Notable Events in the Life of Jesus
Our school is a Christian school, so I would like to go over some fundamental information about the Christian faith. For many of you this will be very familiar, for others, this may be new information; I hope it is helpful and interesting.
There are a huge number of events in the life of Jesus. These events are told in the Christian Bible. Notable among the many events are the Birth of Jesus (everyone has heard of Christmas), the Death of Jesus (most people know that he was executed on the Cross) and the Resurrection of Jesus (most people would know of Easter Sunday because of Easter eggs). Here’s a quick explanation of why these three events are so meaningful for Christians.
1 – Jesus’ birth is critical for Christians because it explains who Jesus is. He was born like any other baby, but he was not conceived like any other baby. Jesus’ mum was a wonderful young woman, but his dad, the true father of this baby is what makes Jesus a miraculous baby. The true dad of baby Jesus is God. Jesus’ mum did not get pregnant in the usual way that people get pregnant. She became pregnant because God impregnated her; God himself put that baby into her womb. That’s why Christians worship Jesus, we believe we are worshipping God, who lived among us as a human.
2 – Jesus’ death was also hugely special. The way he died is why crosses are a sign of the Christian faith; because Jesus was executed on a cross; not nice at all.
Despite being God, and therefore able to get out of that death if he had decided to; Jesus went through with this horrible death. He allowed himself to be killed because it was part of his plan to trade his own life for our eternal lives. In other words, he died so that we could live forever in Heaven with him.
3 – Jesus let himself be killed, but he didn’t stay dead. We use Easter Sunday to celebrate that Jesus came back from being dead and became alive again. By dying, even though he himself had done nothing wrong, Jesus covered for the rest of us who have done wrong. After being dead for three days, Jesus then came back to life. The Resurrection is Good News because now that Jesus died and came back to life, he is able to promise us that he can bring us to be with him forever in Heaven after we die.
Those three significant parts of the life of Jesus are all in the annual Christian calendar: Christmas, Good Friday, Easter Sunday. We Christians love these celebrations but more so, we appreciate the spiritual event behind the celebrations. Through the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus we get to live better now, and to find completeness with Jesus after we die.
David Gleeson, Principal