LECTURE FOUR
c. Proof of this is indeed the resurrec-
tion of Jesus: a number of people
saw him alive after his death.- Jesus, the Jewish Messiah
a. Jesus was from Nazareth and lived
from 4 BCE to 30 CE.
b. The Gospels divide his life into four
rather unequal parts:
i. His (miraculous) conception,
birth and adolescence which are
covered in Matthew and Luke.
ii. His public teaching and preach-
ing, chiefly in Galilee. This is
where John and Mark pick up the
story of Jesus. They begin with
Jesus’ baptism by John, an apoc-
alyptic preacher.
iii. A highly detailed account of his
last days in Jerusalem, his
arrest, trial and execution. This
covers extensively the last two
weeks of Jesus’ life and places
his death as a highly political
move by the priests who engi-
neer his death.
iv. His resurrection. Jesus died
and was buried on Friday. The
Jews stayed in on the Sabbath
(Saturday), then on Sunday the
empty tomb was discovered.
v. Jesus continued to appear to
his disciples.
c. The material in the Gospels is pre-
sented to confirm that Jesus fulfilled
the scriptural prophecies and so was
indeed the Jewish Messiah.
WHO WAS JOSEPHUS?
Flavius Josephus was a first
century CE historian of Jewish
life and an important source for
the history of the Jews in the
Greco-Roman period. He was
a member of Jerusalem’s
priestly aristocracy. He regard-
ed the great Jewish revolt
against Rome (66-70 AD) as
political folly and spent the rest
of his life in Roman circles as a
protegé of emperors
Vespasian, Titus and Domitian.
He recorded major events,
such as the emergence of reli-
gious schools of thought
(Pharisees, Sadducees and
Essenes), the rebellion against
Rome and destruction of the
Jerusalem Temple, and he pro-
vided a small note on the life
and ministry of Jesus of
Nazareth. He also recorded
Jewish history from its begin-
nings. He wrote voluminous
works of history, four of which
survived. His writings have
given scholars valuable
insights into Judea in the
first century.