Jesus Christ.

« Monday and Tuesday, according to the synoptists), he drove from the Temple the traders and moneychangers who, by long-established custom, had been allowed totransact business in the outer court (Mark 11:15-19), and he disputed with the chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees questions about hisauthority, tribute to Caesar, and the resurrection.

On Tuesday, Jesus also revealed to his disciples the signs that would usher in his Parousia, or second coming.

See Second Coming. On Wednesday, while Jesus was in Bethany, a woman anointed his head with a costly ointment.

Jesus interpreted this act as a symbolic preparation for his burial(Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9).

Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, the priests and scribes, concerned that Jesus' activities would turn the Romans against them and the Jewishpeople (John 11:48), conspired with Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, to arrest and kill Jesus by stealth, “for they feared the people” (Luke 22:2).

John 11:47-53places the conspiracy before Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

On Thursday, Jesus ate the Passover supper with his disciples and during the meal referred to hisimminent betrayal and death as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity.

In blessing the unleavened bread and wine during the Passover services, he called the bread hisbody and the wine his “blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:27), and he bid the disciples partake of each.

Thisritual, the Eucharist, has been repeated by Christians ever since and has become the central act of worship in the Christian church. After the meal Jesus and his disciples went to the Mount of Olives, where, according to Matthew (26:30-32) and Mark (14:26-28), Jesus predicted his resurrection.Knowing then that the hour of his death was near, Jesus retired to the Garden of Gethsemane, where, “being in agony” (Luke 22:44), he meditated and prayed.

Acrowd sent by the religious authorities, and led by Judas Iscariot, arrested him in Gethsemane. VI TRIAL AND CRUCIFIXION According to John (18:13-24), Jesus was brought after his arrest to Annas, the father-in-law of the high priest Caiaphas, for a preliminary examination.

The synoptistsmake no mention of this incident: They report only that Jesus was taken to a meeting of the supreme council of the Jews, the Sanhedrin.

At the council meeting,Caiaphas asked Jesus to declare whether he was “the Christ, the Son of God” (Matthew 26:63).

Upon his affirmation (Mark 14:62), the council condemned Jesus todeath for blasphemy.

Only the Roman procurator, however, was empowered to impose capital punishment, and so, on Friday morning, Jesus was taken before theprocurator, Pontius Pilate, for sentencing.

Before pronouncing judgment, Pilate asked him if he was the king of the Jews, and Jesus replied, “You have said so” (Mark15:2).

Thereafter, Pilate tried several expedients to save Jesus before ultimately leaving the decision to the crowd that gathered.

When the crowd insisted on his death,Pilate ordered him executed (Matthew 27:24).

(Pilate's role in the death of Jesus continues to be debated by historians.

The early church tended to place a majority ofthe blame on the Jews and to deal less harshly with Pilate.) Jesus was taken to Golgotha and executed by crucifixion, the Roman punishment for political offenders and criminals.

Two robbers were crucified also, one on each sideof him.

On the cross, above Jesus' head, “they put the charge against him, which read ‘This is Jesus the King of the Jews’” (Matthew 27:37).

Late in the day, his bodywas taken down, and because of the approach of the Sabbath, when burial was not permitted, it was hastily laid in a nearby tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.

(John 19:39-42 relates that Joseph was assisted by Nicodemus.) VII THE RESURRECTION Early on the following Sunday, “Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James” (Mark 16:1), going to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body for burial, found the tombempty.

(Matthew 28:2 reports that an angel appeared after an earthquake and rolled back the stone.) Inside the tomb, “a young man” (Mark 16:5) clothed in whiteannounced to them that Jesus had risen.

(This news is announced by the angel in Matthew 28:5-6 and by two men “in dazzling apparel” in Luke 24:4.

According to John21:11-18, Mary Magdalene saw two angels and then the risen Christ.) Later on the same day, according to Luke, John, and Mark, Jesus appeared to the women and toother of the disciples at various locations in and around Jerusalem.

Most of the disciples did not doubt that they had again seen and heard the master they had knownand followed during the time of his ministry in Galilee and Judea.

A few disciples, however, doubted it at first (Matthew 28:17).

Thomas, who had not been present atthese first appearances, also doubted that Jesus had risen (John 20:24-29).

As recorded in the New Testament, the Resurrection became one of the most compellingdoctrines of Christianity, because, according to this doctrine, by rising from the dead, Jesus gave humanity hope of a life after death. All the Gospels add that, for a brief time after his resurrection, Jesus further instructed his disciples in matters pertaining to the kingdom of God.

He also commissionedthem to “Go ...

and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).

Finally, according toLuke (24:50-51), at Bethany Jesus was seen to ascend into the heavens by his disciples.

Acts 1:2-12 reports that the ascension occurred 40 days after Jesus'resurrection.

The doctrines that Jesus expounded and those concerning him were subsequently developed into the principal tenets of Christian theology. VIII THEOLOGY The life and teachings of Jesus were often matters for dispute and varying interpretation in Christian history.

Early in the life of the church, for example, it becamenecessary to regularize beliefs about Jesus and his role, to aid in conversion and to answer those Christians who adopted views unacceptable to church leaders.

Fordiscussion of some of these questions, see such separate entries as Christology; Incarnation; Trinity.

Traditions later coalesced around various events in the life ofChrist. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation.

All rights reserved.. »