10 Interesting Facts About Jesus That Might Surprise You

Jesus Christ is one of the most controversial figures in history. And one of the complicated things to understand about Jesus is His humanity. Isn’t it hard to imagine Jesus as a human, just like us? We think surely he did not experience what it was really like to grow up, beginning from a baby to the teen and young adult years. We think surely he didn’t struggle with anger, anxiety, or any other pain like we do today. But in reality, he experienced everything we do.

There are so many things that we may never know about Jesus, but here are 10 interesting facts about Jesus that might surprise you!

10 Interesting Facts About Jesus

1. Jesus was not an only child. He actually had siblings. It might be hard to imagine what it was like to be Jesus’ little brother or sister, but Mary and Joseph would go on to have other children after Jesus’ miraculous birth.
2. At the age of 12 years, Jesus went missing while traveling with His family. Jesus and his family had traveled to Jerusalem for Passover. After the festival ended, the family packed up and left Jerusalem, except for one family member who stayed behind: Jesus. And it took his family an entire day to realize he had gone missing! After searching for a few days, they found him teaching in the temple. It must have been a little scary to lose the Son of God!
3. Jesus got angry. He even turned over tables in the temple. He did not appreciate people that were taking advantage of others in his Father’s house. It might be surprising that Jesus showed his anger, but it is refreshing to know he gets angry over issues such as injustice, just like you and me.
4. Jesus had more issues with church leaders than the people in the community. During Jesus’ ministry, he extended grace and love to ordinary people, even “sinners.” And he had some harsh words for the religious leaders of his time. He didn’t like the way they treated the people he loved. It shows us that no matter how many followers or how much power and influence we have, it is important to lead others well because he cares more about how we treat others than how well we keep a set of rules.
5. Jesus wasn’t white. Although we have a lot of paintings in our museums that paint Jesus as a tall, white, Scandinavian guy with a beard, Jesus was actually of Jewish descent and would have been a guy with dark skin and shaggy dark hair. Therefore, his appearance looked drastically different than what we often imagine.
6. Jesus had humble beginnings. Born into a carpenter’s family, Jesus came from a poor, day-laborer home. This means Jesus would have known what it was like to live in poverty and have hunger and need. Although Jesus is the Son of God, he decided to come to earth as an ordinary guy, just like you and me.
7. Jesus started his ministry later in life, around the age of 30 years. Some of us might expect him to have started his ministry when he was born, but he actually went through normal experiences growing up as a baby, small child, teenager, and young adult.
8. Women helped fund Jesus’ ministry. Jesus had an incredible respect for women and even helped a woman who was about to be stoned to death. Not only did Jesus show us how to treat women, but women actually helped fund his ministry. Luke 8 talks about women who followed Jesus and his disciples and supported them through their own means.
9. Jesus struggled when faced with death. We all know Jesus came to sacrifice his life for us, but we forget he was a human who struggled, just like you and me. Upon facing his death in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was anxious and prayed that God would take this suffering from him if possible.
10. Jesus came to Earth for more than to die on the cross for our sins. He came to experience life as a human so that he can empathize with us. He experienced heartache, rejection, deception, loss, sickness, and death, just like us. God wanted his Son, Jesus, to experience all the heartache of this world, so when we pray, it’s not just to the Creator but to the God who understands our pain firsthand. We pray to the God who really hears our prayers, sees our hearts, and feels our pain.

It is fascinating and amazing to know that the One who came to save us really did walk fully in our shoes. He knows our hearts and our struggles. While our stories may look different, he can still understand us. Not only is this comforting, it gives us hope that, if Jesus could face this life and still be fully reliant and trusting in God, then we can, too.