Jesus and His Approachableness
A key aspect of Jesus that most interests me is his approachableness. Although people could approach God in the Old Testament, his approachableness was defined in rituals and traditions. In the New Testament God gave us a direct way to approach Him, through His Son Jesus. The Old Testament is filled with verses of Jewish traditions and rituals in order for His people to approach God such as burnt offerings. God communicated through profits, angels and instances like Moses and the burning bush, but others could not approach God directly. In the New Testament, God makes himself more approachable by sending His Son to earth, to live among His people, giving them direct access to Him. In the Old Testament, God only spoke to certain prophets such as Moses to relay His messages. In Exodus 40:1-2, He had Moses set up the tabernacle with a place for the Ark of the Covenant, burnt offerings, and specific priests who were allowed to enter and be in communication with Him. The traditions and rituals in place made it a very impersonal relationship
…show more content…
Jesus was born and raised among humans, with a humble beginning. Many stories throughout the New Testament reveal that even the social outcast and underdogs would approach Jesus for healing and just to be near him. Luke 9:11 discusses Jesus’s approachability stating, “the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing” (NIV). In our text, The Jesus I Never Knew, Yancy states, “the more unsavory the characters, the more at ease they seemed to feel around Jesus” (1995, P.147). When reading the New Testament, it is apparent that Jesus was seen as approachable to the masses even to the social outcasts, allowing God’s children to form a relationship with Him through His Son,
We can see the birth of Jesus in Matthew (Matt 1:18-25) (Matt 2:1-12), Luke (Luke 2:1-2) and John (John1:1-18). Both Matthew and Luke tell us that Jesus’ birth place was in Bethlehem in Judea in the time of King Herod of Judea and Emperor Augustine of the Roman Empire. The gospels tell us that Jesus was born in a stable under an inn (Luke 2:7). This is unlikely because Bethlehem was the birthplace of David, who was Joseph’s ancestor. This means that there may have been a house with his cousins or extended family there. The Hebrew word for inn can also be described as ‘the upper room’ and in traditional Jewish houses, there was an upper room where the family stayed and underneath this was the place where the animals were kept. This could have been seen as the stable under the ‘inn’. Now because of the census performed by Emperor Augustine the Jews had to travel to their ancestral home that meant that the house Mary and Joseph were staying at could have been full, so the upper room was full, making the only available room for the baby to be born in the stable below. Jesus was thought to be traditionally born in 1AD after the Monk Dionysus Exigus tried to calculate the year, from the Birth of Jesus, by taking away the reigns of Kings. Unfortunately Exigus made a few errors and Jesus is now thought to be born a few years BC. We know that in Matt 2:1 and Matt2:16 (Luke 1:55) that King Herod the Great was the ruler of Judea. From Roman records we know that King Herod died in 4BC near the feast of the Passover. This means that the earliest time Jesus could have been born was early 4BC. Herod plays an integral part in determining Jesus birth date because it also could explain the Bethlehem Star, which we...
So why does Jesus seem to have a permanent place in contemporary culture? Why does he seem as relevant today as he was two thousand years ago? Why is he still the topic of so many on-going conversations? Why hasn’t he faded into the past as many other great figures in history have? In spite of his unique status, Jesus is often lumped into the same group of great moral teachers as Buddha, Confucius, Gandhi, Mohammed and others.
The central teachings of traditional Christianity teachings were created to assure that man could work out his salvation. Therefore, making man responsible for finding his way to God, so that he could have a personal relationship with his Savior through Jesus the Son of God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2017). Jesus Christ attracted followers who eventually took his teachings throughout the Roman world and beyond. Jesus, who was born to Mary and Joseph in Judea teaching methods placed him in conflict with prevailing Jewish beliefs and authorities; nevertheless, Jesus message inspired a small group of followers, who believed he was the Messiah (Matthews et al., 2014). However, the meaning of Jesus’s
From the excerpt from the novel, “Under the Feet of Jesus” by Helena Maria Viramontes, the main character is Estrella, a young Spanish girl with a powerful desire to learn to read. Although she is persistent, her teachers refuse to educate her because they are more concerned of Estrella’s personal hygiene. This leaves Estrella resentful because of the barrier between herself and knowledge. Estrella remains silent until a man named Perfecto Flores teaches her how to read by using his expertise in hardware and tools to represent the alphabet. Viramontes depicts the heartfelt growth of Estrella through her use of tone, figurative language, and detail.
In the desert wilderness on Mt. Sinai God gave Moses two things for us. He gave Moses the ten commandments including judgments and ordinances: the law. He also gave Moses the pattern of the tabernacle. Tabernacle means “tent,” “place of dwelling” or “sanctuary.” It was a sacred place where God chose to meet His people, the Israelites, during the 40 years they wandered in the desert under Moses’ leadership. It was the place where the leaders and people came together to worship and offer sacrifices. The Tabernacle was the finest establishment built because of the structure, the preparation, the history, and the important people of the tabernacle.
The book consists of three parts. The first part has five chapters of which focuses on explaining what the key questions are and why we find them difficult to answer. The second part has nine chapters explaining in detail what N.T. Wright considers Jesus’ public career and the approach he had in first century Palestine. The third part of the book, the last chapter, challenges readers to wrestle with the questions of Jesus’ life and ministry.
The gospels explain Jesus’ life and death including His identity but also his activities, works, leadership and his suffering. Jesus is seen as a manifestation of God’s relationship with humans. An important fact about Jesus is the humility and modesty associated with his birth, upbringing and death. The fact that such a person ...
Moses in his teachings talked about a prophet who would be raised up by God and would bring a New Way to the people, this was Jesus (Acts 3:22-23 and 7:37). Moreover, Luke 9:35 indicated that Jesus was a “prophet like Moses” by referring to Deuteronomy 18:15, where Jesus’ followers needed to hear what Jesus said since He was the deliverer of a New Era, same as Moses. He was a prophet like Moses, which meant Jesus not only brought the word of God, but also presented a new age [17]. As mentioned before Jesus was the prophet whom God raised up in
Yet, this scene is not the only place that we find Jesus’ humanness. Mark portrays Jesus’ humanity when he receives John’s baptism in full faith (Mk 1:9), is severely tested in the wilderness for forty days (Mk 1:12), is moved
4. JESUS IN A DIVERCE CULTURE Jesus Christ has ministered among a community that includes Jews, Gentiles and aliens including the Romans. He had been a Rabbi a teacher teaching, preaching and disciplining those who came to him. He related to Jews (John.4.22) also to all gentiles without any reservation.
Loving people unconditionally was another aspect of Jesus’ worship lifestyle. The Gospels depict countless examples of Jesus interacting with people. Every interaction was filled with love. He met people’s needs when he healed the sick and the blind and the dumb. He met the needs of the hungry thousands. The marginalized of society were always on His mind. From the women to the children, the aliens and the outcasts, He was a...
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Revised Standard Version Mark 10:45). The Son of God,was both earthly and divine; He was truly God and truly man. Jesus came to earth as a humble infant to give us eternal life by selflessly sacrificing his life for us. Over the course of His earthly life, He performed many miracles, lived the Beatitudes, and taught people the right way to live through parables. Many people came to believe in Jesus, but His closest group of followers was called the twelve Apostles.
Before we are going to talk deeply about how God communicates to human being, we need to distinguish some terms that relating with the works of the prophets
One of the most perplexing events in the ministry of Jesus Christ is His resurrection from the dead. Many skeptics look at it as made up stories or hallucinations, or mass hysteria, yet the biblical accounts and other evidences point to another conclusion. This research paper will explore three pieces of evidence that the resurrection story is factual and can be accepted as a historical event.
Jesus spoke in front of large crowds as well as to people induvial. Each and every time someone either came to follow him, or got set free and delivered from their sufferings. He communicates not out of judgement or spite, or anger or pride, but out of a deep affection for His people. He is the greatest communicator I know because he never gives up on communicating his love and devotion for anyone. He is the greatest communicator because he uses parables and imagery to help us understand what he is saying. He doesn’t communicate out of a place of silence or out of a place confusion, but of complete peace and understanding. He communicates without manipulation or persuasion but freedom of choice and wonder. He is the greatest communicator because He only says words that are true and reality. He is the greatest communicator I know because He speaks with severity and with a healthy warning. Jesus is the greatest communicator I know because He puts his words to actions and does anything at every cost so that we might obey his commands and love Him. Jesus is also the greatest communicator I know because he knew how to communicate through people emotions and metal filters. He knew that by targeting a message through certain people, the truth would continuously spread. He also presented truth in an effective way of nonverbal and holistic verbal ways of communication.