Characteristics of Jesus of Nazareth

In my world religions class at BYU, I’ll sometimes present a slide that shows a couple dozen images of Jesus, each likeness looking different from all others and originating in a different Christian community across history and across the globe. There’s the classic Renaissance likeness of Jesus that Western Christians and White Americans very often use in their homes and churches; there’s also the medieval European likeness that shows a rather contorted and bloody Jesus, bent over in terrible suffering and whose facial expression is practically indistinguishable; there’s also the 2nd-century Gnostic Jesus giving off brilliant rays of glory; there’s the ancient Good Shepherd sans beard and youthful; there’s the ethnic likenesses of Asian, African, Indigenous, Islander, and other regional settings; and there’s also My Buddy Jesus, the action figure of modern satire. I ask the students to consider whether any of those likenesses resemble what historians might approximate based on historical evidence. We invariably discuss the limitations of the historical approach: we won’t gain high-definition imagery of the historical Jesus because the reliable data describing him is probabilistic. It will be more like an impressionistic painting by Monet, or a blurred photograph, than a 4K cinematic close-up.

What about the attested characteristics of the historical Jesus? And by historical Jesus, I’m thinking of the figure who lived and who is accessible to us through surviving documents and artifacts, not the Jesus that his followers over the centuries and today affirm based on their theology, belief, or personal conviction. We run into the same issue: we’re reliant on a few sources, and then, we’re describing Jesus in terms of probability rather than certainty. What was Jesus likely like?

I’ve been thinking and studying this question for awhile and have assembled my own personal series of attested characteristics of his personality, behavior, actions, and life. Somewhere, I have some citations that line up with these bullet points, but in the interest of sharing the list while I have an opportunity, I’ll not footnote them all here. Perhaps in an update, I can improve my notes with the primary sources (usually the Four Gospels) that support these characteristics.

• Yeshua (Jesus) grew up in HaGalil (Galilee) in the village of Nashrath (Nazareth)

• His mother Miriam (Mary) and at least four brothers and two sisters survived into the days of his public career1

• His father Yosef (Joseph) likely had died before his public career

• Known as a tekton (=artisan/carpenter/smith/craftsman) among Nashrath villagers

• Knew intimately the life of common folk in first-century Judaea

• Acquired or had been given training in the literature of the Jewish people

• Meditated long and deeply on religious and ethical issues

• Was especially nurtured on or impressed by Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and the Psalms

• Was keenly sensitive to nature

• Was quick to take in impressions

• Apparently had a penetrating glance

• Displayed his thoughts in pictures, not abstract terms

• Displayed humor

• Impressed his fellow villagers as unusual

• Baptized by Yohanan (John) in the Yarden (Jordan)

• Emerged from the wilderness with a clear sense of mission and a bearing of authority

• Held Yohanan in high esteem

• Advocated repentance

• Was not a professional ascetic like Yohanan

• Did not prescribe any set system of devotions

• Spoke of judgment but did not accord it somber importance as did Yohanan

• Deliberately frequented human habitations and communities

• Performed miracles

• Sought out people where they lived

• Delivered stern words to the proud, self-righteous, hypocritical, uncharitable, unmerciful, evil-minded, and cowardly

• Showed tenderness toward those in need

• Inspired the poor with courage and hope

• Spoke with reverence and awe for God

• Condemned wickedness perpetuated in God’s name

• Spoke often of the goodness and kindness of God

• Frequently called God abba (=dad/papa/father)

• Called on people to imitate God in showing impartial kindness toward evil and good

• Did not attempt to answer every question about God

• Allowed for the mystery of the sufferings and seemingly unanswered prayers of the righteous

• Trusted God even when God’s ways were mysterious or opaque

• Insisted God’s forgiveness depended on people forgiving one another

• Integrated social justice into practically all facets of theology

• Wished people to move beyond justice into giving active care to one another

• Insisted truly great people in society were not those in command of subordinates but the humble who unselfishly serve

• Accepted Torah but interpreted Jewish law in terms of responding to obvious human needs and not performances for their own sakes

• Spoke most frequently of the basileia (=domain/dominion/kingdom) of God

• Treated the dominion of God as both a present fact and a future consummation

• Encouraged people to accept the dominion of God personally and become citizens by their own volition

• Described the dominion of God not as a state with boundaries or an institution with structure but as an order of living within ordinary society

• Asked for disciples’ personal loyalty and trust

• Rejected political means for inaugurating the dominion of God

• Made no effort to mobilize a revolt against the Roman state

• Expected his ministry not to involve political pathways, statecraft, or militancy

• Enjoined in somewhat cryptic fashion acceptance of human kingdoms

• Was little concerned with organization and institutionalization

• Chose associates to follow him in a local, extemporaneous ministry

• Assembled and dispatched preachers on brief local tours

• Did not organize, emphasize, or speak of ekklesia (local assemblies, what later became “churches”) or “body of Christ” (a later invention of followers like Paul)

• Expressed conviction that the dominion of God would materialize on its own without leadership or administrators driving its emergence and growth

• Expected unspectacular perseverance of the dominion of God

• Preached love

• Healed persons maimed physically and morally by their society

• Denounced injustice, callousness to need and suffering, lack of a forgiving spirit, impurity of thought, pride, ostentation, and any shadow of dishonesty or pretense

• Did not mobilize institutions for poor relief but sought everyday caregiving among regular people

• Wrote no book or treatise to give permanence to his ideas

• Never formulated a comprehensive body of teaching or asked disciples to commit sayings to memory

• Delivered impromptu discourses and addressed audiences as occasions surfaced

• Did not express himself in metaphysical or esoteric formulas

• Inaugurated a movement yet different than others of his time (hinting at the destruction new wine would work in old containers)

• Emphasized how rituals were valid but secondary to human life and welfare, irking Pharisees and Sadducees

• Allowed regular people to determine when and how to perform or ignore rituals and taboos

• Ignored the relation of “sinners” to ceremonial Jewish law

• Emphasized moral transformation over routine or duty

• Considered individual life more important than outward conformity

• Insisted thoughts and motives bore God’s scrutiny more than acts and behavior

• Showed interest in non-Israelites and social diversity

• Designated his message as “good news to the poor”

• Experienced privation, temptation, and suffering

• Impressed others with his confidence in a dependable God

• Performed healings not to prove his message but from a desire to help the unfortunate and the suffering

• Sought to keep knowledge of healings private and confidential

• Regarded healings as evidence of God’s, not his, power

• Insisted healings were wrought by pistis (=fidelity/trust/loyalty/reliability/faith) that the healed possessed rather than any power residing in him alone

• Journeyed purposefully to Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) anticipating a fatal collision with state and temple authorities

• Expelled financiers and profiteers from the temple courtyard

• Denounced profiting from worship

• Opened the temple to common worshipers and taught them the same as Sudducean elders

• Hosted a modest Passover meal and personalized the Seder elements in himself and in his present disciples

• Retired to pray alone but requested vigilant companionship of his friends

• Spoke intimately to God about his desires but submitted to God’s designs

• Faced arrest, imprisonment, interrogation, and the verdict of execution

• Prayed compassionately for the wellbeing of his executioners

• Importuned his disciples to care for his mother after his death

• Assured a fellow convict of heavenly relief

• Was executed in public and gruesome fashion by being beaten, scourged, and crucified

• Committed his life and soul to the care of God