The Jesus of Scripture

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NOW YOU KNOW MEDIA STUDY GUIDE

The Jesus of Scripture Presented by Rev. Donald Senior, C.P., S.T.D.

THE JESUS OF SCRIPTURE STUDY GUI DE

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Rev. Donald Senior, C.P., S.T.D. President Emeritus, Catholic Theological Union Pontifical Biblical Commission

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onald Senior, C.P., is President Emeritus of the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where he has taught the New Testament since 1972. A Roman Catholic priest of the Passionist order, Fr. Senior has served on the Pontifical Biblical Commission since Pope John Paul II named him to it in 2001. He has taught and led pilgrimage tours in the Holy Land for over 25 years. In addition to having written books and articles too numerous to list, Fr. Senior is general editor of The Bible Today and The Catholic Study Bible, as well as coeditor of the 22-volume commentary New Testament Message. He earned his doctorate in New Testament Studies from the University of Louvain, Belgium, and completed further graduate studies at Hebrew Union College and Harvard University. In 1994, the Catholic Library Association of America gave him its Jerome Award for outstanding scholarship. In 1996, the National Catholic Education Association awarded him the Bishop Loras Lane Award for his outstanding contribution to theological education.


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Table of Contents Course Information Presenter Biography………………………………………………………………….i Course Overview ......................................................................................................... 1 Course Materials Topic 1: Introduction ................................................................................................... 2 Topic 2: The Gospels as Portraits of Jesus .................................................................. 5 Topic 3: The Origin of Jesus and His Identity as Son of God ..................................... 9 Topic 4:

Jesus and His Disciples ............................................................................ 13

Topic 5: Jesus the Healer ........................................................................................... 17 Topic 6: Jesus as Teacher .......................................................................................... 21 Topic 7: Jesus the Prophet ......................................................................................... 25 Topic 8: Jesus the Christ ............................................................................................ 29 Topic 9: The Passion and Death of Jesus: The Background ..................................... 33 Topic 10: The Meaning of Jesus’ Death .................................................................... 37 Topic 11: Jesus Risen................................................................................................. 41 Topic 12: Beyond Jesus: The Risen Christ and the Early Church ............................ 45 Supplemental Material Suggested Readings ................................................................................................... 49


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Course Overview Surely no one has made a greater impact on human history than Jesus of Nazareth. His life, example, and teachings have had a profound influence on every generation since the eventful impact of His death and resurrection. The quest for Jesus is unending, on the part of people of faith and as a historical exercise on the part of many modern scholars. Many images of Jesus have been popular over the centuries: the Crucified Jesus, the Jesus of the Last Judgment, the infant Jesus found in the Christmas crib, the majestic Jesus the Pantocrator found in the great Byzantine basilicas, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus—just to name a few. While the images of Jesus that have been revered in Christian piety are to be respected, the authentic source for our understanding of Jesus remains the New Testament and, in particular, the four Gospels. In these 12 special talks, you will explore the Jesus of the Scriptures. You will explore the nature of the Gospels and their historical reliability, as well the key and distinctive dimensions of Jesus and His mission portrayed by the evangelists. The portrait of Jesus found in the four Gospels and echoed in the rest of the New Testament writings remains powerful, beautiful, and compelling. They are a unique type of literature: biographies that were meant to inspire and transform. Using these main sources as windows or mirrors, you will explore this text both as a means through which to view Jesus as well as a way to examine your own relationship with these texts. Jesus is truly the life-giving Jesus, the one alive in the Church and in the world today.


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Topic 1: Introduction Overview

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urely no one has had a greater impact on human history than Jesus of Nazareth. His life, his example, and his teachings have had a profound influence on every generation since his death and resurrection. Through the centuries, many images or portrayals of Jesus have left their imprint on Christian faith and piety. You are probably familiar with a variety of diverse depictions of Jesus, such as Jesus the good shepherd, Jesus on the cross, Jesus the severe judge, and baby Jesus. In this series of lectures, we will focus on the Jesus portrayed in the New Testament, particularly the four gospels, with some attention to other New Testament writings. We will explore the ways in which their diverse yet complementary representations of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection can provide us with a deeper understanding of Jesus and of the Christian faith. I.

The Gospels

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Since the gospels are our primary source about the Jesus of the Scriptures, we need to ask, what is a gospel and how did the gospels come to be written? And how reliably do they portray the Jesus who walked the hills of Judea and Galilee at the beginning of the first century? 1) Since end of the 19th century, there has been considerable discussion and debate over the gospels and their historical truth. Some in 19th century took a purely rationalistic or empirical approach, screening out “miraculous” elements or what they considered “superstitious.” There was a strong focus on the Gospel of Mark, which was considered the most “primitive” and earliest of the gospels. Some thought that extracting supernatural elements would lead to a more accurate picture of the historical Jesus. Later scholars, however, would recognize that Mark, too, has a theological perspective. 2) Others, however, would take a more conservative approach and defend the gospels as literally and historically true, with no interpretive or theological elements. 3) Finally, some would conclude that the gospels are purely or largely a theology in narrative with little historical value.

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The Historical Nature of the Gospels

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Catholic and other Christian denominations have taken a more balanced approach in judging the historical nature of the gospels. 1) The Catholic position can be found in a publication of the Pontifical Biblical Commission titled the Instruction Concerning the Historical Truth of the Gospels (1964) and echoed in teachings of the Second Vatican Council in its document Dei Verbum, the decree on Divine Revelation. 2) This approach affirms that the Gospels emerged in three stages:


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(a) First Stage, rooted in the context of Jesus’ day: The gospels reflect what we know of the historical backdrop of Jesus’ own day in first century Palestinian Judaism in such areas as Jerusalem, Galilee, and the general area of biblical Israel, the social and historical context of the period, and particular aspects of Jewish life. (b) Second Stage, traditions circulated in the life of the early Church: The gospels were not written down during Jesus’ lifetime. Instead, these stories and sayings were handed down through life of early Church in its catechesis. These traditions were mainly oral and became imprinted with the faith and pastoral concern of the early Church. Not everything about Jesus was included. What was remembered was what was most important for Christian life. The faith of the community shaped the materials just as the materials shaped the faith of the community. The gospels took on an aura of theology, faith, and interpretation. (c) Third State, composition of the Gospels by the Evangelists in concert with their communities: One cataclysmic event, the Jewish revolt against Rome culminating in the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D., had a tremendous impact on the shaping of early Christianity. The Temple The Good Shepherd by James Tissot (1886-1894) was a key symbol of Jewish life and identity and its destruction had a devastating effect on Judaism and Jewish Christianity. Circumstances led the evangelists to pull together the disparate traditions about Jesus and to shape them into coherent narratives, with the collective memories of Jesus, remembered not for the sake of the past but for the present and future. There was an impulse to preserve and codify the teachings and example of Jesus. The Gospels can be seen as preaching in narrative form. III.

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Conclusion Although rooted in history, the gospels are not simply historical accounts. Nor are they simply theology, since they were intended to portray for the Church an authentic remembrance of the historical Jesus. They are in fact a unique literary form: biographies that were meant to inspire and transform.


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Questions for Discussion 1. Why is the question of the historical reliability of the gospels important for Christians?

2. Describe the three stages in the formation of the gospels.

3. How would you categorize the gospels: as “history” or “theology”?


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Topic 2: The Gospels as Portraits of Jesus Overview

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n the previous topic, we spoke of the three stages in the formation of the gospels as a way of understanding the nature of the gospels and their historical value. This topic focuses on the third and final stage in the formation of the gospels that led to the emergence of the four distinct gospels as we know them today, which are so important for presenting us with the authentic Jesus of the Scriptures. The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, which coincided with the passing of many of the Christian witnesses of Jesus’ day, inspired an attempt to bring together the scattered material in the life of the Church in order to form complete written narratives. This third stage is vital to anyone who hopes to gain an understanding Jesus of the scriptures. I.

The Diversity of the Four Gospels 

The gospels portray one and the same Jesus but they do so in very different ways. This diversity is an important element of the beauty and power of the New Testament portrayal of Jesus. The authors of the gospels never intended to write identical narratives.

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For example, each of the gospels presents the first actions of Jesus’ public ministry in a different way:

1) In Mark (1:21-28), the first action of Jesus’ ministry takes place in the synagogue of Capernaum. Jesus delivers a man convulsed with a demon. This first action is typical of how Mark portrays Jesus as a healer and exorcist throughout his Gospel. 2) Matthew (4:23-5:2) presents Jesus preaching on a hillside in Galilee as crowds of sick surround him and he begins his Sermon on the Mount, the first of five great discourses in this Gospel.

The Four Evangelists by Jacob Jordaens (1625-1630)

3) Luke (4:16-30) presents Jesus in his hometown synagogue of Nazareth, where he begins his preaching with the words of Isaiah 61, a powerful, prophetic text, and causes turmoil among the congregation. This scene is unique to Luke’s Gospel. Jesus is portrayed as a prophet.


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4) John (2:1-12) makes the first scene Jesus’ presence in Cana in Galilee where Jesus, his mother, and his disciples attend a wedding feast. Jesus preforms his first miracle, turning water into wine. II.

Explaining the Diversity of the Gospels 

Although there is often close correspondence among the synoptic gospels—that’s why they are called “synoptic,” to see together—yet there is still striking diversity among them. John’s Gospel is very different in every form.

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This diversity may be explained by three key factors involved in the creation of the gospels.

1) Each evangelist was dependent on the various traditions about Jesus that each evangelist and his community had available to them. (a) For example, in the case of Matthew and Luke, each used the Gospel of Mark as a primary source. They combined material from Mark with a collection of sayings and parables of Jesus, often called the “Q” source, along with material and stories special to each evangelist. For example, Luke includes the parable of the good Samaritan while Matthew writes about the merciless servant. (b) Whether John used the Gospel of Mark as a source is debated. Did he know the gospels of Matthew Mark and Luke? (E.g., passion story; walking on water; multiplication of loaves) or did he have an independent stream of tradition he used? John’s portrayal of Jesus’ life and his distinctive style set him apart from the other gospel writers. 2) Another source of diversity was the context in which each gospel was written. (a) Mark, for example, may have been written for the community of Rome, one that had undergone severe persecution by Nero. Mark’s Gospel emphasizes the suffering and the Passion of Jesus, the confrontation of evil, and the weakness and failure of the disciples. This tone was set in part by the circumstances of the community for which Mark wrote his Gospel. (b) Matthew’s Gospel was a thoroughly Jewish Christian, written perhaps for the Christian community in the city of Antioch. This was a community at a major transition point in the early Church, from a thoroughly Jewish community to a mixed community of Jews and Gentiles. The Gospel of Matthew was a powerful early teaching gospel in the Church. (c) Luke’s Gospel is harder to pinpoint in terms of location, but there are strong hints in his prologue that Luke wrote for a Gentile Christian community, intending to give a sense of history and perspective. He wants to tell his audience an “orderly account” of what happened from the beginning, from the roots of Jesus in Judaism to His mission to his ascension. Luke’s second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, shows how the risen Christ sends the Spirit into the fragile community in Jerusalem, which then moves out into the Western world. Luke wants to demonstrate the reliability of the Christian tradition. (d) John’s is the “maverick gospel,” a beautiful enigma. Tradition suggests it was written in a major city of empire such as Ephesus. While having deep roots in Judaism, as evident in its


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knowledge of Jerusalem and Jewish liturgy, John’s Gospel also uses terms and categories such as that of Logos for Jesus that bridge to the Hellenistic world. John projects a very human Jesus, but does so in a distinctly different way than the other gospel writers. (e) It is debated whether the gospels were written only for a local community or for the whole Church. British scholar Richard Bauckham provocatively argues that the gospel writers wrote for the whole Church and that the context of local communities has been overemphasized. It is perhaps best to find a middle way. It is most likely that the gospels were first and foremost directed to a specific local community or set of communities, but with the knowledge they would probably be circulated to other Christian communities. 3) Finally, the style and perspective each evangelist also accounts for some of the diversity among the four gospels. Each gospel was written in concert with the authors’ surrounding communities. They were public texts. It is evident from both the style and content of the gospels that each author was writing from a distinct viewpoint. Each evangelist, like a great artist or painter, has a style of his own. The metaphor is apt of the gospels as four distinct and unique “portraits” of one compelling historical subject. Each brings out the character of their subject in a unique and beautiful way, yet in a way that is authentic and captures the essence of Jesus.


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Review Questions 1. Give some examples of diversity among the four gospel accounts of the life of Jesus.

2. What are some of the factors that account for this diversity?

3. What is the value of considering the gospels as “portraits” of Jesus?


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Topic 3: The Origin of Jesus and His Identity as Son of God Overview

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aving considered the origin and nature of the gospels, our prime source for the Jesus of the Scriptures, we now turn to the content of the gospels: how, in fact, do they portray Jesus of Nazareth? Comprehending the true identity of Jesus remains the greatest and most significant challenge of Christian faith. The gospels face this question directly. In the synoptic gospels, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29, Matthew 16:15, Luke 9:20). In a sense, the whole of the gospels are an answer to this profound question, one that begins with the opening scene of each narrative. I.

The Origin of Jesus 

Each of the gospels probe the question of Jesus’ origin in a different way:

1) Mark’s Gospel (1:1-8) begins directly with the figure of John the Baptist, the desert prophet who heralds the approach of the Messiah and connects the advent of Jesus and his mission with the longings of the Old Testament. Jesus descends into the waters of the Jordan. When he rises out of the water, the heavens break open, and the Spirit comes in the form of a dove. 2) Matthew and Luke, however, push the origins further back. (a) Through his genealogy Matthew (1:1-18) connects Jesus with the great figures of Israel’s history, beginning with Abraham and Sarah and tracing Jesus’ Davidic lineage down through exile to Joseph. Matthew also peppers his genealogy with certain key women from the Old Testament: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. In other scenes of the infancy narrative, Matthew reaffirms that Jesus embodies the history of Israel: threatened by Herod as Moses was by Pharaoh; fleeing into Egypt under the protection of Joseph as Israel was; called forth from Egypt as Israel was; and having to live in exile from their own home as the people Israel were. All of this fulfills the scriptures as Matthew affirms repeatedly. While telling the great history of Israel, Matthew also reminds his readers that there were moments of discontinuity and God carried them through. (b) For Luke, the focus is on Jerusalem and its great temple. Jesus is born in the midst of the beautiful piety and devotion of the faithful Jews who serve in the temple and respond to the joy of Jesus’ birth as the Davidic Messiah: Elizabeth and Zachary; the shepherds, Anna and Simeon; and, of course, none more faithful than Mary and Joseph. (c) Thus Matthew and Luke, in a different way than Mark, emphasize, too, the deep roots of Jesus in God’s people Israel. The patient history of God’s covenant with Israel and their longing for redemption finds its fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth.


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3) John’s Gospel is again on a different plane. If Mark begins with the public ministry of Jesus at the Jordan and Matthew and Luke push his origins back to his conception and birth and his ancestry in Israel, John pushes the origin of Jesus to the very life of God. Through his prologue (1:1-18), John takes us to the very beginning of beginnings. God speaks and the word that he speaks is so complete, so articulate, so eloquent that that word is itself divine—it is theos. Spoken by God and sent into the world by God, that word becomes flesh and takes on an authentic human existence and a human history. In a world of pain and confusion, Jesus is the word of God. The great question of John’s Gospel is what does God want to say to the world? 4) In many ways the opening scenes of all four gospels serve as a kind of overture to the gospel narratives as a whole—orienting the reader, as it were, to the identity and purpose of Jesus before the story plunges into the actions of Jesus’ public ministry.

Jesus’ Baptism

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The baptism scene in Mark’s Gospel sets the tone (1:9-11). There is a dramatic moment as Jesus steps into the Jordan river—the very river that Israel had crossed to enter into the promised land—and as he rises out of the river the heavens tear apart, the Spirit of God descends upon Jesus, and the voice of God speaks: “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.”

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Here is, in a sense, God’s answer to the question of Jesus’ identity.

III.

The Desert Test or Temptation of Jesus

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The Spirit propels Jesus into the desert immediately after the baptism scene.

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Mark notes that Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, was driven out into the desert to confront the power of evil, Satan (1:1213). In the desert where Israel itself was formed and tested for forty years, Jesus, too, is tested by evil for forty days and forty nights. In Mark’s account, Jesus’ struggle with evil is wordless. Nonetheless, he gives us a preview of the purpose and identity of Jesus.

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In Matthew and Luke, the attempt of Satan to deflect Jesus from his mission is spelled out as the demon tries to lure Jesus with promises of power.

Jesus in the Desert by I. N. Kramskoi (1872)

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But in all three accounts, Jesus is the faithful and obedient Son of God who will never waver from his God-given mission of overcoming death and restoring life.

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Some have said that the angels and beasts in these scenes evoke a new kind of creation theology.


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IV.

The Beginning of Jesus’ Mission 

With the completion of John’s prologue and the conclusion of the baptism and testing scenes, the stage is now set for Jesus to begin his public ministry in the gospel drama. In the synoptics again, he enters into Galilee, proclaiming that the time was fulfilled the reign of God was about to break in the world.

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For Matthew, Mark and Luke, this metaphor or image of the “reign of God” was drawn from Judaism and was the keynote of Jesus’ mission. He had come to bring the peace, the justice, the fullness of life that was God’s ultimate promise to Israel. Through his mission of teaching and healing that reign of God would begin to transform the world.

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Conclusion

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In reflecting on the origins of Jesus, the gospels make profound assertions about his identity. 1) All four of them locate Jesus within the history of Israel. Jesus fulfills the hopes and dreams of a people. His remote origins are in the beauty and anguish of Jewish tradition and Jewish history. We have come to appreciate the Jewish context of the gospels in a new way in recent years. You cannot understand Jesus or the Christian message without seeing them as fully within the context of Judaism. 2) And beyond this, Jesus is God’s Son, filled with God’s Spirit, embodying God’s presence as the Word made flesh—the one sent to bring life to the world, the one who would break the grip of death and sin on God’s world and bring the reality of healing, forgiveness, and new hope. The gospels grapple with the mystery of the incarnation at the heart of Christian faith.


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Review Questions 1. How do the different gospels track the origin of Jesus?

2. What does the reader of the gospel learn about the identity of Jesus in the opening scenes of the gospel narratives?


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Topic 4: Jesus and His Disciples Overview

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n all four of the gospels, the first thing Jesus does as he begins his mission is choose his disciples. The Jesus of the gospels does not act alone but in the context of a community. All of us who turn to the gospels in a spirit of faith can see our own image reflected in the experience, destiny, and weaknesses of the disciples. Whether in their glory or their flaws, we can easily identify with the disciples and see in them an image of the Christian believer. As is true of practically every dimension of the four gospels, their portrayals of the first followers of Jesus also have distinct characteristics. Yet there are some common threads. The disciples do not choose Jesus as much as he chooses them or calls them to be with him and share in his mission. The disciples are given a share in the mission of Jesus. They form the community of Jesus. Despite their familiarity with Jesus and their empowerment for mission, the gospels do not hesitate to focus on the weakness and failure of the disciples. Thus, readers can relate to them, not only as followers of Jesus but also as flawed human beings. I.

The Call 

The gospel accounts of Jesus’ ministry begin with the call and gathering of his disciples. In Mark and Matthew, the call stories are very similar (see Mark 1:16-20; Matthew 4:18-22). Jesus calls two sets of brothers and they immediately leave all and follow him. Obviously the focus here is on the initiative of Jesus; he commands and the disciples respond. Faith and discipleship are gifts. The essence of discipleship is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and to share in his mission of “fishing for people.”

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Luke’s Gospel (5:1-11) has a beautiful variant on these stories. Jesus is preaching by the Sea of Galilee. People are gathered by the seaside, and the press of the crowd to get nearer to Jesus is so strong that Jesus gets into Simon’s boat and, after a miraculous catch of fish, so heavy that it almost sinks the boat, calls Simon and his companions leave everything to follow him. Luke interjects another kind of experience, the futility of the lives of the fishermen, and the risk of pushing out into the deep and following the words of Jesus.

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Once again, John’s Gospel is different (1:35-51), with the setting at the Jordan rather than in Galilee and with the first disciples lured away from John the Baptist’s disciples when Jesus passes by. Jesus has a magnetic presence that draws people in and raises deep questions.

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In all of the gospels, the fundamental message is the same: discipleship is a gift; its meaning is found in following after Jesus; that encounter leads to a share in the redemptive mission of Jesus himself. Jesus steps into the lives of these human beings and things will never be the same for them.


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The Calling of the Apostles by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1481)

The Mission

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What is implicit in the call stories is made explicit in the rest of the gospel story. The disciples are to partake in the mission of Jesus. The Synoptic gospels do this by having Jesus formally call the twelve apostles and empower them (see the mission discourse of Matthew chapter 10). He gives them the same powers that he has: to preach the good news, to heal, to raise the dead, and to offer life to those who are lifeless and harassed. Jesus warns them that the mission also involves sacrifice, resistance, and even the threat of death.

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Mark and Luke have similar formulations. Despite their weakness and hesitations, the disciples are given the power to do what Jesus does.

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John’s Gospel distills this into a tight formula: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (20:21). The reader must ask, how has Jesus been sent? John is very clear: Jesus, the word of God, spoken to the world, is not a word of condemnation but a word of life. Like Jesus, the Christian community is not sent to condemn but to uplift the world.

III.

The Community of Jesus

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The disciples form the community of Jesus. In the synoptic gospels the disciples are depicted as being with Jesus constantly. They are, in fact, the core community of Jesus—an anticipation of the communities of faith that would eventually be born in Jesus name.


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IV.

This is an important part of Christian life, one that is at times a challenge for our culture. Often, we speak of “being alone with Jesus.” But it is the bond of all of us with Jesus that is emphasized in the gospels. In a way, Jesus needs the disciples just as they need him.

The Challenge of Discipleship 

One of the striking things about the gospels is that they refuse to idealize these first followers of Jesus. Jesus himself does not hesitate to state the challenge of following in his footsteps: following Jesus and aligning one’s life with him is a commitment above all others, including family ties. So the disciples are exhorted to leave behind their families and possessions and follow Jesus. The obligation to follow Jesus transcends all others.

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The Gospel of Mark, especially, emphasizes the weakness and frailty of the disciples. In the first part of the story, the disciples lack understanding. Later, tensions grow as the disciples continue to misunderstand Jesus’ mission. Finally, in the moment of crisis, all of his disciples flee during the Passion narrative.

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When you read through the gospel narrative it becomes clear that the disciples, despite their privileged position with Jesus, are often a weak and confused bunch who in the story of the Passion would ultimately abandon Jesus. The resurrection is presented as a moment of reconciliation and renewal of the disciples.

Conclusion

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What if the disciples had acted heroically throughout the gospels, remaining loyal to Jesus to the end? Would they resonate with us to the same degree?

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By portraying the disciples as both graced with a call from Jesus and yet exhibiting weakness and failure, the Christian reader of the gospels is able to identify with these first followers of Jesus.


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Review Questions 1. What are some of the common features ascribed to the disciples in the four gospels?

2. What do you make of the fact that the gospels also portray the disciples as weak and fallible? Why do you think this is so?


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Topic 5: Jesus the Healer Overview

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ne of the most important aspects of the gospel portrayals of Jesus is that he was a healer. Twice, he refers to himself as a “physician.” Reading through the gospels, we can see that Jesus was a not an abstract religious teacher but a compassionate healer in touch with human pain and human bodies. Healing was a major part of his ministry. In this topic, we will explore what illness means to us, and how it affects us, both physically and spiritually. It has the ability to change our whole world, to cut us off from familiar routines and relationships. Thus, as the gospels themselves were aware, it was not enough simply to be physically cured. There was a need to be profoundly healed—in every dimension of our being. Jesus’ healings involved not only a physical cure but also a deliverance from evil and death. Throughout history, the depiction of Jesus as healer has inspired Christians to emulate his actions. Jesus the healer continues in the lives of his followers. I.

Illness and Healing 

To understand this dimension of the Jesus of the Gospels we might first consider what illness and healing mean for us as human beings. A serious, perhaps even life-threatening illness is a multidimensional experience, affecting us not only physically but also psychologically, socially, and spiritually.

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Some have compared the experience of going through a serious illness or recovery from an addiction like being on a long journey and trying to return home: we have changed and in a certain way, we may experience difficulty of re-entering our world. And the community, too, has to change, to understand we may be a new person or a person with a very different perspective than when we began our journey.

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There is also a symbolic dimension to some illnesses in various cultures. For example, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, tuberculosis had an aura of shame about it. AIDS also has this symbolic dimension. In the biblical world, leprosy had a strong symbolic meaning—it was like being among the living death. The person who had contracted it was to be avoided, kept away from the realm of the living.

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The biblical world also attached a profound religious meaning to illness. Sicknesses and various psychological disorders were seen in a sense as symptomatic of death’s hold on the human community. Even though the person afflicted was morally innocent, their illness and mortality— eventually shared by every human being—was a sign of the grip that sin and the demonic had on God’s creation. Thus to be healed was to be free of evil and the curse of death.


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II.

Jesus as Healer in the Gospels 

All of these dimensions come into play in the gospel stories that portray Jesus as healer. 1)

The gospels put Jesus healings and exorcisms under the umbrella of his mission of bringing God’s reign to reality: “If by the Spirit of God I cast out demons, then the kingdom of heaven has come upon you” (Matthew 12:28); Luke 11:20 is similar but uses the vivid expression, “if by the finger of God I cast out demons...” Jesus saw his healings as a sign of the ultimate peace and healing that would come with God’s reign.

2)

The “reign of God” was a biblical metaphor that pointed to God as the one who would ultimately liberate Israel from evil and death and bring final peace and justice to reality. Jesus’ liberating work, freeing a human being from the grip of evil and death in all its forms, was a sign of that ultimate reality.

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While the Gospel of John does not use the metaphor of the “kingdom or reign of God” as emphatically as the Synoptic Gospels, John does refer to Jesus’ miracles as “signs”—a sign of God’s redemptive love shining through the compassionate and healing touch of Jesus. In the flesh of Jesus we see the very presence of the divine.

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Healing stories fill the Gospels. 1)

For example, in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus spends the entire first day of his mission in a series of healings and exorcism (1:21-45). Mark concludes this first day of healing with a powerful story of Jesus touching a leper in order to heal him. Mark adds that the man had a right to be restored to society.

2)

Matthew has a similar scene at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount (4:23-5:2) and after the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7). Matthew devotes two chapters to a series of healings (chapters 89).

3) 

Christ Cleansing a Leper by Jean-Marie Melchior Doze (1872)

Luke and John have healings scattered throughout their account of Jesus’ public ministry.

Exorcisms are an integral part of Jesus’ mission to defeat of aggressive evil and to secure human liberation. Many in the biblical world as in traditional societies today attributed illness to evil spirits that had a chokehold on human life, draining it of meaning and dignity (see for example, Mark 5:1-20).


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The healing miracles also involved inclusion, the restoring of people whose condition marginalized them to their dignity and their rightful place in the community (e.g., the story of woman bent double in Luke 13:10-17).

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In John’s gospel the final healing action of Jesus is the raising of his friend Lazarus (11:1-44). This powerful and liberating action of Jesus sums up the mission of Jesus and reveals the ultimate meaning of the healing stories—Jesus is the one who liberates those he loves from the grip of death.

III.

Conclusion

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The image of Jesus as healer has inspired Christians for centuries. The gospels underscore the comprehensive scope of human illness and also the comprehensive scope of Jesus’ healing touch.

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No wonder healing is such an important part of the gospel portrait of Jesus. And no wonder healing is such an integral part of the Christian mission: illustrating the gospel mandate to bring reconciliation and restoration to our broken world.


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Review Questions 1. What are some of the facets of the experience of life-threatening illness? Why is this significant in considering the meaning of the gospel stories of Jesus‟ healings?

2. How would you describe the meaning of the exorcism stories in the gospels?

3. What are some of the conclusions we can draw from the healing stories about the overall mission of Jesus?


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Topic 6: Jesus as Teacher Overview ne of the most frequent titles given to Jesus in the gospels is that of “teacher.” This leads us to another important dimension of the Jesus of the Scriptures. The notion of religious leaders as teachers has its roots in Jewish religion. As we will see, the gospel writers portray Jesus as carrying on this important tradition. In this topic, we will examine some of Jesus’ most important teachings, which demonstrate his wisdom and compassion, and explore some of the qualities that made Jesus a master teacher. Jesus’ teachings show his tremendous faith in his followers’ ability to become what God has called us to be.

O I.

Religious Teachers 

The religious teacher was revered in Judaism as the one responsible for handing on the sacred traditions of Judaism.

1) The heart of those traditions was found in the Torah or the Pentateuch—the five main books of the Bible that were the foundations of Israel’s life. Judaism firmly believed that in the scriptures, God’s will for Israel was to be found and through obedience and reverence for God’s will, one could find true life. The teacher or rabbi was the one who taught and interpreted these sacred traditions to the people, helping them probe their meaning and applying that meaning to everyday life. 

Jesus certainly performs the role of religious teacher in the gospel narratives. Again, there are many facets of Jesus the teacher portrayed in the gospels.

1) One of the most emphatic presentations of Jesus the teacher is found in Matthew’s Gospel. Matthew begins the public ministry of Jesus with the famous Sermon on the Mount, the first of five great discourses that appear throughout the gospel. (a) At the beginning of the Sermon Jesus states a fundamental principle of all his teaching: “think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have come not to

The Sermon on the Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch (1877)


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abolish them but to fulfill them” (5:17-20). This is how the evangelist Matthew and his community understood the teaching of Jesus—all of the beauty and truth of the Torah, of the Hebrew Scriptures would find their ultimate fulfillment in the teaching of Jesus. (b) That is clear in the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus contrasts his own teaching with that of some of the traditional or prevailing interpretations (5:21-48). Each of the examples Jesus uses deal with human relationships and in each instance Jesus’ teaching is more deeply interior and more radical in its demands. And the most extraordinary demand of all is the last of this series of teachings: “Love you enemies, pray for your persecutors” (Mt 5:43). In this the last and most radical of Jesus’ teachings we learn the motivation for it all— in so living and being, the disciples will be like God, who is completely gracious and forgiving (see Mt 5:45-48). Jesus believed in the capacity of ordinary people to achieve great holiness and virtue, even though he knew well our frailty and had great compassion for it. Here we see in Jesus’ teaching what God truly intended the human person to be.

Other Aspects of Jesus’ Teaching

II.



There are other aspects of Jesus’ teaching worth noting.

1) The Jesus of the gospels insists on not simply saying the right words but doing the right thing. The Jesus of the gospels has little time for words without actions. “It is not those who say Lord, Lord, who enter the kingdom of heaven but those who do the will of my heavenly father” (Mt 7:21). Jesus emphasizes authenticity and integrity. 2) Similarly, Jesus had little patience with religious hypocrisy—saying one thing and doing another. Or doing the right thing only to draw attention to oneself (see the examples concerning prayer, fasting and almsgiving in Mt 6:1-18 or Jesus’ excoriation of his opponents in chapter 23 because of their hypocrisy).

Jesus’ Parables

III.



And, of course, when we think of Jesus as the teacher, we remember that the parables were his favorite mode of teaching. Jesus was a storyteller, an alert observer of human life, one who loved and appreciated the foibles and patterns of human action. Those artful stories that made the listener pay attention and ponder their meaning.



C. H. Dodd, a great British biblical scholar, gives an excellent definition of the parable: “At its simplest, the parable is a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it into active thought.”



Examples of Jesus’ parables abound in the gospels. Through his parables, the Jesus of the gospels, a master teacher, brought home to his listeners the truth and beauty of God’s reign.


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IV.

The Authority and Eloquence of Jesus 

From the point of the gospels, we should note, the power of Jesus’ teaching was not simply the artfulness of his examples or the eloquence of his words, but the authority with which Jesus taught. The gospels believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and therefore what he says reveals the truth.



As the people exclaim in Mark’s Gospel, he teaches with authority and not like our scribes (Mk 1:27).

V.

Conclusion



John’s Gospel captures this aspect of Jesus the Teacher most powerfully. John’s Gospel has few if any true parables; however, for John’s Gospel, Jesus is the true “Word of God,” the one who in his very flesh, in his very being, reveals God.



Every word, every gesture, every action, every relationship of Jesus embodies the Word of God to us—a word of truth, a word of redeeming love. Jesus is, indeed, the Teacher.


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Review Questions 1. Why was the role of “teacher” revered in Judaism? How did this relate to the significance of the Torah or Law in Jewish religious life?

2. What are some of the most important passages in the gospels for discovering the content and style of Jesus’ teaching?

3. Describe some characteristic themes of Jesus’ teaching found in the gospels.


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Topic 7: Jesus the Prophet Overview

I

n the view of the Bible, the prophets played a key role in the history of Israel. When Israel had built itself into a nation and adopted the monarchy as its form of government, it tended to forget the great ideals of its covenant forged during its sojourn in the desert. As the Bible tells the story, the lure of wealth and the corrupting influence of the surrounding cultures began to chip away at the fidelity of Israel. When Israel thus began to lose its way, there arose in Israel the great prophets who served as the conscience of Israel. The writers of the gospels place Jesus within this great tradition. Jesus’ challenging pronouncements and fearless truth-telling often evoked hostility and ultimately led to his death. He was not afraid of defying the conventions and false values of his day for the sake of his greater vision of justice and hope for the future. I.

The Biblical Prophets



When we refer to “prophets” today we often refer to people who supposedly can predict the future. But the biblical prophets had a different role: they remembered the great ideals and values of Israel past for the sake of the future.



The prophets were those great spirit-filled people who acted on God’s behalf, who, in times of great crisis, fearlessly reminded Israel and its leaders of their best ideals, who challenged the king and the people when they had gone astray and often suffered persecution and even death because of their courageous proclamation of the truth.



These spirit-filled prophets did have a vision of the future for Israel but it was a future filled with justice and peace, a future based on Israel repenting and turning back to its covenant ideals (see, for example, Isaiah 11:1-9).

II.

Jesus the Prophet



The gospels, particularly the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, also portray Jesus as a great prophet who does not forget the ideals and values of God’s people, who fearlessly confronts injustice, and who inspires a vision of peace and justice.



This is especially the case with the Gospel of Luke who begins his gospel with a “storm of the Spirit” descending on the great Jewish characters who surround the child Jesus. In the opening scene of Jesus’ public ministry in Nazareth (Lk 4:16-30), Jesus reads from the text of Isaiah 61 and declares that this prophetic text is fulfilled in his audience’s hearing: “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year


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of favor from the Lord...” This whole text in Luke is seen as an overture to the gospel: the prophetic, boundary breaking mission of Jesus that would reach beyond the boundaries, beyond the familiar, to bring God’s love and justice to the ends of the earth. 

In his role as prophet the Jesus of the Gospels challenges his opponents and those who do not share and even oppose his vision of justice and compassion.



As the gospel narratives make clear, Jesus’ challenges to the religious and civil authorities of his day built up hostility and opposition to him and would ultimately lead to his death. In a very real sense, we can say that Jesus died because of the way he lived.

III.

Inspirational Lessons for the Future



The prophets did more than fearlessly challenge the injustice and sins of their generation. They also provided inspiration for the future, drawing on the deepest longings and most beautiful ideals that God had implanted in Israel. 1) Isaiah 25:6-9, for example, spoke of a future day, when God, “... the Lord of Hosts, would provide on this mountain Zion, a feast for all peoples, a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations, he will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces; the reproach of his people he will remove Prophet Isaiah by Antonio Balestra (18th century) from the whole earth; for the Lord has spoken. On that day it will be said: ‘Behold our God to whom we looked to save us! This is the Lord for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!’” (a) Isaiah projects the future as a meal that everyone was invited to. Jesus evoked this vision in both actions and words. 2) In other places Isaiah speaks of the great era of peace and reconciliation that God will bring to Israel and all of creation: “Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb and the leopard shall like down with the kid: The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox, the baby shall play by the cobra’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair, there shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord, as waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:1-5).


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3) Jesus’ own soul and his imagination were nourished by these images. We can think, for example, of his prophet declaration at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, the great beatitudes which foresee blessings on those whom society may despise or discount and lifts up those virtues and dispositions that God welcomes (Mt 53-12): Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. IV.

Conclusion



Jesus, God’s Spirit-filled prophet par excellence, did not forget God’s covenant with Israel. He would fearlessly challenge his opponents and his disciples to be true to their ideals. But he also recalled for them the vision of hope and peace that God held out for them.



What is the prophetic role? To speak the truth fearlessly and to live with integrity.


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Review Questions 1. What is the role or function of the prophet in the Bible? And how does this differ from our modern, popular notion of a “prophet”?

2. In what ways does Jesus act as a biblical prophet?

3. The prophet both challenges and offers a vision of hope—what are some of the key elements of Jesus’ vision of hope for the future?


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Topic 8: Jesus the Christ Overview

C

hrist is not the surname or family name of Jesus, but it is, of course, more than that. It is an extremely important title in the Bible. The word comes from the Greek term Christos, which means the “anointed one”. In Hebrew, the term was Messiah. In Israel, the kings were anointed, and thus the term “Christ” is a royal title, the anointed to be king of Israel. As Israel’s history unfolded through hope and tragedy, the Bible longs for God’s promised deliverer, a royal figure in the line of David, who would finally come to ultimately restore and liberate Israel to bring God’s promised peace, God’s shalom so longed for by each generation of God’s people. Early Jewish Christians came to see Jesus as the embodiment of God’s promised messiah. Jesus was seen as inaugurating the beginnings of the reign of God. I.

The Messianic Hopes of Israel



At the time of Jesus, these messianic hopes among the Jewish people did form not a single, clear-cut idea of who or what the messiah would be. People certainly hoped and trusted in God’s future liberation of Israel but were divided and less certain about how this would come about. For some, the messiah would be a royal liberator in the mode of the great King David. For others, the means of ultimate liberation was less clear.

II.

Jesus the Messiah or Christ



The early Jewish Christians certainly came to believe that in Jesus God’s promised liberator and restorer of Israel was to be found. And they began to reflect on the Hebrew Scriptures, their Bible, with that conviction and began to apply to Jesus many of the passages of the Old Testament that expressed Israel’s hope for ultimate redemption from sin and death, such as the longing for the final restoration of the Davidic Kingdom.



King David in Prayer by Pieter de Grebber (ca. 1635-1640)

The powerful words of Jesus revealing truth and inspiring hope for the future were part of this messianic work. So, too, were Jesus’ healing actions – driving out crippling evil and restoring people to health were the first signs of the ultimate reign of God that was not yet fully here but definitively promised.


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III.

The Messianic Work of Gathering God’s People



Another way of conceiving of the purpose of Jesus’ messianic mission was to gather and restore Israel, the people that God had created and shaped through its long and often tortured history. As the genealogy in Matthew’s Gospel reminds us that history had reached soaring heights under the kingship of David and Solomon but also experienced the terrible shattering of hopes under the exile when all seemed lost.



Even though the exile had taken place several centuries before the birth of Jesus, it was embedded in the memory of Israel in the Scriptures and its liturgy and prayer. At the time of the Babylonian exile in 583 B.C., Israel had lost all of its defining institutions: priesthood, temple, land, king. They became a scattered and despairing people. The exile was a searing wound deep in Israel’s memory and recalled in the scriptures and liturgy—a lens through which they could view all of the subsequent losses and sufferings that Israel would later endure—under the Greeks and the Romans, down to the time of Jesus.



Biblical scholar N. T. Wright suggests that the memory of the exile was very important in Jesus’ consciousness and ministry. In the light of the exile and the scattering of the Jewish people that it caused, Jesus may have seen as his god given mission, his work as the Christ, was to bring the scattered people back home; In Jesus’ own words: his mission was to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”



There are a number of ways that Jesus went about his mission of gathering God’s scattered people. 1) One of these was Jesus’ ministry of healing and exorcism. Healing involves not only physical transformation and cure, but also restoring the one healed to their rightful place in the community. 2) This dynamic of gathering and restoring what was lost and scattered is a consistent motif of many of Jesus’ parables, such as the shepherd’s search for a single lost sheep or the father’s vigil waiting for his lost son (see the parables of Luke 15). 3) It is also expressed in Jesus’ outreach to those on the margins of society. In Matthew’s Gospel his opponents characterized Jesus as “a lover of tax collectors and those outside the law”—an accusation that Jesus himself would appreciate and accept (see Mt 11:19)! 4) The meals that are a prominent part of Jesus’ ministry also fit under this category of the gathering of God’s people. Jesus shares meals with his disciples, with his opponents, and feeds the multitudes, a miracle that both recalls God’s feeding of the people in the desert and projects to the future Eucharists of the community and the final gathering of God’s people.



Jesus’ strong emphasis on forgiveness and reconciliation can be found throughout the gospels. This is also an important part of his messianic mission of bringing together in peace God’s people. The gospels always encourage us to favor compassion, understanding, and forgiveness. 1) We can think, for example, of the Sermon on the Mount, where numerous sayings of Jesus instruct his disciples to seek reconciliation (see Mt 5:23-24; 5:38-42; 5:43-48).


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2) In teaching his disciples how to pray through the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus again emphasizes the necessity of forgiveness (see Mt 6:9-15). 3) In chapter 18 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus admonishes Peter to forgive seventy times seven times (18:22) and drives this lesson home with the parable of the merciless servant (18:21-35). 4) In the famous story of the woman caught in adultery found in the Gospel of John (8:1-11), Jesus treats the woman whom his opponents have shamed with extraordinary sensitivity and forgiveness. IV.

Conclusion



Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, was indeed the restorer and liberator of Israel. Not with military force or violence, not with domineering power, but with healing and forgiveness and compassion, Jesus showed the way to restore God’s people.


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Review Questions 1. What is the origin and meaning of the term “messiah” or “Christ”?

2. In what ways does the Jesus of the gospels act as the Messiah?

3. How do the meals described in the gospels and Jesus’ outreach to those on the margin fit into his work as Messiah?


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Topic 9: The Passion and Death of Jesus: The Background Overview

E

ach of four gospels leads to the passion and death of Jesus as the dramatic climax. As in the rest of the gospel portrayal of Jesus, the passion narratives are not intended to be dispassionate historical accounts of Jesus’ final hours, but as a profound theological reflection in narrative form about the meaning of Jesus’ death for us. When reading the New Testament, we should see Jesus as, in a sense, the representative human being. From the point of view of the Christian faith, our hope and our destiny stand with Jesus. Thus, as Jesus confronts the specter of death, so do we all. For all of us, death poses profound questions about the meaning of our lives and our destinies. We can find the destiny of humanity written in the life and death of Jesus. I.

The Basic Historical Context Surrounding the Circumstances of Jesus' Death



The four gospels are closer here than in any other part of the story of Jesus. In the view of the gospel writers, a number of factors contributed to mounting hostility against Jesus and lead to his death: 1) There was mounting conflict with religious leadership over interpretation of law and issues of identity. Jesus was perceived by his opponents as perhaps too lenient, too receptive of those outside the law, and, as one who seem to relativize the moral and religious boundaries that other felt were essential to Jewish identity in a difficult time. His opponents also were troubled that Jesus spoke with confidence in his own authority to interpret the law. 2) Jesus’ symbolic action against the temple establishment was seen as dangerous by the religious authorities. The gospels agree that this prophetic action of Jesus was a provocative gesture, dangerous in the highly charged atmosphere of Jerusalem at that period. 3) Romans directly ruled in Jerusalem and Judea. This situation would create a tinderbox of tension between Romans and Jews. Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom of God could have been a provocative factor in this atmosphere. 4) Another, deeper level seen in the gospels is that of Jesus in conflict with ultimate power of evil and death. We recall the temptation stories at the beginning of the gospel story, which present Jesus as God’s Spirit filled champion, the lord of life, in struggle with ultimate evil and its tenacious grip on humanity. In Luke’s Passion narrative, Jesus faces Satan once again, embodied by Judas (Luke 22:3). Behind this betrayal lurks the power of evil itself.



Each evangelist, in other words, roots the cause of Jesus’ death deep within his public ministry. The death of Jesus is not some surprising and unexpected final chapter of Jesus’ life. It is the outcome of a series of commitments in the cause of his mission; this gives the cross an active sense as symbol.


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Jesus does not simply endure suffering and death but takes up his cross. He fulfills his mission despite the cost. II.

All Four Passion Narratives Agree on the Basic Sequence of Events



It takes place at the time of the Passover festival when Jerusalem was teeming with pilgrims. Jewish and perhaps Roman officials arrested Jesus in Jerusalem.



He was first arraigned by Jewish leaders who were held responsible by Romans for local order, probably not as a formal trial but more of a strategy session.



Jesus was condemned and executed by Roman authority under the prefecture of Pontius Pilate. Crucifixion was a Roman form of capital punishment reserved almost exclusively for crimes of sedition.



His burial took place immediately after his death by crucifixion, arranged by a wealthy follower of Jesus.

III.

Each of the Evangelists Also Brings a Different Overall Style to the Narrative



Each passion narrative has its own distinct characteristics. Mark’s Gospel is the starkest of all. Earlier in the gospel, the Jesus of Mark’s Gospel had interpreted his death as an act of complete service: “The Son of Man has come not to be served but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for the many” (Mark 10:45). This sets the tone of Mark’s account. The passion story is like a dark passage: Jesus is gradually stripped of his freedom, stripped of the support of his disciples as they all flee, stripped of his ministry, and finally of his very life breath. Mark describes Jesus dying with a loud wordless scream, truly giving every ounce of his life for the many.



Matthew’s passion story is similar but, in accord with the Jewish character of his gospel as a whole, he emphasizes Jesus’ obedience to the will of God, even in moments of terrible suffering. Jesus remains committed to his mission even in the face of death. So Jesus prays in Gethsemane, using phrases from the prayer he had taught the disciples: “not my will but Yours be done.” He faces his arrest with dignity and calm. And on the cross, while in anguish, Jesus

Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane by Giacito Brandi (ca. 1650)


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prays the lament Psalm 22, “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” Though in anguish, Jesus remains faithful to the last moment of his human life, handing over his life breath to the God from which it came. This is the final act of trust. 

In Luke’s passion narrative, Jesus exemplifies the very virtues that he had exhorted his disciples to have. Jesus is the prophetic witness par excellence and when Jesus dies, the centurion who stands watch says, “Truly this was a just man.”



John, as always, has the most distinctive and unique of the four passion stories. The key is that John sees the death of Jesus as the final Word to be proclaimed, the word of love for the world that God had sent him to proclaim. “No greater love than this that one lay down one’s life for his friend” (John 15:13). So love triumphs over death and, even though John narrates a story of arrest, interrogation, and torture and a violent death—as do the other evangelists—the tone of his story reflects the triumph of love.

IV.

Conclusion



The four portrayals of Jesus’ final hour point to the meaning of this event for the life of the world. It is to that meaning we will turn in our second reflection on the death of Jesus.


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Review Questions 1. Identify some of the probable causes for the death of Jesus.

2. What does it mean to say that Jesus died because of the way he lived?

3. Each of the four gospels has common features in their passion narratives and some distinctive elements. Can you name some of these?


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Topic 10: The Meaning of Jesus’ Death Overview

E

arlier in considering the passion narratives in the Gospel, we noted how important these last hours of Jesus’ life loom in the overall gospel stories. In their accounts of Jesus’ final suffering and death, the evangelists maintain their diversity, each depicting the scene with somewhat different nuances, reflecting the unique tone that each of them brings to their portrayal of Jesus. The passion story is vital to understanding the Jesus of the gospels. As noted earlier, for the Christian faith, all of human destiny rides with Jesus in his encounter with the ultimate mysteries of death and suffering. In this topic, we will reflect more deeply on the meaning of Jesus’ death, both in the gospels and to us. I.

Key Motifs in the Gospel Passion Narratives



The faith of the early Church viewed Jesus as what we could call the “representative human being.” Jesus, both divine and human, catches up all that it means to be a human being, a child of God. Jesus shows us the true nature and destiny of what it means to be a human being, a child of God. 1) And this is certainly true in Jesus’ encounter with the mystery of suffering and death, a mystery that we all have to encounter. Jesus as truly human does not escape this reality. (a) The reality of the physical suffering Jesus endured was well known to the gospel writers. Crucifixion was intended to be an especially humiliating and painful method of execution. (b) At the time of greatest stress, his own disciples seem to fail him: they sleep when he needs their consolation; they abandon, deny and betray him. Jesus Crucifixion by Marco Palmezzano (1480s-1490s) enters into the passion story alone. (c) And Jesus also encounters raw evil, just as he had throughout his ministry. He is confronted with people who are hostile to him, who oppose his mission, who threaten him and plot against him. Even in this moment of greatest suffering, people mock him and ridicule him.


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(d) In all of the passion narratives, Jesus prays that death might not overwhelm him. And on the cross itself, in the gospels of Mark and Matthew, Jesus prays the psalm of lament, Psalm 22, on the brink of his death: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” (i) Scholar Oscar Cullmann compared the death scenes of Jesus and Socrates. Socrates was surrounded by his friends. He consoled them with his conviction that death would mean the liberation of his immortal soul. While death is a friend for Socrates, Jesus views death as an enemy, robbing him of his life, his freedom, and his vital mission. (e) The Gospels, therefore, do not present Jesus as exempt from suffering or as one untouched by the fear of death and the suffering that might accompany it. Instead, he is a human being caught in the grips of a terrible suffering. How many people through the ages have drawn strength and comfort from gazing at an image of Jesus on the cross! 

Another motif of the passion story is that it triggers a crisis of discipleship. The followers of Jesus seem unprepared for the passion of Jesus. They ignore the warning signs; they sleep instead of pray; they betray, deny and desert Jesus in his time of greatest need. The crisis of suffering and failure reveals the weakness and humanness of the Church and its leaders. 1) The gospels depict Jesus’ community as a very human community. When Paul referred to the Church as the body of Christ, what kind of body was he thinking of? The perfect body of an athlete or the body of the crucified Christ? Paul knew that the Church was a wounded body.



Viewed from the vantage point of resurrection faith, the passion stories also underscore the full identity of Jesus as the Son of God and the liberating Christ. 1) The passion narratives leave no doubt that Jesus truly died, but as the Risen Christ he has led the way to victory over sin and death. Jesus is the first born, the first to go through the crucible of death and, through the power of God, to overcome the power of death. 2) This is the heart of the Christian message that was so important to the Apostle Paul. Through the failure and sin of Adam, Paul proclaimed, sin and death entered the world. Through the love and obedience of Jesus, the New Adam, now death has been defeated and life, not death, has become our destiny.



The gospels also see the death of Jesus as the culmination of a life given for others. At the moment of Jesus’ death, the gospels proclaim him as the true Son of God. God is revealed not in overwhelming power that crushes human life but in a profound act of service, in the courageous and bountiful love that risks its life for others. 1) John takes it one step further—the death of Jesus is an act of love: No greater love than this, than one lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).



Finally, we can note that the Passion of Jesus has changed the meaning of Death for all who believe in Jesus. The gospels use a variety of images to speak of the death of Jesus that have become part of our Christian consciousness.


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1) The gospels, for example, present the death of Jesus as the final stage of a long journey, a journey that ultimate leads us to God. Luke does that through the ascension, where Jesus goes to the right hand of God. John, too, speaks of Jesus returning to his father. 2) The gospels also present Jesus’ manner of dying as a heroic witness, facing death with the same courage and integrity with which he lived. 3) But not all deaths appear to be heroic and peaceful. This is also true of the diverse ways the gospels present the death of Jesus: he laments in earnest and wrenching prayer in Mark and Matthew; dies with a loud scream in Mark’s account; he is taunted for his faith in the Gospel of Matthew; he prays desperately to be relieved of the cup that he must apparently drink in Gethsemane. The suffering Jesus of the gospels walks with those who suffer and struggle before the mystery of suffering and death. II.

Conclusion



Along with their diversity, the gospels are united in their conviction that the cross of Jesus represents ultimate victory over the power of death.



Thus, paradoxically, the cross—originally an instrument of terrible punishment and brutal death— becomes transformed by Jesus and by Christian faith into a sign of love, of hope, of eternal life.


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Review Questions 1. Name some of the ways that the gospels describe the sufferings of Jesus.

2. While portraying Jesus as undergoing terrible suffering and death, the gospel accounts view the passion as having tremendous significance for people of faith. What are some of the most important meanings we can ascribe to the suffering and death of Jesus?


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Topic 11: Jesus Risen Overview

T

he resurrection of Jesus Christ is the basis of Christian faith and is the heart of the gospel portrayal of Jesus. For the gospel writers and for all of the New Testament, Christ’s resurrection is the foundation stone of all Christian faith. From the earliest of Paul’s letters to the final chapter of the Book of Revelation, the entire New Testament proclaims that Jesus is Risen. Ultimately, the resurrection vindicates everything that Jesus stood for. In this section, we will examine the gospels’ resurrection narratives in detail, and ask what the resurrection means to Jesus’ disciples, the gospel writers, and to us as a human family. I.

The Meaning of Resurrection



For most of its history, Israel had no clear-cut idea about life after death or about resurrection. Israel was driven by a strong faith in Yahweh as the source and giver of all life, but human life itself was recognized as both beautiful and fragile, a creation of God but one marked with sin and weakness and conditioned by mortality and eventual death. Unlike the Egyptians, with their elaborate notions of immortality, Jewish conviction about life beyond life was much more tentative. 1) Only gradually, and at times under the influence of other cultures, did Judaism develop a sense of life beyond death. The Greeks, with their notion of an immoral soul as an essential component of the human being, had impact when they came to Israel in the 3rd century before Christ. So did the Persians, with their notion of surviving death. 2) But ultimately, it was faith and trust in Yahweh, the God of Israel, the God who was the source of all life, and the realization of the goodness of the material world created by God, that led to the development of the notion of resurrection only a century or more before the birth of Jesus. (a) Around that time, some groups in Israel began to believe that God would raise the just to a new life. Jesus himself accepted this belief and embodied it in his own destiny.

II.

The Gospels and the Resurrection



Two things are important here as we turn to the gospel accounts: 1) Resurrection is not the same as resuscitation: it is not coming back to life from the dead but involves a profound transformation into a new mode of being that gives one, body and spirit, a new life. 2) And, two, resurrection is associated with the final chapter of human history: it is the final act of God in relation to humanity.


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

The gospel accounts about the resurrection take two basic forms: one is the discovery of the empty tomb and the other is the appearance of the Risen Christ to his disciples. We should note that there are no gospel accounts of the actual moment of Jesus’ resurrection, only its impact on the disciples.

III.

The Empty Tomb Stories

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Through the discovery that the tomb of Jesus is empty, the gospels proclaim the reality of the resurrection. Each of the gospels narrates the discovery of the empty tomb but does so in varying ways.

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In each story, the disciples are caught off guard when Jesus’ body is absent. The tomb, the abode of the dead, is empty; it cannot hold Jesus who is Risen. The one who was crucified is now alive through the power of God. In the unique symbol of the empty tomb, the gospels proclaim that Jesus has moved to a new form of life.

IV.

The Resurrection Appearance Stories

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All of the gospels, except that of Mark (which ends with the discovery of the empty tomb; see Mark 16:1-8), also proclaim the resurrection through appearance stories, where the Risen Christ appears to his apostles. Even earlier, Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, had spoken of his own encounter with the Risen Christ. His is the last after Jesus had first appeared to Peter and the Twelve and to 500 brethren at once. 1) For Matthew, the climax is Christ’s appearance to the eleven apostles on a mountaintop in Galilee (Matthew 28:16-20). Although Jesus is presented with tremendous force, some of his disciples still hesitated and doubted. The scene closes with the Risen Christ promising to be with his community until the end of time. 2) Luke concludes his Gospel with two powerful appearance stories: Jesus’ appearance to the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:1335) and to the other apostles in Jerusalem. 3) Again, John’s account stands apart. Mary The Road to Emmaus by Robert Zund (1877) Magdalene, who discovered Jesus’ empty tomb, is also the first to encounter the Risen Jesus. Mary announces the resurrection to the apostles. Two other appearance stories take place in Jerusalem, to the disciples and then to Thomas, who had refused to believe that Jesus had risen. In Chapter 21, Jesus’ final appearance takes place in Galilee.


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

Here, as throughout the gospel narratives, the evangelists narrate different and distinctive stories of the Risen Jesus’ various appearances to his disciples. Each of these stories is exquisite and beautiful in their own right. But, like the empty tomb stories, they proclaim the resurrection of Christ, an event that not only transformed the body and spirit of the Crucified Christ into life but, through its impact on the earliest witnesses, transforms the followers of Jesus from people paralyzed with sadness and fear into people of profound joy, of undying hope and courageous witness.

V.

Conclusion

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So what do the resurrection accounts proclaim about the Jesus of the Scriptures? 1) First of all, that God has vindicated Jesus and his cause. While his opponents, through the crucifixion, seek to say “no” to Jesus and destroy his mission, through the resurrection, the God of life says “yes” to Jesus—to his teaching, to his mission of compassion and healing. 2) Secondly, the resurrection stories proclaim victory over death: Jesus is truly alive. They gospel accounts make clear that the Risen Jesus is the very one who walked the roads of Galilee. He eats with his disciples and knows them by name. They can place their finger in his wounds. 3) The resurrection is not going back. It is not resuscitation. Jesus is the same but he is also very different. It is going forward. Resurrection means a new mode of life and presence, a new heavens and a new earth. 4) One of the beautiful effects of the resurrection of Jesus is his reconciliation with the disciples who had failed and denied him and abandoned him. They are restored to discipleship; Jesus meets and eats with them again; he greets them with peace; he heals them with their confession of love. They are sent once again to be his witnesses in the world. 5) And finally, and very fundamentally, the resurrection of Jesus is a basis for our hope in a renewed future, both individually and as a human family. No matter how bleak things may seem; no matter how overwhelming the reality of death seems in our world. Resurrection faith proclaims that life is more powerful than death; and love is more enduring and resilient than hatred or violence. Christ is truly the beginning and the end.


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Review Questions 1. How is the notion of resurrection different from that of resuscitation?

2. What two basic ways do the gospels proclaim the resurrection of Jesus?

3. What are some of the most important conclusions we can draw about the meaning of the resurrection of Jesus for Christian faith?


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Topic 12: Beyond Jesus: The Risen Christ and the Early Church Overview e have been considering the various facets of the gospels’ portrayal of Jesus: Jesus the healer; Jesus the teacher; Jesus the prophet; Jesus the Christ; Jesus the Spirit-filled Son of God; The Crucified Jesus; The Risen Jesus. As we conclude our exploration of the Jesus of the Scriptures, we will take time to reflect on the Risen Christ’s continuing role in the Church. We find evidence of Christ’s ongoing influence in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of Paul, but also in our Christian community today. What insights into the life of Jesus can the gospels lend us? We have discussed the credibility of the gospels as historical texts, but, as we have seen, they have much more to offer. The gospels can illumine our lives as individual believers and as a community of faith.

W I.

The Gospels are Written “Backwards”

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As we noted in considering the scenes of Jesus’ baptism and his identity as Son of God, in a way, the gospels are written “backwards.” 1) The evangelists and Christian readers believed that the Jesus who is born and begins his public ministry is also the Crucified and Risen Christ. 2) The Gospel story ends not in tragedy but in triumph: the triumph of life over death.

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This leads to another reality about the Jesus of the Scriptures: Jesus is not confined to his lifetime in the first third of the first century Palestine, but continues to live in the unfolding life of the Church.

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Signs of that new life are very evident, both in the gospels and in the other NT writings. 1) Luke makes this link most explicitly by writing two volumes: the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. The Risen Jesus’ final instructions Pentecost by Anthony van Dyck (1618-1620) to his disciples at the end of the gospel and the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles is for them to wait in Jerusalem for the advent of the Spirit, the Spirit that would dramatically descend on the community at Pentecost, turning the apostles’ hesitation and fear into courageous witness. The Spirit drove the community on an incredible journey, beginning with Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria to the ends of the earth. The


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story that follows in the Acts of the Apostles charts the unfolding of that great journey throughout the Mediterranean world. 2) In John’s Gospel, we find the same type of message. On the eve of his death, Jesus tells his disciples that he will send another paraclete, the Spirit of God, who will be with them and help them understand all that Jesus taught them. 3) In the writings of Paul, the mission of Jesus is found most essentially in his death and resurrection. Through experiencing death but also triumphing over it, Jesus breaks the grip of sin and death on human existence and points the way for all humanity. Furthermore, Paul reflects in an eloquent way on the presence of the Risen Christ in each Christian and in the community as a whole. The Church, in Paul’s memorable image, is the body of Christ, bringing the reality of the Risen Christ into the world. Because it is the body of Christ, the Church must exemplify the very quality of life that Jesus did: compassion, justice, holiness and, above all, patient enduring love for one another, a love characterized by forgiveness and striving for unity. (a) In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul refers to love as the most important gift that Christ has imparted to us. Love is the lifeblood of the Christian community. 4) Paul’s thought has surely dominated Christian imagination about the enduring presence of the Risen Christ in the world, but other New Testament authors reflected on Jesus and his redemptive mission in other ways, such as the vision of the heavenly liturgy described in the Epistle to the Hebrews or the emphasis on courageous witness in the First Letter of Peter, and the Book of Revelation’s mystical vision of the Lamb triumphant over the demonic forces of death. II.

Conclusion

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As we noted at the beginning of our series of presentations on the Jesus of the Scriptures, there has been tremendous interest on the part of modern scholars about the historical worth of the gospels. How credible is the portrait of Jesus found in the gospels and in the other New Testament writings?

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A helpful metaphor is to think of our approach is viewing the gospels as a “window” or a “mirror.” 1) Approaching the gospels as a “window” means we look through the text, in a sense, to the world that is behind the text: the historical context, the geography, and the culture of first century Palestinian Judaism. How accurate are the gospels; how reliable are the stories found there? Did Jesus really say the things attributed to him in the Gospels? Our study of the gospels affirms that there is a strong historical root to the gospel traditions, reflective of the actual historical circumstances of Jesus’ day. The gospels offer a credible “window” into that ancient world, but the yield of this approach will be somewhat limited. There are certain things we can never know. 2) However, we can also approach the gospels and other New Testament texts as “mirrors.” That is, the focus is not on the historical circumstances behind the text, but on the relationship of text to me and to us as a community of faith. The “real Jesus” for Christian faith is not simply the earthly Jesus who walked the roads of Palestine but the Risen Jesus, the Word made Flesh, whose life, death and resurrection have made him the one we want to follow. This is the Jesus of the Scriptures; this is the Jesus of the Gospels.


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

The gospels are rooted in the history of Jesus of Nazareth, but they are much more. They have become in fact “gospels,” words of good news, words of salvation. Through the Spirit that animated and guided the early Church and the evangelists themselves, the gospels hand on to us the testimony of faith that this Jesus is truly the life-giving Jesus, the one alive in the Church and in the world today.


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Review Questions 1. What does it mean to say that the gospels were written “backwards”?

2. How does the New Testament affirm that the Risen Jesus continues his presence in the ongoing life of the Church?

3. What does it mean to say we can approach the gospels as “windows” or “mirrors”?


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Suggested Readings Dunn, James D. G. Jesus Remembered. Christianity in the Making, Vol. 1. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003. Johnson, Luke Timothy. Living Jesus: Learning the Heart of the Gospel. HarperSanFrancisco, 1999. Nolan, Albert. Jesus Before Christianity. Maryknoll: Orbis, 1992. O’Collins, Gerald, S.J., Jesus A Portrait. Maryknoll: Orbis, 2008. Ratzinger, Joseph. Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration. New York: Doubleday, 2007. _____________. Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into the Jerusalem to the Resurrection. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2011. Senior, C.P., Donald. Jesus: A Gospel Portrait. New York: Paulist, rev. ed., 1992. Wright, N. T. Jesus and the Victory of God. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996.


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