Why didn’t Jesus know His purpose on Earth when he was born?

Wow…that is a very interesting question! In order to answer that we have to remember two things about Jesus: He was God and He was man. I know, I know! That is a hard concept to grab!

But, since He was born a man, He was first a baby, right? Unfortunately, the Bible doesn’t say a whole lot about Jesus as a baby but we can assume He was like most babies and couldn’t talk and needed to be fed, held, loved and watched. So, based on those assumptions we could probably say that when He was born Jesus didn’t know His purpose on Earth.

BUT, the Bible clearly shows that, at some point in His adult life Jesus fully realized who He was and that He had been here since the creation of the Earth because he told His disciples and followers, “I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I AM!" (John 8:58)

We also get a hint that He might have known about His purpose when He was a young boy and got separated from His parents, Mary and Joseph, in Jerusalem. They were frantic and began looking for Him and found Him in the temple talking with a group of religious leaders. When Jesus’ mom, Mary, asked Him why He would disappear like that and make them worry, do you know what Jesus said? He told His parents, “Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" (Luke 2:49) At the time, Mary and Joseph didn’t know what Jesus was trying to tell them but He knew that He was the Son of God at age 12!

So, to answer your question, Jesus probably didn’t know His purpose when He was born but sometime later in His life, He did realize who He was. We just can’t pinpoint the exact time He realized it.