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The Jesus Challenge – Gospel Truth

Teen Handout

Ignite Lesson Week 14

February 28, 2016

“The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus.” Pope Francis

“Never be content with your current grasp of the gospel. The gospel is the life-permeating, world-

altering, universe-changing truth. It has more facets than a diamond…” - C.J. Mahaney, Protestant Pastor

Reflection Questions

Which of the images above is more provocative (challenging, stimulating)? Why?

Which of the images above is more conventional (traditional, usual, not surprising)? Why?

Which of the images represents what you have been taught?

Which of the images do you like best? Why?

Which of the images is more truthful? Why?

Names for Jesus Activity

My Names for Jesus

INSTRUCTIONS: Write the names you use or have heard others use for Jesus in this box.

LIKE

DISLIKE

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Key Ideas about the Gospels

The gospels are not biographies in the modern sense of the word. Rather, they are stories told in such a way as to evoke a certain image of Jesus for a particular audience.

The Gospels are our most significant source of information about Jesus We have four gospels because one would never capture the a complete picture of Jesus We should never be content with our current grasp of the gospel – there is always more to learn

FAITH IN ACTION

Rather than doing this at the end of class jot down any ideas that come to mind

throughout class tonight

1. ______________________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________________

4. ______________________________________________________________

QUALITIES I SEE IN JESUS

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Excerpts from: An Introduction to the Gospels by Marilyn Mellowes

Summary of article

Written over the course of almost a century after Jesus' death, the four gospels of the New

Testament, though they tell the same story, reflect very different ideas and concerns.

A period of forty years separates the death of Jesus from the writing of the first gospel. History offers us little direct evidence about the events of this period, but it does suggest that the early Christians were engaged in one of the most basic of human activities: story-telling. In the words of Mike White, "It appears that between the death of Jesus and the writing of the first gospel, Mark, that they clearly are telling stories. They're passing on the tradition of what happened to Jesus, what he stood for and what he did, orally, by telling it and retelling it. And in the process they are defining Jesus for themselves."

These shared memories, passed along by word of mouth, are known as "oral tradition." They included stories of Jesus' miracles and healings, his parables and teachings, and his death. Eventually some stories were written down. The first written documents probably included an account of the death of Jesus and a collection of sayings attributed to him.

Then, in about the year 70, the evangelist known as Mark wrote the first "gospel" -- the words mean "good news" about Jesus. We will never know the writer's real identity, or even if his name was Mark, since it was common practice in the ancient world to attribute written works to famous people. But we do know that it was Mark's genius to first to commit the story of Jesus to writing, and thereby inaugurated the gospel tradition.

About 15 years after Mark, in about the year 85 CE, the author known as Matthew composed his work, drawing on a variety of sources, including Mark and from a collection of sayings that scholars later called "Q", for Quelle, meaning source. The Gospel of Luke was written about fifteen years later, between 85 and 95. Scholars refer to these three gospels as the "synoptic gospels", because they "see" things in the same way. The Gospel of John, sometimes called "the spiritual gospel," was probably composed between 90 and 100 CE. Its style and presentation clearly set it apart from the other three.

Each of the four gospels depicts Jesus in a different way. These characterizations reflect the past experiences and the particular circumstances of their authors' communities. The historical evidence suggests that Mark wrote for a community deeply affected by the failure of the First Jewish Revolt against Rome. Matthew wrote for a Jewish community in conflict with the Pharisaic Judaism that dominated Jewish life in the postwar period. Luke wrote for a predominately Gentile audience eager to demonstrate that Christian beliefs in no way conflicted with their ability to serve as a good citizen of the Empire.

Despite these differences, all four gospels contain the "passion narrative," the central story of Jesus' suffering and death. That story is directly connected to the Christian ritual of the Eucharist. As Helmut Koester has observed, the ritual cannot "live" without the story.

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The Gospel of Mark

Author The Gospel of Mark was written by its namesake. Mark, also known as John Mark, who is believed to have been a disciple and scribe for Peter. Mark’s gospel is based on Peter’s firsthand accounts.

Time frame Mark is thought to have written his Gospel in the mid 50’s AD. Mark

is the first gospel written. Neither Jesus nor his original disciples left any writings behind, so the Gospel

of Mark is the closest document to an original source on Jesus’s life that currently exists. Mark’s gospel

became a source from both Matthew and Luke.

Purpose Mark was writing primarily for a non-Jewish audience. His Gospel explains Jewish customs to non-Jews in an effort to get them to see the big picture of Jesus’ identity.

Interesting facts about Mark’s gospel

Mark leaves out accounts of Jesus’s birth, the Sermon on the Mount, and several of the most well known parables.

Scholars believe the current ending of the gospel was added after Mark wrote the gospel. Originally the gospel ended at chapter 16:8 –

“So they went out and fled from the tomb, for the terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid”

Scholars found a ‘hidden gospel’ within Mark they call “Q” from the French word quelle meaning source.

The Gospel of Mark is described as ‘vivid and concrete’. Action dominates. A dramatic sense of urgency is present, and Mark has a developed sense of irony (satire, sarcasm) that permeates the Gospel.

This Gospel is brief and concise, reading almost like an outline, which can make it hard to follow.

Mark emphasizes the experiences of failure and doubt as part of the process of coming to understand the full meaning of Jesus. For Mark, discipleship means debating, questioning, stumbling, and learning. It involves suffering, service to others, poverty, and faithfulness despite persecution.

The Gospel of Matthew

Author Tradition tells us this gospel was written by Matthew (also called Levi), a former tax collector, who was a disciple of Jesus and a firsthand witness to the stories he relates in his gospel. However, scholars can find no direct evidence of Matthew’s authorship and believe the author was probably a Jewish member of a learned community in which study and teaching were passionate forms of piety.

Time frame

the Gospel was probably written between 80 and 90 A.D., certainly after 70 AD, when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.

Purpose

Matthew was writing to a primarily Jewish audience to convince them that Jesus was indeed the long-awaited Messiah. But he was probably aware of a Gentile audience, as his gospel makes the case that the saving truth of Christ is for all nations.

Interesting facts about Matthew’s gospel

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The Gospel of Matthew was placed at the very beginning of the New Testament because originally it was mistakenly believed to be the first Gospel written.

It is the Gospel most intensely concerned with issues related to Judaism, it was written to provides a transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament in the Christian Bible.

Matthew emphasizes Jesus’s ties to Jewish tradition by tracing Jesus’s ancestry to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people and portrays Jesus as a second, greater Moses

Matthew is the most carefully structured of the Gospels, easy to understand and teach from which is probably why it became the most popular of the gospels.

Uses the gospel of Mark as a source

Matthew’s language and style is meant to be stirring. Many readers regard the five sermons in which Matthew conveys Jesus’s teachings as some of the finest prose in the New Testament.

T he Gospel of Luke

Author Luke was a doctor, a Gentile Christian and a companion of Paul. Luke’s orderly account relies on eyewitnesses of Jesus and the earliest disciples, though he could not have been an eyewitness himself. Luke also wrote the Acts of the Apostles.

Time frame The Gospel of Luke dates from between 75 and 85 A.D., around the same

time as Matthew.

Purpose Luke is the only Gentile author of the Bible. His entire purpose was to write an accurate account of the life of Jesus so as to present Jesus as Savior, fully God and fully man. It is one of the synoptic Gospels, having much in common with the Gospels of Matthew and Mark.

Interesting facts about Luke’s gospel Luke’s Greek is the polished work of a gifted literary artist, indicating that Luke was a cultivated, well-educated

man. By the time Luke writes his gospel, Christianity had become much more Gentile and less Jewish in its identity.

Luke emphasizes Jesus’s common humanity and acceptance of all people, especially the poor and the outcast. Luke includes more stories about healing than any other gospel, probably because Luke was believed to be a physician. Luke also includes the more stories about women than any other gospel and more stories about Jesus’s encounters with Gentiles.

Luke includes 15 parables not included in the other gospels and is the only evangelist to include the ‘mercy parables’, which Luke uses to represent God’s love and concern for the lost and forgotten.

The Gospel of John

Author The Gospel of John was written by a follower or disciple of the apostle John, son of Zebedee, a fisherman who left his trade to follow Jesus. John also penned the book of Revelation as well as the three letters in the New Testament that bear his name.

Time frame The Gospel of John was probably written between 85 and 95 AD. John most likely wrote his gospel in Ephesus before he was exiled to Patmos.

Purpose Gospel describes the mystery of the identity of Jesus. The Gospel According to John develops a Christology—an explanation of Christ’s nature and origin—while leaving out much of the familiar material that runs through the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke John’s stated purpose for writing this book can be found in John

20:30- 31, the last two verses in his gospel:

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not

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written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

John’s goal seems to have been to clearly communicate a full theology of Jesus as the Messiah, the promised Son of God.

Interesting facts about John’s gospel John’s gospel differs sharply from Matthew, Mark and Luke which are all narrative gospels and use common

sources. John’s gospel is known as a gospel of signs. The Jews believed that the messiah would authenticate his claims by means of signs. John recounts the signs and wonders Jesus worked to authenticate (validate, confirm, substantiate) that Jesus is who he says he is – the Son of God.

John takes us behind Jesus’s ministry, where we get a glimpse of what it means to believe in Jesus as flesh of the eternal and living God, as the source of light and life, and for a believer to be a “Son of God.”

John’s gospel can be divided thematically into halves - the first half is referred to as the Book of Signs, which focuses on seven major miracles worked by Jesus and the meaning and significance of those miracles. The second half as the Book of Glory, which focuses on how Jesus will be glorified by God. The two halves are preceded by a prologue (introduction) and followed by an epilogue (summary conclusion).

The Gospel of John is perhaps the most difficult of the Gospels to understand, not because John is more complex than the others but because it is so different from the other Gospels.

Lord Jesus Christ, you are for me medicine when I am sick; you are my strength when I need help; you are life itself when I fear death; you are the way when I long for heaven; you are light when all is dark; you are my food when I need nourishment. Amen Ambrose of Milan (340–397) A prayer attributed to Saint Ambrose