Days with Jesus Part 1: Exploring the Mysterious Life of Jesus Through the Eyes of His Best Friend

By Jim Jackson

How are you spending your days?

Jesus is the most interesting man who ever lived. He is also the most misunderstood man who ever lived. His influence is unprecedented. Many people profess to be his followers, but how much do you really know about him? Whether you have never looked into the life of Jesus or have followed him for years, Days with Jesus can transform your perspective of him forever.

In a groundbreaking combination of book and on-location videos shot in Israel, Jim Jackson takes readers through an immersive experience like no other. Read the words of Jesus. See the place where he said those words. Connect with Jesus in a new way. Watch the adventure begin in Bethlehem as Jesus is born and placed in a stone feeding trough. Walk to the Jordan River, where he is baptized by a locust-eating prophet. Go to the corner of the Temple, where Jesus is tempted to jump. See the place where Jesus cracks a whip and makes the religious leaders seethe with anger. Hear Jesus tell people to eat his flesh and drink his blood in Capernaum. Observe Jesus pardon the adulterous woman.

In Days with Jesus, we encounter the life of Jesus as told through his best friend, John: Jesus as the scandalous preacher; Jesus as the lover of people; Jesus as the miracle worker; Jesus as the hated rabbi. There is a lot to learn. There is much to behold.

Get to know the man many know of but dont know much about.

See more at www.DaysWithJesus.com.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449741341

Book preview

DAYS WITH JESUS

PART 1

Exploring The Mysterious Life Of Jesus Through The Eyes Of His Best Friend

Jim Jackson

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Copyright © 2012 by Jim Jackson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson

1663 Liberty DriveBloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com1-[phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-4135-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-4133-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-4134-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012903229

WestBow Press rev. date: 04/18/2012

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

PRE-STORY

STORY

DAY 1

The Creator Creates

DAY 2

God Puts on An Earth Suit

DAY 3

The First Step of A Thousand Miles

DAY 4

God Goes to A Party!

DAY 5

Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

DAY 6

The Teacher Gets Schooled

DAY 7

John Goes to the Back of the Line

DAY 8

The Reject Becomes Righteous

DAY 9

Divine Cuisine

DAY 10

Like the Blind Reading the Signs

DAY 11

Healing of A Handicapped Heart

DAY 12

Like Father, Like Son

DAY 13

Can I Get A Witness?

DAY 14

"I’d Like to Make Reservations

for 15,000, Please"

DAY 15

Walking on A Sea Like Walking on Cement

DAY 16

Stand and Deliver

DAY 17

Jesus the Cannibal

DAY 18

The Army of Jesus Defects

DAY 19

My Family, My Enemy

DAY 20

Taught by The Master of Divinity

DAY 21

The Dehydrated Heart

DAY 22

Public Opinion: Clear as A Cloudy Day

DAY 23

Sex, A Stone, and A Savior

DAY 24

When the Son Shines

DAY 25

Suicide of The Son of God

DAY 26

A Slave or A Son?

DAY 27

Jesus Gets Stoned for Bad Grammar

DAY 28

Lessons in the Darkness:

The Secrets of Suffering

DAY 29

Mud Optometry

DAY 30

Blindsightedness

DAY 31

Your Savior is A Shepherd,

and Your God is A Gate

F Y I

THANKS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

This book is dedicated to Jesus—

A man whom I have never met but the God who dwells in my heart. Strange but true.

FOREWORD

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The exciting thing about Christianity is that it is not built on a religion or upon religious activities. Christianity is built upon a personal love relationship with Jesus Christ Himself! It is a love relationship that grows more real each day as we have the privilege to know Him in a very intimate way.

We cannot have a deep, abiding relationship with God Almighty by having a very shallow Sunday morning only experience at church—or whenever it might be convenient for us. Like any relationship, for it to be real and satisfying, it takes uality time spent together. Christians do this through prayer, reading the Bible, and thinking deeply about the things of God. Sadly, too many people just know about God in a shallow manner. They can answer many of the Sunday School uestions, but they do not know Jesus in a loving and lasting kind of way. That breaks my heart. More than that—it breaks God’s heart, because He has so much to reveal to each one of us—if we will only spend time with Him.

The exciting thing about Days With Jesus is that it is set up for the reader to spend uality time learning about Jesus and connecting with Him on a deep level. I love the concept of the Docuvotional. Jim is a church planter/pastor who knows what we need in order to go further in our relationship with Jesus. He has set up this project so that we can know Jesus from a variety of angles—an in-depth study of the story of Jesus from the book of John, exposure to the world and culture Jesus lived in, uestions to help us apply the teachings, and on-location videos to help us see it.

WOW! This book is rare in that it will work for anyone and everyone. It is an excellent way to both study the life of Jesus and to help anyone connect with Him more tangibly. I strongly recommend this book to you as a great devotional guide, an excellent study book and an exciting visual aide in order for the reader to draw closer to Christ and fall deeper in love with Him each and every day.

—Don Overstreet, Author of God’s Call to the City

PRE-STORY

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DOCUVOTIONAL

Docuvotional is a term I coined to describe my aim for this book. It is a documentary in the sense that I follow the life of Jesus as told by his disciple, John, in the Gospel of John from the Bible. Along with John’s testimony, I attempt to explain many of the important historical, theological, and philosophical elements in each section that fit into the overall context of Jesus’ life.

It is devotional in the sense that I want you to interact with it. The Bible is not just a story about history; it is a story about your history. How? The things that are spoken of in John’s book relate to you because it is the story of a loving God and His pursuit of humanity. That means you and me. You will get a lot out of this book by reading both the chapter for each day and the passage in John along with it. You will get the most out of this book by looking up the additional verses, using the FYI section in the back, answering the uestions at the end of each day by yourself or with a group and watching the videos.

VIDEOS

To go along with many of the Days in the book, there are videos at www.DaysWithJesus.com. As you read a particular Day in the book, go to the website and watch the corresponding video that was shot on-location in Israel. There you will be able to view the places where Jesus was and get a feel for the environment that he was in when those events happened. I will attempt to take you on a tour of each spot to increase your understanding of Jesus and his days on this earth.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

The FYI section in the back of the book is for additional information and insight into what was discussed for the day and is designated with the * symbol. So, go get a Bible with wording you can understand (such as the ESV, NASB, or NIV) either at a bookstore or online, or blow the dust off the one you have. Look in the Table of Contents and open it to the Gospel of John. Then get ready to take an intense, sometimes humorous, and often surprising look at Jesus—the man many know of, but don’t know much about.

Give Jesus a moment and he will change your life.

Give him a Day and he will change your world.

STORY

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JESUS

Why should anyone care about Jesus? Good uestion. Jesus is the most important and interesting man who ever lived. He is also the most misunderstood and misrepresented man who ever lived. Multiple billions of people all over the world claim to follow his teachings. More books have been written about him and love songs sung to him than any other person in the history of the world. The Bible, which was the first book ever printed on the printing press, as well as the biggest selling book of all time and perennial best seller, focuses on his life.

His influence is unprecedented. Many people—from some of the greatest leaders the earth has ever seen to the homeless living under a bridge—declare their devotion to him. His life is so monumental that the majority of the nations around the world mark the years with reference to his birth (I.e., the United States landed on the moon July 20, 1969. The year of 1969 means 1,969 years from Christ’s birth). The time designations of B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Latin, Anno Domini meaning ‘year of our Lord’) relate to the coming of Jesus into the world. Multitudes profess to be inspired by him. But how much do you really know about him?

Consider this—he didn’t own a house, wasn’t a king or ruler with land and subjects, had no army, penned no books of his own, never traveled more than 320 miles from his birthplace, chose disciples that were either formally uneducated or social outcasts, ministered during a time when his homeland was conuered by a foreign power, lived in lower middle-class conditions for most of his life, only spoke publicly for three years, and was executed in his early thirties like a criminal.

No one should remember Jesus. No one should care about a Jewish peasant teacher from thousands of years ago. Would you expect this person to even be remembered in his own lifetime? Probably not. However, he is not just recalled from the pages of history like George Washington or Napoleon or King Tut or Tupac Shakur. He is adored. He is cherished. He is worshipped. Does Jesus deserve such veneration from one person much less billions of people? Is this just more misplaced attention from desperate people looking for something or someone to hope in? Let’s see. Take a journey with Jesus as we see him through the eyes of his best friend, John.

BFF

Why is John considered Jesus’ best friend? He was one of the first disciples chosen by Jesus. He was one of three people (Peter and James were the other two) who had private training and conversations with him. He was the only disciple to risk his life by following Jesus all the way into his trial, never denying his association with him. John is known as the disciple who Jesus loved throughout the Gospel of John. Of all the disciples, including Jesus’ own brothers, John was the one who was entrusted by Jesus to care for his mother Mary just before he died on the cross. Now that’s a best friend!

BACKGROUND

While the language spoken by Jesus was probably Aramaic or Hebrew, nearly all of the New Testament was written in Greek by Jewish men. Why Greek if they are Jewish? They wrote in Greek because it was the common international trade language of their day and could be understood by the majority of people (similar to English being the common trade language of our day). Conseuently, the English name ‘Jesus’ is translated from the Greek word Iēsous. This word is a transliteration of the Hebrew name he was given at birth which was Yĕhōshua (or Joshua) meaning YHWH God is Savior. So, his name comes from Yĕhōshua in Hebrew to Iēsous in Greek to Jesus in English.

But what about Jesus’ last name?

The word Christ is not the last name of Jesus. It is actually not a name at all but a title. ‘Christ’ comes from the Greek word christos which is translated from the Hebrew word mashiach meaning anointed one, also known as Messiah. So, when someone says Jesus Christ (even in profanity!), they are referring to his Jewish name and title—Yĕhōshua Mashiach. In doing so, they are either knowingly or unknowingly acknowledging that Jesus is the Savior-Anointed One of God.

Many people are familiar with the narrative of the birth of Jesus—Joseph and a virgin named Mary, the city of Bethlehem, no room at the inn, the manger, shepherds, angels, a star, three wise men, etc. If you don’t know the story, it is found in Matthew 1:1-2:23 and Luke 1:1-2:52. Since Matthew and Luke had already detailed the birth of Jesus, John starts his story later, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry when he was about 30 years old. And this is where we will start.

Before John writes his book, three other recollections of Jesus’ life have previously been written: the book of Matthew around 50 A.D. (primarily written to Jews); the book of Mark around 55 A.D. (primarily written to Romans); and the book of Luke around 60 A.D. (written for a Greek man named Theophilus). So, John writes the history of Jesus for a general audience around 85 A.D. Because all the other disciples had died by this time and John is the last living disciple and eyewitness to everything Jesus did, he writes his book to help us better understand his best friend—the most amazing man in history.

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DAY 1

The Creator Creates

John 1:1-5

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We have a couch in our living room. A big, comfy, inviting couch. When you sit in it you want to stay there. And maybe sleep. We also have a TV that plays sporting events which are full of competition, ‘chick flick’ movies which are full of relational drama, and Sesame Street* which is full of small words and letters. Oh, and the TV also plays a little local news as well. But mostly sports.

Despite the roles that these two pieces of furniture play, more times than I can count, they have hosted some of the most meaningful conversations that humans can have.

How did the universe get here?

How did life start?

What is our purpose here on earth?

Is there a God, and if so, who made Him?

Why does peanut butter taste so good with grape jelly?

It turns out everyone throughout history has had these uestions (well, except for the peanut butter one), and the Apostle John gives us an answer to all of them in the first five verses of his book.

DARKNESS. NOTHING. WORK WITH THAT

Let’s take a journey back. Back into history long ago—before cell phones, the internet, Santa Claus, and Coca-Cola (no, these things are not eternal!)*. According to John, if we are going to talk about Jesus, then we need to talk about the beginning. Not the beginning of Jesus’ life, but the beginning of everything. Writing almost 2000 years ago, John knows about the Greek philosophies of life and the confused Roman religions. So he starts at the beginning of all things to clear the air. Right out of the box John gets philosophical, scientific, spiritual, and historical.

So what is created at the beginning? Angels? Yes. Light and energy? Yes. All types of physical matter? Yes. Human, animal and microscopic life? Yep. Space and suirrels, uasars and uarks, galaxies and gorillas? Yes again. Are you ready to jump into the deep