Jesus the most famous and celebrated personality in the history of humanity

There is no doubt that Jesus is the most well-known and most respected personality in the whole of human history.

Jesus has such a wide and far-reaching personality that everyone can find in Him something which appeals to and agrees with the ideals that any individual wishes to develop in his/her own life.

The historical documents which affirm the fact that Jesus really did exist, that he lived in Palestine and that He was killed by order of Pontius Pilate are not only those which were written in a Christian context, but there are also others which were written by other people independently who were living and writing in the pagan Roman context as well as others who lived and wrote in a Jewish context.

The main Christian documents which tell us about Jesus are the books of the new Testament, especially the 4 gospels.

However, these 4 gospels are not biographies about Jesus in the scientific, historical sense that a biography is understood as being today.

The writers were not seeking to narrate the events in Jesus’ life in the exact order and timing with which they took place throughout His lifetime.

Their main aim was to present Jesus as the only Son of the Father, sent into the world to save and to give life.

This is why we can say that we should not consider the events and the teaching of Jesus as if the Evangelists recorded them on a video or audio tape.

However, we must also remember that in their essence, these gospels do narrate what actually happened and what was actually said.

Through events which only God can do, and from what He said about Himself, Jesus began to show that he wasn't simply any other human being, but that He was also the only Son of the Father.

The Church has continually struggled to better understand and to keep to the full truth of who Jesus really is.

This truth was defined by the Council of Nicea in the year 325

“God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made of one being with the Father. Through Him all things were made” (Jesus is truly God). “For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit He became incarnate from the Virgin Mary and was made Man” (Jesus is truly human).

The decision which Jesus proposes to us at this point in our lives - for us to welcome Him as the foundation for our lives, is the greatest decision which we will ever have to make and it is a decision we will need to continue to renew through the whole of our lives.

Whoever welcomes Him, listens to His word and follows Him will not walk in darkness, and will never thirst, but that person will find forgiveness and happiness which nobody can take away, and he/she will live forever in the Kingdom of the Father.

No one else has ever been the subject of so many books and magazines - and for no other person have so many numerous meetings for prayer and for study been held

He has been the greatest single influence on our culture: architecture, painting and sculpture, music and literature.

Young men and women decide to follow Him and some, both past and present, freely decide to give up everything else and also to live their lives in celibacy.

In nobody else's name have so many people died - those called the martyrs (the word means witnesses) who preferred to suffer and even die than to deny knowing Jesus.

Jesus turned life right round for so many people - they started to look at life in a new way; their life became a very valuable adventure which they had to discover and share with others - through doing good deeds and spreading the Good News about who God really is and the happiness that Jesus shared with them.

Today, amongst us there are people who still do not open themselves to Christ: they do not want a close friendship with Jesus and most of all they do not want to change.

Such people generally see Jesus simply as a historical figure and perhaps as a model human being who lived and died about 2000 years ago – far, far away from their lives today.

There are those who say that they are only willing to accept certain aspects of Jesus: perhaps such people think He is too demanding; or perhaps too weak and fragile; perhaps that He thinks only of heaven and does not seriously consider life on earth.

There are many young people in Malta who think about Jesus in many different ways. Some take Him very seriously in their lives whilst others seem to be quite indifferent towards Him.