Cousins: The Early Years of Jesus and John the Baptist

By Archibald Asberry

Cousins: The Early Years of Jesus and John the Baptist is a story that starts out with John the Baptist's imprisonment by Herod Antipas. John, while in the dungeon, is thinking about his parents and the times with his cousin Jesus the Messiah. John reminisces of the wedding of his parents, Zacharias and Elisabeth, and of the childhoods of Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus Christ. He takes us through their births and journey together as two young boys that were chosen by God to bring their people back to Him. We see why God has entrusted Joseph to be the father of His only begotten Son. We learn why God chose Mary, who was virtuous, righteous, loving, and holy, even after her faith was tested by a Roman soldier. We see how John the Baptist, at a very young age and to his death, did not grasp the coming of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We see how Jesus, from a very young age, knew his purpose here on earth and was brilliant beyond His years and eager to learn. Jesus takes in everything he observes and speaks of them later in ministry. We see how childhood friends of Jesus, Mary, and Martha, with their brother Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, knew that Jesus was the Messiah. We see how loving Jesus was with his siblings and grandparents. The book tells the lives of Jesus and John up until their ministries. This is a must-read for the whole family! I am in no way trying to diminish the deity of our Lord but to amplify that He is our Lord and Savior and He came to earth for our salvation. Thank you for reading this book!

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781649521446

Book preview

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Cousins

The Early Years of Jesus and John the Baptist

Archibald Asberry Jr.

Copyright © 2020 Archibald Asberry Jr.

All rights reserved

First Edition

Fulton Books, Inc.

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2020

ISBN 978-1-64952-143-9 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64952-144-6 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

John the Baptist (Introduction)

The Wedding of Elisabeth and Zacharias

Mary

Joseph

The Betrothal of Mary And Joseph

Gabriel

John’s Birth

Jesus Christ’s Birth

Jesus’s Toddler Years

Four Years Old

Five Years Old

Six Years Old

Eight Years Old

Nine Years Old

Ten Years Old

Eleven Years Old

Twelve Years Old

Teen Years

Twenties

John the Baptist (Conclusion)

In memories of my late parents Archie and Ethel, my deceased siblings Tommy and Alicia. And to my wife Susana

Foreword

I am writing this book because I felt compelled to show that Jesus Christ had a childhood and that he and John the Baptist were close cousins. I also want the world to see that his father, Joseph, was an influence in Jesus’s life, and that is why God entrusted Joseph to raise the Messiah. My story is mostly around the parables Jesus spoke. I use most of the parables as events that Jesus witnessed or lived through in his childhood. We know that Jesus and John the Baptist were related because our Bible tells us that Elisabeth and Mary were cousins. I could not fathom the idea of the families who always go to the Jewish festivals in Jerusalem not seeing and being with each other. Elisabeth and Mary, with their husbands, knew that they were blessed with these two boys from God. We only get a glimpse in the childhood of our Lord at the age of twelve but without steering from his Word, I try to bring into the light how he received his wisdom. This is a book the whole family can enjoy but mainly young people. I am in no way trying to diminish the deity of Our Lord but to amplify that he is our Lord and Savior, and He came to earth for our salvation. Thank you for reading this book!

Sincerely,

Archibald Asberry Jr.

John the Baptist (Introduction)

Herod the Great and most of his descendants ruled in Palestine under the Roman Empire. At the time of John the Baptist, Herod, called Antipas, was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip I, who was legally married to Herodias, they had a daughter named Salome, who was the granddaughter of Simeon, the high priest on her mother’s side, was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis. Lysanias, who was the tetrarch of Abilene, was the son of Ptolemy, whose father was Mennaeus, who ruled the tetrarchy before him.

Herod Antipas resided in the city of Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee in which he built and named in honor of the emperor Tiberias. He had faithful soldiers spying on John the Baptist, who had grown in popularity from his preaching and baptizing in the Jordan River, with thousands of followers, and the soldiers would report to him John’s preaching. John the Baptizer is preaching that it is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife! the soldiers reported to Herod. Herod Antipas had divorced his wife, Phasaelis, and had taken Herodias as his wife while his brother, Philip, was her proper husband and still living. Now the fact that a child was born to Philip and Herodias by the first marriage of the mother was a bar to her second marriage under Jewish law. Her marriage to Antipas, while her proper husband was still living, was the more aggravating to the Jews because she was a Jewess and belonged to the royal family, and their infamy was the more conspicuous in that Herod Antipas was the ruler of the Jews and had disgracefully put the Jewish laws at defiance.

His wife, Herodias, standing next to him, yelled with anger, How dare he speak such words against his King! He should lose his life for such slander!

Herod Antipas, calming his wife, said, No, no, my dear, I cannot kill John the Baptist—he is a righteous and holy man, and with such a large following, they would surely protest, and Rome would come in and kill us all! I will have my soldiers go and arrest John the Baptist, and I will have him put in prison for revilement! I’ll have him sent far away for a long time! Is that fine, my dear? Herod Antipas asked his wife, while touching her chin with his hand and kissing her. Herodias, his wife, reluctantly agreed. Herod Antipas gave the order to the soldiers to arrest John the Baptist, and four quaternions marched off from Tiberias to the Jordan River to seize John the Baptist.

The soldiers of Herod Antipas reached the Jordan River and heard John preaching and baptizing. One of the soldiers walking down to the bank of the river yelled, John the Baptist? We have a decree from King Herod Antipas to place you under arrest!

John, in the middle of baptizing a person, finished baptizing and looked up at the soldiers and asked, On what grounds am I being placed under arrest?

Reviling the King! the soldier announced.

John looked around to see all his disciples and followers watching him in silence. Then John yelled, I am sent from Jehovah! I speak for him! Every word that I speak is truth because he is truth! John walked out of the river and all the soldiers ran up to seize him. What is this? Your king sends four quaternions of soldiers to seize me? Surely with one soldier, I would have complied.

Suddenly, the disciples of John and his followers rose up to defend him against the soldiers. Please! Put down your weapons! Let them take me in peace, begged John.

But we will follow and demand your release in Tiberias! his followers yelled.

They made their way to Tiberias, where Herod the tetrarch was residing, and the soldiers bought John the Baptist to Herod. Herod Antipas, with his wife, Herodias, sat on their thrones next to each other, and Herod said, John the Baptist! You are saying not to nice things about your king. Why are you saying these things about me?

John walked up to Herod and looked at him and then at Herodias and shook his head saying, What I speak is the truth. You have done many sins in the sight of God!

Herodias, having so much anger and resentment toward John, yelled, You don’t speak to my husband with that disrespect!

John looked Herodias in her eyes and said, He is surely not your husband! Your husband is his brother, Philip!

Herod, upset, yelled to his soldiers, Take him! Lock him up in the castle of Machaerus! The castle of Machaerus is about a hundred-mile journey from Tiberias with a dungeon below it. The castle is located in the mountain fastnesses with a deep ravine below, on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, between Abarim and Pisgah, not far from the northern extreme of the sea. The rock-hewn dungeon is beneath the splendid banquet hall in which the nobility were entertained. The disciples of John followed him and the soldiers all the way to the faraway castle demanding his release. John the Baptist was thrown in the dungeon in Machaerus.

As John lay there in the dark, cold dungeon, he prayed to God, Yahweh, now will you allow your Messiah, Jesus, to come into His kingdom? Let your Messiah rise up and be strengthened by your Spirit and lead Israel to become a great holy and powerful nation again!

John was in prison for quite some time and his disciples would come to speak with him. Rabbi, the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan, whom you gave testimony to saying he is the Messiah, He is baptizing too, and everybody is flocking to Him.

John replied, God in heaven appoints each man’s work. My work is to prepare the way for that man so that everyone will go to him. You yourselves know how plainly I told you I am not the Messiah. I am here to prepare the way for him, that’s all. He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice, therefore this joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth, and to the earth he speaks. He who comes from heaven is above all. He tells what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them! Those who believe him discover that God is a fountain of truth. For this one, sent by God, speaks God’s words, for God’s spirit is upon him without measure or limit. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon them.

John, being imprisoned for almost two years now, was feeling distraught sitting in the dark, cold dungeon. He expected an uprising by now from the Jews that should be led by his cousin, the Messiah, Jesus. John the Baptist was now feeling lonely and deserted, having doubt in his mind about Jesus being the Messiah. He asked two of his disciples, Go find the one that I was with on the other side of the Jordan, the one called Jesus of Nazareth, and ask him, ‘Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?

The two disciples left to find Jesus. John asked his other disciples that were on the outside communicating with him, I hear music and dancing above me! What’s going on?

Master, they are having a festive party with the nobles of the land to celebrate the anniversary of Herod’s birthday, said his disciples. It seems that Salome, the daughter of Philip and Herodias, is dancing before Herod and the nobles.

Then John lay down on the hard and cold floor in that dark dungeon, and while hearing music and dancing above in the banquet hall, he dozed off, reminiscing about his parents, Zacharias and Elisabeth, and the earlier years of the life and times of him and his cousin, Jesus Christ the Messiah.

*****

The Wedding of Elisabeth and Zacharias

Elisabeth was so excited but also very nervous awaiting her bridegroom. This was their wedding celebration! She and Zacharias had been betrothed for over three years. It seemed like she has been waiting forever for this day to arrive. Jewish weddings usually take place at the home of the bride’s parents and is celebrated by feast, to which family, friends and neighbors are invited and which lasts seven days.

Elisabeth’s father, a descendant of Aaron, who is a priest, came into the room where his daughter was and hugged her saying, Well, well, my dear daughter! You look so lovely! As lovely as your mother looked on our wedding day!

Oh, thank you, Father, Elisabeth said, blushing while kissing her father’s cheek.

You know, her father said, pointing his finger in her face, this is a big day for you! Jehovah has given you a righteous man to look after you. He has given you a priest like me. You are both righteous before God, walking in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. I give my blessing to you, my dear child.

Elisabeth smiled and kissed him again, smelling the strong scent of wine on his breath. Come my dear, the groom will be here shortly, her father said, while pulling her by the hand to the main room.

You are a beautiful bride, cousin Elisabeth, a small voice said, coming from below while tugging on Elisabeth’s wedding gown. Elisabeth looked down and saw her little cousin Mary looking up at her. Even though Elisabeth was of the tribe of Aaron and Mary was of the tribe of Judah, they were more closely related because of the intermarriage between the two tribes during the preceding centuries.

Oh, sweetheart! That is very sweet of you to say! She reached down to pick Mary up.

Mary said, I hope when I marry, I will look as beautiful as you.

Elisabeth chuckled and said, Well, you are already cute, so I don’t think you have anything to worry about! How old are you now, darling?

Mary held up four fingers.

Oh my, you have plenty of time to not think about marriage, honey! Elisabeth said, while standing her on the chair beside her.

But I want to be married, Elisabeth. It’s an honorable thing, isn’t it? And to be a mother?

Why, of course it is, Mary. I hope I have many children, and I especially hope I have a daughter just like you, Elisabeth said, touching the tip of Mary’s nose with her index finger.

Suddenly, someone yelled at the wedding party, "The bridesmaids are returning!" This meant that the bridegroom was on his way. The Jewish custom is the bride has seven to ten maidens go out to wait for the arrival of the bridegroom to escort him to the bride’s parents’ home. This can take days or it can take hours. For Elisabeth, it had been an eight-hour wait; now finally, the ceremony will begin and the essence of the ceremony consisted in the removal of the bride from her father’s house to that of the bridegroom or his father. The musicians started playing their instruments louder, and singing and dancing went throughout the house. Elisabeth looked nervously at the door. You could hear from afar the music and singing from the bridegroom’s entourage as they make their way to the house. Elisabeth could hear his voice, the loud, powerful voice that she fell in love with when hearing him for the first time reading the scripture in the synagogue. Zacharias was his name. He was a Levite and a zealous young upcoming priest.

At the bridegroom’s party, Zacharias was nervously drinking wine with his family and friends; dancing and singing went throughout his parents’ home. Zacharias’s mother came up to him and said, Son, I know how you are feeling right now, not knowing what to expect in the future. But the only advice I can give you is to build your marriage on the foundation of the Lord Jehovah, who is a solid foundation that cannot be moved. Remember the proverb of our Dear King Solomon: ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.’ That scripture will get you through this life, my child.

Thanks, Mother! I really needed to hear some encouraging words right now. He kissed and hugged his mother.

Zacharias spotted his father nervously making his servants pass out wine to the guests, wanting to make sure his youngest son’s wedding ceremony was a success, and walked over to him. Putting his arm around his shoulders,