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Chapter 7. The Good News: God Has Sent His Son • 79
Toussaint was motivated by profound love of Jesus Christ, and his inspiring
story aptly leads us to a prayerful study of our blessed Lord.
•
GOSPEL PORTRAITS OF JESUS
If we want to know Jesus, we should know the Scripture. This is cer-
tainly true about the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which
were written “that you may [come to] believe that Jesus is the Messiah,
the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his
name” (Jn 20:31).
We ponder Christ’s person and his earthly words and deeds in terms
of
mystery
. His earthly life reveals his hidden divine Sonship and plan
for our salvation. His parables, miracles, sermons, and wisdom sayings
help us “to see our God made visible, and so we are caught up in love of
the God we cannot see” (First Preface for Christmas).
The Gospels tell us a lot of what we know about Jesus. In two of the
Gospels, we hear of his birth in the town of Bethlehem, to a young virgin
named Mary. None of the Gospels tell much of the first thirty years of
his life. We know he lived in the town of Nazareth with his mother and
foster father, St. Joseph, and that he learned to be a carpenter like his
foster father. The Gospels concentrate mostly on the events of his public
life or ministry, which began when he was around the age of thirty. Jesus
spent the last three years of his life traveling around the lands of ancient
Israel, teaching the people of the Kingdom of God and confirming his
identity as the Son of God through the miracles and wonders he per-
formed. He gathered around him many disciples from whom he selected
twelve who became the Apostles.
In the Gospels, we see and hear Jesus summon others to accept, live,
and share the Kingdom of God. The proclamation of the Kingdom of
God was fundamental to Jesus’ preaching. The Kingdom of God is his
presence among human beings calling them to a new way of life as indi-
viduals and as a community. This is a Kingdom of salvation from sin and
a sharing in divine life. It is the Good News that results in love, justice,
and mercy for the whole world. The Kingdom is realized partially on