still reading it through his assumption that he would be a Davidic-like Messiah who would kick the Romans out of Palestine. The Gospels were written to answer one question more than any other: The question is: Who is this Jesus? What is the answer to this question? in his infinite wisdom this question God decided to answer in four different ways. If you want to know who Jesus really to you is: 1) is, God’s response “Ask Matthew, 2) Mark, 3) Luke, and 4) John!” God chose not to give us only one record of life, teaching, and passion; he Jesus’ decided to give us four. These four Gospels are four complementary on the same events. Each Gospel emphasizes certain things about perspectives Jesus that the others do not emphasize. Illustration: It is not so different from the French impressionist artist Claude Monet who did series paintings. He would paint the same landscape or bridge from different perspectives—say four different perspectives—in different seasons, with different lighting. Each painting is unique, but the landscape is the same in each instance. Now imagine that he did a series of portraits of a person. Actually, I think Picasso may have done four self-portraits (though Picasso was something else altogether!). The Gospel writers are similar. They select and emphasize certain events and from the life of Jesus to help us to see Jesus more clearly while at the teachings same time representing what actually happened correctly. of the Gospel writers All were interested in demonstrating that Jesus was the Messiah that the Jewish people had been waiting for. But they also emphasize certain things that give us a much clearer picture of Jesus than we ever could have gotten if we had had only one Gospel instead of four. The different emphases of the four Gospel writers is a huge topic in and of itself that could take all 12 weeks of our New Testament Fluency class, but let me use the chorus of our Gospels song to lead us through just a few thoughts about what the Gospel writers emphasize. Our first Matthew, Jesus is the portrait: Matthew: “In King.” Matthew is the of the four Gospels, and you probably would do most Jewish well every time you see in Matthew to retranslate it as “Christ” written
still reading it through his assumption that he would be a Davidic-like Messiah who would kick the Romans out of Palestine. The Gospels were written to answer one question more than any other: The question is: Who is this Jesus? What is the answer to this question? God in his infinite wisdom decided to answer this question in four different ways. If you want to know who Jesus really is, God’s response to you is: “Ask 1) Matthew, 2) Mark, 3) Luke, and 4) John!” God chose not to give us only one record of Jesus’ life, teaching, and passion; he decided to give us four. These four Gospels are four complementary perspectives on the same events. Each Gospel emphasizes certain things about Jesus that the others do not emphasize. Illustration: It is not so different from the French impressionist artist Claude Monet who did series paintings. He would paint the same landscape or bridge from different perspectives—say four different perspectives—in different seasons, with different lighting. Each painting is unique, but the landscape is the same in each instance. Now imagine that he did a series of portraits of a person. Actually, I think Picasso may have done four self-portraits (though Picasso was something else altogether!). The Gospel writers are similar. They select and emphasize certain events and teachings from the life of Jesus to help us to see Jesus more clearly while at the same time representing what actually happened correctly. All of the Gospel writers were interested in demonstrating that Jesus was the Messiah that the Jewish people had been waiting for. But they also emphasize certain things that give us a much clearer picture of Jesus than we ever could have gotten if we had had only one Gospel instead of four. The different emphases of the four Gospel writers is a huge topic in and of itself that could take all 12 weeks of our New Testament Fluency class, but let me use the chorus of our Gospels song to lead us through just a few thoughts about what the Gospel writers emphasize. Our first portrait: Matthew: “In Matthew, Jesus is the King.” Matthew is the most Jewish of the four Gospels, and you probably would do well every time you see “Christ” written in Matthew to retranslate it as