JESUS CHRIST
GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING
Palestine
 200 years before the birth of Jesus, the
Greeks, through its great emperor,
Alexander, conquered Palestine.
 After the death of Alexander the great, the
Roman empire followed and making
Palestine as their strategic area for defense
and expansion.
 Holy Land
 OT “Land of Philistines”
 Located on northeastern part of Egypt, and
south of ancient Syria.
 Became a locus, and witness of complex
historical interactions, at times conflicting
ones, among various cultures, and the races
in the past
 Province of Galilee
 Province of Samaria
 Province of Judea
 Province of Idumea
 Province of Decapolis
 Province of Perea
Province of Galilee
 Located in the northernmost province of
Palestine, Galilee (from the Hebrew term
Ghil-ha-goyim, meaning “Circle of Gentiles”)
was the home of the northern tribes of
Israel, specifically the tribe of Napthali.
 Being the home province of Jesus , it turned
out to be locale of many miracles that Jesus
performed, and the center of his public
ministry.
 Province of Galilee
1. Nazareth – hometown of Jesus; poor
city that is dependent on farming,
carpentry, and tending the flock
2. Sepphoris – wealthy city just an hour’s
walk away from Nazareth
3. Bethsaida – “House of Fishing”, miracles
of blind man whom Jesus put spittle on
his eyes, and the feeding of five
thousand men using five loaves and two
fishes
4. Capernaum – hometown of Peter;
regarded as the “headquarters of Jesus’
Galilean ministry”
5. Cana – first miracle of Jesus
6. Tiberias – simple fishing and agricultural
area; Herod Antipas transferred his
government to such place and became
the capital of Galilee
Province of Samaria
 Held with suspicion and discrimination
by the Jews due to interracial
marriages since they were conquered
by the pagan Assyrians
 Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke
10:29-37) stirred so much public
criticism and negative reactions from
the Judeans
1. Mount Gerizim – Samaritans recognized the
place as the sole legitimate place for sacrificial
worship
Province of Judea
 Religious & Political Capital of Rome
 Major religious festivals and national events
were held in this province
 Sanhedrin and occupying Roman officials &
their allies had their seats of power in Judea
Province of Judea
1. Jerusalem – captured by King’s David
from the Jebusites and handed as a gift
for their king; also known as the city of
David
2. Bethlehem – “birthplace of King David”
& the site Messiah’s birth (Micah 5:2)
3. Mount of Olives – Jesus spoke of the
destruction of the temple; Parousia and
the signs of the coming of the Son of
Man on Judgement Day
4. Bethany – hometown of Mary, Martha,
and Lazarus
5. Jericho – walled city siege by Joshua in
the O.T. ; town of the chief tax collector
and rich man Zacchaeus in the N.T.
6. Qumran – place of the Essenes, a group
of dedicated to the “Teacher of
Righteousness”
7. Emmaus – a risen Jesus walked
together with his two disciples without
recognizing him
8. Masada – an ancient mountaintop
fortress in southeastern Israel that was
taken by the Zealots from the Romans
Province of Idumea,Decapolis and Perea
Province of Idumea
• Idumeans claimed to be the descendants of
Esau, Isaac Son, but remained untrue to
their identity as the chosen people of God
by becoming pagans and neglectful of
Jewish worship and faith
• Judeans “forced its Idumean neighbors to
accept Judaism and place into exile those
who rejected conversion.”
• “Idumea (Ancient Edom, a traditional
enemy of Israel)
Province of Decapolis
• The healing of Gadarene demoniacs where
Jesus transferred the demons to a group of
swine, Decapolis, a group of ten
independent cities (from the Greek words
deka, ten and polis, city), was considered to
be of less significance to the public ministry
of Jesus.
Province of Perea
• The land “across the Jordan”
• The place where Jesus attracted a great
crowd following him, exhorted the people to
be “like a child”
Plenary Discussion:
Issue of Migration and Displacement
1. Bakwit
• Captures the condition of the people of
Mindanao who were displaced from their
hometown because of war and conflict. Their
numbers were thousands and their needs
were unanswered despite the effort of the
government and the participation of non-
governmental organizations to help them and
to alleviate their suffering.
• Seriously, considering the plight of the
“Bakwit”, how do you make sense of their
condition?
• What are your thoughts and suggestions that
may provide stability and sustainability to
their condition without discounting the
complexity of factors and factions at play?
• If you were in their situation, what could be
your most immediate needs and humanitarian
appeal?
2. Migration Crisis
• Europe is currently facing the issue on
migrants who were displaced by wars in
Syria, Libya, Lebanon, and Iraq, and driven
away by the threatening rule of Islamic State
of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremist ideology.
With the millions of migrants in desperate
need for a home and a meaningful, peaceful
life, member countries are either openly
refusing to help by tightening and closing
their borders or simply indifferent as if they
do not have responsibility for the millions of
individuals and families in such state of
misery. When photos of dead bodies of
children and adult lying on the shores of the
Mediterranean were released in social media
and made headlines all over the world,
humanity is condemned to grave guilt and to
a failure of accountability because of
indifference, inaction, and refusal. But even
with the thousands who suffer and the
hundreds who die, the crisis continues to
escalate.
• While geographical boundary is imperative in
each country, how does this contemporary
concept of state boundary and border
restriction is shaping the way we live today,
particularly to those who are helpless
migrants?
• How do we define our neighbor beyond
nationality, race and color?
• How do we become more human when we
have more or when we have less towards
others?
Pre-Public Ministry of Jesus
I. Prophecies about the Messiah
Indications of the Messiah:
1. Must be from the “seed of Abraham”
(Gen.12.1-3; 22.18)
2. Shall be like Moses (Deuteronomy
18.18)
3. Shall be from the house of David (2
Samuel 7.8-16)
4. Shall be from the root of Jesse (Isaiah
11.10)
5. Shall be born in Bethlehem, the city of
David (Micah 5.2-4)
6. Shall suffer to bear our offenses (Isaiah
53.5)
7. Shall give his life as an offering for the
sins of many (Isaiah 53.10)
8. That through his death, he shall take
away the sins of the many, and win
pardon for their offenses (Isaiah 53.12)
II. Infancy Narratives of Jesus
Birth of Jesus: A Biblical Parallel Presentation
II. Infancy Narratives of Jesus
1. Circumcision and Naming of Jesus
2. Presentation in the Temple
3. Finding Jesus in the Temple
II.1 Circumcision and Naming of Jesus
 An ancient Semitic operation in which the
foreskin of eighth – day – old males is
removed as a ceremony of initiation in to
the religion and community of Israel
 Presented as the beginning with Abraham
or Moses
 Joseph being the righteous man, observed
the religious ritual on circumcision because
it was “a sign of God’s covenant with
Abraham, and that no man could belong to
God’s covenant people without being
circumcised”
 It is a public obedience to God’s prescription
 “symbolized as the spiritual circumcision of
the heart: the cutting away of the heart’s
stubborn resistance to the Lord and his
commandments”
 “When eight days were completed for his
circumcision, he was named Jesus, the
name given him by the angel before he was
conceived in the womb”
 Hebrew “Yeshua” [Jesus] means “Yahweh is
salvation”
II. 2. Presentation in the Temple
 Righteous and devout blind man, Simeon ->
Temple of Jerusalem
 “Now, Master, you may let your servants go
in peace, for my eyes have seen your
salvation, which you prepared in sight of all
the peoples, a light of revelation to the
Gentiles, and glory to your people Israel.”
 An 84 y/o widow, prophetess Anna who
worshipped night and day with fasting and
prayer spoke about child to all who were
awaiting the redemption of Israel
II. 3. Finding Jesus in the Temple
III. Preparations for Jesus’ Public Ministry
1. John the Baptist
2. Meaning of Jesus’ Baptism
3. Temptation of Jesus
4. Calling of the Twelve Apostles
POLITICAL, SOCIAL, and ECONOMIC SETTINGS
• In the Philippine situation (economic, political,
and social), Identify certain perceptions,
practices, and structures that may have
contributed to the increasing poverty, and
 oppression of our society, and offer concrete
suggestions for consideration, and actions at
the school, or community level.
i. Post-exilic Palestine and Greek Domination
ii. Roman Empire and Palestine
iii. Roman Rule
iv. Fall of Jerusalem
v. Social Strata of the First Century of
Palestine
vi. Economic Life of First Century Palestine
I. Post –exilic Palestine and Greek Domination
 Diaspora  Greek  dispersion 
Judah(Judea)
 Alexander the Great(332-323 BCE) 
invaded lands
 Hellenism  Greek era  spread of Greek
culture that made lasting influences on the
Romans, and the entire ancient
Mediterranean world
 I. 1 Greek Polis
- Alternative political system of
organization in various regions of
Palestine
 2 Greek Philosophy and Language
- Greek  intellectual giants like
Socrates, Plato, and Artistotle 
philosophers who were seriously
dedicated in finding universal truth in
the area of knowledge, morality, and
even, religion.
 I.3 Latin Language
- Spreading of Latin, a medium that
would eventually be absorbed by
Christianity as its official language
 I.4 Greek Religion
- Greek gods and goddesses
 Polytheistic
- Syrian Greek  disrespectful of Jewish
identity and worship
- “sacked Jerusalem and desecrated the
beloved Temple and even built the
Greek god Zeus in the most sacred part
of the Temple”
 Maccabean revolt  The offended Jewish
people collectively responded in a revolt
against the Syrian Greeks
- Named after Jewish leader Judas
Maccabeus and recalled in the Book of
Maccabees)
II. Roman Empire and Palestine
 After the Jews regained after the
Maccabean revolt
 Romans entered as a rivalry with the
Hasmoneans ( ruled by Maccabean
dynasty 142 BCE)
 Pompey  the great military rival of Julius
Caesar, led the Roman legions in Palestine
as ostensible peacekeepers
 John Hycarnus II appealed to Rome for help
in ousting his younger sibling, Aristobulos II
who made himself both priest and king.
 After overthrowing Aristobulos , Pompey
installed John Hycarnus (63-40 BCE) as high
priest and ethnarch
 2.1 Herod the Great and his Sons
- Herod the Great  an Idumean, was
made ruler of Palestine
- Ideumean  resorted to Pagan worship
 unclean and unfaithful people
- Herod, to win the favor of the Jews,
forged an apparent stability of peace
and order and restored the great
Temple of Solomon
- Massacre of Innocent
- Herod’s kingdom divided among his
sons with “the lesser status of
‘ethnarch’, ruler of the people, or
‘tetrarch’, ruler of one-fourth”
Archelaus Judea, Idumea, Samaria
Herod Philip or Caesarea Philippi (North
Philip of Galilee,
Bethsaida Julias (East of
Galilee)
Herod Antipas Galilee, Perea
III. Roman Rule
 Archelaus  had his enemies executed;
breeding widespread resistance, and civil
unrest  disposed by the roman Emperor
Augustus
 Pontius Pilate  prefect & procurator, was
in command of auxiliary military units, had
full powers of criminal and civil jurisdiction,
and responsible for the collection of imperial
taxes
 Higher than the Sanhedrin  highest
Jewish Council
 Those who will oppose against Romans will
be captured, hanged, crucified, and
executed
 Zealots  Jewish freedom fighters
 Romans pressed people to great poverty by
hiring local tax collectors (publicans)
imposed forced census on the people,
mandated strict imperial taxation on the
people, temple tax paid to the Levites
(temple tax collectors)
IV Fall of Jerusalem (70 AD)
 The Jewish people, spearheaded by the
Zealots, revolted against Rome (66-70 AD)
 Committed mass suicide as their blatant
way of condemning, and refusing Roman
rule in Palestine
 Thus, the chance for liberation disappeared
with the defeat of the Zealots but not
Judaism due to the preservation of the
religious identity of the Pharisees through
oral tradition
V. Social Strata of 1st Century Palestine
 Palestine suffered under the hands of the
Romans, and its Roman allies, Herod the
Great and his sons
Rich Upper Roman Empire and its Allies
Class (Roman Procurator, Herod and
 his family)  Main source of livelihood for the settlers
near the Sea of Galilee
Sanhedrin VI. 3 Trade and Commerce
(High Priest, Sadducees,  Rich exchange of products and of
Pharisees, Scribes) services with its neighbors, and showed
diverse monetary currency
Marginalized The majority of Jewish Population  Roman denarius which was widely used at
Lower Class (Women, Children, Sick/Ill that time, the silver tetradrachmas from the
People, Public Sinners) Phoenicians city of Tyre, and the coins
 V. 1 Rich Upper Class: The Privileged Few minted for local rulers
- The few elite rules, and controls  In the countryside, some made barter, a
society while a great number of mutual exchange of goods, as a system of
marginalized, poor people suffer economic life
increasing poverty, and oppression VI. 4 Artisans and Carpenters
 V. 2 Marginalized Lower Class:  Herod built the temple of Jerusalem,
The Suffering Majority fortress of Antonia, and other buildings
- During Jesus time, he mingled with dedicated to the Romans and their gods
the poor and the marginalized  Carefully designed Roman columns and
- Jesus’ heart truly belongs to the intricate carvings of the temple and other
poor – then and now. building
The Suffering Majority
- Women and Children
- Women were discriminated, and
even deprived of their fundamental
rights.
- be at their homes – serving their
husband, and fulfilling household
chores and needs
- Properties of Father/ Husband
- Ketubbah  men had the right to
divorce a woman, as indicated in a
written document
Sick and Ill People
- Sickness  perceived differently at
the time of Jesus  consequence of
sin
- Viewed as punished by God for their
life or action of sinfulness.
Public Sinners: Prostitutes & Publicans
 Society looked down on them as sinful
undeserving of God’s mercy and
compassion .
 Publicans or tax collectors considered as
corrupt as ritually unclean
VI. Economic Life of First Century Palestine
 First Century Palestine was dominantly
characterized by agriculture and farming.
With its rich sea and lake, it also became a
haven for fishermen. Commerce and trade
also occupied the busy business and
religious centers of Palestine.
VI. 1 Agriculture and Farming
 Three main crops  grain, olives, and vines
 Wheat was the staple food; olives was used
for a variety of domestic purposes (lamp,
cooking); and grapes (vines) was harvested
for wine making.
 Some farmers tilled their own land but
others worked as a tenants to their landlord
 Farming also involved tending the sheep – a
profession that was beautifully cited in
Jesus’ words as Good Shepherd
VI. 2 Fishing