Jesus was a threat to the leaders of his time. His teachings gained a following so large it threatened the Jewish leaders. Jesus’ life experiences and teachings lead to his death.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem. His parents were Joseph and Mary. They had to follow the Roman rules and enroll Jesus in the Roman Census. King Herod the Ruler of Rome feared the current prophesy of the Messiah so much he tried to have Jesus killed as a child. Jesus’ family fled to Egypt to escape King Herod’s ruling that all the babies and children be killed since the king had no idea who Jesus was. There is no information on Jesus’ life from the time he was 12 years old to 30 years old.
When Jesus was a grown man, he decided to be baptized by John the Baptist. A little while after Jesus was baptized John the Baptist was arrested because people said he was a rebel. Jesus started traveling and he would teach in the cities he stopped at. During this time, Jesus collected twelve disciples. Most of his disciples were fishermen and common workers. During his travels, Jesus was regularly tested by the Jewish leaders with questions about the laws of their society. They were trying to confuse and trap Jesus so that they could call him a rebel like John the Baptist. While all of this was going on John the Baptist was killed by the Roman government for being a rebel.
Jesus’ teachings created money and power problems for the Roman government. The Jewish leaders felt threatened by Jesus’ large following of people who believed in him. The leaders feared that Jesus would get his followers to rebel and defeat the government. On the day known as Palm Sunday Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem and chased the “Moneychangers” or the people who sold their goods, out of the Jewish temple. This took money away from the temple leaders. Because of what he did, “The current Jewish Leaders plotted to have Jesus removed by accusing him of being a Blasphemer (a person who claims to be God).
The Term Paper on Flavius Josephus Jewish Jews Roman
Ashley Duff HIST 329 12/3/03 Flavius Josephus Flavius Josephus was born Joseph ben Mattithiah (or Matthias in Greek) in 37 C. E. in Jerusalem, while the land was under Roman rule. He is best known for the Jewish Antiquities, an extensive 20-volume history of the Jews, as well as The Jewish War, an "eyewitness account of the Jewish revolt against the Romans in Jerusalem (Abram 44)." It is hard to ...
This was a death sentence.” (Encyclopedia.com).
One of Jesus’ disciples, Judah, was mad at Jesus so he turned him over to the Jewish leaders. Jesus was arrested that night. The leaders did a sneak attack on Jesus because they were afraid of how many people followed and believed in him. They didn’t want a riot to happen. Jesus was taken to jail until judgment time. Many people argued about how the trial really went but everyone agreed that the trial was illegal. Since the Jewish leaders wanted Jesus dead, they had to take him to the Roman authorities. “Since at that time only the Roman overlords (supreme lords) could carry out a death sentence, the priests took Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea.” (Encylcopedia.com) Pilate did not think the Jewish leaders had a good enough reason to kill Jesus. Pilate felt the people of Rome should decide if Jesus lived or died. The people decided to kill him. Jesus was beaten, laughed at, tortured, crowned with thorns and then crucified on a wooden cross.
Jesus’ ideas and teachings are spread everywhere, but they led to his death because they threatened the Jewish laws. His Disciples continued his teachings even though they faced bullying, pain, jail time and death. The life and teachings of Jesus are argued about, understood differently, and believed throughout the world.
Bibliography
“Jesus Christ.” Funk & Wagnall’s New Encyclopedia. 1989
The Miracle Maker – The Story of Jesus. DVD. Icon Entertainment International, 2000
UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography. “Jesus of Nazareth.” (2003) Encyclopedia.com. http://encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3437500423
