7 Jesus Christ 7messianic teachings—and raised in the Galilean town of
Nazareth. Little is told of Jesus’ early life except for the
stories found in Luke concerning the presentation of Jesus
at the Temple and the encounter of Jesus with the teach-
ers in the Temple.
While his birth and youth, according to the evange-
lists, fulfilled scriptural prophecy, it was the adult ministry
of Jesus that established the foundation of the faith. Once
again the Gospels are not wholly consistent—differences
in the length of the ministry and the number of visits to
Jerusalem exist—but a coherent picture of the ministry
does emerge. It begins with the baptism of Jesus by John
the Baptist. Jesus recognized the importance of John’s
teachings and sought baptism from John. This episode
may suggest that Jesus was a follower of John, and the
affinities they had with the teachings of the Essenes and
related Judaic teachings make this possible. However,
John acknowledged that Jesus was the greater of the two
and would go beyond John’s own ministry. Jesus began to
preach and recruited a number of disciples, including the
twelve Apostles. Jesus’ ministry was characterized by
charismatic preaching. The moral authority of his ser-
mons in some ways challenged existing law but also, as
Jesus said, fulfilled the law. His preaching, which was often
in the form of parables, spoke of the coming of the king-
dom of God and demanded repentance of the people in
preparation for the coming of the kingdom. Jesus was also
a healer—curing a woman of an effusion of blood, healing
the sick, and raising Lazarus from the dead—often in
apparent violation of Sabbath prohibitions and Jewish
laws of purity. The Gospels also record that Jesus was a
miracle worker and that he calmed the seas, changed
water into wine, and fed a great multitude with a few
loaves and fishes.