Jesus

#ec9aff

Who is Jesus?

• Prophet: (fortune-telling and truth-telling)

• teacher (“ you have heard it said unto you)

• healer (“heals the sick, lepers recover, disabled become able bodied”)

• Miracle worker: (“walks on water, turns water to wine, raises lazurus from the dead)

• Lazurus: the brother of Mary & Martha

Matt 1:21

“and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call him Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins”

James cone

• “Christian theology begins and ends with Jesus Christ.”

Sin in Judaism

• Ramshaw p. 16: the human situation of distance from god and obedience to divine commands

Examples of sin:

• Genesis 3:17-19: Adama & Eve are convinced to eat from the tree of good and evil

• The serpent represents half truths: they may not die, but they do not live in a way that god has intended

Enmity: Hostility

• Deuteronomy: 30: God details how humans will be punished for sin and rewarded for following the word of God.

• Chronicles 7:14: God promises that through prayer, God will heal and rejuvenate the land.

Sin in Judaism

• Removal from the lands punishment

• restoration to the land as a sign of forgiveness

• context in first century Palestine: Roman Occupation

• Colonialism, Taxation, cultural oppression

The messiah in Judaism(Scriptures)

Jeremiah 23:1-8 (Especially 5-6)

This passage condemns corrupt leaders (shepherds) who mislead God’s people, promising divine judgment. In verses 5-6, God foretells the coming of a righteous King from David’s lineage—a Messianic prophecy. This "Branch" will reign wisely, bringing justice and security. He will be called "The LORD Our Righteousness," signifying His divine role in salvation. The passage reassures Israel that God will gather His scattered people, leading them to safety. This prophecy foreshadows Jesus Christ, the righteous King, who will establish true justice and righteousness, surpassing even the Exodus in its significance for Israel’s redemption.

Isaiah 11:1-11

Isaiah prophesies the rise of a ruler from Jesse’s line (David’s father), symbolized as a Branch from a seemingly dead stump. This King, filled with God’s Spirit, will govern with wisdom, justice, and righteousness. He will judge fairly, defend the oppressed, and destroy the wicked. The passage envisions a restored creation where predatory animals live peacefully with their prey, symbolizing universal harmony under the Messiah’s reign. The King will extend His rule to all nations, uniting them under God’s righteousness. In verse 11, Isaiah foretells a second divine gathering of Israel’s exiles, reaffirming God’s covenant faithfulness.

Jeremiah 33:15-16

This prophecy reinforces the promise of a righteous Branch from David’s line, who will ensure justice and righteousness in the land. In His days, Judah will be secure, and Jerusalem will be called "The LORD Our Righteousness." This emphasizes not only the King’s righteousness but also the transformation of His people, who will share in His divine righteousness. This prophecy, like Jeremiah 23:5-6, points to the Messianic hope in Jesus, who fulfills God’s promise of a perfect ruler. It reassures believers that God remains faithful to His covenant and will bring ultimate justice and salvation to His people.

The messiah in Judaism

• Political Title: Someone who was of the house of David

• Spiritual Title: Liberate the people of Israel from the effects of their signs

-Messianic hope in 1st century.

-Boot out romans.

-Re-establish Jewish sovereignty.

More on James Cones

• Theologians who rebelled against the “whitening” of Christian theology

• James Cone: “They’re leaving black people out of the story.”

-Black Theology and black power( 1969) was written as an exploration of how white supremacist values were integrated into Christianity and the role that black people play in Christianity and their importance in it.

-A black theology of Liberation ( 1970) was created as a response to the critiques of his first book that it didn’t surround theories from black authors and theorists and still did not center the spirituality and history of black people.

-He also emphasizes in this book that Jesus is on the side of the oppressed and states, “If Jesus is white, he is an oppressor, and we must kill him,” which goes back to his belief that Jesus is one with minorities and their struggles.

The Spirituals and the Blues (1972)

a deep dive into Black cultures past & present. Response to scrutiny from first book; all resources were from white names.

James Cone: “You must make what is abstract complete” - meaning you must apply Jesus’ teachings to modern problems.

The 3 aspects of the civil rights movement that Cone reinterprets in his book

1. Definition of the church: a space to give people courage to fight( Ecessiology)

2. redefinition of pastoral leaders: pastors are the main leaders in the civil rights movement and must put on their “bib overalls”

3. the essence of the gospel of Jesus christ: Justice for the poor, and the widow, and the working people.

Jesus from the perspective of the outsiders

• Joseph H. Lycnh: Historian, Scholar.

• book: Early Christianity a brief history.

• How do we know about Jesus?: Jesus did not write anything, or anything Jesus wrote did not survive

• in the Fourth Century. Some believe that a letter from Jesus was sent to King Agbar of Edessa.

• gospels: John

• Death of Jesus: 29 AD/CE

• In the first 100 years after Jesus’s death (89-130), one Jewish writer and 3 pagan Romans mention Jesus in their writings

The outsiders

1. josephus

   -Author of the antiquities of the jews( he identifies james as “the brother of jesus, the so called christ”)

   -Lived between 60 and 100 years after Jesus’ death

   -Starts out doubtful, ends up a “believer”( He was the messiah)

   -testified to the resurrection

   -its widely believed that he either switched up in his beliefs surrounding Christianity, or someone edited the text.

2. Pliny the younger

   -Governor of Northern Turkey

   -knew nothing about Jesus except for his work-site

   Around 110, he wrote a letter to Empower Trajan asking how to examine people accused of breaking the law and practicing Christianity(written 40 years after the death of Saint Paul)

   It was preserved by the Christians themselves as a clear and unsuspicious evidence of the purity of their doctrines and is frequently appealed to by the early writers of the Church against the calumnies of their adversaries.

   -Christianity was a very simple religion, but ultimately, for people, it was a promise to do good to do right by God, and they pray to Christ as if to a divinity. I don't know if you caught that, so let me see if I need to

   -Pliny would request that Christians praise other gods and denounce Christianity

   During this time in Christianity, women could hold high positions in the church

3. Tacitus

   - Roman historian & senator (56-118)

   -recorded the annals, detailing events that occurred about 50 years earlier during the reign of empower Nero (54/68)

   -In 64 CE, a major fire destroyed much of Rome. Romans spread that Nero set the fire himself, and he shifted the blame unto Christians

   -Tactis implies that Christianity is superstitious and refers to it as a “disease”

4. Suetonious

   -Historian (70-130)

   -connects the belief in Christianity to “disturbance”

Similarity

1. Both stories agree that Mary gave birth to Jesus while still a virgin.

2. Jesus’s earthly parents, Joseph and Mary, play important roles in both versions.

3. In both accounts, an angel delivers the news about Jesus, though in different ways.

4. Both gospels agree on Bethlehem as the birthplace.

5. Both versions emphasize that Jesus comes from David’s family line.

Difference

1. Matthew starts with Jesus’s ancestry from Abraham, while Luke traces it all the way back to Adam.

2. In Matthew, the angel appears to Joseph in a dream. In Luke, the angel Gabriel visits Mary directly.

3. Matthew talks about the wise men, while Luke focuses on the shepherds.

4. Matthew includes Herod’s order to kill male infants, but Luke doesn’t mention this.

5. Luke gives more details about what happened before Jesus was born, while Matthew focuses more on what happened afterward.