Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary 

The Age of Jesus at the Beginning of His Ministry 

     Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age .  (Lk 3:23). 

    Sacred Scripture does not say that Jesus was exactly 30 years old when He began His Ministry, but only that 

He was  about thirty years of age.  Why does Sacred Scripture use the word  about  in this passage? 

    Earlier in the Gospel of Luke, Sacred Scripture tells us the age of Jesus at another point in His life, when He 

stayed behind in Jerusalem after the feast of Passover.  And when he was twelve years old, they went up 

according to custom .  (Lk 2:42). In this passage, the Gospel of Luke tells us the age of Jesus as a plain 

statement:  he was twelve years old,  which is not qualified by the word,  about.  Thus, the meaning of this 

statement about age is different from the meaning of the statement about the age of Jesus at the beginning of 

His Ministry. 

    As explained in chapter 6, Jesus was 12 years old counting from His Holy Conception, at the time described 

by Luke 2:41 50. Life begins at conception, so the length of Christ's human life should be counted beginning 

with the Incarnation. Also, the custom among the Jews at that time was to count the years of a person's life 

according to how many Passovers occurred since that person's birth. Sacred Scripture calls Jesus 12 years old 

for both these reasons. Therefore, in both these passages from Luke's Gospel, Sacred Scripture is counting 

Christ's age from the Incarnation, or by the number of Passovers since His Birth. 

    In the passage about the Child Jesus being found in the Temple, the phrase telling us that Jesus  was twelve 

years old  (Lk 2:42) means that Jesus had completed just over 12 years of His human life since the 

Incarnation. However, in the passage on the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, the phrase telling us that Jesus 

 was about thirty years of age  (Lk 3:23) cannot mean that Jesus had completed just over thirty years since the 

Incarnation. The addition of the word  about  indicates a different meaning than in the previous passage on 

the visit of the Child Jesus to Jerusalem. So, the age referred to is not the year following the completion of 

Christ's 30th year since the Incarnation. During that year, 

A.D.

 16, Christ Jesus would be called 30 years old, 

not  about thirty.  

    Again, looking at the number of Passovers since birth, Jesus completed 29 Passovers since birth by the start 

of His Ministry in autumn of 

A.D.

 15. If His Ministry began at the Passover of 

A.D.

 16, His age by this method 

of counting would have been 30 years of age exactly, not about 30 years. In the autumn of 

A.D.

 15, when 

Christ's Ministry began, He had completed 29  Passovers since birth and was in His 30th year since the 

Incarnation. Also, the date of Christ's Baptism (Oct. 4; see below) is closer to the 30th year than the 29th year 

since the Incarnation, and about midway between His 29th and 30th Passover. 

    Sacred Scripture was written by God, and so must be both true and accurate. Therefore, we cannot conclude 

that the word  about  is used because no one knew the exact age of Jesus at that time. God told us the age of 

Jesus at the start of His Ministry truly and accurately. The word  about  does not indicate a lack of knowledge 

as to the age of Jesus at the beginning of His Ministry. Instead, the different phrasing used by adding the word 

 about  indicates that Jesus was near the age of 30 years. But if Jesus had  just completed 30 years of age, 

Sacred Scripture would have used the same phrasing as in the earlier passage when Jesus was 12 years old. 

Jesus was near the age of 30 years, but He had not yet reached the completion of His 30th year. Therefore, 

Jesus was just under 30 years of age, counting from the Incarnation, when His Ministry began. 

    Some scholars debate the accuracy of Sacred Scripture. Some even suggest that parts of Sacred Scripture 

may be in error. But I believe that Sacred Scripture is both true and accurate. Therefore, I consider that, if 

Jesus had been closer to 31 years of age, or closer to 29 years of age, the Gospel of Luke would have said  29 

years  or  about 31,  rather than the phrase  about thirty years of age.  Jesus was under 30 years  of age 

counting from the Incarnation when His Ministry began, and he was closer to 30 than to 29 years of age. Since 

Jesus was conceived Feb. 25, His Ministry must have begun sometime after August 25 (29 years plus six 

months after the Incarnation on Feb. 25), when He would then be closer to 30 than to 29 years of age. 

    Jesus Christ was about 33 years old at the time of the Crucifixion (see chapter 2), and His Ministry lasted 

about 3  years. Therefore, Jesus was about 29  at the start of His ministry. Counting back 3  years from 

April 7 of 

A.D.

 19, when Christ was crucified, brings us to early October of 

A.D.

 15. Blessed Anne Catherine 

places the Baptism of Jesus by John in early October (see below).

404

 Thus, the Ministry of Jesus Christ began 

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