Who is Jesus?

Jesus was a Jewish teacher from Galilee who lived about two thousand years ago. Christians believe he is God’s Son: God living a human life.

He healed people others kept away from, ate with people the respectable avoided, and told stories about a God who goes looking for people who are lost. The Roman governor Pontius Pilate had him executed on a cross. His followers said that on the third day his tomb was empty, and that they saw him alive.

Most historians, religious or not, agree that Jesus lived and was crucified. What Christians add is what his followers said happened next, and what that means for everyone else.

His life in one paragraph · What Christians say about him in the Creed

Where it is in the Bible

• Mark 1:14–15 Jesus begins to teach in Galilee.

  Read Mark 1:14–15

  ¹⁴ Now after John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Good News of God’s Kingdom, ¹⁵ and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and God’s Kingdom is at hand! Repent, and believe in the Good News.”

  World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

• Luke 15:1–7 People complain that he eats with outsiders, and he tells a story about a lost sheep.

  Read Luke 15:1–7

  ¹ Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him. ² The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.” ³ He told them this parable. ⁴ “Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? ⁵ When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ ⁷ I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

  World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

• Luke 24:1–9 Women come to the tomb on the third day and find it empty.

  Read Luke 24:1–9

  ¹ But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they and some others came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. ³ They entered in, and didn’t find the Lord Jesus’ body. ⁴ While they were greatly perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling clothing. ⁵ Becoming terrified, they bowed their faces down to the earth. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶ He isn’t here, but is risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee, ⁷ saying that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again?” ⁸ They remembered his words, ⁹ returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

  World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →