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#5 Jesus starts his ministry

By the time Jesus was thirty most of his older brothers and sisters had got married and left home. The wedding of one of his sisters was at Cana in Galilee. Jesus then felt the call to start his mission. One Sabbath Saturday he went down to the local synagogue as he always did andContinue reading “#5 Jesus starts his ministry”

#4 Nazareth

Mary thought she’d have a quiet life When they return to Israel, Joseph after having another dream decides it is too risky to live in Jerusalem (where they had been living originally) and he takes the family up to Galilee. They settle in Nazareth where Joseph starts up a carpentry business. Mary thinks she’ll adaptContinue reading “#4 Nazareth”

#3 Jesus’ birth

The stable where Jesus was born was actually a cave as depicted in Eastern Orthodox art. When Mary and Joseph hear people outside, they quickly hide the baby in the trough for hay to feed cattle (called a manger) out of fear for him (in traditional societies newborn babies are not put in cots soContinue reading “#3 Jesus’ birth”

#2 Jesus’ Conception

This is the story line of Jesus’ life taken from the four gospels combined together. Mary aged about 30 is pledged to be married to Joseph aged about 50. The angel Gabriel visits the virgin Mary in what is known as the Annunciation. She accepts the plan of God. Her acceptance of the plan ofContinue reading “#2 Jesus’ Conception”

#1 Story of Jesus from the four gospels combined

Authorship of the gospels The four gospels basically tell the same story, but a few discrepancies occur. For example, the genealogies for Jesus given in Matthew and Luke are not exactly the same. It turns out that this can be explained. Sometimes sequences of events are different – this is not a major problem sinceContinue reading “#1 Story of Jesus from the four gospels combined”

Let the mountains sing together for joy

Psalm 98:7-9Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.Continue reading “Let the mountains sing together for joy”

#13 The Virginity of Mary

The Marian Dogma of the perpetual virginity of Mary is not something well-accepted or understood today. The grace of God in Mary’s life has to be something of acceptance and not of understanding maybe. The majority of people only embrace a life devoid of sexuality very late in life. For those close to God, asContinue reading “#13 The Virginity of Mary”

#12 Jesus and his brothers

It emerges how obscurity in Galilee was a wise option when Jesus started his ministry. Jesus chose the time to go to Jerusalem publically when the time was right. Jesus, as the youngest of nine children, had quite a few problems with his immediate family as all of us do. His older brothers were oftenContinue reading “#12 Jesus and his brothers”

#11 What of Joseph?

Joseph died many years before Mary died, and before Jesus himself died. This, I believe, is because he was much older than Mary and simply died of old age. If Joseph had been aged 45 to 50 when he married Mary who was about 25, then he would be aged 76 to 81 when heContinue reading “#11 What of Joseph?”

#10 Conclusion: Who were the brothers and sisters of Jesus?

St Jerome thought that the brothers of Jesus were first cousins. The Biblical texts do not indicate this since cousins have a separate set of parents of their own. What is recounted is that Mary was always going round with the brothers of Jesus, in other words playing the role of mother towards them andContinue reading “#10 Conclusion: Who were the brothers and sisters of Jesus?”