What was Jesus like as a kid?

The short answer

The Bible gives us only a few lines about Jesus as a boy. It says he grew strong and wise, and God’s grace was on him. Everything else about his day-to-day childhood is left for us to imagine.

What the record says

Luke is the only Gospel that tells us anything about his growing-up years. Right after his birth story, Luke sums up years of childhood in one sentence: “The child was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.” (Luke 2:40)

Then comes one story, the visit to the Temple at age twelve, and one more summary line: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” (Luke 2:52)

That is all. We do not know if he was shy or loud, what made him laugh, or who his friends were. The Gospels jump from age twelve to about age thirty.

How Son of Man tells it

Son of Man is a novel. It imagines the years the Gospels skip. In chapter three, “The Ridge”, the novel imagines Yeshua (the name his family uses) as a boy full of questions. He walks the hill above Nazareth every Sabbath with Joseph and asks why snow sits on far-off Mount Hermon. He listens to every stranger at the caravan stop. When older boys push him, he will not fight back. One trader sums him up for Joseph:

“Your boy asks more questions than a Roman tax collector.”