The teachings of Jesus, or Jesus Christ, are the basis of the Christian religion. The followers of Jesus called him Messiah, a term from the Jewish tradition that means “the anointed one.” They saw him as the Messiah that the Jews believed would come to deliver them from their enemies. The Greeks translated the word Messiah into their own language & called Jesus Khristos, which is the root of the words Christ & Christian.
Nearly all that is known about Jesus comes from the Bible, in the four Gospels of the New Testament. According to the Bible, the angel Gabriel visited a young girl named Mary & told her that she was going to have a very special baby who would be the Son of God. The angel's announcement to Mary is known as the Annunciation. Her son, Jesus, was born in about 6 BC in Bethlehem, a city in the Middle Eastern region of Palestine. Mary & her husb&, Joseph, were from Nazareth & that is where Jesus grew up.
Very little is known of Jesus' life as a child & young boy. The only story recorded in the Gospels is of a visit that he made to Jerusalem with his parents at about the age of 12. This was during the Jewish feast of the Passover. The Gospel of Saint Luke tells how Jesus' parents suddenly discovered that he was missing. They found him in the Temple where he was holding a conversation with the learned men of the city who were surprised by his wisdom.
A man called John the Baptist had started a religious movement to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. When Jesus was about 30 years old, John baptized him in the Jordan River. John recognized in him the Messiah whose coming he had foretold. Not long afterward Jesus gathered a group of 12 disciples, or followers, called the Apostles, who helped him spread his message. Jesus preached outdoors or in Jewish temples, for he too was a Jew, & many of his teachings grew out of the religion of Judaism. Jesus taught people to forgive others, to live a good life, & to honor God so as to enter God's kingdom.
During the first part of his ministry he made tours from his base at Capernaum in Galilee to the neighboring towns & villages. Jesus often taught by using parables, or short stories that illustrated his message. The Gospels also describe various miracles performed by Jesus, such as raising the dead, turning water into wine at a wedding feast, healing the sick, & feeding a large crowd of people with only a few loaves of bread & two fishes.
Jesus' message had a great effect on his listeners, & many came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Others did not agree. Some people said he was not the Messiah but that he had come to prepare the way for the real Messiah. Others thought he must be one of the old prophets risen from the dead.
A group of Jewish leaders accused Jesus of breaking Jewish law by working on the Sabbath, the religious day of rest. Jesus also welcomed all types of people, even those whom the religious leaders considered to be sinners. Some of the religious leaders of the day thought that Jesus' teaching was wrong, & that it was leading people astray. Others feared that he might start a political movement against the Romans, who governed Palestine at that time, & that this would lead to great trouble. The leaders came to the conclusion that they must have Jesus put to death, & they started to find out whether any of his followers could be persuaded to betray him.
At about the same time Jesus went to Jerusalem for the great feast of the Passover. Jesus knew that the opposition to him was becoming stronger & that one of his own disciples, Judas Iscariot, was turning against him. Jesus knew that he must prepare for the end.
Jesus gathered the Apostles together for a final meal, known as the Last Supper, & explained to them that his death was necessary because it would establish a new bond between God & humans. He took bread & wine, blessed them, & shared them with his disciples. Christians remember this when they celebrate the Eucharist, which is also called Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper.
After the meal, Jesus & the disciples went to the Mount of Olives, a hill on the east side of Jerusalem, & to the Garden of Gethsemane. It was to this garden that Judas brought men to arrest Jesus. They took him to the Jewish leaders, who held a quick trial & sentenced him to death.
The death sentence could not be carried out until the Roman governor of Judaea, Pontius Pilate, had approved it. Pilate tried to find Jesus innocent of the charges against him. After consulting a crowd that had gathered, he gave in & sentenced Jesus to be crucified, or nailed to a cross.
In the evening of the day he was crucified the dead body of Jesus was taken down from the cross & laid in a tomb that belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, one of his followers. On the third day after that a group of women went to the tomb & found the body gone. According to the Gospels, Jesus then appeared to one of the women, Mary Magdalene, & to the disciples. The news quickly spread that he had returned from the dead. Jesus came to a group of his followers & proved he was alive by showing them the wounds of the nails on his h&s & feet. He spent 40 days on Earth after his resurrection & then was taken up to heaven.
The story of Jesus' resurrection, or return from the dead, is central to Christian belief. His Apostles continued to teach his message after his death, & as that message spread, the Christian religion was born.
