Chapter 3: Tracing the Life of Jesus

-Intro

  • the incarnation happened at a perfect time appointed by God and the moment that Jesus entered was purposefully chosen by the wisdom of God

  • because Jesus is true man and true God, he is a historical figure

  • heresies are the reason people misunderstood the great mystery of the hypostatic union

  • Jesus was a divine person who lived in Nazareth

  • The life of Abraham is often dated around the 12th century B.C.

  • The appearance of Jesus on this Earth occurred late in both the planet and the human race

  • God is present before time, after time, above time, beyond time, is the origin of time, and is the final end of time

  • the historical life of Jesus can only be examined as the 2nd person of the trinity

Section 1

  • Gospel- proclamation of the Good News of Salvation

  • The apostles observed Jesus interacting with other people, these people were poor, despised and destitute

  • All of the apostles witnessed his crucifixion, saw him after his death, and how he risen in power and glory 

  • This experience frightened them to being bold proclaimers of the Gospel, they even surrendered their own lives to preaching that “God has sent his son”

  • The testimonies were preserved in 4 Gospels and the epistles of the New Testament and they’re accurate, normative and inspired source of knowledge about Jesus 

  • There is historical evidence that there is a man named Jesus

  • Even non Christians said that Jesus existed through the historical evidence in the Gospels 

  • There was a Roman monk named Dennis the short who began a new Christian calendar in AD 1

  • AD means Anno Domini or in the year of the Lord

  • When the date of the Incarnation landed on March 25, it only made sense that Jesus was born on December 25(9 months after)

  • King Herod died around 4 BC

  • Jesus birth was pushed to between 5-6 BC

-Jesus’ timeline 

  • Jesus was a Jewish name given to Mary by the angel Gabriel at the time of the Annunciation

  • The name Jesus was conferred on the 8th day after his birth(was circumcised that day)

  • His hometown was Nazareth, however, because of the census ordered by the Roman government for Jews to return to their homes, he was born in Bethlehem where Joseph was

  • His birth happened between 4-6 BC when King Herod ruled Palestine and was under Caesar Augustus 

  • After he was baptized by John the Baptist(between AD 27-30), Jesus began his public ministry 

  • Jesus celebrated 3 passovers in Jerusalem, preached a message of repentance, the coming of God’s kingdom, and for everyone to believe his teachings are true

  • This was according to the Gospel of John 

  • The way that Jesus was teaching led people to believe that he was a great prophet

  • Even though he told people to turn away from sin, not everyone had something positive to say about him 

  • Some of Jesus’ words and actions angered the Jewish religious leaders and Roman officials due to the fact he associated with sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors 

  • The Jewish Religious leaders eventually handed Jesus over to the Romans to be arrested

  • Judas turned on him and handed him over, the other disciples ran away from him

  • Jesus was found guilty in religious court of blasphemy

  • After that he was handed to Pontius Pilate(Roman perfect for region), then King Herod, then back to Pilate

  • Jesus was then sentenced to be crucified and this happened between AD 30-33

  • His cross said “King of the Jews” which means that Jesus was accused and convicted of sedition against the Roman emperor Tiberius

Section 2

  • Thomas was the disciple that probed Jesus’ wounds to make sure he actually died and rose from the dead

  • There is no reason for Non Christians to say that Jesus never existed and can be proven through the historical record 

  • Other than the Gospels, there are historical records to dates, people, and events that can be verified

  • There were numerous non Christians who referenced Jesus

  • The non Christians sources support that there was a man named Jesus who had followers during the times that the New Testament suggested 

  • All non Christian sources say that Jesus existed 

  • You can’t explain a movement(Christianity) that carried the name of a man that didn;t exist, how all apostles said that Christ rose from the dead and how they will die for that belief

-Tacitus(AD 56-71)

  • He was a Roman senator and the greatest Roman historian during his time 

  • His two important works are Histories and Annals

  • In Annals, Jesus was mentioned because Nero blamed the Christians for the fire that broke out in Rome as an excuse to execute them 

  • Nero fabricated scapegoats and heavily punished Christians 

  • Jesus was also executed in Tiberius’ reign 

  • This account verified that Jesus’ ministry took place during the reign of Tiberius and Luke’s Gospel mentions this 

  • He is the only Roman historian to mention Pontius Pilate 

  • Josephus and Philo only mention how harsh Pilate’s rule was 

  • He described Christianity as "degrading and shameful” superstition that made it to Rome

  • Annals also stated that Christians was arrested, mocked, covered in animal skins, and put before blood thirsty dogs; others were nailed to crosses

  • Nero also soaked the corpsed of Christians and burned them as torches 

-Suetonius(AD 70-140)

  • He was a ROman biographer and writer

  • Verified that Christians were upsetting the Roman authorities 2 decades after Jesus’ death and Resurrection 

  • Included a detail that Jews and Christians were removed from Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius

  • In Lives of the Caesars he wrote that Jews were causing riots in Rome at the instigation of Chrestus

  • Chestus is Jesus 

  • Believed that Chrestus was responsible for the riots 

  • The case was most likely that Christians were preaching in JEwish synagogues and were met with violent resistance by Jews

  • Claudius banished Christians and Jews for their public infighting since he believed that they were members of the same religious sect(referred to Acts of Apostles)

-Pliny the Younger(AD 61-113)

  • Was the nephew and adopted son of Pliny the Elder

  • Roman senator 

  • References to Christ and his followers are in his last volume of letters; he also mentions Emperor Trajan

  • Pliny wrote how he should deal with Christians who don’t submit to Roman beliefs and laws in letter 96

  • Said that Christians were foolish zealots even though they live morally 

  • Concerned with a superstition since it challenged Roman religious practices 

  • Mentions that Christians got together to sing hymns, recite a creed, live morally, and worship Christ as God 

  • Trajan wrote back saying that he dealt with the Bithynian Christians good and that any Christians should be punished, but don’t look for them

-Jospehus(AD 37-101

  • Commander of Jewish forces in Galilee during the first Jewish revolt 

  • Captured by Romas, but was spared because he was friends with Vespasian who eventually became an emperor

  • Wrote The Jewish Wars and Jewish Antiquities

  • Called John the Baptist a good man 

  • Said that Annas the Younger put James to death in AD 62 

  • Some passages sounded like he was a believer of Christ

  • Church Father Origen was sure that he rejected Christianity 

  • A theory is that a Christian copyist added certain passages to make it seem like Jospehus supported Christianity

  • Stated that followers of Jesus existed during the 1st century 

-Thallus 

  • Greek historian 

  • Many of his writings didn’t survive, however they were  quoted in historical documents of a 3rd century writer whose work was preserved by a Byzantine historian 

  • Thallus was concerned about the earthquakes and darkness that descended on the land when Jesus died

  • Said that the darkness was caused by a natural eclipse

  • His testimony strengthened the fact that Jesu accompanied his words with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs

  • Wrote about this 15 years before the Gospels were recorded, which makes him the 1st ancient writer to record something related to Jesus and his followers

-Mara bar Serapion(AD 73)

  • Was a Greek philosopher 

  • Was a letter written in Syriac addressed to his son about the tyrants who made the mistake of killing their wise thinkers and rulers 

  • Thought that there was a link between the wise king’s death and destruction of the Jewish nation by Romans

  • Unfairly implicates Jews collectively in the execution of Jesus 

  • God only knows the personal sins of participants  

  • Mentioned how the teachings of the wise king lived on through the teachings he left his followers

-Lucian of Samosata(AD 115-200)

  • Greek satirist

  • Mocked Christian faith which included the Resurrection 

  • Said Christians followed the teaching of that one and describing it as the founder and lawgiver who was crucified 

-Celsus(AD 175)

  • Late 2nd century Greek philosopher

  • Wrote about a vicious attack on Christianity around AD 175

  • Writings were preserved by Origen and were about the false chargers that Celsus made against Jesus 

  • Claimed that Jesus was illegitimate and that his father was a Roman soldier named Panthera

  • Said that Jesus went to Egypt to learn Sorcery 

  • Origen thoroughly and systematically refuted these claims

  • Hated Christianity and Jesus Christ

Section 3

  • The New Testaments have evidence that Jesus existed 

  • Were inspired by the holy spirit and were written from a faith perspective 

  • Ancient biographers mainly focus on key events in a person’s life

  • The evangelists wrote the Gospels for people to take it as historical fact 

  • All Gospels are: authentic testimonies of faith in Jesus Christ, inspired writings, written sources, and expressions of the Church’s faith in Jesus 

  • Each were written for a different audience because they were composed by different people living in different times and for people who lived in different places

  • All present the Good News 

  • Abba means dad 

  • Jesus used the word abba to say that God is the Father in an unheard-of sense

  • Christians can only call God abba 

  • Amen is used as an introduction and translates to certainly 

  • Was used 50 times in the synoptic Gospels, used 25 times in John’s Gospel 

  • Used it to convey a sense of authority 

  • Parable- story that uses easily understood symbols and life occurrences and ends with a surprising lesson 

  • Jesus parables contained important points about the Kingdom of God 

  • Jesus forgave sins, so Jewish authorities said it was a crime of blasphemy 

  • Jesus would’ve never gone through torture if he backed away 

  • 3 stages of writing the Gospels: 1st stage talks about Jesus’ teachings and public life and his death and Resurrection; 2nd stages includes when the Good news was shared by the apostles, happened 25-30 years after Jesus ascended into heaven(oral tradition). 3rd stage was when the Gospels were written 

  • Some apostles believed that the world would end before they died, when they realized that might not happen, they wanted to preserve their testimony in writing 

  • The 3 criteria for interpreting Scripture in accordance with the spirit: read specific passages with the content and unity of the entire bible in mind, read scripture within the “living Tradition of the whole Church”, and pay attention to the analogy of faith

  • You can read scripture in the literal and spiritual senses

-all senses

  • Literal sense- what the words mean at surface level, how it was understood at the time, how things actually happened

  • Allegorical sense- allows you to understand events of scripture more profoundly as they relate to Christ, example is story of Jonah

  • Moral sense- remind you to act justly, St. Paul warned the Corinthians about immorality

  • Anagogical sense- refers to the message scripture has for you place in eternity, example is the Church being a sign of your heavenly destiny