Welcome God is here Make yourselves at home. Journey of Faith Session III - Son.

WelcomeGod is here

Make yourselves at home

Journey of FaithSession III - Son

Last week’s film

God the Son

Yahweh

Yahshua

Yahshua

Joshua

Ιησοῦς

Jesus

The Quest for the Historical Jesus

Quest for the Historical Jesus

• Evidence for the reality of Jesus the Man outside of the Gospel accounts

• Contemporary Historians:– Pliny the Younger– Suetonius– Tacitus– Josephus

About this time came Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it is appropriate to call him a man. For he was a performer of paradoxical feats, a teacher of people who accept the unusual with pleasure, and he won over many of the Jews and also many Greeks. He was the Christ. When Pilate, upon the accusation of the first men amongst us, condemned him to be crucified, those who had formerly loved him did not cease [to follow him], for he appeared to them on the third day, living again, as the divine prophets foretold, along with a myriad of other marvellous things concerning him. And the tribe of the Christians, so named after him, has not disappeared to this day.

Josephus Antiquities 18:3:3

About this time came Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it is appropriate to call him a man. For he was a performer of paradoxical feats, a teacher of people who accept the unusual with pleasure, and he won over many of the Jews and also many Greeks. He was the Christ. When Pilate, upon the accusation of the first men amongst us, condemned him to be crucified, those who had formerly loved him did not cease [to follow him], for he appeared to them on the third day, living again, as the divine prophets foretold, along with a myriad of other marvellous things concerning him. And the tribe of the Christians, so named after him, has not disappeared to this day.

Josephus Antiquities 18:3:3

About this time came Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it is appropriate to call him a man. For he was a performer of paradoxical feats, a teacher of people who accept the unusual with pleasure, and he won over many of the Jews and also many Greeks. He was the Christ. When Pilate, upon the accusation of the first men amongst us, condemned him to be crucified, those who had formerly loved him did not cease [to follow him], for he appeared to them on the third day, living again, as the divine prophets foretold, along with a myriad of other marvellous things concerning him. And the tribe of the Christians, so named after him, has not disappeared to this day.

Josephus Antiquities 18:3:3

About this time came Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it is appropriate to call him a man. For he was a performer of paradoxical feats, a teacher of people who accept the unusual with pleasure, and he won over many of the Jews and also many Greeks. He was the Christ. When Pilate, upon the accusation of the first men amongst us, condemned him to be crucified, those who had formerly loved him did not cease [to follow him], for he appeared to them on the third day, living again, as the divine prophets foretold, along with a myriad of other marvellous things concerning him. And the tribe of the Christians, so named after him, has not disappeared to this day.

Josephus Antiquities 18:3:3

About this time came Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it is appropriate to call him a man. For he was a performer of paradoxical feats, a teacher of people who accept the unusual with pleasure, and he won over many of the Jews and also many Greeks. He was the Christ. When Pilate, upon the accusation of the first men amongst us, condemned him to be crucified, those who had formerly loved him did not cease [to follow him], for he appeared to them on the third day, living again, as the divine prophets foretold, along with a myriad of other marvellous things concerning him. And the tribe of the Christians, so named after him, has not disappeared to this day.

Josephus Antiquities 18:3:3

Contradictions in the Gospels

• Gospels were originally an oral tradition

• Variation attests to different witnesses to an event

• Variation actually suggests that these things actually happened!

• Variation is good!

The Scandal of the Incarnation

Who was Jesus?

a poem

Jesus

• …was a man• …was tempted

– Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13

• …was hungry, tired, angry• …was a dynamic and charismatic

man• …spoke with authority and clarity• …died a criminal’s death

Scripture

• “The Father and I are one”– John 10:30

• “If you would know me, you would know my Father also”– John 8:19

• God invites us into a personal relationship with him, through a personal relationship with Jesus

John 1:1-5; 14-18

The Teachings of Christ

• “I came that you may have life, life in all its fullness”– John 10:10

• Love God• …and love your neighbour as

yourself– Mark 12:28-34

• Our behaviour is an outpouring of our love of God

Christ

• “Christ” means “the annointed one”• Traditional title for the one foretold

on the OT as “Messiah”• Jewish vision of Messiah as Military

Leader• OT also speaks of Messiah in quite

different ways (ie Isaiah 53)

Suffering Servant

The meaning of the Cross

• God takes our place• Victory over death• Sacrifice for us• Ransom Paid

• “It is completed” – John 19:30

Death and Resurrection

• Real Death– Roman Soldiers would have been executed

themselves if they had failed to kill their charges

– Blood and Water from Christ’s side

• Real Resurrection– Empty Tomb– Women as witnesses– Resurrection appearances attested even to

the point of martyrdom

This week’s film:

The Miracle Maker (2000)

For reflection

• Christ the man• …your relationship with him• …your response to his teaching• …your response to his Cross

Amen