The Life of Jesus

Not year zero, not December, and probably not a stable. What Luke and Matthew actually record about the birth, and where the familiar picture came from.

The Gospels give one scene between infancy and baptism. What the silence covers, what a tekton actually was, and why the apocryphal filling-in is refused.

John baptized for repentance, which raises a problem when Jesus steps into the water. What the baptism accomplished and why the testing runs forty days.

The year the Synoptic Gospels skip entirely. Cana, the first temple cleansing, Nicodemus at night, and the woman at the well, all recorded only by John.

The busiest year of the ministry, opening with a sermon that got him thrown off a cliff. Capernaum, the Twelve, the parables, and the crowd that walked away.

The hinge the Gospels turn on. A confession at the foot of a pagan shrine, the harshest rebuke six verses later, and glory on a mountain a week after that.

He set his face toward Jerusalem, and the great parables come from this stretch. The Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, and the sign that got him killed.

A staged royal entry, a cursed fig tree, a day of failed traps, a Passover meal reassigned, and six trials before dawn. The final week laid out in order.

What the Gospels record about Golgotha, the darkness, the torn veil, and the burial, plus what Roman crucifixion actually involved and why the burial matters.

Who saw him, in what order, and over how long. The appearances the Gospels record, the earliest creed listing them, and the detail that resists invention.