Jesus the Gatherer of Srinigar

The father and uncle of the man later renamed “Jesus the Gatherer” were students of the stars who lived in Srinigar, India, in the Himalaya. They were among other students of the stars who traveled from various countries to visit the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem and presented treasures to finance the exodus to Egypt.  Their trek took two years from Srinigar to Bethlehem.

The students of the stars convinced Joseph to flee with his family to Egypt, reasoning that King Herod could use the same logic they had used to find the child. Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus fled by sea to Alexandria, which was a prominent port city in Egypt. At that time there were more than 100,000 Jews living in Alexandria, more than lived in Jerusalem. In Alexandria, Joseph set up his carpenter's shop to support his family, and he was also able to study under some of the numerous Jewish scholars there to learn what he needed to be able to teach his own children. Later, when all danger of Herod had past, Joseph moved to Nazareth with his growing family, which soon included Jesus, James, Joses, Judas, Simon,  and at least two daughters (see Mark 6:3). Joseph was their primary teacher.

 When Jesus was a teenager, the two men of Srinigar traveled to Nazareth and took the teenaged Jesus of Nazareth along with their own teenaged sons back to the Himalaya so that they could study the philosophies of that section of the world. The three teenagers became good friends. After many years, Jesus returned to Galilee. 

Many years later, those teenagers from Srinigar, now adults, traveled to the Jordan River in Israel to join the disciples of John the Baptizer and later the disciples of Jesus. After the day of Pentecost where they received the gift of tongues, they returned to their homeland where they spread the Good News through stories. One of the two became known as Jesus the Gatherer, since he gathered and told the stories of Jesus of Nazareth. 

Thomas the Apostle includes the story of these men of Srinigar.   Today, even though most of the people around Srinigar are Moslem, they are still proud to explain that 2,000 years ago they had the stories of live encounters with Jesus. They still revere Jesus of Nazareth as a prophet. The author has visited the Srinigar shrine where Jesus the Gatherer’s cremains are buried, and she spoke with many locals in Srinigar about the man, Jesus the Gatherer, of whom they are very proud.