The Gospel and the Gospels

MODULE 3: WHAT IS A GOSPEL?

SCHOOL OF THE WORD

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PART 1

Module 1: The current context of faithModule 2: The readings at MassModule 3: What is a gospel?Module 4: The Gospel of the current yearModule 5: Mark’s portrait of JesusModule 6: Discipleship according to Mark

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SEQUENCE

• Reading Mark - how did you find it?• The word “gospel”• Timeline• Gospel and Gospels• Biographies

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READING MARK – HOW WAS IT?

• How did you feel?• Did anything strike you?• Anything you’d like to

ask?

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THE WORD “GOSPEL”

• Old Testament (Isaiah)

• New Testament (throughout)

• What Jesus preached

• What early Christians said about Jesus

• The “Gospels” in the New Testament

Euagge/lion

EuangelionEvangelium

Good Newsgōd spellGospel

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map

THE WORD “GOSPEL”

7PRIENE CALENDAR INSCRIPTION

THE WORD “GOSPEL”

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Since providence, which has divinely disposed our lives, having employed zeal and ardour, has arranged the most perfect culmination for life by producing Augustus, whom for the benefit of mankind she has filled with excellence, as if she had granted him as a saviour for us and our descendants, a saviour who brought war to an end and set all things in peaceful order

and since with his appearance Caesar exceeded the hopes of all those who had received good news before us, not only surpass those who had been benefactors before him, but not even leaving any hope of surpassing him for those who are to come in the future, and since the beginning of the good news on his account for the world was the birthday of a god…

THE WORD “GOSPEL”

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• Four Gospels used in the Church• Familiar through the cycle of readings• At heart, each Gospel is a “life” of Jesus• The four Gospels do differ in approach • For example: the first words, in his public

ministry, of Jesus in four Gospels

GOSPEL AND GOSPELS

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Mark 1:14-15 Luke 4:20-22Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

Matthew 4:17 John 1:38From that time Jesus began to proclaim, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?”

GOSPEL AND GOSPELS

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• Written from faith• Written for faith• To be read in faith• The guiding light

is the Resurrection

Different contexts, different portraits

1 Matthew: Jewish Christians

2 Mark: persecution?

3 Luke: non-Jews or Gentiles

4 John: mixed congregation

GOSPEL AND GOSPELS

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• Mark 16• Matthew 28• Luke 24• (John 21)

1 Matthew and Luke are expansions of Mark

2 Matthew and Luke share about 250 verses not found in Mark

3 Matthew and Luke also have material unique to each one

GOSPEL AND GOSPELS

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• Opening scenes…

• Matthew: The Sermon on the Mount

• Mark: A typical day

• Luke: Preaching in Nazareth

• John: Call of the first disciples

GOSPEL AND GOSPELS

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GOSPEL AND GOSPELS

• You’ve been called / inspired / invited to write a Gospel

• How would you do it?• What would you definitely include?• What would you perhaps leave out?

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• The Gospel writers used various sources• They used sources differently• They used sources freely• Examples: Preaching in Nazareth,

Sermon on the Mount, Cleansing of the Temple

GOSPEL AND GOSPELS

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Mark Sayings (Q)

The Sower The Lord’s Prayer

M source L source

The Magi Prodigal Son

Matthew Luke

GOSPELS AND GOSPELS

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1. 250 verses = the Sayings Sources (Quelle)

2. Q survives only in Matthew and Luke

3. Q written, probably, in Palestine, in Greek

GOSPEL AND GOSPELS

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• Not everything was written down• Awareness of traditions• Offering a structured account• Differing, to a greater and lesser

extent

GOSPELS AND GOSPELS

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TIME LINE

Jesus6bc – 30 ad

Paul6bc / 35, 64 ad

Mark70

Matthew85-90

Luke85-90

John95-100

Galilee, Judea Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy

Syria?Rome? Syria Greece?

Syria, Asia Minor

Augustus Tiberius CaligulaClaudius Nero Vespasia

n Titus Domitian Nerva, Trajan

31-14 14-37 37-4141-54 54-68 69-79 79-81 81-96 96+

70 years 30 years

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BIOGRAPHIES

• Before the Gospels, we find fragments of narrative: • In hymns, such as • In short “creeds” such as• In passages about the Christ event, such as• These traces presume a longer narrative• This longer narrative was oral until a double crisis

triggered the writing down of the proclamation, always in the light of Easter

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BIOGRAPHIES• Our Gospels resemble biographies of the time, but

o The purpose is proclamation, in the light of Eastero The writers felt free to select, arrange, edit and

addo Each Gospel has a viewpoint (a “theology”), a

kind of religious DNA which enters every cell of the text

o The story continued in the lives of believers• So, the Gospels are not biographies in our modern

sense

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BIOGRAPHIES

• Mark: probably oppression, if not persecution• Matthew: a difficult relationship with Jews• Luke: a text for the Gentile seeker• John: a community with a special history and

leadership

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TASK FOR THE NEXT DAY

Imagine only Mark has come down to us

1 What would be “missing” from our tradition?

2 Why, do you think, does Mark “leave out” so much?

3 Any really startling omission for you?

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CONVERSATION

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