to the beginning of it all. It goes into more detail about Satan’s rebellion and the archangel, Michael, who defeated him.

Bibliography Information:

Book Title: Paradise Lost

Book Author: John Milton

Year: 1667

Topic: Robin Hood the Good, or Robin Hood the Bad

Comments: I have always loved the story of Robin Hood; I tend to always think of him as the good guy. I want to attack this story from multiple shoes, and would he be a good guy or bad guy in modern times?

Possible Stories: I could attack this topic from so many angles. This will be very easy to find stories with different viewpoints on the tales of Robin Hood. I really want to create a modern day Robin Hood, and see if the views of him would change. I think in today’s time, people would say he is bad.

Sample Story: I found a story where Robin Hood robs three-wicked priest. I could definitely pick apart the characters in this story and place them in a modern setting to analyze if Robin Hood was just or unjust.

Bibliography Information:

Book Title: RobinHood’s Golden Prize

Book Author: Frances James Child

Year: 1882

Topic: Native American Hero Tales

Comments: I have always loved Native American cultures. I know all of them were oral cultures (some changed to written after contact with the Whites), and the way to learn about and oral culture is through their stories.

Possible Stories: Not only are there multiple stories from the Un-Textbook, but I have a storybook from Creek Nation that contains 90+ stories to pull from

Sample Story: I studied a story that teaches the Creeks about discipline and focus in everyday lives. It is very fascinating stuff, and good insight to how their culture was in the past before contact.

Bibliography Information:

Book Title: New Fire

Book Author: Earnest Gouge

Year: 2004

Topic: Noah and the Great Flood

Comments: Noah is one of my favorite stories in the Bible, and I think it would be fun to create a storybook now that Hollywood is adding their own spin as well.

Possible Stories: The Bible itself creates a fascinating stetting to the story of Noah. That plus the visuals people have from Hollywood only enhance the ways I could spin the project

Sample Story: The Bible does a good job of describing the man Noah is, as well as God’s characteristics. I should have no problem creating an awesome project with this topic

Bibliography Information:

Book Title: The Bible

Book Author: King James Bible

Year: 1611