Leith Anderson - Jesus: An Intimate Portrait of the Man, His Land, and His People

Jesus

Copyright 2005

Leith Anderson

Cover design by studiogearbox.com

Interior design by Sheryl Thornberg

Cover image: Millennium/Nonstock

Scripture quotations identified NIV are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Ebook edition created 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

eISBN 978-1-4412-0274-1

Bethany House Publishers is a division of

Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

ISBN 978-0-7642-0270-4

Consulting Editors:

Dr. William W. Klein

(Ph.D. in New Testament Exegesis from

University of Aberdeen, Scotland)

Denver Seminary

Denver, Colo.

Dr. Jeannine Brown

(Ph.D. in New Testament from Luther

Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.)

Bethel Seminary

St. Paul, Minn.

Dr. Scot McKnight

(Ph.D. in Theology from Nottingham

University, Nottingham, England)

North Park University

Chicago, Ill.

Dr. Gary Meadors

(Th.D. in New Testament from

Grace Theological Seminary
Winona Lake, Ind.)

Grand Rapids Theological Seminary

Grand Rapids, Mich.

Now Including

R EADING P LAN FOR A DVENT TO E ASTER
and
S TUDY G UIDE

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What is this book? At its most basic, it is a biography of Jesus, harmonizing and integrating the four Gospels from the Bible in a reasonable chronological order. Beyond that, with contemporary readability it weaves in his storys first-century historical setting, along with the cultural and political perspectives of the time.

The Gospels, the first four books of the Bibles New Testament, were written by four disciples of Jesus: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These original biographers drew from personal experience, eyewitness interviews, and historical resources.

They sometimes arranged their material chronologically and other times topically. When they quoted Jesus, some included more of what he said than others. In this biography, multiple accounts of teaching and miracles are merged into single reports. Quotes are paraphrased and blended, sometimes taking part of a quote from one Gospel account of an event and the rest of the quote from the other places where it is reported.

The intention here is not to replace the original biographers accounts but to present the story in a fresh, readable and reliable style that is both comprehensive and consistent. The serious student will want to compare to the Bible in order to read complete quotes and reports of the events of Jesus life in their original wording and context.

Jesus uses a literary device currently popular in the writing of historical biography, adding descriptive language to conversations, emotions, and thought processes to facilitate the telling of the story. While they may not be historically documented, these embellishments are likely, based on historical or archaeological evidence of the times.

If I have done my job well, whether Jesus story is new to you or very familiar, reading this book will send you to those four original biographers.

Leith Anderson

January 2005

Circa 6 BC

T here was no good way to hurry the pregnant young bride as she traveled the caravan route from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Her husband, Joseph, may have wanted to encourage her to greater speed, but she already was doing her best.

They needed to make it to Bethlehem before the baby arrived or their tax would increase by fifty percent. The Roman government required all Jewish citizens to register in the town of their family of origin, and Joseph already could ill afford this head tax. It was difficult enough to pay for the two of them, but three would stretch him to the limit. It certainly would help if they could reach the village and register with the Romans before the baby was born. And every day on the road was a day away from his carpenter shop. No work meant no income. If all went well, they could travel to Bethlehem, register with the Romans, and soon return to Nazareth. Maybe the baby would wait until they got home to make an appearance.

Nazareth was not a particularly important place. A frontier town, it was located in northern Palestine and set in a high valley not far from major caravan trade routes. Because the government didnt always have political control over the area, an independence of style of life and perspective marked many of its citizens. The mainstream of Jewish culture tended to look on those from Nazareth with disrespect and contempt because it was in Galilee and not Judea, but this probably suited Joseph just fine. It was a good place to live, far from the larger cities with their inherent problems.

As the couple traveled southward, Mary must have thought about her cousin Elizabeth. She was married to a priest named Zechariah, and they were exempt from the travel part of this oppressive census. The priests heritage didnt include ancestral homes like everyone else. So Mary was struggling to make this journey, difficult in the best of times but many times worse at nine months pregnant. She needed to rest, her feet were swollen, and where could she relieve herself? All this while Elizabeth was no doubt sitting comfortably at home nursing her new baby.

But Elizabeth had lived with many years of infertility. There wasnt a greater burden any woman could bear than never to have children. Once Elizabeth had passed menopause, she and Zechariah had given up and accepted their destiny as from God.

Zechariah, a direct descendant from the first high priest of Israel, Aaron, was part of an honorable but crowded profession. There were so many priests that they were separated into divisions and assigned to duty in the Jerusalem temple on a rotating schedule.

The honor of a lifetime came to old Zechariah while his division was serving at the temple. As part of the liturgy, he was selected for the sacred assignment of burning incense to God. Filled with awe and nervous beyond description, Zechariah carefully lit and burned the incense at the altar while thousands of Jews worshipped in the outer courts of the temple.

And then, multiplying Zechariahs already heightened anxiety, an angel appeared at the right of the altar. The angel told him, Dont be afraid, Zechariah. God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, is going to have a son, and you are to name him John. He will be a joy and delight to you as well as many others. He will be great in Gods opinion. Your son will be filled with the Holy Spirit from the day he is born. He is never to drink wine or other alcohol. He will restore many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. Your son will walk before God in the spirit and power of the prophet Elijah, turning the hearts of fathers and children back to each other and leading people who are disobedient back to right living. He will prepare his people for the coming of the Lord.