Five things you didn't know about Jesus

Nearly all modern-day archaeologists agree the town of Nazareth had only 200 to 400 people. Jesus' hometown is mentioned nowhere in either the Old Testament or the Talmud, which notes dozens of other towns in the area.

In fact, in the New Testament it is literally a joke.

In the Gospel of John, when a man named Nathanael hears the messiah is "Jesus of Nazareth," he asks, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" He's dissing Jesus' crummy backwater town.

This is a thorny theological question. If Jesus is divine, wouldn't he know all things? (Indeed, on several occasions Jesus predicts his death and resurrection.)

On the other hand, if he had a human consciousness, he needed to be taught something before he could know it. The Gospel of Luke says that when Jesus was a young man he "progressed" in wisdom. That means he learned things. (Otherwise how would he "progress"?)

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus initially refuses to heal the daughter of a non-Jewish woman, saying rather sharply, "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."

But when she replies that even the dogs get the crumbs from the table, Jesus softens, and he heals her daughter. He seems to be learning that his ministry extends beyond the Jewish people.

From age 12 to 30, Jesus worked in Nazareth as a carpenter. "Is not this the carpenter?" say the astonished crowds when he begins to preach.

The word used for Jesus' profession in the original Greek is tekton. The traditional translation is "carpenter." But most contemporary scholars say it's more likely a general craftsman; some even translate it as "day laborer."

A tekton would have made doors, tables, lamp stands and plows. But he probably also built stone walls and helped with house construction.

It was tough work that meant lugging tools, wood and stones all over Galilee. Jesus doesn't simply stride onto the world stage after having dreamily examined a piece of wood when the mood suited him. For 18 years, he worked—and worked hard.

The Gospels frequently speak of Jesus' need to "withdraw" from the crowds, and even his disciples.

Today by the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus carried out much of his ministry, you can see how close the towns were, and how natural it would have been for the enthusiastic crowds to "press" in on him, as the Gospels describe.

There's even a cave on the shoreline, not far from Capernaum, his base of operations, where he may have prayed.

It's called the "Eremos Cave," from the word for "desolate" or "solitary," from which we get the word "hermit." Even though Jesus was the son of God, he needed time alone in prayer with the father.

As he approaches his death, and prays hard in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus says, "Remove this cup." It's a blunt prayer addressed to the father, whom he affectionately calls Abba. He doesn't want to die.

Unlike the way some Christians portray Jesus as courting death, and even desiring it, like any human being, the idea of death is terrifying. "My soul is sorrowful even unto death," he says.

In other words, "I'm so sad that it feels like I'm going to die." But once Jesus realizes that this is somehow the will of the father, he assents to death, even on a cross.

It's natural to want to know as much as we can about Jesus; that's one reason I wrote my new book. But beware of the more outlandish claims about the son of God (he fathered children, he was married to Mary Magdalene, he spent time in India and so on.)

Many of these claims tend to project our own desires on a man who will always remain somewhat elusive, hard to fully understand and impossible to pin down.

In the end, as theologians like to say, Jesus is not so much a problem to be solved as a mystery to be pondered.