a partner church in the WOLDSBURN benefice
CHURCH AT KIRKBURN
JESUS, THE MAN, a statement of faith
The Man. Jesus ………..
This man Jesus, who has had such influence on the world, what do we know about him. Well, in the gospels of Luke and Matthew, we hear about his miraculous birth in the stable at Bethlehem. In the 3 synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we learn of his death and crucifixion. But we also have two accounts from those not counted amongst his followers. Josephus Flavius in his work, Jewish Antiquities, and also from the writings of the pagan historian Cornelius Tacitus from the first decades of the second century, who was more concerned with the effects following the crucifixion of Christ There can be no doubt whatsoever that Jesus Christ lived and was crucified in the time of the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate. It is generally accepted that Christ’s crucifixion occurred when he was between 30/33 years of age. So from his birth until his death we have to account for about 30 years; there is one mention in the New Testament about Jesus reading in the temple at the age of about 12, to which we will refer later. Otherwise nothing more is known. So what did he do during that time.
The Jewish people were living, and had lived for some time, as subjects of an occupying power, the Romans. You can perhaps imagine what the English people might have done had Hitler occupied the British Isles. I am quite sure there would have been many movements to recover our freedom from the Nazis. And so it was in the time of Jesus. There were many attempts to recover the land from the occupying powers, and land had particular significance to the Jewish people. Their traditional ideology was enshrined in the Pentateuchal laws. Just as the laws of behaviour enshrined in the 10 commandments were a framework for social behaviour, the same laws applied to God’s land. Just as man was expected to rest on the 7th day, so also was God’s land on the 7th or Sabbath year. In addition on the 7th year Jewish debts were to be remitted. And additionally in the Jubilee year (the year after 7 sets of Sabbath years) all expropriated lands and even village houses had to go back to their original owners. So to the Jewish people, land was a special matter, and for land to be in the hands of a ruling power was anathema. Land was considered to be a divine possession. The Jewish people also were sure that the Messiah would come, and that Messiah would strike down the oppressors, free his people
This man Jesus, who has had such influence on the world, what do we know about him. Well, in the gospels of Luke and Matthew, we hear about his miraculous birth in the stable at Bethlehem. In the 3 synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we learn of his death and crucifixion. But we also have two accounts from those not counted amongst his followers. Josephus Flavius in his work, Jewish Antiquities, and also from the writings of the pagan historian Cornelius Tacitus from the first decades of the second century, who was more concerned with the effects following the crucifixion of Christ There can be no doubt whatsoever that Jesus Christ lived and was crucified in the time of the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate. It is generally accepted that Christ’s crucifixion occurred when he was between 30/33 years of age. So from his birth until his death we have to account for about 30 years; there is one mention in the New Testament about Jesus reading in the temple at the age of about 12, to which we will refer later. Otherwise nothing more is known. So what did he do during that time.
The Jewish people were living, and had lived for some time, as subjects of an occupying power, the Romans. You can perhaps imagine what the English people might have done had Hitler occupied the British Isles. I am quite sure there would have been many movements to recover our freedom from the Nazis. And so it was in the time of Jesus. There were many attempts to recover the land from the occupying powers, and land had particular significance to the Jewish people. Their traditional ideology was enshrined in the Pentateuchal laws. Just as the laws of behaviour enshrined in the 10 commandments were a framework for social behaviour, the same laws applied to God’s land. Just as man was expected to rest on the 7th day, so also was God’s land on the 7th or Sabbath year. In addition on the 7th year Jewish debts were to be remitted. And additionally in the Jubilee year (the year after 7 sets of Sabbath years) all expropriated lands and even village houses had to go back to their original owners. So to the Jewish people, land was a special matter, and for land to be in the hands of a ruling power was anathema. Land was considered to be a divine possession. The Jewish people also were sure that the Messiah would come, and that Messiah would strike down the oppressors, free his people
http://www.churchatkirkburn.org.uk/page77.html JESUSTHEMAN1 (78-82) 16/1/05