How did the Gospels come to be?

When a biographer wants to tell the world about a special individual that author will do everything in their power to create a character for thr reader to imagine. Not just a person as a description; he had a dark beard, about 6’1”, and had laugh as bright as the sun. the biographer will instead create a different sort of picture involving stories, reactions from followers, phrases, and expressions that give a unique understanding of not just who the person was but what that person was like. The Gospels are no different. They each approach the same man, and tell the story through their own eyes. They will each tell of the same story, but might also tell it just a little different. Just as a group of people might gather around a coffin and tell stories about the deceased, the Gospel Evangelists set out to tell the world of the Jesus they knew, as accurate as possible, and as personal as possible.

Hence we come to the synoptic dilemma. Three Gospels, Matthew Mark and Luke sharing over 600 verses. Plagiarism? Common folk tales? Perhaps a bit of both. Inspired? Yes. Apostolic? Confirmed. There had to be a means of differing between the three though, and after a decade or two late than Matthew, Mark and Luke, John had to be distinguished as well.

The Gospels were written for different purposes for their intended audience but we can also tell that Christianity is the fruit of the Old Testament vine. In order to distinguish between these differing messages and tones, the early Church Fathers used symbolism in the book of the prophet Ezekiel (1:10). The four creatures we find here are also found in the book of Revelation; a post-Pentecost writing. It seemed fitting for the Fathers to use the prophetic figures in order to better communicate the characteristics of the Gospels. Matthew would be the Human Face, Mark would be the Lion, Luke would be the Ox, and John would be the Eagle. Each depicting one and the same being, but with separate features. The order was a jumbled early on thought.

Irenaeus of the second century gives a very early commentary of the use of multiple Gospels in his writing Against Heresies he provides that no one Gospel is perfect and it took four no more no less to tell the whole story. He gives poetical inference to the four corners of the world, four directions, and four covenants of God. He allocates the Ox to Luke, the Human Face to Matthew, the Lion to John, and lastly the Eagle to Mark. This order is known as the “Old Latin”, Matthew, John, Luke, Mark in order of the vision of Ezekiel.

The order we find in our bibles in the 21^st Century is obviously not that of Irenaeus. The Muratorian Canon, a fragment of the second-third Century gives Matthew, Mark, Luke, John in order, and Human, Lion, Ox, Eagle, respectively. This becomes the dominant version.

What’s the message of the Church Fathers though? How did they use this order to better communicate the Gospel? The meaning came from the opening verses in each Gospel. Mark starts with a voice calling out in the wilderness, like that of a Lion. Matthew starts with a genealogy giving reference to the human history of the newborn Jesus.  Luke mentions the priestly office in Zachariah and since the Ox is a dominant icon for sacrifice Luke becomes appropriate. For Jerome, who translates the entire bible into Latin, John is the Author who is “hurrying to the heights born aloft on eagles wings” and names John the eagle who promptly calls out Jesus’ divinity as high as the heavens themselves.

The teaching points were somewhat lost and most of us never learned these aides. We go to our Cathedrals and find depictions of the four creatures and don’t know what they represent. In each we find them clinging to a book or a scroll, a holy text they crafted and display for the world.  

EDIT: Guidance with the Gospels

Quickly, I mean to edit and improve the previous blog post with a little ditty I wrote:

Synthesis of the Major Teachings: Dei Verbum and the Document on the Pontifical Biblical Commission: INSTRUCTION CONCERNING THE HISTORICAL TRUTH OF THE GOSPELS.

Our Lord Jesus Christ entrusted His teachings to ordinary men but through His help and the Holy Spirit they became much more than men and after some time began to fully understand their purpose as well as the purposes of Jesus’ teachings and instructions to them. There are some phrases in the world which we hear throughout our lives and think of as commonplace but as soon as we discover they come from the lips of our Lord or the ink from an Apostle of Jesus, we suddenly hold those words and phrases without hesitation as immaculate and Holy. Our Lord gave us a Church that entrusted these teachings to His Apostles and indeed instructed them to teach them to others (Mt 28:20 NAB) but oddly enough never wrote a word and the Bible shows no explicit command to write. But they did.

Four of the Apostles wrote the Gospels doing their best to tell their audience about the Jesus they knew, each of them writing about the same Jesus. John, the one Jesus loved, wrote these words and the rest with a very personal feel and flow. Luke, the physician, writes in flavorful detail and diagnosis. Each of the other two have their personalities as well but they all teach of the same person, Jesus Christ.

With this our Mother Church holds steadfast on the historicity and inspiration of all four as Apostolic origin. In time the Church sorted out the accurate from the not, and assembled them in a symbolic order of the four creatures in Ezekiel and Revelation. We can trust our Church Fathers, why? Because Jesus did. We are His bride and as a perfect groom He promises to keep us from the gates of Hell (Mt 16:18 NAB), which if she fails to tell the Truth, the gates of Hades have certainly prevailed against her.

With this being said there is historical and practical value in the Gospels. The exegete, the one who critically explains the text, will need to keep in his interpretive tool box a few things in order to accurately and carefully, not to mention faithfully, execute his or her mission. First, the exegete must not rely on himself but on the Lord and the Church which is the pillar and bulwark of Truth. Next this individual must follow with the guidance of the Church and her Fathers and Doctors as to not contrive contrary teachings no matter how novel they are and to use the resources available to him/her. Finally, as the term implies, the exegete will use all means necessary to probe into the lives, the culture, and the depth to find deeper insight into the lives of those in and those who wrote the gospels in order to better discern their message and meaning.

Above all, the individual at hand must take heed to obey, observe, and offer his teachings in line with the magisterium of the Church. Let him/her not attempt novelty by straying from these teachings and Traditions for the mere sake of being novel and original. Such efforts are not of the Spirit, for the Spirit of God cannot lie and the promise from Jesus lips forbids and precludes the necessity of doing so, “The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name – he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you” (Jn 14:26 NAB) and again the Lord urges, “But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth” (Jn 16:13 NAB).

Quick Remarks on the Gospels

A short message on the teachings of the Church on the Gospels.

 

Major Teachings: Dei Verbum and the Document on the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

Our Lord Jesus Christ entrusted His teachings to ordinary men but through His help and the Holy Spirit they became much more than men and after some time began to fully understand their purpose as well as the purposes of Jesus’ teachings and instructions to them. There are some phrases in the world which we hear throughout our lives and think of as commonplace but as soon as we discover they come from the lips of our Lord or the ink from an Apostle of Jesus, we suddenly hold those words and phrases without hesitation as immaculate and Holy. Our Lord gave us a Church that entrusted these teachings to His Apostles and indeed instructed them to teach them to others (Matthew 28:20 NAB) but oddly enough never wrote a word and the Bible shows no explicit command to write. But they did.

Four of the Apostles wrote the Gospels doing their best to tell their audience about the Jesus they knew, each of them writing about the same Jesus. John, the one Jesus loved, wrote these words and the rest with a very personal feel and flow. Luke, the physician, writes in flavorful detail and diagnosis. Each of the other two have their personalities as well but they all teach of the same person, Jesus Christ. With this our Mother Church holds steadfast on the historicity and inspiration of all four as Apostolic origin (Dei Verbum, 18). In time the Church sorted out the accurate from the not, and assembled them in a symbolic order of the four creatures in Ezekiel and Revelation. We can trust our Church Fathers, why? Because Jesus did. We are His bride and as a perfect groom He promises to keep us from the gates of Hell (Matthew 16:18 NAB), which if she fails to tell the Truth, the gates of Hades have certainly prevailed against her.

A Little Ditty About Prayer

 

 

There are many things Christians do as marks of their faith and religion. Prayer is one of them. But we are not the only one. Other religions meditate, sacrifice, and acknowledge  be or a state of being that is greater than themselves. But the Abrahamic religions, those which have descended from the seed of Abraham (Judaism, Islam, and Christianity) are the ones who believe we can pray to our God. We believe we have more or less a speed dial that eclipses speed – a direct link to our creator we can use when we are scared, joyful, in need of help, or just want to know what to do with our lives.  We three have very distinct religious practices but our religions include this particular facet among many other things - this maybe being of the most overlooked commonalities.

But as Christians we pray different. As Catholics we definitely pray different. We have our Liturgical prayers that take place during the mass which as a convert took some getting used to. Other Liturgies are used at certain rites, or sacraments such as Baptism, the Rite of Election, First Communion, Confirmation, and funeral ceremonies. Others forms of prayer are more personal but also hold a more communal and corporate use such as the Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Monks, praying the 150 psalms daily through the use of a small rope with 150 knots in it gave a desire to the laity to pray daily and to memorize some scripture. Soon there emerged a quote from Luke’s Gospel from the Annunciation scene, “Hail Mary full of grace, the lord is with you…”, and combined this with an intercessory request to “pray for us…”. We have others which we recite on our own in front of the Blessed Sacrament or others we pray before meals and still others we create for ourselves.

But all of this goes back to Jesus for us. How He prayed. When He prayed. Who He prayed to. Jesus prayed daily. Not just once a day, but throughout the day, usually starting in the morning. Mark Ch. 1 gives us this daily prayer at morning, midday, and after sunset. He did not just pray with the others but often, and in this example, went out and prayed by Himself. Mark does not tell what the prayer is, only that he did it. This remains the case up until Gethsemane where he must have been at a threshold to remember the words of the Lord when he was close to death. Jesus when praying, even when in most of need and certainly serious, calls God “Abba” being the Hebrew word for “Father.” We should do this as well because as adopted children of God, He too is our Heavenly Father and it is our privilege to call Him by that title. As I started this little writing, there are many things that separate our religions and in prayer, which we have in common, this is the distinctive element. So it is both a heresy to our separated brethren, and a privilege for us at the same time. Why do we do it though? Because we follow in the example of Jesus – hence the perfect title of the “Our Father.” Let us follow Jesus’ example: let us pray many times per day, let us pray when troubled and happy,  let us call Him “Father”.

Know why you are Christian – know what distinguishes you from the rest – and exploit and develop those differences.

How does one follow Jesus?

Look, a cute baby:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now for the lesson (you can look at babies when you are done, I promise):

 

How does one follow Jesus? There are many ways, many perfect ways in which one can live their life as a follower of Jesus. Catholics have a good number of orders such as Franciscans, Dominicans, and others. These are disciplined and orderly successions of priests and laity following in the footsteps of their founders. One thing on common with all of these is discipleship.

In the Gospel of Mark there is a clear message of discipleship as Jesus recruits the Apostles. What we see when Jesus offers the Apostles the opportunity to follow Him is the perfect way in which one responds to the call of Jesus to discipleship.

As Jesus approaches and seeks out the first, being Simon and Andrew (1:16-18), James and John (1:19-20), we notice four distinct interactions: Jesus passing by, Jesus offering with “follow me”, the new disciples immediately responding leaving their nets, and following. The seeking, the offering, the leaving, and the following; four elements for discipleship in Christ. Notice Jesus, the Son of God seeking out individuals for His own discipleship. The same man that said if he is lifted up he will draw the whole world to Himself, sets out in the region to find the Apostles. They refer to Him as their rabbi. The usual rabbi would sit, Jesus would stand. The usual custom is for disciples to stand and listen, while the disciples of Jesus sat and asked questions if necessary. Perhaps this is one contributing reason to people thinking of Jesus approach as “a new teaching” or “one who teaching with His own authority.” Certainly following Jesus is not like following other teachers.

So the disciples respond in perfection: they immediately leave everything behind. But their leaving is not meaningless and Mark is gracious enough to supplement this for us. They leave for the purpose of following. Leaving with a purpose, following with faith. There is an Old Testament parallel to this scene. In 1 Kings 19 we see Elijah passing Elisha by, and offering discipleship in the manner of “throwing his mantle over him.” Elisha responds by catching up to Elijah (probably a little surprised by the gesture) and informing the prophet that he will say goodbye to his family and then will come and follow. Acceptable? I think so.  I mean, Jesus tells us to “count the cost” before following. Faith moves and if it moves fast, fine. If it moves with carefulness, fine. There is only one Peter, and he even needed some proof when His brother told him he believed he had found the messiah.

G.K. Chesterton says “no one comes to conversion at the same angle”. Mark the Evangelist is not recording this account like a journalist by leaving out some teaching or agenda. Instead he gives two accounts (1:16-18, 1:19-20) with the same pattern as if to say “look, this is the right way to do it!” Response to Jesus is a daily task in the truest meaning – and it can be one to be taken with some consideration – but the perfect disciple stands firm, saying “your will be done” or in the words of the Mother of God, “let it be done to me according to your will.”