# Jesus

| Jesus Christ of Nazareth |
| --- |
| The Christ Pantocrator of Saint Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai, 6th century AD |
| Born | c. 6 to 4 BC Herodian kingdom, Roman Empire |
| Died | AD 30 or 33 (aged 33 or 38) Jerusalem, Judaea, Roman Empire |
| Cause of death | Crucifixion |
| Known for | Central figure of Christianity Major prophet in Islam and Druze Faith Manifestation of God in Baháʼí Faith |
| Parents | * Mary
* God
* Joseph (Adoptive father)
 |

This painting shows Jesus in the center at the Last Supper. It was painted by Leonardo da Vinci between 1495 and 1498.
**Jesus** (or *Jesus Christ*, or *Jesus of Nazareth*) was a Jewish preacher and reformer of religion and the central figure of Christianity. In Christian tradition, Jesus is believed to be the Jewish Messiah mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. He is often considered one of the most famous, most recognized, and most influential people.

Most historians agree that Christian Jesus is based on a historical Jesus. They also agree that Jesus was considered a teacher in his time and that he was baptized by John the Baptist, and that he was crucified on the orders of Pontius Pilate. Christians believe that Jesus was raised by God three days after his crucifixion.

According to the canonical gospels, Jesus taught that all people should show love and forgiveness, being humble. They tell of the birth, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus, as well as the miracles he performed and his opposition to the Pharisees as hypocrites and exploiters of the law of Moses.

Jesus was arrested by the Jewish leaders who conducted a religious trial on him before handing him over to the Roman authorities to be crucified.

Several Jewish and Roman historians, including Flavius Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, and Suetonius, include Jesus in their writings. They do not record the life of Jesus, but they tell of his execution or describe conflicts between his followers and the Roman government.

Manichaeans, Gnostics, Muslims, Bahá'ís, and others have found prominent places for Jesus in their religions. Islam teaches that Jesus was a follower of Allah and a human prophet. Bahá'í teachings consider Jesus to be a "manifestation of God", a Bahá'í concept for prophets. Some Hindus believe that Jesus was an avatar or a sadhu. Some Buddhists, including Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, regard Jesus as a bodhisattva who dedicated his life to the welfare of people.

## Name

The name *Jesus* came from the Greek *Iesous*, from Hebrew *Yeshua,* meaning "Yahweh is salvation (or deliverance)." In the early first century, this was a popular name.

The words "*Christ*" and "*Messiah*" both mean the same thing. The first one comes from the Greek word "*Christos*," which means "*Anointed One*," and the last one comes from the Hebrew word "*Mashiach*," which also means "*Anointed One.*"

In Jewish tradition, the King of Israel was anointed to show that they were chosen. Hence, "Messiah" and "Christ" are also terms that mean "King of Israel" in the context of the Bible.

## Life according to the Gospels

### Birth

Matthew tells that wise men from the East came to bring precious gifts to the baby Jesus (painted by Giotto in 1300).
The Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke claim that Jesus had parents named Mary and Joseph, and that Mary was betrothed to Joseph. They say that Mary and Joseph were made aware by the angel Gabriel that Jesus was going to be the King of Israel promised to the Jewish people. When Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem, Mary gives birth to Jesus and lays him in a manger. Eight days after his birth, Jesus was circumcised.

Most Christians celebrate the day that Jesus was born, which is the Christmas holiday. The Gospels do not say what day Jesus was born, but the date of December 25 was eventually chosen because there was already a Roman holiday on that day.

### Baptism and Temptation

In the Gospels, John the Baptist knows about Jesus. When he baptizes Jesus, the Spirit of God descends upon Jesus like a dove, and a voice from heaven is heard. Then Jesus is led into the wilderness by the Spirit where he fasted and was tested by the accuser, though Jesus resisted his attempts.

Jesus went into Galilee, settled in Capernaum, and began to preach about the Kingdom of God.

### Ministry

Jesus taught in parables. He said that people should love God and love each other as the scriptures tell them to do, and he taught his followers how to pray. Jesus performed miracles as signs of God's power, such as giving hungry people food and wine, healing sick people, and raising the dead. He also set people free from evil spirits.

Jesus riding into Jerusalem is greeted by crowds of people who use their cloaks and branches to make a carpet for him (painted by Giotto, 1300).
Jesus gathered together twelve men, known as the *Twelve Apostles*, whom he chose and trained to spread his message. He had female disciples, but they could not travel far on their own because of Jewish customs.

The Bible says Jesus became famous. He went to Jerusalem, where many were visiting the city for Passover. When they heard that he was coming, they greeted him as if he was a king. They thought he would free them from the Roman rule, but Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey as a sign that he came in peace.

Jesus did certain things that upset the Pharisees. They thought that he showed disrespect for the customs that the Jews had kept for many centuries, such as the Sabbath: in the Gospel of John, when Jesus heals a crippled man lying on a mattress, he tells the man to pick up the mattress and go home, but carrying the mattress on the Sabbath was against religious custom because it was a kind of labor, so the religious leaders argued with Jesus about it. They then watched everything he did, and remembered all the things that were against the religious customs.

In the Gospel of Mark, it says that Jesus went to the Jewish temple when he arrived in Jerusalem. He became angry because there were sellers and money lenders who were cheating poor people. Jesus chased them away and accused the chief priests and scribes of turning the temple into a den of thieves because they were making money from the poor and taking away homes from poor women who had no other way to pay for the temple worship.

### Crucifixion, Burial, and Resurrection

The Gospels say that the temple leaders were angry and wanted to kill him. The Pharisees wanted to crucify him because he claimed to be the Son of God. Pontius Pilate, the governor of Roman Judea, thought that Jesus should be set free, but the Jewish leaders said: "*If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar.*"

Pilate sentenced him to death because his followers claimed that he was the king of the Jews. The Roman soldiers killed Jesus by crucifixion. He was nailed up to a high cross by his hands and feet. This was a common way for the Romans to kill rebels and criminals.

The body of Jesus was buried in a tomb that belonged to one of his followers. On the day after the Sabbath, early in the morning, women went to treat the body with spice and perfumed oil. But when they got to the tomb, the body of Jesus was missing, though they saw him alive afterward.

Some people, like the disciple Thomas, said, "*Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.*" The Bible claims that five hundred people, including Thomas, saw Jesus alive again. There are many stories in the Gospels about what Jesus did after he was resurrected.

According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus took his disciples to a hill where he blessed them and told them to spread his teaching through all the world. Then clouds came down, and he was lifted up to heaven.

Most Christians celebrate the time that the Gospels say he died and was raised from the dead as the holiday of Easter.

## The Epistles

In the New Testament, there are letters (*epistles*) written from 1st-century to the 2nd-century, though none of them were written by Jesus. Most of them were written by Paul, an apostle who used to persecute Christians but converted to Christianity after witnessing the resurrected Jesus. The ones that were written by Paul were addressed to churches and intended either to praise them for their faithfulness or to correct their mistakes.

A few of these letters, like the Epistle to Titus, probably weren't written by Paul, even though they are traditionally attributed to Paul.

There are other letters in the New Testament by other writers including Peter, James, and John, but their authorship is debated. These letters all help to build the beliefs that modern Christians have.

**See section**: Other views about Jesus

### Jesus as God in nature

This mosaic from 1100, Athens, shows Jesus as Judge of the Earth.
Whether or not Jesus is God in nature, and in what sense, has been the subject of much debate for a long time. Many Christians, including those from the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant denominations, believe that Jesus was both God in nature and Human in nature. Jesus is described in different parts of the New Testament as being "the Word," "the Son of God," and "the Son of Man," though these can all (excluding "the Word") be interpreted as different titles for the King of Israel.

These teachings, which are believed by most Christians, are not believed by many other people. The Islamic teaching is that Jesus was a human prophet, but he was not part of God or the "Son of God." In Jesus's own time, many Jews became very angry at Jesus for saying that he was the "Son of God" and also because his followers said he was the "Messiah." Most Jews do not believe this.

These Bible verses are often interpreted as supporting Trinitarianism:

*"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."* John 1:1-2, NRSVUE
*"And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth."* John 1:14, NRSVUE

"*The Father and I are one.*" John 10:30, NRSVUE
*"To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen."* Romans 9:5, NRSVUE
*"while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ."* Titus 2:13, NRSVUE
*"For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily"* Colossians 2:9, NRSVUE
Jesus is also referred to as "the Son of God".

*"but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high"* Hebrews 1:2-3, NRSVUE
*"And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life."* 1 John 5:20, NRSVUE
Many Christians believe that these verses say Jesus is God in nature, and all Christians believe that Jesus's death on the cross allows all people to be forgiven by God for their sins. Most Christians believe that if a person asks God to forgive them, he will do so, and they will get to live forever with him in heaven.

### God in human form

Jesus painted by Rembrandt, Dutch, 1600s. Rembrandt used a Jewish man as his model.
Many Christians believe that Jesus was not only truly God but also truly human, and that this was part of God's plan to bring humans closer to understanding him. People who do not have Christian beliefs have different ideas about Jesus.

Verses from the Bible:-

"*And the Word became flesh and lived among us"* John 1:14, NRSVUE
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is often called "the Son of Man," which is a Hebrew expression that just refers to a person (i.e., *son of Adam*). Matthew has borrowed these words from the Old Testament, where they are often used to show that humankind is very far from God. In the Bible, God is often praised and thanked for helping ordinary humans, who are called "sons of man." In the Book of Psalms, the Psalmist asks God: *"what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?"*

Jesus says, in the Gospel of Matthew, *"Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see 'the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven' with power and great glory."* Like the Psalmist, Jesus is making a difference between his ordinary human life and his great power as the *Son of God*.

### "The Good Shepherd"

One of the best-loved parts of the Old Testament is a song called Psalm 23. It starts:

*"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters."*
In the Gospels, Jesus often spoke about himself as being like a shepherd, caring for sheep. He called himself the "Good Shepherd" who would even give his own life, to protect his sheep. He told the Jewish people, referring to non-Jewish or *Gentile* believers, that he had "other sheep" that do not belong to this flock. (John 10:16, NRSVUE). In one of his last conversations with his disciple Peter, he told him, *"Feed my sheep!"*, in other words *"Take care of my people."*.

### "The Holy Saviour"

In Judaism, from ancient times, people are seen as sinful or bad, in need of forgiveness from God. They believed that there were two ways to get God's forgiveness, by prayer and by sacrifice. Prayer could be done anywhere, but sacrifices were done at the temple. A person would bring an animal, often a lamb, or if they were poor, a dove. They would put their hands on the animal to lay their sins on it. Then the animal would be killed, as a punishment for the sin. This type of sacrifice continued until the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 71 AD. Paying money to the temple was also a sort of sacrifice. When Jesus drove the traders out of the temple, they were the people who sold lambs and doves, and the people who exchanged Roman money into special temple money.

A broken statue of Jesus crucified, from Germany about 1000 AD
Part of Christian belief is that Jesus Christ did not just come as a human person so that he could teach a better way of life. Christians also believe that Jesus was the *ultimate* sacrifice for the sin of humankind, that Jesus is the "Saviour" who came to save. Christians believe that, unlike ordinary people, Jesus was completely pure and free from sin, but that when he died on the cross, he took on himself all the sins of every person who would believe in him, like the lamb sacrificed in the temple.

Based on the Gospel of John, the Christian teaching is that the death and resurrection of Jesus are the sign of his power to forgive the sins of any person who turns to him and truly asks for forgiveness. The Bible says that sinners who are forgiven should try to live a *new life* and not go back to their sinful behaviour. Christians believe that knowing about God's love helps people to live a new and better life.

These are three verses from the Bible that are important in this Christian belief:

*"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16.*

*Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."* *John 14:6*.

*"If we say we have no sins, we are fooling ourselves and not telling the truth. But if we tell our sins humbly to God, then He has promised to listen and to forgive our sins and make us clean from all our badness."* from the First Letter of John.

## Relics associated with Jesus

* Relics associated with Jesus
* The Vatican Sudarium of Saint Veronica
* *Sudarium of Saint Veronica* by Claude Mellan (1649)
* The Shroud of Turin: modern photo of the face, positive (left), and digitally processed image (right)
* Full-length image of the Turin Shroud before the Conservation-restoration of the Shroud of Turin
* Tomb of Jesus in Holy Sepulchre church
* Holy Lance displayed in the Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria

## Other views about Jesus

### Jesus as a teacher

Some people who are not Christians believe that Jesus lived at the time that the Gospels say, but do not believe that Jesus was the "Son of God" or "Savior". They believe that Jesus was an ordinary, but very good person, a teacher, or a prophet.

Mohandas Gandhi said, "I am a Muslim, and a Hindu, and a Christian, and a Jew," even though he was born a Jain.

### Muslim beliefs about Jesus

Muslims believe Jesus was the second-to-last Prophet (messenger of God). They call Him "Isa", the Arabic name for Jesus. They believe that Muhammad was the very last Prophet. They believe that both Jesus and Muhammad were ordinary men, chosen by God to be his servant and teach the word of Islam.

Muslims do not believe that Jesus was God or "the Son of God". Islam is strictly monotheistic: it says that there is only one God. Muslims believe that Jesus cannot be part of God, because there is only one God. If someone other than God is worshiped, it is thought to be polytheism (belief in more than one God). It is also thought to be idolatry: idolizing someone other than God.

Islam teaches that Jesus did not die on the cross, but another man disguised as him went on the cross for Isa (Qur'an 4:157). This is very different from Christianity. Jesus' death is a very important part of the Christian belief about salvation. Muslims always say "peace be upon him" after saying Jesus' name as a sign of respect in short and Arabic a.s.

Muslims also accept some other teachings about Jesus. These teachings say that Jesus will return to the earth in the End Of Days; he will then destroy the false messiah or Anti-christ before the day of judgment. Muslims also accept Jesus' claims to be a healer. They believe in the many miracles he is said to have performed, like raising the dead to life and giving sight to the blind. They believe that all his miracles were granted to him from God.

The Qur'an (like the Bible), mentions the virgin birth of Jesus but then it says other things about Mary (Islamic-Maryam). The Bible says that Joseph helped Mary give birth to Jesus, but in Islam there is no Joseph. Instead, Mary walked the desert alone in labor and found a tree. The angel Gabriel (Jibril) asked if she was hungry, then told her to shake the tree and dates fell for her to eat. Then he asked if she was thirsty, and he said look down at your feet and there was water and there she gave birth to Jesus. (Qur'an 19) This is why Muslims fast and how they break their fast. Mary knew she had to go back to her town and when she did, with Jesus in her arms, the people were shouting at her for adultery. Mary wanted to explain herself, but the Angel told her not to speak.

### Jewish beliefs about Jesus

Even though Jesus was a Jew, and his teaching came out of the Jewish religion, most Jewish people do not believe that Jesus was the *Messiah* that is promised in the Jewish Scriptures.

In the Gospels, it tells that Jesus made the Jewish teachers very angry with his teachings. It says that part of their anger was because he told them they were "hypocrites" which means that they externally made themselves appear to be living a holy life, but internally their hearts were far from God's.

In the Gospels, the other reason that they became angry was that Jesus acted as if he was the *Messiah*, and said he was the "Son of God". This meant that he was either a terrible liar, that he was mad and just imagined it, or that it was true. But Jesus did not seem to be mad. So that left only two choices. If Jesus was lying, then he was doing something badly against the Jewish religion. It was because of the claims that Jesus was the "Son of God" that some of the Jewish leaders wanted him killed and they handed him to the Roman rulers. The Romans did not care if Jesus said something that was against the Jewish beliefs. But they knew that people had also said that Jesus was "King of the Jews". The Jewish leaders claimed this was against the Roman Government's laws. Although the Roman leaders did not agree, they had him killed to prevent a possible riot.

Although, today and through history, most Jews do not believe what Christians say about Jesus, there are some Jews who do believe that Jesus was the *Messiah* promised in the Jewish Scriptures. Jews who believe this are called Jewish Christians.

## How the Gospels were written

Nearly all modern scholars, both Christian and non-Christian, agree that Jesus was a real person. Both Christian and non-Christian scholars base their studies of him on the Gospels. They are believed to have been written between 60-90 AD.

By tradition, *the Gospels* were written by four men, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John who gave their names to these books.
This is the order in which they are arranged in the New Testament of the Bible, but scholars think that it is not the order in which they were written. *The Gospel of Mark* was probably written before *the Gospel of Matthew*. The four Gospels all tell the story of the Life of Jesus, but they do it from four different points of view, because they were written by different people and each writer had reasons to tell it in a different way.

Other scholars have said that leaders in the Early Christian Church made changes to the Gospel writings. These changes are said to have happened at different times, in different ways and for different reasons. For example, one story was left out of many old versions of the Gospels. It is about Jesus rescuing a woman who had committed adultery (had sex outside marriage) and was about to be killed. St. Augustine of Hippo, (354-430 AD) wrote that this was probably left out because some church leaders thought the story might cause people to act in a sinful way. This story is in all modern Bibles and is thought to contain very important teaching for Christians. Other differences that can be found in versions of the Gospels are mostly small and do not make a difference to what is known about the life of Jesus and his teaching.

3rd century A.D. Catacomb painting of Jesus as the "Good Shepherd"
Dating from 4th century Rome, this is the oldest known picture of Jesus showing him as a bearded semitic man, rather than a shaved, short-haired Roman.
### About Mark

Mark's Gospel, which is thought by many biblical scholars to be the earliest, has the name of a young disciple of the apostle Paul who is mentioned several times in the Acts of the Apostles and Paul's Letters. The Gospel was probably written in Rome and is thought by scholars to be from the memories of Jesus' follower or *disciple*, Peter. It does not tell about Jesus' birth; it starts when he was 30 years old, at the time when the disciples got to know him. It shows Jesus as a man of action: going around the country, teaching and healing people.

### About Matthew

Matthew's Gospel was written next. Matthew was one of Jesus' disciples. He was a Jewish man that was hated by other Jews because he worked for the Roman rulers as a tax collector. Matthew tells that one day Jesus saw him sitting at his desk in the market place and said "Follow me".
Most Biblical scholars believe that Matthew had read Mark's Gospel and decided to fill in some things that Mark left out, because, while Mark wrote his Gospel for the Church of Rome, Matthew wanted to write for Jewish Christians all over the Roman Empire. Matthew was a well-educated Jew, so he knew the Jewish Scriptures, (which Christians also use and call the Old Testament of the Bible). Matthew knew the scripture teachings that the Messiah, or God's anointed one would come. In his Gospel, he often mentions these teachings. He also starts off by giving a list of Jesus' ancestors because this was important to Jewish readers.

### About Luke

Black Madonna of Czestochowa with Jesus as a child
Jesus as a child, with his mother, Mary. This picture is called "Theotokos of Kazan". The apostle Luke was Greek and a friend of the apostle Paul. He was a doctor. Luke came to know about Jesus from the *disciples*. Luke writes about the birth and the childhood of Jesus and he says, "Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them."

Luke was not a Jew, and he writes in a way that is easy for other people who are not Jews to understand. He explains Jewish customs and laws. He wrote a second book called the *Acts of the Apostles* which tells what the disciples did after Jesus had left them.

### About John

It is believed by scholars of the Bible that John was a *disciple* of Jesus and was probably the youngest of the twelve men who were Jesus' main followers. He lived to be an old man and, because of his teaching about Jesus, he was sent to a small island, called Patmos.
John writes with one particular idea in mind. He wants to prove to the reader that Jesus is God's way of saving humans from the terrible problem of sin or *evil*. John starts by telling the reader that Jesus was and is God. John says that Jesus is God's *Living Communication* (or *Living Word*). Every part of *John's Gospel* is written to show that Jesus came from God, taught the *Message of God* and is the way for people to understand *God's Love*.

## Teaching with stories

The Gospels tell many of the stories that Jesus told when he was teaching people about the way that God loved them and the way they should live. These are called parables. They include the following:

A church window with the story of The Good Samaritan
### The Good Samaritan

In this story from chapter 10 of Luke's Gospel, Jesus shows what it means to be a good neighbour. Near the Jews lived the people called Samaritans. They did not agree with each other about religious teaching and were considered enemies. One day, a Jewish man was walking, when some robbers beat him up, robbed him, and left him naked and almost dead, by the road. A Jewish priest came along and saw him. He thought, "If I touch that naked bleeding man, I will be unclean and I will not be able to go to the Temple!" So, he pretended that he had not seen him. Another Jew, a Holy Man, came along and acted in the same way. At last, a Samaritan came along with a donkey. When he saw the wounded man, he stopped. He washed his wounds with wine and olive oil. Then he put him on his donkey and took him to the nearest inn. He paid the innkeeper and said, "Keep him until he is well, and whatever is owed, I will pay when I come back this way." Jesus said to the people who were listening "Which one of these people acted like a good neighbour?" They said, "He that stopped and helped." Jesus said, "You go and act the same way."

### The Prodigal Son

Jesus told listeners that a sinner who changes his mind makes angels face joy. In the last story of chapter 15 of Luke's Gospel, Jesus tells how a rich man had two sons. They would both get a share of his money when he died, but he was still alive. The younger son said, "Father, give me my money now, so I can go and enjoy myself, while I'm young." He took the money to another place and wasted it on pleasure. Soon he had none left to feed himself and was ashamed. He got a job caring for pigs, an unholy meat to eat, just keep himself from starving. He said to himself, "I'll go home to my father, and I will say, 'Father, I have sinned! Please let me be a servant in your house!'" When his father saw him coming, he ran along the road to put his arms around his son. The father said, "Bring the finest clothes! Kill the fattest calf to make a feast!" When the elder brother heard about the feast, he was angry and said, "I'm a good son to you, but you never even gave me one little calf to have a feast with my friends!" The father said, "You have always been with me. I love you greatly, and all I have is yours, but my son who was lost is now found! Your brother who seemed to be dead is alive! Be happy with me!"

## Related pages

* Atonement
* Bible
* Christ
* Crucifixion of Jesus
* God in Christianity
* Holy Spirit
* Incarnation (Christianity)
* Justification (theology)
* Messiah
* New Testament
* Reconciliation
* Resurrection of Jesus
* Salvation (Christianity)
* Second Coming
* Sin
* Trinity
* Virgin birth of Jesus
* Religion

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## Other websites

* "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Jesus Christ". *newadvent.org*. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
* "Life of Jesus Christ". *easyenglish.bible*. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
* meaning of christmas Archived 2018-12-22 at the Wayback Machine
* Christian Quotes Archived 2019-01-22 at the Wayback Machine