Life and Teachings of Jesus

The Life and Teachings of Jesus

About 70 years before the Jewish uprising against Rome, Jesus, the founder of Christianity, was born in Bethlehem, a town in southern Palestine. Information about the early life of Jesus comes from accounts written by Jesus' disciples after his death.  These accounts, called the Gospels, or good news, make up the first four books of the New Testament of the Bible.

According to the Gospels, Jesus grew up in Nazareth, studied with priests in the synagogue, and learned the trade of a carpenter. As a young man, Jesus began preaching to the poor. The Gospels also say that Jesus performed miracles such as healing the sick. Many people who heard Jesus or witnessed the miracles believed he was the Messiah. The Greek word for messiah was Christios. Followers of Jesus eventually became known as Christians.

The large crowds Jesus attracted when he preached worried Jewish and Roman authorities. Some Jewish officials considered him a troublemaker bent on challenging Hebrew laws. Others rejected Jesus's claims to be the Son of God. Denounced by his enemies, Jesus was arrested and taken before Pontius Pilate, a Roman official. Pilate saw Jesus as a threat to Rome's authority in Palestine. As a result, Jesus was condemned  to die. He was executed according to Roman customs by crucifixion, or being nailed to a cross to die of exposure.

In his teachings, Jesus stressed love for God and compassion for other people. A person's chief duties, he said, were to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart” and to “love thy neighbor as thyself”. In parables, short stories with simple moral lessons, Jesus taught people how to show kindness to one another. Jesus offered his followers a loving and forgiving God. He thought that earthly richers were unimportant and that people who were humble, merciful and unselfish, would be rewarded with eternal life.

The teachings of Jesus were rooted in Hebrew religious traditions. For example, Jesus preached obedience to one God, to the Ten Commandments, and to other Hebrew laws of the Old Testament. In addition, like the ancient Hebrew prophets, Jesus condemned injustice and criticized false pride. As a result, the Hebrew ethical world view became a fundamental part of Christianity.

In the New Testament, the Apostle John quotes Jesus as saying, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” The symbol of Christ as a shepherd appears in much early Christian art. Photo by Elena.