The life of Jesus

Annunciation

When Mary was told by the angel Gabriel that she was going to have a baby and that she was to call him Jesus

The birth of Jesus

Mary and Joseph had to return to Bethlehem to register for a new tax. (Joseph was born in Bethlehem)

The only accommodation they could find was an empty stable where Mary gave birth to Jesus.

That night they were visited by 3 wise men who brought with them gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh

The boy jesus(Lost in the temple)

Jesus grew up in Nazareth and when he was 12 years old, he travelled to Jerusalem with Mary and Joseph to celebrate the Passover festival.

When the festival was over, Mary and Joseph set off back home but Jesus remained at the Temple without his parents knowing. When they realised that Jesus wasn’t with them, they became very worried and started searching for him. They finally found him in the Temple talking with the priests.

The baptism of jesus

When Jesus was 30 years old he went looking for his cousin John and asked him to baptise him. John didn’t feel that he was worthy enough to baptise Jesus but he did it anyway.

Jesus was baptised by John in the river Jordan

Gathering of the disciples

Not long after Jesus’ baptism, he choose 12 disciples to help him tell people about God.

Their names were Andrew, Peter, James, John, Philip, Matthew, Thomas, Bartholomew, another James, Judas, Simon and Judas Iscariot.

Miracles

Throughout his life, Jesus performed many miracles such as healing the sick, raising the dead, calming the sea etc

Jesus’ first miracle was at a wedding in Cana where he turned water into wine

The sermon on the mount

There is when Jesus taught people how to pray to God and he taught them the Our Father prayer.

Parables

Jesus would often tell stories so that his listeners could understand more easily what he was trying to teach them. These stories are called Parables.

Jesus used Parables to challenge the thinking and behaviour of his audience. He used everyday experiences (such as farming, parties etc) to make sure his audience understood what he was saying.

Most parables are associated with telling us about the Kingdom of God.

Entering Jerusalem

Jesus and his disciples travelled to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Passover. He rode into the city on a donkey and large crowds gathered to see him. They threw their clothes down in front of him and cut down palm leaves to lay in his path. (Today we remember this event when we celebrate Palm Sunday.)

When Jesus arrived at the Temple he became very angry as instead of it being a place of prayer, people were using it as a place to make money by selling things. Jesus was so upset that he overturned tables and shouted at everybody. The Temple leaders were shocked at Jesus’s behaviour and they feared that he was becoming too powerful. They wanted to get rid of him.

The last supper

Jesus and his 12 disciples got together to celebrate the feast of the Passover. During this meal Jesus did a strange thing: he knelt down and washed the feet of each of his disciples.

Also during this meal, Jesus let his disciples know that one of them would betray him.

During this meal, Jesus broke up the bread and passed it to each of his disciples. He also passed around the wine and asked everyone to remember him each time they do this. (We remember this event each time we celebrate the Eucharist)

betrayal by judas

One of Jesus’s disciples called Judas Iscariot believed that Jesus was not who he said he was and these thoughts made him do something terrible.

He went to the Temple priests as he knew that they weren’t pleased with Jesus and wanted to be rid of him. Judas told them where to find Jesus and received 30 pieces of silver for this information.

Garden of Gethsemane

Jesus was praying at the Garden of Gethsemane along with his disciples when the Temple priests together with the Temple guards came and arrested him.

The disciples were so frightened that they ran. It was during this night that Peter was asked three times if he was a friend of Jesus. Peter denied knowing him each time he was asked.

Jesus is put on trial by Pontius Pilate

The priests of the Temple had decided that Jesus must die, but they were not allowed to put anyone to death. So they had Jesus dragged in front of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.

Pilate believed that Jesus was innocent; however, the crowd wanted him crucified. As a result, Barabbas was set free and Jesus was sentenced to death by crucifixion.

Carrying the crossJesus was handed over to some Roman soldiers who beat and whipped him until he was very weak. They also mocked him by placing a crown of thorns on his head and placing a purple shawl on his shoulders.

After a while, Jesus was unable to carry the cross as he didn’t have the strength to carry it. So the soldiers asked a man in the crowd, Simon, to carry it for him.

Carrying the cross

Finally, they reached the place where Jesus was to be crucified. It lay just outside the city and was called Golgotha.

(We remember Jesus carrying the cross each year with the event called ‘Stations of the Cross’)

The crucifixion

Once at Golgotha, Jesus’s clothes were ripped from him and he was laid on the cross while it was still on the ground. They nailed his hands and feet to the cross, and put a sign on it which said: ‘Jesus of Nazareth. King of The Jews.’

The cross was set in the ground between 2 thieves.

resurrectionAfter Jesus’s body was taken down from the cross, it was wrapped in a sheet and taken to a cave which would serve as his tomb.

3 days later when Mary Magdalene went to the cave she discovered that the rock had been rolled away from the entrance and that Jesus’s body was gone. She was so puzzled and upset that she started to cry.

Mary turned and was astonished to see Jesus standing by her side. He told her not to cry and to tell the others that she had seen and spoken with him.

Ascension

Jesus’ final act on earth was his ascension into heaven in the presence of his disciples 40 days after his Resurrection at the Mount of Olives, outside of Jerusalem.

Earlier Jesus had told his disciples that after he ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit would come down upon them with power. (Pentecost)