D
Della
Guest
Something Church Militant said in the thread about Peter not being the pope because of where he sat at the Last Supper (I kid you not!), got me to thinking about the nature of the 4 Gospels—about their authors and what they intended and why each of their accounts reads as it does.
It seems to me that, from what I know of each author and of each Gospel, that Matthew’s, with its emphasis on reaching out to his fellow Jews, is the richest in Christ’s teachings directed at those who were there listening to him. Matthew wants to show Christ as the Second Moses they had been promised and longed for. So, his is the most inclusive account of Jesus’ sayings and activities.
Mark’s is the first example of the Gospel being passed on through one who was not an Apostle, but who sat at the feet of one—of Peter, to be exact. Peter gives him his account without as much of the material Matthew did because Matthew had already provided it. So Mark’s intention was to show Jesus’ mission more than his teachings. It’s why he’s always saying that Jesus immediately did this or that—to show Jesus not only knew what he was doing but that he knew how little time he had in which to accomplish his Father’s will.
Luke is the only non-Jew and so his perspective is colored by his pagan origins. He wants to tell us something about Jesus’ family, about Mary and the way she conformed her will to God’s will in bringing us the Savior. He tells us that Mary meditated in her heart and gives us the moving account of Simeon’s words to her, prophesying the Suffering Messiah. His pagan readers would love all these elements because of their stories about their gods and demi-gods, which Luke seemingly used to pique their interest.
And John wrote the most deeply spiritual of the Gospels because he had the most time to reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ life and mission, and being a man of mystical insight, he gives us a picture of Jesus that is at once tender and human (such as John resting his head on Jesus’ breast mentioned by Church Militant in the above mentioned thread) and yet soars to the heights of divinity, as seen especially in the opening chapter and in chapter 6.
Anyway, this is longer than I intended, but what are your thoughts?
It seems to me that, from what I know of each author and of each Gospel, that Matthew’s, with its emphasis on reaching out to his fellow Jews, is the richest in Christ’s teachings directed at those who were there listening to him. Matthew wants to show Christ as the Second Moses they had been promised and longed for. So, his is the most inclusive account of Jesus’ sayings and activities.
Mark’s is the first example of the Gospel being passed on through one who was not an Apostle, but who sat at the feet of one—of Peter, to be exact. Peter gives him his account without as much of the material Matthew did because Matthew had already provided it. So Mark’s intention was to show Jesus’ mission more than his teachings. It’s why he’s always saying that Jesus immediately did this or that—to show Jesus not only knew what he was doing but that he knew how little time he had in which to accomplish his Father’s will.
Luke is the only non-Jew and so his perspective is colored by his pagan origins. He wants to tell us something about Jesus’ family, about Mary and the way she conformed her will to God’s will in bringing us the Savior. He tells us that Mary meditated in her heart and gives us the moving account of Simeon’s words to her, prophesying the Suffering Messiah. His pagan readers would love all these elements because of their stories about their gods and demi-gods, which Luke seemingly used to pique their interest.
And John wrote the most deeply spiritual of the Gospels because he had the most time to reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ life and mission, and being a man of mystical insight, he gives us a picture of Jesus that is at once tender and human (such as John resting his head on Jesus’ breast mentioned by Church Militant in the above mentioned thread) and yet soars to the heights of divinity, as seen especially in the opening chapter and in chapter 6.
Anyway, this is longer than I intended, but what are your thoughts?
