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4. THE FORMATION OF CHRISTENDOM

JESUS:  THE ANOINTED ONE ("MESSIAH"
OR "CHRIST")

CONTENTS

Jesus and Christianity – not exactly the
        same thing

Jesus's early life

Jesus's ministry

His death and resurrection

The textual material on this webpage is drawn directly from my work A Moral History of Western Society © 2024, Volume One, pages 128-132.

JESUS AND CHRISTIANITY – NOT EXACTLY THE SAME THING

A word of caution.  It is important to note up front that the Christianity that Jesus founded and what has come down to us two thousand years later as Christianity are not necessarily the same thing.  Over the centuries, the simple Christian faith that Jesus founded evolved into a formal religion, complete with doctrine, offices, rituals, etc. … which have very much changed the character of Christianity since its early days.  Also, different cultural and political influences have profoundly impacted the Christian faith – giving it not only a very much more complex character than it had at its founding but also a huge variation in how that faith has taken on different shapes and behaviors across the world.

JESUS'S EARLY LIFE

Jesus's birth

When was Jesus born?  A medieval monk five centuries after Christ sat down and counted the years back from his time to the time he felt that Jesus had to have been born – and that then became to him and to the Christian world since then, "Year One."  But more recent scholarship has shown that he miscalculated a bit, for Herod died several years before this Year One – and if Jesus had been born before Herod died (as Matthew tells us) then Jesus might have been born 4 or 5 years prior to Year One.  Close enough!

In the four Christian gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – that open the Christian "New Testament" of the Bible, we have a very comprehensive reporting on Jesus and his ministry.  However, two of those gospels, Mark and John - the earliest, Mark, and then the latest, John, of the four in terms of when they were written – jump straight to the beginning of Jesus' ministry as an approximately 30-year-old, skipping the part relating to his birth and early development.  For that, we have to rely on Matthew and Luke.  Their narratives on this matter vary somewhat … due to the purpose behind their composition in the first place.

Matthew, focused on answering the Jewish question about the Christian claim that Jesus was indeed the Jewish long-awaited Messiah, starts with a long genealogy, tracing Jesus's roots back to the Davidic Kingship … then brings the narrative up to the times of Herod, Jesus's birth in Bethlehem, the visit to the baby Jesus of the Wise Men from the East (Zoroastrians, most likely), the jealousy of Herod in hearing of this visit to the newly born future Jewish "king" … and the angelic-inspired escape of Jesus's parents, Mary and Joseph, to Egypt to avoid the slaughter Herod enacted upon the male babies of Bethlehem in his effort to kill off any such potential "king."  Eventually Mary, Joseph and Jesus return to Judea … but to Galilean Nazareth, where Jesus grows up as presumably a carpenter alongside his father.

Luke seems to be addressing more of a Greco-Roman audience … and starts the story off with the miraculous conception by the unmarried and thus virgin Mary of a child, fathered not by man but by the Spirit of God.  Graciously, her fiancé Joseph accepts Mary's strange pregnancy and marries her.  But while still pregnant, a decree by Caesar Augustus goes out to have all citizens of the Empire report to their ancestral birthplaces to be counted (a tax-focused census).  This brings Joseph and the pregnant Mary to Bethlehem, where Jesus is born … and visited by shepherds made aware of the birth by a heavenly host of angels (the eventual visit of the Wise Men is not mentioned in Luke).  When the baby Jesus was then brought to Jerusalem for dedication, Jesus is confirmed by the "righteous and devout" Simeon and the prophetess Anna to be the long-awaited Messiah or Christ (Anointed One).  Luke then adds the story of a later visit to Jerusalem by Joseph and Mary and their 12-year-old son, Jesus … who departs company from his parents to find himself in amazing discourse with Jerusalem's rabbis… or as Jesus put things, to be in his "Father's (God's) house."

The Birth and Early Life of Christ in pictures

Mary was a very young woman engaged to be married to Joseph, a carpenter in Nazareth ... when an angel appeared to her and announced her forthcoming pregnancy - to a very startled Mary ... who was not yet married.  (Luke 1:26-33)

Meanwhile Joseph, who, at the news of Mary's pregnancy, had planned to quietly end the engagement, was instead informned by an angel in a dream to go ahead with the marriage ... because the baby she bore was conceived by no man but by the Holy Spirit.  And he did as he was instructed to do. (Matthew 1:18-24)

In that same conversation the very startled Mary had with the angel, she too was informed that the pregnancy would be an act of God himself ... so that she might give birth to the much awaited "Son of God.  To confirm such an unbelievable miracle, she was directed to note that her aged cousin, Elizabeth, had conceived a son by her husband, Zechariah, a high priest ... at time in which she was assumed to be barren.  "For nothing is impossible with God."
Luke 1:34-38



Mary hurried to Judea to see this miracle of Elizabeth's (already 6 months along in her pregnancy).  When Mary arrived  ... as her own baby leaped in her own womb at Mary's greeting ... and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.  And instead of shame at the unwed pregnancy, worship of God and his graciousness became the motif of their meeting.  Mary would subsequently remain with Elizabeth for three months.  When Elizabeth's baby was born Elizabeth  named her child John ... at which point her husband Zechariah suddenly found himself delivered from his inability to speak (ongoing since the announcement of Elizabeth's own pregnancy).  Everyone was astounded at the miraculous recovery ... and Zechariah began to prophesy about his child ... who would one day become a great prophet (the future John the Baptist, in fact).
Luke 1:39-80



Around that time, Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus Caesar orders that a census be taken of the entire Empire.
Luke2:1-3



... forcing Joseph and his very pregnant wife Mary to leave their home in Nazareth
 and journey to Bethlehem ... their legal homeland by origin.
Luke 2:5



But with all the commotion caused by Caesar's decree, they arrive in Bethlehem only to be told that there was no room at the inn.  But ... they could bed down in the stable (a cave actually).
Luke 2:7

And there Mary gave birth to the baby they named Jesus (Yeshua "He saves")
Matthew 1:25



At the same time, shepherds out in the fields watching their flock were shocked to be told by angels about the birth.
Luke 2:8-14



... and understood that they were to visit Bethlehem to see this miracle.
Luke 2:15-20



Then when the baby was just eight days old, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to circumcize him and to present him to the Lord. At the temple they encountered Simeon, who had received word from the Holy Spirit that he would not die before seeing the Lord's Christ (Anointed One).  When he saw Jesus, he knew that the promise was being fulfilled.  At the same time the prophetess Anna came to them ... speaking also about Jesus as being the one whom all were expecting to redeem Jerusalem.
Luke 2:21-39



Then at some point in the child's early development, wise men (most likely Zoroastrian priests) saw a brilliant star that indicated that a king had been born in Judea ... and came there from the East to worship him.  In their asking around for information about such an event in Jerusalem, word got back to king Herod about the wise men and their search for this new king ... disturbing Herod greatly.  When Herod inquired of the Jewish priests what they knew of such an event, they told him that long ago just such a king had been prophesied ... to be born in Bethlehem.  So Herod called the visiting wise men, asked them to go find the child, and then report back to him ... so that he also could worship the new king.

Indeed, the wise men did find the Christ child ... and worshiped him with gold, incense and myrrh.
Matthew 2:1-11

But they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod ... but to return home by a different route.  Also an angel appeared to Joseph and told him to take Mary and Jesus and escape to Egypt ... because Herod intended to kill their child.  They were to remain there until Herod should die.  
Matthew 2:12-15 



When Herod realized he had been tricked by the wise men, he was furious ... and ordered the slaughter of all boys in Bethlehem aged two and under. 
Matthew 2:16-17



After Herod had died [sometime between 4 and 1 BC], an angel informed them that they were to return home to Israel  ... taking residence in Nazareth.
Matthew 2:19-23


Young Jesus in a discussion with the elders at the Temple



Young Jesus as a carpenter
JESUS'S MINISTRY

Jesus's early ministry

From Matthew, Mark and Luke – writers of the "Synoptic" Gospels … meaning, seen through the same eyes or perspective – we get a picture of Jesus's ministry that seems to follow a fairly closely scripted scenario:  Jesus's ministry lasted only a single year, in and around Galilee – and his journey to Jerusalem was the closing of that ministry.

However from John, we get the idea that Jesus's ministry lasted over two and possibly as many as three years – on the basis of his many trips to Jerusalem to be present at the important Jewish festivals.

All four gospels point to the start of Jesus's ministry at a time when the appearance of the Messiah was strongly expected.  John the Baptist was preaching a baptism-based repentance at the time … with many wondering if John might be the Messiah.  But John affirmed that he was not – but announced that the Messiah was coming.  Then when Jesus came to be baptized by John, John found the opportunity to testify that it was indeed Jesus who filled that Messianic role … as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.   This was confirmed by John then seeing the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus "like a dove."   Thus God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit completed the "Trinitarian" power in that all-important baptismal moment.
 
Matthew, Mark and Luke mention – as the follow-up to Jesus's baptism – Satan's wilderness testing of Jesus ... to see if Jesus could be seduced into following the agenda of the quite unspiritual world around him.  Despite his "forty days" of fasting, Jesus stood firm in his commitment to follow only the instructions of scripture:  to worship and serve God alone, not human ambition.

In his follow up to this episode, Luke tells of Jesus's early ministry to an amazed public ... but also a conflict in Nazareth over serving God versus serving the religious expectations of his own hometown folks – just to drive this point home.  
Jesus then began to assemble a special group of followers, the twelve disciples … men of quite ordinary social status – a number of them simply fishermen.  None of these were Biblical scholars or persons of high religious standing ... because Jesus's ministry was not about high theology, but was about the spiritual salvation of the people – the rich and the poor alike.
Jesus's miracles

At this point begin the numerous miraculous healings and other miraculous events … such as the changing of vats of water into wine, the stilling of the storm, the feeding of the 5,000, even the raising of the dead.  These were designed not only to demonstrate that Jesus indeed had the power of God with him … but also to make even clearer and stronger the messages or teachings that Jesus understood himself called to deliver.  Indeed, the gospel of Mark is a running account of a huge number of miracles … and the gospel of John uses a select number of miracles to illustrate the various aspects of Jesus's teachings.
Jesus's teachings

Actually, Jesus taught as much by example as he did by words or speeches … especially since the heart of his message, his Good News or gospel, was that it was faith in God, not the works of our hands – no matter how "good" those might be – that God wanted to see coming from us.  And faith is more than just excellent ideas brought forward in great oral discourses.  It is instilled or inspired by personal example in the face of life's many challenges.  Thus Jesus's miracles as the demonstration of the power of authentic faith were key elements of his teachings.

And these miracles were truly amazing ... giving cripples the power to walk again, healing lepers, giving sight to the blind ... and even bringing the well-dead back to life.  His disciples were also amazed to see him walk on water to come to their boat ... and he could stop storms with a simple command.  Jesus was not a show off.  He was only illustrating what could be achieved simply by full faith in the Heavenly Father.

And that faith was directed to a loving God, a Father in heaven – whom Jesus called "Abba" … a child's name for its "Daddy."  Of course such personal familiarity with the mighty Yahweh of Heaven was considered highly scandalous by proper, or orthodox Jews.
 
In fact, pretty much everything Jesus did was scandalous to the Pharisees and their orthodox followers … for it was clear to Jesus that the Law that the Pharisees tried religiously to live by was simply summed up for Jesus as the Law of Love … love of God and the love we have for each other.  Religious ritual seemed to be of little importance to Jesus.

And that Law of Love even carried to the point of forgiving the unforgivable … because if unforgiveness was the law of life, then God himself would find good cause to destroy all of us.  None of us are perfect.  Thus, when the religious Jews tried to set a moral trap for Jesus … by bringing before him a woman caught in adultery – to test Jesus to see if his "forgiveness" would lead him to break the Law of Moses on such a taboo matter – Jesus turned the tables against them by inviting the person who was without sin to cast the first stone in their punishment of the woman.  The wise ones dropped their stones and quietly retreated … soon followed by the others.  They all knew that they too, at some point were sinners.


Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist ... beginning Jesus's ministry
Matthew 3:13-17 / Mark 1:9-11 / Luke 3:21-23 / John 1:29-33



Jesus is sent by the Holy Spirit into the Wilderness to fast ... and be tested by Satan
Matthew 4:1-11 / Luke 4:1-13 (briefly mentioned in Mark 1:12-13)



Jesus  calling his disciples ...
here telling the wearied Peter to head back out and cast his nets again
Luke 5:1-11 / Matthew 4:18-22 / Mark 3:16-20



Jesus changes water to wine at the wedding feast in Cana
John 2:1-11


Jesus preaching by the Sea of Galilee


Jesus's Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 5:1-7:29



Jesus heals the leper
Matthew 8:2-4 / Mark 1:40-45 / Luke 5:12-16


Purely by the centurion's faith in Jesus, the centurion's servant is healed
Matthew 8:5-13 / Luke 7:1-10



Jesus calms the storm
Matthew 8:23-27 / Mark 4:35-41 / Luke 8:22-25

Jesus heals the paralytic dropped by friends through the roof because of the great crowd blocking the path to Jesus.
Matthew 9:1-8 / Mark 2:1-12 / Luke 5:17-26


Jesus eating with the tax-collector Mathew ... earning Jesus the scorn of the Pharisees for "eating with tax collectors and sinners" But Jesus came to save – not the "righteous" (like the Pharisees) – but sinners.
Matthew 9:9-13


A touch of the mere hem of Jesus's robe heals the woman of her bleeding.
(from the catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter).
Matthew 9:20-22 / Mark 5:25-34 / Luke 8:43-48


Jesus's parable of the Sower and the Seed – seed falling on both good and bad ground – producing quite variable results ... like God's Word spread before the people.
Matthew 13:1-23 / Mark 4:1-20 / Luke 8:4-15


Jesus feeds the hungry 5,000 ... from 7 loaves of bread and a few fish
Matthew 14:13-21 / Mark 8:1-9 / Luke 9:12-17 / John 6:1-14


Peter trying to walk on water toward Jesus when he sees Jesus walking on the water
Matthew 14:22-34 / Mark 6:45-53 / John 6:15-21 (John does not include Peter's part in the story)

Jesus is awesomely transfigured (in company with Moses and Elijah) in sight of some of his disciples atop a mountain (Mount Tabor?)
Matthew 17:1-9


Jesus inspires a rejected Samaritan woman at the well
John 4:4-26


Jesus heals the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda
John 5:1-18



Jesus teaching in the Temple courts (irritating the Pharisees enormously)
John 7:14-53

Jesus ... turning the accusations against the woman caught in adultery back on her accusers (themselves not free from sin either).
John 8:1-20



Jesus ... the Good Shepherd who promises to give full care to his flock ... even lay down his life for his sheep.
John 10:1-21


Jesus raises his friend Lazarus from the grave
John 11:1-44<

HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION

Jesus's atonement for all human sin on the Roman cross

But this ultimately was the reason for Jesus's appearance among us … to indeed be what John the Baptist called Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the earth.  Jesus would be a guilt-offering by God himself for human sin … all human sin – provided that by faith we took up that freely offered gift.  Sadly, as with all Jewish sacrifices of "atonement" designed to wash away our sins, a blood-offering was required.  But no birds, no lambs, no oxen would be offered in sacrifice.  What would be offered at the altar would be the blood of God's own Son, Jesus.  That was more – much, much more – atonement than that secured by the Jews at their altar's offerings of animal blood.  Those animal offerings supposedly cleansed a person only for the sins of the previous year.  Jesus's blood offering would atone for all sins, for all people, for all times … so deeply desirous was God to bring us back in full union with him, one that would last for all eternity.

But the sacrifice was not to be made at a Temple altar … but on the most humiliating of means of torture and death – the Roman cross.  Jesus himself was aware that this was where his ministry was ultimately headed … finding his disciples, especially the straightforward Peter, in no mood to see this happen.  But at the time, this act of atonement by Jesus was way beyond their understanding.

And thus it happened … during the Jewish celebration of the Passover.  Jesus was arrested and brought before the Roman governor, Pilate … who actually did not understand why the Jewish authorities were so fully committed to ending Jesus's life.  Most ironically, these Jews were themselves not understanding that, unknowingly acting as agents of Satan in bringing down this Son of God, they were indeed conducting the most important atoning sacrifice ever!  Finally, bowing to Jewish pressure, Pilate went ahead with Jesus's crucifixion (death on a cross).
The resurrected Lord

But imagine the shock when some women came to the tomb a couple of days later – only to find the tomb empty.  Then when the disciples heard the news, they too came to inspect things.  When they returned to their upper room (trying to stay away from the authorities that most likely would be looking for them as followers of Jesus), first one of his women followers, then the majority of his disciples found themselves encountered by a "risen Lord."  This crazy encounter hit them deeply.  Then over the following days, there were more appearances (Paul said as many as 500 individuals encountered the risen Lord … as well as later Paul himself did).  This was such a testimony of the power of heaven to shape life.
 
But there was more to come.  After a 40-day period of such encounters, Jesus gathered his disciples, and told them to stay alert.  God's own Holy Spirit was about to come to them – and lead them forward by divine design… no longer as disciples but as apostles … ones "sent" out to spread the gospel.  And when that happened on Pentecost, Peter and the others were indeed transformed into powerful evangelists.  Christianity was about to explode out onto the Roman world!



Jesus's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday)
Matthew 21:1-11 / Mark 11:1-11 / Luke 19:28-44 / John 12:12-19


Jesus driving the money changers out of the Temple
Matthew21:12-17 / Mark 11:15-19 / Luke 19:45-48
John describes a similar incident occurring early in Jesus's ministry:  2:13-16


Jesus's Last Supper with his disciples
Matthew 26:17-30 / Mark 14:12-26 / Luke 22:7-39 / John 13:1-17:26 (or is it only to John 14:31?)


Jesus praying in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane the night of his arrest
Matthew 26:36-46 / Luke 22:39-46


Jesus' night-time arrest (directed there by his disloyal disciple Judas)
Matthew 26:46-56 / Luke 22:47-54 / John 18:1-12

Jesus brought before Annas, the former High Priest, who still controls things  ... his son-in-law Caiphas, now serving in that position, meanwhile off organizing the Sanhedrin against Jesus.
Matthew 26:57-68 / Mark 14:53-65 / Luke 22:63-65 / John 18:13-14 and 19-24


Just outside the High Priest's house, Peter denies even knowing Jesus ... when he is accused by a servant girl  of being one of Jesus's followers.  Three times he repeated the denial ... as exactly predicted by Jesus.  Peter is crushed by his own cowardly denials.
Matthew 26:69-75 / Mark 14:54 and 66-72 / Luke 22:54-62 / John 18:13-27


Jesus brought to Pilate for trial ... Jewish authorities presenting him as an insurrectionist
Matthew 27:2 and 11-26 / Mark 15:1-15 / Luke 23:1-7 and 11-25 / John 18:28-19:16


Pilate lets the mob make the final decision about Jesus


Jesus is put to death on a Roman cross ... along with two thieves (Good Friday)
Matthew 27:31-56 / Mark 15:20-40 / Luke 23:26-49 / John 19:17-37


The Resurrected Lord appears to Mary Magladen (Easter morning)
Matthew 28:1-10 / Mark 16:1-10 / Luke 24:1-12 / John 20:1-18

Jesus joins two of his saddened disciples on the road to Emmaus.   They do not recognize  Jesus ...  but narrate to him the reports of Jesus's return from the grave.  Only later do they recognize the Christ who had been with them!
Mark 16:12-13 / Luke 24:13-35


 
The Resurrected Lord appears to his disciples
Matthew 28:16-20 / Mark 16:14-20 / Luke 24:36-53 / John 20:19-31


The Resurrected Lord appears again to his disciples in Galilee
John 21:1-22

Forty days after his Resurrrection, Jesus ascends to heaven in full view of his disciples.
Acts 1:1-12


On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is sent with tongues of fire ... to commission the startled disciples to continue Jesus's ministry.
Acts 2:1-4


That same day,  Peter – empowered by God's Holy Spirit – preaches Christ's salvation
Acts 2:5-41



Go on to the next section:  The Early Church

  Miles H. Hodges