Understanding the Gospels

The Gospels

• Gospels are written records of Christ's deeds, originating from the Old English term "god-spel," meaning "Good News."
• Canonical Gospels were authorized by the Roman Catholic Church: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
• “Synoptic” comes from Greek, meaning ‘seeing together', including all Gospels except John.
• Gospels were originally distributed orally.

Authorship and Inspiration

• The Bible was written by many God-inspired people, including Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
• It took about two centuries to compile the books of the Bible, with God being the true inspiration.

Interpretation

• The Bible is considered the true word of God, necessitating attentive interpretation of scripture to discern God's revelations.
• The Old and New Testaments serve to both differentiate salvation and revelation and unify them to illuminate the true word of God.
• The Bible is believed to nourish and govern the Christian Community, known as the Body of the Lord.

Inerrancy

• The Bible is considered completely perfect and without error due to divine influence, perfectly teaching saving truth.

Catholic vs. Protestant Bible

• The Catholic Bible contains 27 New Testament books and 46 Old Testament books, including Deuterocanonical Books and added sections of Esther and Daniel.
• The Protestant Bible consists of 27 New Testament books and 39 Old Testament books.

Bible Organization

• The Old Testament includes:
  • Pentateuch
  • Historical Books
  • Wisdom and Poetry Books
  • Major and Minor Writing Prophets.
• Other sections of the Bible include:
  • Gospel and Acts
  • Epistles
  • Pastorals
• Primary sources of information about Jesus are found in the New Testament.

Gospel Composition and Variation

• Each Gospel varies in terms of the life and teachings of Jesus, and has different author, intended audience and focus:

Mark

• Shortest Gospel.
• Written by a disciple of St. Peter, likely John Mark, around 60 CE in Rome, Italy.
• Targeted persecuted Gentile Christians depicting Jesus as the suffering Son of God.
• Written after the persecution by Emperor Nero, to produce a written record of Jesus.
• Mark's Jesus is portrayed as a man in a hurry, relatable, comfortable, constantly on the move, and surrounded by crowds and is moved by compassion, but gets angry.
• There is no mention of Jesus' birth or childhood.

Matthew

• Presents Jesus as a teacher and the new Moses.
• Written for a Jewish congregation in Syria, forming of Jesus as the Messiah and fulfillment of Hebrew Scriptures.
• Highlights Jesus' origin story from Joseph's lineage.
• Sermon of the Mount is very similar to the Collection of the Law by Moses.
• Organized into five parts, preceded by a narrative, teachings, and conclusion.
• Written for Christian Jews defending Jesus as the Messiah, focused on Jesus as a teaching savior.

Luke

• The longest gospel.
• Written around 80CE in Achaia, Greece by a disciple of St. Paul.
• Described Jesus as the compassionate Saviour of the whole world for oppressed, poor, and marginalized Gentile Christians.
• Luke handles a diversity of themes, gives women a prominent role, framing them as equal and focuses heavily on the Holy Spirit.
• Showcases Jesus as a friend and advocate to those considered social outcasts by telling the stories of the Good Samaritan and the cleansing of the Ten Lepers.
• Luke softens the Gospel, giving it an aura of kindness even in tragedy and mayhem.

John

• Written around 90CE in Ephesus, Turkey.
• Demonstrated Jesus as the life-giving Son of God from Heaven.
• Written for Christian Jews in conflict with Jewish leaders.
• The only non-synoptic Gospel.
• Shows Jesus as noble and awe inspiring, divine, and as part of the Father.
• Acknowledges Jesus' humanity, tries to focus on Jesus as divine with "I AM" passages to draw back to Moses' encounter.

Comparison of the Gospels

• The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the synoptic Gospels, meaning to “see together”.
• They share structure, content, and wording focusing on focus on the ministry of Jesus, parables, miracles, teachings, and passion.
• The Gospel of John as a different structure emphasizes Jesus as divine, including theological discourse and fewer parables.

Jesus in the Gospels

• Portrayed as both divine and human.
• Teaches about the Kingdom of God through parables and sermons.
• Performs miracles as a sign of his power and empathy.
• Fulfills prophecies from the Old Testament and is seen as the awaited Saviour.
• Jesus is compassionate towards the outcasts of society accepting suffering as a sacrifice and resurrects to offer salvation.

Story of Paul

• Paul, originally named Saul, was born in Tarsus, Turkey in the early first century.
• Saul originally rejected Jesus and persecuted Christians.
• Experienced a vision of Jesus on the way to Damascus, leading to his conversion.
• Paul began to preach Jesus as the Messiah writings letters to other Christian communities.

Acts of the Apostles and Paul

• Acts of the Apostles and letters of Paul were written by Luke, teaching about transformation after the resurrection and emphasizes the importance of embracing God's love.
• Highlights the disciples' adaptation to different peoples, promoting cultural awareness, inclusion, love, respect, patience, understanding, and unity.

Exegesis

• Crucial for understanding Scripture passages in their proper context by understanding what the sacred authors intended.
• “Careful investigation of the original meaning of texts in their historical and literary contexts.”
• It’s a critical explanation or interpretation of a text to assist to understand what 'critical' questions, based on ‘criteria' are being asked.

Passion Narratives

• Found in the 4 canonical gospels accounts given of the suffering and death of Jesus.
• Recounts major events in Jesus' life from the agony in Gethsemane to the burial.

Paschal Mystery

• "Paschal” means Easter, which refers to the suffering (passion), death and resurrection of Jesus including two key elements:
  • The Cross: sign of God's care during suffering.
  • The Empty Tomb: shows Jesus' resurrection and eternal life.
• A covenant is between God and his people which God makes promises and requires certain conduct.
• The New Covenant is God's promise to forgive sin and restore communion.

Gospel and Relationships

• If everyone lived out the Golden Rule, it would contribute to a more just society, increasing empathy.
• Reduced conflict by promoting mutual respect and understanding, individuals would be less likely to act in harmful or selfish ways.
• Jesus ministers to outcasts (Samaritans) that all people are valuable to God wanting demonstrating love through everyone including our enemies.
• Samaritan example is testament: God is willing to forgive all people, even those who have low status in society

Moral Decision

• Evaluates what is right or wrong, good or bad, fair or unjust, based on ethical principles and values.
• Decisions based on personal preferences, it involves ethical values, considering the impact on others, and a sense of duty

Discipleship

• Comes from the word discipline therefore using the Good News as a guide, transforming the behavior and knowing in a personal sense.
• Being A follower involves risk and challenge and society will react to you when following you do what Jesus says.

Catholic Social Teachings

• Catholic Social Teaching foundation is the inherent dignity of the human person, calling for Integral Human Development economic wellbeing.
• Ecological Responsibility: Protecting and cherishing diversity and beauty.
• Economic Justice: Economy must serve people through dignified work, fair wages, and safe working conditions.
• Participation: Entitled to participate in community and in decisions that affect their lives and societies must encourage and enable people to be protagonists.
• Peace: In the right relationship of God and each other through healthy communities.
• Preferential Option for the Poor: God loves all people, but prioritizes and calls us to a unique concern for the poor.
• Rights + Responsibilities: Inseparable from our responsibility to care for others
• Solidarity: Recognition that we are “all in this together” to promote a just society.

Parables

• Special stories used in Jesus' teachings designed to make us examine our lives in light of the story and technique was to draw from common experience
• For example: Humility is very important, and mercy and grace will be provided.
• The “Good news” is that Jesus died for our sins and rose again and is willing to forgive us.

Miracles

• Comes from the Latin word mirari meaning “to wonder at” with 4 types of miracles:
  • Healing → Relieves people's physical sufferings.
  • Exorcisms → Drives out evil spirits.
  • Restoration of Life → Restores people to life after their death.
  • Nature → Demonstrates control over nature.
• Miracle Gospels example: Raising of Lazarus

Early Church

• Apostles sold their possessions and gave them to those in need, focused on spreading good news, open to all people and remained faithful to the teachings.
• The early church should share our riches with the less fortunate, be welcoming towards all, be devoted to learning teachings and having present day Church look like that.

Salvation

• Saving human beings from sin and its consequences which include death and separation from God by Christ's death and resurrection.
• Participating through the sacraments for forgiveness of sins.

Apostolic Tradition

• Jesus as the Father's Emissary (messenger).
• Appointed twelve apostles for his continuation's ministry mission.
• Christ promised to remain with the apostles always continuing the divine mission to the end of time, appointing successors.

Four Faces of Jesus Story

• Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the Four Evangelists providing four perspectives with the challenge that he was both fully human and fully God.
• Gospel writers chose parts of Jesus relevant to their audience with their own interpretation.

Scripture Terminology

• Literalist: Reads and interprets the Bible literally.
• Contextualist: Reads and interprets the Bible through historical and social context.

Key Terms

• Covenant: Promise
• Testament: Statement of belief or conviction.
• Patriarch: Male leaders
• Gospel: Good news
• Christ: the anointed one / king
• Messiah: God’s anointed one
• Resurrection: Raised from the dead
• Ascension: Going to heaven
• Disciple: Student
• Apostle: Representitive to complete a task
• BC: Before Christ
• BCE: Before Common Era
• AD: Anno Domini
• CE: Common Era