The subject of the Life of Jesus Christ is a complex and debatable topic. There is the historic Jesus, the Jesus of the Christian Bible, the Jesus of Judaism, the Jesus of Islam, and the Jesus of various sects and sub-sects that fall under the rubric of the above. For the purposes of this paper, however, we will confine the topic to the five major periods of the Christian Jesus as reported in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.

Scholars tend to agree that there were seven major trials towards the end of the life of Jesus. John, Mark, Matthew, and Luke all give accounts of trials before Annas, Caiaphas, the Sanhedrin, two before Pilate, Herod, and the people of the city. John, in fact, summarizes the outcome of the trials with the view that “The Jews answered him (Pilate). We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” (John 19: 7-16). The Trials, however, were really a court trying to find a reason for Christ’s incarceration – clearly Annas and Caipahas had other motives, but Herod and most especially Pilate relied more on, at least according to Luke (23: 13-22), the popular rabble’s viewpoint.

According to the Bible, Jesus was sentenced to death by the Roman method of crucifixion. He was made to carry his cross through the streets of the city, was spat upon, beaten, scourged, stripped, and finally nailed to a cross between to thieves, pierced by a spear, and died. Again, most scholarship agrees that Jesus was killed less because of his “radical” ideas of the time, and more because he was seen as a political and social threat to the ruling Jewish leaders. The very idea of empowering the poor, of casting off worldly goods, and the concept of equality of all people was anathema to both the upper class Jews and Roman government of the time. If, however, the message of Jesus was to be transcended, then he, as he said, must die for the sins of all mankind. The four Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John tell the world that Jesus died on the cross, with the Gospel of Mark, 14-15, being the earliest account of this event.

Central to much of modern Christianity, the idea of Christ’s resurrection, or his removing the bounds of human death and becoming more, became the very cornerstone of the early faith. In Corinthiams 1:15, Paul remarked, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith….” However, what is meant by the idea of resurrection? Spiritually, if Christ came into the world to die for man’s sins, then giving his life was necessary. The Bible says that it is certain Christ died (John 19:30-42) because a roman soldier pierced his side with a spear. Jesus told his disciples that he would be killed, but would rise again on the third day. Even without tangible proof, his followers placed a guard around his tomb, according to Matthew (27:62-66). But, then according to Acts 1:3, Jesus rose from the dead, appeared to his followers over a period of 30 days, and spoke about the wonders of the Kingdom of God. The idea of the resurrection and appearances thereafter were considered the miracles of the promise – without the resurrection, there would be no Christianity – causing centuries of martyrdom and a central claim to the belief in the Gospels.

Both Luke and Mark describe the ascension of Christ, and after the time of preaching and ensuring belief in the resurrection, Mark says, “After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God” (16:19). This tells the faithful that he was giving up his worldly body, all his worldly goods, and moving to his former, and true place of glory – the victory over death and at the right hand of God, his Father (John 17:5). This, too, became an integral and central foci to Christianity. The idea of a further covenant with God, differing from that of the Old Testament, in that, having been granted redemption for all that would believe in him, Jesus took the rightful place not as God, but as God’s son and intercessionary with mankind. Therefore, believers can now approach Jesus, believing, as Paul said in Thessalonians, “The Lord Jesus himself will come down from heaven….. and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (4:16-17).

References:

Edersheim, A. (1993), The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Hendrickson.

Ludemann, G., et.al. (1995), Resurrection of Jesus: History, Experience, Theology, Augsburg.

Stalker, J. (1984), The Life of Jesus Christ, Zondervan.