The film revolves around a fictional interpretation of a seven-year-old Jesus, who tries to discover the truth about his life when he returns to Nazareth from Egypt.

Although the film was known throughout production as Christ the Lord, Focus Features announced on September 1, 2015, that it would now be called The Young Messiah.

His mother Mary saves him from the mob but as he and his cousins hide in the house they ask Jesus to repeat with Eliezer the act he showed them previously: bringing a dead bird to life.

Jesus sneaks out of the house and into Eliezer's home where preparations are being made for his disemboweling and burial.

Eliezer's parents ask Joseph, Jesus and Mary to leave Alexandria saying "Seven years is more than enough".

Joseph tells Mary and his extended family that he had a dream and it is time to return to Israel because Herod the Great is dead.

As the family rests Jesus walks into an ambush of rebel Jews waiting for a passing Roman cavalry.

The news spreads and reaches the new Jewish King who orders his Roman Centurion to find the boy healer and execute him.

Jesus leaves the cave alone in the middle of the night for Jerusalem asking God for guidance and safety.

[8][9] According to director Cyrus Nowrasteh, James and Salome, referred in the Bible as Jesus' brother and sister, are portrayed as his cousins.

The filmmakers had cross-denominational support for the film's production, and received positive feedback from evangelicals and Catholics alike.

[15] Producers would be Columbus, Barnathan, and Radcliffe for 1492, Tracy K. Price for Ocean Blue, Ashok Amritraj for Hyde Park, and Mark W. Shaw for CJ.

[7] Focus Features acquired the US rights from FilmDistrict, and set the film to begin production in September 2014.

[7] In the United States and Canada, the film opened on March 11, 2016, alongside 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Brothers Grimbsy and The Perfect Match.

[17] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 33 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

[3] Steven D. Greydanus reviewed The Young Messiah for the National Catholic Register, saying it was smartly adapted by Cyrus and Betsy Nowrasteh.

He says this project could have turned into "the greatest imaginable act of authorial hubris and irrelevance", except that the filmmakers found an elegant solution in drawing on both the Gospels and the apocryphal Gospels, while reworking all the material to bring it into conformance with right beliefs among Christians.