Jesus Christ

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.

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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.)

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