Jesus's immense love for us

Easter is a time of reflection and repentance for what Jesus has done for us. From personal experience, I know he is real, but for other people I know they need more facts. So over time I had this nagging feeling of looking at the disciples more details and find out about historical facts. So let me start with historical facts.

Tacticus was a historically accurate historian, that was not Christian, so a very unbiased writer that recorded Jesus.

This is the passage in the Annals 15.44, that refers to Jesus and Christianity.

Cross at sunset

Here is the relevant part (shortened for clarity):

“Christus… suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of… Pontius Pilate… and a most mischievous superstition… broke out again not only in Judea… but even in Rome.”

Jesus was a carpenter, from a small town Nazareth, remember the bible verse

John 1:46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

Jesus came from very humble beginings, a small town, being an artisan, middle class with no political standing or having formal educations. keeping this in in mind, he was very well recorded for his "status" and stirred up a christianity movement (mischevious superstion) from Judea to Rome, that concerend Tacticus.

Now looking at Peter, for me Peter stood out, I never understood how could he deny Jesus 3 times, the day he was caught.

Luke 22:54-62 EST

Peter Denies Jesus

⁵⁴ Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance. ⁵⁵ And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. ⁵⁶ Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” ⁵⁷ But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” ⁵⁸ And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” ⁵⁹ And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” ⁶⁰ But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. ⁶¹ And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” ⁶² And he went out and wept bitterly.

Praying with Bible

For me how could you deny Jesus after walking so closely to him and loving him dearly, was to show how cowardly and scared Peter was. Maybe he was scared of also getting prosecuted because of being a disciple of Jesus?

This charecter trait was important to document because after Jesus had risen, Peter was one of the first disciples to witness Jesus reserecion.

Mark 16:7 NIV

⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’

This verse not only shows that Peter was one of the 1st witnesses, Jesus called him by name and he "forgave" him. He did not hold a grudge or blame him, because Jesus knew it was going to happen. In John 21:17 Jesus asks Peter 3 times do you love me, asif he renews him and cancels the three denials from before.

John 21:17 NIV

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

Peter goes from a coward to starting the 1st church movement. The belief is he was in Rome when Nero was in charge. Nero was known to be a cruel leader, he even executed his own mother. In his later reign he became more paranoid and he executed, burned and made public spectacles of christians. It goes that Peter was crucufied hanging upside down, which apparantly Peter requested as he said he does not feel worthy to be crucifed in the same way as Jesus.

So here is my first qeustion to you, Jesus a humble carpenter from Nazareth. How did he cause so much "havoc" with his preachings with his followers, that he was historically recorded with his crucufiction and the movement he caused.

My second question. How did Peter go from being a coward to leading the 1st church movement, and being crucufied upside down if he did not witness the greatest miracle of all time? The miracle of Jesus's reseruction?

Childlike Joy

For me it's all proof Jesus is the son of God and the Son of Man. He died on that cross so that we can be saved from our sins and have eternity with him. He rose from that grave 3 days later and that is why Peter turned 180 degrees.

I only have to look at the difference in my life before and after Jesus to know he is the lover of our souls and worthy of our childlike joy in him.

If you have any questions please reach out and I will try my best to answer them. May God bless you and have an awesome day.