Copyright

William Collins

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This eBook edition published by William Collins in 2016

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Text © Peter Vardy, 2016

Photographs © individual copyright holders

Peter Vardy asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Cover photograph: Ascent of the Blessed by Hieronymus Bosch (c.1490). Photo by Marco Secchi/Corbis via Getty images

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version (Anglicised edition) Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica (formerly International Bible Society). Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica (formerly International Bible Society). UK trademark number 1448790.

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Source ISBN: 9780008204242

Ebook Edition © September 2016 ISBN: 9780008204259

Version: 2016-09-05

Dedication

To Christine Smith

Who, first at HarperCollins and then at SCM,

has published most of my books and to whom

I owe a great deal. With thanks.

Peter Vardy

Easter 2016

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

1. United and Divided

2. From the Beginning of the Universe

3. The Life of Jesus

4. The Message of Jesus

5. The Resurrection and the Initial Spread of Christianity

6. The Development of the Early Church

7. Unity, Growth, Division and Discord

8. Reformation and Counter-Reformation

9. The Rise of the Protestant Churches

10. The Bible

11. The Philosophy of Religion

12. Christian Ethics

13. Spirituality and Mysticism

14. Outward Expressions of Inner Realities

15. Christianity Today

16. Conclusion

Postscript

List of Illustrations

Index

About the Book

About the Author

About the Publisher

ONE
United and Divided

Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ, is at the centre of Christianity. This, at least, is clear but beyond this, defining the essence of Christianity is full of difficulties. It is like trying to capture a rainbow or the light from the sparkling drops of a waterfall as they reflect the sun. Christianity has many facets and many forms. It is the largest religion in the world with nearly 2 billion adherents and these are found in every country in the globe. Christians are united and also divided. They are united around the centrality of the person of Jesus, His unique status and the extraordinary message He came to convey, but divided in many ways on the nature of the message, on doctrine, beliefs, ethics, forms of worship and even the status of the New Testament.

It would be easy to focus on the lack of unity in Christianity – and this lack of unity certainly exists. Major Christian churches are often at loggerheads and the disagreement between Christian groups can be profound and deep. Some Protestants do not regard Catholics as Christian at all. The teaching authority of the Catholic Church, the Magisterium, has historically been hostile to Protestantism and used to deny salvation to those who were outside their church; indeed, they ruled that there was only one Church: their own. Pentecostal churches, particularly in the United States and Africa, owe much to the charisma of individual church leaders and there is limited unity beyond the centrality of the Bible and the person of Jesus. Orthodox Christians have traditionally been suspicious of Western Christianity and have sought to remain faithful to the tradition of the early Church, whilst liberal Christians in the West have often diluted traditional Christian beliefs to such an extent that not much remains.

The history of Christianity has been full of disagreements, with so-called ‘heretical’ groups being persecuted because of their deviance from what was accepted as orthodoxy. There was no unity in the early centuries of Christianity, with a considerable range of different interpretations and beliefs. Forging unity and then seeking to maintain this has also been a challenge and it has particularly occupied the main Christian churches. There has been violence, torture and persecution as well as fierce attacks over what may seem to be small points of doctrine. It would be easy to reject the whole of Christianity on these grounds and many critics have done so. And yet, beneath the tensions and the sometimes violent disagreements, like the De profundis or the deep tone of a bass bell, there is something profound, significant and important happening – something of enormous contemporary relevance and something on which hundreds of millions of people down the centuries have been willing to stake their lives. Christianity has been responsible for some of the greatest art and the greatest acts of heroism and altruism, as well as compassion, nobility and virtue – as well as, it must be admitted, terrible persecution and suffering. Christian thinkers have generated some of the most profound philosophy as well as science and business practice. European culture has been founded on Christianity and this has been exported around the globe. Many of the internationally accepted values endorsed by the United Nations have Christian origins.

To understand Jesus of Nazareth it is important to understand the culture in which He lived. The Roman Empire 2,000 years ago covered most of central and southern Europe as well as North Africa. Its armies were dominant and its civilian administration, although reasonably fair, was harsh and unyielding, as well as viciously cruel to those who dissented. Being a Roman citizen carried great privileges and most of the inhabitants of the territories that Rome conquered longed to share in the wealth, power and prosperity of the Empire. Slaves were common and slavery was accepted. Slaves often came from the nations conquered by Rome in battle but they could rise to positions of influence. Most, however, were desperately poor and appallingly treated. Society was clearly hierarchical with the great families of Rome at the top. Money was of central importance, as in most societies, and a certain amount of social mobility was possible, but always within fairly narrow limits. Any resistance to the Imperial power of Rome was suppressed viciously and effectively. The Roman Senate and the Emperor had ultimate power, but this was delegated to administrators and officials in the various territories of the Empire. However, these officials all recognised that they were fully accountable to Rome for keeping order, for sending taxes back to Rome and also for ensuring that Roman values and Roman religion were maintained. Rome had its own pantheon of gods, and emperors were sometimes deified. The Jews held a special position, as their religion was tolerated. Rome occupied Palestine and what had been, in the remote past, independent Jewish territory. Unlike many subservient peoples, the Jews were proud and continually dreamed of regaining their freedom. Their lands had been frequently conquered in the past but, eventually, they had always regained their independence, and at the time of Jesus there were many who dreamed that this independence would come again.

Jesus was a Jew and this culture was second nature to Him. Jews were the first monotheists – the first to worship a single God. Jews were proud of their identity. The Roman authorities left them free to practise their religion, provided they obeyed the laws of Rome and paid the very considerable taxes that were demanded of them. The Temple in Jerusalem had recently been rebuilt but Rome asserted its domination by occupying one of the corner towers. Rome had little time for Jewish religion and practices but they were tolerated, not out of sympathy but because it was the easiest way of keeping a potentially troublesome people quiet. There was a vassal king, Herod, who was allowed a limited degree of autonomy, and the Jewish priests were also allowed a certain amount of freedom to manage religious affairs.

In understanding any period in history the cultural context is important and this is undoubtedly the case when seeking to understand Jesus of Nazareth. In the case of Jesus, however, His national background was even more important than that of almost any other historical figure. To say that He was a Jew does not begin to capture what this meant; the depth of culture, theology, civilisation, expectations, disappointments, resentments and hope that lay behind this single word was massive. Jews, more than almost any other nation, are a people with a long history. They saw history as the arena in which their God, the God of the whole creation, cared for and looked after them in spite of great suffering. Jews saw themselves – and still do – as a people chosen by God, the chosen people whom God would always protect and, in the last analysis, preserve. This hope and expectation has always been borne out in spite of the most terrible persecution and oppression as well as systematic attempts at genocide. The other nations and sects of the ancient Middle East have all disappeared; the Moabites and Assyrians, the Philistines and the Babylonians, the Romans and Greeks have all been swept away, to be replaced by nation states with changing boundaries and identities. However, Jewish identity has been preserved.

Figure 1: A Torah scroll is the holiest book in Judaism. It is hand written by a scribe in Hebrew and contains the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures. Every synagogue has such a scroll and Jesus would have read from one like this (see Luke 4:16–20).

In order, therefore, to begin to understand the person of Jesus of Nazareth it is essential to understand something of Jewish history – or at least history as it was seen by the Jews and recorded in the Torah and the other books which Christians refer to as the Hebrew Scriptures. These Scriptures tell the story of the history of a people and their interaction with their God: of their origins, their faith, their failures, their hopes and disappointments. Modern scholars differ about the extent to which this story is historically accurate but there is no doubt that it was considered as true by Jews at the time of Jesus and, indeed, by many Jews and Christians today. In the next chapter a very brief account will be given of this history, and this is not mere background. It is not possible to understand what Christianity is until one has understood that Jesus was a Jew and He was seen as a fulfilment of the Jewish Scriptures. Jesus, Christians believe, is the highest point of God’s love for, and interaction with, the world. It is no mere coincidence that He was born as a Jew. God’s relation with the people of Israel goes back to the dawn of recorded time and, as history develops and God interacts with human beings and human affairs, it is Jesus who brings to fruition all the long history and expectation of the people of Israel.

TWO
From the Beginning of the Universe

Christians see the world as created by God and dependent on God. God sustains the universe in existence and, were it not for God, there would be no universe. The universe is incredibly orderly and behaves according to mathematical and physical laws. These laws are intelligible to human beings and the universe as a whole has meaning and purpose grounded in the will of God. This is one of the most important Christian beliefs and it is shared by Jews, Muslims and many others around the world. For Christians, God is loving as well as personal and wills the universe into existence as a free act of love for the whole of creation.

We now know that the universe began to exist from a singularity – the infinitely small, dense matter which suddenly expanded in the ‘Big Bang’ and from which the present state of the universe can be traced. The dating of the universe is generally agreed by scientists to be about 13.7 billion years ago and scientists also agree that the specific conditions which enabled the ‘Big Bang’ to occur had to be unbelievably precise for a universe to form at all. There are various possible ways of seeking to explain the incredible improbability of the singularity. One explanation is to say that ‘it just happened’. Extraordinary and improbable things do happen and the universe is just one of those improbable things. Another is to say that there are a near-infinite number of possible universes (in other words, a multiverse) and we just happen to be in the universe that had the right conditions for stars, planets and life to form. Christians reject both of these and see the universe as a result of the purposeful intention of a loving creator God.

This idea has its roots in the earliest stories in the Hebrew Scriptures where God’s creative Word is held to have uttered the universe into existence. God is also shown as responsible for the sea and dry land, for all animals, birds and fish and, above all, for the creation of men and women. Men and women are the pinnacle, the crown of creation, and God created a perfect world for them and was pleased with all that God had created. The story of the Jews, therefore, begins with creation. The Word of God is central to the creation story and indeed to the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is the Word of God that creates the heavens and earth, and it is the Word of God that later comes to the great Hebrew prophets. The God of the Hebrews is beyond all human categories. The whole of the universe cannot contain God, and yet God is radically present among God’s chosen people. The Word of God is therefore active and creative. It is a Word for guidance, exhortation and sometimes condemnation. The Word has power and can not only create from nothing but also intervene in and through human affairs.

There are two different creation stories written, biblical scholars generally agree, about 400 years apart and, of course, long after the events that they seek to describe. They recount, in different ways, the universe coming into being and the presence of human beings in the world.

However, these stories continue with the immediate disobedience of the two figures recorded as placed in the perfect world (the Garden of Eden) which God created – Adam and Eve. This disobedience of these two primal figures led to disruption of the world with the entrance of pain, death, evil and suffering. The Hebrew Scriptures are in no doubt about the extraordinary position that human beings occupy in the whole created universe. They are the apex of creation and are essentially different from everything else in the created order because they have rationality and also free will.

Obedience to the Word of God is a central theme in the Hebrew Scriptures and from the creation of the world the Scriptures record the tendency of humans to be self-centred and disobedient. This disobedience is not a rejection of an autocratic power figure; God creates human beings and wants what is best for them, what will lead to human fulfilment.

Figure 1: Michelangelo’s painting in the Sistine Chapel in Rome shows, on the left, Eve taking the fruit from the serpent. Notice that the body of the serpent changes into the form of a woman. On the right are Adam and Eve being banished from the Garden of Eden by an angel with a sword (Genesis 3:23–24).

The story of Adam and Eve begins the Hebrew Scriptures and most Western Christians consider that it represents a myth – but myth can convey truth. The truth resides in the claim that God created the universe and all that is in it, and that human beings are in a special position, having free will. They constantly choose to disobey and yet God always forgives and provides a new start. A peaceful and wonderful world is portrayed and human beings were placed in it to enjoy it and to enjoy God’s presence. However, for modern Christians, the issues are more complex. Most Christians accept Darwin’s theory of natural selection and, whilst maintaining that God created and sustains the universe, nevertheless see human beings as evolving from lower animals. Generally, Christians do not see a tension between their faith and science, although there are some who still hold to a literal interpretation of the text and who therefore reject evolution – but these are a minority.

Following the exclusion of Adam and Eve from Eden, God also showed God’s care for them by cherishing them and being with them in spite of their difficulties. This is another theme found throughout both Judaism and Christianity – that God will never forsake God’s people and will be with them even though this presence may not be obvious. The story of Adam and Eve and the population of the earth continues through the story of Noah, when God is recorded as being so angry with human beings because of their selfishness and disobedience that the whole of creation was nearly destroyed but Noah and his family and the entire created order were preserved as a result of the righteousness of Noah and the mercy of God. Some Jewish rabbis have seen parallels with the subsequent righteousness of the Jews preserving the whole of creation from destruction.

Arguably, the single most important figure in the Jewish Scriptures is Abraham. He was a descendant of Noah and lived in the city of Ur in what is now Iraq. He worshipped a single God and this was unusual and unpopular in the world of his time. The legacy of Abraham was enormous. He is revered as the father not only of the Jewish nation but of all Jews; he is seen by Muslims as the first to submit to Allah and, therefore, the first Muslim; and by Christians as the ‘father of faith’, as his whole life is centred on obedience to, and worship of, God. The story of Abraham is at the core of the faith of any Jew and Jesus would have been no exception. The whole of Abraham’s life was based on trust in God and in the promises of God, even when these promises seemed absurd. He trusted God when God promised him a son even though his wife, Sarah, was past the menopause. He trusted God in every aspect of his life, even to the extent of being willing to place obedience to God before his duty to his son and family. It was to Abraham and his descendants that God is held to have made a covenant or promise that the land of Israel in Palestine would belong to them, and Jews still look to this promise as a justification for a Jewish homeland. Abraham was the first to show clearly the single most important requirement of the God of the people of Israel: that God demanded absolute loyalty. God had to be at the centre of the whole of the life of every devout Jew. Everything else was to be put in second place. It was failure to keep this command that Jews saw as the chief reason for the troubles that were to befall them in their history.

God entered into a covenant, effectively a binding promise, between God on one side and Abraham and his descendants on the other. Provided the children of Abraham maintained loyalty to God, then God would protect them. God would never abandon them totally, even though at times God might seem far away.

Abraham had two children: one by Sarah’s slave Hagar (with whom Abraham slept at the request of Sarah when she was convinced that she was barren and could not have children) and the other by Sarah herself. The second child was named Isaac (which means ‘laughter’) and it was from Isaac and one of his two sons, Jacob, that all the tribes of Israel were seen as descended. Blaise Pascal referred to the ‘God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and the scholars’. He was emphasising the personal nature of God and the relationship that God is recorded as having with these three great ancestors of the Jewish nation and which he considered continued in the Christian tradition. It is important to recognise that the people of Israel and modern Jews see themselves as descended from Abraham through Isaac and then Jacob; there is a real sense in which the people of Israel were a great extended family. Jews, therefore, were concerned with their lineal descendants – parents mattered. Jews tended to marry Jews and Jewish identity was maintained by dietary laws and by various practices, including the removal of the foreskin from the penis of baby boys (circumcision). Jewish identity has always been a key feature in maintaining the existence of the people of Israel, and these outward signs were seen as acknowledgement of this dependence.

The Hebrew Scriptures record the story of the people of Israel who were, at this early stage, merely a group of families descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The extended family prospered but, eventually, they faced starvation and famine in Palestine where the rains are often uncertain. After years of drought, they were forced to flee to the land of Egypt which, because of the river Nile, had always been an area of prosperity; the adventures and events which gave rise to this Exodus are related in detail. God’s hand is always seen as working through history; at the time, isolated and seemingly unrelated events occur but behind these events is God’s guiding hand. Christians sometimes refer to ‘salvation history’: God acting through history to bring God’s purposes about. An anonymous poem called ‘The Loom of Time’ expresses this well:

Man’s life is laid in the loom of time

To a pattern he does not see,

While the weavers work and the shuttles fly

Till the dawn of eternity.

Some shuttles are filled with silver threads

And some with threads of gold,

While often but the darker hues

Are all that they may hold.

But the weaver watches with a skilful eye

Each shuttle fly to and fro,

And sees the pattern so deftly wrought

As the loom moves sure and slow.

God surely planned the pattern:

Each thread, the dark and fair,

Is chosen by His master skill

And placed in the web with care.

He only knows its beauty,

And guides the shuttles which hold

The threads so unattractive,

As well as the threads of gold.

Not till each loom is silent,

And the shuttles cease to fly,

Shall God reveal the pattern

And explain the reason why

The dark threads were as needful

In the weaver’s skilful hand

As the threads of gold and silver

For the pattern which He planned.

History is not a mere series of events; still less is it simply based on decisions made by human beings. For Jews, God’s hand lies behind the whole of human history and it was God who took the fledgling people of Israel into Egypt. Once there, the group of families settled and grew prosperous, only to find with the emergence of a new ruler that they were seen as immigrants and resented. Their numbers increased, but they were made into slaves and their lot was a miserable and unhappy one. Still the Scriptures record God as being with them and that they maintained their faith, hoping against all expectation for deliverance. This eventually comes with the extraordinary story of Moses, a Jew but raised as an Egyptian. God is recorded as taking this outsider and using him as an instrument to lead the people of Israel back to the land promised to their forefather Abraham.

This is another theme constantly recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures – that God does not favour and choose the strong and powerful but often works through those who are seen as weak and who are outsiders to power structures. God does not depend on human strength and ingenuity nor does God value people on the same basis as human beings. Moses was an unlikely outsider and had to stand against the might of the Egyptian ruler, the Pharaoh, but with God on his side was able to free the people of Israel. They fled from oppression in Egypt and, in later times, persecuted Christians remembered God’s hand working to save the people of Israel. Christians were to come to see themselves as ‘the new Israel’ and, therefore, stories of deliverance and salvation in the Hebrew Scriptures became related to Christian concerns.

Figure 2: This painting by Nicolas Poussin, The Adoration of the Golden Calf (1634), is an imaginative re-creation of the god in the image of a golden calf created by the people of Israel when they felt abandoned in the Sinai desert (Exodus 32:1–4).

Although the people of Israel successfully left Egypt, protected by the direct action of God, their lack of faith is not disguised in the Scriptures. They wandered for many years in the harsh environment of the Sinai desert and many felt initially that it would have been better to remain as slaves. God appeared to have become an absent God. Having lived in Egypt, they were used to the Egyptian gods that were visible, so they made an idol – a golden calf. This seemed much more real and immediate than the remote God who appeared to have deserted them and left them to be wandering nomads. In other words, they lost faith; they did not realise that God’s timescale was not theirs. The Hebrew Scriptures are frank in recognising the continuing disobedience of the people of Israel, but always God remains faithful. So it proved in this story, and after many years of hardship and wandering in the desert, as their numbers increased still further, they were eventually led back to the place they considered home, the land they believed to have been promised them by God through God’s promise to Abraham.

It was on the way out of Egypt that God is recorded as giving the people of Israel the Ten Commandments which are the cornerstone of Jewish law, although this law is amplified by many other commands given by God over the centuries. They eventually arrived back in Palestine, only to find it peacefully settled with strong and powerful cities, and their presence was resented and opposed; the locals certainly did not recognise any rights of this strange and alien people. However, the people of Israel had been through great hardship and they maintained their unity, moulding themselves into a formidable fighting force and conquering, in a series of wars, much of the land that was to become Israel.

The new land of Israel was divided between twelve tribes, representing the twelve sons of Jacob. They were surrounded by neighbours who wished to destroy them and the identity of the people of Israel was under constant threat. Only in loyalty to God, they believed, could their identity be safeguarded, and the Hebrew stories contain myriad accounts of men and women and the whole nation being preserved by God in times of crisis when all hope seems to be at an end. Indeed, the preservation of hope and trust when all the evidence runs in the opposite direction is another feature of the Hebrew Scriptures.

There is no single piece of territory that can be described as ancient Israel – the borders were fluid and changed over time. When the people of Israel came out of Egypt they described this as an Exodus and Jews saw themselves as ‘coming home’ to their forefather’s land. During this time they were led by a series of great leaders or Judges (one of them was a woman, Deborah; see Judges 4:4–5:31). The tribes of Israel retained their own identity, living in different areas and, initially, they avoided the cities. Yet the Judges could call them together in time of war to unite against a perceived military threat.

The prophets have a vital role to play in understanding Jewish history. They were often lonely and isolated figures, harsh and unyielding. However, they continually spoke up in the name of God, standing for justice and goodness in the face of power and corruption. Above all, they stood for the necessity for God to have a central place in the life of the Jewish state and for high moral standards as well as concern for those who were weak and vulnerable. The prophets did not speak on their own authority. The Word of God came to them and they were, effectively, the mouthpieces of God, sometimes speaking with reluctance because they often faced death or persecution from those in power. However, the reality of God’s Word to them was so great that it was almost impossible to resist. The prophets, however, could also be wrong; the story of Jonah is the story of an insular prophet, obsessed with the rightness of the people of Israel and the wrongness of everyone else and convinced that God favoured only Israel. The whole book is a wonderful story to make it very clear that, whilst God is the God of Israel, God is also the God of the whole world and that good and righteous people are to be found beyond Israel’s borders. Jonah is forced to recognise this, for him, uncomfortable truth. Never, except in the early days, did the people of Israel see their God as one amongst a number of local gods. They were convinced that the whole created order depended on God alone and that all other gods were merely human creations with no significance or power at all.

Initially the people of Israel were wanderers. Abraham and his descendants would have been like modern Bedouin and, even when they came with their extended families into Palestine after leaving Egypt, they were essentially a tribal and pastoral people. Settling into cities came later. There was suspicion not only of a king but of any central capital and even of a temple. Their God was an invisible God, the Lord of the whole earth, and no human-made building could contain God. What was more, the Ten Commandments had specifically forbidden any representation to be made of God so no statues or other idols were made. The people of Israel could not even utter the name of God and one of the Ten Commandments specifically condemned taking the name of God in vain. The result was that the nearest thing to a temple was a travelling ‘ark’ or tent which was seen as the symbol of holiness and the dwelling place of God on earth.

In these years it was felt that only God could be the Lord and Master of Israel. Religiously, therefore, the idea of having a king was treated with scepticism. However, political and military expediency made the choosing of a king necessary. Three great kings unified and, in the case of two of them, extended the national borders: first Saul, then David (the greatest king of all, who was also a musician and a poet and who ruled over the kingdom of Israel at the time of its broadest extent) and finally Solomon. It was during David’s reign, many modern biblical scholars argue, that the story of Abraham was written down. The boundaries of David’s kingdom coincide closely with the land promised by God to Abraham, but it was only for a very short period that Israel actually controlled these territories.

David was at one time held to be the author of many of the psalms which have been recited or sung in Christian churches down the centuries. One of the most significant directly attributed to David was Psalm 23:

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths

for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk

through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD

for ever.

(Psalm 23:1–6)

This psalm, with its message of trust in God no matter what the outward circumstances might be, represents a wonderful statement about Jewish and Christian faith in the righteousness, power, goodness and mercy of God in spite of all difficulties. However, what God required in return was obedience to God’s laws and, above all, acting justly. The prophet Amos was later to express this well when, speaking on behalf of God, he said:

I hate, I despise your religious festivals;

your assemblies are a stench to me.

Even though you bring me burnt offerings

and grain offerings,

I will not accept them.

Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,

I will have no regard for them.

Away with the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

But let justice roll on like a river,

righteousness like a never-failing stream!

(Amos 5:21–24)

Failure to act justly or to obey God’s commands were seen as breaches of the covenant relationship with God and, when these happened, the people of Israel saw disasters, oppression and persecution as a direct result.

The choice of a king was not considered a matter of expediency nor did the most powerful necessarily come to power. The decision was God’s and the choice often unlikely and improbable beginning with the first king, Saul, chosen by Samuel, one of God’s prophets, to whom the Word of God had come. Saul was in many ways a good king but he grew increasingly self-centred and no longer placed God and God’s commands at the centre of the life of the nation. He became increasingly jealous of a young boy, David, who slew in individual combat one of the most powerful champions of a neighbouring tribe with whom the people of Israel were at war – Goliath. David developed into a brave and fearless soldier and was the closest friend Saul’s son, Jonathan. He was good looking, young, a fine musician and ordinary people looked to him in admiration. Saul’s anger grew and eventually open enmity broke out between King Saul and David, by now one of his strongest generals. David had to flee for his life. Eventually Saul died by the intervention of God and David took over. This whole saga is recounted in the Hebrew Scriptures in very human terms, but God’s hand lies behind the whole of history and King David was to become the greatest of all the kings of Israel.

When he was young, David was a mere shepherd boy with no lineage or power base, and yet it was he who was chosen by God to succeed Saul. It is important to understand that Israel did not see themselves as simply another state who happened to worship God. God was at the centre of their whole life and self-understanding. The debate over whether or not to have a king, and even which king to choose, was always couched in theological terms. David did not feel that he was worthy to build a temple for God and this task fell to Solomon, David’s son. Solomon was revered for his wisdom and wealth but lost some of his father David’s kingdom, and from then on the State of Israel began to contract, splitting into two to form a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. All the time, the Scriptures see God’s hand behind these developments and God, through the prophets who spoke in God’s name, directing the people and maintaining unity in the face of constant outside threats.

King Solomon had many wives and many of these were not Israelites; the problem was not multiple wives but that these wives brought with them worship of foreign gods. This practice continued and increased after Solomon’s death and, under King Ahab, the worship of the God of Israel almost disappeared or, at the least, was under grave threat. There were few genuine prophets left, but there was Elijah, one of the greatest of all the prophets. King Ahab had married a foreign wife, Jezebel, who had extended the worship of foreign gods into Israel. There were over 400 priests of this new god, Baal, and the God of Israel was increasingly ignored.

Elijah had to flee for his life because the priests of the other gods wanted to destroy him. God eventually came to Elijah and told him to stand on the mountainside. First a great wind came that tore at the mountains – but the Lord was not in the wind. Then came an enormous earthquake – but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then came a great fire – but the Lord was not in the fire. Finally, there was a still small voice asking Elijah, ‘What are you doing here?’ Alone, hungry, and isolated, Elijah felt that everything was hopeless. He replied:

I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.

(1 Kings 19:14)

Effectively the people of Israel had abandoned their God and Elijah was hiding in fear of being murdered. All hope seemed to have vanished, as is often the case in the long history of the people of Israel. God told Elijah to anoint two new kings, whom God names, and a new era begins. This is a pattern that runs throughout Israel’s history. Israel ignores God and seems to abandon worship and obedience entirely, but a small remnant remains faithful and rekindles once more worship and praise of the one true God.

Elijah issued a challenge to the priests of Jezebel’s god: Elijah and they would each take a bull and make an altar. Then the priests of Jezebel’s god were to call down fire from heaven by calling on their god. This they did, dancing round the sacrifice all day and cutting themselves whilst praying – but nothing happened. Elijah mocked them, saying, ‘Shout louder! … Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or travelling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened’ (1 Kings 18:27), but still there was no response. Finally, Elijah came forward to the altar he had built. He had water poured over his sacrifice and then called to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Fire descended from heaven and the sacrifice was consumed. Elijah had all the priests of the foreign god put to death. Jezebel was furious and vowed to kill Elijah. However, it was Jezebel who died and her body was fed to the dogs. The worship of one God was reintroduced across Israel.

After the death of Solomon there were a series of ineffective kings and Israel, now divided into two kingdoms, gradually became weaker and weaker. Warfare with neighbouring tribes or countries, as well as warfare between different leaders, was almost constant and the people of Israel saw themselves depending on their God for their protection. The weakness of Israel compared to the increasingly powerful neighbours that surrounded them was to culminate in possibly the most catastrophic event in Israel’s history – the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Jeremiah was another one of the greatest prophets in Israel’s history. He called the people of Israel back to loyalty to God and to placing God at the centre of their lives, but the people did not listen. Like many of the prophets, he was ignored and scorned and felt his own life under threat. God’s Word, however, was commanding. He had to prophesy in front of the king, and the prophecy was uncomfortable, speaking truth to power is always likely to lead to opposition! He foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, the enslavement of the people of Israel and the death of the king. Not surprisingly, hardly anyone believed him. Jeremiah had no doubt that the prophecy would come true but he also had hope for the future. He bought a field to show his confidence that, one day, the people of Israel would be able to return after the destruction that he had foretold as imminent.

The Hebrew Scriptures see the Babylonians as agents of God punishing the people of Israel for their wickedness. The Israelites lost everything. Their identity was founded on three things: Temple, King and Land. All these were destroyed: the King was killed, the Temple was pulled down and the leading figures among the people of Israel were taken off into captivity. It should have been the end of the Israelites: one more little nation vanquished by a regional power and disappearing from the pages of history. That they did not do so was due to their faith in God and also the memory of their previous exile in Egypt. They maintained their identity in Babylon by seeing themselves as being in exile from their homeland. They showed loyalty and service to the Babylonian state but insisted on maintaining their religious identity, not intermarrying and above all maintaining their faith that God would deliver them and bring them back to their homeland. What was even more important was that they came to a startling new understanding of their relationship with God; being faithful to God did not depend on having a temple, or a king, or occupying a particular piece of land. It depended, rather, on inner loyalty to the covenant established between God and the people of Israel. They would not eat pork or work on the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week in the Jewish calendar, which God had commanded as a rest day); they would circumcise their male children; and they would obey the Torah (the first five books of what Christians regard as the Hebrew Scriptures). Above all they would not worship other gods, and the Hebrew Scriptures tell stories of the incredible bravery of people going to hideous deaths rather than break God’s commands. The startling and new idea that it was loyalty to the covenant with God, and to God’s commands, that was of central importance rather than worship in a particular building eventually made it possible for Jewish communities to flourish in any society, maintaining their identity and religious practices and yet otherwise being loyal to the state.

Eventually, after many years in Babylon, the Israelites were allowed to return and immediately started building the walls around Jerusalem and also rebuilding the Temple. In spite of their realisation whilst in Babylon that land and Temple were not essential, these ideas were, and are, deeply rooted in the Jewish psyche and returning to their homeland was a powerful symbol. In the centuries that followed, the armies of a number of empires swept over the small land of Palestine, and Israel did not regain full independence although still the dream remained. The conquering armies tried many ways to stamp out and destroy Jewish practices, identity and worship but none of them succeeded. Jewish armies were raised and destroyed and the inexorable forces of the mightiest armies of the world crushed whatever military power Israel managed to assemble. In the process tens of thousands of young men from Israel died convinced that they were fighting for their God and that God would deliver them. All these empires had conquered, destroyed and absorbed many local peoples but the identity of the people of Israel remained intact. The latest empire to control Palestine was that of Rome and it was, therefore, under the control of the Roman imperial power when Jesus was growing up.

In the time of Jesus there were Zealots who dreamed of freedom from Rome and establishing a new, independent kingdom of Israel. They looked back to the great glory days of King David and believed that God would be on their side in an attempt to drive out the Roman occupying power. It was a foolish dream but similar foolish dreams had come to fruition before and many Jews, either secretly or not, thought back to the old days. They resented the presence of the Romans as a heathen occupying power and thought that a great leader might emerge, a new Messiah, a ‘son of David’ (their greatest king and military leader) or saviour of the people who would be a mighty warrior and would lead the people of Israel to independence in their own country.

Jesus, then, grew up with all these folk memories, with knowledge of the history of Israel, within a society confident in its superiority as a people chosen by God but also oppressed and powerless on the periphery of a great empire. It may seem strange to start a book on understanding Christianity with so much attention to the history of the Jewish people, but Jesus was a Jew and all Jesus’ initial followers were Jews. The Hebrew Scriptures and the story of ‘salvation history’ – God working God’s purposes out throughout the history of the Jewish people, culminating in the incarnation of Jesus – are central to any real understanding of the nature of Christianity. Jesus is held to be the hinge of history, the fulcrum point on which world history turns, since Christians believe that it is in Jesus that God fully reveals God’s self to human beings, it is in Jesus that all people are opened to the love and forgiveness of God, and it is in Jesus that God becomes incarnate and comes to earth in human form.

THREE
The Life of Jesus

Recounting the ‘Life of Jesus’ is far from straightforward and takes us to the heart of the difficulty in trying to give an account of ‘What is Christianity?’ today. There are four Gospels in the Christian New Testament (the word ‘gospel’ means good news). They are named Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and for more than 1,500 years Christians believed that these were the names of the authors of the different Gospels. Today, as we shall discover, this is seen to be highly problematic.

The Gospels include various accounts; there are accounts of Jesus’ birth; a few stories of events immediately following His birth; records of His ministry and death; and one description of an event when He would have been about twelve years old. However, Christians are divided as to the status to give to these narratives. Some would insist that they are literally true (even though there are differences between them) and others would see them as conveying central truths about Jesus but also making significant theological points, whilst still others maintain that there is very little that we can know for certain about Jesus’ life. There is a wide diversity of views.

Whilst there may be disagreement among Christians about the details of Jesus’ life, there is almost no doubt at all among historians that He existed. The evidence in favour of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is actually much stronger than for most historical figures. The evidence of His message is also very strong – but the details of His life are subject to more disagreement.

Christians used to see the four Gospel books as written by four separate figures but, as will become clear later (see Chapter 10), the Gospels of Matthew and Luke contain all of Mark’s Gospel and also have other material in common. Matthew, Mark and Luke are referred to as the ‘Synoptic Gospels’. The Gospel of John is rather different and is generally considered to have been written later (see here). The Synoptic Gospels were written as historical accounts of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Events are described, sayings are recorded and Jesus’ teachings are shared with the world. The authors of the Synoptic Gospels wanted to show that Jesus was the Messiah of Jewish expectation and to show how He lived among people on earth. They wanted to show that Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures. The nature of these prophecies is disputed among scholars but there is no doubt that the people of Israel expected a deliverer to be sent. The general expectation was of a great warrior who would drive out the occupying power and restore the independence of Israel as well as the Davidic kingdom. The Messiah that the Gospels portray was very different indeed from this and they show that Jesus challenged Jewish expectations. The Messiah was not to be a great warrior but God Himself who came from heaven to show human beings how to live, to deliver them from sin and to establish a new ‘kingdom of God’ in the world that was not based on military might or an independent Jewish state but was instead a kingdom of love and commitment to God founded in the hearts and minds of Jesus’ followers.

The Gospel of John is in a different category. It shows the divinity of Jesus and, in particular, that Jesus represented the coming of God as a human being into the world (God becoming incarnate). Jesus is shown as the culmination of a divine plan for the whole of creation. The Gospel of John is regarded by most scholars as much more theological and possibly, therefore, less historical. Almost all scholars agree that it was written much later than the other three Gospels, perhaps around AD 90–120 (Jesus died about AD 33). However, there are dissenting voices to this view and some, such as the late J. A. T. Robinson, argued for a much earlier dating. The general assumption is that a more theological gospel would be dated later, but this is not necessarily the case. Some of the earliest Christian documents are letters or epistles written by the apostle Paul, and these are also highly theological. However, the general academic consensus is for a later dating.

Because of disagreements about the historicity of the accounts of Jesus’ life, giving a summary of it is not at all easy. There is no single view in Christianity about Jesus’ life. All we have are the accounts in the Gospels and the stories passed down and accepted by Christians over the centuries. How historically accurate they are is almost impossible to determine. This might seem to imply that nothing can be known with any degree of confidence about Jesus, but this is not the case. In the next chapter, when Jesus’ message is outlined, this will become clear. For the moment, however, some account needs to be given of Jesus’ life and this will be done by reference to the stories in the Gospels.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, Isaiah 9:6–7 records that God will send someone who would reign on the throne of David and would be a ‘Mighty God’ and ‘Everlasting Father’. Christians see this as pointing to the life of Jesus.

Figure 1: This picture by Henry Tanner (1898) is of the Annunciation. Mary is shown sitting on a bed and the angel appears not as a human form but as a pillar of light.

The Gospels record Jesus as being born of a young girl called Mary who was engaged to a man named Joseph. Joseph was of the tribe of Benjamin and could trace his descent back to King David (something that Matthew’s Gospel spells out in detail). However, Joseph is not recorded in the Gospels as the natural father of Jesus. Luke’s Gospel records an angel telling Mary that God had chosen her to bear a son even though she had not slept with a man (this event is called the Annunciation). This was before she and Joseph had got married, while Mary was still a virgin. The father of Jesus is seen not to be a human being but God. Jesus, Christians believe, is the Son of God. (Although this phrase was also used of the great kings of Israel such as David, for Christians it means much more than this: that God became human in Jesus.) Christians tend to praise Mary because of her faithful obedience to the command of God and see her as the crucial female example of obedience and loving service to God as well as the ideal mother. It is significant that in Islam Mary is also revered as the mother of Jesus and that Mary was also a virgin. God, in Islam, is held to have conceived Jesus in Mary’s womb rather like God created Adam at the beginning of the creation story. There is much in common between Christians and Muslims in the reverence they accord to Mary, but Muslims would claim that Jesus is one of the leading prophets and not, as Christians claim, the incarnation of God’s Word.

The engaged couple, Mary and Joseph, were travelling to Bethlehem in response to a requirement by the Roman governor that everyone should return to their ancestral town to complete a census, when Mary went into labour. The inns were all full and, according to Luke, the birth took place in a stable (although in the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition the birth is held to have taken place in a cave). This is portrayed as an extraordinary and pivotal event, with shepherds in the hills being visited by an angel to tell them of the birth, while Matthew’s Gospel has wise philosophers or astrologers from the East following an extraordinary star which led them to the house where the infant Jesus lay. Even King Herod, the vassal king who governed Israel under the Romans, was recorded as having a dream that ‘the king of the Jews’ had been born. Fearing for his crown, Herod sent out an order that all babies under two years old should be killed to ensure that no future king survived. Matthew’s Gospel records Jesus’ parents, having been warned in a dream about the danger, fleeing to Egypt and then coming back out of Egypt. This enabled Christians to argue that Jesus should be seen as the new Moses who had been prophesied to come out of Egypt to deliver his people from slavery (Deuteronomy 18:15–18).

There is no record of Jesus’ childhood except for one short scene (Luke 2:41–51) when His parents took Him to the Temple in Jerusalem. Surrounded by the huge crowds, He became lost and Mary and Joseph searched for Him. They eventually found Him talking to the wisest rabbis and impressing them with His depth of understanding. The young boy Jesus, when confronted by His concerned parents, expressed surprise and asked them why they did not expect Him to be about His Father’s business (clearly indicating that His father was not Joseph but God).

A tradition grew up among the early Christian Church that Mary remained a virgin and never slept with Joseph even after the birth of Jesus. There is no textual evidence for this and it was a belief intended to show Mary’s purity. The Gospels record Jesus having brothers but mainstream Christians who support the perpetual virginity of Mary say that this refers to spiritual brothers, or else they were children of Joseph from a former marriage, and that Mary had no children apart from Jesus.

Jesus’ actual ministry lasted either one or three years (the Gospels differ). What is clear is that He gathered a disparate group of close friends, followers or disciples around Him. They were outsiders to the world of power and influence – a tax collector, fishermen – ordinary people whom He called to give up everything and to follow Him, which they did willingly. He was clearly a charismatic person and His message of God’s love and forgiveness had huge appeal. Jesus’ ministry started with His baptism in the River Jordan (which meant immersion in the waters of the river as a symbol of being cleansed from sin and a new beginning) by an extraordinary man who was about the same age as Jesus. John the Baptist had spent years in the desert wilderness fasting and living very simply and calling for a renewal of commitment to God, demanding that people give up their complacent lives and live in a different way. He also prophesied the coming of the Messiah or Saviour. Jesus went to John for baptism and, in one of the most significant moments recorded in the Gospels, John recognises Jesus and declines to baptise Him because he considers that it is Jesus who should baptise him, not the other way round. John understands that this is the person about whom he has been prophesying and does not consider himself worthy to carry out the baptism. Jesus insists and, in a key moment, the heavens are recorded as opening; a dove descends on Jesus whilst God’s voice proclaims, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’ (Matthew 3:17). The dove would have reminded readers of the Gospels of the dove sent out from the Ark by Noah to find dry land when the whole of the known world was engulfed in flood water. In Christian theology, the dove has come to symbolise both peace and the Holy Spirit which God sent down on Jesus at His baptism, just as believers are later meant to receive the same Spirit at their baptism. The role of the Holy Spirit and its significance will be made clear later.

Baptism was not just a crucial event in Jesus’ life; it was also a central command by Jesus recorded in the Gospels. He sent His disciples out to live simply among people, to preach the good news that He came to bring (the word ‘gospel’, as we have seen, means good news) and also to baptise people. Matthew’s Gospel records Jesus as saying: ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ (Matthew 28:19). The practice of baptism therefore became central for all Christians; this is the moment when the Spirit of God is believed to fall on the baptised person and make the individual fully part of the Christian community. The Christian practice of baptism varies. Many churches have infant baptism when the child is baptised as a baby and welcomed into the Church. Vows to renounce evil and to commit to God are taken on behalf of the baby by the parents and ‘godparents’ (these are two or three people who promise to help take care of the spiritual upbringing of the child, although in many parts of the world this spiritual side of the godparents’ role has become peripheral). Some Christians, however, hold that baptism should be delayed until a person can make the promises to renounce evil and to hold fast to Christ for themselves, whilst others practise ‘full immersion’ baptism; instead of a few drops of water being sprinkled on the person to be baptised, they are immersed completely in water in the way that Jesus would probably have been baptised in the River Jordan. For most Christians, baptism is the mark of the formal entry of a person into the Christian community.

Figure 2: This picture is full of symbolism. Jesus stands where the river Jordan ends, symbolising the end of the old covenant and the beginning of the new. He is baptised by John. On the left three figures represent the Trinity, the middle of which (God the Son) looks apprehensively at the scene; He knows it will end in His death (a sepulchre is in the distance). Behind, this a man strips off, ready to be baptised. His colouring is the same as Jesus’, indicating all Christians share in Jesus’ baptism. The overhanging tree represents the love of the Father, the dove represents the Holy Spirit and Jesus Himself represents the Son. The prickly trees in the background represent the Pharisees who pass disapprovingly in the middle distance.

The Gospels record Jesus going into the desert wilderness to be alone and to pray. For instance: ‘Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed’ (Mark 1:35).

During one of these times of solitary prayer and contemplation He faced severe temptations and tests. The possibility of taking alternative paths in life was very real and these temptations came to Him with great force and attractiveness. He is shown as being tempted by the devil and, again, Christians differ as to how this is to be understood, some believing the story should be taken literally and others holding that it is a metaphor for Jesus wrestling with real internal temptations. The existence of the devil, an angel who disobeyed God and rose in rebellion against God, is taken for granted in the New Testament and by many Christians who see the world as a battleground between God and the devil. However, all agree that the devil is subject to God and will eventually be defeated by God. Indeed Jesus Himself, in resisting temptation and dying for all human beings, is seen to have defeated the power of the devil even though his influence still continues and needs to be resisted. What is clear is that Jesus’ commitment to God from the youngest age was overwhelming and He was able to resist temptation and, Christians have traditionally held, was able to remain free from sin.

Jesus then embarked on His ministry which, as we have seen, lasted one to three years. He had no settled home, did not marry and depended on the generosity of women and others who supported Him and His followers. Women played a vital part in His ministry and were some of His closest friends. Jesus remained all His life within a fairly narrow area of Palestine, teaching and talking to people and showing them, through stories or parables, the nature of God’s love and of God’s coming kingdom even if, as we shall see, this love and this promised kingdom were very different from those people’s expectations.

Initially it appears that Jesus preached only to Jews and saw His message as concerning only them, but He came to realise that the message He had to bring was universal. There is an important point here that divides Christians. Some Christians, influenced particularly by the Gospel of John, see Jesus as always being aware of His divine nature and always preaching both to Jews and Gentiles. However, many mainstream Christians see Jesus’ teaching as developing over time and Him coming to realise that God’s message was for all human beings and not simply the Jews.

One of the most extraordinary and well attested aspects of Jesus’ life was that He mixed with everyone; and for a Jew this was really surprising. Devout, God-fearing Jews kept themselves to themselves. They had nothing to do with the Romans unless this was strictly necessary; they did not mix with Samaritans (the group of Jews descended from those who remained behind in Israel after the Babylonian captivity and who were despised by mainstream Jews); they looked down on those who collected taxes for the Romans; they despised those who did not keep to the strict purity rules laid down in the Hebrew Scriptures; they tended not to talk to or mix with women outside their families and certainly would not be touched by them; they considered that women were impure during their periods and should keep to their houses; and they condemned and despised those who committed ethical failings such as adultery. Jesus, by contrast, kept company with all kinds of people; he talked to Romans and Samaritans; women were His constant companions; a devout woman massaged His feet and wiped away her tears from them with her hair (a very intimate thing to do); a former tax collector was one of His closest friends; and He was most critical of all of those who thought themselves holy and ‘good’. He seemed to find God more readily in those who were outcasts from respectable society than in the wealthy and those whom others considered to be righteous and good. It was not surprising that He became both exceedingly popular with ordinary people and exceedingly unpopular with the priests and those in power and authority.

In many ways Jesus was a scandalous figure, an outsider who challenged the complacency of the supposedly religious society in which He lived and who had little time for those who were pleased with themselves because they had ‘kept the rules’ and were convinced that this made them righteous in God’s eyes. He was, at one level, a simple person because His message could be understood by everyone, whatever their background, but He was also expressing the most profound theological truths with a simplicity that no one has ever achieved before or since. Nevertheless, many Jews today would see the essential nature of Jesus’ teaching as being entirely in accordance with the best rabbinic teaching tradition.

In the next chapter we will look at the message that Jesus came to bring although, in many ways, Jesus’ life and message are inseparable. He preached about the love of God and the need for forgiveness and drew huge crowds. He ate in different people’s houses, attended weddings and was in the middle of life in first-century Palestine. His reputation and fame grew as well as His ability to perform the most extraordinary miracles: healing people of many diseases including leprosy; restoring sight to people who were blind; enabling people who were paralysed to walk; curing a woman with a permanent period; turning water into wine; walking on water; and raising someone from the dead. Jesus never performed miracles to prove His power but always out of compassion and, in a number of cases, told the people who had been cured to say nothing about what had been done (Christians hold that the Hebrew Scriptures prophesied that the Messiah would perform miracles; see Isaiah 35:4–6). Nevertheless, as His fame spread He was constantly surrounded by thousands of people who wanted to listen to Him, and He felt physically tired and drained. He also knew that His growing reputation, as well as His message, was unacceptable to the Jewish authorities. His attacks on the priests and those in positions of wealth and influence were popular amongst ordinary people but were unacceptable to those He spoke out against who, it must be said, had a hard task maintaining Jewish religious freedom in the face of the might of the occupying power of Rome.

Shortly before His death, Jesus went to Jerusalem to the Temple with thousands of people around Him shouting His name. It was a triumphal procession with people cutting down palms from the trees along the route to lay in front of Him. He rode on a donkey which, for a pious Jew, had a symbolism drawn from the Hebrew Scriptures (Zechariah 9:9) and was an effective way of proclaiming that He was the promised Messiah, as it had been prophesied that this was what the Messiah would do. Jesus knew what He was doing and knew that He had gone too far and that the Temple authorities had to take action. He had become a major cult figure and this threatened the stability of the relationship that the leading Jews had established with the Romans. Whatever Jesus Himself may have taught, He was now perceived as a dangerous rabble-rouser by those in authority, a threat to the established social order and therefore, potentially, a threat to the very existence of the Jewish Temple and the freedom Jews had to worship. If support for Jesus got out of hand, the Romans might crack down and all the hard-won, albeit limited, freedoms that the Jews possessed might be taken away. Their fears were not groundless. Less than forty years later, in AD 70, the Romans utterly destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, and there was to be no Jewish state until 1948.

Jesus had a last meal with His twelve closest friends in Jerusalem and performed an extraordinary action in washing the feet of His disciples. This would have been a task that a servant of a wealthy man might perform for an important visitor, yet Jesus, the acclaimed prophet and hero of the hour, did this to His disciples. It was an inversion of every normal expectation and challenged, once again, their perceptions of what it meant to be a leader amongst a people dedicated to the service of God.

The Gospels record that, during the last meal with His disciples, one of these friends, Judas, decided to betray Him. It may have been because Judas was disappointed in Jesus and had expected another sort of leader, perhaps one who would lead the people of Israel to military victory over the Romans, or it may have been self-interest. Judas betrayed Jesus to the Temple authorities in return for thirty pieces of silver. The authorities arrested Jesus and placed Him on trial. He was too much of a threat to civil order to be allowed to live, but the Temple leadership did not have the authority to put him to death; this punishment was reserved for the Romans. The High Priest and his followers, therefore, are recorded as taking Him to the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, who, after a show trial in which he came to the conclusion that Jesus was innocent, sentenced Him to death. Pilate seems to have acted against his better instincts, but anyone who might purport to be a king would be unacceptable to the Roman Emperor and, therefore, sentencing an insignificant Jew to death probably seemed a politically expedient act. Even then, Pilate tried to let Jesus go free, as it was the custom to allow one prisoner to go free at the time of the main Jewish holiday. Pilate appealed to the crowd, asking them whether they would prefer him to free a robber and thief named Barabbas, or Jesus. Given the popularity of Jesus the week before, and the crowds that surrounded Him, Pilate might well have expected Jesus to be the automatic choice, but the High Priests had got the crowd on their side and their choice fell on Barabbas. Jesus was, therefore, taken off to be crucified.

Figure 3: The crucifixion was a degrading, agonising and humiliating punishment, but Christians see it as their key symbol, representing Jesus sacrificing Himself out of love for all human beings.

Crucifixion was an appalling punishment used routinely by the Romans. The condemned person had to carry their own cross and was then nailed to it (with nails through the wrists and ankles, although medieval art portrays the nails as going through the hands and feet). The cross was then lifted up and it could take up to twenty-four hours for a person to die. The pain was excruciating. Death usually came from asphyxiation, as the person could no longer breathe. In Jesus’ case, however, it was necessary that He should die within three hours as the Jewish holy day, the Sabbath, was about to start, so a soldier put a spear into His side to hasten His death. His mother, Mary, was at the foot of the cross as Jesus died, with one of His closest friends, John. After His death, Jesus’ body was taken down from the cross and He was placed in a tomb owned by a wealthy follower of His – Joseph of Arimathea.

There is another crucial claim associated with the crucifixion of Jesus which is made by Christians, and that is that human beings are in a state of sin, whether because of the sin of Adam and Eve, which affected the whole of humanity, or by individual sin. This sin distorts and undermines what it means to be a human being and deprives people of the chance to fulfil human potential. What is more, given that God is just, this sin requires punishment. Christians believe that God, through the person of Jesus, takes this sin on Himself; God suffers for every human being and, in so doing, releases people from the effects of sin. It is for this reason that Christians call Jesus both their Saviour, because He saves them from the effects of sin, and also their Redeemer, because He redeems people from their sin and atones for the errors both of every individual and also of humankind as a whole. Protestant Christians often refer to Jesus as their personal Saviour, and this is because they see Jesus suffering and dying on the cross out of love for every human being and taking on Himself the effects of their sin. Jesus makes the ultimate sacrifice out of love for His friends (as Christians feel themselves to be).

Figure 4: The statue of Christ the Redeemer towers over Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The outstretched arms represent the redemption of humankind through the crucifixion.

The symbol of Christianity became the cross, which was extraordinary as, for the Roman world, crucifixion was seen as the ultimate symbol of degradation. Yet for Christians, it is the triumph of good over evil, of forgiveness over sin, of love over hatred, of life over death. The cross is where the power of God’s love is shown most clearly.

Three days after being crucified, Jesus rose from the dead. This, of course, is one of the most important Christian claims and is central to Christian belief, so it needs to be dealt with in more detail in the chapter following the next one, which deals with Jesus’ teaching.

FOUR
The Message of Jesus

There is something artificial about separating the message of Jesus from the life of Jesus: the two are so closely related. For the people amongst whom Jesus lived, His life and actions were as important an expression of His message as His teachings. Given that Christians consider that Jesus is God’s Word made flesh, it follows that Jesus’ life and teaching are equally important. This was particularly the case as He often taught in parables. Parables are stories that are intended to be revelatory. They reveal insights and convey truths but they also reveal something about the people who interpret the parables. Parables seldom have a single meaning.

Jesus stands firmly in the Jewish tradition and many Jews today would be happy to see Jesus as a great rabbi or teacher who affirmed what was central in Judaism. However, there are also key differences. Two of the most important are:

1) Jesus did not see Himself as just another rabbi or teacher. He was clear that He was in a unique relationship with God, which Jews found very hard to accept. He referred to Himself as ‘the Son of Man’, but the Gospels indicate that this is a way of emphasising the human side of his nature without in any way undermining His unique status as the incarnate Word of God.

2) Jesus was unequivocal in believing in a life after death, and many of His Jewish contemporaries were far less clear about this. In fact, whether there was a life after death was a major point of dispute between two of the most influential groups of Jews – the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The idea of a life after death had come to prominence in Judaism reasonably late, probably around three centuries before Jesus. Some contemporary scholars see Jewish thinking as having been influenced by the deaths of tens of thousands of young men during what became known as the Maccabean rebellion, which was one of many attempts to achieve independence for Israel after the Babylonian captivity. Given the fidelity of God to God’s chosen people, it was felt that the suffering of so many young men could best be explained by a life after death. However, many Jews did not take this position; Judaism has always been a religion anchored firmly in this world rather than the next and concentration on post-mortem survival has always been somewhat peripheral. Jesus, however, proclaimed a life after death and, more than this, emphasised the fatherhood of God and God’s love for all human beings. The word ‘all’ here is significant, as it became clear to Jesus during His ministry that life after death and fellowship with God were open to all human beings and not just the Jews. This was a crucial new insight. It is not clear that Jesus always realised this; stories such as Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman (John 4:4–26), or His healing of the servant of a Roman centurion (Luke 7:1–10), seem to indicate that He came to a gradual realisation of the universality of God’s love. This was, however, an insight that was already present in some strands of Judaism. For instance, the prophet Jonah was forced to recognise that God was the God of the whole of creation, not just of the chosen people of Israel. Again, Christians will differ here; some will hold that Jesus had perfect knowledge throughout His ministry, so the idea that He ‘came to recognise’ something would be rejected.

On one occasion Jesus was approached with a very simple question, but one with profound consequences. Matthew and Luke’s Gospels record different occasions for the question. In the Gospel of Luke, it is asked by a lawyer (Luke 10:25) and in Matthew by a rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16). The question was universal: ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ The questioners were probably expecting a simple answer. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus turns the question round and asks the questioner what is written in the Jewish law. The lawyer’s reply is succinct:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

(Luke 10:27)

Jesus agrees and tells the lawyer to go away and do this. The first part of the quotation is the Jewish Shema which every devout Jew would have recognised, and the second is the Great Commandment or Golden Rule. It seems so simple! The lawyer, being a lawyer, then asks, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ and Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan:

‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. “Look after him,” he said, “and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”

‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’

The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’

Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’

(Luke 10:30–37)

It is worth noting that the expert on the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’ He could not bring himself to utter the name of the Samaritans, so despised were they by devout Jews, and yet the Samaritan is the hero of Jesus’ story. The significance of this is profound. Firstly, Jesus is speaking to a devout Jew who would have regarded Samaritans as pariahs, so making a Samaritan the central figure in the story would be profoundly disturbing. Secondly, the characters who ignored the needs of the injured man were a priest and a Levite. The tribe of Levi was the tribe from whom the priestly class were normally drawn, so, effectively, Jesus is saying that two of the types of people who, in Jewish society, were regarded as most holy and righteous were, in fact, not so. It was the outsider, the Samaritan, who recognised the need of the injured Jewish person. Jesus’ message is clear: one’s neighbour is anyone who is in need, irrespective of race, skin colour or religious belief. This message was to be central as Christianity became the largest religion in the world. Christianity was not just another Jewish sect; it was a universal religion. Its roots lay in Judaism, but its message of the love of God and its demand to love other human beings was universal.

Jesus emphasised this continually. He frequently taught in stories or parables which are appealing but have multiple meanings and great depth – and can often be uncomfortable. In one of these stories Jesus spoke of the criteria that God would use to decide who would go to heaven and who would go to hell after death. The story challenged his audience but it maintained the same theme that runs through all his teaching:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was ill and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was ill and in prison and you did not look after me.’

They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or ill or in prison, and did not help you?’

He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

(Matthew 25:31–46)

This message was (and is) challenging because Jesus is saying that the people who will be welcomed into God’s kingdom are the people who visit those in prison or those who are sick, the people who feed the hungry or give water to the thirsty; and the people who are destined for hell are those who fail to do this. What is more, when someone does these positive things to any other human being it is as though they are being done to Jesus Himself, and when someone in need is ignored, it is Jesus who is ignored. This again emphasises the Christian claim that God is intimately involved in the world and that love of any other human being is directly related to love of God.

The message of the universal love of God was not easy for the early Christians to accept and, after Jesus’ death, there were many of his original followers who still wanted to see Christianity as merely the development of orthodox Judaism. They considered, therefore, that following Jesus meant becoming a Jew and taking on all the rigorous food laws and religious laws that the people of Israel considered normal. It also meant that males had to be circumcised. This position would have restricted the growth of early Christianity as it would, effectively, have become a Jewish sect. It took divine intervention and the activity of one of the most significant of the apostles – St Paul – to demonstrate that these laws were not necessary.

Figure 1: Statue of the Archangel Michael defeating the devil (Coventry Cathedral). Christians hold that it is the power of love that can defeat the forces of evil and that this love was shown most clearly in Jesus’ life, teaching and death.

So the first and most important command which Jesus affirmed was the absolute centrality of the love of God. Secondly came unconditional love of neighbour. The first command every Jew would recognise and accept, but Jesus taught that the second should be taken literally: that is, it did not apply to Jews alone. It also questioned whether those who were thought to be holy were really so.

For Jesus, the love of God for every human being was essential. God was the Father of all human beings and should be addressed in the intimate way that a child addresses a father. God was a God of love, wanting above all what was best for individual human beings. God would always welcome back those who failed, those who did wrong. Jesus told many parables to illustrate this, including the parables of the Prodigal Son, the Lost Coin and the Lost Sheep. For Jesus, God almost cared more for those who were lost than those who were faithful. The person who was a failure and marginalised had more need of God than the person who was always faithful.

It is an issue of trust. Christian teaching is that the Christian should trust their whole life to God and should be willing to accept and believe in God’s love and forgiveness. God’s love is unconditional; it does not come as a result of a person being virtuous or good. God’s love is there, whatever happens, like a parent who will always love a child, no matter what the child does, and simply wants the child to return. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus tells the story of a rich man who had two sons, one of whom was obedient, stayed at home and worked hard. The other, however, demanded from the father that the eventual inheritance he could expect should be given to him. He then left home and spent all his father’s money on a dissolute life. He ended up destitute and sleeping among the animals. In despair, he decided to go back to his father, recognising that it would be better to be one of his father’s lowest servants than to go on living as he had been doing. When he returned, the father ran to greet him, put on him the choicest clothes and laid on a great feast for him. This was not because he had done anything good – he had not; but simply because he had returned home. The other son resented this because he had spent all his life being loyal and working hard, yet his father had never laid on a similar feast for him. Jesus explained that God loves those who have failed, those who have ignored God and yet come back, almost more than those who never need forgiveness. It is not, however, easy to accept being loved unconditionally and many reject God because they simply cannot accept that God loves them as they are. Trust in this love is, therefore, a central element of Christian belief.

Figure 2: Rembrandt’s painting of the Prodigal Son (c. 1669) shows the father welcoming back his penitent son. One of the hands of the father is male, the other female. The poverty of the returning son is shown in his clothes and also in him only having one shoe. Jesus referred to God as Abba (Mark 14:36) – a very intimate term similar to ‘Daddy’ today. God is seen as the Father of all who wants nothing more than to welcome people back, however far they may have strayed in terms of selfishness and lovelessness.

What is more, Jesus taught that Christians should refuse to judge others. Only God could truly see into the heart of another human being. Only God could judge justly. If any Christian judged others, then he or she would be judged harshly by God. If Christians forgave others, they would be forgiven by God. One man asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother – seven times? Jesus said, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times’ (Matthew 18:22). In other words, Christians should act towards each other as God acted towards them and should be willing to forgive again and again – and yet again.

Jesus was absolutely clear that the way Christians behaved towards other human beings would determine the way God behaved towards them. God would judge a person by the innermost nature of their heart and not by appearances. Jesus therefore condemned those who would make a display of their religious observances. If people were fasting, He said that they should disguise the fact; if people gave to charity, they should do so anonymously. If the real motive for doing good was in order to be recognised by other people, then the good actions were actually just self-centred (Matthew 6:1–4). Jesus said that people should do acts of kindness without others knowing; God sees into the hearts of everyone and will reward those who do good and punish those who do evil. Jesus was clear that God knows everything: not even a sparrow dies without God knowing about it. Humans are worth more than many sparrows and all human actions are seen by God and judged accordingly (Matthew 10:29–30).

Jesus was, however, clear that God’s love was a demanding love. God had to be placed at the centre of a person’s life and the love of God had to be shown in action. There was no room for complacency, and the idea of trusting in the love of God and ignoring the need for practical action runs contrary to Jesus’ message. Jesus specifically warned of a rich man who decided to take life easy and enjoy his wealth: that very night his soul ‘was demanded from him’ (Luke 12:16–21). In other words he died and had to face God and account for his life. Anyone who ignores those in need, or the demand for practical action to relieve suffering, effectively ignores God. Words without action are empty.

The one category of people that Jesus did condemn was those who deliberately ignored God or pretended to be devoting their lives to God when they were not. He utterly condemned the priests and religious leaders who were so proud of their own reputation as holy and good people but, inside, were self-centred and corrupt. His language about these people was anything but temperate (Matthew 12:34–37). The one incident that the Gospels record when Jesus seemed to have lost His temper was when He went into the Temple in Jerusalem and found it filled with merchants selling things and people who changed money. He was angry that they had turned what should have been a house of prayer to God into, as He termed it, a den of robbers. He took out a whip and physically attacked the merchants. His anger was greater because He is recorded as calling the Temple ‘my Father’s house’ (John 2:13–17) referring, of course, to the Christian claim that Jesus was the Son of God and not the son of any human father. Instead of a place of holiness and devotion to God, the Temple had become something very different. The extent, therefore, to which Jesus would have been seen as a scandalous and uncomfortable figure by those with money and power is hard to over-emphasise.

For Jesus, prayer should be at the centre of a person’s life. Prayer was like talking to a close friend and Christians should bring all their concerns to God. His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, and the Gospels record what has become the most famous prayer for Christians, called ‘The Lord’s Prayer’:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

(Matthew 6:9–13)

The word ‘Amen’ is generally added at the end of Christian prayers and means ‘so be it’. It is used at the end of all prayers, even prayers said by the priest or leader of worship, and links those participating with the prayer. It is important to note that Christians ask to be forgiven by God in the same way they forgive others; in other words, if they do not forgive others, God will not forgive them.

If God is truly at the centre of a person’s life, then all the things that normally preoccupy people will assume lesser importance. When Jesus’ called His first disciples He called them to leave everything behind: friends, family and possessions. Disciples are required to put God centre stage in their lives and, if this is done, then money, reputation, sex, appearance and all those things that most people value so highly will be seen in their proper perspective. This does not mean that they are irrelevant, just that once a person seeks to devote their life to God, these other things can only ever be of peripheral importance. It is not possible to serve both God and worldly desires and interests.

Jesus preached the coming of the kingdom of heaven, but this was not what the people amongst whom He was living expected. He did not preach a new Davidic kingdom which would throw out the Romans and establish Jerusalem as the seat of a new Jewish government. The kingdom that Jesus proclaimed was a kingdom in people’s hearts. This was in some ways a radical and new idea, although the basis for it lay in the Hebrew Scriptures and the teaching of the prophets. Bringing people to see this new understanding of God’s kingdom was not easy; it was not the message that people wanted to hear.

Jesus realised that His message would not be readily received. He likened it to a farmer who was scattering seed: some of it fell on stony ground and withered almost as soon as it germinated; other seed fell on poor ground and sprang up but had no roots and died; whilst still other seed fell on good ground (Matthew 13:3–9). Similarly, the message of Christianity would not be well received by many; some would either ignore it or else take it on board with enthusiasm, but abandon it as soon as doubts or difficulties came along. Jesus never expected that His message would be accepted by everyone, nor that it would be popular. He said that following Him would involve pain and suffering, misunderstanding and rejection, and it would be hard (Matthew 10:17–18, 38–39). On one occasion He said that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (this is a reference to a very narrow gate into the walled city of Jerusalem which a loaded camel would have been unable to enter) (Mark 10:23–25). Someone with wealth and possessions will find that his or her heart is anchored in these and it will be almost impossible to centre life on God. Jesus said if money or power or reputation is really important to a person, then this is where their heart will be.

Jesus found the greatest faith in people who were on the outside of conventional society: a poor widow who had almost no money but gave a few coins which, for her, represented a great deal; a Roman centurion who trusted Jesus’ power to heal and accepted that, when Jesus spoke, his servant would be healed even though the servant was a long distance away; a woman caught in adultery who trusted Jesus even though everyone else condemned her; another woman who wept for her sins; blind beggars, lepers who were despised and outcasts – these were Jesus’ followers initially.

The rabbis and teachers of Jesus’ time had built up a set of rules that regulated every aspect of the life of a devout Jew, and for many of these people keeping the rules had become an end in itself. The Pharisees in particular considered that devotion to God could be measured by the extent to which one kept the rules. Jesus cut through this and taught that what mattered was the change within the heart of a person, not whether they kept the rules. For instance, He and His disciples were criticised because, when crossing a cornfield on the Jewish holy day (the Sabbath) they ate a few ears of corn. This broke the rules, as picking corn was considered to be work and work was not allowed on the Sabbath. Jesus’ critics said that Jesus’ failure to condemn His disciples meant that He was not a devout Jew (Luke 6:1–5). On another occasion, He failed to wash before a meal and He was criticised because this was one of the strict rules that a Jew had to follow. He talked to people who were regarded as sinners and outcasts, something that no pious Jew would do. He touched a leper, which was condemned by the Jewish law. He healed a person on the Jewish holy day and this was also condemned (Luke 6:6–11). The teachers of His time were continually trying to trap Him and to show that He was not really a faithful Jew at all, still less a prophet. On one occasion they brought to Him a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. The punishment according to the Jewish law was clear: she had to be stoned to death. His critics thought that they had him in a trap – either He had to forgive her and show that He rejected the Jewish law and was not a genuine prophet at all, or He had to condemn her and all His talk of forgiveness would be undermined. Jesus’ response was simple. He said that whoever had never committed a sin should throw the first stone. Clearly no one was in this position, so they all went away and left Him with the woman. Jesus did not condemn her; He merely said gently, ‘Go now and leave your life of sin’ (John 8:3–11). Gentleness and yet a firm devotion to God was at the heart of all Jesus did, and this message shone through in a way that the teaching of the priests and law-givers of the time did not.

Whereas most Jews of the time were angry with the Romans, Jesus treated those Romans He met with compassion and understanding. On one occasion an attempt was made to trick Him by asking whether Jews should pay taxes to Rome (Luke 20:20–26). Again, whichever answer He gave would seem to land Him in trouble. If He said that taxes should be paid, then He would not be seen as a devout Jew, as Jews bitterly resented the Roman taxes, so He would become unpopular. If He said that taxes should not be paid, then He would have been arrested by the Roman authorities. It seemed He could not win. His answer was simple. He asked for a coin to be shown to Him and then asked whose head was on it. ‘Caesar’s,’ was the answer; He simply said, ‘Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’ In other words, what mattered was not the issue of taxes but where the hearts of people really were. Many were so preoccupied with money and material things that God had been altogether forgotten.

Jesus was in no doubt that the way a person lived would determine what happened after death, and He was also in no doubt that there was a separation between heaven and hell. The punishments in hell were severe. In one case Jesus told the story of a rich man who went to hell and a poor man, Lazarus, who used to sit at the gate of the rich man and beg, and who after death went to heaven (Luke 16:19–31). The rich man pleaded for mercy or, at least, that Lazarus could be sent to his living relatives to warn them. Jesus said that no move was possible from hell to heaven and that sending someone who had died to the living relatives would not achieve anything. If they did not believe the Jewish prophets, they would not even believe if someone rose from the dead (a poignant look forward to His own resurrection).

We have already seen that at the baptism of Jesus the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove. The role of the Holy Spirit is vital in Christianity; it is seen as the Spirit of God in God’s self which strengthens, comforts and, in some cases, guides Christians. Jesus said to His disciples that when He died He would not leave them alone, as the Holy Spirit would remain with them. The Holy Spirit, Jesus and God in God’s self are one in Christianity; this gives rise to one of the most important of all Christian doctrines. This is that God is Trinitarian. God is one, but God is also Three. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the three persons of the undivided Trinity with no separation between them. It cannot be emphasised strongly enough that this does not mean that there are three gods, as some critics were to later maintain. Christianity is firmly committed to both the unity of God and to God’s essentially Trinitarian nature. This is, Christians accept, a mystery, but it is a mystery that is at the heart of Christian faith. The Trinitarian doctrine means that when the Holy Spirit comes to a Christian this is the same as God in God’s self. Fifty days after Jesus’ death, at what has become called Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came directly to Jesus’ followers when they were gathered together. The presence of the Holy Spirit provides, therefore, the guarantee that God is with them always in a very personal way.

Figure 3: Andrei Rublev’s extraordinary icon of the Old Testament Trinity, depicting the three visitors who came to Abraham (Genesis 18:1–15), shows God as three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – sitting at a table with a fourth place set for the viewer. The chalice (the cup used for wine in Catholic and many other Christian services) symbolises the Eucharist or Mass in which Christians participate. The figures are not looking at each other but form a circle to include the viewer.

Towards the end of His ministry, Jesus sent His followers out with a command to spread the good news (the Gospel) which He had come to deliver. He is recorded as saying:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

(Matthew 28:19–20)

As we saw in the last chapter, just before He died Jesus shared a meal with His twelve closest friends. This has become known as the Last Supper. At this meal Jesus took bread and broke it and shared the pieces amongst His disciples; however, He also said words that were to have a decisive impact on future Christian practice: ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me’ (Luke 22:19). Then He took wine and when He had given thanks He again shared this with His disciples, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you’ (Luke 22:20). These words form the basis for what Christians variously call the Eucharist, the Mass, or the Lord’s Supper. Different Christians have varying understanding of how these words of Jesus are to be interpreted. Catholic Christians take the words literally and have long argued that, at the Mass, when the priest consecrates the bread and wine, there is a ‘change of substance’ and it becomes the body and blood of Christ, although the believer continues to experience it as bread and wine. This gives rise to the Catholic practice of the consecrated bread or wafer being adored by the believer, and of the priest consecrating the bread and wine (which only a priest can do) and then this being distributed to the faithful by a lay person. Catholics call bread that has been consecrated and kept in this way ‘the reserved sacrament’ and it is kept close to the altar in a tabernacle with a candle burning beside it. Other Christians, such as Anglicans, maintain that Jesus is ‘really present’ at the Eucharist but they do not specify in what way (see here). Many Protestant Christians see the bread and wine as symbolically representing Jesus’ presence (some Protestants use fruit juice instead of wine because of the alcoholic nature of wine). There are, therefore, differences in understanding. Nevertheless, almost all Christians are united in the importance of taking seriously Jesus’ words at the Last Supper.

Jesus had twelve close friends or disciples who accompanied Him throughout His ministry. Three of these were particularly close to Him – Peter, James and John. James and John were brothers whilst Peter was a former fisherman, an impetuous man who would often speak first and think later. Jesus prophesied that the kingdom of heaven was coming and that He, His disciples and all who followed Him would share in this kingdom. Gradually the disciples came to realise that this was not an earthly kingdom but a heavenly one and, naturally enough, the question arose as to who would be the leaders and closest to Jesus in His new kingdom. The mother of James and John came to Jesus and asked if her sons could sit one on His left and one on His right when He came into His new kingdom (Matthew 20:20–23). In asking this, she showed a lack of understanding as to the nature of the coming kingdom. Unlike earthly kingdoms, the new heavenly kingdom would be one of love and service where those who sought to be first would be least important and those who were humble and thought nothing of themselves would be first. It was an inversion of all the values underlying worldly power and achievement. Jesus pointed out that the path to the new kingdom lay through service to others, suffering and death – hardly an attractive prospect. He also made clear that Christians would necessarily suffer in this world, just as He would have to suffer. Jesus, therefore, inverted all the normal ideas of power often associated with God. For Jesus, God’s power was shown most clearly in compassion, suffering and love. It was the power of weakness, not of might. This was emphasised in the picture of Jesus dying on the cross: dying like a common criminal, alone, despised and rejected by human beings. Yet, Christians hold, this is God in God’s self dying on the cross. God becomes human and suffers as a human and does so out of love.

Peter was impulsive but had a genuinely good heart. He felt himself totally committed to Jesus and would have done anything for Him. However, the Gospels are realistic. When Jesus was about to face arrest and His coming death, and Peter vehemently declared his love and undying loyalty, Jesus gently told him that, before the cock crowed to indicate that the night was over, Peter would deny Him three times. After Jesus’ arrest Peter followed Jesus to the High Priest’s house where He was taken, but Peter was recognised and was accused of being one of Jesus’ disciples. Peter denied it in the strongest terms (John 18:15–27). This happened twice more and, after the third denial, the cock crew. Peter felt bitterly ashamed and angry with himself. This close friend of Jesus was weak and fully capable of failure, yet this was the man whom Jesus chose to lead the Church that would carry on His work after His death. This is part of a theme running through both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures: that God chooses those who are outsiders and who are despised in worldly terms, not the powerful and successful.

One of the controversial passages in the Gospels specifically concerns Peter. Peter was formerly called Simon and is renamed Peter by Jesus. The Greek word petros means ‘stone’ or ‘rock’ and Jesus uses a play on words to say, ‘you are Peter, and on this rock [petros] I will build my church’ (Matthew 16:18). Peter is given the keys of the kingdom of heaven and is told that the forces of evil will not prevail against the Church. Catholics hold that all authority is given by Jesus to the Church thus founded and that Peter and his successors are placed at its head: ‘whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven’ (Matthew 16:19). This is central to the Catholic understanding that Peter was the first leader of the Christian Church – the first Pope – and that successors to Peter would have authority over the Church on earth and in heaven. Still today the papal seal has the symbol of crossed keys, indicating that the keys of the kingdom belong to the Pope and Catholic priests can release or forgive people for sins committed on earth. Protestants tend to play this passage down or even consider that it may have been inserted before the Gospels were produced in their final form and are, therefore, less willing to give authority to the Church. This is an issue to which we will need to return.

Figure 4: The papal crest of Pope Francis, showing the crossed keys of St Peter which appear on every papal crest. The letters ‘IHS’ are the first three letters of the Greek word for ‘Christ’. The motto below the crest reads ‘miserando atque eligendo’ (‘by showing mercy and by choosing’).

Jesus’ death was not, however, simply the death of another innocent human life. It is also seen as a sacrifice. The idea of a sacrifice is not one that is widely accepted in the modern world. A sacrifice occurs when a person gives up something of value which they treasure for a higher cause. Sometimes a person is held to have sacrificed their life in a battle by allowing themselves to be killed to save the lives of comrades. In all religions, sacrifice has been an important idea, ranging from the willingness of an individual to sacrifice their own self-interest to help others, to the sacrifice of something they value in order to achieve self-discipline. Jesus, Christians hold, sacrificed His own life out of love to bring people back to God: to eliminate the cumulative centuries of sin and disobedience and to allow a new start.

The real power of God, Christians hold, is shown on the cross in Jesus dying, alone and abandoned, out of love for all human beings. So Jesus lays down His life, willingly and by His own choice, for His friends. What is more, He specifically says that His friends are all those who listen to what He taught and take His words seriously: who try to love God and love their neighbours with all their heart and mind and soul (John 15:10–15). Christians, therefore, see Jesus laying down His own life and suffering an agonising and terrible death in order to bring people to God, to redeem them from the cumulative effects of sin. It is for this reason that Christians refer to Jesus as their Saviour, the one who saves them from the effects of sin and disobedience and brings them home to God their Father. Jesus is not just the Saviour of all Christians. Jesus died for His friends and, in so doing, atoned for their sins. The punishment that is justly due to all human beings who have failed and who have sinned is cancelled because of Jesus’ acts of suffering. Jesus, when He dies, pays the price of sin for all believers. The fairness of the universe is maintained.

FIVE
The Resurrection and the Initial Spread of Christianity

The New Testament consists of the four Gospels, a number of letters written by St Paul and others, a final book called Revelation and the Acts of the Apostles. The Acts of the Apostles (often referred to simply as ‘Acts’) is generally agreed to have been written or compiled by the author of Luke’s Gospel and is a second part of this work. It contains some of the earliest records of what happened immediately after Jesus’ death.

In Chapter 3 we saw that Jesus was crucified by the Romans. After His death, His body was placed in a cave hewn out of rock, with a large stone rolled across its entrance. His death is commemorated on the day that Christians call ‘Good Friday’ (see here) at about three o’clock in the afternoon and His body would have been placed in the tomb the same day. In the heat of Palestine, it was essential that bodies were buried quickly. Jesus’ friends and disciples were in despair and also full of fear that the Jewish authorities might hunt them down next. They were dispirited and demoralised. Their friend and leader, for whom they had given up everything, was dead and all His promises seemed to have come to nothing.

On the Sunday morning, either one or two women (the accounts differ) went down to the tomb. These were Jesus’ closest friends and they went there to mourn. They found that the huge stone had been rolled away and that the tomb was empty – the body had gone. The grave clothes, in which Jesus’ body would have been wrapped, were neatly placed in a corner. One Gospel account records that two angels were in the tomb (John 20:11–13). The fear and consternation felt by the women are not hard to imagine. One of them saw someone she took to be a gardener and, thinking that he had taken Jesus’ body somewhere else, she asked him where the body had gone. The supposed gardener simply uttered her name, ‘Mary,’ and she instantly recognised that it was Jesus (John 20:14–18). She ran to throw her arms round Him in amazement and joy, but He said no: He had not yet ascended to His Father and her Father, to His God and her God. Mary was instructed to go and tell the disciples what had happened. In another Gospel account it is Peter who comes down after Mary and therefore sees what has happened (Luke 24:9–12).

Mary Magdalene is a pivotal figure in the Gospel accounts who, with others, supported Jesus financially and was with Him constantly throughout His ministry:

After this, Jesus travelled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

(Luke 8:1–3)

Figure 1: This painting by Titian shows Jesus still with a few grave clothes after his resurrection. Mary Magdalene is trying to touch Him and Jesus is pulling away. Mary is shown here with ginger hair, and this has significance (see here).

In some disputed texts, written soon after Jesus’ death, Mary is recorded as one of the apostles. However, Christians from the fourth century AD onwards began to associate Mary Magdalene with another Mary, a prostitute who washed Jesus’ feet and was forgiven by him (see here). What cannot be questioned is that Mary Magdalene played a central role immediately after Jesus’ resurrection. In Eastern Christianity she is described as ‘equal to the apostles’ and the Orthodox Church maintains that she was a virtuous woman all her life. In Western Christianity she is sometimes described as ‘the apostle to the apostles’, as it was she who brought news of Jesus’ resurrection to His disciples.

The news that Jesus had risen from the dead and had been seen by Mary and Peter was greeted with amazement and some incredulity by the disciples, and one of them, Thomas, simply could not believe it. He said, understandably, that he would not accept it as true unless he could see Jesus for himself and place his finger in the hole in Jesus’ side where the soldier’s spear had pierced it, and also in the holes in His hands. When Jesus did appear to Thomas and he finally believed, Jesus said that those who believed without seeing the physical evidence had greater faith and were more blessed (John 20:24–29). Jesus appeared to the disciples in a locked room (they were hiding and in fear of arrest) on other occasions. On one occasion, as two of the disciples were walking to a nearby town called Emmaus, Jesus walked with them without them recognising Him. It was only in the evening, when He shared their meal and broke bread with them, that they recognised Him (Luke 24:13–35). One of the most famous appearances of Jesus was to St Paul (Acts 9:1–19), although in this case Paul heard a voice rather than seeing Jesus.

Christians record several stages after Jesus’ death. In the first stage Jesus appears to various disciples and followers with the same body that He had when He died; the marks of the nails were in His hands and feet and the spear mark could be seen in His side. The next stage began when He ascended to God (this is referred to as the Ascension). After this, Jesus does not appear in bodily form, but the Holy Spirit comes to the new Christian followers.

If one event is more crucial than any other to Christian belief, it is the resurrection. The apostle Paul wrote:

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

(1 Corinthians 15:17–19)

Jesus was a remarkable and extraordinary human being (as well, Christians claim, as being God incarnate) but the event that singles Him out from every other remarkable teacher is the resurrection. It is reasonable, therefore, to ask what evidence there is for the resurrection. Clearly, we have the recorded testimony of those to whom He appeared after His death, but what other evidence is there?

One of the most remarkable and extraordinary phenomena in history is the extent to which Jesus’ followers – a small, frightened group who were in hiding for fear of the Jewish Temple authorities who had just, with the co-operation of the Romans, slain the disciples’ leader – changed to a group who went out with total confidence and joy, preaching ‘Christ crucified’. They no longer had any fear at all and, indeed, some were put to death, meeting their death calmly in the total conviction that death was not the end. This was a crucial mark of the early Christians: they faced death without any fear. This transformation is very hard indeed to explain in terms of a psychological delusion or mass paranoia. The best and simplest explanation, Christians hold, is that the stories of the resurrection are true. No other explanation can so persuasively account for the total alteration that took place in the frightened disciples, particularly as this was not an expectation shared by most Jews and it would have been greeted with incredulity by non-Jews.

Jesus made clear that, in rising from the dead, he had defeated the power of death: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die’ (John 11:25–26). Death was no longer the end and the power of death to bring fear and a sense of meaninglessness to the lives of individuals was destroyed. Death was now to be seen as merely a door to a richer and more perfect life with God in heaven. Christians, therefore, did not fear death, as it marked the entry into eternal life. Christians also came to believe that Jesus had defeated the powers of hell. Hell was a place of permanent exile from God, and a tradition grew in Christianity that Jesus descended to hell before rising from the dead. By so doing, Jesus released those who had died from the power of hell, so both death and hell were no more to be feared. This did not mean that Christians did not believe in hell – they did. However, hell was a place of freely chosen exile from God and, given the permanent possibility of forgiveness by God, the door was always open in this life to return to God, just as a penitent son returns to his father.

The resurrection is at the heart of Christianity, as is the identity of Jesus. He asked His close friends at one point in His ministry: ‘Who do people say I am?’ They replied that popular opinion differed: some said He was Elijah who had come back again; some said one of the great prophets. Jesus then asked, ‘Who do you say I am?’ and the impulsive Peter replied, ‘You are the Messiah’ (Mark 8:27–29). In many ways this is the key issue. Who is Jesus? If He was just a great teacher and a great Jewish rabbi, then Christianity is false. If He was an extraordinary prophet – one of a long list of prophets – then Christianity is false. Christians affirm that Jesus is the Christ, the chosen one of God, God’s Word, God incarnate come to redeem the world by His sacrifice. If this is true, then the resurrection is not improbable at all.

Before Jesus ascended to God the Father, He promised His disciples that He would not leave them alone and comfortless but would send the Holy Spirit or Paraclete (Counsellor) to them. Christians are firm in their belief that God is one, yet God is three persons in one. Thus the three persons of the Trinity are God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. Since the Three are nevertheless One, when Christians talk of the Holy Spirit being with them, this is equivalent to saying God or Jesus is with them. After Jesus ascended, the disciples were praying together when a tremendous wind tore through the house and a tongue of fire rested on the head of each of the disciples. They were then able to speak in many different languages and they could be understood by people who had come to Jerusalem from many different nations. This event is celebrated in the third most important of the Christian festivals, which is called Pentecost. This occurs fifty days after Easter day (the day when the resurrection of Jesus is celebrated). An important part of the worldwide Christian community today are the Pentecostal churches, which proclaim the coming of God’s Spirit and, in particular, the Spirit of prophecy given to various church leaders (see here).

Christianity spread initially among Jews and it must be remembered that there were Jewish communities and often synagogues in all the major centres of the ancient world. However, after Christianity was opened to non-Jews (see here) there was explosive growth among people of all races. Often the early Christians were women or slaves who responded to Jesus’ central message of God’s love and forgiveness.

Initially the Christian message was spread by word of mouth and small groups of believers started to meet in each other’s houses. However, there was little in the way of central organisation and each community was autonomous. The New Testament was not in existence at this stage and verbal reports of Jesus’ message, death and resurrection were all that was available. It was inevitable that diversity of beliefs and practices should emerge.

No other single character was more influential in the early years of Christianity than St Paul. He was originally a devout Jew and, before his conversion, was a bitter opponent of Christianity who was authorised by the Jewish leaders to use all means to stamp out what was seen as a new and heretical sect. After his conversion, he became fearless in preaching. Although he had not known Jesus personally, he considered that he was an apostle just as much as the apostles commissioned by Jesus during His life, as he felt that he had had a personal commission from Jesus. Most of Paul’s preaching was to non-Jews and when the leaders of the Christian community in Jerusalem heard of this, they opposed what he was doing. The issue was one that was bound to arise; Jesus was a Jew, all his initial followers were Jews, and so now the question was whether all Christians had to be subject to the Jewish law (including strict dietary laws as well as the circumcision of males). The apostles in Jerusalem, under Peter, initially felt that this was necessary but Paul did not. When, therefore, the Jerusalem leaders challenged Paul about this, he travelled to Jerusalem to resolve the issue. We have a record of the meeting in the Acts of the Apostles (15:1–

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