Jesus' Mortal Life Archive
The Gospels provide some possible hints why Jesus left the village of his youth as he began his ministry.
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Jesus Christ was associated with Nazareth through his entire ministry. Even at the end, Pilate placed above his cross a sign, “Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews” (John 19:19; emphasis added). He is associated with Nazareth at some point. Joseph and Mary (Jesus’ mother) moved to Nazareth, a small village in Galilee a few years after Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem in Judea (Matthew 2:19-23) where he apparently lived until he appeared on the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist.
Luke does indicate that Jesus Christ ventured beyond this village at least once, when he was twelve years old to travel with his parents, family, and friends to the Holy City of Jerusalem (Luke 2:42-51). The Gospels, as noted above, are silent on what happen next except that Jesus Christ “went down with [Joseph and Mary], and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. . . . And Jesus... Read the rest of this entry »
In a previous post, we have shown that the entire human race existed as spirit-beings in the primeval world, and that for the purpose of making possible to them the experiences of mortality this earth was created. They were endowed with the powers of agency or choice while yet but spirits; and the divine plan provided that they be free-born in the flesh, heirs to the inalienable birthright of liberty to choose and to act for themselves in mortality. It is undeniably essential to the eternal progression of God’s children that they be subjected to the influences of both good and evil, that they be tried and tested and proved withal, “to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Job 38:7). Free agency is an indispensable element of such a test. Read the rest of this entry »
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Yes! Jesus Christ had a high respect for women, often including them as positive role models of faith and dedication in his teaching and parables (see, for example, the widow of Zarephath who fed Elijah, Luke 4:25-26; and the woman who gave her two mites into the treasury, Mark 12:42-44). Although the New Testament accounts of the women who followed Jesus are limited in their number and scope, it is still clear that they played a role in Jesus Christ’s ministry.
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Why is Jesus Christ associated with Nazareth?
Nazareth, a small village in Upper Galilee, was the boyhood home of Jesus. Joseph and Mary, according to the New Testament, returned there sometime after Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, a small town in Judea in the south (Matthew 2:23). From Jesus’ youth until he was thirty years of age, Nazareth was his home.
During this period it was not uncommon for a person to be identified with the town where he or she was born or lived (see for example Luke 8:2 where Mary of Magdala is mentioned). As a result, Jesus Christ is identified with Nazareth some seventeen times in the New Testament as “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Even in his death, though he had left Nazareth nearly three years earlier, Jesus was identified with the small village off the main road in the hills of Galilee: “And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews” (John 19:19).
A few years later,... Read the rest of this entry »
Among the four canonical Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke are sometimes referred to as the “Synoptic Gospels.” Literally, synoptic means “with the same eye” and refers to the fact that these Gospels share the same material and are closely related to each other.
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The apocryphal letters that purportedly gave a physical description of Jesus Christ have long since been recognized as inauthentic. Post-New Testament authors often let their imaginations roam on issues that were either not clear or totally absent from the New Testament itself, providing for their readers information that the New Testament authors did not provide. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John most likely never imagined that readers in the twenty-first century would be interested in Jesus‘ height, the length of his hair, the color of his eyes, or the color of his beard-if he had one.
Often a subtle tension exists between the idea of Jesus as a model of mental and physical perfection and the idea expressed in Isaiah that “when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). This passage raises some intriguing questions. What does Isaiah mean when he says that the mortal Messiah would have “no beauty”? And should we consider... Read the rest of this entry »
Mark, more than any other writer, preserves a view of Jesus Christ’s humanity in the Passion Narratives. His prayer in Gethsemane may be the best example: “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee: take away this cup from me” (Mark 14:36). Throughout his narrative, Mark informs those hearing the story that Jesus needed to sleep, eat, be alone, and, of course, pray-to do these things is human.
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If Mark’s telling of the story is based on Peter’s memoirs, we may be seeing a word-picture based on Peter’s own recollections. If so, we can appreciate the frank portrayal presented here, which is particularly critical of Peter himself. It should be remembered that Peter’s real name was Simon. Jesus Christ renamed him as Peter (from Greek or Latin) or Cephas (from Hebrew or Aramaic), which means “rock or stone.” In Mark, Peter is always referred to by this new name Jesus gave to him until this point, where Jesus says: “Simon, sleepest... Read the rest of this entry »
The Gospels record very little about Jesus Christ’s life between his birth and baptism. Matthew states that by the time the Wise Men appear in Bethlehem, following his birth, Jesus is no longer an infant but a child, suggesting that Joseph, Mary and Jesus lived in the town of his birth for sometime, maybe as long a two years: “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him” (Matthew 2:11, emphasis added). Matthew continues his story as Joseph took Mary and the “young child” to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-14). Both Matthew and Luke agree that at some point Joseph, Mary and Jesus eventually moved to Nazareth at an early age (Matthew 2:19-23; Luke 2:39-40). The only hint about the intervening years, until he began his ministry, is a brief story about Jesus Christ’s journey to Jerusalem when he was twelve’s years of age. Luke notes: “Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at... Read the rest of this entry »
