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.  The life span of Jesus was 4 BC - AD 30.  (To find out why I say Jesus was born in 4 BC, go here.)

• A young girl named Mary once lived in Nazareth. 

• Scholars believe 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 today:  think of it as between engagement and marriage.  The couple were not living together or sleeping together but it was a legal arrangement; if someone wanted to break the betrothal they had to get a divorce.  So Mary was legally bound to marry Joseph but they were not sleeping together.

• An angel appeared to Mary and told her that she would become pregnant.  Mary did not understand how this was possible since she was virgin; but the angel told her that the power of God would cause her to become pregnant and it would be a miracle. 

• 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 in order to be counted.  For Joseph, this meant Bethlehem. 

• Joseph took his pregnant wife with him. 

• Once there, he could not find a room in the inns (hotels), and so they stayed where the animals stayed.  The Gospels do not say where the animals were; they could have been in a stable, barn, or cave. 

• Once Jesus was born he was put in a manger (where the food for the animals was placed, like a small trough). 

• 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 with no clear translation.  But they brought three expensive 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 to look for Jesus.  Why?  They were looking for the new king and so naturally they headed to Jerusalem, which was the capital. 

• They told King Herod they were looking for the new king.  Herod did not know anything about this and told them to find the new king and come back and tell him where the new king was located. 

• They eventually found Jesus in Bethlehem.  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 and he was furious. 

• 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 (perhaps for Passover), 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. ("Bar Mitzvah" means "son of the Covenant"; Jewish girls today go through a Bat Mitzvah; "Bat Mitzvah means "daughter of the Covenant.)

• We do not know of any event In Jesus’ life from the ages of twelve until thirty.  A good guess would be that he worked as a carpenter, since Mary's husband (considered Jesus' earthly father), Joseph, was a carpenter. 

• When Jesus was around thirty he was baptized by John the Baptist. 

• He then chose twelve men to be his 12 Apostles and 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 from the time Jesus was baptized until he was crucified that three Passovers 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.

• The last week of his life (when he was 33 years old): 

  • The Sunday before he was crucified, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a donkey or colt.  Many people took palm branches and laid them on the path for the donkey or colt to ride on as he entered Jerusalem.  [Today this is called "Palm Sunday."] 

  • Jesus was in and around Jerusalem from Sunday to Thursday. 

  • Thursday was Passover and so Jesus gathered with his 12 Apostles to eat the Passover meal.  This is also known as the Last Supper, since it was the last meal that Jesus ate before he died. 

  • During the meal Jesus took bread and wine and initiated the service of Communion or Lord's Supper.  [Christians do not celebrate Passover because Jesus replaced it with Communion.]   

  • During the meal Judas left and went to the Jewish authorities.  He had prearranged to guide them to Jesus' secret prayer place at night. 

  • After the meal was over, Jesus and the 11 Apostles went to the Garden of Gethsemane so Jesus could pray. 

  • After awhile, Judas came up with Jewish leaders and Roman soldiers and they arrested Jesus.  Jesus was taken to the High Priest's house, then to see Pilate (the Roman governor), then to see Herod (ruler of the area where Jesus lived), and then back to see Pilate.

  • Pilate questioned Jesus and realized that he was not guilty of breaking the Roman rules (pay taxes and obey the Roman laws) and so wanted to release him.  But the Jewish leaders encouraged the crowd to get angry. 

  • Then Pilate thought of a plan.  Pilate had a custom of releasing one prisoner per year (to help keep the Jews from rebelling) and so had the prisoner Barabbas brought up from prison.  Barabbas was a murderer, not the kind of person you want walking your streets.  Pilate brought Barabbas before the crowd because he thought that if he offered the crowd Jesus or Barabbas to release, the crowd would certainly yell out to release Jesus.

  • So Pilate asked the people which person they wanted him to release.  To his surprise, the crowd yelled, "Barabbas." 

  • Pilate asked the crowds what they wanted him to do with Jesus, and they shouted, "Crucify him." 

  • So Pilate had Jesus beaten (which was the normal procedure to do before crucifixions) and then crucified. 

  • This would have been Friday morning.  Jesus died on Friday afternoon. 

  • He was taken to a burial cave and buried late Friday afternoon. 

  • He was in the tomb the rest of Friday, all day Saturday, and Sunday up until sometime that morning. 

  • Jesus arose from the dead Sunday morning and spent the next month or so meeting with his Apostles and others. 

  • After about a month-and-a-half, Jesus took his 11 Apostles to a hilltop, spoke to them, and then rose up and ascended to the sky out of their sight. 

©2010, 2012 Mark Nickens

To go back to Summaries, click here.