Jesus The Lost Years

People always wonder what Jesus was doing between when we see Him as a 12 years old child in the Temple and when we see Him at 30 starting His ministry.

Well He was working as a Carpenter.

Apprentice to Joseph, his stepdad, He learnt the trade. Then after Joseph passed away He became the man of the house (the oldest brother) and took over the family business.
By the time He was 30, His younger brothers were qualified carpenters and took over the business when JC left to start His real life's mission.

So He wasn't doing anything in the "missing" 18 years, well nothing noteworthy anyway. Also none of the 4 people who wrote the Gospels would have known anything about this period.

John The Baptist was paving the way for JC, letting people know He was on the way.

Some people think JC was training to be a rabbi, a Jewish priest. This is untrue. JC was never a rabbi, He was a carpenter. He spent His hours working for a living. Only children froma rich house would study at Temple to be rabbi.

At John 7:14 JC explains how His teaching comes direct from God. He is not teaching Jewish scripture, learnt at a Jewish temple. He is teaching the first lessons of what would become Christianity.

Balthazar, one of the three "wise men" or "three kings" or "magi" (depending on which version of the story you are following) was at the birth of Christ and also at the Crucifixion (we see this illustrated particularly well in Ben Hur). So Balthazar would have been able to tell people who were there the story of the birth.