Studies in the Gospels (Part Eight)

 

Welcome to my 8^th post on the gospels.  In this post I want to wrap up the study of the synoptic gospels and in my 9^th post I will look at the gospel of John.   

 

 

 

There are two areas I haven’t mentioned yet where Matthew and Luke diverge:

    -The birth stories 

    -The resurrection appearance stories

Remember, the gospel of Mark, which was probably written first, has neither birth stories nor resurrection appearance stories.  Mark does contain the story of an empty tomb and a call to meet the resurrected Jesus in Galilee, but it ends there.

In Matthew, the birth stories center around Joseph.  Matthew tells us that before marriage Mary was pregnant. Joseph was told in a dream to marry her because this pregnancy was from the Holy Spirit, and she will bear a son named Jesus who will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:18-21). When the wise men from the East come to visit, Joseph, Mary and Jesus are living in a house in Bethlehem. There is no mention in Matthew of them having lived anywhere else but Bethlehem. After the wise men leave, Joseph is warned in a dream to take his wife and child to Egypt to avoid the murderous jealousy of King Herod the Great (Matthew 2:11-14).  King Herod decides to murder all the male children two years old and under in the city of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16). After Herod dies Joseph has another dream and is told to return to Israel. Joseph is afraid to move back to the province of Judea (where Bethlehem was) because that area is under the control of Herod’s son.  Therefore, he moves his family to a small town in the Galilee region called Nazareth (Matthew 2:19-23).

In Luke, the birth stories center around Mary. We read how Mary is visited by an angel and told that even though she is a virgin she will become pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit and give birth to a son whose name will be Jesus (Luke 1:26-38).  Mary's response is a beautiful example of surrender to the Lord. In Luke’s account Mary and Joseph are living in Nazareth in Galilee when the angel visits.  Later they travel to Bethlehem in Judea because of a world-wide tax levied by Augustus Caesar (Luke 2:1-6). Jesus is born in Bethlehem and then the family returns to Nazareth.  There is no mention in Luke of Herod the Great slaughtering babies or an escape of the holy family to Egypt.

To summarize, in Matthew’s version, the couple is living in Bethlehem, Jesus is born there, they flee to Egypt and return to Israel to live in Nazareth.  In Luke’s version, the couple is living in Nazareth, moves to Bethlehem for the tax, Jesus is born there, and then they return to Nazareth. Their main points in common are that Jesus was born of a virgin in Bethlehem and then grew up in Nazareth in Galilee. The birth in Bethlehem fulfills a Biblical prophecy from the book of Micah which says,

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
 though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me
 one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2, NIV)

Matthew’s gospel includes a reference to a fulfilled prophecy from Isaiah 7:14, which in the Greek Septuagint translation has the idea of a virgin giving birth to a son. In the Hebrew original, the passage just means a young woman shall give birth to a son.  The Jewish people of Palestine in the first century would have used the Septuagint Greek translation of the Scriptures as their sacred text. Luke does not include any reference to Isaiah 7:14.

It’s interesting that both Matthew and Luke include the virgin birth of Jesus in their gospels (written in 80-85 CE). This teaching never appears in the writings of Paul (49-65 CE) or anywhere else in the New Testament. 

Now let’s look at the resurrection stories.  In Matthew’s gospel the main resurrection appearance of Jesus is in Galilee. On Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Jesus come to the tomb, and they are met by an angel who tells them that Jesus has risen from the dead and that he will appear to the disciples in Galilee. Galilee was about 75 miles to the north, which for the disciples would have been a four day walk of 19 miles a day.  However, as the women leave the tomb Matthew tells us that they meet the risen Jesus who tells them, ““Do not be afraid; go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me” (Matthew 28:10).  Matthew tells us that the eleven remaining disciples (Judas had died) made the journey to Galilee and saw Jesus on a mountain (Matthew 28:16-17) (maybe on Thursday or Friday the following week). Interestingly, Matthew records that some of the eleven doubted, but he does not explain what they doubted or why they doubted. At that point Jesus gave them the commission to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything he commanded them (Matthew 28:18-20). The gospel ends there so those are the only resurrection appearances listed in Matthew.

In Luke, several resurrection appearances are listed, and they all take place in and around Jerusalem on "resurrection Sunday."

·         Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward, “as well as the other women,” go the tomb on Sunday morning and are met by two angels who tell them that Jesus has risen from the dead.  There is no mention of a trip to Galilee to meet him (Luke 24:1-10).

·         The women do not meet Jesus on their return from the tomb (Luke 24:10).

·         The women tell the disciples and immediately Peter runs to the tomb, sees the empty tomb and the linen cloths and is amazed (Luke 24:12)

·         On the same day two disciples walking to the village of Emmaus (about 7 miles from Jerusalem) meet the risen Jesus, who walks with them on the road for some time, sharing the Hebrew Scriptures about the Messiah with them. When they stop to eat, he reveals his identity to them and vanishes (Luke 24:13-31).

·         Later that same day Jesus appears privately to Peter in Jerusalem (Luke 24:34).

·        That night Jesus appears to the eleven disciples plus the two who had now returned from Emmaus in Jerusalem (Luke 24:36-48)

·         Jesus leads them out of the city to Bethany and as he blesses them, he is taken up into the sky and disappears (Luke 24:50-52).

It’s interesting that in Luke’s account, all these resurrection appearances take place on the Sunday that Jesus rose from the dead.  In Matthew’s account Jesus only appears to two of the women on that day and then to the eleven disciples gathered in Galilee several days later.  In Luke's account there are many women at the empty tomb on resurrection day who see angels but none of them see Jesus.  It is only the two disciples and the eleven who see the resurrected Jesus.

These differences indicate that Luke and Matthew are working independently and using different streams of oral or written tradition.  If one copied the other we would expect the birth stories and resurrection appearances to be very similar.

The place where Jesus chose to reveal himself after the resurrection and gives final instructions to the disciples is important.  It shows what the author thought was the main location for the emerging church.  Matthew designates that central hub as Galilee while Luke designates it as Jerusalem.  Perhaps Matthew’s gospel was dependent on oral traditions that originated in the Galilee house church community. Luke may have used other traditions that originated in Jerusalem.  It is striking how both the resurrection appearances and birth stories are so different.

When we look broadly at the three synoptic gospels, Mark’s gospel tends to emphasize action and miracle stories.  Matthew’s gospel emphasizes Jesus as the new Moses – the Interpreter of Torah.  Matthew includes that extended section where Jesus comments on Torah by saying “you have heard it was said of old ______ but I say to you ______” (Matthew 5).  This commentary on Torah does not appear in Luke.  Luke emphasizes prayer and the role of female disciples in Jesus’ life and ministry.  Every major event in Jesus’ ministry (his baptism, his choosing of the twelve disciples, his final test in the Garden of Gethsemane, and his crucifixion) takes place in the context of prayer in the gospel of Luke. We see many stories of female disciples in Luke which are not present in Matthew.

Let’s look at our chart once again and add three new columns:

Name of Gospel	Date of Publication	Sources	% Of Marks Content	View of Jesus	Birth Stories	Resurrection Appearances	General Emphasis
Mark	65 CE	Oral and possibly some written traditions	-	Human King of Israel, designated at baptism	No birth stories	No resurrection appearances	Action, Miracles
Luke	80 CE	Mark, Q and L	50	Human King of Israel, designated at birth	Birth stories centered around Mary	Several resurrection appearances in Jerusalem on Resurrection Sunday	Prayer, Female Disciples
Matthew	85 CE	Mark, Q and M	90	Human King and Savior of Israel, designated at birth	Birth stories centered around Joseph	One resurrection appearance in Jerusalem to two women on Resurrection Sunday and one in Galilee a few days later to the eleven disciples.	Jesus as the New Moses – the Interpreter of Torah.

 

This concludes my brief study of the Synoptic Gospels.  Here are some great resources for further study:

Studying the Synoptic Gospels, E.P. Sanders and Margaret Davies, SCM Press, London, 1989.

Q, The Earliest Gospel, John S. Kloppenborg, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, 2008.

Synopsis of the Four Gospels, Greek-English Edition, Edited by Kurt Aland, 15^th Edition 2013, German Bible Society, Stuttgart.

In my next post I will look at the Gospel of John, which is very different than the Synoptic Gospels.