Updated on Oct 25, 2008.

During my Bible Study time, I was reading in John chapter 3 when something “popped out” at me! In verse 23, the Scripture says, “Now Jesus was about thirty yeas old when he began his ministry.” Does that strike a note of interest in you? Or, maybe you have already examined this and recognized the enigma (something not easily explained or understood) that it poses?

Although I have read this many times before, the question that occurred to me – this time – was, “Why did Jesus WAIT?”

There are several similar situations that come to mind. One is the case of Lazarus who was dead and had already been in the tomb for four days (John 11:17)! Why didn’t Jesus do something a the first notice of Lazarus’ sickness? Or what about some of the healings? Like the case of the blind man in John chapter 9 where Jesus told the man to walk a half mile down a very steep slope to the Pool of Siloam in order to wash off the mud that Jesus put there. Robin Sampson in her excellent blog (Heart of Wisdom) asks the question, “why didn’t Jesus just heal him there?”
In John 2:46,47 (when Jesus was only 12 yrs old) Mary & Joseph found Jesus “in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” (Emphasis mine) If Jesus was so smart at 12 that he “amazed” the Bible scholars of his day, why didn’t he go on the road as a child evangelist? Why did he wait another 18 years and then only have 3 or so years left for ministry?

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