Jesus 101

I just have to say that I love this picture. Why? Hmmm... I think it is because it portrays Jesus as the opposite of what religion paints him to be. Jesus was tough, yet compassionate. He spent his days with sinners and losers. He defied convention and yet he never sinned once in all his life. He loved real people and wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty. Jesus was everyman, and yet he was God.

Matthew 9:13 (New Living Translation) Then he added, "Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: 'I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.' For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners."

Mark 2:16-17 (New Living Translation) But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, "Why does he eat with such scum?"
17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, "Healthy people don't need a doctor-sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners."

Jesus was born some 2000 years ago in a town called Bethlehem in the country of Israel. His mother is Mary and his Father is God. This is a bit mind boggling for my pea brain to grasp. Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit after she received a message from an angel saying that God had chosen her to bare his son. Jesus is all God and all Man. The two origins of his heritage as inseparable as the those of a baby born to biracial parents. He is God's son and yet he lived his life here on earth as a man. His miracles were the result of his father's power as he had laid his own powers aside in heaven. Like any man he was vulnerable to all the challenges, temptations this life can deal out. He was God and he was man.

We don't know much about the childhood of Jesus. The Bible doesn't really mention it except in the passages I have included below. This is most likely because he grew up like any boy of that time working with his carpenter father and learning all about the scriptures and his heavenly father. His childhood was not filled with miracles as some would like to suppose. The Bible makes this clear when it mentions in John 2:11 that turning the water into wine at the wedding in Cana was his first miracle. This miracle came after he was baptized by John the Baptist and received God's anointing power to preach and be his witness.

Luke 2:52 (New International Version) And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Luke 2:41-50 (New International Version) The Boy Jesus at the Temple

Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Nothing is mentioned about Jesus between age 12 or so until he was 30. We can only assume that during this time he continued to study the scriptures and to work with his earthly father Joseph as a carpenter.

Many think that Christ is Jesus' last name. But, did you know it actually has a special meaning? It means the anointed one. Ok! Now you are probably thinking, "ummm... what does anointed mean?" Well, I am glad you asked! In Bible times, when God would give people a certain calling for their life: i.e. to be a king or a prophet, they were anointed with oil. The priest would come and pour oil on their head to show that God was giving them the ability to do the job he had called them to do. The power was not in the oil, but rather in God's abilities working in that person's life. Another meaning for anointed is chosen one. In other words, Jesus was the one chosen by God to proclaim the good news that God is not mad at us! Instead, he wants us to become part of his family.

Acts 10:38 (New Living Translation) And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

With the anointing, comes abilities from God that supersede our own strengths. It may surprise you to know that although Jesus was and is God, when he came to earth and took on human form, he willingly left his God powers in heaven. He did this to be able to relate with man and his sufferings. He also did it to show us that it is possible to live a holy life by relying on God just as he had to.

Philippians 2:6-8 (New Living Translation) You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross.

Although many may believe this to be heresy, the Bible actually says that Jesus could not do any miracles apart from God's anointing on his life. He did not receive his anointing until after he was baptized by John at the age of 30. This is why he never did any miracles as a child. It is because he was not yet anointed at that time.

John 5:19 (New Living Translation) So Jesus explained, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does."

Matthew 20:28 (New Living Translation) For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Imagine for a moment that you are God. What would you be like? We would probably be like Jim Carrey in the movie Bruce Almighty. When God gave him his powers, he abused them. Basically, he did everything for himself. We are not really any different. We would probably be the same. But God is not selfish like we are. He has given and just keeps giving to us. He has shown mercy to us and just keeps on doing it because he wants us to know him. Jesus life was one of service. He came to show us the Fathers heart of love.

Matthew 4:24 (New Living Translation) News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed-he healed them all.

Matthew 8:16 (New Living Translation) That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick.

Matthew 12:15 (New Living Translation) But Jesus knew what they were planning. So he left that area, and many people followed him. He healed all the sick among them,

Matthew 14:14 (New Living Translation) Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Matthew 15:30 (New Living Translation) A vast crowd brought to him people who were lame, blind, crippled, those who couldn't speak, and many others. They laid them before Jesus, and he healed them all.

The verses above speak for themselves in making clear Jesus' mission to heal the sick and mentally troubled. Noticeably absent... any verses whatsoever mentioning Jesus handing out sickness to teach a lesson, punish or to allow others to share in his suffering. Seems pretty clear to me that sickness isn't his gig!

John 1:18 (New Living Translation)" No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, (Jesus) is near to the Father's heart. He has revealed God to us." Jesus and the life he lived gives us a snapshot of what the Father God is like.

Colossians 1:15 (New International Version) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

You have heard it said, "Like Father , like son." This case is no different. Jesus is a living picture of God in the flesh. Look at Jesus and his life and you will see what the Father God is like. John 14:7 (New International Version) says, "If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

The last book of the Bible is called Revelations. It mentions in chapter 13:8 that Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That can be confusing. Didn't Adam and Eve and all those prophets and Old Testament people come first and then the crucifixion? Yes. But what this means is that from when the world was created, God, knowing the end from the beginning, had a plan for the salvation of mankind. Before man ever had the opportunity to sin, God had the remedy for sin and the means of salvation: the death of his son in our place.

Luke 24:46 (New International Version) He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,

Matthew 26:2 (New International Version) "As you know, the Passover is two days away-and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."

Jesus was born to die. He came and lived as a man, but unlike man, he never sinned. He came here to take away the sins of the whole world so that nothing would keep us away from God. It may come as a surprise to you, but according to the Bible, only one sin will keep people out of heaven. What? I thought bad people won't be there because of all the wrong things they do. Actually no. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:19 (New Living Translation)" For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation." God is no longer counting your sins against you. John 3:16-18 (New International Version) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. Only the sin of unbelief in his son's death for our sins will separate anyone from God.

P.S. It is impossible to earn your way to heaven through good works. Isaiah 64:4 says that our righteousness is as filthy rags. Our best behavior on our very best day is like a dirty old rag. It is never good enough for a perfect God. It also says in Ephesians 2:8,9 that it is God's grace that saves us not ourselves. Salvation is a gift, not something to work for, so no one can boast.

Jesus promises to return again one day to gather his followers unto himself. He is in heaven now preparing a place for us so that we may join him there.

John 14:3 (New International Version) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.