Page 123 - Disciples News Today

To a single man from the galilee. and a message so powerful that it moved his unlikely disciples to great things. >> its sometimes suggested that a group of fishermen from the galilee would be incapable of establishing a worldwide religion, but thats simply our own modern skepticism. i mean, after all, abraham, a single man, managed to do so and mohammed, a single individual, managed to do so. the human spirit is remarkable if people simply put their mind to accomplishing what they feel god call...

So by the end of the 1st century, disagreement had become a deepening divide, further driving christians from the jewish faith. >> by the time we get to john, we hear talk of those who respected jesus being thrown out of the synagogue. yes, and how the enemies in johns gospel are the jews. it left a terrible legacy in christianity. >> if you read your gospel carefully, then sometimes you would stop and be rather perplexed by this, because jesus is a jew, his disciples are jews. practically all t...

Jews in jerusalem at the time would have even known about this sect of jewish christians, people who believed that jesus was the messiah. >> he would have looked the same as everybody else. he dressed the same as everybody else. he had some perhaps some disciples, some people following behind him. when you think of the temple, its a place where theres a lot of activity, a lot of coming and going. no pews. then he would not necessarily have stood out to everybody. >> and his execution might have ...

Them on their promised land. but even then, there was disagreement as to who that messiah might be. >> in the 1st century, there was no messianic checklist. some people would have followed jesus and considered him to be will messiah, gods annointed one. others followed john the baptist. others followed additional figures. >> in the cosmopolitan city of jerusalem, with its massive temple, the holiest site on earth for jews, and its regal priestly caste, would many have even noticed jesus, a wande...

But i think he certainly had a last supper, and he may well have anticipated that he was going to be killed soon thereafter. >> according to the gospels, thats exactly what happened. betrayed among the olive trees in garden of gethsemane by his own disciple, judas iscariot. throughout christian history, judas has been made the arch villain in jesus death. yet, just what did this trusted disciple betray? >> its possible that jesus taught the disciples privately that when the kingdom comes, you wi...

We need to go forward into a new, brighter future, for you and for the male disciples. >> and then, she disappears from the scene, only to reappear centuries later as a prostitute, the woman with the alabaster jar filled with precious ointment for washing jesus feet. how did this happen? >> there is a story about a woman who is a member of the oldest profession in the gospel of luke, just before the first account of mary of magdala. and gregory the great, at the end of the sixth century, read th...

For these things to fall into place. >> the core of christian belief is the story of jesus life, death, and resurrection, as told in the four gospels -- the books of matthew, mark, luke, and john, named after the evangelists, said to have written them. >> matthew and john were two of the disciples of jesus. matthew, the tax collector and john, the beloved disciple. mark was a companion of the apostle peter and luke was a companion of the apostle paul. >> but did they really write the gospels? >>...

And a message so powerful that it moved his unlikely disciples to great things. >> its sometimes suggested that a group of fishermen from the galilee would be incapable of establishing a worldwide religion, but thats simply our own modern skepticism. i mean, after all, abraham, a single man, managed to do so and mohammed, a single individual, managed to do so. the human spirit is remarkable if people simply put their mind to accomplishing what they feel god calls them to do. >> whatever accounts...

Shedding more light on how provocative and interesting and insightful that second century was. with all the diversity of thoughts so that even a figure like judas can be linked to the good news of jesus. >> so, too, can mary magdalene. for centuries mistakenly depi depicted as a repentant prostitute, she is the chief gnostic in her novel and more than that to jesus in the gnostic gospel of phillip. >> its said that jesus loved mary magdalene more than the other disciples and used to kill her oft...

>> outside of the women, who remained there watching, the picture we get from the gospels was that most of his followers actually ran away and hid because they were afraid for their own safety. >> that should have been the end of the jesus story, and it might have been if not, the gospels tell us, for the women, namely mary magdalene, and mary, mother of jesus. three days after his death, they discovered his empty tomb. as he promised, jesus had risen from the dead. >> this is the key moment. wh...