Dive In: John

“If only I could have talked to Jesus….” Kim was wistful in her longing. “I wish God would talk to me today so I could hear him like I hear you.”

We long for that personal touch, don’t we? Many are sure belief would be easier if they had lived in Jesus’ time.

How do we learn about events when we weren’t present for the happening? Often we seek out an eyewitness account. The news media is trained to search for eyewitnesses. The legal world prizes the eyewitness in a court case. The impossible is a little more likely if someone actually saw it happen.

John’s gospel takes a new direction from the synoptics (Matthew, Mark and Luke). John makes his purpose clear in John 20:31:

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 20:31

He writes so that others may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and so receive eternal life.

John leaves out much of the synoptic material and includes material unique to his gospel, evoking plenty of questions about his purpose. Was John writing to correct the synoptics? To supplement them? Why is his central theme so different from the synoptics?

Who did he write to? The Greek word that could be translated “continue to believe” or “now believe” appears well over 20 times in John. Scholars debate John’s audience. Was he writing evangelically, to move non-Christians to belief? Or was he writing to Christians, urging them to continue in their belief? There are many theories.

In the last 100 years, scholars suggest that John wrote to evangelize Gentiles while others say John wrote to evangelize Greek-speaking Jews of the Diaspora (those scattered). Most probably, John’s purpose was to evangelize Jews and Gentiles while encouraging Christians. The same arguments that could cause one to come to faith would cause another to continue in that faith.

John’s gospel is fascinating in its uniqueness. He chose seven signs – indicating in 21:25 that there were many more – to make specific points about Jesus’ authority. Those seven miracles showed Jesus’ power over nature, time, distance, quantity – those things that seem impossible to overcome, thereby showing Jesus’ divinity.

For the many who would question Jesus’ divinity, John tackled the topic head-on with eye-witness reports on Jesus’ power.

Those who doubted the divinity of Jesus had to explain John’s eyewitness reports. John saw the signs personally.

John 2:23 summarizes the process: many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.

People were eyewitnesses: they saw Jesus’ work and they believed.

Today, we have those eyewitness reports. Who needs to read John today?

Dive In: Luke

The third gospel, Luke’s report, takes a different tack than either Matthew or Mark. Luke was not an eyewitness of Jesus’ life and makes clear in the first four verses of his gospel that his purpose is to present an orderly, well-researched and truthful account of Jesus’ ministry.

Luke was a well-educated man, a Gentile, and an historian. He seems to be writing largely to Gentiles in Syrian Antioch as a shepherd or pastor, although scholars suggest he had three more purposes: to make a historical record, to teach theological truths, and to defend Jesus’ teachings.

Christians in Rome were accused of being law-breakers, because they considered God’s Word to be above Roman law. Luke may have been explaining and defending Christian practices to the Romans.

Luke wrote a lot. The gospel and Acts make up nearly half of the New Testament. A brilliant historian/writer, Luke’s research and attention to detail is amazing. His command of Greek is impressive.

While Matthew aimed his universality at getting Jews to see outside their Jewish limits, Luke’s universality was aimed at Gentiles and social outcasts. He cared for people, especially the poor and outsider.

Matthew concentrated on Jesus and the Kingdom (Jesus as King) and Mark focused on Jesus as Servant God. Luke concentrated on Jesus and the people.

Luke emphasized Jesus’ humanity, including His compassion for the unclean, women, sick and poor. Luke also emphasized Jesus’ role as savior and teacher. Luke includes 15 unique parables and devotes a huge chunk of his gospel to the gospel teaching of Jesus, including 28 parables.

Today many confuse Jesus with a moral teacher or a strict disciplinarian. Luke paints a different story. Through Luke’s account, we see Jesus as the lover of the poor and downtrodden.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at John.

Dive In: Mark

Mark’s gospel, considered by scholars for centuries to be a “Reader’s Digest” version of Matthew (sort of a Matthew lite) , has finally begun to receive attention in its own right.

The gospel, an action-filled, picturesque telling of parts of Jesus’ life, is thought to be accurate but probably not in strict chronological order.

Mark was an assistant to Peter and traveled with him as the early church was being established. Some interesting things about the author: He belonged to one of the founding families of the Christian church, he was an eyewitness to Jesus’ death and resurrection, he experienced failure in his own discipleship (he abandoned Paul on his first missionary journey and probably fled when Jesus was arrested), and he was a companion of both Peter and Paul.

Why did Mark write his gospel? There are many suggestions: as an instruction book for new converts, to clearly establish Jesus as Messiah, to encourage persecuted Christians, to reveal Jesus’ influence by emphasizing his miracles.

Mark’s theme is simple: following Jesus. He writes an action-filled gospel, moving quickly from story to story, emphasizing Jesus’ works – including miracles – over His teachings. Jesus proved his clout through his actions in the book of Mark. Jesus is worth following through difficulty and sacrifice, Mark shows, because he has authority and power.

The gospel has much to say about the failures of Peter and the failures of the disciples. Yet the forgiveness and redemption of God’s supremacy shine through the narrative. Mark had failed Jesus more than once. He had special sensitivity to the mercy and forgiveness of Jesus, as did Peter, and included that insight in his gospel- an insight that would encourage some modern-day readers.

Who might be encouraged by reading Mark today?

Tomorrow, Luke.

Dive In: Matthew

Why the book of Matthew?

The Gospel of Matthew, probably written by Mathew who was one of the “lesser” apostles and also a tax collector (not exactly an honored profession in first-century Palestine), reveals the viewpoint of a man familiar with money, organization, and vice – a tax collector.

The most common assumption is that the evangelist wrote to Jews to convince them that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Yet the book is not that simple. On one hand, there are many references to Old Testament text to prove Jesus fulfilled prophecy. Matthew stresses Jesus’ role as son of David, His genealogy, Jewish customs and traditions.

Yet Matthew also emphasizes the universalism of Jesus’ ministry, including four Gentile women (and some with questionable pasts - like Matthew) in Jesus’ genealogy and recounting parables that predict the end of the Jewish leadership. The Great Commission at the end of Matthew shows the disciples sent to “all nations” not just Jews. Those don’t seem like the approach of a man focused only on the Jews. Was he writing to Jews or to all?

Scholars debate Matthew’s purpose, since he doesn’t specifically list it, as did Luke and John. Matthew may have been written to evangelize the Jews. Or perhaps as a manual to help disciple new believers. Was the gospel written as an apologetic manual to debate the Jews? Or as a church manual? Perhaps the gospel was meant to be a help for the persecuted church. Many scholars think it is an intricate weaving of most, if not all, those purposes.

Matthew brought a distinct viewpoint, that of a disciple rescued from a stained past where he had been rejected by his own people. Did his gospel reflect a second chance?

Who would be drawn to such a treatment of Jesus’ life? Would an artist? An engineer? A free spirit? Would the family downtrodden by tragedy rush to Matthew for some compassion and insight?

What do you think?

Tomorrow, we’ll look at Mark.

Dive In: the gospels

Skeptics are not a modern development. Cain heard God but ignored his warning. Noah was alone among earth’s people who honored God.

When Jesus encountered future disciples in the first chapter of John, he responded to questions with a simple “come and see.” He drew skeptics to himself.

So should we. But not to ourselves, in spite of what we sometimes think. Our task is to point them to Jesus.

Answers are found in the presence of Jesus, which is found in the gospels.

If we’re going to grapple with questions about the nature of God, the gospels bring us a tapestry of Jesus’ life and ministry. And Jesus was clear that he was the way to the Father. The gospels are the avenue to Jesus. We have to understand them.

Which brings me to my topic for today: why are there four gospels? There’s more in that question than you might think.

If the goal of the gospels is to present a historically accurate, chronological account of the life of Jesus, then there wouldn’t seem to be a need for four gospels. One could do that. But since there are four gospels, and they have been endorsed as canonical and inspired by God, we must dig deeper.

The gospels are not to be seen only as different views of the same historical account. How does one account for the gospel differences, especially those that seem contradictory? How does one explain why a gospel includes certain accounts and leaves others out?

For most of church history, scholars believed that the gospels were meant to harmonize. In other words, they were certain that if you read the resurrection story in all four gospels, you could piece them together to get the complete story. That implies each gospel is incomplete without the others. That could have presumptuous implications.

The thinking has changed. Today, many assume that the first-century writers had different audiences, different purposes, and different talents. Although the gospels address the same basic narrative – Jesus’ life on earth – they are not incomplete apart from each other.

Each gospel has unique purpose, audience, style, form, content and theology. Each evangelist wrote from his own gifting and viewpoint, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Today begins a short series on each gospel. I will include an overview of the purpose of each gospel and also some ideas on whom in the modern audience might be drawn to a particular gospel presentation.

If we’re intent on shining light on this world, we must show them Jesus. That’s the battle point, where the tension arises. Jesus is not safe, like some watery references to a higher being might be. When we bring up Jesus, we establish the front line of the spiritual battle.

That’s why we need to know the gospels.

Tomorrow, we’ll start with Matthew.

We’ll discover who he wrote to and what his purpose what. And hopefully when we’d want to direct someone to the first gospel.