Exam Study Notes: The Life of Jesus

The Sermon on the Mount

  • The Eight Beatitudes: [Note: The transcript asks for the 8 Beatitudes, but does not list them.]
  • Topics from the Sermon: Murder, Adultery, Divorce, Revenge, Giving to the Poor, Prayer, Worry, Judging Others, Heaven and Hell.
  • The Wise and Foolish Builders:
    • The wise man built his house on a rock.
    • The foolish man built his house on sand.
    • The story illustrates that building your life on a weak foundation (e.g., your own opinions) will lead to collapse when trouble arises.
    • Building your life on the words of Jesus and the Bible provides a strong foundation to face any problem.

Jesus and Nicodemus

  • Nicodemus's Night Visit: Nicodemus, a well-respected member of the community, comes to Jesus at night out of embarrassment to be seen with him.
  • The Bronze Snake:
    • Moses lifted a bronze snake on a pole so that anyone bitten by a serpent could look at it and be healed.
    • Jesus compares this to his being lifted up on the cross.
    • Anyone who believes in him and looks to him will be saved from the sting of sin.
  • Born Again:
    • Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be "born again”.
    • This means Nicodemus needs to change his religion.
    • He needs to "start over” by following Jesus and giving up his old ways/religion.
  • Main Lesson:
    • Being a "good person” does not guarantee entry into heaven.
    • Not all religions are right.
    • Following Jesus is the only true path.
    • God will only accept people who follow Jesus.

The Woman at the Well

  • Differences between the Woman and Nicodemus:
    • Nicodemus is wealthy, popular, and highly respected; the woman is none of these things.
    • Nicodemus tries to keep his meeting with Jesus a secret; the woman tells the whole town.
    • Nicodemus believes he is going to heaven for sure; the woman believes she is too bad to ever get to heaven.
  • Living Water:
    • Jesus talks about "Living Water”.
    • Just as water satisfies thirst, refreshes, cleans, and rejuvenates, believing in Jesus satisfies the soul.
    • It makes people new and cleanses them from sin.
  • The Question and Answer:
    • The woman asks which "religion” is the right one.
    • Jesus answers that anyone who follows Him and worships the one, true God in their heart is following the right religion.

The "I AM” Statements

  • The Seven I AM Statements:
    • I am the bread of life.
    • I am the light of the world.
    • I am the true gate (door).
    • I am the good shepherd.
    • I am the resurrection and the life.
    • I am the way, the truth, and the life.
    • I am the true vine.
  • Meaning of "I AM”: Jesus is saying that He is God, the same God who spoke to Moses.
  • First Appearance of "I AM”:
    • The first time God says "I AM” is when Moses asks Him who He is.
    • God calls Himself this because there is no other God. HE IS God, not just one of the gods.

The Parable of the Sower

  • Four Types of Soil (Hearts):
    • The Path: Hard ground, hard heart. They don’t want to discuss religion and are against those who do.
    • The Stony Soil: Shallow soil. Shows some interest in God, but are shallow – when pressure comes, they fall away.
    • The Thorny Soil: Soil with harmful weeds. Some interest in religion, but other cares/concerns push religion down in importance.
    • The Good Soil: Soft heart, ready to hear about God. They allow God’s word to sink in and want to be true followers, leading to positive changes.
  • Why Parables?
    • They keep people’s attention – stories are fun.
    • They are more relatable and people can get into the story.
    • Those earnestly seeking the spiritual lesson will dig deeper and uncover the true meaning.
    • For others, it will just be an interesting story.
  • Having a Soft Heart: God wants followers to be open, humble, and responsive to His teachings, willing to learn, listen, and obey. A hard heart will ignore God’s word and chase after pride and sin.

The Good Samaritan

  • The Lawyer's Trap: A lawyer tries to trap Jesus, but Jesus asks the lawyer what he thinks the answer is, and the lawyer answers. Jesus says, good answer! And everyone laughs at the lawyer because he fell into his own trap.
  • Shocking Hero: It would be shocking to hear a story where the hero is a Samaritan because Jews hated Samaritans.
  • Main Message:
    • God wants us to show love to everyone, not just friends or those nice to us.
    • Go out of your way to be kind, even to enemies.
    • This is what makes Jesus’s followers different.

The Prodigal Son

  • Asking for Inheritance: When the younger son asks for his share of the inheritance, he is really saying, "Father, I wish you were already dead.”
  • Representations:
    • Young son: sinners who are repentant and come back to God, asking forgiveness.
    • Older son: people who think their good deeds are all that is needed to save them from hell.
    • The father: a loving, caring God.
  • The Father's Actions: As soon as he sees his son coming home, the father runs out to him, hugs him, forgives him, and throws a party for him.
  • The Older Son's Anger: He is mad because he feels all his hard work is being ignored and he wants a party too – without his father – just him and his friends.
  • Abrupt Ending:
    • The story ends at an odd moment because the religious leaders are represented in the older son.
    • Jesus is saying to them – “How are you going to finish the story? Are you going to repent and join the party too?”
  • Actual Ending: The older son (the religious leaders) beat the father to death and kill him.

The Triumphal Entry

  • Victorious and Humble:
    • Victorious: Jesus rides into Jerusalem, and everyone is shouting “Hosanna! Our Saviour!”.
    • Humble: He is on a donkey.
  • Meaning of Hosanna:
    • Means "Our Saviour”.
    • The people hoped Jesus would overthrow the Roman Empire and free them.
  • First Action in Jerusalem: Jesus goes into the temple and overturns all the tables of the thieves and whips the people who were making a mockery of God’s temple.
  • Shift to Crucify Him: The same people scream “Crucify Him!” just 5 days later because they realize that Jesus is not going to lead an army against Rome, focusing instead on stopping sin and following God.

The Last Supper

  • The Story of Passover:
    • In Egypt, the Israelites are slaves.
    • God sends 10 Plagues to rescue them.
    • For the final plague, God instructs the people to kill a lamb and put its blood on the doors of their homes.
    • Any house without the blood will have its firstborn die.
    • All the Egyptian first-born are killed, and as a result, Pharaoh frees the Israelites.
  • Connection to Jesus' Death:
    • Jesus is the lamb, and his death protects us from God's wrath.
    • People who believe in Jesus have their sins forgiven, and God “passes over” them on judgment day.
    • Those that do not believe are left to face God’s wrath.
  • Washing the Men's Feet: Teaches humility, emphasizing that it doesn’t matter how “important” you think you are, serve others. Jesus, being God, showed humility and put others ahead of himself.
  • Free Will vs. Predestination: The transcript acknowledges this is an opinion question with no right or wrong answer.

The Crucifixion

  • Mocking Jesus: The Romans mocked Jesus as the “King” of the Jews by using a crown of thorns, a purple robe, and a sign above his head saying "Jesus, the King of the Jews”
  • Hardest Hours: The second 3 hours on the cross were harder because this is when God pours out his supreme wrath on Jesus for every sin that mankind has ever committed. Jesus took the full weight of God’s punishment, which was much worse than anything the Romans could do.
  • Representation in the Three Crosses:
    • One thief: his sin was IN him and ON him.
    • Second thief: his sin was IN him but NOT ON him.
    • Jesus: there was NO SIN IN him, but the sin of every person was ON him.
  • Necessity of Jesus' Death:
    • God demands blood for sin.
    • Something has to DIE because sin has to be punished.
    • Jesus had to die and bleed in order to satisfy God’s holy standards of judgement and justice.
    • He takes our place and dies instead of us.

The Resurrection

  • Three "S's”: The leaders put a Stone, a Seal and Soldiers in place to make sure Jesus didn’t rise from the dead.
  • Importance of Resurrection:
    • It proves that God has the power over death.
    • Christians believe that when they die, they will one day be resurrected like Jesus and go to heaven.
  • Appearances After Resurrection: Jesus appears to the disciples, the women in his group, 2 men on a road, and over 400 other people.
  • Where is Jesus Now?: Christians believe he has returned to heaven and he is praying, protecting, and providing for Christians until the time when he comes back to earth to take us all to be with him.