The New Testament of the Christian Bible opens with the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each Gospel has some similarities and differences, but the main thing they have in common is that they all tell the story of Jesus, how he came about, and some of the things he did as The Son of God. If the Bible was told with stage directions, they would surly read: (ACT II Sc I, Lights up, Enter, Jesus)
However, each Gospel offers a different way to be introduced to Jesus.
The Gospel Matthew begins with a “genealogy” where essentially, we get a look at Jesus’s family tree. The description goes on for an entire 17 verses! Needless to say, Jesus has a lot of ancestors.
What if the first time you met someone you first listed off 17 lines of your ancestry? Is this a trend we should bring into the modern day? Would you want to be defined by, say, your older brother who had all of the same high school teachers as you, or maybe by your Mom or Dad? What if the first thing people knew about you was who your Grandparents were?
The next Gospel, Mark, begins in a much different way. In this Gospel, Jesus has already been born. We are introduced to John the Baptist who is preparing the people who follow him for the coming of The Messiah. In the second chapter, John the Baptist Baptizes Jesus, and Jesus continues on to spread the word of God.
How do you feel about Mark’s method of introduction? What if the only things people knew about you were things that you did AFTER you were baptized? How does that change what people know about you?
The Gospel Luke seems to go for some kind of a hybrid of the first two Gospels. First, the birth of John the Baptist is proclaimed, and then the birth of Jesus is proclaimed. It was John’s duty to prepare people for the Son of God, even though from this Gospel, we can see that John and Jesus are told to be born at similar times.
This Gospel gives us a look at both of their births and lives, filling in some of the gaps from the previous Gospels. The first three Gospels are considered to be “The Synoptic Gospels” meaning that they all tell similar stories and relate to each other in many ways.
The Gospel John is not considered to be a part of, “The Synoptic Gospels” because it has quite a few differences.
The Gospel begins with language that is reminiscent of Genesis, and the creation story. The first five verses essentially summarize the creation story, the story of how God created all things, including the light and the darkness. In what seems to be a bit of a fast-forward, we are then introduced to John the Baptist again, and we are told that he is the man who will spread the word of God and prepare people for the coming of Jesus.
As you can see, the lights come up on Jesus in many different ways! Together all of the Gospels paint the picture of Jesus and his early life that we are familiar with today. What if four different authors wrote a book about you? What about your story would change depending on the author and what would stay the same?