Friday, January 27, 2006

 

Jesus

Good Morning, Good Weekend & Good Lunar New Year to all,


A brief narrative of the life of Jesus Christ.

Jesus was born on Christmas day, some 2005 years ago. His mother
was a virgin named Mary. Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, a
carpenter, but Joseph was not Jesus's father, because Jesus was
conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit as it had been announced
by the angel Gabriel to Mary. Joseph became Jesus's foster-father.

Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem. When he was born, the
shepherds nearby were told by an angel. They came and paid him
homage and were very jubilant, glorifying God. And so did three
magi who came from the east, guided by a star. These magi offered
him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Jesus was descended from the line of Abraham, through king David;
his was the forty second generation. His birth had been foretold by
the prophets very much earlier. He was the Messiah who was to lead
the Israelites to salvation. His relative, John the Baptist, was born six
months earlier, to herald his coming. John worked about the Jordan
preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He baptised them
with water, saying that one mightier would come and baptize them
with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Jesus lived as man did, and the devil tempted him without success.
When he came and was baptized by John, the Holy Spirit descended
upon him as a dove, and a voice from heaven said, "You are my
beloved Son, with you I am well pleased"

When Jesus was about 30 years old, he began his ministry. He
gathered his apostles and taught them and the people about God's
kingdom. He performed many miracles during his ministry, changing
water into wine, cleansed lepers, restored sight to blind people,
made the lame walk, gave the mute speech, free the demoniacs of
spirits, walked on the sea, brought the dead to life, cured the sick,
and fed thousands of listeners with just a few loaves of bread and
a lesser number of fish.

Jesus taught them also in parables, many parables, because he said
they look but not see, hear but not listen. He taught them to love one
another, about salvation, about reward to those who suffer for the
cause of righteousness, about riches, more difficult for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye
of a needle
, and about the forgiveness of sins . He taught them how
to pray; he taught them the Our Father, the finest prayer .

Jesus asked his disciples who did man say he was. When Peter
replied that he was the living God, Jesus said, "Blessed are you,
Simon Bar-Jona, and you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my
church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will
give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth
shall be loose in heaven"

While Jesus taught, he referred to himself as the Son of Man and that
he had God's power to do God's, his Father's, will. He denounced the
practice and hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, sit on Moses's seat,
preach but not practise
. His teachings antagonised the high officials of
the Sanhedrin. The high priest Caiaphas, the chief priests and all the
elders then plotted to find a way to put him to death.

At his last supper before he was arrested, Jesus gave bread and wine
to his apostles to eat and drink, saying that these were his body and
blood, of the new and everlasting covenant, which would be shed for
them and for all, for the forgiveness of sins. He told them to perform
this ceremony in memory of him.

That night, while Jesus was agonising over his coming death, in the
garden Gethsemane, his enemies, led by Judas the betrayer, came
and arrested him. But Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee, and Pontius
Pilate, the govenor of Judea, could not find him guilty of any crime,
and they wanted to set him free. But the crowd's demand overwhelmed
Pilate and he gave way to them. So Jesus was flogged, scourged and
mocked as king with a crown of thorns. He was made to carry his own
cross, assisted by one Simon of Cyrene, to the place called the Skull,
or Golgotha, or Calvary. There he was crucified, together with two
criminals, one on each side of him.

Jesus died that day, a Friday. When he died, the sky darkened, the
earth quaked, tombs were opened, and many holy people resurrected,
and the veil of the santuary was torn in the middle into two. Jesus's
followers took his body and placed it in a tomb, and the Roman
soldiers stationed guards outside it, to prevent anybody from doing
anything to his body, because he had said that he would rise again.

On the third day of his death, a Sunday, his followers came and saw
his tomb opened, but they could not find his body. Two angels there
told them that Jesus had risen. His apostles then realized that Jesus
had risen from the dead, as he had foretold to them; they could not
understand what he had meant before.

Jesus met with his followers and broke bread with them. He also
convinced Thomas by asking him to feel his wound because Thomas
would not believe what he had been told.

Jesus remained on earth for forty days, preparing his apostles to wait
for the coming of the Holy Spirit, when they would receive the power
to be his witnesses to the end of the earth, "Make disciples of all
nations, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit". Then Jesus ascended to heaven, from the Mount
of Olives, in the sight of his followers. It was a Thursday.

On Pentecost day, a Sunday, ten days later, the twelve apostles were
gathered in a room. They were Simon Peter, John, James, Andrew,
Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the Less, Simon the
Zealot, Judas Thaddaeus, and Matthias who replaced Judas the
betrayer. There was a loud sound of a whirlwind and tongues of fire
split and hovered over the head of each of them. They were thus filled
with the Holy Spirit. And with the power, they spoke in other tongues.
When the multitude came to find out about the commotion, everyone
heard them speaking in his own language, wherever he came from.

Then Peter, together with the other eleven apostles, raised his voice
and began to tell them about Jesus. That was the birth of Christianity.

This is a very brief narrative of the life of Jesus Christ.
The Bible contains the full text.


May the whole lunar new year be what you wish it to be.
Ronald

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