#332 Jesus
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Jesus was, in terms of his influence, the most important human being in history. He is also the most written about and discussed. The earliest surviving document dealing with him was circulated in the fifties of the first century A D, within a half a century of his death, four biography written in greek had been published, and all have come down to us.

Meaningly survived since then. Entire books about him have been published in growing quantity and in all languages. Today they're over one hundred thousand printed biography of jesus in english alone. The religion which commemorates jesus teachings, death and resurrection, was well establish in half a dozen countries by A D fifty. The first Christian place of worship dates from about eighty, fifty, and now nearly one million.

Chapel churches, sics, abbeys and cathedrals include many of the largest, most remarkable and beautiful buildings ever erected in many ways, and in cultural and moral spects, especially jesus life and the faith are created, or the central events in the history of humanity. So far, we have considered the influence of jesus as man, but I believe that he was and is god too. IT is futile for us to inquire about the nature of jesus and god in his preexistence from the beginning.

Since a noble, let alone the future, which is still hidden from us. What we can do, however, is right about jesus, the man, the problem with writing about the life of jesus the man is not so much the position of sources as their abundance and the difficulty in region. Behind the writing text to the full meaning of saying and episodes, the sketch that follows reflects many years of reading and historical study.

My objects have been clarity and brevity, and my desire is to convey the joy and nourishment that I receive in following jesus foot and pondering his words. That is an expert from the book, and we talked about today, which is jesus, a biography from a believer. And IT was written by paul Johnson so I would immediately jump into some background that paul gives you and I, which will help understand the society, the really the world and to which jesus was born into, uh, he says he was harsh, cruel, violent and unstable.

IT was also materialistic and increasingly wealthy. Rome was in the process of transforming itself from a republic into an empire. Rome now occupied all of italy and spain, as well as greece and egypt, and what we now call turkey, between fifty to sixty million people came under its laws.

Fifty years before jesus was borne, Julia ceases, had added the whole of goal, which would be modern france, to the roman empire. The expanding empire was based upon muscle rather than technology, thinks to about fifteen million slaves who constituted one third of its population and whose life was summed up by aristotle in four words, work, punishment and food. As you probably already know, a huge fan of paul Johnson s writing, i've read and made podcast on a bunch of biography that he's written a like on winston churchill.

Alice of the great, Julia scissor sachets, motes are posso disney. I'll leave all those linked in the shows in k, you wanted check out those other episodes. But one of things I love, uh, about his writing is the way he's able to use contrast to drive home a point.

And you see that here because he's gna compare who is ruling the area in which jesus is going to be born into with really the main lessons that jesus, the man taught. And so we talked about the rule, the ruler at the time, uh, being harried the great. For more than thirty years, this astute finance year had made himself the richest individual in the entire empire, but he was still subservient to the rulers of roh.

He made himself self master of the ancient kingdom, and he was the greatest builder of his age. So he built shipping ports h. He rebuilt the temporal jerusalem.

He built a bunch of public bath and aq dox and what we would call today, h shopping centers in more than a dozen cities. But he was also a monster. He had numerous wives and concubines inside many children.

He was suspicious and cruel. And he slaughter over forty of his wives. He killed over forty of his wives, children and close relatives.

And this is the contrast point that I was referencing earlier. The last year of his life was the year of jesus birth. Jesus was most constantly referred to as jesus of nazis.

Now as being the small gallery in town ah that he grew up in, he's estimated to be born some around four B C. nather. IT at this time was home to many small world shops.

And craft man. One of these craft man was Joseph, who was a carpenter. Joseph was a prosperous trade men.

Or the way you I would talk about that is he was a good entrepreneur. R and then he takes as his bride, as his wife, mary. This is a description of jesus's chilter.

There was great piety in their home. There was much praying. And the jewish fees and practices to be observed every year at the feast of passover.

They went up to jerusalem to make a sacrifice in the temple. So by the time that jesus a trove years old, they think that he's old enough to wander uh, around jersey by himself expLoring. They usually do this trip with bunch of of the people.

So a few days later, they wind up believing in heading back home. They get about a day, uh, journey away when they realized that jesus was not in their group, that he was lost in this friend mary because he realize that he was left behind in what they called the holy and wicked city. And for three days they cannot find them.

On the third day, they find him in the temple, sitting in the mist of the elders, both hearing them and asking them questions. And he says, and all that hurt him were astonished at his understanding and his answers and IT is in this exchange where we get jesus is first recorded words, uh as mary rebuked him for his thoughtlessness and he said, son, why have you treated as so? We have been searching for you in great distress.

And this is jesus. A reply said, why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father's house? So there's a couple interesting things here, one, depending on the translation.

And this is really what will talk to a lot, talk a lot about is the fact that the way to think about jesus, think about him as a teacher in his teachings, he uses questions a lot, depending on the translation. There's over three hundred different questions just in the four gospel alone. IT is interesting that the first recorded words that we get from jesus is actually the form of a question.

And then after this, paul Johnson writes, IT is striking that these first record world to jesus are of peace with his entire life and mission. He must be about god's business. And that is the extent of what we know about jesus s childhood, are the gas was then skipped the next eighteen years of jesus s life.

And they don't pick back up until he's being baptised by saying john hn, the baptist. And this is what paul Johnson rates. IT is a somber and unwelcome fact that for more than half of jesus life, we know absolutely nothing about what he did, or where he went, or how he lived.

All we know is that history picks up around his around thirty years of age and is very clear that he is a man of wide knowledge. We must assume that jesus was self taught in many respects. His words and concepts betrayed absolutely no sign of academic deformation or the impress of a system being an auto dic.

He was dismissed by his critics as uneducated. And so these examples where the educated of the ruling elite hear him speak, and they say stuff like this, how did this man get such a learning without having been taught? Jesus posted broad knowledge, especially of trade and agriculture.

This is made clear by his confident and expert references to those practical matters. In his sangs imperials, jesus had a huge range, one reason why so many people love to listen to. But I suspected his knowledge reflected actual experience.

The death of Joseph, which occurred during his missing years, LED to the breakup of the nazareth household. His mother, mary, went to live with one of her numerous family. At that point, he would have been natural for jesus to leave home and seek experience in a fighter world.

But paul makes a point that this is just his opinion based on his readings and study, because he says there is no means of knowing what he did. This is what we know of jesus is birth and childhood, and what we can easily guess about his life from twelve to thirty. At that point, he began his ministry and entered the full glare of eveline record.

And so in poor, because we have the most documentation. But this is also what I want to focus on the most, which is, what was jesus teaching? What did you believe? And what did he go around teaching up until the time of his debt? So the little background here is that judaism in the time of jesus was ripe for reformation.

Just a Christian tty was in the early least sixteen century. The alternative teaching that jesus did at this time, this is what I was about. The alternative was a spiritual revolution, one based on love and neighboring allness, which could be embraced ed by all classes and all people.

So john the baptist was also teaching the need for reformation. H, some people believe that john the baptist, which jesus is cousin, paul h. Is one of those people that believe that john the baptist, which jesus is cousin.

There are some people that dispute that, but in any case, what's not for dispute is that john was also teaching any for information. The importance of being baptized was also drawing huge crowds and the attention of authorities. What is also non dispute is that he played a role in the mission of jesus.

You could almost interpret IT, like john's life mission was to help launch jesus mission. And so jesus requested that john baptism, and this is why jesus was adamant that he must go to the ceremony of a neural. He was stressing the of the cement, the need for every human being to wash off the stains of the past and to become fresh and new and clean.

IT was the actual, as well as the symbolic beginning of his mission. The baptism of jesus was also the completion of johns own mission, because john is speaking out against the authorities and the powerful of his day. History shows that speaking out against the powerful in any age is dangerous and life threatening.

And as a result, john is going to get arrested, and then he is going to be, be headed. And so then power combined all the different sources and setting he did to give us an overview of jesus. He said, there is no reliable evidence of what jesus look like, but there are certain traits that are repeated over over again.

So jesus was observing detail oriented. Several people commented on the intense eye e contact. That he would do.

He was confident, decisive, charismatic. The authority that he exercised was there from the beginning. He did not need to acquire IT. IT was innate. And one of the first important execs did was choose the twelve apostles.

So the apostles were a group of twelve individuals chosen by jesus to be his closest followers and witnesses to his teachings. Jesus knew he was starting something new. And as you have discussed other contexts a ton of times before, the first in most important step, when starting anything, is recruiting the people who are going to help you on your mission.

And so not only are are they going to help on his mission and help spread is teaching, but they also keep him physically safe. So before he had the trouble postles, he begins teaching. And the people nazis immediately become violent, because remember, what he is teaching is indirect conflict with what they believe.

And so here's a summary of that. The nash's react with violent anger. A mob physically ejects jesus from the synagogue and takes him to a nearby Cliff.

Their intent is leal. So they're trying to throw off as a Cliff to his death because he is teaching something that conflicts with what they already believe. There is A A lot of lessons of human nature in this story, timeless lessons of human nature in this story.

And so jesus is able to escape. And he says he was there, that he chose his first followers, str dy Fishermen, strong and resourceful, to stand around him and protect him when his words angered the self righteous orthodoxy. And there's a stand alone line that jesus says that I feel have a lot of wisdom in IT.

No profit is acceptable in his hometown. Let's go to what jesus was telling the trial apostles. Jesus insisted that the group come with him full time.

This mission is only for the fully committed that is the note I left myself as i'm reading all this, and then I went to actually to find IT the definition of committed feeling, dedication and loyalty to a cause, activity or job who hardly dedicated. That is exactly what jesus demands. Jesus was that the men he called must put their mission first.

He admitted that his work will cause the sanction within their families. Jesus stressed the absolute pure of a location to serve him in involve painful choices. Jesus had just nearly escaped death at the hands of angry bigots and was never in any doubt about the danger of his mission.

The twelve people he picked were special. They had particular functions, and we're given powers to Carry them out. They were the earliest people enlisted in jesus mission.

He would sometimes give them nicknames. A rene named them. I just thought this bar was funny.

James and john, where brothers whom jesus called the songs of thunder because of their enthusiasm, thus was jesus is mission prepared for an organized? What was this object at whom was IT aimed? And what were its methods? Again, this is not very different than the other people that you study on the podcast.

What we're trying to figure out, like what are they trying to do, what's object, who are they trying to do a four, who is that aimed at and what were their methods? How do they accomplish the goal they set out? And of course, how recruiting a team of special people to help you with your mission is of utmost importance.

And so there's a couple examples spread over a few pages. So I think are really important to to strengthen time on. And is this idea that starting anything, starting anything, requires an act of faith?

Jesus wanted to convince or to resume the reason, and he hate him to be looked at like some kind of holy magician, I think, is the term that paul Johnson and uses later in the book. And you'll see this to some of his actions. What you will get to in one second, hold this make sense.

Jesus makes a clear that is preferable that men show faith by listening to the truth and by accepting IT and following IT, rather than by waiting for signs and miracles to convince them. Jesus taught that the truth was reasonable, that goodness made sense, that to follow his teaching was a rational thing to do. And he'll demonstrate this because there's a lot of examples, like I was asking myself this question as as reading this, like why did jesus repeat his desire to keep any kind of healing private? And there's example after examples, i'm going to go over bunch of pages.

I just pulled out a about individual sentences show this, jesus charged them that they should tell no man. Another example, as a rule, when moved to cure, he took trouble that no one knew. He told them, do not go into the town nor tell anyone in the town.

He preferred to clear the afflicted away from public view. Another example, jesus straitly charged them saying, see that no man knows this or knows of this. And so after several pages of examples like this, paul Johnson gives us a great time more of what's going on.

He wanted to avoid at all costs being known as a miracle worker. He detested being thought of as a kind of holding magician. But sometimes publicity was unavoidable, and IT could be dangerous as well.

Urk some to a profoundly thoughtful man and speaker who is eager to convey his message by reason and not by signs. And so jesus is going to travel around and teach continuously for three years, up until his death. And they make a point that you think about as teaching, not as preaching, as as taught is more accurate.

He taught often in response to what he saw or heard, or to questions from people, the crowd he was teaching all the time. The only other times that he was not teaching is one. Either he was resting or he was praying, and he insisted on praying in solitude.

And so he says he was teaching, even at meal times, for jesus was convivial. That word convivial is used, I think, three or four times in the book. IT means a person is cheerful and friendly and jovial.

And he loved to teach when people were relaxed and enjoying their food and companionship. I calculate that jesus, in three years, must have taught on as many as four hundred different occasions when crowds gathered, as well as scores of other times when an informal opportunity arose. So what did jesus teach?

Jesus thought that life was to be devoted to self transformation. He produced a series of precepts known as the attitudes which taught, which he taught as a guy do life in its material problems. There's eight of them.

I'm just gonna you like a summary of a what some of those license were and some of the things they emphasize, they emphasize the importance of humility, gentlemen and non aggression, the importance of the pursuit of justice and righteousness. He encourages acts of compassion and forgiveness towards others. He focuses on inner pity, sincere and genuine heart.

He commends those who work towards reconciliation, harmony and peace. And he acknowledges the chAllenges faced by those who stand for what is right. And just these be attitudes teach a perspective on blessedness that often contrast with the world's conventional ideas of success and happiness.

And this is such an important sentence. This was tough teaching, hard to follow. An entirely knew I had no equivalent in the old teston or any the pies wisdom literature of the ancient near east and jesus followed IT with still more difficult maxims.

A few examples of those love your enemies, do good to them, which hate you. Bless them that cause you another one, if someone snatched you on one cheek, turn to them the other. Also, if someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from above all.

He told them, hesitate to criticize other people. Judge not, and you will not be judge, condemn not, and you will not be condemned to forgive, and you will be forgiven. Jesus thought that inner sentiments mattered.

Jesus stress that evil feelings allowed to develop unrestrained LED to major. Since I had always been obvious that killing was wrong, he argued, but I say that was, whoever is angry with his brother without a cause was also seen. So again, going back to inner sentiments mattered.

He also said he was wrong to abuse or swear at another person. Many of jesus saying has become maximum m familiar to us from child. But they were starting inly new in his day.

They provoke thought, astonishment of anger, fear and dough, which leads to his death and excitement. And really, a lot of these things to spread across of different pages, you can almost summarize what saying in two words be kind. And an illustration of that is he was asked jesus a response to this question was, what is the great commandment? And he actually combines two ideas here.

And i'll translated IT is love god with everything you have, and in love every other person. He added, there is none other commitment greater than these. He believed doing those two together was the center of a good life, to love god with everything you and love every other person.

There is none other commandment greater than these. When jesus was asked, who is my igher? Or because he kept saying, like, you have to love your ivor.

You have to be good to your neighbor. okay? Who is my eve? His answer was everyone. He turned compassion. This is a really fast sentence.

He turned compassion, which all of us feel from time to time for a particular person, into a huge, overarching gospel of love. He taught the love of mankind as a whole. Love of mankind as a whole did not exist in jesus day as a concept.

The intellectual, social and racial climate just a day was hostile to this message, this message of loving mankind as a whole. Jesus was a universal. He said, I will draw all men to me.

He had no home, no country, no race, no character. Is six time him to a tribe or nation or locality. He was united to all men by love. He was philanthropy in carnet.

Why did paul Johnson just right that at the end of all that, saying he's a universalist, that his he's opening to every single person he believed you love every single person, that every single person, your neighbor that you love, every single person you encounter, just like you love yourself, he united all men by love. Why did he just say that he was philanthropy and cornet? Because a few pages prior he talked about that the love of mankind as a whole is actually the greek.

Have a word for this. And going, I am going to put through this, this pronation full, and through a which in the english translation is for anthropy. So think about that.

The greek had a toward for this, the love of all mankind, which he called philanthropy, right? And so let's go back to the a few pages later. He was united to all men by love.

He was philanthropy, the love of man in cornet. Man is a whole, every single human. There was nothing exclusive about jesus and his teaching.

His message was the most inclusive of all such communications. That is some of what he taught. This is how he taught.

It's very obvious when you read about him, he's very charismatic. He's poetic. He's persuasive. He's a gifted communicator. Some of his teachings made hard demands and set a high standard of virtue and self sacrifice. Yet his teaching was mathematic.

He thought in reason and spoke as a poet does in images, flashes of insight and metaphors from the world of nature. All the time he taught, he was creating little pictures in the minds of the men and women who listen to him. His lessons are rich in metaphor and similarly in vivid comparisons with world of nature.

There are not a half a dozen lines of his teaching without an image and often an unforgettable one. Any animal objects spring to life. Animals are energy fies.

I did not pronounced tly nature teams with purposeful moral activity. And human beings often assume a dignity, a profundity, a pathos. Jesus was a storyteller, and a particular form of story telling that he favored was the parable.

Parable, just A A short, like, simple story used to illustrate some kind of usually moral lesson. But what I think is fast, and he's up. And to this point is talks about the methods that he used.

They were most effective in teaching. They were most effective in teaching in his day. They are still the most effective in teaching in this day.

That is, accommodation of maxims and story telling. Jesus, like all great storytellers, understand that the lessons can't, won't be applied if they aren't remembered. As David ogly famous, he said, you can't save souls and an empty church. And so two of the parables that jesus taught that are the most memorable, and the ones that usually spread the fur. This was the good, smart and the protocols n.

And for the good american in particular, he actually told the parable in response to a question that he received, which is, who is my neighbor? And so paul Johnson rice, he told IT so well and so convincingly that the goods american has gone down in history and literature and an art in drama as an ideal neighbor to a man in distress. Jesus was illustrating the principle, which is perhaps the most important element in his message, we are all neighbors, one to another, and our human fellowship depends on kindness and charity, not tribe or race or color or nationality.

And a reoccurred theme in all the parables is that jesus sympathies lay with the poor. The distant franchise we're going to get to uh this entire chater where paul john h has g is like ten new commandments and a lot of IT is the fact if you have the power, if you're in the position of power, use that judiciously try to help people. And so you talk about this with with a lot of wealthy people too.

Jesus never made the mistake of supposing that poverty made people virtuous, but he was painfully aware that wealth offered unless opportunities for for corruption. Jesus general point about wealth is that IT all depends on what you do with IT. Jesus was eager to encourage all those who had well to distribute a generous portion of IT to the poor in telling the parable of the good summer.

And jesus describes a case where money promotes virtue. The merchant was industries. This merchant in the good meriton uh. Parable, this merchant was industrious and provided he did a good trade and use its proceeds to help others, as well as his own family, a less successful man might also felt compassion for the Better traveler, but could have done little about IT.

I can't remember if he was charlie monger or lesh wab in one of the last few episodes, but in one of those two books, they made the point that the more network you have, the more service you can do for others. Let's go back to the importance of jesus put and the emphasis on the individual. Although jesus constancy dressed rowled, he spoke directly to each individual who compose them.

IT was his gift and also his philosophy. Jesus love of people as individuals was, in some ways, his most striking characteristic. Jesus was for gentle's ss patients and for barret.

He was hugely intuitive. He disliked any kind of legalism or pond's logic, preferred the flashes of instant perception and poetry which illuminated his speech. He relied more on emotions and reason to get across a point in his teaching.

He explained an interesting, luminous way, difficult things by using images from everyday life and work. He was glad to make people interested and happy. And he also trained his apostles to follow his footsteps, to imitate him.

His deposits were expected to go on independent missions, often alone, and to direct the disciples as part of the organization jesus set up to spread his gospel. So the apostles are the smaller, like hand selected twelve a people at jusuf h. The jesus chose disciples is a broader group of followers or students that also followed and learn from jesus, but the important part there is the imitating jesus.

Teaching methods starts with postal spreads the disciples. And then if you go to church today, you still see aspects of that. This is jesus on the importance of children.

He was fascinated by every aspect of the way in which a baby comes into the world and then grows and becomes a delightful child. He brought them into his teaching, counselling. He was very observant. Again, that is read, repeated over over again.

He noted how the delight of a mother in her baby obliterated the pains of childbirth, how the father cuddled his child in bed, and how parents listened to what children said and granted the request but only went on harmful. The impulses of children at play interested him, and so did their sorrows. Children were not to be ignored.

IT was always jesus teaching, and his profound belief that the study of children had much to tell. I'm with jesus on this. Children are by far my favorite versions of humans.

Ah, right now going to this with my three old, he is endless lesly vassy to me. And I love this. This line, the impulses of children play, interested him somewhere along the line.

We we lose that that impulse for play and the inherent value in IT. And I think to that degree and to the others, the study of children has much to tell and immigrate to the chapter called jesus. New tech command.

This is really facing. I'm going to give you my overview of what's taking place on these two pages, and then i'll read some sections, see you. Jesus taught to change and improve yourself.

He LED by example and encourage invitation. Those that change themselves changed the world. This is how paul Johnson put in a the revolution was entirely inward, a revolution against selfishness and greed, cruelty and prejudice, anger and lust.

A revolution from self love into love for all and fellowship with everyone, the reborn person would be totally different, and all would be changed. But our way the world would Carry on at the heart of this is the imitation of jesus. The example of how a person behaves and thinks and speaks.

Those that imitate jesus have made the world a Better place, and they lead more fulfill and happier lives. What jesus provided by his life was, in effect, a new ten commitments. And i'm going to list out all the commandments.

Some of them will go into more detail. But this, the first one, is each of us must develop the number one, each of us must develop a true personality. Each of us is unique.

You, you must develop your own character. Number two, abide by universal. I see the human race as a whole.

Number three, the third thing that g to stop respect that we are all equal, give equal consideration to all. Number four, use love in all of your human relationships at all times and in every situation. Number five, show mercy.

I want to elaborate on this one. I think pauls elaboration here is interesting. The fifth commandment, jesus, life concerns mercy.

We are to show mercy. Mercy and emotional world like love, IT is hard to define. The instantiation recognizable when exercise mercy is Grace. IT is undeserved.

Jesus says that if you get the glorious chance to show mercy, do so without for thought or after thought, without reason or logic, not expecting thanks or even repentance, not to accomplish something in the way of social or personal reform simply for its own sake. Six, baLance, keep your head even when others are losing theirs. Seven, cultivate and open mind.

Jesus is life and death where struggle against those whose minds were closed. He dislike bigotry in any form and spoke out against IT constantly. Eight, pursue truth.

Nine, judiciousness your power the night new comment ic concerns power. It's exercise and the respect due to the powerless. Exercise your power with with restraint and moderation, with mercy, pity and love.

And number ten is show courage. G just showed high courage with a durance of pain and persecution, a sustained heroism in the face of a equity, and a dogged persistence in proclaiming the truth at all costs. And so that brings us to the death of jesus are describing a paul Johnson says something is very interesting.

He says there's more agreement in the sources about the death of jesus, and there is about the assassination of Julia sesa. I think he means, and how IT was Carried out now. Now why? Because using the responsibility of jesus death, he is attributed to usual accommodation of factors. Paul outline in the book essentially is that jesus is executed on the orders of punch cious pilot, who was the roman of prefect at the time.

Many times IT appeared that pilot tried to dissuade the crowd and the powerful uh, religious leaders not to execute them but there's also sources to say pilot views dom as a threat to roman view jesus a threat to roman authority but we do know there was a definite collaboration between punches, pilot and the high priest of the temple and that they wanted him executed because theyve regarded him as a threat to the stability in both the religious teachings and also the political order of the day. There is an entire account of these trials in the book. But what I found most interesting is this one paragraph I think speaks about teaches us a lesson about human nature.

And so in summarizing what cheese's went through during the trial, he says, what the narrative amount to, in effect, and perhaps an attention, is a bitterly ironic condemnation of human justice, lying and peery prejudice and false witness uneager erst to take innocent life, but a determination to avoid any responsibility by passing the decision to others, cowardice on all sides, and not without a vile touch of privity. These were the salient characteristics of the trials of jesus. And so jesus is ord to be crucified, says jesus was compelled to Carry the heavy cross in which he was be crucified to the place of execution.

You can walk the path today through the narrow streets of old jerusalem. Jesus, weak from shock, from a loss of blood and having had no sleep and having been subjected to various cruelties, stumble three times under his burden, he was nailed to the cross. And so for one second, I want to put the book down and then read this description.

Of what crucial fiction was like. Crucial fiction is a form of execution where a person is a fixed to a one cross or state and left to die. IT was a method of capital punishment used by various ancient civilizations and was intended to be a particularly cruel and public form of execution.

The process typically involved a person being nailed to the cross with nails driven to the rist or hands, and sometimes to the feet. This method of execution caused immense suffer in pain as the victim would gradually suffocate due to the inability to support their own way while hanging on the cross. Death from crucified was often slow and agonizing.

Crucifies tion was not only a means of inflicting physical torment, but also served as a deterrent, and IT was usually Carried out in a highly visible place to intimidate and discourage others from committing crimes are chAllenging authority. And that brings us to the end of the life of jesus in the first time in the conversation today, where the story splits from beevers to non believer s if you are Christian, then you believe that his death was followed by resurrection, the cruise fiction, and the resurrection being the cornerstone of the Christian faith. And that certainly what the author, paul Johnson, believes.

But even if you're not a believer, paul is an excEllent job of why IT is still valuable to study and learn from the life of jesus. Palestine in the first century A D was a land crowded just as our earth is crowded with a multi racial, multi religious population. The people believe themselves to be civilized.

In practice, IT was corrupt, medici's grossly inefficient and cool. IT was run by men who were plainly inadequate and sometimes monsters. Amid all this teaming humanity is the gregorius friendly figure of jesus, always there, teaching, listening and talking with people of all kinds.

Occasionally he was turned once a choice. He showed Rachel anger, but he was usually soft spoken in general. He was a fascinating, irresistible figure rating, love but neverland, forgiving, talking always of mercy and smiling often.

He was a serious man, one who spoke with authority, a man to respect. He was clearly a man who, despite his witness, chAllenged official authority. So they had been watched always at his elbow, where agents, spies, informers and provoker.

Jesus lived in a cruel, unthinking world, and his life and death formed an eloquent protest against IT. He offered an alternative, not an outward life of revolution and reform, but an inner life of humility and love, of generosity and mercy, a forgiveness and hope. We live in a cruel world, too.

So jesus is alternative is still relevant. If jesus were to appear again today, we can be sure not only that he would find count followers, but equally, that he would be cute and killed. That is why his biography, in our terrifying twenty first century is so important.

We must study IT and learn. And that is where I leave IT for the full story. Highly recommend buying the book if you buy the book using the links that in the show in your podcast player are available. If we supporting a podcast at the same time, that is three hundred and thirty two books down one thousand ago and not target again soon.