The Gospel of John - Essay Example

They had a small conversation before the baptism rites. Then immediately after the baptism, the Holy Spirit came to Him in a form of a dove and God's voice from heaven was heard saying that Jesus is his beloved Son and with whom he is very happy. The narration is the same with Mark's Gospel with regard to the descent of the Holy Spirit (in a form of a dove) and the voice from God. However, the conversation between Jesus and John the Baptist is omitted. For Luke's Gospel, the narration is same with the first two Gospels in terms of the descent of the Holy Spirit and God's voice from heaven.

The baptismal rites in Luke's Gospel involved groups of people who were also baptized with Jesus. On the other hand, the narration in the Gospel of John is different from the first three Gospels. Jesus' baptism was mentioned by John the Baptist to have happened before. Meaning the actual baptism of Jesus is not narrated by John but it is mentioned through the testimony of John the Baptist to Jesus. The descent of the Holy Spirit is symbolized in John's Gospel as the sign that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God.

Another is that, John did not directly mention that John the Baptist is the one who baptized Jesus. As quoted in John's Gospel, John the Baptist mentions the manifestations of Jesus' divinity: "I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky a. Works and Miracles of Jesus John DePoe describes Jesus as a paradoxically Messiah because Jesus performs his miracles as manifestation of him being the Messiah. However at the same time, he commands his apostles and believers not to speak with them.

The author asks this question: "Why does he bother with proving himself as the Messiah, if he is only going to hide it" (DePoe, p.4) In the gospel of Mark, the Messianic secret is seen. On Mark Chapter 8, verses 27 to 30, Jesus asked his disciples on their way to the villages of Caesarea Philippi who do the people think he is. His disciples answered him by saying that he is John the Baptist, Elijah, and one of the prophets. Then, Jesus asked Peter of who he thinks Jesus is. Peter answered that he is the Messiah.

Upon hearing it, Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone about it. Another occurrence of the Messianic secret is seen on Mark Chapter 1, verses 40 to 45. A man with leprosy approached Jesus and asked him to heal his sickness. Jesus responded by touching the leper and healed his illness. Before the leper left, Jesus warned him by saying that he must not tell anyone, anything but asked him to show to the priests and present an offer for his cleansing. However, the cleansed man still spread what Jesus as done to him which prevented Jesus from entering a town because of lots of people who seek for his miracle deeds.

(The New American Bible, Gospel of Mark) On the other hand, John the Evangelist shows the Jesus' marvelous deeds through the Seven Signs. In John Chapter 2, verses 1-12, Jesus did his first miracle in the Wedding at Cana. Even if Jesus was not ready to perform miracles, the request of his mother, Blessed Virgin