BibleProject - The Obvious & Extravagant Claim of the Gospel - Gospel E4

Episode Date: September 30, 2019

Key Takeaways:All the gospels are essentially saying the same thing. Jesus is the Jewish Messiah and his life, death, and resurrection fulfills the Hebrew Scriptures.All four gospels climax with a detailed recounting of Jesus' death and resurrection. While this may seem like an obvious point to modern readers, this is not necessarily true for ancient readers when the Scriptures were formed.Modern readers of the gospels should make an effort to familiarize themselves with how ancient Greco-Roman biography and literature worked. The four gospels are not modern texts; therefore, readers should be sympathetic and strive to view them not through a modern lens, but in light of their historic context.Quotes: “The main mode that many Christians, especially Protestants, read the Bible in is the ‘lessons for my life’ approach to the Bible. The deeply held assumption is, ‘the Bible is a moral handbook and each story is giving me a life application lesson that I can apply to my life.’ And I don’t think that’s what the Gospel authors are trying to do.”"(The gospels are) tying in Jesus’ story as the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scripture storyline which is the story of Israel and all humanity. And then all of them are saying the story leads up to the moment of a Jewish wonder-worker’s execution. It’s a simple point. But that is their main point."In part 1 (0-11:30), Tim and Jon briefly recap the series so far. They discuss the earlier tips for reading the gospels more effectively and deeply. Tim says readers should always remember that the gospels are meant to be stories about Jesus, but they have been specifically selected to be persuasive stories about Jesus. The Gospel authors want the reader to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Sometimes they make this intent obvious and explicit, but other times, they make the claims indirectly. Tim says this method of indirect communication and indirect claims about Jesus is the primary way that Gospel authors design their portraits of Jesus.In part 2 (11:30-22:00), Tim notes that many of the stories about Jesus, including the stories of miracles, sound unbelievable to many modern Western audiences. Whereas in other cultures, healings and miracles and those who performed them were considered an integral part of life and evidence of God or the gods’ work. Tim shares a helpful resource called The Lost Letters of Pergamum, which is a short historical novel set in ancient Roman culture during the early days of Christianity. The novel helps readers more accurately picture what the original claims of the gospel would have meant to the first followers of Christ.Tim then says most Western Protestants read these accounts through asking, “What’s the application of this gospel story to my life and how will it improve my life?” Tim says he doesn’t think this is the best way to read the gospels. Instead, readers should learn to read the gospels as intricate and complete portraits of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that are claiming that Jesus is the promised Jewish Messiah.In part 3 (22:00-32:00), Tim notes that every Gospel climaxes with Jesus’ death and resurrection. Tim then contrasts this with the Gospel of Thomas, which does not include Jesus’ death and resurrection narrative. To the gnostics who used the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus was a wise, divine teacher who dispensed knowledge to humanity to help them learn to be wise.Tim then says that a good example of the gospels climaxing with Jesus’ death and resurrection would be the Gospel of Mark. Most of the book highlights the final week of Jesus’ life and does a fast fly-by of Jesus’ earlier life leading up to the week of the Passover and crucifixion.Most stories, Tim observes, end with the good guy defeating the bad guy, thereby using force and violence to triumph. The Jesus story claims that Jesus triumphed by allowing himself to be killed by his enemies. He then was raised from the dead and gives his enemies an opportunity to enter into new life by believing in him.In part 5 (32:00-end), Tim and Jon discuss the differences between the gospels. Tim says that some of the variances between the stories in the gospels used to bother him. Why couldn’t all the stories be the same? Aren’t the discrepancies evidence that these stories and authors might be unreliable?However, Tim continues by sharing that over time, his perspective has changed. Now, he realizes that the Gospel authors are advancing a claim about Jesus, not recounting security camera footage of his life. The authors want the reader to understand that Jesus had a totally different way of seeing the world, so they highlight this in their own style. Tim says he would actually be highly suspicious if all the gospels’ stories are exactly identical. That would imply that the Jesus story was not authentic. It also should be taken into consideration that what many modern Christians may perceive to be untruths or discrepancies in the Bible were much more accepted by early Christians. Modern readers should attempt to understand the context and culture of how the gospels were formed instead of importing our own modern view of a biography onto an ancient text.Show Music:“Defender” instrumental by Tents“Nostalgic” by junior state“lacuna” by leavv“Beautiful Eulogy” by Beautiful EulogyShow Resources:The Lost Letters of Pergamum: A Story from the New Testament World by Bruce LongeneckerShow Produced by:Dan GummelPowered and distributed by Simplecast

Hey, this is Cooper at Bible Project. I produce the podcast in Classroom. We've been exploring a theme called the City, and it's a pretty big theme. So we decided to do two separate Q and R episodes about it. We're currently taking questions for the second Q and R and we'd love to hear from you. Just record your question by July 21st

and send it to us at infoatbiboproject.com. Let us know your name and where you're from, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds and please transcribe your question when you email it. That's a huge help to our team. We're excited to hear from you. Here's the episode. The main mode that many, especially Protestants,

read the Bible and is the lesson for my life approach. The deep level assumption is the Bible's like a moral handbook and each story is giving me a life application lesson that I can apply to my life. And I think the gospel authors, that's not what they're trying to do. Hey, this is John at the Bible Project. This is the final episode in this short series

on how to read the gospel. The four books in the New Testament, the gospel, according to Matthew, according to Mark, Luke, and John, collectively known as the Gospels. Now, if you're like me, out of every part of the Bible, these Gospels are the easiest to read. And the most fun to read.

They're all about Jesus, and Jesus is a really inspiring character. We hear his teachings, we see how he interacts with people, and it's easy to draw a conclusion that reading the gospels Is all about trying to figure out how I should live by looking at how Jesus lived Jesus says to love our neighbors, so should I? Jesus says bless people who hurt me. Okay, maybe I should do that too But is there more to the gospels than just good moral wisdom?

Every story is not trying to give you a life application. Every story is making a claim about the identity of Jesus. So the question that I should be asking when I finish each episode of the Gospels is, what's the unique claim about Jesus being made from this episode? So if the Gospels aren't merely trying to inform us of some new moral ethic, what are they trying to tell us? So I took it for granted, because when I was introduced to it, yeah, Jesus died. So of course, that's what these books are going to be about. It's like, no, it's very careful design.

They're tying Jesus' story in as the fulfillment of Hebrew scripture storyline, which is the story of Israel and of all humanity. And then all of them are saying the story leads up to the moment of a Jewish wonder workers' execution. It's a simple point, but that is their main point. So today we conclude our time in the Gospels with some more insights on how each gospel brings to climax the story of the Hebrew scriptures in the life of Jesus and his death and his resurrection. Thanks for joining us. Here we go. We are talking about how to read the gospel. The gospel according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke and John.

the gospel. The gospel according to Matthew, Mark and Luke and John. The good news of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus and how it's connected to the entire story of the Hebrew scriptures. And you want to walk us through four features of the gospels that will help you read it better. Yeah, help help. Help you have a deeper encounter with these gospels where you're likely to see things you haven't seen before. You start looking for just four new things. The first one, it was a big category, which was the use of the gospel writers, the use of the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures,

and how they refer back to it and connect it to what's happening in the life of Jesus. And they do that and they use many techniques. Sometimes they directly quote from Scripture. This fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet, I'd say. That's right. As it says in Moses or in the Psalms, this is an easy spot. Those are easy to spot. Yeah.

The second one is harder to spot and it's illusions. So it's referring to things in the story of the Bible through trigger words. Yeah. Specific key phrases and words that are unique. Yeah. Or motifs of like how I'm in certain type of character or a certain type of setting.

I mean, we talked about all the stuff in our design pattern. Oh, and the design pattern is a third category yet. That's the third category yet. Yep, yeah. So illusions is using direct wording from biblical passages but just not marking it as a quotation. I see. That's illusion.

That's right. Yeah. Okay. Using key phrases that's a illusion. That's right. Yeah. Okay. Using key phrases that are right from a biblical poem or story. Okay. But you don't mark it as such. You don't mark it.

It's like the difference between a metaphor and a symbol. It's really good. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Or just, you know, as it says in Star Wars, may the Force be with you. Versus just. Versus just may the Force be with you. That's the difference. Yeah, how explicit are you?

Okay, and the third one is then design patterns. Yeah, what's the other phrase that you have here in the notes narrative parallels, but this was I think I've made these notes before we coin you start using the term design patterns. I started using that word in our conversations. We developed a week coin that our phrase. Yeah, I thought we just took that from something. I don't think so. In our conversations, we developed it as our phrase. We coined that. Yeah. I thought we just took that from something.

I don't think so. No. Patterns, design patterns. No, I think in our conversations. It just emerged. It emerged and I like it a lot. Yeah. So it's the term I use now.

Okay. Yep. And that's the use of characters, use of setting, use of plot. Certain vocabulary, but not necessarily whole phrases. But Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days. It's clearly replaying Israel's 40 years. Yeah, the setting is the wilderness, the 40 days. That's right. That's right.

You're supposed to see Israel's connection. It's all over. It saturates the gospels. Okay, that's the first feature. It's the first feature. And again, what we're doing is I'm a reader. I want to begin to read the gospels with greater wisdom, see more depth, be more in tune with the claims that the authors are advancing about Jesus. So once again, remember, their acts of communication aimed at persuading me to embrace something about Jesus,

to believe and do something. Believe that he is the ruler of creation. Yeah, totally. Bringing new creation. That's like a high bar for any document. Yeah. Yeah. So here's the second feature of the Gospels.

They are making claims about Jesus. In the last episode or one before, I mentioned how at the end of the Gospel of John, he gives a per-pris statement for the book, John 20 versus 30 and 31. I could have written many stories and other teachings about Jesus, but I chose these so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. So he has an agenda. So there's a few times where the gospel authors will directly make their claims about Jesus, and that's one of them.

I want you to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Mark, the first sentence of Mark, we've talked about. The beginning of the gospel about Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God. Yes. That's a claim. Not everybody believes that, but he believes, and he wants to you believe it. So it's a very small list of places

where the gospel authors explicitly make a claim about Jesus. So you would call those direct claims. The gospels are most of the time indirectly making their claims about Jesus. Every story is advancing a claim about Jesus that you're supposed to reckon with as a reader. Nothing's there for just mere historical interest. So it's just a way to tune in and to say,

oh, every story, I'm supposed to... We'll see, there's absolutely zero details that are there for just historical interest? Oh, if it's there, it serves a purpose. Yeah. And the purpose is to persuade you. The purpose of every story, teaching, yeah, is fits into a persuasion strategy of the authors, which means that any detail that is given in some way aids that purpose. And it'll differ from story to story in bit to bit. And there are some that are more clear or less clear. But so just, for me, this was helpful.

When I want to tell you what I think, I can do it directly. I can also do it indirectly. And trust that eventually you'll start to pick up what I'm, this is the stuff of like my relationship to Jessica. Totally. do it indirectly and trust that eventually you'll start to pick up what I'm. This is the stuff of like my relationship to Jessica. Totally. Well, I can be really passive aggressive. I don't even realize how much I'm doing it.

There's different types of being passive aggressive. There's like kind of a malicious, like, I really want to tear you down, but I'm gonna do it in this passive aggressive way. And then there's just kind of more like, I don't even realize how frustrated I am. It's kind of, it's leaking out. But that's a type of indirect communication. Yeah, there's many types of indirect.

There's many types. Yeah, one can be you don't wanna be direct because you don't think you should have to be. That's contemptuous. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I see the toilet paper is on backwards the wrong way again. Sssss. And you're like, you know, just think of what's happening.

Oh, you're telling me that. That's an interesting observation. No, of course, the point is, it's like, who did that and they have a wrong view of the universe. That kind of thing. That's a silly example. But we do this all the time. Indirect communication. The gospels are... It could be as much as a look. Totally, yeah, nonverbal. Yeah. Indirect communication.

Totally. And what you're hoping is as you live with a person, or get to know a person more, they can be less direct. It feels really good to not have to be direct and for someone to get what you need or want or what you're saying. Then there's a special bond there. You be like, I, okay, I got it. Right?

When someone can just anticipate what you might be about to say. So anyway, indirect communication. The gospel authors mostly communicate their claims about Jesus through indirect communication, through the medium of the narrative. So they were kind of back to how to read biblical narrative, but specifically, let's just stack it up.

How do they, they wanna shape your perception of Jesus, they want influence how you think about Jesus. So, what are the gospels? If you stack up, what's in them? There's lots of narratives about Jesus performing signs and wonders, specifically acts of healing and restoration for lots of poor hurting people. I mean, it's just... Yeah, lots of it.

Lots of it. So, you just have to stop. And again, you can say, say well that's just what happened. Well that's fine but not everything that happened. But not everything that happened isn't there. For example there's no exorcisms in the gospel of John. Not a one. If we only had the gospel of John we would never know that he performed exorcisms. But Matthew, Mark and Luke it's like every other story. So that's a great example of their selectivity. They don't have to tell you everything and they often don't.

So if it's there, it's there, the repetition's there. So the wonder-working healer who performs acts of deliverance and healing, especially for the poor and the hurting. This is a major, major part of this portrait of Jesus in the Gospels. Yeah, these are the stories that make me proud to be a follower of Jesus. You know, in some, especially in cities, in the West right now, being a Christian means, in most people's lives that you're stupid. Yeah.

Or at least worthy of being made fun of. But when you, when you began to tell stories about Jesus' care for the hurting and the poor, you know, people are like, yeah, that's cool. You know, I love these stories, I think, and there's so many of them. So you just have to stop and ask yourself, why? Why do they keep telling me this?

Yeah. Wouldn't one or two have suffice? Like why? Multiple healings of blind people. It's not just one, but there's more than. So they're trying to do something to you. They're trying to shape your perception of Jesus, of who he pays attention to, who he cares about.

Through the repetition, you begin to see what Jesus values, and who he values. So, that's one thing. Another part of that is, especially in the first century, for most cultures that aren't as like cynical and secularized as Western cultures, stories about people performing healings and acts of healing and signs and wonders. Doesn't arouse suspicion.

What it does is make people go, whoa, this guy's got something going on. It's impressive. Yeah. Suspicion, like kind of a skepticism of like... Yeah, that's right. That doesn't happen. Yeah. In a modern Western context, people are like, yeah, right. Yeah, that's cute

Right. I'm sure that happened but in cultures that are more open-minded about how the universe can work These are persuasive parts of a G.S.S. characterization. I remember man, there's a great historical fiction work by a New Testament scholar. It's called The Lost Letters of Pergmum

by Bruce Langenecker. All right, told you about this? Yes. It's so good. You have. I read over it. Is it the one that Dan said he's reading? Oh, yes, yeah, that's right.

Yep, yep. So what it is is you follow a character who's a rich Gentile landowner who loves a bunch of all of gross up in Galilee. But then now he lives in Perkhamum and he meets some Christians and he starts attending a house gathering. And you learn about how your average Roman would have perceived Jesus through the eyes of this character as he hears the stories of Jesus Yeah, read it the weekly gathering. Okay, and he perceives these stories of healings as

Marks of a figure who's either empowered by the gods or perhaps a god incarnate like that's his category Yeah, cuz no one else could do that for people These kind of things happen in the world and when do, it's usually the gods are at work. This is remarkable. Yeah. So this part of the portrait, it's again, indirect communication. He can just say, I believe Jesus is Yahweh come to visit his people, which and they do say that in other ways. But they're also saying it here in these narratives. That's the import that they would have. but they're also saying it here in these narratives. That's the import that they would have.

So you're saying that these stories aren't in the gospel narratives because they really because they happened? Well, I think the gospel authors want us to think that Jesus actually did and said these kinds of things. Right. But that's not the only reason that they're there. But that's not the reason they put it in there. Correct.

Because what I hear you saying is that they know, okay, this detail has persuasive power. Correct. And so I'm gonna put this detail in. Yeah, I want you to believe that Jesus has power over heaven and earth. So lots of stories about him healing people. But then who does he heal constantly?

And then there you start to get the value set of this healer. He doesn't heal rich people who like invite him to come to his house and he heals poor hurting people. Right? He does heal the daughter of a rich. That's right. Yeah, he does. That's right. Yep. But because of his faith, this persistent faith. Because of his persistence. That's right. But that story stands out actually. Yeah. As it yeah. Yeah, that's right. But that story stands out, actually. As it gets. Yeah, it's the... And he doesn't heal a man, he heals his...

He heals his... Yeah, his servant or son. Actually, I think there's a difference between the versions there. I really thought that was a daughter. So another flip side of that is Jesus' teachings. If you have a red letter, Bible, a Bible that highlights Jesus' teachings in red, you know, the gospels will have long, usually the red will come in big blocks.

Yeah. I mean, that's intentional. So the gospel authors want to introduce you to the world of his teaching. They want to recreate for you. What would be like to sit and listen to him? Correct. And here is Sangs and here's parables.

So Jesus speaks for himself. So the gospel authors want to communicate to you about Jesus. They mostly let his actions do it. The stories and his teachings. Or they let his teachings do it. Or they let other people do it. And story after story in the gospels, very often the story or the episode will conclude with people saying what they think about Jesus.

And it's all a part of the strategy of you're getting this variety of perspectives. Yeah. And if you think about it, think about if you could make a movie and every other scene ends with the secondary characters making some comment about the main character. You would notice it. It would be, oh, you know what, I think this movie's about. I think it's about trying to help me understand

the main character and who they are and what. Where identity. Yeah. And once you start paying attention how often other people comment or wonder about Jesus. So I think I just did a quick survey through Matthew. The first character is God. The first character is God.

Yeah, this is my son. Yeah. Chapter 8, the disciples ask, what kind of man is this? Oh, you know, I didn't include at the end of the sermon on the mountain. The people say, who is this?

And what is this authority that teaches with? Yeah. The disciples at the end of chapter 8. What kind of human is this? The demons in Matthew chapter 8. What do you want with us, son of God? At the end of Matthew 13, the people of Nazareth. Isn't this the carpenter's son?

That's a good one. Because by 13, you've been given all kinds of claims about Jesus. And now you're watching characters doubt him. That's interesting. And like you said, this whole stretch of Matthew 11 and 12 is just simple responding. Correct. Matthew 15, the Canaanite woman?

A non-Israelite woman. Confesses Jesus as Lord and Son of David. Right? Peter calls Jesus the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. The high priest asks, are you the Messiah, the son of God? Pilates asks, are you the king of the Jews? And the culmination is the Roman soldier who just executed him. So surely this man was the son of God.

So what kind of text? Has all these characters wondering about his identity? Yeah, or saying what they think it is, doubting it. Yeah, it's a major It's a communication strategy So one way to think about it is the gospel authors want to make claims about Jesus They almost never do it directly In a way they invite you into the narrative world so that you can Meet Jesus and experience him for yourself, so to speak.

Yeah, and experience other people experience this. And you guess? And experience other people and their experiences become instructive for you, the reader. And again, just like all indirect communication, it forges a bond. It forces you to own your own conclusions. You have to work for your own conclusions. You have to imagine yourself into the scene. And at the end, all of a sudden, you're like,

well, I've seen what he said, I've seen what he did. I've seen how all these people respond to him. Nobody's neutral. What am I gonna do? Yeah, that's how it works. Okay. So that's learning to pay attention to the indirect claims the authors make through

the means of action and characters. So one of the things to pay attention to is the claims of Jesus in the gospels that are talked about directly but also directly. Yeah, it will get you to ask different questions about each story. What's the takeaway here? Okay, let's make this very practical. The main mode that many, especially Protestant, conservative Protestants read the Bible in

is the lesson for my life approach to the Bible. Yeah, that's right. The deep level of assumption is the Bible's like a moral handbook, and each story is giving me me a life application lesson that I can apply to my life. And I think the gospel authors are not, that's not what they're trying to do. Every story is not trying to give you a life application.

Every story is making a claim about the identity of Jesus. They're building a case. They're building a case. Yep. So the question that I should be asking when I finish each episode of the Gospels is What's the unique claim about Jesus being made from this episode? That's gonna build up think of a mosaic a rich portrait every episode and teaching adds a little bit more Oil to the canvas of this elaborate portrait of Jesus. It's not about me

It's about me and that I have to make a decision about if I'm going to follow him and believe in trust him. That's the application. The application is trust Jesus. It's pretty simple, but what's unique and nuanced is the unique claim that each story makes and adds to the portrait of Jesus. That's what we're supposed to be. I'd never quite said it that way before, but that that helpedels from the earliest moments in the book are building up to the moment of his execution and resurrection. In other words, the climax of each of the four is his execution and resurrection. That might seem self-evident, but it's good to remind ourselves that that's not the only way that people told the story of Jesus.

When you get into the post-New Testament period, where there's lots of other accounts of Jesus being written, and these are made famous by Dan Brown in the Da Vinci code. Oh, like the gospel of Thomas. Gospel of Thomas, yeah. All that is is a account of Jesus' teaching, secret, unrevealed teachings to the disciples in the upper room.

That's a gospel of Thomas. And it's like a hundred plus sayings of Jesus that are very odd and cryptic, more cryptic than most of what he says in the Gospels. So there's an example. There's somebody presenting Jesus. When did that come about? Oh, huge industry of debate. Yeah.

Whether it's somewhere in the early 100s, up into the 200s, AD, people debate these things. The point there is there is a presentation of Jesus. You don't have to write a story of Jesus and make the death and resurrection of the climax. In fact, in that tradition where that what will become known as the Gnostic sects and groups, kind of semi-Christian, semi-mystical, semi-all kinds of other things. But for them, Jesus' death and resurrection is not the main event. What he is, he's a human, he's a divine figure who came looking like a human to dispense secret knowledge and wisdom for how to achieve illumination and to escape this world to the higher realm of spiritual

truth and eternity. That's the Nostek. Yep, gospel. Yeah. So there's no mention of his death. Jesus' death doesn't play any role in that portrait of Jesus. Because how could it? That's not... His role is as a spiritual...

They don't even talk about it. Guru. Correct. Doesn't fit into their paradigm. So that's... For me, once I learned that, it was helpful to say, Oh, these four accounts, they're the earliest, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and they all have the same narrative arc.

And they all from the earliest moments are moving you to the anticipation of his death. So in John chapter one, the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness could not overcome it, but he came to his own, but his own did not receive him. So you're already in the opening sense of setup to see this is going to be a conflict. In Mark chapter two, after Jesus baptized, he goes out and he goes and heals a man, forgives of sins. And then there were who can forgive sins, but God alone grumble the religious leaders and they make their plans about him. So just like that's how it works. Got it. The conflict is introduced early, which makes you realize the whole thing is designed to

lead up to the cross. And when Paul summarizes the gospel in those two things, versus we looked at, in both of them, he emphasizes the resurrection. That gives all for him. That's the whole thing. The resurrection, yeah, that's right. Yeah, they all culminate in the resurrection. It's the makes sense why the resurrection, yeah, in Romans 1, can be the key event of the

gospel that he highlights there. So this is just a couple of little facts, but they're interesting. So the gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four. 16 chapters. He spends 10 chapters telling you the story of roughly three-ish years of Jesus up in Galilee. So, 60% of it is on three years. Three chapters a year.

Yeah, three-ish, yeah. A 60% of the book. The final six chapters focus on the course of seven days in Jerusalem and it's the seven days that lead up to this. So you're speeding through at, over your clock and over three chapters a year. That's right. And then you slow down to,

Yes. Chapter a day. Yeah, yeah, you get, yep, that's right. Yeah, basic idea. So a third of the gospel is focused on seven slow days that all lead up to the crucifixion. All four of the gospels, Portray, Jesus' crucifixion as a royal enthronement, as the enthronement for King. And we've looked at that in a couple portraits.

Yes, the strange kind of enthronement. Yes. So you just have to ask, what's happening here? Yeah. What kind of group would tell the story of the exaltation of their leader as that person's public execution? Yeah. And what world does that make sense? Yeah. It's very strange. You can't think about it. It's very confused. Yeah. But think, every one of them, there's the dialogue with pilot, there's the dialogue with Pilate, there's the putting on of the robe and the crown and the scepter, soldiers bow down to him. It's very intentional. A whole thing.

The substitution of the other prisoner, Jesus, right? How's that fit? The Burabis. So there's another guilty one who's set to be crucified. But Jesus is crucified in the place of Barabbas, who is the real guilty one. I mean, for sure, that's an icon that's a motif of the meaning of the cross. You have an Israelite rebel who's rebelling against Rome, who's about to get executed, and Jesus is put in the place of rebellious Israel.

And he faces the wrath of Rome in place. I'm in. So you have to just have to ask, there's a reason why all four climax a story in this way. The cross is the moment that the whole story has been leading towards. The resurrection then becomes the launching point and the resurrection accounts are all very brief and puzzling. They just suggest whole universes of wonder and then just move on. Right? The door was locked and then Jesus was in the midst of them. He's like, what is it? What? Tell us more about that. You know? Yeah. Do you have any fish? I'm hungry. Yeah. Like hungry? What? Yeah. That comes out. How's it? How's it dead man hungry?

Yes. So just stop. Put all these three observations together. This re-perspective then. They're tying G.S. the story in as the fulfillment of Hebrew scripture storyline, which is the story of Israel and of all humanity. They are mostly communicating through indirect communication, letting the stories speak, his actions speak from him, letting his words invite you in to consider him, letting other characters, perception of him, help you come to your own perception of him. And then all of them are saying the story of Israel, the story of Yahweh and all creation, leads up to the moment of a Jewish wonder workers execution. The kingdom of God that he's been announcing comes to a key moment as he's enthroned as an executed Israelite rebel.

Yeah. That's the claim. Which isn't an enthronement. That's an execution. It's an execution. But they want you to see there that that's where the God of Israel is taking the throne of creation. As he shames the power structures of our world for condemning the innocent. So to me, that's just, I took it for granted

because when I was introduced to it, yeah, Jesus died. So of course that's what these books are gonna be about. It's like no, like it's very careful design. Yeah, not every biography of someone ends with their death. Yeah, that's right. I could just pick it in with some great thing they did. And... Correct, yeah. Stories over. Yeah, that's right. It could end with some great thing they did. Correct.

Yeah. Stories over. Yeah, that's right. So, clearly, these four accounts of Jesus all come from a group of people, the apostles, who all believe that the key event that gave meaning backwards all the way back to his birth and that launched the new thing that God is doing and that we are still a part of today, that's what these books are about. And the cross. He's the cross.

The crucifixion and resurrection. The crucifixion and resurrection are, yeah, without the resurrection, the crucifixion is just another sad story. Just another rebel rouser getting killed. Yeah, and just another affirmation of the narrative of redemptive violence. The violence is how we bring peace to the world. Killing the bad guys. And the Jesus story just throws an absolute wrench into that. Narrative where the execution of Jesus becomes God's condemnation. Well, as Paul will say it, he uses the God's foolishness shames the wise.

It's a simple point. They all four gospels are building from the very beginning up to the cross and the resurrection, but that is their main point. Is that the kingdom of God that he announced from his first moments in the story came to its culmination as he was in Throne. 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%

1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% I'm going to do a little bit of the same thing. Last point, which we've talked about in maybe in our Luke series a long time ago. Each of the four authors has taken the stories and teaching the traditions.

Remember Luke said, the eyewitness traditions and the servants of the word. There's all this stuff. John tells us at the end of the gospel, man, if I were to tell you everything he said and did, there's not enough scrolls to fill. The bit of a hyperbole. It was totally, but his point is, he did a lot and said a lot.

There's a lot to have. Each one has selected a certain amount and has arranged them in different orders, included, excluded, to emphasize a unique portrait of Jesus. You know, I guess I've never really thought about the fact that there are a lot of stories about Jesus. We just don't know. Yeah.

I just have never just had them fucked it on that. Mm-hmm. Like a lot of conversations't know. Yeah. Oh, I just never just had their fun did on that. Mm-hmm. Like, a lot of conversations he had. Yeah. Probably really cool things that he did. Yeah. And we just don't have them. Yeah, that's worth pondering.

Yeah. I mean, John tells you straight up, which just says, there's a lot more. There's no way any of us could ride about everything he said and did. Yeah. It's kind of, kind of physical tragic. Ah.

I have come to appreciate that comment now, because it inspires the imagination, because the four gospels give me a robust enough picture that I can begin to imagine what he might say or do. W-W-W-W-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E-T-E- Yeah, kind of. Yeah. But I think that's the point is, yeah, the point is the biography isn't that we now we have all the exhaustive. Yeah. It's that no, we have enough to know who he is or to know. Yeah, his value set and what he cares about. So that, yeah. But you're right, it's a point worth pondering. So this point is to just say, each of the four has arranged in a particular order

with a particular set of unique themes they want to emphasize. So, each of the gospel authors has shaped the stories in a specific order with specific language reshaped the language of the stories, sometimes reshaped what characters say and do. To fit into a pattern, a unique set pattern

for what they want to communicate. This used to bother me, and now I love it. It's one of the things I love about having four. It says if Jesus is too rich for any one account to do justice to him, and so we have of him, not just stereo, but quadruple. I don't know what the term is. Yeah.

Oh. Surround sound. Surround sound. Right, one in the corner of each room. Oh yeah. Yeah. Get to the back to the front. So I don't know.

I feel like you and I haven't talked about this for a while because I remember when the differences between the gospels, when we first started talking about it, it was challenged for me, took me a while, years to process. And it... Yeah, I don't remember what conversation it came up in, maybe Luke. I think in Luke series. Yeah, yeah. And I am more comfortable with it as well. And it's been humming in the back of my mind as we talk about the Gospels. I'm just imagining many people listening going like, having that question in mind like,

there isn't their discrepancies between the accounts? And how do you trust the accounts if there's discrepancies? And when you start looking at some of them, like what you just said, sometimes they'll just change the what was said. Correct. And in my mind, if you're going to give a biography, you need to write what actually was said.

So you shouldn't have the liberty to just re-quote the way you wish he had said it. I suppose. But at the same time, that's thinking through a very specific kind of document. It has a specific purpose. Yeah. It's a thicken of like right now like the Mueller report. Right. Which was the report that came out about the Russian interference with.

America and that kind of report, it's like they really want to make sure that what is said corresponds to what happened and it's footnoted. they really want to make sure that what is said corresponds to what happened and it's footnoted. And they need to... With transcripts, yeah. Copy, that's right. But even then, it's like, what did you say on this day and then you give them the quote,

and then you ask the other person in another room later, what did they say? And it's kind of close but different. You're not gonna, you know, like, anyways. And then if I wanted to explain to you the meaning of what happened, I'm not gonna be concerned with the exact wording, but I'm gonna be concerned with quoting it

in such a way that you understand the meaning. Correct. Not to try to like lie or confuse the truth, yes, yeah. But actually to get to the heart of why it matters, the heart of the truth. And so, if I thought about that more and more comfortable with that, you gave the example of telling the story

of the relationship of courting your wife. Oh yeah, how we met and yeah, that's right. And got to know each other. How when you tell that story, you're not necessarily telling the exact way it happened. You might be blending certain stories into one. You might be conflating multiple dates into one. Yeah, recounting of, yeah, that's right.

You might directly quote something she said, but it happens if we did have a video recording of that time, we go back to be like, oh, actually she we did have a video recording of that time, we go back to be like, oh, actually she says something slightly different. Yeah, that's right. And you guys would be like, oh, that's interesting. And in our minds, that's what she meant. And that's what she said. That's right.

Yeah. So, yeah. So we're in a situation where people memorizing the teachings and memorable sayings of their rabbis. This is a thing, the knowledge of Jewish culture. So that's a big part of what's going on. But yeah, a lot of the narrative, frameworks, and even the precise wording is adaptable. The value set that they have in writing these ancient-style biographies is the main goal.

They're balancing two priorities. One is faithfulness to the traditions that they've received. And second is their persuasion goals. And to help the reader see the meaning of what happened. And so to do that, the Roman centurion at the foot of the cross can say, surely this was the son of God, and then Mark, or surely this was an innocent man as in Luke. The point is, the tradition remembers there was a soldier there experiencing a moment, some kind of moment over there. And what exactly he says is adaptable based on the unique goals of each of the stories. And I don't know, there's nothing for it, man, I'm just like wrecking, wrecking with that. Yeah. How many of you said both? Hahaha.

Hahaha. Perhaps he said both. I think that's kind of cheating though, but. So for example, Matthew turns up the volume on the Moses illusions and design patterns. Jesus is, he goes through the tall mountain and gives his, right, gives, his exposition on the Ten Commandments after going through the desert for forty. And, yeah.

So, that's Matthews, and he'll adapt the wording and tweak the arrangement of things to make the design pattern with Moses' work. That Jesus', Christ Moses figure, greater than Moses' figure. Correct. But I just kind of want to make the observation. I am more and more comfortable with how this works in the Gospels. However, there's a spectrum of comfort. So... You're totally...

Like, I agree. If you adapted the thing that someone said, but it's basically the same. That's on one level. that someone said, but it's basically the same. That's on one level. But the example you gave of the Roman centurion, it was like a completely different quote. Well, what it is is this Roman centurion has a conversion of his perception of Jesus. Okay, yeah.

I just killed this guy as a guilty criminal. I see. Oh my gosh, he's the son of God, or he's innocent, we're in the wrong. I see. What we just did. Yeah, don't you think that's the core? I see, so yeah, so that core.

But then changing around timelines. Oh, sure, yeah. Or changing the setting of where a story took place. Mm-hmm. Oh, I'm trying to think, I'm not sure that happens. It might be a story in a specific setting gets blurred in another one, because the point setting isn't crucial.

A famous one is when Jesus calms the waters, and Matthew's account in Matthew 14, Jesus gets into the boat after the Peter sinks in the water and so on, and then Jesus gets into the boat after the Peter sinks in the water and so on and then Jesus gets into the boat and they worship him saying truly you are the Son of God Mm-hmm in Mark's account in Mark 6 Jesus gets into the boat and they were completely stunned for they'd understood Nothing about the loaves and their hearts were hardened That's pretty big difference. Yeah.

So Matthew portrays them as having a moment of, oh, you are who you say you are. Yeah. Mark portrays them as completely ignorant of who Jesus actually is. So that would be on the other side of spectrum. That's kind of like, maybe you're taking a little too much liberty here. Yeah, that's right.

But the argument is the same though, is like they're taking that liberty to progress the point they're trying to make. Yeah, that's right. And so I guess it's just at what point are you crossing a line? Yeah. And how much liberty you're taking. Yeah, that's right. And it seems to me that my baseline is not the same as these authors baseline.

That's the first point. And it seems to me that my baseline is not the same as these authors' baselines. That's the first point. I shouldn't assume that my assumptions about how you write topography should be the Gospel authors' assumptions. It should be the opposite. If I want to understand them on their terms, I should learn about how they perceived it. But doesn't, I mean, I know you've said you're feeling more comfortable with this. But when you start looking at this,

doesn't it just start to, for the normal person, make you start to wonder, can I trust anything? That's right there. It's actually had the opposite effect over time, because what I would be highly suspicious of is if they were all uniform. You know? Yeah, because what does that happen?

Yeah, I mean, the fact that they are slightly different in different details and that they were actually, what you can see in the manuscript history is scribes trying to iron it out and harmonize them to each other so that they don't, stories aren't intention anymore. So the fact that the earliest generation was okay with these differences, I think that's

worth stopping and really considering. That didn't discredit. I see. These testimonies in the earliest generation. Because what they agreed on, what the main point was the Hebrew scriptures is being fulfilled in this guy and his death and resurrection. Yeah. And even the unique point of the story. So this example I just showed you,

Mark has a major motif from beginning to end, the disciples never get it until the last moment. He saves their comprehension of Jesus for the last moment. And what Matthew wants to portray is a more slow progression and fits and starts. Yeah. So, um... Which one's more true? I think both are probably true. I think they probably did get to know him in fits and starts because Mark wants to save everything

for the cross and the resurrection as the moments that reveal his identity. The Roman soldier is the first person in the story to get who Jesus is in Mark's account. And he saved that, I think, because he knows how strange it sounds to say that an executed criminal is the king of the universe. And so he saves it until the moment to have somebody get who Jesus is. Because he's acknowledging that it's hard to see, I think. But Matthew has a different communication strategy. And so what it doesn't mean see, I think. But Matthew has a different communication strategy, and so...

What it doesn't mean is that nothing happened. What it means is that I'm being given four angles on the meaning of what did happen. I think what some people do is they say, okay, well, who knows what happened. Yeah, but that's such an unwarranted conclusion. Well, no, no, no. Let's start there. Okay, all right.

Start with the fact that we weren't there. Yeah, we have no idea what happened. It's true. Yep. And so if I'm going to have any sort of assurance of something happening, you want corroboration. And I guess the question is, what level of corroboration that makes you have confidence

as something did or did not happen. And if there's details that are different, does that mean you can't trust the core of what it's saying? So that's one angle. The other angle is they knew when they were changing details and they were doing it on purpose so that they could better communicate the thing that really mattered to them. Which was that you saw how this was all connected to who Jesus really was. Now because they're trying to fool you, tell you something that's not true,

but because they just don't want you to miss it. So they're okay taking certain liberties. Correct. That from my perspective as a more modern enlightened person, you just don't do that. It's actually that's the opposite of persuasion in life. Yeah, totally. At discredits you. Correct.

Correct. And yeah, these authors didn't write thinking about how they could privilege some later culture's view of how you write biographies. Or could they? No, could they. Nor should they have. Yeah. OK.

So the four different kind of they have. Yeah. Okay. So the four different kind of trails. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, once you just begin, really what this is, is it's comparing. It's just saying, oh, you know what I'm going to do is read that story in Matthew and then just go quick flip to Mark's version and compare the differences.

And then go flip to, just look, have a, oh yeah, look, there's three of these. And then as you begin to compare notes, you can see the unique differences between them. So Matthew's turning up the Moses volume in the design patterns. The Moses volume, no. Mark is turning up the themes of Jesus

constantly being way more cryptic and a riddler and being a lot like the weird stuff that the prophets do. He has all these puzzling sign acts. And nobody ever gets who he is and he's telling everybody to be quiet about him. So that's a uniquely loud theme in Mark. Okay, yeah. Luke has two volumes to work with.

Luke acts. He's in stereo. Yeah. And from the beginning then, it's about salvation to the nations. It's about the Book of Isaiah. It's like a dramatized, narrativeized Book of Isaiah. Okay.

And then the Gospel of John is all about the Yahweh is real God has come to us in the person of the sun. John doesn't have hardly any ethical teachings of Jesus except love each other as I've loved you. Because Jesus is only ethical. Oh, and does the gospel of John. I mean, you got the whole sermon on the mountain, Matthew.

And the only thing Jesus tells you about how he'd live your life and the gospel of John is love your neighbor. So if all we had John, we wouldn't know he did exorcisms. Yes. And we wouldn't have to see money on him. We wouldn't have to see him on the mountain. We wouldn't have to see him on the mountain. We wouldn't have to see him on the mountain. We wouldn't have to see him on the mountain. We wouldn't have to see him on the mountain. We wouldn't have to see them on the moon. We wouldn't have to see them on the moon.

We wouldn't have to see them on the moon. We wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon.

And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon.

And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see them on the moon. And we wouldn't have to see Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Flips over the tables. Yeah, I mean, that's the major. Yeah, you're asking for it. Yeah, it's like storming the White House. Yeah, it's like jumping over the fence. Yeah, the White House.

You could kill them for these kind of things. John has taken that story, which is the culmination of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and he's placed that at the beginning of his account in chapter two, but he wants to build a whole set of stories that link together, showing Jesus as the true temple, the ultimate temple. And so in that story, he storms the temple and says, kill, destroy this temple, my body,

and I'll raise it up in three days. And then he can, then John can lay all this other temple stuff and it all connects back up to that story. So that's another good example where they're not just giving us video camera footage, they. And that's to connect this idea of God incarnate. The temple. The temple. The temple is where God dwells.

Temple is where God dwells. Yep, becomes. I am the Thrive God here in flesh. So there you go. These are four tools that I give people that I have found helpful over the years. The Gospels are connecting G.S. a story of the Old Testament. They indirectly make their claims through G.S. actions, his words, through other characters, perception of him. All of them are leading up to the cross and resurrection as the climactic point where the meaning of Jesus is discovered and then each of the four of them

have a unique portrait and arrangement into theomatic emphasis. And if you just start reading with that, the apostles become just really, really exciting adventure. I have that. Thank you. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Bible Project Podcast. This series is a part of a larger collection of podcast conversations and videos called How to Read the Bible. You can learn more about that series, watch it for free, at thebibletproject.com. We'll start up this how to read the Bible series again next year, and we're going to look at how

to read the parables of Jesus. These are some of the most famous teachings of Jesus. They're short, fictional stories with characters that are easy to relate to, and easy to remember. But oftentimes these parables leave us scratching our heads, wondering what is Jesus really talking about. You know what's funny is that multiple times in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, when Jesus tells parables, the authors usually note that people didn't understand that they were puzzled. And he even said, in one one important moment in Mark chapter four, he said the parables are on purpose, not clear.

So be on the lookout for this podcast episode early in 2020. Today's show is produced by Dan Gummel, our theme music comes from the band Tense, the Bible projects a crowd-funded nonprofit, we're in Portland, Oregon, and we make free resources that help people experience the Bible as one unified story that leads to Jesus. Thanks for being a part of this with us. Hi, this is Molly Vigin. I'm from Mary, Ohio, and my favorite thing about the Bible project is the way that they humbly and

easily break down the Bible so that we can understand it better. We believe the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus, where crowdfunded projects by people like me find free videos, study notes, podcasts, and more at thebibelproject.com. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ you