Training the Kingdom's Messengers
Jesus spent the last eight years of his life training his followers through personal and public instruction across the Mediterranean and Palestine, developing a training method that combined example, dialogue, practical experience, and parables.
Summary
The last eight years of Jesus’ life were a training period for his believers, beginning in April of 22 CE, with a tour around the Mediterranean. On that tour, he taught individuals he sought out in Rome and other stops along the way. In January of 26 CE, he began training groups of men and women in his homeland, Palestine. These two phases of training, private and public, created a foundation for the religion about Jesus that came into being following his death. Jesus’ training method was fourfold, he taught by example, by question and answer, by actual experience, and by parables. Jesus lived his sublime teachings and that was perhaps his most effective way of training his apostles and disciples. But he was also feared for what he taught and the miracles he performed. The religious authorities were afraid of a divine being claiming to be a "Son of man and a Son of God," someone with such power. He paid with his life for his words and deeds. Despite this resistance, his teachings lived on in those he so thoroughly trained, the many messengers who adored him and carried his saving gospel to the world.