1. Chapter 20
Simply Jesus

2. • WHAT’s THE GOSPEL?
The closest Hebrew word suggestive of the meaning of
“gospel” is bashar . “Bashar” is the announcement made, often
in royal context, of some good news, like the birth of a king’s
son or the bestowal of his throne name and specially of a victory
in battle. It is also used for proclamation of Yahweh’s Salvation
and Sovereignty.
The Greek noun, to euanggelion, originally referred to the
reward given to someone bringing the good news.
Paul used “the saving action of God brought about
through Jesus his son “ in the Gospel as Christ’s victory in battle.
The good news of Jesus redemptive passion, death and
resurrection became the earliest Christian proclamation, also
called Kerygma. Delay in his return, also called Parousia, was a
major factor which caused the proclamation to become a literary
genre, the gospels.

3. • FROM GOSPELS TO GOSPELS:
The Gospels are primarily faith documents, still it must be
affirmed that underlying the stories and teachings contained
therein is a historical nucleus of Jesus of Nazareth, of his
ministry and his message. By dissecting the various stages in the
formation of the Gospels, one is led to the proper understanding
of their interpretation. Following is a swift survey of how the
one gospel proclamation became, in time, the four canonical
Gospels:
1. Stage 1 – The time of Jesus
2. Stage 2 – The time of Apostles
3. Stage 3 – The time of the Evangelist

4. 1. Stage 1 – The time of Jesus
Jesus appeared by the Sea of Galilee and set about
proclaiming the Kingdom. The first thing he did was to choose
his group of disciples who were to be the foundation of his
community. He performed works of power and his miracles were
recognized as authoritative teaching. His works and words, his
ministry and message, his miracles and teachings not only
attracted crowds but also galvanized opposition against him.
His own disciples during this time had totally
misunderstood him. Not one left at the foot of the cross. It
seemed tot hem such a great tragedy.
While he was alive, Jesus had no stenographer to keep
record of events. His disciples simply remembered. Jesus chose
his stories and examples to fit the life situations of his hearers.

5. 2. Stage 2 – The Time of the Apostles
Two things happened one of these is called the disciples’
Aha experience! First Jesus resurrected now no one could
foreseen that! Then some fifty days later, the Holy Spirit came
down to fill their hearts.
There was a faith that was alive. They kept their memory
of Jesus and celebrated it in liturgy and Sunday assemblies. They
lived it in daily moral living and proclaimed it in the kerygma and
catechesis, in polemics and apologetics.
In some ways those were heardy days for the Christian
communities. They truly believed that the Parousia, or the
second coming. Most felt no need to put things into writing. The
faith was known, believed, and lived. Then the persecutions
began.

6. 3. Stage 3 – The time of the Evangelist
A number of factors contributed to the writing down of
the Gospels. The advent of the Christian persecution, particularly
those in the time of Nero and Domitian, necessitated a change in
the nature of Christian writings, As parousia did not come as
expected.
The Gospels were not only the work of certain
enlightened individuals. The presuppose a faith community. This
community has preserved their memory of Jesus, though filtered
by the apostles and distilled by their own particular concerns.
The Evangelist wrote an account of their communities
understanding of the person and teaching of Jesus in view of
their own communities life situation and problems. The
Evangelist did not include his entire material, but only selected
those relevant to his communities needs.

7. • THE GENRE “GOSPEL”
There are two main theories on how the literary genre
“gospel” came to be born. The evolutionary model presupposes
a core proclamation, primarily the passion stories, to which
other sections, like the ministry, birth and resurrection
narratives, were added. This helps to illustrate the gradual
amplification of the Gospels chronologically, with the simplest
being that of Mark.
The other is the analogical model where the writing of
the gospel is seen as comparable to the production of ancient
tragedies or historical biographies.
The gospel is a mixed genre. It is akin to the literary genre
of biblical history in as much as it preserves some historical
nucleus but is not bound by it. The concern of biblical history is
meaning more than fact.

8. On the other hand , the gospel genre also shows affinity
to Hellenistic literary and rhetorical practices, particularly the
Greco-Roman biography. It is focused on the character of its hero
and how his deeds reveal the character, having little interest
wider historical picture. The gospel genre is a historiography, a
combination of biblical history and Greco-Roman biography
whose focus is the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and how his
deeds and teaching help.
• CANONICAL AND APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS
Many gospel accounts came to be written. Only four were
accepted as “canonical” or basis for Church life and doctrine:
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John(in canonical order)

9. These are the four canonical Gospels share a set narrative
pattern:
1. John the Baptist and the Baptism of Jesus;
2. The calling of the deisciples;
3. Jesus helaing and teaching, and the growing opposition
to him;
4. His final days of ministry in Jerusalem;
5. The passion narratives;
6. The empty tomb and stories of the appearances of the
Risen Lord
The Apocryphal gospels instead generally develop only
specific elements of the canonical Gospel Tradition. The
Proto-Evangelium of James is an infancy gospel with stories
of the miraculous birth and unusual childhood of the Christ
Child. The Gospel of Thomas, Acts of Pilate, Gospel of Mary
and Apocryphon of John are some examples.

10. • THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM:
Synopsis of the Gospels, in which he printed the first
three Gospels in parallel texts for comparison. He showed how
these were so similar, one could as if see one work at
glance, hence the title. All three gospels share not only the same
narrative sections and their order, but are so similar in detail.
The two-documentary theory purposes (1) Mark was the
first gospel to be written, and that (2) the writers of Matthew
and Luke used the text of Mark and a saying source, now lost but
which can be reconstructed, tentatively called “Q” {Quelle =
“source in German”}. Matthew and Luke called their own “M
source” and “L source” respectively and Mark has “Q source”.