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Was Jesus born in the year zero?
It's unlikely. For a start there isn't a
year zero between the years 1 and -1, because when the date was set,
there was no concept of the number zero. The BC/AD calendar was created
in 531 by a monk called Dennis. He calculated that Jesus was born
in the year 754 of the Roman calendar, so that became 1BC. But he
miscalculated.
The only information we have about when precisely Jesus was born is
from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. They both put his birth in the
reign of Herod the Great of Judea, who died about the Roman year 751,
i.e. 4BC. This seems to give us the latest date Jesus could have been
born.
However, Luke says: "In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree
that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was
the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria"
(Luke 2:1-2). This only complicates matter further, because records
show that Quirinius was made governor of Syria and Judea in the Roman
year 757 (AD6), and took a census the following year.
There are various theories that try to tie up these two conflicting
bits of information, but none of them puts Jesus's birth in 1BC (or
in the year 0). The most commonly accepted date is 4BC.
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Was Jesus's mother really a virgin when
he was born?
This is a question that no amount of poking about in historical
documents is going to answer. Your answer will depend on what you
already believe about other questions: miracles, the authority of
the church, the Bible...
Two of the Gospels, Matthew and Luke, tell the story of Jesus's
birth and they agree that Mary was a virgin, her pregnancy the miraculous
work of God. And the creed spoken in churches every Sunday affirms:
"He was born of the Virgin Mary".
On the other hand, the letters of St Paul – which were written
before the Gospels – say nothing at all about the virgin birth.
This, some say, suggests that legendary stories about Jesus's birth
grew up later on, between the time of Paul and the writing of Matthew
and Luke. It must be added, though, that Paul says astonishingly
little about any aspect of Jesus's life, so this on its own is a
weak argument.
However, it was common practice in the ancient world to add miraculous
births to the legends of great men, from prophets to emperors, so
if you're not predisposed to believe the biblical stories, you can
see where they might have come from.
The answer is, then, that if you're a fairly traditional Christian
(or a Muslim), you would be likely to accept that Jesus's mother
was a virgin; if you don't already believe in the traditional stories
of Jesus for other reasons, then you probably won't believe this
either.
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Was there a star or comet at the time of
Jesus's birth?
It's safe to say there were plenty of stars. As for the star of
the Christmas story, the gospel of Matthew says: "After Jesus
was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi
from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who
has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and
have come to worship him'" (Matthew 2:1-2).
There are various astronomical events on record that have been associated
with this:
a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 7BC
a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in 3BC
a supernova in 4 or 5BC
Halley's comet in 12BC
However, the story in Matthew says that once the Magi were in Judea,
"the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until
it stopped over the place where the child was" (Matthew 2:9).
It seems that Matthew has in mind a supernatural phenomenon, rather
than a well-timed astronomical event.
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Why weren't there any women disciples of
Jesus?
There were. If a disciple was someone who followed Jesus, listened
to his teaching and accompanied him in his mission, he had plenty
of women disciples, and many appear by name in the Gospels, some
quite prominently. This was unusual in Jesus's culture, but he emphatically
welcomed women as his followers.
Having said that, there was an inner group of followers known as
"the Twelve". They were a group of disciples whom Jesus
called specially. None of the Gospels explain what they were set
apart for, or on what basis Jesus chose them. Presumably they were
expected to represent him, lead his other followers (especially
after his death), and to preach an authoritative version of his
message.
Why were they all men? Jesus never explained why. But then no one
would have asked. They would only have asked why (or rather "whaaaat???")
if he had appointed women.
The fact is that the society Jesus was living and working in was
an extremely patriarchal society. His attitude to women was radically
liberating and affirming, but it's unreasonable to expect him to
act exactly as if he was living in the 21st-century West.
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Was Jesus ever married?
Well, none of the Gospels explicitly say that he wasn't, though
it's hardly the kind of thing they would say: "And Jesus, who
was a single man, said unto the crowds, 'Verily verily...'"
There's a recurrent myth about Jesus and Mary Magdalene that shifts
big shock-horror paperbacks every so often, but there's no real
evidence for it. Since there is no wife or family mentioned in any
of the Gospels or other early records, it seems best to assume he
was not married.
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Was Mary Magdalene Jesus's girlfriend?
Jesus and Mary Magdalene are often romantically linked in books,
and also in Martin Scorsese's film, The Last temptation of Christ.
What is the evidence for their involvement?
1. Jesus was (so far as we know) single.
2. Mary was one of Jesus's disciples.
3. She may have been a former prostitute (some of Jesus's followers
certainly were).
4. Err...
5. That's it.
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Did Jesus really walk on water?
Apart from Jesus's death and resurrection, the occasion when Jesus
fed 5,000 people and then walked on the water of the Sea of Galilee
is the most well attested event of his life (see John 6:1-21).
But of course all questions of miracles come down to your personal
beliefs. If you believe that Jesus was someone who was capable of
miracles, then you're pretty much bound to accept this story as
authentic. If you don't believe that Jesus was someone who was capable
of miracles, then of course you won't believe this.
It is, as they say, your call.
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What miracles are said to have been done
by Jesus?
A lot. Most commonly, according to the Gospels, he travelled around
northern Palestine healing the sick and casting evil spirits out
of people. He cured leprosy, paralysis, blindness, deafness and
dumbness, among other conditions, and on three occasions raised
the dead.
There are also a number of miracles reported that showed his command
over nature as well as the human body, including walking on water,
calming a storm, turning water into wine and multiplying a few loaves
and fishes to feed 5,000 people. Probably the oddest miracle story
of the biblical Gospels concerns a fig tree which Jesus cursed for
having no figs (which was a bit hard, because it wasn't the season
for figs anyway). When Jesus and the disciples passed the tree on
the day following the curse, the tree had "withered from the
roots" (Mark11:20).
However, in the later "Gospels" which were never accepted
into the canon of the New Testament, there is no end to the number
– or the extravagance – of the miracles attributed to
Jesus. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are a wonder of self-restraint
in comparison.
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Why did Jesus make so many enemies?
First there were the Roman occupying forces in Judea. They wanted
the population to keep quiet and pay its taxes. Not only were new
religious movements likely to cause political disturbances, but
most were nationalistic and violently opposed to the rule of pagans.
The coming Messiah was expected (by Jews) to cast out the Romans
and make the nation great and glorious again. Naturally Rome would
come down hard on any such goings on.
Then there was the Jewish royal government. They were puppets appointed
by Rome, and so opposed anyone whom Rome opposed.
The Jewish religious establishment was in the hands of a group called
the Sadducees, who had a great deal of power and wealth, and therefore
their interest was in maintaining the status quo.
It is not surprising that all these interests opposed what they
thought Jesus stood for – and it's also not surprising that
Jesus had little respect for or interest in them.
More surprising is that Jesus clashed with the Pharisees, because
he was a lot closer to them. They led an extremely popular and influential
movement among ordinary Jews, their focus being on strict observance
of the religious law. Many of them were also inclined to military
risings against Rome.
Where Jesus agreed with them was in their passion for living God's
way in everyday life, their commitment to the masses. He disagreed
with the political agenda of some of them, but much more profoundly
with their approach to religious purity. Jesus brought a message
of acceptance and forgiveness to those whom others considered untouchable,
and he spend a lot of time with them. The Pharisees were appalled
at this, as they were at his generally lax attitude to religious
rules. He in turn repeatedly berated them in public for being legalistic
and hypocritical, and for getting their priorities wrong.
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Why didn't Jesus avoid being crucified?
If Jesus was God, and he was meant to know everything, why didn't
he avoid being crucified?
According to the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly predicted his arrest
and crucifixion in Jerusalem. If anything, he seems to have deliberately
provoked it by his riotous behaviour in the temple, rather than
avoiding it.
Why? Jesus was evidently convinced that his death was an essential
part of God's plan. He talked about his "blood of the covenant,
which is poured out for many" (Mark 14;24), and about coming
"to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).
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Why did Judas betray Jesus?
We don't know. The Gospels say that Judas went to the religious
leaders and offered to hand Jesus over, and that they paid him 30
silver coins (about four months' wages for a labourer).
Maybe it was purely the money. But then choosing to be a follower
of Jesus involved great financial sacrifices. Why would someone
so cynically materialistic ever have become one of his closest disciples?
Another explanation is that Judas was disillusioned with Jesus.
Jesus was generally expected to lead a glorious military and political
campaign (as well as religious), liberating Palestine from Roman
occupation. Many people were attracted to Jesus for this reason.
In fact, Jesus's intention was to die at the hands of the Romans
– a very different plan. You can imagine why some of his followers
might feel bitterly betrayed when they realised this.
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