The Orthodox Jews of Jerusalem were irreconcilable in their hostility to the teachings of Christ. Does this mean that Jesus was not a Jew? Is it ethical to question the virgin birth of the virgin Mary?
Jesus Christ often called himself the Son of Man. Nationality parents, according to the conclusion of theologians, will shed light on the Savior's belonging to one or another ethnic group.
Following the Bible, all of humanity came from Adam. Later, people themselves divided themselves into races, nationalities. Yes, and Christ during his life, given the gospel of the apostles, did not comment on his nationality.
Birth of christ
The country of Judea, where Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born , in those ancient times was a province of Rome. Emperor Augustus ordered a census. He wanted to find out how many inhabitants were in each of the cities of Judea.
Mary and Joseph, the parents of Christ, lived in the city of Nazareth. But they had to return to the homeland of their ancestors, in Bethlehem, to make their names on the lists. Once in Bethlehem, the couple could not find shelter - so many people came to the census. They decided to stay outside the city, in a cave, which served as a refuge for shepherds during a bad weather.
At night, Mary gave birth to a son. Wrapping the baby in diapers, she put him to bed where they put livestock food - in a manger.
The shepherds were the first to know the birth of the Messiah. They grazed herds in the vicinity of Bethlehem when an angel appeared to them. He broadcast that the savior of mankind was born. This is a joy for all people, and a sign for identifying a baby will be that it lies in a manger.
The shepherds immediately went to Bethlehem and came across a cave, in which they saw the future Savior. They told Mary and Joseph about the words of the angel. On the 8th day, the couple gave a name to the child - Jesus, which means “savior” or “God saves”.
Was Jesus Christ a Jew? Was nationality determined by father or mother at that time?
Star of bethlehem
That very night when Christ was born, a bright, unusual star appeared in the sky. The magi, who studied the movements of celestial bodies, went after her. They knew that the appearance of such a star indicates the birth of the Messiah.
Magi began their journey from the eastern country (Babylonia or Persia). The star, moving across the sky, showed the sages the way.
Meanwhile, the many people who came to Bethlehem for the census parted. And the parents of Jesus returned to the city. Above the place where the baby was, the star stopped, and the magi entered the house to present gifts to the future Messiah.
They offered gold as a tribute to the future king. They gave incense as God (incense was then used in worship). And myrrh (the fragrant oil used to rub the dead), like a mortal man.
King Herod
The local king Herod the Great, who obeyed Rome, knew about a great prophecy - a bright star in the sky marks the birth of a new king of the Jews. He called to himself the Magi, priests, soothsayers. Herod wanted to know where the baby Messiah was.
With false speeches, cunning, he tried to find out the whereabouts of Christ. Having no answer, King Herod decided to exterminate all the babies in the area. 14 thousand children under the age of 2 years were killed in Bethlehem and its environs.
However, ancient historians, including Josephus Flavius, do not mention this bloody event. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the number of children killed was much less.
It is believed that after such atrocities the wrath of God punished the king. He was dying a painful death, eaten by worms alive in his magnificent palace. After his terrible death, power passed to the three sons of Herod. Were divided and land. The areas of Pereus and Galileo went to Herod the Younger. In these lands, Christ spent his life about 30 years.
Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, beheaded John the Baptist to please his wife Herodias . The sons of Herod the Great did not receive the royal title. Judea was ruled by a Roman procurator. Herod Antipas and other local rulers obeyed him.
Mother of the Savior
Parents of the Virgin Mary were childless for a long time. At that time it was considered a sin, such a union was a sign of the wrath of God.
Joachim and Anna lived in the city of Nazareth. They prayed and believed that they would have a baby. Decades later, an angel appeared to them and proclaimed that the couple would soon become parents.
According to legend, the Virgin Mary was born on September 21. Happy parents vowed that this child would belong to God. Until the age of 14, Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, was raised, in the temple. From a young age, she saw angels. According to legend, the archangel Gabriel took care of and guarded the future Mother of God.
Mary's parents died by the time the Virgin had to leave the temple. The priests could not keep her. But they also felt sorry for letting the orphans go. Then the priests betrothed her to the carpenter Joseph. He was more a guardian of the Virgin than her husband. Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, remained a virgin.
What was the nationality of the Virgin? Her parents were natives of Galilee. And that means the Virgin Mary was not a Jew, but a Galilean. By faith, she belonged to the law of Moses. Her life in the temple also points to the education of Moses in the faith. So who was Jesus Christ? The nationality of the mother who lived in the Galilee of the pagan remains unknown. Scythians prevailed in the mixed population of the region. It is possible that Christ inherited his appearance from his mother.
Father of the savior
Theologians have long been controversial about whether Joseph should be considered the biological father of Christ. He had a paternal attitude towards Mary, he knew that she was innocent. Therefore, the news of her pregnancy shocked the carpenter Joseph. The law of Moses severely punished women for adultery. Joseph had to stone his young wife.
He prayed for a long time and decided to let Mary go, not to keep her near him. But an angel appeared to Joseph, proclaiming an ancient prophecy. The carpenter realized how much responsibility lies with him for the safety of the mother and child.
Joseph is Jewish by nationality. Is it possible to consider him a biological father, if Mary had an immaculate conception? Who is the father of Jesus Christ?
There is a version that the Roman soldier Pantira became the biological father of the Messiah. In addition, it is likely that Christ was of Aramaic origin. This assumption is related to what the Savior preached in Aramaic. However, at that time this language was spoken throughout the Middle East.
The Jews of Jerusalem had no doubt that somewhere there is a real father of Jesus Christ. But all versions are too dubious to be true.
Face of Christ
The document of those times, describing the appearance of Christ, is called the “Epistle of Leptulus”. This is a report to the Roman Senate, written by the proconsul of Palestine Leptulus. He claims that Christ was of medium height with a noble face and a good figure. He has expressive blue-green eyes. Hair, the color of ripe walnut, combed in the middle. The lines of the mouth and nose are impeccable. In conversation, he is serious and modest. Teaches me softly, friendly. Scary in anger. Sometimes she cries, but she never laughs. Wrinkle-free face, calm and strong.
At the Seventh Ecumenical Council (VIII century), the official image of Jesus Christ was approved. On the icons, the Savior should be written in accordance with its human appearance. After the Cathedral, painstaking work began. It consisted in the reconstruction of a verbal portrait, on the basis of which a recognizable image of Jesus Christ was created.
Anthropologists claim that the icon painting does not use the Semitic, but the Greco-Syrian type of appearance: a thin, straight nose and deep-set, large eyes.
In early Christian iconography they were able to accurately convey the individual, ethnic features of the portrait. The earliest image of Christ was found on an icon dating from the beginning of the VI century. It is stored in the Sinai, in the monastery of St. Catherine. The face of the icon is similar to the canonized appearance of the Savior. Apparently, the early Christians ranked Christ as a European type.
Nationality of Christ
There are still people who claim that Jesus Christ is a Jew. Moreover, a huge number of works were published on the non-Jewish origin of the Savior.
At the beginning of the 1st century AD, as Hebraic scholars found out, Palestine broke up into 3 regions, which differed in their confessional and ethnic characteristics.
- Judea, led by the city of Jerusalem, was inhabited by orthodox Jews. They obeyed the law of Moses.
- Samaria was closer to the Mediterranean Sea. The Jews and Samaritans were long-standing enemies. Even mixed marriages between them were forbidden. In Samaria there were no more than 15% of Jews of the total number of inhabitants.
- Galilee consisted of a mixed population, some of which remained faithful to Judaism.
Some theologians claim that Jesus Christ was a typical Jew. His nationality is not in doubt, since he did not deny the entire system of Judaism. And only he did not agree with some of the tenets of the Mosaic Law. Then why did Christ react so calmly to the fact that the Jews of Jerusalem called him Samaritan? This word was an insult to a true Jew.
God or man?
So who is right? Those who claim that Jesus Christ is God? But then what nationality can be demanded of God? He is out of ethnicity. If God is the basis of all things, including people, there is no need to talk about nationality at all.
And if Jesus Christ is a man? Who is his biological father? Why did he get the Greek name Christ, which means “anointed one”?
Jesus never claimed to be God. But he is not a man in the usual sense of the word. Its dual nature consisted in gaining the human body and the divine essence within this body. Therefore, as a person, Christ could feel hunger, pain, anger. And as a vessel of God - to work miracles, filling the space around him with love. Christ said that he does not heal from himself, but only with the help of the Divine gift.
Jesus worshiped and prayed to the Father. He completely subordinated himself to His will in the last years of his life and called on the people to believe in One God in heaven.
As the Son of Man, he was crucified in the name of saving people. As the Son of God, he was resurrected and embodied in the trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
The miracles of Jesus Christ
About 40 miracles are described in the Gospels. The first happened in the city of Caen, where Christ with his mother and the apostles was invited to the wedding. He turned water into wine.
Christ performed the second miracle by healing a patient whose illness lasted 38 years. The Jews of Jerusalem became embittered with the Savior - he violated the Sabbath rule. It was on this day that Christ worked on his own (healed the patient) and forced another to work (the patient himself carried his bed).
The Savior resurrected the dead girl, Lazarus and the son of a widow. Healed the possessed one and tamed the storm on Lake of Galilee. Christ filled the people with five loaves after the sermon - about 5 thousand of them gathered, not counting children and women. He walked on water, healed ten lepers and Jericho blind men.
The miracles of Jesus Christ prove his divine nature. He had power over demons, illness, death. But he never performed miracles for his glory or for collecting offerings. Even during interrogation with Herod, Christ did not show a sign as a testament of his strength. He did not try to protect himself, but requested only sincere faith.
Resurrection of jesus christ
It was the resurrection of the Savior that became the basis for a new faith - Christianity. The facts about him are reliable: they appeared at a time when eyewitnesses to the events were still alive. All recorded episodes have slight discrepancies, but do not contradict each other as a whole.
The empty tomb of Christ indicates that the body was taken away (enemies, friends) or Jesus rose from the dead.
If the body were taken away by enemies, they would not fail to mock the disciples, thus stopping the emerging new faith. Friends didn’t believe much in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, they were disappointed and crushed by his tragic death.
The honorable Roman citizen and Jewish historian Josephus Flavius ​​mentions in his book the spread of Christianity. He confirms that on the third day Christ appeared alive to his disciples.
Even modern scholars do not deny that Jesus appeared to some followers after death. But they attribute this to hallucinations or another phenomenon, without challenging the authenticity of evidence.
The appearance of Christ after death, the empty tomb, the rapid development of the new faith are proof of his resurrection. There is no known fact that denies this information.
God's appointment
From the very first Ecumenical Councils, the church unites the human and divine nature of the Savior. He is one of the 3 hypostases of the One God - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This form of Christianity was recorded and declared the official version at the Council of Nicaea (in 325), Constantinople (in 381), Ephesus (in 431) and Chalcedon (in 451).
However, disputes about the Savior did not stop. Some Christians claimed that Jesus Christ is God. Others claimed that he was only the Son of God and completely subordinate to his will. The basic idea of ​​the trinity of God is often compared with paganism. Therefore, disputes about the nature of Christ, as well as about his nationality, have not subsided to this day.
The cross of Jesus Christ is a symbol of martyrdom in the name of the atonement of human sins. Does a discussion about the Savior's nationality make sense if faith in it is able to unite different ethnic groups? All people on the planet are children of God. The human nature of Christ stands above national characteristics and classifications.