Jesus Essay, Research Paper

There has never been a man like Jesus. He is considered to be the most unique

person of all time. Jesus? teachings have influenced many people and have

changed mankind. According to Marcus J. Borg in Meeting Jesus Again for the

First Time, Jesus was in a way four different people fused into one. He was a

spirit person, which is a person with a deep unexplainable connection with the

spirit of God. Jesus was a teacher of wisdom. He used parables and one-liners to

teach about the Kingdom of God. These parables and aphorisms are the only direct

connection we have with the historical Jesus. We get to read what came from him

directly and we get a better sense of whom he really was. Borg also describes

Him as a social prophet, which is characterized as a person that has conflicts

with authority, that criticizes the elites of his time, and that promoted a

different ?social vision.? The last identity that Borg gives Jesus is that

of a movement founder. He started a renewal movement for Judaism that went past

the social barriers of his time. We do not know much about Jesus until he was

about thirty years old. We do however know that Jesus was a Jew, which is

surprisingly not known by quite a few Christians. He grew up in Galilee and

spoke Aramaic, or Hebrew. The Torah was his primary reading in school and he

probably became a tekton, a Greek word that means carpenter. Borg explains that

Jesus probably went to follow a prophet named John, but when John was arrested

he carried on with God?s Word. The historical Jesus was nonmessiac, which

means that we do not know if He thought of himself as the Messiah or the Son of

God. His message always pointed away from Himself and towards God. Borg give

some major impressions of Jesus and what kind of a person he was. For example,

Jesus was a right and left-brained thinker. He was an eloquent speaker that was

great at debate and story telling. Jesus was not always liked. People would try

to trick Him with questions, but he always managed to come back with an amazing

answer. He used extraordinary actions to make statements, like eating with

social rejects and the diseased. He was an amazing healer that always had a

crowd. Jesus healed Simons mother-in-law, a Roman officer, a servant, a crippled

woman (just to name a few) and even raised the dead. Another thing that we know

about the historical Jesus was that he did not live a long life and died in his

thirties. Jesus was a remarkable teacher. His main teachings were of God?s

kingdom, prayers, wise and foolish lifestyles, and love and forgiveness. Jesus

challenged people to question their values and that is why He was an effective

teacher. There were many ways that Jesus would teach the Kingdom of God. He

would wander around, heal, and eat with people. He would have table fellowship

with anyone because He refused to see any abnormalities in someone. David Kantor

explains on his website that Jesus had very effective techniques to teaching.

One technique was social contact with people to draw them into the story with

questions. Another technique that He used was telling parables and using

symbolism. Jesus made the heroes of the stories that he told a person that the

people detested. He always built on what the people already knew and did not

over teach. He taught with authority and used memorable illustrations to

reinforce his point. Jesus? teachings were more influential that any part of

His life. Stephen Johnson explains on his website that the essence of Jesus?

teachings were ?love and unselfish social service.? In teaching people the

Kingdom of God and how He led His life, Jesus led people to God. There were five

main teachings of Jesus. He taught the ?Fatherhood of God,? which is that

God is our Father that loves all as a whole and as individuals. He knows us all,

knows what we are thinking, and gives us the free will to know Him back. Jesus

taught the ?Brotherhood of Man,? or to ?love our neighbors as

ourselves.? He said that through exercise of faith we can experience God?s

kingdom. Jesus characterized the Kingdom of Heaven in many ways, one example is

Him saying, ?the Kingdom of Heaven is within you.? Another teaching of Jesus

was the importance of an individual?s personal relationship with God. He

taught that God?s love is perfect and taught the importance of forgiveness.

Jesus said, ?Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.? He taught that

there are many ways to be a religious person. You have to be holy as your God is

holy and be compassionate as your God is compassionate. When Jesus first started

teaching, he went to Galilee and read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and

said, ?God?s spirit is on me; he has chosen me to preach the message of good

news to the poor, sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight

to the blind, to get the burdened and battered free, and to announce ?this is

God?s year to act?.? This story from the Book of Luke show that Jesus was

sent from God to meet the deepest needs of the people and spread His Word.