Jesus grew up in Nazareth, a city of about 15,000 in the province of Galilee. It was a stopping place on a great highway between Jerusalem and the seaports of Tyre and Sidon. Vice and crime were so common that people said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Jesus saw the sinfulness: the selfishness, corruption, cruelty, and rebellion against God. He saw that men and women were slaves of sin.
Moses was a great prophet and leader. He led his people out of slavery and gave them the laws of God. God showed Moses that the Messiah would also be a prophet to give God’s message to the people. He would lead people out of the slavery of sin. He would be King of their lives and give them new rules to live by.
There were two ways to leave an inheritance: by a will, or by gifts to the heirs while the owner was still living. The younger son was anxious to get away from home to enjoy life in his own way. He wanted to choose his own friends. He didn’t want his father or brother telling him what to do. So the father gave him his part of the inheritance, and he left home.
The main religious leaders hated Jesus because He preached against their sins. They were jealous because crowds followed Him. They decided to arrest Jesus, accuse Him of being a revolutionary, and have Him put to death. However, they were afraid that if they arrested Jesus openly the crowds would defend Him. So they bribed one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, to lead them to Jesus at night.
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, religious leaders who believed in Jesus, got permission from Pilate to bury Jesus. They knew He was dead because, just to be sure, one of the soldiers had plunged a spear into His side. They wrapped the body in grave clothes, put it into a new burial cave, and rolled a big stone over the entrance. Nicodemus remembered Jesus’ words: that He must be "lifted up," crucified.