I | INTRODUCTION |
Jesus
Christ (between 8 and 4 bc-ad 29?), the central figure of
Christianity, born in Bethlehem in Judea. The chronology of the Christian era is
reckoned from a 6th-century dating of the year of his birth, which is now
recognized as being from four to eight years in error. Christians traditionally
regard Jesus as the incarnate Son of God, and as having been divinely conceived
by Mary, the wife of Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth. The name Jesus is derived
from a Greek rendering of the Hebrew name Joshua, or in full Yehoshuah (Yahweh
is deliverance). The title Christ is derived from the Greek christos, a
translation of the Hebrew mashiakh (anointed one), or Messiah. “Christ”
was used by Jesus' early followers, who regarded him as the promised deliverer
of Israel and later was made part of Jesus' proper name by the church, which
regards him as the redeemer of all humanity.
The principal sources of information concerning
Jesus' life are the Gospels, written in the latter half of the 1st century as
the generation that had known Jesus firsthand began to die. The Epistles of
Saint Paul and the Acts of the Apostles also contain information about Jesus.
The scantiness of additional source material and the theological nature of
biblical records caused some 19th-century biblical scholars to doubt his
historical existence. Others, interpreting the available sources in a variety of
ways, produced biographies of Jesus in which his life was purged of all
supernatural elements. Today, scholars generally agree that Jesus was a
historical figure whose existence is authenticated both by Christian writers and
by several Roman and Jewish historians.
II | BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE |
Two of the Gospels, those of Saint Matthew and
Saint Luke, provide information about Jesus' birth and childhood. They also
provide genealogies tracing Jesus' descent through the Hebrew patriarch Abraham
and the 10th-century bc king David
(Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38). Presumably, the genealogies are offered as proof
of Jesus' messiahship. According to Matthew (1:18-25) and Luke (1:1-2:20), Jesus
was miraculously conceived by his mother. He was born in Bethlehem, where Joseph
and Mary had gone to comply with the Roman edict of enrollment for the census.
Matthew alone (2:13-23) describes the flight into Egypt, when Joseph and Mary
took the child out of reach of the Judean king Herod the Great. Only Luke
relates the compliance of Joseph and Mary with the Jewish law, which required
circumcision and presentation of the firstborn son at the Temple in Jerusalem
(2:21-24). Luke also describes their later journey (2:41-51) with the young
Jesus to the Temple for the Passover feast. The Gospels mention nothing
concerning Jesus from the time he was 12 years old until the time he began his
public ministry, about 18 years later. See Matthew, Gospel According to;
Luke, Gospel According to.
III | BEGINNING OF HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY |
All three Synoptic Gospels (the first three
Gospels, so called because they present a similar overall view of the life of
Christ) record Jesus' public ministry as beginning after the imprisonment of
John the Baptist, and as lasting for about one year (See also Mark,
Gospel According to). The Gospel According to John describes it as beginning
with the choosing of his first disciples (1:40-51), and as lasting for perhaps
three years.
The account of the public ministry and
immediately preceding events is generally the same in the Synoptic Gospels. Each
describes the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Each
reports that after the baptism Jesus retired to the neighboring wilderness for a
40-day period of fasting and meditation. All three synoptists mention that in
this period, which some biblical scholars view as a time of ritual preparation,
the devil, or Satan, tried to tempt Jesus. Matthew (4:3-9) and Luke (4:3-12) add
descriptions of the temptations to which Jesus was subjected.
After Jesus' baptism and retirement in the
wilderness, he returned to Galilee, visited his home in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30),
where his fellow Nazarenes objected to him, and then moved to Capernaum and
began teaching there. About this time, according to the synoptists, Jesus called
his first disciples, “Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother” (Matthew
4:18) and “James the son of Zebedee and John his brother” (Matthew 4:21). Later,
as his followers increased in number, Jesus selected 12 disciples to work with
him (see Apostle).
IV | GROWTH OF JESUS' FOLLOWING |
Using Capernaum as a base, Jesus, accompanied
by his 12 chosen disciples, traveled to neighboring towns and villages,
proclaiming the advent of the kingdom of God, as had many of the Hebrew prophets
before him. When the sick and infirm asked help from him, he sought to heal them
by divine power. He stressed the infinite love of God for the humble and weak,
and he promised pardon and eternal life in heaven to the most hardened sinners,
provided their repentance was sincere. The essence of these teachings is
presented in Matthew 5:1-7:27, in the Sermon on the Mount, containing the
Beatitudes (5:3-12) and the Lord's Prayer (6:9-13). Jesus' emphasis on moral
sincerity rather than strict adherence to religious ritual incurred the enmity
of the Pharisees, who feared that his teachings might lead to disregard for the
authority of the Law, or Torah. Others feared that Jesus' activities and
followers might prejudice the Roman authorities against any restoration of the
Davidic monarchy.
Despite this growing opposition, Jesus'
popularity increased, especially among social outcasts and the oppressed.
Eventually, the enthusiasm of his followers led them to make an attempt to “take
him by force, to make him king” (John 6:15). Jesus, however, frustrated this
attempt, withdrawing with his disciples by ship over the Sea of Galilee (Lake
Tiberias) to Capernaum (John 6:15-21). In Capernaum, he delivered a discourse in
which he proclaimed himself “the bread of life” (John 6:35). This discourse,
emphasizing spiritual communion with God, bewildered many in his audience. They
thought the discourse a “hard saying” (John 6:60), and thereupon they “drew back
and no longer went about with him” (John 6:66).
Jesus then divided his time between travels to
cities in and outside the province of Galilee and periods of retreat with his
disciples in Bethany (Mark 11:11-12) and Ephraim (John 11:54), two villages near
Jerusalem. The synoptists generally agree that Jesus spent most of his time in
Galilee, but John centers Jesus' public ministry in the province of Judea,
reporting that Jesus made numerous visits to Jerusalem. According to John, his
discourses and the miracles he performed at this time—particularly the raising
of Lazarus in Bethany (John 11:1-44)—made many people believe in him (John
11:45). The most significant moment in Jesus' public ministry, however, was
Simon Peter's realization at Caesarea Philippi that Jesus was the Christ
(Matthew 16:16; Mark 8:29; Luke 9:20), although, according to the synoptic
Gospels, Jesus had not previously revealed this to Peter or the other disciples.
This revelation, and the subsequent prediction by Jesus of his death and
resurrection, the conditions of discipleship that he laid down, and his
transfiguration (at which time a voice from heaven was heard proclaiming Jesus
to be the Son of God, thus confirming the revelation) are the primary authority
for the claims and historical work of the Christian church. (Explicit
authorization by Jesus is recorded in Matthew 16:17-19.)
V | THE LAST DAYS |
On the approach of Passover, Jesus traveled
toward Jerusalem for the last time. (John mentions numerous trips to Jerusalem
and more than one Passover, whereas the synoptists roughly divide the public
ministry into a Galilean section and a Judean section and record one Passover,
which came after Jesus left Galilee for Judea and Jerusalem.) On the Sunday
before the Passover, Jesus entered Jerusalem, where he was met by crowds of
people who acclaimed him enthusiastically. There (on Monday and Tuesday,
according to the synoptists), he drove from the Temple the traders and
moneychangers who, by long-established custom, had been allowed to transact
business in the outer court (Mark 11:15-19), and he disputed with the chief
priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees questions about his
authority, tribute to Caesar, and the resurrection. On Tuesday, Jesus also
revealed to his disciples the signs that would usher in his Parousia, or second
coming. See Second Coming.
On Wednesday, while Jesus was in Bethany, a
woman anointed his head with a costly ointment. Jesus interpreted this act as a
symbolic preparation for his burial (Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9). Meanwhile,
in Jerusalem, the priests and scribes, concerned that Jesus' activities would
turn the Romans against them and the Jewish people (John 11:48), conspired with
Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, to arrest and kill Jesus by stealth, “for
they feared the people” (Luke 22:2). John 11:47-53 places the conspiracy before
Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. On Thursday, Jesus ate the Passover
supper with his disciples and during the meal referred to his imminent betrayal
and death as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity. In blessing the unleavened
bread and wine during the Passover services, he called the bread his body and
the wine his “blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the
forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:27), and he bid the disciples partake of each.
This ritual, the Eucharist, has been repeated by Christians ever since and has
become the central act of worship in the Christian church.
After the meal Jesus and his disciples went to
the Mount of Olives, where, according to Matthew (26:30-32) and Mark (14:26-28),
Jesus predicted his resurrection. Knowing then that the hour of his death was
near, Jesus retired to the Garden of Gethsemane, where, “being in agony” (Luke
22:44), he meditated and prayed. A crowd sent by the religious authorities, and
led by Judas Iscariot, arrested him in Gethsemane.
VI | TRIAL AND CRUCIFIXION |
According to John (18:13-24), Jesus was
brought after his arrest to Annas, the father-in-law of the high priest
Caiaphas, for a preliminary examination. The synoptists make no mention of this
incident: They report only that Jesus was taken to a meeting of the supreme
council of the Jews, the Sanhedrin. At the council meeting, Caiaphas asked Jesus
to declare whether he was “the Christ, the Son of God” (Matthew 26:63). Upon his
affirmation (Mark 14:62), the council condemned Jesus to death for blasphemy.
Only the Roman procurator, however, was empowered to impose capital punishment,
and so, on Friday morning, Jesus was taken before the procurator, Pontius
Pilate, for sentencing. Before pronouncing judgment, Pilate asked him if he was
the king of the Jews, and Jesus replied, “You have said so” (Mark 15:2).
Thereafter, Pilate tried several expedients to save Jesus before ultimately
leaving the decision to the crowd that gathered. When the crowd insisted on his
death, Pilate ordered him executed (Matthew 27:24). (Pilate's role in the death
of Jesus continues to be debated by historians. The early church tended to place
a majority of the blame on the Jews and to deal less harshly with Pilate.)
Jesus was taken to Golgotha and executed by
crucifixion, the Roman punishment for political offenders and criminals. Two
robbers were crucified also, one on each side of him. On the cross, above Jesus'
head, “they put the charge against him, which read ‘This is Jesus the King of
the Jews’” (Matthew 27:37). Late in the day, his body was taken down, and
because of the approach of the Sabbath, when burial was not permitted, it was
hastily laid in a nearby tomb by Joseph of Arimathea. (John 19:39-42 relates
that Joseph was assisted by Nicodemus.)
VII | THE RESURRECTION |
Early on the following Sunday, “Mary
Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James” (Mark 16:1), going to the tomb to
anoint Jesus' body for burial, found the tomb empty. (Matthew 28:2 reports that
an angel appeared after an earthquake and rolled back the stone.) Inside the
tomb, “a young man” (Mark 16:5) clothed in white announced to them that Jesus
had risen. (This news is announced by the angel in Matthew 28:5-6 and by two men
“in dazzling apparel” in Luke 24:4. According to John 21:11-18, Mary Magdalene
saw two angels and then the risen Christ.) Later on the same day, according to
Luke, John, and Mark, Jesus appeared to the women and to other of the disciples
at various locations in and around Jerusalem. Most of the disciples did not
doubt that they had again seen and heard the master they had known and followed
during the time of his ministry in Galilee and Judea. A few disciples, however,
doubted it at first (Matthew 28:17). Thomas, who had not been present at these
first appearances, also doubted that Jesus had risen (John 20:24-29). As
recorded in the New Testament, the Resurrection became one of the most
compelling doctrines of Christianity, because, according to this doctrine, by
rising from the dead, Jesus gave humanity hope of a life after death.
All the Gospels add that, for a brief time
after his resurrection, Jesus further instructed his disciples in matters
pertaining to the kingdom of God. He also commissioned them to “Go ... and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Finally, according to Luke
(24:50-51), at Bethany Jesus was seen to ascend into the heavens by his
disciples. Acts 1:2-12 reports that the ascension occurred 40 days after Jesus'
resurrection. The doctrines that Jesus expounded and those concerning him were
subsequently developed into the principal tenets of Christian theology.
VIII | THEOLOGY |
The life and teachings of Jesus were often
matters for dispute and varying interpretation in Christian history. Early in
the life of the church, for example, it became necessary to regularize beliefs
about Jesus and his role, to aid in conversion and to answer those Christians
who adopted views unacceptable to church leaders. For discussion of some of
these questions, see such separate entries as Christology; Incarnation; Trinity.
Traditions later coalesced around various events in the life of Christ.
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