Page 53 - Advanced Life of Christ - Student Textbook

Study Section 6: First Five Days of Jesus’ Ministry

6.1 Connect.

Have you ever gotten extremely mad -- so mad that you reacted physically? I had a friend a
few years ago who would get angry all the time. Each time he would, he would walk over to
his wall and kick a hole in it. In the US, the walls are covered with drywall, a thin board made
of gypsum, so it’s easy to kick a hole in it. However, every 16 inches, there is a stud, or a piece
of lumber that supports the wall and drywall board. One day he got mad and kicked the wall,
but he hit the stud and the wall did not break. Instead, his toe broke. Getting angry and
pounding a hole in a wall is a foolish way to respond to anger.

Jesus went to visit Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem and became extremely angry --- so angry that he started
overturning the tables and running the merchants out. Do you think Jesus sinned when He did this?
Can a person be really angry and yet not sin? Let’s find out….

6.2 Objectives:

1. The student should be able to articulate what Jesus did in His first five days of ministry.

2. The student should be able to explain the issues that Jesus faced in the Temple and why Jesus
became angry and reacted physically.

3. The student should be able to explain the significance of Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus and the
woman at the well in Samaria.

4. The student should be able to describe why Jesus began His Galilean ministry in Nazareth.

6.3 The first five days of Jesus’ public ministry (John 1:19-28 thru John 2:12)

After the baptism and temptation and before Jesus commenced His ministry in Galilee, John
records what Jesus did in this intermittent time. Jesus spent several months ministering
alongside John the Baptist. Throughout those months, Jesus’ primary focus was to gather to
Himself the multitude who obeyed and embrace the message preached by John.

In John 1:19-28 John is interrogated by a Committee of Sanhedrinists. John’s ministry had
become a cause of official concern among the religious leaders of Judea who sent priests and Levites to
challenge John’s authority. John was faithful to point them to the one whose “sandals I am not worthy
to untie”.

Day #1. John saw Jesus and shouted, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
John testifies to his audience that Jesus is “God’s Chosen One”. What was John communicating to all
who hear him?

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