Timeline of Resurrection Appearances

This has been a busy and interesting weekend! But it means I have not had the time to prepare my planned notes on the resurrection appearances of Jesus, as reported in the New Testament.  I will see if I can update this tomorrow.

The New Testament records a number of appearances of Jesus after his resurrection.  I will try to summarize that here.

Luke 24 has the women visiting the tomb, followed by Peter.  Matthew 28 has the women seeing Jesus before they visit the Eleven. (It also records that they saw one angel.) Possibly we have two visits to the empty tomb. The first visit involves two women, both named Mary (Matt 28: 1-10). Mark (in Mark 16:1-8) records these two women visiting the tomb, along with a woman named Salome.

According to John, Mary Magdalene saw the empty tomb (with a stone rolled away.) She then told Peter and John about this. They go to the tomb, John first, but John does not go in. Peter does. (No angels are mentioned.) John believes that Jesus has risen from the dead. They leave the tomb and then Jesus appears to Mary (after she tells the disciples the tomb is empty) and Mary sees two angels, one at the foot and one at the head of the tomb.

Later that evening Jesus appears to a number of disciples, including two unnamed followers who are walking to nearby Emmaus.  A week later he appears when Thomas is with the others. This seems to all occur in Judea. Later (John 21, Matthew 28: 16-20) Jesus appears in Galilee, maybe twice.

Paul, in I Corinthians 15: 3-7, records that after appearing to Peter and the other disciples, at one time Jesus appeared to more than 500 followers, many of whom are still alive in Paul's day.

Here are some online sources that attempt to work through the various appearances.

From a Catholic scholar, a blog post.

This post, from biblestudy.org, even attempts to give precise dates, although leaving out the appearance of Jesus to Peter.  (The exact dates should be viewed with suspicion.)

I'll look at these other entries later, when I get caught up!
http://www.gfcto.com/articles/theological-issues/chronology-of-jesus
https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_814.cfm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-Resurrection_appearances_of_Jesus

Tomorrow we return to the study of Luke.

Luke 22: 49-71, Captured

Jesus has been with his disciples at night in the garden area on the Mount of Olives.

Luke 22: 47-48, Betrayed!
While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"

Every evening Jesus retired to a campsite on the Mount of Olives, so it was not hard for Judah to find him.  Jesus knows what Judah is doing and had earlier told his own followers that this would happen.

Luke 22: 49-50, Swords
When Jesus' followers saw what was going to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?" And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him.

Someone (Peter?) is willing to fight for Jesus.  But this is not the time.

Luke 22: 52-53, Jesus confronts the priests
Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs?  Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour--when darkness reigns."

Jesus continues to confront the hypocrisy and cowardice of the religious leaders. 

Luke 22: 54-62, Peter's betrayal 
Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them.  A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with him."

But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said.

A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." 

"Man, I am not!" Peter replied.

About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean."

Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" 

Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Poor arrogant Peter!  He will emerge from these painful events a very different man, both confident and humble in appropriate amounts.

This event is presumably reported to others by Peter.  Peter's accent gives him away as a Galilean and thousands have seen Peter happily at Jesus's side throughout much of Jesus's ministry.

Luke 22: 63-65, A Man abused and acquainted with sorrow, 
The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him.  They blindfolded him and demanded, "Prophesy! Who hit you?" And they said many other insulting things to him.

Abuse of a captive is common, then and now.  Since this prisoner has been accused of being a prophet, it is easy to insult him this way.

Luke 22: 66-71, "Yes, I am the Son of God"
At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. "If you are the Christ" they said, "tell us." 

Jesus answered, "If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God."

They all asked, "Are you then the Son of God?" 

He replied, "You are right in saying I am."

Then they said, "Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips."

The priests cannot find a real crime of which to convict Jesus, so they pursue the crime of blasphemy. As in Muslim countries today, the charge of blasphemy can be used as a vague catch-all when no real crime has been committed.

When asked if he is the Messiah, Jesus incriminates himself.  "Yes, that is correct", he responds.

It is indeed blasphemy to claim that you are the Messiah!  (Unless you really are!)

Luke 22: 24-46, On the Way to a Garden

Jesus has one last meeting with this disciples in the upper room of a Jerusalem house.

Luke 22: 24-30, Who is the greatest?
Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.

Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

On the night of his arrest and trial, the disciples of Jesus are debating on who will rule in the kingdom!  Gosh, these humans are so petty!  Jesus loves these silly creatures! (Thankfully.)  He even plans for them to rule with him!

Luke 22: 31-34, Peter's failing faith
"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

But he replied, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death."

Jesus answered, "I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me."

Simon, as always, is confident and eager.  It will be a rough night for him.

According to the NIV footnotes, the "you" in verse 31 is plural, so Jesus is speaking of all the disciples when he says, "Satan has asked to sift you..."

Luke 22: 35-38, Get ready 
Then Jesus asked them, "When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?" 

"Nothing," they answered.

He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. It is written: `And he was numbered with the transgressors'; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment."

The disciples said, "See, Lord, here are two swords." "That is enough," he replied.

Strife is coming, Jesus says.  The statements about a sword were intended only as metaphor, not as real advice.  The disciples miss all of that.

The disciples also miss -- again -- the dire predictions of the suffering Messiah. "He is numbered with the transgressors" comes from the Old Testament passage, Isaiah 53:12.  The entire chapter of Isaiah 53 is worth reading at this point, as it describes a Messiah, being bruised, beaten, and killed for Israel.

Luke 22: 39-46, The Mount of Olives
Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation."

He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."

An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. "Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."

From the NIV footnotes: Some early manuscripts do not have verses 43 and 44, about the angel of "drops of blood".

The disciples are tired but the evening has just begun.

On Community

On Sundays I take a break from progressing through the New Testament and look at some related topic.  Today I want to look at a concept embedded in Christianity, a concept that has grown more important to me through time, the concept of Community.

The followers of Jesus were not just independent spiritual "entrepeneurs".  They were not isolated pilgrims.  They existed in, and grew within, small community groups.  Jesus, himself, first drew 12 men to him and then, outside those 12, there was a larger community of followers, including a number of women.  The number of followers varied from 70 or 72 (mentioned in Luke 10:1-24) to more than 500 (mentioned in I Corinthians 15:6) to thousands that needed feeding at two different times.  Yet within those groups, Jesus focused on smaller groups, the Twelve with an inner intimate circle of Peter, James and John.

Even when the 72 were sent out in Luke 10, they were sent out in pairs, a (very small) community of two.

At times within the history of Christianity, the pendulum has swung between in an emphasis on individual piety and an emphasis on global justice (including political power) but somewhere between those extremes is the development of small groups where the Christian faith is lived out on a daily basis.

In Acts, when the disciples began preaching about the resurrected Messiah, they began with the Jewish synagogues, the small communities which were (are) the source of Jewish community.  Over time, as these communities welcomed Gentiles -- and then were swamped by Gentile converts -- these communities were called ecclesia.  Ecclesia (or ekklesia) was a Greek word meaning "assembly", dating back to ancient Athens (see here.)  English translators of the New Testament often translate the Greek word ekklesia as "church". Those small assemblies became the foundational units of the New Testament church.

The most important evidence of a like-minded ecclesia appeared in the small ritual these churches went through when they met as a group to eat, to "break bread." We now call that act, Communion. Communion (or the Eucharist, the Lord's Supper, the Mass) was evidence of community, as a group and with God.

Jan and I enjoyed this Sunday morning both a Communion service and an introduction to small groups which the church is starting up this fall.  Both events emphasize the importance of community.

Wherever you are, whatever you are engaged in, whether spiritual or secular (or mixed!) you should do it in a community of like-minded people, of friends who will be supportive!

On the Harmony of the Gospels

Anyone serious about the study of the New Testament is aware, after a bit of reading, that three of the Gospels are similar, but not identical, while the fourth gospel is quite different.  The three similar gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, are called the synoptic gospels (meaning "similar".)  The fourth gospel, that of the young disciple John, is written later than the other three and is quite different.  The gospel of John has a different philosophy from the other three and was probably written to fill in details not covered by the other gospels and to expand on the view of Jesus preached by the early church.

Given the four-fold lenses of these descriptions of the life of Christ, it is natural to create a "harmony" of the gospels, that is, an outline of the life of Christ which is consistent with the material provided by all four.  One example is provided here by Blue Letter Bible.  I have several books on this topic in my personal library including a standard text by A. T. Robertson.

There are a number of interesting problems that arise for those serious about a "gospel harmony" of the life of Christ.  The three synoptic gospels are each just a little bit different and the details of events and sermon vary.  At times they even appear to conflict. For example, Matthew (in Matthew 5-7) describes a sermon on the mountainside; Luke records a very similar sermon on a plain, after Jesus has descended from a mountain.  Are these two accounts recording the same event, but with slightly different descriptions by different observers? (Maybe Jesus stopped on a flat area to speak as he descended from the mountain?) Or are they different events, with very similar topics. Certainly Jesus told the same parables and teaching in different times, repeating many of the teachings, so the "Sermon on the Mount" was probably taught in a variety of locations.  These types of questions permeate the harmony attempts.

In addition to accounts which different, it is not always clear whether the episodes described in the gospels are intended to be in sequence.  Although Luke says that he put the events of Jesus "in order", he probably meant that he organized his history according to ideas and themes, not that he put the events in chronological  sequence.  (There is considerable evidence that some of the events in the gospel of Luke are out of chronological order.  At the end of Luke 9 Jesus turns towards Jerusalem but then in Luke 10-18 there are a variety of teaching or events that probably occurred prior to his final trip from Galilee to Judea.)

I'll say more about gospel harmony later, especially as we get to the gospel of John

I'm traveling this weekend, without steady internet... so I'll stop here. Tomorrow we return to the study of Luke.

On Parables

If one grew up in the Christian church, the parables of Jesus are part of the tapestry of Christian religion.  But if we look at the gospels with fresh eyes, as a newcomer to these letters, we are struck by how much storytelling Jesus does and by his constant "hiding" of the main message.

At every turn, Jesus sheathes his message in a story, a "parable".  Indeed, "parables" now are often synonymous with "the teachings of Jesus."

Why does Jesus do this? Why the steady stream of stories?

Jesus answers this question in, of course, a parable.  The "parable of the sower" (Matthew 13, Luke 8, Mark 4) is a parable about parables! Jesus tells of a farmer spreading seeds and of the differing responses, depending upon the ground on which the seeds fall. When questioned about the parable by his disciples, Jesus says (essentially) that the parables are to keep out the calloused, that is, those who are not really interested and only pretend to be listening.

There are other Biblical instances of stories being created to carry a message. In the Old Testament passage, II Samuel 12, the Jewish prophet Nathan rebukes King David.  It is dangerous to rebuke a king, especially about murder, deceit and adultery, but Nathan wants to get under David's defensiveness to reach the true David, that king who had once been concerned about justice.  And so Nathan tells a story.  At the end of the story, when David is incensed at the rich man who abused a poor man and killed the poor man's pet, Nathan points a bony finger at David and says, "You are that man!"  The story achieved its goal.  Similarly, in II Samuel 14, David's commander, Joab, communicates to the king by way of a contrived story.

Communication by stories and parables is not unique to the Bible, of course.  An ancient example is the fables of Aesop, which date from 500 years before Christ.

As a teacher in the twenty-first century, Jesus's use of parable resonates with me.  Good teaching methods go beyond mere transformation of facts.  Whether it is the "Socratic method" or "Inquiry Based Learning" or some other currently popular technique, educators recognize that students must actively engage in the learning process, if that process is to mean anything.  If that process is to lead to true learning and understanding, the student needs to put energy into integrating the knowledge and concepts.  Jesus forces this in his use of parables; the information he provides is not low-hanging fruit that is easy to pluck -- and then forget.

If we link the parable of the sower with the proverb in Matthew 7:6 about "not casting pearls before swine", there is an additional message, a message about matching the appropriate message to the audience.

Too often, in American Christianity, the emphasis is on giving as simple a message as possible, on the presentation of a simplistic candy-coated Jesus, a message suitable for young children but patronizing to adults.  Joining the Kingdom of Heaven should be a thoughtful and careful process.  An adult should not lightly make a decision to be a disciple of Christ. Jesus himself warns people of this; in some cases, he warns people away.  The effect of Jesus's parables is to ask the listener, "Are you sure you really want to go down this path?"

I'd have more to say about the importance of thinking deeply on the gospel -- and not being distracted by silly trivialities -- but googling "pearls before swine" led me to this comic strip and I've been reading the comic strip instead of thinking about parables....

Tomorrow we will return to the Bible.

The Travels of Jesus

On Sundays we take a break from our chapter-a-day exploration of the New Testament and look at related topics.

The ministry of Jesus, from his baptism by John to his crucifixion and resurrection, is generally viewed to have lasted about three years.  (Some suggest 30-33 CE; others put the dates a few years earlier.) The synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) describe Jesus growing up in Nazareth of Galilee, the town of his parents.  In his early ministry, Jesus ministers primarily in Galilee, in and around the Sea of Galilee.  The last half of the synoptic gospels then describe Jesus's decision to travel south and visit Jerusalem for a final time, leading to his trial, crucifixion and resurrection.  This decision to "go up" to Jerusalem seems driven by the death of John the Baptist and increasing opposition from the religious leaders.  Shortly before Jesus begins this final trip, the synoptic gospels describe the "Transfiguration", in which Jesus is visited by Moses and Elijah and is spectacularly transformed for a brief time.

Here is a map of the region, given from a Wikipedia page original source attributed to "Andrew c."

The final visit of Jesus to Jerusalem occurs during the Jewish feast of Passover, during which time Jesus is sacrificed on the cross, mirroring the Passover Lamb of the Jewish Exodus.  The Gospel of John records one other Passover visit (John 2: 13) and a third occurrence of the Passover when Jesus is apparently in Galilee (John 6:4). If three Passover Feasts occurred in the ministry of Jesus then his ministry was at least two years, possibly three.

John also includes at least one trip through Samaria (John 4) while the synoptic gospels include travels east of the Sea of Galilee, in the Decapolis area. John also records trips to Jerusalem for feasts other than the Passover. (The travels of Jesus to Jerusalem are summarized here.)  All in all, a three-year period for the ministry of Jesus is widely accepted.

Further resources:
More on the geography of New Testament times can be found here or here. Wikipedia has an interesting and extensive article on the chronology of Jesus and another on a timeline of Christianity.

Tomorrow we return to Jesus's Galilean ministry, as covered in Luke 7.