Jesus
A Jew from Nazareth in Galilee who proclaimed the kingdom of God, was crucified at Jerusalem under Pontius Pilate, and was proclaimed by his followers as risen from the dead. Christians confess him as the Christ, the Son of God.
Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee (Mark 1:9). Matthew and Luke tell of his birth at Bethlehem, in stories set in the days of Herod (Matthew 2:1) (Luke 1:5; 2:4–7), and Luke says that he was about thirty when he began to teach (Luke 3:23). After his baptism by John the Baptist, the Gospels relate, he went through Galilee announcing that the kingdom of God was at hand (Mark 1:9, 14–15), taught, healed, and gathered disciples, twelve of whom he chose as his closest companions (Mark 3:13–19). He was crucified at Jerusalem on the order of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, under the charge “The King of the Jews” (Mark 15:15, 24–26). His followers proclaimed that God had raised him from the dead; an early written form of that proclamation, which Paul says he had himself received, stands in his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15:3–8). They confessed him as the Christ, that is the Messiah, as Lord and as Son of God (Mark 8:29) (Romans 1:3–4) (Philippians 2:11).
The four Gospels are the main sources for his life; see the Four Gospels Are Written. Writers from outside the Christian movement also mention him. The Roman historian Tacitus, about AD 115, says that “Christus” was put to death by Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius (Tacitus, Annals 15.44). The Jewish historian Josephus, in AD 93–94, identifies a man put to death in Jerusalem some thirty years later as James, “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ” (Josephus, Antiquities 20.200). Josephus also has a paragraph on Jesus himself; in the form in which it survives it calls him the Christ and speaks of his resurrection, and most scholars think that Christian copyists altered what Josephus wrote (Josephus, Antiquities 18.63–64). The dates of his birth and death are discussed under the Birth of Jesus and the Crucifixion.
In the timeline
- c. 6–4 BC, estimated dateThe Birth of Jesus
Matthew and Luke each tell, in a story set in the days of Herod, that Jesus was born at Bethlehem to Mary, a virgin betrothed to Joseph of David’s line, and grew up at Nazareth in Galilee.
- c. AD 26–29, estimated dateThe Baptism and Temptation of Jesus
Jesus comes from Nazareth to the Jordan and is baptised by John. The Gospels tell of the Spirit descending on him and a voice from heaven naming him the beloved Son, and then of forty days of testing in the wilderness.
- c. AD 28–29, estimated dateJesus Begins His Ministry in Galilee
Mark and Matthew tell how, after John’s arrest, Jesus returns to Galilee, announces that the kingdom of God is at hand, calls four fishermen and makes Capernaum, on the lake, the centre of his teaching and healing.
- c. AD 28–29, estimated dateJesus Appoints the Twelve
From his wider following Jesus chooses twelve men to be with him and to be sent out to preach and heal. Mark, Matthew and Luke list their names from Simon Peter to Judas Iscariot; Acts lists the eleven who remained.
- c. AD 28–29, estimated dateThe Sermon on the Mount
Matthew presents the teaching of Jesus as one long discourse on a hillside in Galilee. It includes the Beatitudes, the command to love enemies, the Lord’s Prayer and the Golden Rule. Luke has a shorter version.
- c. AD 29 or 32, estimated dateThe Feeding of the Five Thousand
In a lonely place by the Sea of Galilee, all four Gospels relate, Jesus feeds a crowd of about five thousand with five loaves and two fish. John adds that the crowd wanted to make him king, and the discourse on the bread of life.
- c. AD 29 or 32, estimated datePeter’s Confession at Caesarea Philippi
Mark and Matthew tell how, near Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks his disciples who they say he is, and Peter answers: You are the Christ. Jesus then begins to speak of his coming suffering and death. Matthew adds the saying about the rock and the keys.
- c. AD 29 or 32, estimated dateThe Transfiguration
Mark, Matthew and Luke tell how three disciples on a high mountain see Jesus changed in appearance, his clothes shining white, with Moses and Elijah beside him, and hear a voice from a cloud call him “my beloved Son”. The Gospels do not name the mountain.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Raising of Lazarus
John reports that Jesus called his friend Lazarus out of the tomb at Bethany four days after his death. Many believed, and the council in Jerusalem, on the advice of the high priest Caiaphas, resolved that Jesus must die.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateJesus Enters Jerusalem
A few days before the Passover Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey from the Mount of Olives. Crowds spread cloaks and branches on the road and hail him with words from Psalm 118, as the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateJesus Drives the Traders from the Temple
Jesus overturns the tables of the money changers in the temple courts and drives out those buying and selling, calling the place a house of prayer made into a den of robbers. Three Gospels set this in his last week, John at the start of his ministry.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Last Supper
On the night before he dies Jesus eats with the twelve in Jerusalem, gives them bread and a cup, calling them his body and his blood of the covenant, and foretells his betrayal. John tells instead how he washed their feet. The Gospels differ on the day.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateGethsemane and the Arrest
After the supper Jesus prays in distress at Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives while his disciples sleep. Judas arrives with an armed party and identifies him with a kiss. Jesus is seized and the disciples flee.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Trials before the Council and Pilate
The Gospels tell how Jesus is questioned before the high priest Caiaphas and the council, judged guilty of blasphemy, and handed in the morning to the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, who has him flogged and orders him crucified as “King of the Jews”.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Crucifixion
Jesus is crucified outside Jerusalem at a place called Golgotha, on the order of Pontius Pilate, under the charge “King of the Jews”, and dies the same afternoon. Tacitus mentions the execution, and so does a passage of disputed wording in Josephus.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Burial and Resurrection
The Gospels tell that Jesus was buried in a rock tomb on the evening of his death and that on the first day of the week women found the tomb open and empty and were told that he had risen. That God raised him from the dead is the central claim of Christian faith.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Appearances and the Great Commission
The Gospels and Paul report that the risen Jesus appeared to his followers, in Jerusalem, on the road to Emmaus and in Galilee, and sent them to make disciples of all nations. The accounts differ on where and in what order.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Ascension
Luke reports that the risen Jesus, after telling his apostles to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit, was taken up from the Mount of Olives and hidden by a cloud. Acts places this forty days after the resurrection.
Primary sources
Scripture
Annals
- Tacitus, Annals 15.44penelope.uchicago.edu
Jewish Antiquities
- Josephus, Antiquities 20.200lexundria.com
- Josephus, Antiquities 18.63–64lexundria.com