Jesus Keeps God's Promises
Jesus was born as a baby to Mary in Bethlehem. Joseph
married Mary and raised Jesus as his own son, even though both Mary and
Joseph knew that Jesus was the son of God.
Jesus seemed to have learned Joseph's trade as a carpenter, but he also
seems to have been carefully educated in the scriptures--what he called
the Law and the Prophets, which we call the Old
Testament.
After he was grown, he began a mission of preaching, teaching, and healing
in Palestine. He was baptized by his cousin,
John the Baptizer.
Jesus attracted followers or students,
called disciples, as he traveled around the
countryside. The story of his life and his teaching is told in the first
four books of the New Testament, the Gospel (or good news) of Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John.
So many people came to hear his preaching and to change their lives to a
better way of living that the Roman and Jewish leaders of that time became
anxious. They were afraid he would make too many changes. They took him
to court, tried him, humiliated him, and crucified him, which was a painful
and shameful public death on a wooden cross.
After his death, he rose from the dead and ascended to God in Heaven. By
his suffering and death, he saved all of us from our sins and from separation
from God.
The risen Jesus is called the Christ,which
means Messiah or Savior, the savior that God promised to send again and
again in the Old Testament writings.
We celebrate the good news of what Jesus did for us by sharing his story
and by living lives of gratitude to God, who chose to keep all his promises
to his people through the death and resurrection of Jesus.