Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels 3 rd Quarter

How do we respect & understand scripture?

The Bible has many translations…

TERMS/IDEAS TO KNOW… Bible means…. Scripture means… B.C. means A.D. means The name Jesus means… The title Christ means…

BIBLE means books The Bible is a collection of many different types of books… The official collection of books that has been included in our Bible is called the… CANON

Were there other gospels written that are not included in our canon?

YES! There were many other gospels written that are not included in our canon. However, they are not as ‘secret’ as modern authors would like to make them seem. They’ve always been known t o scholars and are called… APOCRYPHA

TERMS/IDEAS TO KNOW… Christianity has its roots in what other religion?

TERMS/IDEAS TO KNOW… To what religion did Jesus belong when He was born? To what religion did Jesus belong throughout his lifetime? To what religion did Jesus belong at the time of His death?

TWO MAJOR DIVISIONS OF THE BIBLE Hebrew ScripturesChristian Scriptures

BIBLE means books HEBREW SCRIPTURES (“Old Testament”) CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES (“New Testament”) 46 books Begins with_________ Ends with__________ 1 st 5 books are called.. 27 Books Begins with__________ Ends with___________

MATTHEW is like a “bridge” … linking the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. Hebrew Scriptures  Christian Scriptures 

CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES (“New Testament”) 4 ‘categories’ of books

CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES (“New Testament”) (27 Books total) 4 categories of books 4 GOSPELS 1 ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 21 LETTERS (EPISTLES) 1 BOOK OF REVELATION 27 total

The word GOSPEL means… And just WHAT is that good news? It is the revelation of the INCARNATION… …that God became human in the person of Jesus Christ and dwelled among us.

FOUR GOSPELS - -

Each EVANGELIST has a symbol EVANGELIST is another term for GOSPEL WRITER MARK: Winged lion MATTHEW: Winged man LUKE: Winged bull JOHN: Eagle

SYMBOLS OF THE EVANGELISTS

FOUR GOSPELS MATTHEW MARK LUKE JOHN SYNOPTIC GOSPELS SYNOPTIC … - “seen together” - “seen with the same eye”

MARK When? Where? Language? Primary audience: “Portrait” of Jesus….

MARK When? c A.D. Where? near Rome Language: Greek with traces of Aramaic Primary audience: Christians being persecuted for their faith “Portrait” of Jesus….SUFFERING SERVANT

MATTHEW When? Where? Language: Primary audience: “Portrait” of Jesus

MATTHEW When? c A.D. Where? Judea Language: Hebrew Primary audience: Jewish Christians “Portrait” of Jesus: TEACHING MESSIAH

LUKE When? Where? Language: Primary Audience: “Portrait” of Jesus

LUKE When? A.D. Where? Greece Language: Greek Primary Audience: Gentile Christians “Portrait” of Jesus: UNIVERSAL SAVIOR

What symbols do you know for Jesus? SYMBOLS

“CHI RHO” Where have you seen this symbol?

ICHTHYS What is the story of the “Jesus Fish” Do you know what the Greek letters inside the fish mean?

777

Formerly known as SAUL… PAUL

ST. PAUL Formerly Saul of Tarsus Worked for the Romans as a ‘headhunter’ – traveled about the Empire searching for Christian communities in order to have them persecuted. Until one day….

SAUL of TARSUS He was traveling on the road to Damascus… He had a profound conversion experience…

ST. PAUL After his enlightenment, he used his knowledge of the location of the Christian communities for good. He wrote letters (epistles) to encourage Christians to keep their faith, love lives of love and …and to ‘fight the good fight’!

THREE STAGES OF GOSPEL FORMATION WRITTEN c A.D. ORAL c.30-60A.D. LIVED c.0-30A.D. Stories that were told orally were written down People shared stories of their experiences with Jesus When Jesus was alive and people experienced him personally and directly.

How effective is the oral tradition? “I am the Resurrection and the Life. Anyone who comes to me shall live. (John 11:25) “Ms. Bergin is giving us a free next Day 3.” Which phrase was better communicated and preserved? ….Why do you think this happened? Even when a message is changed/distorted, it can tell us things about what was important to that community. The editors of the Bible knew this when they were selecting what went into the canon, and biblical scholars study these differences to learn more about the early Christians.

CHRISTIANITY TODAY

CHRISTIANS TODAY…. MEANING ….we come AFTER the resurrection (We know the end of the story before the beginning of the story…)

The RESURRECTION is like a PRISM Like the Gospel writers, we know the end of the story before we knew the beginning of the story. As such they (and we) view the events of Jesus life with a different meaning than if we had lived at the time he was living. RESURRECTION Jesus’ life

Interpretations of Scripture FUNDAMENTALISTSCONTEXTUALISTS Take scripture literally Does NOT take into account scholarly insights gained from history, linguistics, archeology, theology, etc. Believe every word to not only be true, but also factual. Interpret scripture in the context of  Time/culture written  Understanding of language in which it was written and the effects of translation  Idiomatic expressions  What author intended to say  Impact of our time/culture  What God has to say to us through the many truths present (not looking at the details as “facts”…)

Catholic Christians interpret scripture… ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Please remember this…forever!

THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE

IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS …are expressions which are “understood” by most native speakers of a language, but do not translate well literally. Can you think of some idiomatic expressions we use in the English language?

IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS My neighbor is having a garage sale. It’s raining cats and dogs. He’s “out to lunch.” She’s mad cool. He’s mad hot. I’m dead meat. IDIOMS EXISTED IN BIBLICAL TIMES TOO…

LANGUAGE changes meaning… When we translate from one language to another From one generation to another When we change “forms ”… (e.g., oral written)