Recipes forLiving Jesus and the Gospel Accounts

James A. Francis D.D. has written a widely quoted resume of the life of Jesus, entitled: “One Solitary Life"

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years, He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of those things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself.

While He was still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while He was dying and that was His coat When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today He is the centerpiece of the human race and the leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched and all the navies that ever were built and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned put together have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has this one solitary life.

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The importance attributed to Jesus was so great that the Christian world divided time before and after his birth - so many years B.C. (before Christ) and so many A.D. (Anno Domini -in the year of our Lord). In his Introduction to The Message, a New Testament in Contemporary Language, Eugene Peterson wrote, "The arrival of Jesus signaled the beginning of a new era. God entered history in a personal way and made it unmistakably clear that he is on our side, doing everything possible to save us. It was all presented and worked out in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus..." He further wrote, in his Introduction to Matthew, "The story of Jesus doesn't begin with Jesus. God had been at work for a long time. Salvation, which is the main business of Jesus, is an old business. Jesus is the coming together in final form of themes and energies and movements that had been set in motion before the foundation of the world."

The old era ended with John, the kingdom era began with Jesus. "The story of Jesus doesn't begin with Jesus" would be supported by the account of those walking to Emmaus when Jesus interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures, beginning with Moses.1

The Gospel According to John speaks of Jesus as the Word of God. To the Hebrew people, words had power. God used only words to command a created world out of a "formless void."2 A man's word was a bond that could not be reversed.3 Words reveal the character of the speaker. Jesus, then, is God's power and the revelation of who God is. William Barclay has

written that if we want to know anything about God-who God is, what God is like, what God' would do in various situations, we look at Jesus. In fact, John defined "incarnation" when he wrote, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word became flesh (became carnal-physical) and lived among us." 4

Jesus' life story is told in four versions entitled, "The Gospel According to---" Church historians record that Jesus' followers began their ministries after being filled with the Holy Spirit and suggest that these men may not actually have written the gospels attributed to them, but this is the message they brought, the sermons they preached to win converts, and direct the formation of the church. It is reasonable to realize that as time passed, there were many converts who had not known Jesus personally, those who had known him were aging, and many were martyred. It would surely have seemed important to preserve memories of him in writing.

Mark's was the earliest gospel to be written. Scholars have dated its writing from 60-70 A.D. By that time believers gathered in small groups that met in homes 6 - the inauguration of the "church." Thus Mark wrote his gospel to these converts, which suggests that his opening statement may have deep implications: "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Could it be that Mark thought of the ministry of Jesus as Part I, with the church continuing all that he did and more7 as Part II?

Mark was not one of the disciples, but closely related to Jesus' ministry. It is believed that he was a young teenager during Jesus' time, that his mother was a dedicated convert to Jesus' ministry, and that the Last Supper took place in an "upper room" of her home. What would be more natural than to think Mark might have listened at the door, perhaps followed the men to Gethsemane, and was himself the one who barely escaped being captured at the time of Jesus' arrest?8

Mark's is an action gospel that plunges immediately into Jesus' baptism, call to disciples, and healing ministry- all in chapter 1. But Mark seldom takes his eyes off the cross. At the beginning of his third chapter, he portrays Jesus' enemies forming. 9 And throughout the gospel, Mark sees Jesus advancing steadily toward the cross.

Mark was involved in the formation of the church. He is referred to as John Mark, cousin of Barnabas, co-worker with Paul.10 John Mark, however, did not complete the first mission journey with them, which caused a controversy between Barnabas and Paul. 11 That the rift was

4 John 1:1, 14

5 John 20:22; Acts 2:1-4

6 1 Cor. 16:19; Col 4:15

7 John 14:12

8 Mark 14:12-16; 51

9 Mark 3:6

10 Acts 12:12; Col. 4:10; Acts 4:36; 13:1,5b

11 Acts 13:13; 15:37

Whether Mark wrote it or preached it, his gospel was apparently for the church, and some scholars have indicated that it was for the church in Rome, which would have included both converted Jews and Gentiles. It is obvious that Matthew's gospel, which appeared in 70-80 A.D., was specifically directed to the Jews, supporting his conviction that Jesus was the long anticipated Messiah referred to by the prophets. He quotes Jesus' statement that he had come to fulfill the law and the prophets, and points it out throughout the gospel. "This was to fulfill ---" is a constant theme.13 It is interesting to note that Matthew's genealogy in chapter 1 traces the line back to Abraham, while Luke's in chapter 3:23f goes all the way back to Adam. The birth story of Jesus is given only in the gospels according to Matthew and Luke. Matthew's, from a male dominated society, tells it from the perspective of Joseph; Luke's, of Mary. 14

Whereas Mark was impressed by all that Jesus did, Matthew seems to focus on what he taught. It is generally agreed that the "Sermon on the Mount," chapters 5 through 7, is a collection of Jesus' teachings rather than a message he delivered at one time. It has not been definitely established that Matthew is the disciple also referred to as Levi but it is thought to be so. If that is the case, he was one of the hated tax collectors, but responded immediately to Jesus' invitation to follow him.15 What is the significance that this gospel has been given first place in the New Testament arrangement?

The Gospel According to Luke and its sequel, the Acts of the Apostles, are the only two books in the entire Bible written by a Gentile. The Gospel is dated about 75 A.D. and the Acts of the Apostles between 75 and 90 A.D. Luke had seen other writings about Jesus and explains the purpose of his report in the opening verses- to arrange events chronologically, and to get his information from eye-witnesses. The possibility that he went to Mary, Jesus' mother, for her account of his birth, makes it very exciting. Luke gives his own first-hand experiences as he speaks of "we" in his travels with Paul.16 It is possible that Luke was Paul's physician, for that was his profession, and Paul had some kind of affliction. 17 The fact that the Acts of the Apostles ends abruptly without telling what happened to Paul, has led scholars to conjecture that Luke may have had in mind a third book which would have dealt with Paul's demise and the development of the church.

Both Matthew and Luke drew heavily upon Mark's work. Of the 666 verses in Mark, Luke has borrowed more than half. That is, 30% of Luke's account is from Mark's Gospel. However, almost half the material in Luke is not to be found anywhere else in the New Testament. Luke's tenderness and compassion become evident in his emphasis on Jesus' ministry to those generally treated as outsiders - women, common laborers, the racially different (Samaritans), and the poor.

13 Matt. 5:17; Matt. 1:22; 2:15,3:15,8:17, 12:17, 13:35, and others including 26:53-54

The Gospel According to John was one of the latest of all the New Testament writings, being dated near the end of the first century or even at the beginning of the second. John had the advantage of nearly 70 years after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, in which to observe and evaluate. The first three gospels are called "synoptic'' because they deal with similar material. They tell what Jesus did, while in John's view, there was in each of Jesus' actions, a revelation with a depth of meaning. The miracles were signs. 18 His purpose for writing was that people might believe that Jesus is Messiah, the Son of God.19

John's emphasis is on spirit- God is Spirit; Jesus would leave his Holy Spirit to accomplish the work that would be left to do. His followers would be able to do all that he had done and more because they would be enabled by his Spirit. Jesus' promise that he would come again had been taken literally by the church, but John saw that Jesus had already returned in spirit to all who believed.20 In John the emphasis is on love- God so loved that he gave... Jesus left but one commandment, that we love as he loved.21 He gave commandment and example.

But the important message is not that we know about Jesus, but that we know Jesus. He is in the present tense through his Spirit. He is this day available as friend, counselor, and guide, the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8).