Jesus through the Gospels

Résumé du document

Every Christian knows about Jesus and the main events concerning his life: how he was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, how he was baptized by John the Baptist, how he healed many people, how he taught the crowds who came to listen to him and how he died on a cross after being betrayed. One can add some details to this general overview of Jesus' life. However, it is hard for most people to tell the differences between the four canonical Gospels in the way they describe the Christ. According to Frank J. Matera, "when we examine the story of Jesus that most people relate, it becomes apparent that their account of Jesus is a tapestry woven from materials taken from each of the four gospels.? He adds that some famous stories like the Sermon on the Mount, the parable of the Good Samaritan or the raising of Lazarus occur only in one of the Four Gospels. Indeed, Matthew, Luke, Mark and John's versions of the events that occurred in Palestinia two thousand years ago are quite different and sometimes contradict each other.

Extraits

[...] There is also a good focus on the different gospels that enhances the particularities of each. The titles of some chapters tend to show this will of the author: “Jean the suffering Son of God: The Gospel according to “Jesus, the Jewish Messiah: The Gospel according to Matthew”, “Jesus, the Savior of the World: the Gospel according to “Jesus, the Man Sent from Heaven: The Gospel according to John”. There are also chapters which focus on the different views of Jesus given by the Gnostic Gospels: “Jesus from Different Perspectives: Other Gospels in Early Christianity”. [...]

[...] One must notice that only Matthew and Luke wrote an infancy narrative. Matthew's portrait stresses the idea that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, born from the house of David. Indeed, the infancy narrative thus enables to “root Jesus in the story of Israel.”[8] The flight to Egypt draws the parallel with the story of Israel and its exile there. Matthew often quotes the Scriptures in order to show that the life of Jesus follows the prophecy. Moreover, he presents Jesus as a righteous teacher, whose ministry does not aim at abolishing the Law, but at teaching the righteousness: “Jesus is a New Moses.”[9] The gospel of Luke also seems to follow Mark's and Matthew's gospels, however the information it gives often differs from those contained in Matthew. [...]

[...] Jesus through the Gospels Tom Flynn, “Matthew versus Free Inquiry, December 2004 January p.34-35. Every Christian knows Jesus and the main events of his life: how he was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, how he was baptised by John the Baptist, how he healed many people, how he taught the crowds who came to listen to him and how he died on a cross after being betrayed. One can add some details to this general overview of Jesus' life. [...]

[...] The study of the apocrypha documents is also interesting but it reinforces the idea that there is a kind of unity between the canonical texts. The similarities are indeed quite important and cannot be forgotten. The early Christians considered this diversity among the Four Gospels as a problem. Therefore, Tatian, in the second century, attempted to write a single story with the four different ones. This work was called the Diatesseron. Yet, the Church condemned it and forbade its liturgical reading. [...]

[...] John is a disciple of Jesus, the brother of James and the Son of Zebedee. He is described as the beloved disciple in the fourth gospel: disciple that Jesus loved” (Jn 13.23 -25). John's picture of Jesus differs from the synoptic one. The purposes of John are not obvious but the specialists have suggested that the gospel intended to: record the testimony of an apostle, to supplement the synoptics, to “discourage Christians from maintaining contact with the Jewish synagogue”[12], or to insist on the human nature of Jesus. [...]