I read that Jesus has more than 2 billion followers in the world today. That’s about one-third of the world’s population. I wonder what kind of life he led that caused him to have so much impact.
Yes, Time magazine called Jesus the most influential man who ever lived. He not only impacted the world with his teachings, his life is an example for all to follow.
What were some of the greatest teachings of Jesus?
One of the most revolutionary one was “love your enemies.”
What did you say? Jesus taught his followers to love their enemies?
Yes, Jesus not only taught his disciples to do that, his own life is exemplary of this teaching?
How did Jesus demonstrate loving his enemies?
When Jesus was tortured by the Roman soldiers on the cross, instead of cursing them, Jesus actually prayed for them. Jesus prayed, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”
He did not retaliate when they did all these cruel things to him?
No, when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, he forbade his disciples from usings words and violence. He said those who live by the sword will die by the sword.
With such great teachings of love, Jesus must have attracted many followers. Were there people who still rejected his teachings?
Yes, you were right in saying that Jesus attracted many followers. However, there were still people who did not want to follow him.
How did Jesus react when people refused to follow his teachings?
Jesus never forced anyone to follow his teachings. While he pointed them to the truth, Jesus always allowed his listeners to have freedom of choice. Indeed during his days there were many people who were hostile to his teachings.
With the many followers, surely Jesus must have been well taken care of during his life?
On the contrary, Jesus lived his life with hardly any possessions. He once said, “foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.”
I am surprised to hear that with so many followers, Jesus did not have many people to serve him.
One of the characteristics of Jesus life was his servant attitude. Once before dinner, Jesus washed his disciples feet even though it was customary for the task to be done by servants.
Jesus washed his disciples feet? It is unheard of for any religious leader to do that.
Jesus did that to show his disciples that we should all adopt a servant attitude and not lord over our followers. He even taught that if anyone wants to be great, he needs to be a servant.
I understand that while Jesus has so much impact on mankind, his time of ministry was actually quite short.
Yes, he started his ministry at the age of 30 and was able to carry out his ministry for only three years. However he lived a life totally dedicated to god. He was never married and spent all his time pursuing God’s work.
After hearing you say all these things about Jesus, it makes me want to read more about his life.
There is so much more about Jesus life that we have not talked about today. I would encourage you to get a hold of the bible and read it for yourself.