A Biography of Jesus is written to help people order, understand, and remember the life of Jesus. As a reference it contains 32 studies focused on different key events in his life. The key events are grouped around four base locations from which Jesus lived, traveled, and ministered. You will meet Jesus through selected key events in various settings. As you walk with him, feel his challenges, joys, and concerns. We can learn from his human and divine nature. He brings God’s logos (Word) to a world in need of truth. His experiences guided the daily walk of his followers then and are available to us now.

The author’s position is that we need more of Jesus in our world today. The Apostle Paul, in writing to the Galatians, shared the fruit of a life filled with the spirit of Jesus included; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Paul stated there was no law against these virtues. In striving to be the best we can be; the life of Jesus provides a very helpful template for living. That is why the author wants all people to know the life of Jesus and consider greater practice of his teachings.

Why should we focus on events? We live in an event driven information age. Overviews or summaries are a part of our 30-minute newscasts. Often our commentators are trying to pack 20 or more stories in brief sound bites. Politicians are scheduling photo opportunities to communicate messages. Organizations hire event planners to create themes. More depth coverage of subjects is available through television documentaries on; events, history, and biographies. We are constantly learning from events. How people behaved, what they said, what they did, lead to impressions. We draw values or truths about the lives and goals of people from events. By ordering the events in the life of Jesus in our minds, we can know him better and have a closer relationship with him. We were “Created to become like Christ.” Jesus taught in the oral tradition: clearing temples; delivering sermons on mountainsides; eating in homes; performing miracles with impact; telling parables; and teaching through encounters with Jewish leaders. He wanted observers to take home and use his messages.

Events are grouped by type of event. There are three types of events chosen by the author. As you read the events you may feel the type of event should be reclassified. That is fine. The three types of events are listed on the next page.

1. A God Event – A God thing, an event that only God is big enough to pull off. Examples are: God’s decision in Heaven to send his son, the Virgin Birth, Jesus’ resurrection.
2. An Impact Event – Events that had great impact and create an impression on observers. Examples are; miracles, healings, clearing temples.
3. A Teaching Event – Jesus taught in the oral tradition by teaching, using parables, and preaching. Some of the sermons of Jesus, his close dialog with disciples, the private time Jesus spent coaching his disciples are examples of teaching events.

Three important concepts shape this Brief Guide. The remaining pages of the Introduction expand these three concepts which are:

1. Four base locations provide order and chronology to Jesus’ life.
2. Memory theory helps us recall events for refection and dialog.
3. The four base locations of the ministry of Jesus open up the basics of a journey Christian theology.

1. Four Base Locations provide order and chronology to Jesus’ life.

The four base locations approach to the life of Jesus started while I was facilitating a group pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1998. On that trip our group traveled throughout the entire Holy Land. The area in which Jesus ministered is about 150 miles long and 50 miles wide (See map on back cover). During the trip I observed that Jesus’ ministry focused around four base locations. Three of the four locations are cities: Nazareth (his early years through age 31); Capernaum (the 1 ½ year great Galilee ministry); and Jerusalem (Passion Week). The fourth location is two provinces, Judea and Perea. The provinces are divided by the Jordan River. Provinces are used (rather than cities) because Jesus and his disciples were traveling from city to city in Judea and Perea. They were on the move for a six-month period from his transfiguration to the triumphal entry into Jerusalem for Passion Week.

The “four base camps” of his ministry provide an overall chronological grouping of events in the life of Jesus. This is unique in relation to other more academic works I have studied, however it is a concept to which we can all relate. Base locations are associated with major moves in our lives. Sometimes major moves occur within a city, state, across a country or around the world.

For example, I was born in Sioux City, Iowa. My family moved to Aberdeen, South Dakota during my junior high school years. In high school we moved to the Chicago, IL area in 1954. The Chicago area provided the base location for my schooling and career until we moved to Northern California in 1978.

Jesus visited 18 places; he moved 54 times, and was connected to at least 144 different events. There are many ways to define and count the number of events and encounters in Jesus’ life. My study of more than ten sources showed a range of approaches and divisions to order and harmonize events in the life of Jesus. Sources studied used from five to fourteen “periods” or “divisions” and featured from 98 to well over 200 sub-sections, events, or experiences in the life of Jesus. This guide focuses around 32 key events ordered around four base locations of Jesus’ life.

Note that key events may encompass several related events or encounters. As example: Infant Birth – Study 2 – covers related stories about: birth of John the Baptist; angel Gabriel visiting the Virgin Mary; Mary visiting Elizabeth; birth of John the Baptist; explanation of Mary’s pregnancy to Joseph; birth of Jesus in Bethlehem; visits of shepherds and Magi; presentation of Jesus in Temple; family escaping to Egypt; and returning to Nazareth after Herod’s death. (Appendix 1 orders 172 scripture subjects by the 32 key events.)

Key events are “chunked” around the base locations of Jesus’ life using alliterations. These alliterations can help readers retain his biography. Jesus traveled from each base location in his life. The four areas divide his life into four broad chronologies leading to a biographical reading. It is interesting to note, that all four Gospel writers record the major “moves” in Jesus’ life. The moves or transitions provide the cut-off points for events or encounters studied within each of the four base location study sections.

2. Memory theory helps us recall events for reflection and dialog.

God has created us with a marvelous memory capability. The human brain has the capacity for 10 trillion bits of information and facts. How do we store and recall those facts? One way is by focusing our attention on stories or narratives. Most people can remember a story better than a random set of facts.

To assist recall the author has grouped events into families of information using alliterations. The author through these alliterations (In’s, C’s D’s, and T’s) by geographic location hopes the retention of a framework of the life of Jesus can assist readers. You may wish to develop your own word associations or visualizations for recall. That is great! Use your mind to know Jesus better, retain key events, live his teachings and share his biography.

3. The four base locations of the ministry of Jesus open up the basics of Christian theology.

Dr. Leonard Sweet, author and theologian, delivered a sermon on the “Hour of Power” (January, 2003) television service from the Crystal Cathedral. He shared a six-word simple theology: Come Down, Come Out, and Come Home. I have adapted Dr. Sweet’s “simple theology” to eight words that are tied to the four base locations used in this Guide. They present a journey for each section of this Guide to open up dialog on the basics of Christian theology.