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Jesus the Son of God
We’ve been lucky enough to get a ‘one to one’ with Jesus...
First of all can you tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Jesus, I lived about 2000 years ago in Israel. My mum was called Mary and my step-dad was called Joseph. I was a carpenter and a teacher, but I was also a miracle worker because I am the Son of God.
Laura (9)
what was your favourite pet?
Well we didn’t really have a pet, but I was rather fond of an old Donkey that belonged to my step-dad. Does that count?!
John (11)
Did you go to school?
Yes, but not as you do nowadays. I stayed with Mum until I was about 5 and learned the basics, then I started learning the scriptures. The rest of the time I worked with my step-dad in his carpentry business. We learned by watching and helping, that’s how you learned in those days.
Sarah (10)
What was your best subject at School?
I think I’d have to say that I was good at understanding scripture and being able to explain it to others. It’s how I ended up teaching really, as people could catch on to what I was saying. I also think I would have enjoyed medicine, but never really got into it full time. |
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Kevin (13)
What about family – did you have any brothers and sisters?
No, but I did have cousins and we spent a lot of time together, so I was never lonely.
And did you all ever argue or fight?
We certainly had our disagreements!! But by the end of the day we always made up . I was brought up in a very loving understanding family.
Amanda (14)
When did you know you were a bit different?
I think I always knew I had a gift or two, but it took me some time to work out how best to use them. Everyone has a special something…don’t you think? The trick in life is to discover what it is!
Matt (13)
If you had been a teenager nowadays, can you see yourself skateboarding?
Oh yes! I always love to join in. I don’t know if I’d have been any good though. I’d have needed help keeping my face book up to date too as I've got more experience with saws and hammers than with keyboards!
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- Who is Jesus?
- A good teacher?
- What happened?
- What's it got to do with me?
Jesus was a man, much like any other – he ate, drank and slept, got angry and upset, and loved. We don’t know much about childhood or teenage years, but he was probably a carpenter or a stone mason, like his step-dad Joseph, and he was a Jew.
When he was 30, he began to teach those who would listen to him. He taught people what it meant to live God’s way, and he described it as living in God’s Kingdom - in other words, living as if God is King. His teaching was pretty radical - he taught people to love their enemies, not to get divorced, not to worry so much about religious things but instead to get their hearts right with God. He also hung out with the people that everyone else thought were losers. His teaching and his choice of friends really wound some people up, particularly some of the leading Jews.
So, was Jesus just a good teacher? No, because he also spent a lot of his time performing miracles that only God could do - calming storms at sea, feeding thousands of people from just a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish, curing the paralysed, even raising the dead. because he was also a miracle worker. Not only that, but his birth was the result of a miracle. His mum, Mary, had never had sex when she discovered she was pregnant with Jesus. So, what does that tell us about Jesus? He was no ordinary man, he was both man and God.
The miracles meant that developed quite a big fan-base who followed him round. While his teaching wound some people up, the amount of people following him also made some of the leading Jews and the Romans (the ruling force) anxious, in case they lost control. Eventually, certain Jews got angry enough with Jesus to want to get rid of him. They arrested him and handed him over to Romans, who crucified him, and watched him die.
However, only three days later his mum and some other ladies came to visit the tomb where he’d been buried, and his body was missing. Jesus had predicted that he would die, but that he would rise again on the third day (see the Gospel of Mark, chapter, verse ) – and sure enough, one of the ladies, and then lots of his disciples, saw him again – he had done what he said, and risen from the dead. If Jesus was, and is, God, then it makes sense that we need to pay attention to what he said and did. Not only can we learn about how to live our lives, but we can be set free from the mistakes we have made, and the sins we have committed. St Peter said that when Jesus died on the cross, he carried our sins with him (see Peter 2:24). This means that when we believe in Jesus and accept that he died for us, we no longer have to be ashamed or hide from God because of the things we’ve done, but we can be made right again and have new strength to do the right thing in the future. We can also have life with him after we die, in heaven. It’s because of these things that Jesus is called our ‘saviour’
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Find out how what Jesus said is still important today in: Sunday Readings
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