This is a chart of the progress of Jesus’ earthly life. It is intended to be printed on an 11 x 17 sheet of paper but could be resized to fit a legal-sized sheet (8½ x 11).

The chart of Christ’s Earthly Ministry is based on the following book: Thomas, Robert L., and Stanley N. Gundry. A Harmony of the Gospels: New American Standard Edition. San Francisco, CA: HarperOne, 1986, available on Amazon. (Note: The chart numbers designating the Sections in the Harmony will not fit other versions of the Harmony. For example, there is an NIV version, but that Harmony will not fit the chart).

Begin to follow the chart at the upper right-hand corner at the yellow “Start” arrow. This puts you at the point where Jesus was about 30 years old and was just entering His ministry. Since the chart is focused on those three and half years of Jesus’ public ministry, it does not include the birth of Jesus or His early years. It begins Jesus’ life with the statement in Luke 3:23 that “When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age (Section 27 in the Harmony).

Reading of the chart begins in the upper right-hand corner with the yellow arrow. Proceed clockwise around the circle, passing through the Introduction to Jesus’s Ministry, years 1, 2, and 3, ending up at the top of the circle. The box titled “Jesus’ Final Week” gives the events during Jesus’ last week, day by day, and following the resurrection.

The boxes on the lower left of the chart describe the yellow and blue circles on the chart. The box with the green border describes the breakdown of Jesus’ life into years. Using John’s time frame, we determine that Jesus’s ministry lasted about three and a half years. Those years are marked by the Passovers at the quarter points on the chart.

The numbers around the inner edge of the circle of the chart, the numbers in the boxes on the lower left, and the numbers on the ends of lines in the box, “Jesus’ Final Week,” correspond to the Section numbers in the Harmony. The chart begins with the ministry of John the Baptist in Section 24, page 36.

A major transition occurs in Jesus’ life and ministry in the latter part of the second year. Beginning with the “First Public Rejection” (Section 78-79), Jesus began to adjust His program from proclaiming that He had come to bring in a kingdom to turning His attention to the training of the disciples in light of the fact that the kingdom, and the King, had been rejected by Israel. During His last year, therefore, Jesus focused on the training and equipping of His disciples in preparation for His leaving them (in Acts 1).

One great motivation for the study of the life of Jesus is found in Paul’s statement of God’s purpose for our lives as found in Romans 8:29, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.” Since God’s goal for believers is to conform our lives to the character of His Son, we need to look thoroughly at the life we are to imitate (note God’s original design for man in Genesis 1:26-28). The careful teaching of the disciples by Jesus in the last year of His ministry should be fundamental to our own growth as disciples. We cannot go out and make disciples, as commanded in the Great Commission (Matt 28:16-20), if we are not growing as disciples ourselves. Plus, we need to know what Jesus taught since that is the ministry we have been given in the Great Commission.

MJ Smith, Ph.D., 2024