Q1, S01 The Gospel(s)
Question 01:
DO YOU NEED ME?
Two thousand years ago, strange events signaled the arrival of an intriguing figure to the world of Israel. There were stories of prophecies being fulfilled even before this new Rabbi was born, and after a 400 year “famine” of not hearing the Word of Yahweh, a prophet named John the Baptist began proclaiming a message from Yahweh: It’s time to repent and prepare, God is returning to his people to lead them into something new.
As our story begins, we will find John the Baptist, and then Jesus himself, asking Israel if they are ready for what God is about to do. As we will see, God did something amazing through Jesus in the first century. For Israel, everything Jesus did was played out right in front of their eyes. They were either prepared and watching or they weren’t. God was inviting them into what he was doing through Jesus, so he spoke through Jesus and John with a warning and an invitation. John compares Israel to a dead tree that was on the verge of being chopped down. Their need was urgent: either be reborn with new life, or be chopped down.
In essence, Jesus arrived on earth with an all-important question: Do you realize your need for me?
Though the specific events we will examine happened millennia ago, that question still stands for us today. Are you ready for what God is about to do? Another way of asking this as we approach this study with Jesus is this: Do you need Jesus? You could treat this study as an academic exercise, evaluating what Jesus said and did without ever asking this first and foundational question: Do I need him? In our first few sessions, this is the question you’ll be reflecting on.
Tool: Leveling
For each section, we will give you a tool to help you process what is happening in the life of Jesus. Our first tool is called the Leveling. In the second session, you’ll follow John the Baptist as he announces a “leveling” that will take place in preparation for the coming of God’s Messiah. The hills will be brought low and the valleys lifted up. Anyone who is proud or exalted will be lowered and anyone who is humbled will be raised.
The Gospel brings a leveling because it simultaneously declares that a person is not exalted through their own efforts or accomplishments and that a person is forgiven and renewed only through God’s grace. Any time we move ourselves up (feeling pride in our own accomplishments) or down (feeling the shame of our failures), the Gospel pulls us back to the steady, level path of the Gospel.
As an example of how this dynamic plays out, Jesus tells a story (which we will explore later) about a religious leader and a tax collector (Luke 18:9–14). The religious leader, a Pharisee, stands proudly on the street corner and publicly thanks God for his high moral and social standing. The tax collector, by contrast, falls on his knees and begs God to have mercy on him for his moral failings. Both of these men need to participate in the leveling of the Gospel.
The Pharisee has moved above the level path of the Gospel and needs to engage in repentance. He believes that he can stand before God on the basis of his accomplishments, but the Gospel calls him to acknowledge his need for God. In reality, he needs to pray the prayer of the tax collector by pleading for God’s mercy. The tax collector sees his need for God, so he confesses his sin and acknowledges his need for God. Through this confession, the tax collector has moved below the level path of the Gospel. He is right to lower himself in this way, but the Gospel then comes to him and raises him up by calling him to believe. He must believe that his failings will not keep him from God. The Gospel proclaims the Good News that God is enough, that receiving God’s mercy is all he needs to be brought back onto the level path.
The Leveling tool helps us visualize a process we must constantly embrace. When we find ourselves moving above the level path of the Gospel by trying to stand on our own accomplishments, the Gospel pulls us down. In these moments, we must pause and confess, repenting of our pride and begging God for mercy. As we do, we are brought low, and we need then to believe the Good News that God is enough: that his mercy pulls us back onto the level path of the Gospel.
As you read these first few stories about what God was doing to prepare—for Jesus and through Jesus—be watching for how the Leveling shows up in the stories. Who is engaging in this process? How so? And even as we evaluate the people in the stories, we should watch for ways in which the concept of Leveling can help us to better prepare for and engage with Jesus today.
Quarter 1, Session 1: The Gospel(s)
WHAT IS YOUR STORY?
Concept
This session falls under Jesus’ first question: Do you need me? The purpose of this study is to spend time with Jesus. There are many noble activities that could keep you busy. But more than anything, Christianity is about Jesus. Life is about Jesus. Life is found in Jesus. Nothing matters more than being close to him, understanding who he is and how he thinks and acts.
To bring us into a meaningful encounter with Jesus, God has given us four different Gospels. Gospel means “good news,” so each of these four books puts us face to face with the good news of what God has done through Jesus. In taking this journey with Jesus, we will be traveling through these Gospels.
Each Gospel writer was writing for a different purpose at a specific moment in time to communicate something unique about Jesus. There is great value in sitting with Jesus in each Gospel, soaking in the specific emphases of that writer and seeing Jesus from that unique perspective. But in this study, we are going to place the four side by side (by side by side) to encounter Jesus from multiple angles. As we do this, however, we need to keep an eye on the purpose and context of each Gospel writer. So this first session will give a brief orientation to each Gospel so that we have a frame of reference for what each writer wants to emphasize.
This session will be somewhat different than the sessions that follow. Read through the summaries below, then take some time to work through the questions at the end of the session.
Key Question
What is your perspective of Jesus? What is your story with Jesus?
The Gospel
Mark presents us with a big question: Who is Jesus? He explores this question by allowing his readers to follow Jesus on his journey from Galilee, where his ministry begins, to Jerusalem, where he will be tried and executed. As the story unfolds, the disciples learn more and more about who Jesus is, and we share in their realizations. At the end of each stage in the journey, we encounter people who are afraid and confused. They’re left wrestling with who Jesus truly is.
The culminating revelation in Mark comes when Jesus says that he came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life (10:45). Mark is showing us that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah (or “Christ”), the true King. And how does he become King? Paradoxically, it’s through his crucifixion. Even as the Roman Empire asserts its dominance by publically humiliating Jesus and proving that he has no power by putting him to death, Jesus’ self-sacrificing death and his subsequent resurrection reveal him to be the conqueror of death and therefore the true King—of Israel and of the whole world. In Mark, this realization comes from the lips, not of one Jesus’ faithful followers, but of a Roman centurion: “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (15:39).
As we read through the book of Mark, he constantly pushes us to wrestle with the question of who Jesus is. Mark makes us face our confusion and fear and to decide for ourselves who Jesus is.
Matthew writes as a devout Jew, explaining to worshipers of Yahweh that in Jesus, Yahweh was acting decisively to fulfill everything he had promised to Israel in the Old Testament. Matthew shows that Jesus was Immanuel—not just another teacher or even another prophet, but actually God with us (the literal meaning of “Immanuel”). The problem from the beginning has been that through sinful rebellion, people are far from God. But here we see God coming near in the person of Jesus.
Throughout Matthew’s gospel, we see two kingdoms colliding. One is the kingdom of heaven, which Jesus teaches about, embodies, and inaugurates as the story unfolds. The other is the kingdom of this world. Surprisingly, the worldly kingdom that stands in opposition to Yahweh consists not just of evil outsiders (such as the Roman Empire) but of Israel’s own leaders, specifically the Pharisees and Sadducees. They have co-opted the language and forms of religion to promote themselves and preserve the boundaries of who belongs in the “righteous” crowd. But Jesus turns this on its head and shows that God is not with those who assert their own righteousness.
In Matthew, we see that God is with us in Jesus (Immanuel), that he is working to draw his people near to himself (23:27), and that he remains with us as he sends us out to preach and embody his kingdom (28:20).
In his gospel, Luke recounts Jesus’ life and teaching with a focus on what it means for all nations. Whereas the Jewish religious leaders were focused on their heritage as God’s people, Luke shows Jesus consistently proclaiming freedom to the outsiders and those who are hurting. The kingdom that Jesus preaches is an upside-down kingdom. In fact, Luke portrays Jesus as establishing a new Israel. Israel had twelve tribes, and now Jesus is at work, preaching a new kingdom with the twelve followers he has chosen.
Luke emphasizes the reality that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (19:10). Everyone is welcome, and Jesus is constantly pursuing those who are not yet “at the table.” The kingdom belongs to them. According to Luke, a disciple is someone who will go anywhere that Jesus goes. Following Jesus means being on a journey. It means joining a mission to all nations.
John is the most unique of the four Gospels because he takes a different approach. The other three Gospels are known as the “Synoptics” because their perspective on Jesus is similar. John presents the same Jesus, but with a different emphasis and many stories not included in the other Gospels. John explains that he writes so that we will experience the life that is available through Jesus (20:31). He includes several “I am” statements, in which Jesus declares his true identity, even revealing himself to be Yahweh, the great “I AM.”
As we see Jesus with increasing clarity, we are left to respond. Do we believe Jesus is who he says he is? Are we ready to take hold of the life that is offered to us in Jesus? John frequently shows Jesus breathing life into what was dead. To be a follower of Jesus is to experience life.
Reflection on the Gospels
1. Why do you think God would choose to give us four different perspectives on the life of Jesus? Why not give one full account?
2. How would you briefly summarize the approach of each Gospel writer? In a couple of sentences, what makes each Gospel unique?
3. Acknowledging that we are just beginning this study, which Gospel approach is most intriguing to you at this point? Why do you say that?
Reflection on Your Context
Now that we’ve examined the context of each of the four Gospels, we have to address one other contextual element: You also come to the Bible with a specific context, and that colors the way you understand the text. Because the Word of God is living and active, it always speaks to us in fresh ways. We have to understand not just the context of each book, but our own context so that we can see how this speaks to us where we’re at today.
It’s important to acknowledge up front what our biases will be and what we’ll be prone to twist or overemphasize or underemphasize. We all have a tendency to make Jesus into a personal puppet. We like to have him parrot our own views, to say things in the way we want them said. So as we begin this study, we must pray for some theological humility. Can we acknowledge our potential biases and open ourselves up to encounter Jesus in a fresh way?
4. Based on your life and context, how might you be prone to misrepresent Jesus? (E.g., are you tempted to see Jesus as a member of the same socio-economic class or ethnicity as yourself? How could that taint your understanding of him?)
5. Is there anything you can do as you begin this study to acknowledge your context, let go of your biases, and approach Jesus as he truly is?
Key Question
What is your perspective of Jesus? What is your story with Jesus?