Jesus in the Gospels

The Gospels

As we learned in the unit on the Bible, the Gospels are four books of the New Testament

that contain stories about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. In this unit we will

concentrate on some of the things that Jesus said and did in the three years he travelled

around Palestine, preaching, teaching and healing. The Gospels tell these stories to teach us

important things about who Jesus is and what his message is.

Jesus Prepares to go Public

Mark’s gospel tells us that after he was baptised by John the Baptist

‘The Holy Spirit led him out into the wilderness and he remained there for forty days and

was tempted by Satan’

The purpose of this story of Jesus fasting and praying alone in the desert is that it reminds

the readers the like Moses before him, Jesus needed to

prepare for his mission to lead God’s people; Jesus

needed to pray about the kind of Messiah he would be.

When the Jewish people escaped from slavery in Egypt

they spent forty years in the wilderness where they faced

many temptations. But, while they had on occasion given

in to temptation, Jesus never did. He remained faithful to

God the Father.

According to Luke, Jesus was tempted in three ways

Jesus was tempted to use his power for himself by

turning stones into bread. Jesus knew, however, that

while food is a basic necessity, people need more than

just food to live a truly human existence, and quoted

Deuteronomy 8:3 at Satan: Man cannot live on bread

alone.

Then Jesus was tempted to turn his back on his mission and worship Satan instead.

In return for doing this, Satan would give Jesus all the wealth and power necessary to

make people follow and obey him. Jesus rejected any idea that the Messiah would

be a warrior leader who would set up some new, rich earthly empire in place of

Rome. Jesus recalled Deuteronomy 6:13 in response: You must worship the Lord

your God and serve him alone.

Finally Jesus was tempted to use his power to impress people by throwing himself

from the highest point of the temple and have God send his angels to save him. Jesus

saw no value whatsoever in such a dramatic gesture. God’s power would not be

revealed through stupid stunts designed to win over people. Jesus quoted

Deuteronomy 6:16 at Satan: You must not put the Lord your God to the test.

Jesus faced three temptations:

To buy easy popularity by turning stones to bread

To take a short cut to fame by bowing down to evil

To use his power to stun people into believing him by throwing himself from

the Temple, and forcing God to protect him

Jesus rejected these temptations.

He refused to choose a popular and painless route to achieve his ends. Jesus chose

to be a different type of leader.

He chose to live as an ordinary man, rather than the life of a superhero.

He became a poor teacher who healed the sick and sorrowful.

Christians believe that Jesus faced temptation to do wrong, just as every human being does.

They believe that when people pray about being tempted, he understands because he has

been through it himself.

Christians believe that Jesus faced a difficult choice about using his powers. Should he use

them to make life easier for himself, or to force people to believe in him? Or should he live

as human being and experience life as other people do, and use his powers for others. Jesus

chose only to use his power for others.

Read over the story of the Temptations

Draw three thought bubbles and three speech bubbles.

In the thought bubbles, write the three temptations.

In the speech bubbles, write what Jesus replied.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

After his 40 days preparation Jesus was ready to begin his public life but things did not get

off to a good start.

Read the story of Jesus return to his home town of Nazareth and what

happened when he went to the synagogue to preach to the people. Imagine

you were there and you were working for a local newspaper and had to report

what happened.

Write your report of what happened in your jotter.

Think of a good headline for your story

Get your work checked

Plan what your newspaper page will look like.

Write your story on A4 paper making it look like the front page of a real

newspaper.

Jesus returned to Galilee and news about him spread through the whole region. He was

teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth and on the

Sabbath day he went into the synagogue. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet

Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of

everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He said to them, “Today this scripture is

fulfilled.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his

lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.

Jesus said to them, “You will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that

you did in Capernaum.’” “I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his home

town. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when it didn’t rain

for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was

not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were

many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was

cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him

out of the town, and took him to the top of the hill on which the town was built, to throw

him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

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Some tips:

Use short paragraphs

Write your story in columns

Make the start of your story exciting

Jesus Teaches with Parables

Jesus often taught people using parables. Parables are stories with a special meaning to

them. A lot off the time his parables compared things to things growing like crops and

vineyards. Almost always the central character in the story represents God or even Jesus

himself.

Mark’s gospel is written to Christians living in Rome who are very afraid because they are

being persecuted. Mark realises that being a Christian in Rome is very difficult because of

the threat of arrest, imprisonment and death. So his Gospel contains two parables that talk

about the problems they faced.

The Parable of the Sower

Once there was a man who went out to sow corn. As he scattered

the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, and the birds

came and ate it up. Some of it fell on rocky ground, where there

was little soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because the soil wasn’t

deep. Then, when the sun came up, it burnt the young plants; and

because the roots had not been grown deep enough, the plants

soon dried up. Some of the seed fell among thorny bushes, which

grew up and choked the plants, and they didn’t produce any corn.

But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants sprouted, grew, and

produced corn: some had thirty grains, others sixty, and others a hundred.

The Parable Explained

This parable of Jesus is unusual because Jesus later explains it to his disciples. This is what he

says.

The sower sows God’s message. Some people are like the seeds that fall along the path; as

soon as they hear the message, Satan comes and takes it away. Other people are like the

seeds that fall on rocky ground. As soon as they hear the message, they receive it gladly. But

it does not sink in deep into them, and they don’t last long. So when trouble or persecution

comes because of the message, they give up at once. Other people are like the seeds sown

among the thorn bushes. These are the ones who hear the message, but the worries about

this life, the love for riches, and all other kinds of desires crowd in and choke the message,

and they don’t bear fruit. But other people are like the seeds sown in good soil. They hear the

message, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred.

Make the Connection

Re-arrange the information in the right hand column so the correct explanation goes with

the correct item on the left.

The sower People who give up as soon as following the message gets tough

The seed on the path People who hear and spread the message

The seed on rocky ground People who get distracted from the message by money and other things

The seed among thorns Jesus

The seed in good soil People who don’t really hear the message

The Parable of the Lamp

Jesus continued, ‘Does anyone ever bring in a lamp and put it under a bowl or

under the bed? Doesn’t he put it up on the lamp stand? Whatever is hidden

away will be brought out into the open, and whatever is covered up will be

uncovered. Listen, then, if you have ears!’

Mk 4:21–23

1. What do you think this parable is about?

2. What do you think the message of this parable is for the Roman

Christians of AD 64? Give reasons for your answer.

Jesus Teaches with Miracles

One of the things the Gospels say that Jesus did often was cure people who had illnesses or

disabilities. 2000 years ago many people believed that illness or disability was a punishment

from God for sins they had committed. So to be able to cure people was like being able to

take away sins. This meant that Jesus was doing what God did. At other times he simply

helped people who needed his help. That’s why people believed in him.

In John’s Gospel he tells us about 7 miracles that Jesus performed.

1. Changing water into wine at Cana - in John 2:1-11

2. Healing the royal official's son in Capernaum - in John 4:46-54

3. Healing the paralytic at Bethesda - in John 5:1-15

4. Feeding the 5000 - in John 6:5-14

5. Jesus walking on water - in John 6:16-24

6. Healing the man blind from birth - in John 9:1-7

7. The raising of Lazarus - in John 11:1-45

Task:

Choose one of these miracles done by Jesus.

Summarise what happens in the story.

Say why you think people would have been impressed by what he did.

Make a drawing to show what he did.

Jesus Teaches by Caring

In the gospels Jesus is shown as someone

who cares about people who are left out.

The story of Zaccheus the tax collector is

an example of this. Tax collectors worked

for the Romans and were often corrupt

and took more money from the people

than they should. That’s why people

hated them. Jesus teaches his followers

not to hate but to reach out to people.

Read the story of Zaccheus.

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus;

he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because

he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a tree to see

him, since Jesus was coming that way.

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down

immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed

him gladly.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my

possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four

times the amount.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son

of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Task:

Discuss in your groups:

Who are the people in our world who are rejected by society because of who they are or

what they might have done?

Feedback to the class.

How should a follower of Jesus treat the people you have identified?

Jesus Teaches by Praying

Jesus prays a lot in the Gospels. We saw at

the beginning of the unit that he prayed

for 40 days and nights in preparation for

going public with his message.

But there were other times when he went

off to a quiet place to pray on his own or

with his apostles.

When his apostles asked Jesus how they should pray he taught them the Our Father.

Our Father,

Who art in heaven,

hallowed be Thy name;

Thy kingdom come;

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;

and forgive us our trespasses

as we forgive those who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Task

Discuss in your groups

When someone prays the Our Father – What are they actually praying for?