Meet JESUS the CHRIST

The light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness has never put it out (John 1:5 CEV). In a long ago winter, during one Hanukkah*, Jesus was again recorded in the Temple. (He may well have been to many Jerusalem Hanukkah celebrations, as to the other recurring events in his culture.) John here gives us a note of the chronology of Jesus' life. In chapter 7 we see Jesus in Jerusalem even when the climate had become very threatening. He had been there (approximately in October) for the celebration called Booths (Tabernacles). Enmity against Jesus reached a peak with official action being by taken primarily by the elite, "the Jews", and their followers.

Break off quietly ….?  Really? Divorce? What? Why? Joseph the Carpenter seems to have been a decent man and a kindly one. He faced these troubling questions. But, of course, that is not the beginning... Below is the core story, as we have it.

I have not used intentionally AI anywhere in this blog.  If ever I do use it (eg for image creation), I will say so. I suppose it is possible images I use from Unsplash or Pixabay may include AI, but I have not noted any acknowledgement in the ones I have used.

(Edited. Originally published as part of "Jesus & the Jews" but revised here) The man from Tarsus may well have walked (?) that road Apart from Jesus himself, the most prominent person we know about in the spreading of the message of Jesus was Paul. (He was originally introduced as the Jew, “Saul of Tarsus”). He presents as formerly furiously antagonistic, miraculously changed into a representative of Jesus. (Below I am thinking about Paul’s “CV” - I do not plan to make this exhaustive.) Saul first enters the Acts record here, as a participant in the Jerusalem death of Stephen, a Jesus-follower:

Yep; he sure did. if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one he said (see below)   HOWEVER, please see the whole, not just the shocking bit!