The Awakening of Jesus — Dorothy Clarke Wilson

A dramatic portrayal about the life of Jesus as a twelve-year-old Hebrew boy (the age of manhood). Jesus spends most of his time as a carpenter in his father's shop in Nazareth and in studying Jewish spiritual laws in preparation to becoming a rabbi. Seeing many of his friends and others experiencing difficulties, without his parent's knowledge, he uses his gifts from the Three Wise Men to provide help to many such as a farmer needing money to marry, the town's “fallen woman” shunned by all, a woman whose rent is a hardship and a shepherd deemed an outcast. To each Jesus gives his material gifts, only to discover that the resultant happiness is brief and often results in more and greater problems for the recipients. Jesus begins realizing that he must lead by example, that the light must be within himself and somehow he must find a way to help others awaken to the love of themselves and of each other. Dorothy Clarke Wilson skillfully brings to life the awakening of Jesus as an integral part of the family of Joseph and Mary in the context of an ancient culture abounding with excitement, drama, and even, at times, the violence natural to that era.