Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - Essay Example

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John Affiliation Many people believe that the Bible contains parables and stories, and each book is a continuation of the previous book. The fact of the matter is that this continuation or parable driven books are for the most part the Bible. However, there are four books, the first four of the New Testament. These are the Gospels and are known as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These four books tell the story of Jesus' life and death and all his miraculous works. These four disciples wrote from his point of view and while three follow each other in complete unison, one does not. Matthew, Mark and Luke are the Synoptic Gospels because they are written very much alike, while John seems to stand back and view the same events in a different perspective. The overall major theme found in these first Gospels is the teaching of the way in which humans are to live as instructed by God through Jesus Christ. He was not just here to give an example of how to act, but to teach those who would listen and believe the truth and the way to salvation. He taught that through faith one could have salvation and through deed one would be following God's instructions on life. Even in persecution and death Jesus remained faithful and forever the teacher, telling the disciples to go to the ends of the world and teach what He taught them. This discussion will enlighten the basic concepts, parables and points of view in relation to Jesus and His word. According to Matthew, Jesus visited Bethany prior to being arrested in Gethsemane. It was during this time in Bethany that the disciples were told by Jesus that He would soon be leaving their presence, and that they needed to prepare to take God's word and spread it across the land (Koester 1995). Jesus knew at this time as well that the chief priests were preparing and planning for the most opportune time to arrest Jesus without causing a riot among His believers. While the time is a little off between the Gospels the important difference of this part of the story is the kiss from Judas. In Matthew it mentions that Judas greets Jesus with a kiss that is also the mark of his betrayal. The other Gospels mention the kiss, but have no mention of the initial greeting between Jesus and Judas. Some scholars speculate that Matthew retained more of his Jew background than the other disciples which will explain his mentioning and using Jew traditions as ways to tell the story. However others believe that the greeting before the kiss is just a function of literature that makes the event more believable to the followers of Jesus. During the last supper Jesus tells the disciples one of them would deny him three times, and another would betray him. Even at this point Judas knew Jesus was talking about him. He had already received the 30 silver pieces and was just waiting for the right time to take the soldiers to Jesus. Jesus told Judas to "do what you have to do." The time came at within days at the garden of Gethsemane. This betrayal of disciple and Jesus reinforces the message that Judas was fulfilling the Scriptures by betraying Jesus. Matthew's insistence that Jesus continued to adhere to many traditional forms of Jewish piety, and that he advanced the true interpretation of the Law of Moses, suggest that the author himself and some, perhaps most, of his audience were Jewish. After being arrested, Jesus is taken to see Pontus Pilate. Each of the books talks about the questioning at this time. The main difference is that fact that Matthew conveys that Pontus Pilate puts Jesus under oath of the "living God" and then asks Him if He is the Messiah. This line of questioning follows suit because at the time some Jewish and Christian groups thought Jesus was a human rabbinic teacher whom God had made into a great prophet (McGuckin 2004). According to Ehrman, the community in which Mark lived would have been the first people to have heard the word of God through Mark. He or someone in the temple would have read it to the masses since the majority of people in Mark's community would have been illiterate, and the majority were still Jewish and not yet converted to Christianity from Judaism (Ehrman 2004). The Author of Mark made it point to write things in a way that those who were not Christians would be able to easily comprehend, and not to pushy. The author does this by writing the Gospel in the form of being extremely blunt and condensed, very matter-of-factly instead of hiding behind parables. Just before the arrest of Jesus, the Gospel of Mark discusses the last supper briefly before following the scripture to the arrest of Jesus. Only during the event of the arrest does Mark stray into a parable, full of underlying meanings that only the faithful of Jesus could understand. The parable begins with the young man in a loin cloth that just appears at the garden of Gethsemane during the arrest. Many scholars believe this is the representation of the disciple and his loin cloth is the representation of authority, faith, and the belief in Jesus and God's Word. By taking off his loin cloth and running away, he represents the loss of faith and the desertion of the disciples from Jesus. Thinking about those who are hearing this story, especially the end of that passage in the narrative would draw question as to why was this guy following Jesus and His disciples Who was he Why is he only mentioned in such a short part in the passage He is only there for those who need to see that through Jesus only faith is needed, but when faith is lost, the human has nothing and is alone in the dark. The next difference between the Gospels is found in Luke. In all the Gospels, Jesus is seized, beaten, blindfolded, and when accused of knowing Jesus, Peter denies his involvement with Jesus three times, just as Jesus prophesized at the last supper. However, in Luke the chronological order of events differ just a bit from the other Gospels. Luke begins his Gospel by mentioning the earlier written accounts of Jesus' life. He acknowledges that that both he and his predecessors acquired their information from the Christians who had told their stories about him and the other disciples. Again, Luke's audience will hear rather than read the Gospel, because many are illiterate and Jewish. (Ehrman 2004). The author in Luke tells Jesus' story through his parables, and through these parables His wisdom and divinity can be seen. Luke is very similar in the events that led up to the arrest and the arrest itself; however, the dialogues and discussions are different. For an example, in Luke, Peter exclaims "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death." Luke is the only Gospel in which any of the disciples are willing to make a strong commitment Jesus. This is obvious when in the other three Gospels, Peter only says, "Lord, I will deny you not." There are many other distinct characteristics in Luke. One such difference is seen when Jesus went off to pray and an angel from heaven comes down and gave him strength. Another is when Judas returns to the garden to kiss Jesus so that the soldiers will know who to arrest. Jesus said to him, "Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man" Yet another example used in Luke is the moment that one of the high priests is struck in the ear by a sword and Jesus healed it. These situations, while found in the other Gospels, are revamped and reworded to be a different perspective in Luke. In the Gospel of Luke, even the denial of Peter is changed and becomes more of a parable rather than an actual event, but in the end of the book of Luke all is revealed. Despite the important and significant differences among the Synoptic Gospels, they hold more in common than the fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John (Tamas 1991). Matthew, Mark, and Luke are often said that "[t]hese stories make up the backbone of the Synoptic account of Jesus" (McGuckin 2004). What most casual readers of the New Testament do not realize is that John discusses different events and concepts than the other three Gospels. In fact it is said that "...[t]he majority of John's stories are unique to John; they are found nowhere else...[t]he differences between John and the Synoptic Gospels are perhaps even more striking in stories that they have in common" (Ehrman 2004). The Gospel of John is more so like a prayer, especially prior to the arrest of Jesus. It is written to sound as if it is Jesus praying to God in regard to the events that are about to unfold to give believers salvation from sin. Some believe John to be the prayer that Jesus is saying when He finds His disciples asleep in the garden. Others view this Gospel as the moment when the disciples' eyes are opened and they finally begin to have an understanding of His teaching and how they are to live their lives. There is not mention in the Gospel of John of an angel giving Jesus strength or of the kiss from Judas, but the ramifications of the message are boundless and representative of the faith and life of believers. In conclusion, it is thought that the Gospel of Mark is the oldest of the Gospels, and was used by the authors of Luke and Matthew. Most of Mark's content is found in Luke and Matthew, even though the differences in the beginnings of each Gospel and endings of each Gospel are apparent. The purpose of these Gospels was to accommodate a particular type of crowd or community without losing substance. The books had to portray and tell a particular tale and the audience was the foundation as to the best way to tell the story. Some of the Gospels seem similar because their audiences were similar, but each has its own hold and it own way of telling the instructions of Jesus for everlasting life, it is just a matter of finding the Gospel that fits their personality of the believer. REFERENCES Ehrman, Bart D. The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. 3rd Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Koester, Helmut. Introduction to the New Testament: History, Culture, and Religion of the Hellenistic Age. 2nd Edition. Vol. One. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1995. Mack, Burton L. Who Wrote the New Testament The Making of Christian Myth. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1995. McGuckin, John A. The Westminster Handbook to Patristic Theology. London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. Tamas, Richard. The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World. New York: Ballantine Books, 1991. Read More