The Founder - by bionic mosquito - My Christian Journey

 Jesus was born into a pious Jewish home, brought up with the Scriptures and prayer books of the Jews. Mary was his mother and Joseph his legal father.

Formation And Struggles: The Birth of the Church Ad 33-200, by Veselin Kesich

At the time of Jesus’s birth, there was a surge of messianic expectations in Judea – brought on by the Roman conquest of Palestine in 63 BC. Rebellions were increasing, destroying royal palaces at Sepphoris and Jericho right around the time of His birth. After Jesus’s death and resurrection, two Jewish-Roman wars would prove particularly bloody – around 67 AD and 132 AD.

What we know of Jesus comes to us primarily from the four Gospels, describing what Jesus said and did. These were written quite early – close to the time of the events being described. It is generally accepted that these were written between 65 – 95 AD, and that Mark was the first written and John the last.

There is debate regarding the accuracy of these Gospels – for example, what did Jesus actually say vs. what is recorded. Such debates are irrelevant to me: God has delivered to the Church what it is He intended to convey; the Church has accepted these and preserved these.

Around AD 27 Jesus withdrew into the Judean desert and was baptized by John, known as “the Baptist” in Jewish and Christian sources.

Full text:

https://bionicmosquito.substack.com/p/the-founder?publication_id=2189155&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=y7h5a&utm_medium=email 

....Jesus, like John, went into the wilderness; in Jesus’s case, for forty days and to temptation. After this, He returned to Galilee to preach the gospel of God and the joy of salvation.

Jesus proclaimed the message of salvation to the excluded. He had meals with tax collectors and sinners, as well as with his followers. He ate with those working for the Roman authorities as well as with those who did not submit entirely to the Jewish law and its demands.

Jesus was criticized for this, yet He came to heal the sick – they are the ones who need a physician. Unlike other Jewish religious leaders, Jesus would have contact with Gentiles, with women, and with Samaritans (and even a Samaritan woman!).

He would speak of the possibility of salvation even for the Gentiles. In this, He followed in the line of the prophets:

Isaiah 45: 22 “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”

Of course, the early church extended this mission to the Gentiles. The line of separation was no longer Jew or Gentile, but based on one’s relationship to the crucified and risen Christ.

Jesus, without formal teaching, spoke as one who had authority. He would teach in synagogues, in houses of His disciples, and even in the houses of Pharisees. He taught indoors and out, on hills and on plains.