Jesus

Jesus (Greek: Ἰησοῦς Iēsoûs), also known as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ, is Christianity's central figure, both as Messiah and, for most Christians, as God incarnate. In Islam he is regarded as a very important prophet.

Life and teachings

According to the texts of Christianity, Jesus was born in Bethlehem to Mary, a virgin, via the Holy Spirit. Joseph, Mary's betrothed husband, appears only in stories of Jesus' childhood; this is generally taken to mean that he was dead by the time of Jesus' ministry. In the Gospels, Jesus' birth is attended by visits from shepherds who were told of the birth by angels. Magi ("Wise Men") from the East were guided by a star to his location some months later.

Related Topics:
Bethlehem - Mary - Virgin - Holy Spirit - Joseph - Magi

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Mark 6:3 (and analogous passages in Matthew and Luke) reports that Jesus was "Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon," and also states that Jesus had sisters. The 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus and the Christian historian Eusebius (who wrote in the 4th century but quoted much earlier sources now unavailable to us) refer to James the Just as Jesus' brother (See Desposyni). However, Jerome argued that they were Jesus' cousins, which the Greek word for "brother" used in the Gospels would allow. This was based on the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox tradition that Mary remained a perpetual virgin, thus having no biological children before or after Jesus. Luke's Gospel records that Mary was a relative of Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist (Luke 1:36). The Bible, however, does not exactly reveal how Mary and Elizabeth were related.

Related Topics:
Mary - Josephus - Eusebius - 4th century - James the Just - Desposyni - Jerome - Roman Catholic - Eastern Orthodox - John the Baptist

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Nazareth in Galilee is represented as his childhood home. Only one incident between his infancy and his adult life is mentioned in the canonical Gospels (although New Testament apocrypha go into these details, some quite extensively). At the age of twelve, Jesus was left behind by his parents after a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. On being missed, he was found "instructing the scholars in the temple".

Related Topics:
Nazareth - Galilee - New Testament apocrypha

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Just after he was baptized by John the Baptist he began his public teaching; he is generally considered to have been about thirty years old at that time. Jesus used a variety of methods in his teaching, such as paradox, metaphor and parable. His teaching frequently centered on the Kingdom of God, or Kingdom of Heaven. Some of his most famous teachings are in the Sermon on the Mount, which also contains the Beatitudes. His parables (or stories with a hidden meaning) include the parable of the Good Samaritan, and the Prodigal Son. Jesus had a number of disciples. His closest followers were twelve apostles, headed by Peter. According to the New Testament, Jesus also performed various miracles in the course of his ministry, including healings, exorcisms, and raising Lazarus from the dead.

Related Topics:
Baptized - John the Baptist - Paradox - Metaphor - Parable - Sermon on the Mount - Beatitudes - Good Samaritan - Prodigal Son - Disciples - Apostle - Peter - Miracles - Exorcism - Lazarus

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Jesus frequently put himself in opposition to the Jewish religious leaders including the opposing forces of Sadducees and Pharisees. His teaching castigated the Pharisees primarily for their legalism and hypocrisy, although he also had followers among the religious leaders (see Nicodemus). In his role as a social reformer, and with his followers holding the inflammatory view that he was the Jewish Messiah, Jesus threatened the status quo.

Related Topics:
Sadducee - Pharisees - Legalism - Nicodemus - Jewish Messiah - Status quo

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Jesus preachings included the forgiveness of sin, life after death, and resurrection of the body. Jesus also preached the imminent end of the current era (αίών) of history, or even the literal end of the world; in this sense he was an apocalyptic preacher. Some interpretations of the text, particularly amongst Protestants, suggest that Jesus opposed stringent interpretations of Jewish law, supporting the spirit more than the letter.

Related Topics:
Apocalyptic - Protestant - Jewish law

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It is commonly thought that Jesus preached for a period of three years, but this is never mentioned explicitly in any of the Gospels. However, many interpretations of the Synoptic Gospels suggest a span of only one year, and to achieve consistency with the Gospel of John, one theory suggests that the last Gospel describes a timeline which depicts a ministry time period of approximately one year.

Related Topics:
Synoptic Gospels - Gospel of John

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Arrest and trial

Jesus came with his followers to Jerusalem during the Passover festival, and created a disturbance at the Temple by overturning the tables of the moneychangers there. He was subsequently arrested on the orders of the Sanhedrin and the High Priest, Joseph Caiaphas. He was identified to the guards by one of his apostles, Judas Iscariot, who is portrayed as having betrayed Jesus by a kiss.

Related Topics:
Passover - Temple - Sanhedrin - Joseph Caiaphas - Judas Iscariot

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He was condemned for blasphemy by the Sanhedrin and turned over to the Romans for execution—not for blasphemy, but for sedition against the Empire. According to the canonical gospel accounts (Matt 27:24–26; Mark 15:15; Luke 23:24–25; John 19:16a), Pontius Pilate, bowing to the Jewish religious leaders' pressure, handed Jesus over (pared?ken) (to his Roman soldiers) to be crucified. Some scholars argue that it was an ordinary Roman trial of a rebel, whose Messianic claims made him especially dangerous, but the Gospels consistently paint the sedition charge as a strained treatment of Jesus' theological position, a tactic used by the Jewish religious leadership as a method to force Pilate's hand (see Barabbas). One modern suggestion is that Jesus did advocate resistance to the Roman Empire, but strictly through nonviolent means. All four Gospel accounts mention that the charge noted on the tablet called the titulus crucis, attached by orders of Pilate atop the cross, included the term "King of the Jews", though Pilate is represented as having found nothing inherently seditious in Jesus' kingdom conception. In art the titulus crucis is often written as INRI, the Latin acronym for "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews."

Related Topics:
Blasphemy - Romans - Sedition - Pontius Pilate - Barabbas - INRI - Latin

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Following the crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathea obtained Pilate's permission to take down Jesus' body and lay it into his own new tomb. This was observed by Mary and other women, notably Mary Magdalene.

Related Topics:
Joseph of Arimathea - Mary Magdalene

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Resurrection and Ascension

In accordance with the four canonical Gospel accounts Christians believe that Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. This article of faith is referred to in Christian terminology as the Resurrection of Jesus Christ; and each year at Easter (on a Sunday) it is commemorated and celebrated by most groups who consider themselves Christians.

Related Topics:
Christian - Crucifixion - Resurrection of Jesus Christ - Easter - Sunday

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No one was a witness to the event of the alleged resurrection. However, the women who had witnessed the entombment and the closure of the tomb with a great stone, found it empty when they arrived on the third day to anoint the body. The Synoptic Gospel accounts further state that an angel was waiting at the tomb to explain to them that Jesus had been resurrected, though the Gospel according to John makes no mention of this encounter. The sight of the same angel had apparently left the guards unconscious (cf. Matt 28:2–4) that according to Matthew 27:62–66 the high priests and Pharisees, with Pilate's permission, had posted in front of the tomb to prevent the body from being stolen by Jesus' disciples. Mark 16:9 says that Mary Magdalene was the first to whom Jesus appeared very early that morning. John 20:11–18 states that when Mary looked into the tomb, two angels asked her why she was crying; and as she turned round she initially failed to recognize Jesus—even by his voice—until he called her by her name. The Gospel accounts and the Acts of the Apostles tell of several appearances of Jesus to various people in various places over a period of forty days before he "ascended into heaven". Just hours after his resurrection he appeared to two travelers on the road to Emmaus. To his assembled disciples he showed himself on the evening after his resurrection, when Thomas was however absent, though he was present when Jesus repeated his visit to them a week later. Thereafter he went to Galilee and showed himself to several of his disciples by the lake and on the mountain; and they were present when he returned to Bethany and was lifted up and a cloud concealed him from their sight.

Related Topics:
Resurrection - Anoint - Acts of the Apostles - Emmaus - Thomas - Galilee - Bethany

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The resurrection of Jesus is almost universally denied by those who do not follow the Christian religion. Most Christians—even those who do not hold to the literal truth of everything in the canonical Gospel accounts—accept the New Testament presentation of the Resurrection as a historical account of an actual event central to their faith. Therefore, belief in the resurrection is one of the most distinctive elements of Christian faith; and defending the historicity of the resurrection is usually a central issue of Christian apologetics. However, some liberal Christians do not accept that Jesus was raised bodily from the dead, or that he still lives bodily (e.g., John Shelby Spong).

Related Topics:
New Testament - Historical - Faith - Historicity of the resurrection - Christian apologetics - Liberal Christian - John Shelby Spong

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Preparation of apostles

According to most Christian interpretations of the Bible, the theme of Jesus' preaching was that of apocalyptic repentance. During his public ministry Jesus extensively trained twelve Apostles to continue after his departure his leadership of the many who had begun to follow him mainly in the towns and villages throughout Galilee, Samaria, and the Decapolis. Most Christians who hold that Jesus' miracles were literally true, not allegory, think that the Apostles gained the power to perform healing for both Jews and Gentiles alike after they had been empowered by the Holy Spirit of Truth (to pneuma t?s al?theias, John 14:17, 26; Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8, 2:4) that he had promised the Father would send them after his departure—a promise that according to Acts 2:4 was fulfilled at Pentecost, poignantly the Jewish feast that, in addition to other Scriptural events, commemorates also the giving of the Law to Moses. {{ref|JewishEncyclopedia}}

Related Topics:
Bible - Apocalyptic - Repentance - Apostle - Samaria - Decapolis - Jews - Gentiles - Holy Spirit - Pentecost - Law - Moses

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