| |
|
| |
The Life of
Jesus |
|
 |
Who is Jesus? |
| |
Have you
ever wondered what the life of Jesus is like, according to
the Gospels? Now here is one attempt to put the Life of
Jesus together in a continuous story.
This
continuous Story of Jesus is based on the Gospels of
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, from the North American Bible
version, as published by the
United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops. None of the words had
been changed and none are added.
Summaries
are indicated by italics.
All graphics are used
with implied permission from
Hermano
Leon. |
| |
The Genealogy |
| |
The word
Jesus is the Latin form of the Greek Iesous,
which in turn is the transliteration of the Hebrew
Jeshua, or Joshua, or again Jehoshua, meaning
"Jehovah is salvation."
The word Christ is derived from the word Christos,
the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messias,
means "anointed." According to the Old Law, priests
(Exodus 29:29; Leviticus 4:3), kings (1 Samuel 10:1;
24:7), and prophets (Isaiah 61:1) were supposed to be
anointed for their respective offices; now, the Christ, or
the Messias, combined this threefold dignity in His Person
The
Genealogy traces the descendants of Jesus in the three
segments: From Abraham to David, From David to the Exile
of the Jews, and finally from the Exile to Jesus. |
| |
|
| |
The Annunciation |
| |
The
Gospels of Matthew and Luke tell us the story of the
Annunciation and the Visitation. The
announcement of the birth of Jesus was made by the angel
Gabriel, one of the seven angels who stand in the presence
of God. The angel
Gabriel also announced the birth of John six months before
the announcement of the birth of Jesus. |
| |
|
| |
The
Visitation and the Birth of John |
| |
Mary
left Nazareth to visit her cousin
Elizabeth at a Judean town over the mountains to Hebron,
south of Jerusalem.
.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child in her
womb, John the Baptist, leapt with joy. The story is told
in Luke (1:39-42). The word
"Canticle" is derived from canticulum, (diminutive
of canticum, meaning a song, from the Latin canere,
to sing). It is used in the English Catholic translation
of the Bible as the equivalent of the Vulgate canticum
in most, but not all, of the uses of that
word. There are 10 Canticles in the Roman Breviary.
|
| |
|
| |
The
Birth of Jesus |
| |
An angel
appeared to Joseph, a righteous man telling him that
through the Holy Spirit a child has been conceived in
Mary. They were to, "...name him Jesus, because he will
save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21.
Jesus was
born at the time of the census, where everyone was to
enroll in their own town. Joseph and Mary went to
Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. Mary, "...wrapped him in
swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there
was no room for them in the inn." Luke 2:7
The
"heavenly hosts" proclaimed Jesus' birth, and shepherds
and kings came to adore him. |
| |
|
| |
The
Early Years of Jesus |
| |
Again
an angel appeared to Joseph who told him to, "...take
the child and his mother, flee to Egypt" Matthew 2:13
because Herod was seeking to kill the child Jesus.
Because Herod could not find Jesus he, "...ordered the
massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
two years old and under" Matthew 2:16. This
fulfills the prophesy, "...Out of
Egypt I called my son" Matthew 2:15.
Nearing
his death, "...Herod orders to have the principal men
of the country shut up in the hippodrome at Jericho
and slaughtered as soon as he had passed away, that
his grave might not be without the tribute of tears."
Catholic Encyclopedia
When
Herod died Mary Joseph and the child Jesus returned
from Egypt to Nazareth, again fulfilling an ancient
prohesy, "...He
shall be called a Nazorean" Matthew 2:23. |
| |
|
| |
The Proclamation of the Kingdom |
| |
Both
Matthew and Mark describe John, the cousin of Jesus,
son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, as wearing,
"...clothing made of camel's hair and had a leather
belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild
honey." Matthew 3:4, Mark 1:6
John
proclaimed the kingdom and prepared the for the coming
of the ministry of Jesus by saying that he is, "...A voice
of one crying out in the desert, 'Prepare the way of
the Lord, make straight his paths.'" Matthew
3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4, John 1:23
Jesus was proclaimed that "...He
came to what was his own, but his own people did not
accept him." John 1:11.
John baptized for repentance for the forgiveness
of sins. |
| |
|
| |
The
Baptism of Jesus |
| |
The
baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of his ministry,
where the holy Spirit descended and and where he is
proclaimed to be the Son of God.
This
happened in the Jordan to where Jesus came to meet
John. John was at firs reluctant to baptize Jesus
since he clearly saw Jesus as:
|
| |
"...
the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am
not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you
with the holy Spirit and fire." (Matthew 3:11. See the
Proclamation of the Kingdom.)
|
| |
The Temptation of Jesus |
| |
After Jesus
was baptized by his cousin John, Jesus was led by the
Spirit to the desert where he was tempted three times by
Satan. The synoptic Gospels of Matthew and Luke tell of
the temptations, |
| |
| |
"... command that these stones become
loaves of bread." |
| |
"...throw yourself down" the parapet. |
| |
"...All these I shall give to you, if you will
prostrate yourself and worship me." |
| |
|
After
the temptations, "...the devil left him and, behold,
angels came and ministered to him." Matthew 4:11, Mark
1:13 |
|
|
|
|
Preparing for the Ministry of Jesus |
| |
The ministry
of Jesus starts ominously with the arrest of John. After
John's arrest, Jesus, "...he withdrew to Galilee." Matthew
4:12. He then, "...left Nazareth to live in Capernaum by
the sea." Matthew 4:13, Mark 1:14, Luke 4:14. Here Jesus
call for his first disciples, Simon and Andrew, to follow
him, to "...Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."
Matthew 4:19, Mark 1:17
Jesus also
declares that no prophet is accepted in his own people,
"...no prophet is accepted in his own native place." Luke
4:24
Jesus continues to reveal himself as the Son of the
Lord of All by talking to a Samaritan woman. The
Samaritan women were regarded by Jews as ritually impure, and
therefore Jews were forbidden to drink from any vessel
they had handled, "...Jesus said to her, "Give me a
drink." John 4:7. |
| |
|
| |
The Early
Ministry of Jesus |
| |
In the
Wedding feast of Cana Jesus turned water into wine at the
insistence of the mother of Jesus. He was at first
reluctant to do this since "...My hour
has not yet come" John 2:4. This is proof that Jesus does
listen to his mother, Mary. This is also an exhortation
from the great Maternal Counsel to, "...Do whatever he
tells you" John 2:7.
Early in his
ministry Jesus also drove the merchants from the temple
area to, "...stop making my Father's house a marketplace"
John 2:16. He also announced that he will,
"...Destroy this temple and in three days I will
raise it up" John 2:19.
A
Pharisee named Nicodemus sought out Jesus at night and
asked Jesus "...How can a person once grown old be born
again?" John 3:4. To this Jesus answered, "...no one can
enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and
Spirit" John 3:5. |
| |
|
| |
Jesus in Galilee and the Surrounding Areas |
| |
A
leper was the term for anyone with the various forms of
skin disease, see Lev 13:1-50 and the note on Lev 13:2-4.
There are only two instances in the Old Testament in which
God is shown to have cured a leper (Numbers 12:10-15; 2
Kings 5:1-14). The law of Moses provided for the ritual
purification of a leper. In curing the leper, Jesus
assumes that the priests will reinstate the cured man into
the religious community.
A leper in
the time of Jesus is an outcast and "...looked upon as a
Divine punishment, but at all times the Hebrews believed
it to be contagious and hereditary (2 Samuel 3:29); hence
it was considered as a cause of defilement, and involved
exclusion from the community."
While in Galilee, Jesus performed healings
and other miracles where he reveals more and more his
emphasis on faith as the requisite for exercising his
healing powers. |
| |
|
| |
The Start of the
Persecution of Jesus |
| |
"In
the New Testament, there is question of an evil
spirit, Beelzeboul. The meaning of the term is "lord
of the mansion" or dwelling, and it would be supposed
by the Jews of this time to refer to the nether
regions, and so be an appropriate name for the prince
of that realm. Beelzeboul (Beelzebub) is used, then,
merely as another name for Satan (Matthew 12:24-29;
Luke 11:15-22) by whom the enemies of Our Lord accused
Him of being possessed and by whom they claimed He
cast out demons."
Catholic Encyclopedia
These
discourses answer the question of healings during the
sabbath, a day that the Jews reserve for the Lord. Also
these hints at the looming concern of the authorities of
Jesus' growing ministry, and thus hints of impending
persecution. |
| |
|
| |
The Teachings of
Jesus |
| |
Jesus and His Disciples |
| |
Jesus
calls Matthew (or Levi) the tax collector to follow him.
Matthew did and left everything behind. Tax collectors
were paid a fixed sum for the right to collect customs
duties within their districts. Since whatever they could
collect above this amount constituted their profit, the
abuse of extortion was widespread among them. Hence,
Jewish customs officials were regarded as sinners (Mark
2:16), outcasts of society, and disgraced along with their
families.
Jesus names
the twelve disciples and gives them their commission to
preach repentance and with authority over unclean spirits,
and to cure illnesses. Jesus also lays out the conditions
of discipleship and the rewards. |
| |
|
| |
The Teachings of Jesus |
| |
Jesus
reveals more of his Wisdom to crowds. In the
Sermon on the Mount, which is the first of the five
discourses that are a central part of the structure of
this gospel, as recounted by Matthew. Luke's Sermon on
the Plain follows similar comparison, setting apart
the rich and the poor, the hungry and the satisfied,
etc., noting the reversal that will take place when
the kingdom comes. |
| |
|
| |
The Parables of Jesus |
| |
Coming Soon. |
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|