Jesus of Nazareth was raised in Galilee, but we know little
about him before his meeting with John the Baptist. Starting in the
mid-twenties A.D, he travelled across Galilee preaching a message of the
imminent arrival of the kingdom of God. To properly prepare for this event, the
Jewish people must repent for their hypocrisy and embrace all human beings as
their brothers, including women, the poor, and the disadvantaged. Without that repentance, they could hold no hope for immortality.
Jesus was well-educated (Pharisee caliber?) and was a master at using parables to reinforce his teachings. He was also said to have healed the sick and cared for the most desperate of human beings.
Jesus was well-educated (Pharisee caliber?) and was a master at using parables to reinforce his teachings. He was also said to have healed the sick and cared for the most desperate of human beings.
Despite his wisdom and charisma, Jesus’ Galilean mission was
a failure because the people could not comprehend his message. Even his family did
not understand his intent, causing him to express frustration at them. “If
anyone comes to me and does not hate his mother and father, wife and children,
brothers and sisters… he cannot be a disciple of mine.” And “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his
own kin, and in his own house." In addition to his lack of
success, Jesus had created animosity in the Galilean Pharisees, who were
angered by his criticism of the Jewish law and could not abide his association
with undesirables.
Later, when Jesus heard that the Baptist had been executed, he
was forced to hide in the kingdom of Philip to avoid the wrath of Antipas, who
was sensitive to perceived revolutionary activity.
Finally, Jesus made his way to Jerusalem, knowing full well he
might have to die for his beliefs as the Baptist had done. He chose Jerusalem because
it was the center of the Jewish state and a demonstration against the leadership would have the
maximum impact. That demonstration is known as the cleansing of the temple,
where he turned over the tables of merchants and criticized the Sadducees for
disrespecting the holy place.
The response of the Pharisees and Sadducees was a plot to
have Jesus eliminated. They convinced the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate,
that the prophet’s activities were subversive and he represented a threat to
Roman rule. Then, following a mock
trial, Pilate agreed to have Jesus crucified.
Jesus’ horrible death nearly destroyed his followers who
could not accept that their messiah would die in such a shameful way when he
was supposed to lead them to glory. But then, defeat became victory when his
followers believed they saw Jesus alive after the crucifixion, proving that he
had risen from the dead. If he had risen from the dead and become visible he
must have had a special relationship with God and that special relationship had
to be father and son, they reasoned.
A small sect of Jewish Christians formed in Jerusalem which
held to the Jewish faith but also worshiped Jesus as a new kind of messiah –
the suffering servant of God. As time went on, perhaps through the
mid-thirties, small parishes were formed with simple worship services, in Synagogues,
incorporating baptism with a
celebration of the last supper. All Christians patiently waited for the kingdom
of God to arrive.
During this time a parallel mission was begun by Paul (Saul)
of Tarsus who had seen a vision of Jesus, circa 37 A.D, and become converted to
his cause. Paul’s message about Jesus was carried to the gentiles who were not a
part of the original mission. He spent two and a half decades traveling the
middle east on foot, nurturing embryonic Christian communities in Corinth,
Ephesus, Antioch, Damascus, Phrygia, Galatia, Philippi, Thessalonica, and Rome.
The larger of these communities contained enough converts to require Bishopic
leadership.
The above map shows the early Christian communities with approximate founding dates. The dates come from the travels of Paul, who we associate with most of them.
As one might imagine, a conflict eventually developed between
Paul and Jewish Christian leaders in Jerusalem over the requirement to observe Jewish
law. Paul traveled to Jerusalem circa 50 A.D. to meet with James, the Bishop of
Jerusalem, and the other Christian leaders. The end result was the relaxation of
the requirements for gentiles including circumcision. Later, as we discussed in the
last post, Christianity become a Gentile religion when Jerusalem was destroyed
by the Romans. James was stoned to death in 62 A.D and most of the
rest of the leadership were killed in 70 A.D.
Parallel to the work of Paul and the Jerusalem Christians
was the effort to document the life of Jesus. In the beginning there was no
reason to write about Jesus’ life because the world was about to end. But it didn't! When would it end?
No one knew. By the time Mark was written (circa 60 A.D.) the church was
already three decades removed from the life of Jesus. New generations were
being converted and these individuals wanted to know more about Jesus and his life.
The Church’s answer was to document events previously related only by word of
mouth.
So the end of the first century arrived to see a maturing
Christian religion solidly entrenched in important cities of the middle east
and Rome. It was a religion of Gentiles by this point because the Jewish Christians
were gone. Rome had become the capital of the Catholic Church very rapidly. We
don’t have a record of significant missionary work there until 60 A.D. when
Peter and Paul arrived, a decade or two behind Antioch, Corinth, and the other
centers. Obviously, the position of Rome was enhanced by Peter and Paul living and being martyred there. By 90 A.D, Pope Clement was writing to the church at Corinth advising them as the leader of the church.