During Jesus’s Life, the Religion was a central issue. Between the civic Religion, the emperor cult and other voluntary cults, some figures (Philosophers, itinerant Technicians) tried to preach their own viewpoints of God. Jesus was just one of these figures, he was not more important than the others.

As a first century reader, I would see Jesus as I see the other figures like Apollonius of Tyana. Great ancestors (Luke wrote that Jesus will be the descendent of Adam, father of all, and Abraham), unusual birth and death (Son of a Virgin mother Mary. He knew that he would die but he didn’t try to escape his own death. He accepted death for others, which is a noble death), remarkable words and deeds (Matthew described him as a teacher of moral attitudes and great behavior. Every gospel attribute to Jesus some deeds. At least, everything is here to convince me that Jesus is the real Messiah. But as I said, a lot of very similar figures appeared at this time. He was just another one. And I think it would not be enough to convert me into a Christian. Maybe it would depend of my initial situation.

One of the source which helped Matthew and Luke to write their own Gospel was Mark’s Gospel. But Mark’s Gospel contains a lot of blank about Jesus’s life (Birth, etc.). Matthew and Luke added elaborate stories in their own gospel to, according to me, make Jesus a Divine Figure and not a human person with weaknesses and emotions. Moreover, stories which are contained in Matthew’s Gospel described Jesus as the son of God, with Divine powers, to encourage people to follow Jesus’s teachings. For example, in Matthew 9:21-22 « Jesus knew immediately who touched him, picked her out of the crowd, and said to her, « courage my daughter your faith has restored you to health » ». Clearly, believed in Jesus is a way to live better.

So for Christian people who believe in Jesus in this very hostile world (persecutions, hatred…), these gospels (Matthews and Luke) these stories helped them to resist the oppressor. They had the truth, they followed God’s son teachings whom was raised from death and who promised to his followers’ eternal life. They didn’t fear death because of him, they could face that hard life, full of persecutions, and eventually death because of him, because he is the son of God.