3rd Quarter
Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels
How do we respect & understand scripture?
The Bible has many translations…
TERMS/IDEAS TO KNOW…
Bible means….
 Scripture means…

 B.C. means
 A.D. means
 The name Jesus means…
 The title Christ means…
BIBLE means books
 The Bible is a collection
of many different types of
books…
 The official collection of
books that has been
included in our Bible is
called the…
CANON
Were there other gospels written that
are not included in our canon?
YES!
 There were many other
gospels written that are not
included in our canon.
However, they are not as
‘secret’ as modern authors
would like to make them
seem. They’ve always
been known t o scholars
and are called…
APOCRYPHA
TERMS/IDEAS TO KNOW…
 Christianity has its roots in what other religion?
TERMS/IDEAS TO KNOW…
 To what religion did Jesus belong when He was born?
 To what religion did Jesus belong throughout his lifetime?
 To what religion did Jesus belong at the time of His death?
TWO MAJOR DIVISIONS OF THE BIBLE
Hebrew Scriptures
Christian Scriptures
BIBLE means books
HEBREW SCRIPTURES
(“Old Testament”)
CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES
(“New Testament”)
 46 books
 27 Books
 Begins with_________
 Begins with__________
 Ends with__________
 Ends with___________
 1st 5 books are called..
Christian
Scriptures

Hebrew Scriptures

MATTHEW is like a “bridge”
… linking the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures.
CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES
(“New Testament”)
 4 ‘categories’ of books
CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES
(“New Testament”)
 4 GOSPELS
(27 Books total)
 4 categories of books
 1 ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
 21 LETTERS (EPISTLES)
 1 BOOK OF REVELATION
27 total
The word GOSPEL means…
And justWHAT is that good
news?
It is the revelation of the
INCARNATION…
…that God became human in
the person of Jesus Christ and
dwelled among us.
FOUR GOSPELS
    -
Each EVANGELIST has a symbol
EVANGELIST is
another term for
GOSPEL WRITER
MARK: Winged lion
MATTHEW: Winged man
LUKE: Winged bull
JOHN: Eagle
SYMBOLS OF THE EVANGELISTS
FOUR GOSPELS

MATTHEW
 MARK
SYNOPTIC
GOSPELS
 LUKE

JOHN
SYNOPTIC
… - “seen together”
- “seen with the same eye”
MARK
 When?
 Where?
 Language?
 Primary audience:
 “Portrait” of Jesus….
MARK
 When? c.60 -70 A.D.
 Where? near Rome
 Language: Greek with traces of Aramaic
 Primary audience: Christians being persecuted for
their faith
 “Portrait” of Jesus….SUFFERING SERVANT
MATTHEW
 When?
 Where?
 Language:
 Primary audience:
 “Portrait” of Jesus
MATTHEW
 When? c. 70 - 80 A.D.
 Where? Judea
 Language: Hebrew
 Primary audience: Jewish Christians
 “Portrait” of Jesus: TEACHING MESSIAH
LUKE
 When?
 Where?
 Language:
 Primary Audience:
 “Portrait” of Jesus
LUKE
 When? 80-90 A.D.
 Where? Greece
 Language: Greek
 Primary Audience: Gentile Christians
 “Portrait” of Jesus: UNIVERSAL SAVIOR
SYMBOLS
What symbols do you know for Jesus?
“CHI RHO”
Where have
you seen this
symbol?
What is the story of
the “Jesus Fish”
Do you know what
the Greek letters
inside the fish mean?
ICHTHYS
777
PAUL
Formerly known as SAUL…
ST. PAUL
 Formerly
Saul of Tarsus
 Worked for the Romans as a
‘headhunter’ – traveled about
the Empire searching for
Christian communities in order
to have them persecuted.
 Until one day….
SAUL of TARSUS
 He was traveling on the road
to Damascus…
 He had a profound
conversion experience…
ST. PAUL
 After his enlightenment,
he used his knowledge of
the location of the
Christian communities
for good.
 He wrote letters
(epistles) to encourage
Christians to keep their
faith, love lives of love
and …and to ‘fight the
good fight’!
THREE STAGES OF GOSPEL FORMATION
LIVED
c.0-30A.D.
ORAL
When Jesus was alive and people
experienced him personally and
directly.
People shared stories of their
experiences with Jesus
c.30-60A.D.
WRITTEN
c. 60-100A.D.
Stories that were told orally were
written down
How effective is the oral tradition?
“I am the Resurrection and the
Life. Anyone who comes to
me shall live.
(John 11:25)
“Ms. Bergin is giving us a
free next Day 3.”
Which phrase was better communicated and preserved?
….Why do you think this happened?
Even when a message is changed/distorted, it can tell us things
about what was important to that community. The editors of
the Bible knew this when they were selecting what went into
the canon, and biblical scholars study these differences to learn
more about the early Christians.
CHRISTIANITY TODAY
CHRISTIANS TODAY….
MEANING ….we come AFTER the resurrection
(We know the end of the story before the beginning of the story…)
The RESURRECTION is like a PRISM
Like the Gospel
writers, we know
the end of the story
before we knew the
beginning of the
story. As such they
(and we) view the
events of Jesus life
with a different
meaning than if we
had lived at the time
he was living.
Jesus’ life
RESURRECTION
Interpretations of Scripture
FUNDAMENTALISTS
 Take scripture literally
 Does NOT take into account
scholarly insights gained from
history, linguistics, archeology,
theology, etc.
 Believe every word to not only
be true, but also factual.
CONTEXTUALISTS
 Interpret scripture
in the context of
 Time/culture written
 Understanding of language in




which it was written and the
effects of translation
Idiomatic expressions
What author intended to say
Impact of our time/culture
What God has to say to us
through the many truths
present (not looking at the
details as “facts”…)
Catholic Christians interpret scripture…
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Please remember this…forever!
THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE
IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS
…are expressions which are “understood” by most native
speakers of a language, but do not translate well literally.
Can you think of some idiomatic expressions we use in the
English language?
IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS
 My neighbor is having a garage sale.
 It’s raining cats and dogs.
 He’s “out to lunch.”
 She’s mad cool.
 He’s mad hot.
 I’m dead meat.
IDIOMS EXISTED IN BIBLICAL TIMES TOO…
LANGUAGE changes meaning…
 When we translate from one language to another
 From one generation to another
 When we change “forms”… (e.g., oral written)