An Overview of the Life of Christ

The Gospels do not give us precise dates for Jesus’s birth or ministry, but approximations can be made. We know Jesus was born in the closing years of Herod the Great’s reign (Mt 2:1; Lk 1:5), and so sometime around 6–4 BC. (Our present calendar—developed in the sixth century by Dionysius Exiguus—was miscalculated by several years.) John the Baptist began preaching in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar (Lk 3:1), which, depending on how it is calculated, could be either AD 26 or 29. The length of Jesus’s public ministry, which began shortly after John’s, is also uncertain. The three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) present a linear view that could fit all of the events into a single year. Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee and gradually moves southward to Jerusalem, where he is crucified at Passover. John’s Gospel, however, has Jesus visiting Jerusalem regularly during various Jewish festivals. At least three Passovers are noted (Jn 2:13; 6:4; 11:55) together with other festivals (Jn 5:1; 7:2; 10:22). Since it was normal for a Galilean Jew to take such trips, scholars tend to view John’s chronology as more precise and calculate the length of Jesus’s ministry as between two and a half and three and a half years, either AD 27–30 or AD 30–33.

The Birth and Childhood of Jesus

Two of the four Gospels, Matthew and Luke, provide accounts of Jesus’s birth (Mt 1–2; Lk 1–2). There are many parallels between the two: in both an angel announces before Jesus’s birth that he will be the promised Messiah from the line of David; Mary is still a virgin when she becomes pregnant by the Holy Spirit; Jesus is born in Bethlehem, the hometown of King David (Mc 5:2), but raised in Nazareth in Galilee. There are also important differences. Matthew’s story focuses on Joseph, while Luke’s focuses on Mary. Matthew recounts the star that prompts the coming of the Magi, the attempt by Herod to kill Jesus, and the family’s escape to Egypt. Luke parallels the birth of Jesus with that of John the Baptist and describes the census of Caesar Augustus that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, Jesus’s birth in a lowly stable, and the visit by the shepherds.

Both Matthew and Luke provide genealogies that confirm Jesus’s credentials as the Messiah (Mt 1:1–17; Lk 3:23–38). Matthew, however, traces Jesus’s ancestry from Abraham to Jesus via the line of David’s son Solomon. Luke’s genealogy moves in the other direction, descending from Jesus through the line of Nathan, another son of David, all the way back to Adam. Various theories have been proposed to explain how Jesus could have two genealogies (see also the comments on Lk 3:23–38). The traditional and simplest is that Matthew’s contains Joseph’s ancestors, while Luke’s are those of Mary. Others suggest that Luke records the physical ancestry of Joseph while Matthew gives a legal or royal genealogy, or that Jesus had two lines because of an earlier levirate marriage (see Dt 25:5–10). All such suggestions remain speculative.

Little is known about Jesus’s childhood except for one story from Luke of a Passover visit to Jerusalem when Jesus is twelve. Jesus here demonstrates a growing awareness that God is his Father (Lk 2:40–52). Jesus likely had a rather ordinary childhood as a Jewish boy growing up in a conservative Israelite household. His father was a craftsman, a worker in wood, stone, or metal, and Joseph’s sons followed him in this trade (Mt 13:55; Mk 6:3). Jesus had four brothers—James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon—and at least two sisters (Mk 6:3).

Preparation for Ministry

All four Gospels precede Jesus’s public ministry with that of John the Baptist. John is the beginning of the gospel, the prophetic bridge between the old covenant and the new. John comes on the scene dressed in clothing reminiscent of the prophet Elijah and calling for repentance in light of the imminent judgment of God. He denies he was the Messiah, pointing instead to Jesus, the “Lamb of God” who will take away the sins of the world (Jn 1:29, 36). John announces he is merely a messenger and herald, preparing the way for the Lord (Is 40:3; Mal 3:1). He baptizes with water, but the Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Two key events prepare Jesus for his messianic role. First, he submits to John’s baptism, identifying with the repentant people of God. When he comes out of the water, a voice from heaven declares him to be the Son of God (Mt 3:13–17 and parallels). Second, the Holy Spirit leads him into the wilderness, where Satan tempts him for forty days. By resisting Satan’s temptation to act in his own power and for his own good, Jesus proves he is ready to accomplish God’s plan (Mt 4:1–11 and parallels).

The Galilean Ministry

When John the Baptist is arrested (and eventually executed) by Herod Antipas, Jesus launches his public ministry. His message is, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mk 1:15). In Jesus’s preaching, the “kingdom of God” is the dynamic reign of God, his rule and authority over all things. God is in the process of restoring his fallen creation and calling a rebellious people back to himself.

The early part of Jesus’s ministry is centered in the towns and villages around the Sea of Galilee. There he calls his disciples, preaches the kingdom of God, casts out demons, and heals the sick. The exorcisms demonstrate that the kingdom of God is assaulting and overwhelming Satan’s authority in the world. Healing the sick previews the restoration of creation predicted by Isaiah and the prophets, when the lame would walk, the blind would see, and the deaf would hear (Is 35:5–6). From his many followers, Jesus chooses twelve, designating them as apostles (“messengers”) and sending them out to preach and to heal (Mk 3:13–19). The number twelve is analogous to the twelve tribes of Israel and confirms that Jesus views his ministry in some sense as the restoration and renewal of the nation Israel.

While Jesus’s reputation as a teacher and healer makes him enormously popular among the common people of Galilee, he faces growing opposition from the religious authorities. His claims to divine authority, association with sinners and tax collectors, and apparent violations of the Sabbath law infuriate the Jewish religious leaders, who challenge his authority and accuse him of blasphemy. The climax of the Galilean ministry comes when, on an excursion to Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks his disciples what they believe about him. Simon Peter, the frequent representative and spokesperson of the Twelve, says, “You are the Messiah.” From that point on Jesus begins to teach them that his messianic mission is to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die (Mt 16:13–23 and parallels). Jesus subsequently takes his three closest disciples—Peter, James, and John—onto a mountain, where his appearance is radically changed in front of them (a transfiguration), briefly revealing his divine glory (Mt 17:1–13 and parallels).

Last Days in Jerusalem

Although in John’s Gospel Jesus travels often between Galilee and Judea, the Synoptics focus on this final journey as the defining moment of his life. Jesus comes to Jerusalem with a purpose. On Palm Sunday, he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey from the Mount of Olives in fulfillment of Zch 9:9, his first public revelation as the Messiah. Entering the temple, he drives out the money changers and sellers of sacrificial animals. The action is a symbolic judgment against Israel for turning God’s temple into a marketplace and failing to be God’s light to the nations. It is also a preview of Jerusalem’s coming destruction. Such provocative actions cannot go unchallenged, and during this week the Jerusalem religious authorities repeatedly confront Jesus, challenging his authority and attempting to trap him in his words. Jesus responds, defeating them in debate and frustrating them further (Mt 22–23 and parallels). Jesus also continues to teach his disciples, predicting Jerusalem’s destruction and instructing them concerning the events leading to the end of the age and his own return as the Son of Man (Mt 24–25 and parallels).

The Passion of the Messiah

On Thursday evening, the last night before his crucifixion, Jesus brings his disciples together for a final meal. There he transforms the Jewish Passover into a new celebration—the Lord’s Supper—a ritual where his disciples would eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of his sacrificial death on the cross. Jesus next takes his disciples to the garden of Gethsemane, an olive grove near Jerusalem, for a time of prayer. Judas, who earlier agreed to betray Jesus, shows up with the religious leaders and a group of soldiers who take Jesus into custody.

In the hours that follow, Jesus is taken before the Jewish high court—the Sanhedrin—where he is accused of seeking to destroy the temple, of blasphemy, and of falsely claiming to be the Messiah. The high priest declares him guilty and pronounces a death sentence. The next morning they take Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, since the Sanhedrin does not have authority in capital cases. Pilate questions Jesus and has him whipped but finds no reason to execute him. Yet the religious leaders persist in their demands. Pilate, being an unscrupulous and self-serving ruler and fearing their influence with his superiors in Rome, eventually accedes to their demands and orders Jesus to be crucified. Like other victims of crucifixion, Jesus dies a horrific death of exhaustion, blood loss, and asphyxiation. His body is taken from the cross before the Sabbath begins (Friday evening) and is laid in a new tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Jewish high council.

The Resurrection of the Messiah

On Sunday morning, a group of women come to the tomb to anoint Jesus’s body with spices as part of the burial process. Instead they find the tomb empty, the body gone, and an angel announcing that Jesus has risen from the dead. Jesus subsequently appears to them, to the eleven disciples (Judas has committed suicide), and to many others. The NT describes at least ten different resurrection appearances, compelling evidence that Jesus indeed rose from the dead (Mt 28; Mk 16; Lk 24; Jn 20–21; 1 Co 15:3–8). The resurrection of Jesus is an essential foundation for the Christian faith, confirming (1) Jesus’s claims about himself were true—claims to be the Messiah and the divine Son of God; (2) Jesus’s death was an atoning sacrifice providing forgiveness for sins (Mk 10:45); and (3) we, like Jesus, will be raised in an immortal and imperishable body (1 Co 15:35–49).