JOHN VOOYS
Jesus of Nazareth

“Jesus is the ideal man!” So said a survey by the popular American magazine Psychology Today. The choice was based on such criteria as his love for others and his intelligence, honesty, sensitivity and courage. Who is this Jesus?

What year is it?

AD 2000. We’ve sure been hearing a lot about the end of this millennium and the start of the next millennium. We’ve also heard a lot about the possible computer problems caused by the Y2K bug. But how did we come up with this year 2000, anyway?

It is, of course, an arbitrary date on our calendar, the one used in the Western world and also the one used worldwide for business. Some nations use other calendars. For instance, the Jewish calendar is tracked from the assumed time of the creation of the world, thus calling next year 5760 instead of 2000.

Our calendar supposedly numbers the years from the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. However, Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great, King of the Jews, who we now know died in 4 BC. Since Jesus may have been up to two years old by then, it puts our dating out by 4 to 6 years. (Oops!)

Who is this Jesus?

Be that as it may, who is this Jesus? And why was he so important that the major world calendar is based on his birth?

Our knowledge about Jesus comes from various ancient historical sources, both Jewish and Roman, as well as the Christian “Gospels”, which are writings included in the New Testament part of the Bible. These tell us that Jesus was born into a poor peasant family in an obscure village, Bethlehem, in a backwater Roman province called Judea, in the land of Palestine (today’s State of Israel), at that time part of the Roman Empire. Matthew, one of the Gospel writers, reports that Jesus grew up in and around the town of Nazareth in Galilee, another part of Palestine. He worked with his father, Joseph, as a builder with stone and wood. Archaeologists tell us that the Roman rulers undertook many construction projects in the nearby royal towns of Tiberius and Sepphoris. Did the young craftsman work there?

In Canada, there is a lot of fuss about bilingualism. Jesus was likely trilingual. He would have been fluent in Aramaic, the language of the Jewish home. He would have understood Hebrew, the language of the Jewish Bible and Jewish religion. He was very likely also conversant in Koine, the common Greek of his day, which was the universal language of the Roman Empire.

Except for information about Jesus’ unusual birth to a virgin, Mary, and one record of Jesus and his family visiting Jerusalem when he was about 12, we know little about Jesus until he became a more public figure in his early 30s. This followed his baptism (a ritual immersion in water) by a popular prophet nicknamed “John the Baptist”. One of the Gospel writers, Luke, records John’s experience at that event. As he was baptizing Jesus, he heard a voice from heaven which said to Jesus, “You are my own dear Son, and I am pleased with you” (Luke 3:22, The Bible).

What did Jesus say?

Jesus’ message was a call for people to turn away from their “sinful ways”, their wrong behaviour, and turn back to the lifestyle God expected. A primary emphasis in his teaching was the Kingdom of God. His hearers often mistook this to mean national politics. There was widespread hope among the Jews that they might make Palestine politically independent of the Romans. Many were disappointed to find out that Jesus was referring to people being governed by God and His commandments, no matter where they lived or what ethnic background they had. So, in reality, Jesus’ teaching did have important political implications. Accepting his radical message ought to change the world and how people live in it!

Jesus often used parables to clarify his teaching. These were simple stories about fishing, farming and home life. Using them, he made complex ideas about the spiritual world and God, and their impact on human life, understandable. Often he powerfully demonstrated his message by performing miracles such as healing the sick, restoring eyesight to the blind and causing the deaf to hear. The Gospel writers tell us that Jesus even raised some people from the dead. One of these was his friend Lazarus, who had been buried in a tomb for several days (John 11:1-44, The Bible). Josephus, a Jewish historian living during the first century, wrote about Jesus. He states, “At about this time lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one might call him a man. For he was one who accomplished surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth with pleasure.”

Jesus carried his message around the towns and villages of Galilee and on several occasions also taught in and around the city of Jerusalem, especially during the great Jewish religious festivals. He gathered quite a following – and no wonder, considering his courage and obvious authority. He must have been a captivating character! From among his followers, he chose 12, his “disciples” (which means “followers”), whom he trained to aid him in his work of teaching and healing.

Why did Jesus die?

It wasn’t long before Jesus’ activities angered many of the Jewish religious leaders. Some were jealous of his growing popularity. Others disapproved of his actions, especially a dramatic one when he chased moneychangers and merchants out of the Jewish temple. The religious leaders gathered to decide what to do about him. The Gospel of John tells us about their deliberation: “If we don’t stop him, everyone will put their faith in him, and then the Romans will come and destroy our temple and our nation” (John 11:48, The Bible).

After only three years of teaching and helping people, Jesus was arrested by the Jewish authorities and charged with “blasphemy”. They meant that he claimed to be equal with God. This held the death penalty, but since only the Romans could execute, they handed him over to the Roman governor, Pilate. The Jewish leaders convinced Pilate that Jesus was the leader of a rebellion against Rome. Pilate assigned him to a form of execution reserved for the worst criminals. Josephus writes, “Pilate, upon an indictment brought by the principal men among us, condemned him to the cross.” He was crucified, fastened to a wooden post with nails driven into his wrists and ankles. The Roman historian Tacitus simply reports that “Christus, from whom Christians get their name, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Emperor Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate.”

Jesus was taken down from the cross just before the Sabbath, the Jewish holy day. He was clearly dead due to the excruciating torture he had endured and the resultant loss of blood. He was buried in a friend’s tomb.

What happened next?

One might have thought this would be the end of the story. However, Jesus’ followers claimed, soon afterwards, that he had been raised from the dead. Josephus notes, “Those who loved him from the very first did not cease to be attached to him. On the third day, he appeared to them restored to life.” Over the next 40 days, Jesus appeared to his followers several more times. Then, one day, while he was blessing them, “he left and was taken up to heaven” (Luke 24:51, the Bible).

Jesus’ disciples were changed individuals after this event. Jesus’ arrest and execution had frightened them, and they had gone into hiding. Now they were bold enough to continue the work Jesus began. And so the Christian message spread, eventually to the whole world. In one of the Bible books, Acts, we read Jesus’ promise to his followers: “You will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem . . . and everywhere in the world” (Acts 1:8).

What does this mean to you?

Jesus of Nazareth is the man whose person and message had such an impact on our world that the modern calendar is dated from his birth. But what are we to make of him? Do we simply dismiss him as just another historical figure, however important? Is he just like Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar of the ancient world? Or like Gandhi and Churchill of the modern world?

We may, but that would be ignoring his bold statement, that he was the Son of God. His fellow Jews certainly recognized that he was claiming to be equal with God! He even said that he was the only way for people to come to God. “Without me, no one can go to the Father,” he said (John 14:6, The Bible). How do we respond?

Perhaps we could say he was a good role model, or a good teacher, or even the ideal man. But, as C.S. Lewis, the famous author of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, once pointed out, Jesus hasn’t given us that option. Either he was who he said he was, or else he was some sort of evil or mentally deranged man.

Is Jesus merely the ideal man who changed history? Or is he who he claimed to be – the Son of God? As we look to the year 2000 and beyond, each one of us must decide.