Gospel Of Jesus Research Paper

Peter, one of the most important disciples in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, is portrayed as Jesus’ acquaintance and pupil; as well as one of Jesus’ most important followers. Both of the Gospels seem to portray Peter in similar ways, yet they draw different images of the disciple. In the Gospel of Matthew, Peter has a much larger appearance in the teachings of Jesus and becomes more significant to Jesus throughout the Christian doctrine. However, in Mark, the author portrays Peter as a much lesser character in the life of Jesus and even leaves Peter out of some of the stories till the end of the book. Each Gospel portrays a slightly different picture of Peter’s personality and role.

Mark’s gospel begins with Jesus’ ministry, leads up to, and ends with His crucifixion. The gospel stresses the importance of Jesus’ divinity and discipleship. There are different examples throughout the gospel of this. Discipleship is shown on Mark’s gospel when Jesus first calls his disciples to repent and believe. In chapter two verses twelve to seventeen Jesus calls sinners to repentance when he has supper with tax collectors. This calls the sinners to follow Him. The best example of discipleship is in chapter eight verse thirty-four when Jesus says take up your cross and follow me. He is asking people to live as He does and commit their whole lives to Him even if it means dying in order to deliver God’s message. He says whoever loses their

Yet only in Matthew does Peter have a role in the story. Upon seeing Jesus on the water, he calls out, "'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water'"(Mt. 14.28). He almost succeeds, yet he suddenly gives in to fear and begins sinking. Jesus scolds him by saying, " 'You of little faith, why do you doubt?'"(14.31). This draws a strange picture of Peter. He no longer simply listens to Jesus, but tries to become actively involved in his teacher's lessons. This idea is again shown in Matthew 15.15. After the parable of the blind leading the blind, Peter asks, " "Explain this parable to us." Jesus replies with a rather impatient remark, but dives a little further into the meaning. He often comes to Jesus with questions throughout Matthew and these questions always ask for clear definitions of stories or truths about some spiritual detail. Many times Jesus snaps a little at him, but Peter obviously is not swayed by any impatience his teacher bestows. This seems to paint a closer relationship between the two men, where Peter is not afraid of Jesus and Jesus is not simply polite to Peter, as teachers tend to be. Jesus' obvious favoritism of Peter, shown in the transfiguration and throughout the gospel, leads one to believe that the two are indeed close friends with trust and mutual respect, which allows them to be freer with their words to one another. Friends tend to be less polite and more open with

But in Matthew, and most of all Mark, the Disciples are, in Dr. Rick Beaton’s words, “dumb as boards.” … So when you read through the Gospels, especially Mark, and if you have any ounce of irreverence in you, you can’t help but agree with Holden. The Disciples really don’t get it. They’re pretty useless. And it’s pretty surprising that Jesus spent all his energy with them. … My favorite example of the Disciples’ stupidity is in Mark 8, right after Jesus fed the 4,000. And I mean literally right after they fed the people, Jesus and the Twelve got on a boat, and this happened: … Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” They said to one another, “It is because we have no bread.” (Mark 8:14-16, NRSV) … And the Disciples, filled with anything but wisdom, assumed that Jesus was making some obscure reference to the lack of bread in the boat. Not, “Hey, guys, I’m using this as an opportunity to teach you a lesson about life.” But rather, the Disciples yet again think that their present circumstances are all that matter. They have forgotten

Throughout the New Testament Gospels, an abundance of enriching, soulful narratives thrive and live on through their cultivated messages of hope, compassion, miracles, and redemption. Recalling in detail the heroic life and journey of Jesus Christ, expounding his teachings and philosophy, and revealing hidden components of God’s divine nature, the Gospels are rife with symbolism and potent imagery which are accessible to people of every faith. The timeline of Jesus Christ’s life, miracle healings, administered sermons, and selfless service to the people he met and interacted with is encapsulated in the storyline of four texts within the Christian Bible which have been juxtaposed with one another. When these are read together, one can observe many fascinating parallels and similarities that make it difficult to dispute the information or messages about the life of Jesus Christ which the Gospels disseminate. There are specific passages in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John which reveal the fundamental aspects of what it means to be a disciple, and furthermore, what it means to be a human being. This essay will address discipleship and human nature as they appear in three passages, Mark 5: 1-20, Mark 5: 35-43, and Matthew… By way of thorough examination and formal analysis of the scriptural text, definitions of what it means to be a true disciple and a true human being will be discussed.

I was first introduced to Jesus Christ through several Korean missionaries from America, who came to my orphanage in Russia one day. A bright green church, which is my favorite color to this day, was implanted right behind my orphanage and the people of the church went around inviting and encouraging people to join them on Sunday mornings. We were told there would be donuts and other food. Of course that would lure any orphan right off the bat. I among other children, joined the church on Sunday mornings. Maybe it was simply the donuts, but I felt accepted right away. Although I was very fond of the things we were told and taught, they appeared to be only stories to me. The stories did not become an entity or reached my heart until after I got adopted into a Christian family three years later.

The primary focus of each of the three quests for the historical Jesus, endeavors a series of approach to challenge the legitimacy of the Synoptic Gospels as an unreliable resource to study Jesus existence; even more, to question the NT portrayal of Jesus veracity, through an intellectual group of scholars applying other ancient book in their research into what is known as today “the Quest of the Historical Jesus.” Unlike the first century Christians, “It was widely assumed that the Jesus presented in the Bible was the man who lived and died—and rose—in Palestine in the first century.”1

Throughout the books of Luke and Mark, there are several different views on the life of Christ. In both, Christ is portrayed as a teacher who gives out advice as well as a miracle worker. And, in both, Christ eats the Last Supper, and is left by Peter when in captivity and dies on the cross, simply to be resurrected. Though there are many similarities, there are several places where they differ. Mark fails to include detail about the birth of Christ, whereas, Luke has detailed descriptions of Christ as a child.

Lights cameras action. Welcome to the auditions for the teachings of Jesus- a Call to social action's production of the prodigal son.

There are many aspects of Jesus’ life that are very noticeable throughout the New Testament and the four gospels through recurring themes. Mark’s Gospel contains the most prominent of those themes. The main themes that our class has focused on, that seem the most important to Mark are secrecy, response, and food/eating. In Mark 8:22-10:52, he has a very strategic way of setting up the stories of Jesus’ life. Thought the reading of this section we mainly notice two of the three themes, those being secrecy and response, although earlier in chapter eight we do see how Mark highlights the importance of food/eating in The Feeding of the Four Thousand. Within Mark 8:22-10:52 there are sixteen separate stories that are all placed in a certain order to exemplify what Mark wants to make known of the life of Jesus and his disciples.

The Gospels of Mark and Matthew give us details of the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. Mark focuses on Jesus being a servant, healer, teacher and miracle worker. Matthew focuses on Jesus as the Messiah of the “New Law”. Both gospels are to encourage Christians and give them strength to build their faith. Jesus is using his disciples in both gospels to show that we all sin, are afraid and turn away from God but through the love and sacrifice of Jesus we are forgiven.

This research assignment aims to analyse and interpret an influential part of the New Testament – Mark’s Gospel. An analysis of Mark and his community will be discussed as well as interpreting Jesus’ teachings and his significant theme of Discipleship as it was then and in present society.

Mark: The Gospel of Mark tells the story of Jesus Christ’s life from when he was baptized by John the Baptist until the days of his death, and his resurrection. Mark was the second of four Gospels although some Scholars argue and insist Mark was the first Gospel written 1. Mark was written by John Mark in AD 65, with a target audience of Roman Christian beleivers 2. Mark was written in a unique manner in regards to literary genre, as it contains figures of speech, and portray life situations in a passionate story like setting that can make the reader feel as if he is there 3. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, however it is written in a manner that emphasizes more so on Jesus’s works than Jesus’s words 4. The key theme in Mark is to portray the life of Jesus Christ as the son of God 5, and the purpose was to show the human qualities and emotions that Jesus displayed from anger (Mark 3:5), and compassion (Mark 1:41). Some of the key events of Jesus Christ’s life in the Gospel Mark include his miracles, his entrance into Jerusalem, the last supper, his arrest and trial, his crucifixion, his resurrection, and his ascension 6. The Gospel of Mark ends with his instruction to the eleven Apostles “And he said unto them “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:16), and his ascension into Heaven (Mark 16:19).

Concerning the dissimilarities included within the two works of Matthew and Mark, as it was previously noted in the aforementioned paragraph, it is quite apparent through the selection of words that both Matthew and Mark were conveyed towards separate audiences. Although it was established that both of them work in unison to promote Christ’s image as a servant of God, the reasoning behind the differing executions Matthew and Mark used to promote this image is worth noting. First, due to its emphasis on genealogy, Matthew is dedicated to an audience of Jews.

As Jesus developed His disciples, the first relationship examined was with Peter. The Gospel accounts list a variety of interactions between Jesus and Peter that define this discipleship process. Categorizing the items in this process included Peter’s presence in the transfiguration (Mark 9:2ff), his participation in miraculous acts such as walking on water (Mark 6:45), and his confession that Jesus is the Christ (Mark 8:27ff). Jesus set apart His relationship with Peter through changing his name from Simon to Peter (Mark 3:6), and making the pronouncement regarding building His church using a play on Peter’s name following Peter’s claim that Jesus is the Christ (Matt. 16:18).