Life of jesus

Jesus' life

Christianity was founded on the life and teaching of a Jew named Jesus Christ. The English word "Jesus" comes from the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua, a common name meaning "savior."

"Christ" is a title and it comes from the Greek form of the Hebrew Messiah, meaning "anointed one." Since the time of the earliest Christians, "Christ" has been used both as a surname and a name that stands alone.

Christian faith and most scientists agree that Jesus was an actual historical figure. The Christian calendar, in use in most of the western world, centered on Jesus' birth. The abbreviation "AD" stands for the Latin Anno Domini "in the year of our Lord." Interestingly, Jesus was actually born a few years "Before Christ" (BC) because of an error in a monk (Dionysius Exiguous) established the Christian calendar in 525 AD.

Sources on the life of Jesus:

The earliest available records of the life of Jesus are the four Gospel narratives, which were written by disciples of Jesus within a few decades of his death. A handful of other sources from the first and second century, including Christians, Roman, Jewish and Gnostic sources also mention Jesus. The following article is a summary of Jesus' life after the Gospel accounts. The "historical Jesus" are addressed by researchers will be addressed in a later article.

Jesus' birth and early life:

Jesus was born of a devout Jewish woman named Mary and a carpenter named Joseph. According to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Jesus was conceived by a miracle of the Holy Spirit, before the pair had had a sexual relationship. Matthew and Luke also report that Jesus was born in Bethlehem because the Roman emperor had decreed that each family register for a census in their ancestral home. Mark and John do not discuss Jesus 'birth, they begin their narrative with Jesus' adulthood.

Gospels are largely silent when it comes to Jesus' early life, but some information can be inferred from references elsewhere. Jesus was from a small town called Nazareth, where he probably trained as a carpenter under his father.

Jesus spoke Aramaic, a Semitic language related to Hebrew, but I think he knew enough Greek to communicate with Roman officials during his ministry.

The Gospel of Luke offers only account of this period when a 12-year-old Jesus wanders off from his parents in Jerusalem to discuss religion in the temple. When his frantic parents finally track him down, Jesus asks, "Did not you know I'd be in my Father's house?"

Teaching and Healing Ministry:

Jesus pure Gospel narratives around 30 years (around 26 AD). The four gospels agree that Jesus' first action was to be baptized by John the Baptist, a charismatic and ascetic figure who called people to repentance and baptized those who responded. This event marked the beginning of Jesus' ministry. (Some also have theories about it at the time of the human Jesus was divine.

After the baptism, left several of John's supporters to follow Jesus. Jesus was then selected a number of other countries, until he had created a group of 12 disciples. (Two of these disciples, Matthew and John, is the traditional authors of the gospels that bear their name.)

Jesus then spent from one to three years teaching and working miracles among his disciples, and before large crowds. His recorded miracles included making water into wine, walking on water, cursing a fig tree, heal the sick, multiplying a small meal to feed a crowd, casting out demons and even raised a man from the dead.

Jesus focused mainly on the "kingdom of God" and were usually transferred through parables draw on familiar images from the farm life. He criticized the hypocrisy of some Jewish leaders and learn the importance of love and kindness, even to his enemies. 

While Jesus was fundamentally Jewish, they differ significantly from the Jewish law of his day. Perhaps most surprising of all was that he taught on his own authority. Whereas the Jewish prophets had always accompanied their speech with "Thus said the Lord," Jesus said things like, "You have heard that it was said." "But I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.'' 

Jesus' popularity grew quickly but so did opposition from local leaders. Roman rulers were uneasy about the general perception that he was the Messiah who would liberate the Jews from the Roman Empire, while Jewish leaders were disturbed by Jesus' shocking interpretations of Jewish law, his power with the people, and the rumor that he had been escaped to his own divinity.

Betrayal and execution:

In the gospels Jesus repeatedly suggesting that his disciples his end is near, but they can not fully understand or accept the idea. The clearest expression of this is in the "Last Supper", which took place on the evening before his death. All four gospels record Jesus shared bread and wine with his disciples asked them to "do this in remembrance of me." Christians celebrate this event in the sacrament of the Eucharist, or Communion. 

On this night Jesus also predicts that one of them will betray him, is greeted with astonishment and denial. But that night, Jesus' fate was sealed when Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, and possibly the group's treasurer, led Roman soldiers to Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. When they arrested Jesus, the ever colorful Peter defended his master with a sword, slicing off the ear of a centurion. But he was rebuked by Jesus, who admonished, "Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword." 

Jesus was brought before the Jewish high priests of the trial. When questioned, he said very little, but confirmed that he was the Messiah. He was then sentenced worthy of death for blasphemy and handed over to the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, for punishment. Although reluctant to condemn Jesus for reasons not entirely clear, Pilate sentenced Jesus to death after pressure from the mob who had gathered. According to Matthew, when Judas learned of the sentence, threw silver coins into the temple and hanged himself.

Jesus was brutally beaten, dressed in a mock-royal purple robe and crown of thorns, and then executed by crucifixion on Golgotha (The Place of the Skull). This method of execution, apparently a Roman invention, resulted in nailing or tying the victim's hands and feet to a wooden cross. It produced a slow, painful death by suffocation. 

Gospels report that only Jesus' mother and a handful of female disciples were present during the performance. Jesus suffered on the cross for six hours before finally screams: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" and breathing his last. Gospels of Matthew and Mark report extraordinary events in Jesus' death - the whole country went dark, there was a great earthquake, the temple curtain was torn in half, and some recent death came back to life.

The Empty Tomb:

Jesus' body was taken down from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea, and placed in a tomb carved into the rock. Again, Jesus' mother, and one or two other women were the only ones present. (12) The same devoted women came to the grave the following Sunday morning to anoint his body with spices. When they arrived, they were surprised to find the stone covering the entrance to the tomb was rolled away and the tomb was empty. 

The four Gospels vary somewhat in their reports what happened next, but all generally agree that the women told the other disciples, but their story was not believed. But the Risen Jesus later appeared to the disciples, where he went through a locked door, however, indicated that he was not a ghost at the table, and being touched. He made several other appearances among different groups before ascending to heaven. 

Resurrection of Christ by Giovanni Bellini. Jesus' resurrection is central to the early church. Historically, it may be impossible to determine what happened or what the disciples actually experienced, but one thing is certain - they sincerely believed from the outset that Jesus was raised from the dead.

All four gospels give an account of the resurrection. In Acts, preached the central message that the apostles are Christ's resurrection. In his first letter to the Corinthians, which dates to as early as 55 AD, Paul writes that the resurrection is of "first importance" and that "if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. " 

The belief that Jesus' resurrection make it possible for people to have peace with God in this life and meet a favorable end of the next was a major source of the incredible courage of the early Christian martyrs.