As has already been talked about before when Jesus’ birth was discussed, the phrase “about thirty” does not necessarily mean exactly thirty years old.
John the Baptist, who was born about six months before Jesus, began his ministry during the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, which was around AD 28. During this time, people from Jerusalem, all Judea, and the surrounding areas of the Jordan River came to him to be baptized. Although it is unlikely that every single person went, it is true that an enormous number of people did go to him.
If we assume that the Gospel of John was written in chronological order, this baptism would have occurred before the first Passover during Jesus’ public ministry. The Passover takes place on the evening of the fourteenth day of Nisan (or Abib, which falls in March or April in the solar calendar). Therefore, it is possible that Jesus was baptized before this Passover and then faced the temptation in the wilderness.
However, considering the time it took for John to proclaim repentance and baptism, for news to spread, and for people to travel to John at Bethany beyond the Jordan, followed by the baptism itself, the forty days in the wilderness, the wedding at Cana, and other events in Galilee and Jerusalem, it seems unlikely that all these events could have occurred within three months.
Given this perspective, the earliest possible start of Jesus’ public ministry would be around the mid-to-late AD 28, but for the purposes of this narrative, it is set to begin after the Passover in AD 29. Combining this with the assumption that Jesus was born in BC 5, this narrative deliberately sets his age at about thirty-three when he begins his ministry, with his crucifixion at thirty-six in AD 32, and his resurrection thereafter. However, this is a narrative setting, while scholars generally believe his ministry began between AD 27 and 29 and ended between AD 30 and 36.
It is commonly believed that Jesus began his ministry in the year 30 and died during the Passover of 33, after about three and a half years. If we assume that he started his ministry in the year 30, according to the age calculations in this narrative, he would have begun his ministry at the age of 34 and died at 37. This is still in line with the World English Bible’s description of Jesus as “about thirty years old” when he began his ministry.
