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?