Yeshua in Context >> Yeshua's Story >> Yeshua's Story: The Beginning
Yeshua's Story: The Beginning
VERSION 1: Yeshua the Galilean came suddenly onto the scene of public life in Judea through the work of John the Baptizer (Yohanan, with a hard, throaty "h"). Later, the community of his disciples would ask questions about his birth and early life, but I will tell those stories at the end. The beginning of his impact on Jewish life in the first century was in a movement of new hope led by an unlikely figure, a hard man whose popularity had nothing to do with charisma and everything to do with the long-supressed hopes of Israelites in that day. God the King seems to have returned in power through this circle of penitents dipping themselves in the waters where Israel first entered the land.
VERSION 2 (shorter sentences, simpler style): Yeshua the Galilean came suddenly onto the scene of public life in Judea through the work of Yohanan (John) the Baptizer. Later, the community of his disciples would ask questions about his birth and early life, but I will tell those stories at the end. The impact of Yeshua on Jewish life began in this strange movement of people dipping themselves in the waters where Israel had entered the land in the days of Joshua. The leader of this movement, Yohanan, was ironically popular -- a hard, unyielding man. His popularity had nothing to do with charisma and everything to do with the long-supressed hopes of Israelites in those days. God the King seemed to have returned in power. That power was sensed by the masses in the words of Yohanan.
[more to come, I think . . . just starting a new idea for a project . . . not that I need another project.]
Filed under: Yeshua's Story