“Do you see Him, do you see Him?!” the little boy whispered, while tugging
on his father’s robe. “Shh, Simon. Patience. He will be here soon. Can you
hear the crowd getting louder?” John asked his son. He was trying to appear
calm, but his beating heart and sweating palms gave him away. He and his son
were in a crowd of hundreds waiting to see Jesus of Nazareth. People were
claiming that Jesus was the Messiah they had been waiting for. John was
skeptical, so he thought he would go see for himself. Jesus Christ was born in
Bethlehem, the city of David. While this might seem ordinary to some, the
circumstances leading up to were not. Mary was betrothed to marry Joseph, but
before they had slept together, she found out she was pregnant. Joseph was ready
to call it off quietly, when an angel of the Lord came to him saying, “
Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because
what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son,
and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save His people from
their sins.” (Matt. 1:20,21) Joseph then took Mary home as his wife, and they
did not lay together until Jesus was born. This proves to us Jesus was born of
God, not of man. He was God’s son, blameless, pure, and holy. (Mt.1:18-24)
Every year Jesus and His parents would travel to Jerusalem for the Passover
Feast. The year when Jesus was twelve, they went as usual; however, after the
Feast days. They found Him in the Temple teaching the teachers. (Luke 2:41-50)
“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
been searching for you.’ ‘Why were you searching for me?’ Jesus asked.
‘Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house’?” (Luke 2:48,49) He
then left with His parents back to Nazareth “and was obedient to them.”
(Luke 2:51b) This shows Jesus’ love for His Heavenly Father, as well as His
respect and obedience to His earthly parents. John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin,
had been “preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, ‘Repent, for the
kingdom of Heaven is near’.” (Matt 3:1b,2) He was preaching the way for
Jesus and fulfilling Isaiah’s prophesy, “A voice of one calling: ‘In the
desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway
for our Lord’.” (Isa. 40:3) People from all over Jerusalem were coming to be
baptized by John the Baptist. Though he baptized them, he made sure all his
actions pointed toward Jesus. (Matt. 3:1-12) “ I baptize you with water for
repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose
sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
(Matt. 3:11) While John was at the Jordan River baptizing, Jesus came and asked
John to baptize him. “But John tried to deter him, saying, ‘I need to be
baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ Jesus replied, ‘Let is be so now;
it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then John
consented.” (Matt 3:14,15) After Jesus came up from the water “ A voice from
heaven said, ‘this is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’.”
(Matt 3:17) Jesus was setting an example for us to follow. Baptism represents
our death to sin, and our new life in Christ. After his baptism, “Jesus was
led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” (Matt. 4:1)
Jesus was in the desert for forty days and nights,0 and Satan tempted him the
entire time. Jesus used scripture to fight Satan, and Jesus came out the victor
of the battle.(Matt. 4:1-11) Soon after his temptation, Jesus heard that John
the Baptist had been put into prison, he then left Nazareth and went back up to
Galilee. (Matt. 4:12-17) There he began to preach “repent for the kingdom of
heaven is near.” (Matt. 4:17) “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of
Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew.”
(Matt 4:18) They were fisherman and were busy putting their nets into the sea
when Jesus called, “Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
(Matt 4:19) They instantly dropped their nets and followed Him. A little while
later “he saw two other brothers, James, son of Zebedee, and his brother
John.” (Matt. 4:21) Jesus called out to them and they too left their boat and
nets and followed Jesus. (Matt. 4:18-22) Jesus performed His first miracle at a
wedding celebration in Cana in Galilee. His mother came and informed him that
all the wine was gone. He then told the servants to fill six barrels full of
water. The servants “filled them to the brim. Then He told them, ‘Now draw
some out and take it to the master of the banquet’.” (John 2:7,8) When the
master of the banquet tasted the wine he declared it the best wine he had ever
had. (John 2:1-10) Jesus “thus revealed His glory, and His disciples put their
faith in Him.” (John 2:11) Jesus and His disciples “went up to the
Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went to the synagogue and began to
teach. (Mk. 1:21) People there were amazed at the way He taught with such
authority. While he was teaching a demon-possessed man came calling, “What do
you want from us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you
are-the Holy One of God!” (Mk. 1:24) Jesus commanded the demon to leave the
man. (Mk. 1:21-26) “The people were all so amazed that they asked each other,
‘what is this? A new teaching- and with authority! He gives orders to evil
spirits and they obey Him.’ News about him spread quickly over the whole
region of Galilee’.” (Mk.1: 27,28) “Jesus left the synagogue and went to
the home of Simon.” (Luke 4:38a) When he arrived there Simon’s mother-in-law
was very ill. Jesus healed her; and by that evening many sick and
demon-possessed people were coming to be healed. In the morning, Jesus went to a
quiet place to be alone. When the people found him, they tried to persuade him
to stay. (Luke 4:38-42) “But He said, ‘I must preach the good news of the
kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.’ And
he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judah.” (Luke 4: 43,44) Jesus’
ministry of preaching the good news and healing the sick lasted for three years.
During that time he healed many (Mk. 1:21-34); walked on water (Matt. 8:23-27);
fed five thousand men with two fish and five barley loaves (Matt 14:13-21); and
raised Lazarus from the dead. (John 11:1-46) These are only a few of the things
that Jesus did in those three years. His greatest act of love; however, was yet
to come. The Pharisees had been plotting for some time to kill Jesus
(Matt.26:3-5) and one of Jesus’ disciples, Judas, gave them the plan. (Luke
22:1-6) The plot was carried out a few days later up at the Mount of Olives.
Jesus was arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin. (Mk. 14:46-53) “The chief
priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that
they could put Him to death, but they could not find any. Many testified falsely
against Him, but their statements did not agree.” (Mk. 14:55,56) The only
thing that could be used against Jesus were lies. After accusing Him of
blasphemy. “They all condemned Him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit
at Him; they blindfolded Him and struck Him with their fists, and said,
‘Prophesy!’ And the guards took Him and beat Him.” (Mk. 14:64b, 65) Early
that the morning the chief priest and the Sanhedrin came to a decision. They
sent Jesus to Pilate. “ ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ asked Pilate.
‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied.” (Mk. 15:2) Pilate realized that
Jesus was innocent of all they had accused Him. (Mk. 15:9-10,14) “ Now it was
the custom at the feast to release a prisoner the people requested.” (Mk.
15:6) Pilate asked the people if they wanted him to release Jesus or Barabbas (a
known murderer). The people chose Barabbas. (Mk. 15:9-14) For Jesus they cried,
“Crucify Him!” (Mk. 15:13) “ Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released
Barabbas to the crowd. He had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be
crucified.” (Mk.15: 15) “So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying His
own cross, He went out to the place of the skull (which in Aramaic is Golgotha).
They crucified Him and with two others- one each side and Jesus in the
middle.” (John 19:16b-18) Jesus hung on the cross for our sins. He bled and
died so we would have life. His last words were, “ ‘It is finished.’ With
that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” (John 19:30) Jesus’ body
was taken by Joseph of Arimathea, one of Jesus’ disciples. He wrapped Jesus’
body and put Him in his own tomb. He then put a huge stone in front of the
entrance and left. (Matt. 27:57-60) “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first
day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.”
(Matt. 28:1) When they got there, they found the tomb empty. Both of them stood
there crying when an angel appeared before them. “Do not be afraid, for I know
that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen,
just as He said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell
His disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into
Galilee. There you will see Him.’ Now I have told you.” (Matt. 28:5-7) Jesus
appeared to His disciples and many others after his resurrection. After forty
days of teaching, Jesus was taken back up into Heaven. (Acts 1:1-11)