Life of Jesus

    So what do we know about the life of Jesus?  This summary compiles the life of Jesus as presented in the four Gospels.

    A young girl named Mary once lived in Nazareth.  She was in her early teens and she was betrothed to a guy named Joseph; the Gospels give no indication of his age.  Betrothal in those days was an arrangement we don’t have:  think of it as an arrangement between engagement and marriage.  Mary was legally bound to marry Joseph.

    An angel appeared to Mary and told her that she would become pregnant.  Mary did not understand how since she was virgin; but the angel told her that the power of God would cause her to become pregnant.  Once she became pregnant she told Joseph, who was rightly concerned and decided to break the betrothal.  Then he was told in a dream that Mary was pregnant through the power of God and so he decided to go through with the marriage.

    At the same time the Roman government decided to take a census.  For the Jews this meant that they had to travel to their ancestral home.  For Joseph, this meant Bethlehem.  He took his pregnant wife with him.  Once there, he could not find a room in the inns, and so they stayed with the animals.  The Gospels do not say where the animals were; they could have been in a stable, barn, cave, or in the open.

    Once Jesus was born he was put in a manager.  Some shepherds showed up to welcome the new baby.  Some “Magi” also showed up.  Scholars are not clear what a Magi was; it is actually a Greek word.  But they brought three gifts and so it is popularly believed that there were three of them, hence “3 Wise Men” or “3 Kings.”

    Prior to going to see Jesus, the Magi had gone to Jerusalem.  Why?  They were looking for the new king and so naturally they headed to Jerusalem.  They told King Herod they were looking for the new king.  Herod told them to find the new king and come back and tell him where the new king was located.  They went to Bethlehem and found Jesus.  They were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod and so went home. 

    King Herod realized that the Magi were not coming back he was furios.  He still wanted to kill the new “king,” though, and so had all the baby boys two years and under in that area killed.  Joseph, Mary, and Jesus fled to Egypt.  After Herod died, they moved back to Nazareth.

    Every year they went to Jerusalem but something different happened when Jesus was twelve.  While returning from a trip to Jerusalem, his parents realized that Jesus was not in their group.  They went back to Jerusalem and found him talking with the teachers in the Temple.  This may have been an early form of the Bar Mitzvah ceremony which Jewish boys go through.

    We do not know of any event In Jesus’ life from the ages of twelve until thirty.  When Jesus was around thirty he was baptized by John the Baptist.  He then undertook a three-year period of ministry, where he traveled, preached, taught, healed, performed miracles, and raised people from the dead.  We know it was a three-year period because the Gospel of John states that in between the time Jesus was baptized and crucified that three Passovers had occurred.  Since Passover occurred once a year, this means that there was a period of three years (or so) from the time he was baptized until he was crucified.

    Therefore, when Jesus was thirty-three he was crucified, buried, rose from the dead, and several months later, ascended to heaven.  And that is all the Gospels reveal about Jesus. 

©2010 Mark Nickens

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