Three Public Years

Jesus accomplished so much just in the miracle portion of His ministry that His beloved disciple, John, reckoned that it would be impossible to fit all the things He did into one book, even into one world. Don’t expect a full account here, either. Nevertheless, we can at least step back from chronicling the details themselves, to seek an overview that will give us fresh perspectives on the most important and astonishing three years in the history of the world: the public ministry of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. John 21:25 ESV

All scripture citations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.

Perspective One: Why Did Jesus Come?

Jesus gave many reasons for why He came. These range from setting captives free on earth from disease and demonic oppression to setting redeemed believers free from sin for all eternity. We not only have His words about His motives, we have His works. Just as with us, our works reveal our motive in doing them. We can, therefore, see His reasons for coming through His two great works: the works He did before the cross (3 years) and the work He did at the cross (1 day). That He primarily came to work is unquestionable. In fact, He said that He and the Father had been at work “until now.” Presumably, the Fall of Adam and Eve put an end to the God’s sabbath rest after His work of Creation. Mercifully for our sakes, the Godhead went back to work for our Redemption.

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” John 5:17

Before we look at the work of those three incomparable years, we should pause, however, to review something that is usually left out of this perspective. Jesus didn’t just come to work! He also came to live. He above all people could enjoy the exhilaration of being in a sea of people whom He loved and enjoyed. He is Emmanuel—God with us. Don’t think He didn’t relish the opportunities that offered Him for fun and fellowship. He wasn’t just training disciples; He was living with them and enjoying the gift of shared life like no one else ever has. He wasn’t just ministering healing; He was loving being with the people as He healed them. God is love: He loves loving and He loves life. Keep this picture well-established in your mind, or in wanting to serve Jesus, you find yourself laboring through your days without drinking in the “intoxicating” wine of new life lived and shared. Enjoying table fellowship (too much) was one of the charges His enemies brought against Him.

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds. Matthew 11:19

Perspective Two: Jesus’ Works Before the Cross

There is only so much a person can do with just one body. Three years is not a lot of time. Remember that Jesus left ubiquity aside (the ability to be everywhere at once) when He divested Himself of His divine abilities in order to become fully human.[i] Why not have planned for more time on the ground? That way, He could have touched, taught and healed multitudes more than such a brief span of time allowed. On the other hand, since the cross, resurrection and gift of the Spirit could potentially reach and transform everyone on earth, why not go there directly? Why not skip the Galilean ministry and head straight to Jerusalem and the cross? Even Jesus noted that others would do “greater works” than He, once He went to the Father.[ii] Why sweat the small stuff?

Evidently, three years was all that He needed, but He needed all three of them.[iii] He wasn’t trying to convert the whole world through Himself, just reach enough of us to plant the seeds of an ongoing revival that would eventually cover the globe. He then completed the seed sowing by carrying out the work that only He could do, the work of the cross.[iv] All of this He accomplished within the bounds of an ongoing mixture of revelation and obscurity. He had to reveal enough of Himself by giving the signs of a genuine Messiah so that he would be recognized by those willing to see it, but not so incontrovertible that everyone would bow before Him just yet. Always, the Lord leaves room for faith and free will to operate.

1. Teaching

Without a doubt, Jesus is the greatest teacher the earth has ever seen. Everywhere He went for those three years, He taught, taught, taught. And crowds came to hear Him. Even when His teaching became difficult and many fell away, Peter said, “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”[v] This remark of Peter shows us the focus. Jesus wasn’t just a great teacher, He was (and is) the single greatest commentator on the Hebrew scriptures who has ever lived. Everything He taught sprang from that holy well. Everything He taught was intended to bring humanity fully to God and reveal God more fully to humanity. In doing so, He repeatedly set the record straight about the correct interpretation of Biblical passages many of His hearers would have known by heart—and completely misunderstood.

Some of the major themes with His teaching are the good news, the coming kingdom of God, avoiding hell, seeking heaven, and a proper relationship with money. Yes, He taught a lot about money. He even taught about hell more than heaven. He also taught using parables which were clearly designed to cloak and confuse the true message for some, while illustrating it for others.[vi] He shocked and surprised a lot of people by what He said. He still does. You can comb through His teachings in vain searching for anything like a systematic theology. Go to Paul for that. Jesus evidently wants to confront people with the condition of their own hearts and with the Lord God’s legitimate claim upon them. He still does. Always try to read Him as if you are hearing the radical things He is saying for the first time. You may not get it the first time. Pray that He also open your mind.

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Luke 24:44-45

2. Commanding

We tend to think that only the Old Testament is about obeying the laws of God; that the New Testament is only about faith and grace. You could never get that impression from Jesus. He not only issued new commands, He also tightened up on the existing ones. One new command is to love others, not just as we love our ourselves, but as He loves us.[vii] That carries the command to love into far more challenging territory. He took the command not to commit adultery as a physical act and carried it into the heart, making internal lust an infernal offense. He did the same with murder, teaching that hating someone is just as hell-worthy as murdering them. When it came to the issue of divorce, Jesus limited divorce to adultery—by far the strictest interpretation of the law available in His day.[viii] So, let’s lay to rest the misguided, wishful thinking that there aren’t laws for Christians to obey.

The greatest of all the laws laid down by Jesus can be summed up as the Great Commandments, the Great Commission and the Great Compassion. The Great Commandments are to love God with our whole heart and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Lest me miss it, this appears three times in the New Testament.[ix] The Great Commission appears at the end of Luke’s gospel, but is more frequently quoted from Matthew’s: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them… and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”[x] Notice Jesus emphasizing His previous commands even as He issued this new one. Finally, there is the Great Compassion by which we are required to go out and tend to the needs of the neediest among us—the hungry, the thirsty, the naked or those in prison.[xi] Failure to comply is rewarded with “eternal punishment.” Perhaps, we too like the disciples need to hasten to Jesus asking, “Who then can be saved?”[xii] Indeed, Jesus is our Savior, but He is also our Commander.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. John 13:34

3. Prophesying

We are so accustomed to thinking of Jesus as a teacher, a healer and as the Lamb slain, that we probably don’t give as much thought to His role as a prophet. It is well known, for instance, that Jesus fulfilled all of the Messianic prophecies, at least as far as His first coming were concerned. It would be more accurate to say that His life fulfilled them, for He certainly didn’t go about trying to check everything off a master list, especially those which concerned His birth. However, the second time around He will be intentionally fulfilling all the Old Testament prophecies about His Return as well as new ones that He issued while He was here the first time. In fact, Jesus did a lot of prophesying. Not all of His prophecies were about His Return.

To the astonishment of His disciples, He prophesied the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.[xiii] They were having a “first Temple moment,” reveling in the extraordinary beauty and impressive size of the Herodian structure, imagining that it would last forever, just as the Jews of Israel’s past did over Solomon’s. Jesus not only prophesied its destruction correctly, but His Christian followers remembered the signs and fled in time to escape being caught up in the desolating siege of Jerusalem.[xiv] Jesus also correctly prophesied the destruction of Galilean towns that were unreceptive of His teaching and ministry.[xv] Nevertheless, the majority of His prophesies concern events as yet unfolded, events that if we live long enough may occur within our lifetime.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14

4. Training

Jesus taught the multitudes, but He trained His followers. There is a difference. Certainly, teaching is a form of training and training involves a lot of teaching, but training implies other motives and employs additional methods. In training someone, we prepare them to do a task, usually in place of us. The multitudes were being taught for the sake of their own need to grow spiritually. The disciples, on the other hand, were being prepared for future ministry to others, not just their own immediate needs for spiritual growth. They were being trained to continue doing what Jesus was doing, once He was no longer on the scene. Jesus’ future absence from their lives wasn’t in their minds at all—they signed on for being with Him, not being without Him. But it was definitely in Jesus’ mind. The few times He tried to share it with them they balked.[xvi]

A disciple is someone who has committed to learn from a master, like an apprentice carpenter would to a master craftsman. The intimacy of the relationship means that everything about the master becomes instructional. Questions can be brought easily and often to the master for inside understanding. We see the disciples frequently approaching Jesus with their head-scratchers after His more perplexing messages. What we don’t see, unless we are looking between the lines, is how their eyes would have been riveted upon Him all day long. How the master goes about doing what He does and why, become as important as the message or the actions. Every look on His face, every inflection of His voice, give clues to the mystery the disciple is seeking to penetrate: the interior thought-life and wisdom of the master. Like Moses before them, these disciples wanted to know, not just the Lord’s deeds, but also His way.[xvii] In this way, they became like Him.

A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Luke 6:40

5. Ministering

Let’s keep this aspect of training disciples in mind as we review Jesus’ ministry to the multitudes. Everywhere He went He saw down-trodden humanity living in spiritual darkness, crippled by disease and shackled by demons. Compassion moved Him into ministry, whether it was by teaching, healing or deliverance. The disciples saw this. They knew that a great love underlay all that Jesus did, not any desire for fame or personal gain. Jesus would have wanted to liberate and heal them all, and He did just that at every opportunity which presented itself.[xviii] But the harvest was far greater than any one person could reach. He, therefore, instructed His followers to pray the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into the harvest.[xix] Then, He answered His own prayer (in part) by training and later sending out His own followers as workers. First, He sent out the twelve, the close circle of hand-picked disciples.[xx] Later, He sent seventy-two more.[xxi] All rejoiced to be able to do what He did!

How did they do it? How did they teach, heal and deliver so successfully? They studied the Master at work. How, then, did Jesus do what He did? First, as we have seen and as they saw first-hand, He waited for compassion to move His heart. They also knew, because He frequently told them, that He did nothing on His own, but always waited upon the Father in prayer for direction and guidance.[xxii] They also knew that His power for miracles, healing and deliverance came through the Holy Spirit resting and remaining upon Him at the time of John’s baptism. He conveyed that Power to them before the cross when He sent them out. Later, He conveyed that same Power to all of us who believe. With these three things in place, He acted. Note, that He never healed, delivered or effected a miracle by petition, only by command. The disciples took note and did the same.

So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” John 11:41-43

As John wrote, Jesus accomplished so much more than could possibly be recorded (quoted above). This overview gives us several instructive perspectives, but it leaves a lot out. Much, for instance, could be written about Jesus’ self-described mission to reveal the Father through everything He said and did. It was clearly a disappointment to Him that even His closest disciples apparently missed that part of the training entirely.[xxiii] It would be interesting, too, to trace the path of Jesus’ journeys. He travelled a lot, going everywhere on foot, except for that final fateful entry into Jerusalem. His forays into territories outside the boundaries of Israel would have left an indelible impression upon His disciples that His message and His works were not just for the Jewish people alone. Good thing we have a lifetime to explore the life and times of our amazing Lord.

Perspective Three: Jesus’ Work at the Cross

At the Cross, Jesus accomplished He greatest work through becoming the atoning sacrifice for all of humanity’s sins. We don’t usually think of suffering as a work and it isn’t in this case either. However, all of us instinctively (and some by personal experience) know that it takes real work on the inside to bear up under suffering bravely and gracefully. Jesus did both. We know, for instance, that it cost Jesus great effort in the Garden in prayer just to be willing to go forward to the cross.[xxiv] It didn’t end there. Once surrendered to the Fathers’ will, He would have had to hold Himself in that position as He passed all the way through the agonies of the cross until death came. He said He could easily have called on angels to deliver Him from it, but it was for this reason that He had come. His great work was to heroically bear up under the full horror of suffering that our Redemption required.

Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? Matthew 26:53

Can we doubt the immensity of the effort required to fully and faithfully receive the punishment that belonged to us? He was not only beaten, whipped and then nailed to the cross. (See “What Jesus Suffered.”) He was made to be our sin. He became one with every sin ever sinned, and then was punished for it! This side of the atonement is the Father’s work. He is the One who put our sins upon His Son.[xxv] He is the One who vented the fullness of His wrath upon Jesus.[xxvi] He is also the One who raised Jesus from the dead.[xxvii] These are the active works of the Father in saving us. Jesus didn’t do this work. He was the passive Victim, willingly receiving our punishment, but actively holding Himself in place. Have any of us known the effort of submission required to “hang in there” faithfully, when problems or pain come against us? Magnify that a trillion-fold and catch the barest glimpse of what the Son of Man summoned up from His great heart to hang on the cross until dead. Only then was His work finished.

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30

More to Explore

His Terrible Death  No one could see it at the time. Jesus had to descend into the abyss of suffering and sin without a guide to lead Him through it, or a friend to cheer Him on. How it must have looked like a colossal mistake, a ghastly travesty of justice. In reality it was the most noble and valiant conquest of a hideous foe—all that is fallen and corrupt in our nature. The innocent Victim became the invincible Victor—even before He died!

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Scriptures: Why Jesus Came (in His Own Words)

“Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:13 ESV (also Mark 2:17)

And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” Mark 1:38 ESV

“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! Luke 12:49 ESV

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” John 6:51 ESV

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. John 8:42 ESV

Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” John 9:39 ESV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10 ESV

“Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28 ESV (also Mark 10:45)

The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Luke 7:34 ESV

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10 ESV

Endnotes

[i] This divine self-emptying of Jesus is called the kenosis: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. Philippians 2:5-7

[ii] Greater works can men greater in kind or greater in number. Perhaps, He meant both:  “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12

[iii] I can say this with an absolute assurance because God the Father has perfect timing, and nowhere could this be more perfectly displayed than through the time allotted for His Son’s life and ministry on earth. Nevertheless, I go on in the paragraph to give a few reasons why just so much time was allowed and no more.

[iv] Jesus actually refers (indirectly) to the three years as seed sowing in this reference which speaks of His impending death:  And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:23-24

[v] So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:67-69

[vi] Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “‘“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ Matthew 13:10-15

[vii] A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. John 13:34

[viii] “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Matthew 5:31-32

[ix] Matthew 22:35-40, Mark 12:28-31, Luke 10:25-28

[x] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

[xi] Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:44-46

[xii] Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Luke 18:24-27

[xiii] Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” Matthew 24:1-2

[xiv] Early Christian historians Eusebius and Epiphanius claim that prior to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70 the Jerusalem Christians fled to the Decapolis city of Pella. Preterist Archive.

[xv] Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.  “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. Matthew 11:20-23

[xvi] This famous rebuke given to Peter shows how little the disciples understood the point of their training for future service without Jesus present:  From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Matthew 16:21-23

[xvii] He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. Psalm 103:7

[xviii] And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them. Matthew 15:30

[xix] And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:35-38

[xx] And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. Mark 6:7

[xxi] After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. Luke 10:1

[xxii] So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. John 5:19

[xxiii] Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? John 14:8-9

[xxiv] In the Garden of Gethsemane, we see Jesus’ hard labor begin. He was always surrendered and obedient to the Father’s will in every aspect of daily life. But the agony of the cross required Him to “learn obedience” at an even greater depth of commitment:  And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. Luke 22:41-43

[xxv] For our sake he [God, the Father] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

[xxvi] Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Isaiah 53:10

[xxvii] God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Acts 2:24 ESV; We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4