Chapter 11 - Four Portraits of Jesus

How amazing is it that God has graced us today with the preserved message of His Son - kept through the distinctive writers of the four gospels. Imagine if our churches only had one frame of mind - if no one thought differently than the others. Imagine a Christian community that contained no differing vision. Imagine a body of believers who just saw every issue in life through the exact same lens. As easy on the brains as that might seem at first blush - how useful would it truly be to the world around it? This will seem trite, but it is the many facets of a diamond that make it shine.

It's with that sort of view that I see the four Gospels. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful and lovingly told set of stories about the moments in Jesus' life the evangelists thought important to our salvation. Now, again, imagine if they all agreed down the line - or if only one had been recorded. Just the thought is somehow saddening. I think it was Lee Strobel who pointed out the significance of the different views - stating that their differences in telling the same stories is the part that is so significant to their credibility. I'm not sure Strobel and Drane would necessarily agree on the "who came first, and who looked at whose Gospel" discussion, but even still there is truth in what Strobel points out.

All the Gospels are written anonymously, sure enough, but that shouldn't stop us from accepting the traditions of the Church Fathers, and our own understanding of human circumstance. Drane points out that Mark from Acts et. al. was remembered to be Peter's interpreter. Drane continues on to point out that "a number of the stories [Marcan] are told with such vivid details that it is natural to regard them as first-hand." (p. 196) I think of my own times of reflection and in telling the stories that have shaped my life to date. Sometimes, when I recount these days of my past, I find myself in a "thousand mile stare." I guess my point is about the weight these moments (and now their stories) have played in my life. The stories found in Mark's Gospel may have been very personal to Peter - I would have loved to watch him tell them.

Luke and Matthew, says Drane (and the rest of the world of Biblical academia - I guess ;-p) borrowed from Mark, a yet revealed Q document, and perhaps Matthew peeked at Luke's work. You know, I don't think that's all that big a deal - it challenges my previous thinking that the Gospels must be independent to be credible (or more to the point, I probably have never really given it any thought, and react that they MUST be independent). But what that thought doesn't do is take down anything I have built on the strong foundation of Jesus Christ - the same One whose story is told in these fantastic ways. On an other note, I don't have any problem accepting Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as the authors either.

In his discussion about the Gospel According to St. John, Drane made a rather interesting remark about the different opinions within the church surrounding it. He says that the differences in John's work to that of the synoptic writers "led to heated debates about the relative value of their respective accounts of the life and teaching of Jesus." (p. 210) We just don't get sometimes. The Church is a place of diversity, yet with complete focus on Christ. If we would even just look at the Gospels, we might begin to see how beautifully a diamond can shine.