The teachings of Philip G. Roets & Lois Roets
A Short Summary
Philip G. Roets STL, SSL
The answer is easy. We do not know who actually wrote the gospels as we have them now. We know the source or where each gospel came from but who actually wrote it down is not known.
The Greek uses the preposition "kata" which means "according to" rather than the preposition "dia" which means "by." The choice was deliberate. In Greek, if you say a writing is "by" a person, it means that this exact work came from the pen of the person named. Whereas if you say that it is "according to" a person, it means that the ideas are in harmony with his ideas but not necessarily in his exact words. So "according to" is telling us that the ideas go back to this person as the source of their authority but he did not necessarily say or write them as they are gathered here.
Chronologically, Mark is the oldest of the four canonical Gospels. It was written sometime before 67 A.D. when Peter was put to death in Rome. It is written after the manner of the Kerygma or Profession of Faith demanded of anyone who wished to be baptized. It is somewhat like the Didache and the Apostles' Creed.
Mark was a curious boy, under twelve, at the time of Jesus' arrest. He was in the crowd and someone tried to catch him but he ran off leaving his cloak behind. (Mark 19:50–52).
Mark was on the first trip with Paul but grew tired and lonesome and went home in the middle of the trip. Paul was angry and disgusted. Mark showed up for the second trip of Paul but Paul absolutely refused to take him along. Barnabas took Mark and Luke went with Paul (Acts 13 & 15). Mark became the companion of Peter in Rome and his account of the story of Jesus is the Good News as he heard it preached by Peter.
A key point in the Gospel is the meeting of John Baptist and Jesus at the Jordan. Note the significance of these two men who had grown up together since they were little boys. John Baptist was a courageous bold person who attacked moral wrong wherever he met it. He had a hard time smiling in the face of much hypocrisy and moral failure. Jesus was just as earnest but he had a lighter side. The two men balanced each other perfectly. Jesus admired the courage and sincerity of John. As Jesus said, there was no greater among all the prophets.
Jesus was rejected by his hometown. They thought he was crazy and would get them into trouble because they were relatives, friends or neighbors.
Jesus knew the outcome of the life he intended to live and he told us, over and over again, that he was afraid of the suffering and the death. The apostles did not understand what Jesus was talking about. Even at the end they were still looking for a temporal kingdom and wanted the top places in that kingdom.
The final stage of the work of Jesus is called "To Telos." This Greek phrase is translated as "the end" in Latin but in Greek, the language of the gospels, it means "end" in the sense of "completion." Everything is brought to its goal and then full enjoyment is possible.
Judas and Peter both commit terrible sins of disloyalty. Peter's was by far worse because he was told ahead of time that it was going to happen. He was told the exact time and the number of times he would commit it. Peter went out and did exactly as Jesus foretold. Judas sold Jesus but he did not expect him to be taken. He had seen Jesus disappear on former occasions and decided he would make a few extra shekels for the common fund.
Both men confess. Judas made a perfect confession but to the wrong priest. He should have confessed to Jesus. Peter made his confession effectively and tradition says he wept over his failure the rest of his life. There is no need to put Judas in hell as a lost person. The first words of Jesus on the cross forgave everyone involved in his death.
Garden of Eden: First Adam — Failure through disobedience. Garden of Olives: Second Adam — Victory through obedience. Jesus Dies: Singing or reciting Psalm 22 — A song of confidence in Yahweh in spite of the seeming impossibility.
Luke was a medical doctor of the times. He was a Gentile or non-Jew, and Greek was his native language. He was called to the side of Paul because of the sickness of Paul. He learned the story of Israel and the fulfillment in Jesus, and was so taken with the picture that he became a convert and a constant companion of Paul until his death.
Tradition tells us Luke left us with three writings. One is this Gospel. Another is the Acts of Apostles. The third is the editing of the Letters of Paul. Acts is a story of some events of the first Christian community with emphasis on Peter and Paul, and the reaction of the Romans and the leaders of the Jews. The letters of Paul vary according to the people to whom Paul was writing and the purpose for the writing.
The Gospel has as its main theme, Salvation or Health, in every sense of the word. It is also called the Gospel of Pardon especially because of the famous story of the Prodigal or Wasteful Son. It is the Gospel of Poverty because it stresses the true value of being poor or unattached to material things. It is also called the Gospel of Prayer, the Gospel of the Holy Spirit, and the Gospel of Self-denial. The Gospel emphasizes the rights and dignity of women.
Luke introduces us to Gabriel, the messenger of God to Mary and Zachary. Luke addressed his writings to Theophilus, Greek for "Lover of God." No one by this name was known in the early community. I think it is a generic name. Hence his works are addressed to anyone who loves God. Luke stressed the universality of salvation. Everyone who wants can be saved.
In Luke's gospel, Jesus spoke three times on the Cross. All the words stress forgiveness and the restoration of the failure of the First Adam. Jesus' first plea on the cross was: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing." Then he turned to the criminal on the cross on his right and promises, "This day, you shall be with me in Paradise." Finally, he gave back the breath of the first Adam, "Father, into your hands I commit my breath." After the Resurrection, recorded in Acts, Jesus bestowed the new breath, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Breath of the New Adam.
To understand the Gospel according to Matthew, we must remember Matthew's background. He worked for the Roman Empire as a tax collector in Palestine. This tells us several things about Matthew.
He was a man despised by the Jews because they saw him as a traitor to his own people. He had sold himself out to the Romans. He was despised by the Romans because they thought all Jews were below them in every way. However, as long as he turned in his quota of taxes, the Romans did not care what he did or how he did it.
He had to be extremely proficient in the keeping of his tax books because they were subject at all times to the examination of Roman officials. He would be orderly in all his writings because he was dealing with basic principles of mathematics all day long.
The Gospel according to Matthew reflects this orderliness. He modeled his writing on the Pentateuch. He had five major divisions with an introduction and a conclusion. In each incident, he presented what Jesus said or did, told how this was a fulfillment of something that was expected from Old Testament times, and then concluded, "Therefore he is the Messiah expected." He was the new Moses.
There is practically no emotion expressed even in the most touching scenes. This would flow naturally from his bookkeeping. There was no emotion in the facts and figures of the tax collector.
Jesus had been watching Matthew, and Matthew had been listening to Jesus and his teaching. This particular day, Jesus looked at Matthew and said, "Come, follow me." Matthew arose, left everything and followed Jesus.
The thought that impressed Matthew the most was the "KINGSHIP." In English, we have translated the word, "basileia," as "Kingdom." This is a poor translation because it is a passive or static word. The Greek word ends "eia" is the equivalent of "ing" in English. Hence the word should be translated as "kinging" in the sense it is used in Checkers. A player moves the checker to the opposite end and cries out, "King me!" Now he has all kinds of power on that checker board. He can move in any direction and often the first person to get a "king" wins the game.
Matthew saw the work of Jesus as "kinging" his followers and giving them all kinds of new powers. He spent his whole time describing this new power which came from "Kinging." Matthew showed it as the fulfillment of what had been prepared for in Old Testament times.
The Gospel according to John is different. It was written in its present form about 125 A.D. John lived a long life in the service of Jesus and the first Christians. He was a young teenager, about 13 or 14, when Jesus called him. Jesus described him and his brother as "boanerges," a Greek word for "sons of thunder." They were people who wanted action and who hesitated at no task no matter how difficult.
John alone, of the Twelve, stood at the foot of the Cross as Jesus was dying. Jesus entrusted his mother to his care. There is a tradition that they lived in Ephesus and Mary died there.
One point struck John most forcibly about the teaching of Jesus. The creation story in Genesis had been a failure. Jesus, the second Adam, reversed the failure of the first Adam and gave us the new creation.
The Genesis account of the first creation covered seven days. The Joannine account of the second creation covered seven weeks. The new creation was firmly established. The failure of the original story was corrected. However, the Garden of Paradise must go through the Garden of Olives in order to reach its true fulfillment.
1:1–18. Jesus is the creative word of new creation.
1:18–2:12. First Week: Precursor: Faith in Jesus begins.
2:13–4:54. Second Week: Temple cleansed; Nicodemus comes; Samaritans believe.
5:1–6:71. Third Week: Lord of Sabbath; Bread of Life; Peter believes.
7–8–9. Fourth Week: Light of the World.
10–11. Fifth Week: Good Shepherd; Lazarus raised from the dead.
12–19. Sixth Week: Love is service; Courage demanded; Good fruit; Father's love, Our Father; It is complete.
20–21. Seventh Week: I send you! Receive the breath of the New Creation.
John has been the source of five writings in the New Testament. One is an encyclical letter addressed to the Christian communities of Asia. There were various heresies among them and they were on the verge of a break-up. The letter presented a summary of various Joannine themes: light, justice, love, and truth. John stressed that these truths have to be brought into the lives of the people in order to fulfill their faith in Jesus Christ and their love of each other. This letter is the closest to the Gospel in style and teaching. It may have been written about the same time and might even have been a sort of outline or preamble to the Gospel. This letter was followed by two short notes. (Chronologically, the two notes probably appeared first.) The fourth writing is called "The Apocalypse" or, in the Latin translation, "Revelation." Finally, we have this Gospel.
There is no doubt that John was primarily interested in salvation and the Christian life as the NEW CREATION. The original account of creation was presented in Genesis as the SEVEN DAYS of creation. John developed a picture of the SEVEN WEEKS of the New Creation. In the first creation story, Yahweh spoke and all things sprang into being. It was the creative Word of God that gave rise to the universe.
John started out from this point and then quickly, in a prologue or an introduction, showed how Jesus was the full manifestation of this creative word in the new creation.
John had a Semitic mind and therefore he would follow the Semitic form of history. He was interested in the facts and details of the life of Jesus only insofar as they taught or brought out a certain point. In fact, John would use the Greek word "semeion" for the deeds of Jesus. This word means "sign" or "symbol." John did not say how these actions took place. He told us what they meant in the teaching of Jesus and should mean in the life of every follower of Jesus.
John's account of the life of Jesus is different from the other three and should be read separately. When all the gospel stories have been read independently, then the reader can make COMPARISONS. However, a reader should never be so foolish as to form a gospel CONCORDANCE in which all the gospel stories are sandwiched together. This procedure only succeeds in destroying the beauty and value of each of the four gospels. It would be like taking four masterpieces by Michelangelo or Raphael, mashing them all together, and then saying we have a masterpiece. We would have destroyed all four in the attempt. A concordance of the gospels does the same to the four gospels.
There are many other Gospels that go back to the early days of the Church. They were known. Records and manuscripts of them have been kept. They are now preserved in the ancient libraries, especially in the Vatican Library in Rome. They can be viewed and read by everyone. However, after a thorough investigation of history, at the Council of Trent in 1545–1563, a final statement was made as to the canon of Sacred Scripture. The 72 (73) books as contained in the Latin Vulgate are the canonical list of books universally accepted. This does not mean that the other ancient books have no value. It does not mean that they offer nothing worthwhile to read. However, they were not read with the same authority as the books of the Canon.