One day in early summer before 1990, the weather over Jerusalem was gloomy. The Jewish priests, together with the crowd, escorted a young man to the governor's palace. The young man was accused of "false prophets" and "rebellion" by the Jewish priests, and this young man was Jesus.
Jesus was born in Jerusalem, more than 2,000 years ago, his father was a carpenter and his mother was an ordinary woman. Legend has it that her mother was entrusted by God to dream of her when she was not in room with her father, and she felt that the Holy Spirit was pregnant, and the child was named Jesus after birth, and another theory is derived from the homonym of "Joshua", the leader who led the Jews back to Canaan.
As a young man, Jesus was an authentic Jew who had always lived a traditional Jewish life. His parents brought him to the temple every year to observe Passover, a major holiday for the Jewish nation.
And he often did not want to leave after entering the temple, and at a young age seemed to show a special identity that was different, as if he was inextricably linked with God. He gradually developed his own religious views and maintained a strong faith.
Jesus, who began preaching at the age of 30, reformed traditional Judaism and preached the mercy of God, who loves all and is equal for all; God is the father of all, so all are brothers, and brothers should love and care for each other; He advocated the spirit of love without end, promoting the values of generosity, tolerance and humility, among others.
These ideas differed from the Jewish ideas of the time, but they quickly attracted a large number of believers, and he also accepted 12 great disciples and followed him around for many years to spread the gospel.
With the increase of believers, it is estimated that Jesus also burst with faith, and he claimed to be the savior and king of the Jews. On one occasion he even reprimanded the Jewish priests and people in public in the temple, accusing them of disrespecting the gods and desecrating the sanctity of the temple, and he even predicted that the temple would be destroyed again in the future.
In Jerusalem, the Jewish priests, who held the divine right, gained great secular rights and benefits through the theocracy.
His self-proclaimed remarks as God, his rapidly growing ranks of believers, and his conflicts with the Jewish priesthood directly violated Jewish law and seriously threatened the interests of Jewish religious leaders, making the Jewish priesthood feel threatened by being challenged!
However, Jerusalem was ruled by the Roman Empire at the time, and the high priests hated Jesus in their hearts, but could not judge him directly. So they paid 30 silver dollars to buy one of Jesus' disciples, Judas.
After the Passover dinner, Judas betrayed his teacher Jesus and told the high priests about Jesus' whereabouts. He also directed the team of high priests to capture Jesus.
This fateful dinner is known as The Last Supper.
Jesus was brought before Pilate, the governor of Rome, and perhaps fearing the wrath of the people, Pilate was forced to judge Jesus.
He asked, "Are you the king of the Jews?" ”
Jesus replied, "Yes!" ”
Then Jesus confronted the other issues in silence.
According to the practice of the time, a prisoner could be released during Passover. At that time, there was a prisoner named Barabbas, who was more than he and asked the crowd, "Do you want me to release Barabbas or Jesus?" ”
The Jewish priests and the people they encouraged chanted in unison: "Free Barabbas and put Jesus to death!" Crucify Him! ”
Pilate, knowing that the will of the people was difficult to do, in order to shirk his responsibility, said: "With the blood of the righteous, the sin is not mine." ”
The crowd answered, "Give His blood to us and to our descendants." ”
It was because of these words that Jesus was put to death; And the children and grandchildren of the Jews have suffered heavily for this for more than a thousand years, and paid countless lives for it!
Jesus' death was quite tragic.
The crowd made a crown with thorns and put it on Jesus' head, and they constantly whipped, insulted, and tortured Jesus, and Jesus' body was blurred. Finally, the soldiers nailed Jesus' hands and feet to a wooden cross with large iron nails and hung a sign on the cross that read: "King of the Jews" as a satirical sign for him.
Everyone was laughing at him: "Aren't you the savior? Then come down from the cross yourself. But Jesus did not hate them, but prayed for the people to forgive them for their ignorance.
Perhaps the sky was covered by dark clouds, or perhaps there was a solar eclipse, in short, the sky was dark for three hours at the time of Jesus' execution, and there was a small earthquake after Jesus' death. Let people talk afterwards: Maybe he really is the Son of God.
Jesus died, and His death was so tragic. The torture he suffered made his whole body tense in hindsight.
Human beings are born with a sense of substitution for tragic events, and perhaps Jesus' tragic death awakened the crowd that his true impact on humanity began after his death.
Later, it is said that Jesus rose again three days after his death, and people saw him many times, and he ascended to heaven after giving his final sermon and blessing to his disciples. His followers continued to deify him, summed up his thoughts, and compiled his daily words and deeds and those of his followers into the New Testament book.
Believers preached his teachings, claiming that Jesus was the Savior and that all the sins he suffered on the cross were atonement for the sins of the world. With the development of Christianity, there have been more and more believers, which have developed to this day. It has become the number one religion in the world.
Christians love to wear the cross because Jesus was martyred on the cross, a symbol of salvation and forgiveness, a symbol of love, courage, patience and faith.
So Christianity originated in Judaism. Some people compare Judaism to an olive tree and Christianity to a wild olive branch grafted onto an olive tree; Others liken Christianity to the daughter of Judaism. These claims confirm that Christianity was actually born out of Judaism, but there are differences between them.
The two religions share the following in the same aspects: 1. Christianity accepts the history of God since the creation of God, as recorded in the Hebrew Bible. Christianity refers to the Hebrew Bible as the Old Testament and the later texts of Jesus as the New Testament. 2. Christianity also believes that some people are the object of God's favor. 3. Both obey the precepts such as the Ten Commandments of Moses. 4) They all believe that the Messiah is the Savior, that there is an end judgment, and that the good will eventually enter heaven.
The difference between the two religions is whether or not they agree that Jesus is the Messiah. Note: In Jewish legend, the Messiah was the "Restored Savior" who God finally sent to earth to revive the Jewish kingdom.
Christianity believes that Jesus is the Messiah, but He did not come to restore the kingdom, He is the Savior, He is here to redeem the world. He was crucified to atone for the sins of the world, and all who believe in Him will enter heaven for eternal life after death and at the time of the Last Judgment.
Judaism, on the other hand, believes that Jesus was not the Savior, and that the Messiah came a long time ago. If Jesus is the Savior, why is the world not filled with peace and justice after the Savior's coming? Since Jesus could not even save himself, how could He save the world? So to the Jews, Jesus was a mortal, and the doctrines he preached were heresy.
The idea that Jews considered themselves God's chosen people gave Jews an innate sense of pride in the special grace of God.
Although Christianity does not deny the Jews God's chosen status, they believe that the Jews have blasphemed God, broken the covenant, sinned, and they have been stripped of their status as chosen people by God. And Christ's new covenant with God turns all who believe in Jesus into God's people, and they will all receive God's favor.
Judaism, on the other hand, is more old-fashioned in terms of religious etiquette, with Saturday as the Sabbath and Christianity Sunday as a day of worship. Christianity also abolished some of the traditional Jewish holidays such as Passover, and they celebrated Easter, Christmas and other new holidays.
Although Christianity was born out of Judaism, just as it was at the beginning of its birth, its dispute with Judaism has not been broken since 2,000 years. Perhaps only when the two religions really converge is when the Messiah comes, and perhaps never will be.