I took the picture above of some olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem.  They are several hundred years old.  You can imagine why Jesus enjoyed sitting among these beautiful trees, looking out over Jerusalem the Golden!

    In our first unit review, we looked over the historical backgrounds of the New Testament in the Old Testament, the Greco-Roman world, and first-century Judaism.  In this review, we will turn to some of the methods and results of scholarly study as applied to the gospels.  This review relates especially to chapters 6-12 of Stephen L. Harris, The New Testament:  A Student's Introduction, 5th ed. (Boston:  McGraw-Hill, 2006).  Then we will go through key places in Israel during the time of Jesus' ministry.  You'll need a map of Israel in the New Testament period, preferably the one at the end of your syllabus.  If you don't have a map, please stop now, and come back when you have a map, so that you can follow along as we travel from place to place in our review.

    There are four gospels in the New Testament:  Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Regardless of the translation that you use, they are in this order in your Bible.  But does this indicate that they were written in this chronological order?  Not necessarily -- nothing in the Bible mentions chronology.  Scholars have developed theories about the historical development of the four gospels.  Which one do you think was written first?

• Not Matthew; it is first in the biblical order because it was a favorite gospel in many early Christian churches.
• Not Luke; in fact, Luke tells us in his preface that he knows of other gospels.
• Not John; most scholars find evidence throughout John's gospel that it was the last and most fully developed of the four gospels.

    Well, then, it must be Mark!  We'll discuss a little later when and where we think that Mark wrote the very first gospel.  Matthew and Luke used Mark as their basic source -- a real compliment to that earliest gospel!  They also used another source, which may have been either written or oral (memorized).  This source contained many of Jesus' teachings in the firm of short, clear sayings which are not incorporated in stories.  We don't have a copy of the source, but we believe that it was used by Matthew and Luke, and that Mark didn't have access to it.  The early biblical scholars who developed the theory of such a source identified it by the German word for "source":  Quelle, pronounced kvel-luh.  We abbreviate it as Q.  Matthew and Luke inserted Q material into the main framework of Mark's gospel to expand and enrich Mark's story of the life of Jesus.  Since Matthew, Mark, and Luke use the same basic historical framework, scholars call them the Synoptic Gospels.  Syn in Greek means "together," and optic indicates that there are many parallel stories and teachings in the three gospels that can be "seen together," or compared.

    The Gospel of John was written after the other gospels.  You can compare John with the other three gospels and notice how independent he was from them.  His gospel didn't even include Jesus' parables, but he did preserve several lengthy discourses by Jesus not found in the other three.  Scholars conclude that John did not use Matthew, Mark, Luke, or Q while writing his gospel.  Instead, he used a collection of stories about special signs or miracles which Jesus did.  So we call John's distinctive source the Signs Source.  

    Matthew had some distinctive material which none of the other gospels included.  The source of that information is often called M -- it might be a person or a written document.  The same is true for Luke, whose special source is called L.  Some scholars believe that we should consider the Gospel of Thomas as another source for Jesus' teachings, similar to Q.  In the review session at the end of this unit we explored that possibility and looked at some of the sayings in the Gospel of Thomas.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK  

    First, let's review the Gospel of Mark, which we've emphasized more in this course than any of the other sources.  Why did Mark write his gospel?  Not as a biography, because he didn't include a number of the facts about Jesus' life that we would expect in a biography.  Mark never mentioned Jesus' birth or childhood, for example.  His story began when Jesus was about thirty years old.  Nor did Mark intend to produce a complete summary of Jesus' teachings, like Q or the Gospel of Thomas.  He did portray Jesus as a teacher, and he included some of Jesus' teachings, but by and large his gospel is action-packed, with an emphasis on things that Jesus did.  

    Instead, Mark intended his gospel to be the foundation document for a community of Christians who believed that the end of history must be very near.  That is, they were an apocalyptic community.  As they looked at their world, it seemed to be falling to pieces.  Christians were being persecuted throughout the Roman Empire.  The pax romana wasn't holding; in fact, Rome was in a war with the Zealots.  In 70 A.D., just as Mark was writing his gospel, the Romans invaded Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple.  Christians wondered:  is this the End?  

    Where was Mark's community?  It may have been in either of two places:  an area just to the north of Israel, or the most important city of the first century, linked with Peter and Paul.  Some scholars believe that southern Syria is the most likely place for Mark's community.  Mark's use of Greek seems to have some influence from Semitic language (Hebrew and Aramaic).  Personally, I agree with other scholars who see Rome as the most likely location.  Most ancient Christian traditions link Mark with Rome.  Rome was the hub of the Western world, and Christians would have been right in the middle of the turmoil -- perhaps like living in Washington, D.C.!

    Even though books in the ancient world often didn't have titles, the very first verse of Mark's gospel functions as a title:  "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God."  Mark tells us at the very beginning of his gospel who Jesus is:  the Son of God.  But then we see in the rest of the gospel how the meaning of Jesus' Sonship unfolds!  Mark shows that Jesus, the Son of God, was a rabbi,  a teacher.  Archeologists have uncovered the teaching chair beside which my wife and I are standing in the synagogue at Capernaum below; Jesus may have sat in this very chair as a visiting rabbi, when he gave some of the teachings recorded in the gospels:

    Mark's gospel is especially beautiful in its portrayal of how Jesus Christ, the Son of God, suffered for us.  All the way through his story, Mark has hints of how Christ's suffering should help us to remain true to our faith.  At the end, Mark closes with a note of victory:  Christ triumphed over suffering and death, through his resurrection. 

    The theme of courageous suffering is shown right at the beginning of Mark's story.  John the Baptist came to prepare the way for the Messiah, and to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God.  John didn't mince words.  He said what he felt was right, even if it meant jail or execution.  John was walking in the footsteps of the Old Testament prophets.  He even dressed in hairy clothes and a leather belt, like the prophet who many people believed would return to prepare the way for God's chosen leader.  There were many courageous prophets in the Old Testament period -- Isaiah, Amos, Hosea, Jeremiah, and others.  But only one was known for his hairy clothes and leather belt.  This prophet also went for a chariot ride, as in the spiritual, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot."  In his clothes and in his courageous preaching, John the Baptist was similar to the prophet Elijah.  Jesus came with many other people to be baptized in the Jordan River by John.  It was then that Jesus fully realized that he was God's Son.

    In addition to the theme of courageous suffering, Mark also develops throughout his gospel the question of Jesus' identity.  There are several Christological titles:  words which express who Jesus is.  In addition to Son of God, two titles used by Mark are Son of Man and Lord.  Mark shows us how Jesus' hearers, and even his closest disciples, had trouble trying to understand his mission.  They kept putting him in a "box" labeled with all their preconceived notions of what such a title should represent.  Mark observes that Jesus avoided such stereotypes. 

    For example, his purpose was to proclaim the Kingdom of God, but he didn't want to become an earthly king.  However, this was a problem, because one of the most popular Hebrew titles, Messiah, meant "the anointed one."  It was commonly used in Judaism to designate a Davidic descendant who would establish a political kingdom with Jerusalem as its capital.  Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew term.  Since our New Testament was written in Greek, we usually think of the Greek title. 

    Just as David had literally been anointed with olive oil by the prophet Samuel, some day a later member of his family tree would establish a kingdom like David's -- that was the Jewish hope.  Mark shows us that Jesus was willing to accept the Hebrew title of Messiah, but he gave it new meaning.  In Christian understanding, the Kingdom of God is not a political entity, but the community of the faithful, established by God.  It begins with our lives together and continues forever.

    Even though Jesus had rejected the political dimensions of messiahship, he was arrested and charged with treason, as if he had been an active Zealot.  Mark describes Governor Pilate's amazement when Jesus refused to defend himself against such accusations.  The inscription on the cross was "King of the Jews," representing Pilate's judgment that Jesus had tried to overthrow the legitimate government of Judea. 

    Many of Jesus' disciples abandoned him.  Even his closest friend, Simon Peter, pretended that he didn't know who Jesus was.  Some of Jesus' women disciples stayed near him, even during the crucifixion.  Three of the women who were among Jesus' disciples went on Sunday morning to the tomb to anoint his body with spices.  You probably know the beautiful song, "I Don't Know How To Love Him," which Mary Magdalene sings in the musical, "Jesus Christ Superstar."  The other two were Salome and Mary the mother of James; we don't know anything else about them.

    In some translations of the Bible you'll find a very strange ending for Mark's gospel:  Jesus appeared to several people, and eventually to the eleven disciples.  He scolded them for their unbelief.  Then he gave them several "tests of faith" for believers.  Among these tests were picking up snakes and drinking poison, without being harmed.  These tests are sometimes followed today in a few isolated Appalachian churches.  And you thought that my religion tests were difficult!  Scholarly studies have shown that this ending was not composed by Mark, but by some anonymous later editor, who added it as an appendix to Mark's gospel. 

    Mark himself ended his story without describing any appearances of the Risen Lord.  On Easter Sunday morning three women disciples found Jesus' body to be missing.  A young man wearing a white robe gave them a message for the other disciples.  Stop and think for a moment:  how would you feel after such an experience?  What would you be able to say to other people?  Yes, that's what the women said to the other disciples:  nothing!  They were terrified by the experience, so they said nothing at all to anyone!  I believe that Mark deliberately ended his gospel on that note in order to encourage us, the readers, to take up the task of proclaiming the Good News. 

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

    Remember the Manual of Discipline which the Essenes compiled in their monastery by the Dead Sea?  Matthew's approach was somewhat like it.  Matthew combed the Jewish scriptures to find ethical guidelines relevant to Jesus' teachings, and prophecies pointing toward events in Jesus' life.  Then he set out to show how Jesus fulfilled the law and the prophets.  Matthew even arranged his gospel in five main sections, to remind the reader of the five books of the Torah.

    Who was Matthew?  Unfortunately he, like the other gospel writers, chose to remain anonymous.  He wanted all the emphasis to be on the content of his gospel.  Some people, nevertheless, think that the author gave us a clue:  a man called by Jesus to be a disciple is named Levi in Mark's and Luke's gospels, but he is called Matthew in this gospel (9:9).  So the early Christians assumed that this was the author's preferred name -- the way that Dr. Xiangyun Zhang is called "Susanna" by many of her American friends.  Some of those early Christians added to the book a title, "The Gospel According to Matthew."  Matthew/Levi, the man called by Jesus, was a tax collector.  Tax collectors, alcoholics, and prostitutes were disliked, even shunned, by many people.  But Jesus treated them as children of God who deserved love, compassion, and forgiveness. 

    Most biblical scholars today believe that the author of the gospel was not the tax collector Matthew (or Levi), but a person who lived much later -- probably around 90 A.D.  Since he knew the Torah so well, I'll bet that he was a Jewish rabbi before he became a Christian!  We'll call him Matthew for convenience, since we don't have a better name for the author in our tradition or in the results of scholarly research.

    The Sermon on the Mount is the most important collection of Jesus' teachings found only in Matthew.  Parts of it are in some of the other gospels, but Matthew has brought together in a beautiful summary Jesus' main ethical guidelines.  A key theme throughout the Sermon on the Mount and the whole gospel is righteousness.  As Matthew understands Jesus' concept of righteousness, it is not a legalistic maze of rules -- "thou shalt" and "thou shalt not."  Rather, it is a way of life which goes beyond the rules to get at their intentions.  The Sermon on the Mount is full of exaggerated examples to warn us not to try to live by rules.  For instance, Jesus warns the disciples not to try to get a speck out of someone's eye when they have a log in their own eye.  Can you imagine saying to Phyllis Blevins, "Nurse, I've got a log in my eye"?  Jesus' point is not to judge others, because our own faults may be much worse than theirs!

    One important point throughout Matthew's gospel is that a person can't live the Christian life very well all by himself or herself.  We live in community.  Sometimes we would like to purify the community, and kick out everyone who is not like us.  But in Matthew's parables of the Kingdom, Jesus shows us that excommunication just isn't our role.  Sure, some weeds will grow up together with the lettuce.  But you don't have to pull the weeds up right away -- you'll kill the lettuce too, if you do that!  It's God's task to weed.  The church is not a Utopia.         

    That doesn't mean that we can't look to the church for guidance and decisiveness.  In fact, only Matthew has Jesus' statement to Simon:  "You are a rock, and on this rock I will build my church" (16:18).  For Matthew, the church is a living, vital group of people, struggling together with basic decisions.  Against our individualistic concern for saving our own souls and going to heaven, Matthew shows that the Kingdom of Heaven (his preferred term for what the other gospels call the Kingdom of God or Reign of God) is something which must begin here and now!  Jesus not only nicknamed Simon Petros, "Rock"; he also symbolically gave Simon the "keys of the kingdom."  Just as a mayor sometimes honors a distinguished guest with the keys to the city, artistic representations of the keys as a symbol of authority are often used today for the Pope, who is revered by Catholics as the successor of Simon Peter.

    At the end, Matthew's gospel takes up where Mark left off.  Remember the message which the young man gave the women disciples on Easter Sunday, according to Mark?  "Tell the others to go to Galilee, and you'll see Jesus there."  Well, in Matthew's gospel, the disciples actually went to Galilee.  There Jesus gave them the Great Commission:  "Go to all people everywhere and make them my disciples.  Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."  (28:19)  This is the most explicit biblical statement of the doctrine of the Trinity, a concept which would become central in Christianity in the following centuries.  In fact, today, in spite of their disagreements over many beliefs, most Christians accept this doctrine as being at the heart of the Christian faith. 

    Islam and some other great monotheistic religions have seen a danger of tritheism in this doctrine.  But Christians interpret it to mean that God is three, yet one.  So Christianity remains monotheistic, recognizing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three manifestations of God's creative, redemptive activity toward the world.  Most Christians are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost).  Some churches practice triple immersion to represent the Trinity vividly.  The Apostles' Creed also shows the Trinitarian structure.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

    "When the Rapture comes, this car will be driverless!"  Have you ever seen a bumper sticker like that?  Such signs were plentiful on the chariots of Christians in the early decades after Easter.  Many believers expected Christ to return any day, any hour, any minute.  But as years went by, they wondered what was wrong.  The Delay of the Parousia became a problem for Christians.  Parousia is a Greek word meaning "advent" or "coming."  It usually refers to Christ's Second Coming.  Luke wrote his two-volume work, Luke-Acts, to present a solution to the problem of the Delay of the Parousia.  Rather than being so concerned about counting the days, Luke suggested, we should see history in a much larger scope.  We are part of an unfolding process, a pattern which is God's own plan.  So even if it takes longer than we might think for history to reach its fulfillment, there is a purpose behind it all.

    Luke identified three epochs in history:

• first epoch -- from ancient Israel to John the Baptist

• second epoch -- the earthly ministry of Jesus

• third epoch -- from the Ascension to the return of Christ

We are of course in the third epoch, according to Luke's outline.  This is the time of the church's mission to the world.  It may last a very long time, because the Good News should be taken to all people everywhere.  The book of Acts tells the stories of some of the great missionaries during this third period.

    Luke's concern was thus for the whole world.  His universal emphasis was not just limited to geography.  More than any of the other gospel writers, Luke showed that the Good News is for all people:  rich and poor, women and men, slaves and aristocrats, Jews and Gentiles.  In his account of the birth of Christ, Luke told about a group of poor, humble visitors who came to the stable in Bethlehem without gold, frankincense, or myrrh.  They were the shepherds, representing the common people who recognized the Messiah as one of their own.

    Luke's gospel emphasized the role of women -- a theme present in the other gospels too, since it was at the heart of Jesus' ministry, but fully developed by Luke.  Only Luke named the women who accompanied Jesus and the Twelve.  And he noted that these women were leaders, with resources which they used for the support of Jesus' ministry.  In arranging his gospel, Luke often used pairs:  he put a story about a man together with a story about a woman.  For example, Luke gave us the stories of both Simeon and Anna recognizing the baby Jesus as the Messiah, and the twin parables of a lost sheep found by a man and a lost coin found by a woman.  Luke put real stress on Jesus' making it clear that God simply doesn't accept traditional gender barriers.  We are all God's children!

    Luke went even further:  not only does God accept us just as we are; God actively seeks us out.  Several beautiful parables by Jesus that were preserved only in Luke's gospel, such as the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan, make this clear.  Often "religious" people think that salvation comes only to people just like themselves.  But Luke showed how God reaches out to sinners and outcasts.  In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the younger ("prodigal," meaning "wasteful") son represented the sinner, the rascal, the one who squandered his father's money.  The older son represented the "religious" person, who lived by the rules and expected a reward for that, much better than his rascally brother would receive.  The father represented God, who forgave the prodigal son and loved the older son too. 

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN

    Mark begins the story of Jesus' life with his baptism at age thirty.  Matthew and Luke go back to Jesus' birth.  John goes back still further, to Jesus' preexistence.  He identifies Jesus with the eternal Logos, present at the very beginning of Creation.  Logos is a Greek term meaning "word," "reason," and "order."  Philo, a great Jewish philosopher who lived about the time of Jesus, described Logos as the principle which brought order out of chaos.  Similarly, John reminds his readers of the Genesis Creation story when he opens his gospel:  "In the beginning was the Word ..." (1:1)  God spoke, and the universe came into being.  

    But how could Jesus be identified with God's Word?  He must have had a special relationship with God, implicit in the other three gospels but explicit in John.  Does Jesus' close relationship with God make him so exalted that he is far above us?  No!  Some Gnostic writings portray the Christ as almost a demigod or an angel, unable to identify with us.  In his gospel, John disagrees strongly with this notion.  John says:  "The Word became flesh" (1:14).  The Greek term that John uses is sarx  (sarx), which could be translated "flesh" or "human."  Christians call that idea the incarnation, from the Latin equivalent concept:  caro, carnis.  John's doctrine of the incarnation means that Jesus Christ became one of us.  He had human concerns and emotions.  This theme is present throughout John's gospel:  the Son of God was also the Son of Man, or the Human One.

    What is your favorite chapter in the whole Bible?  Do you immediately think of the 23rd Psalm, or First Corinthians 13?  How about your favorite verse in the Bible?  Many people would think of John 3:16, especially in the familiar King James Version:  "For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life."  John has the most fully developed form of Jesus' teachings in all four gospels.  They are often called discourses, because they emphasize particular topics.  They also include conversations with persons like the Supreme Court Justice Nicodemus, to whom Jesus was explaining what it means to be "born again."  That conversation is the setting for John 3:16.  

    Other teachings in John's gospel explore Jesus' self-identity, a question which we saw discussed in Mark's gospel as well.  In John this is often in the form of "I am" sayings:  "I am the vine"; "I am the Good Shepherd"; "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."  These sayings may be intended to remind us of the holy name for God, explained to Moses at the burning bush as related to the Hebrew for "I am."  That most sacred name for God is יהוה , transliterated into English as YHWH or Yahweh.  God told Moses, "eHYeH asher eHYeH," meaning "I am who I am" (Exodus 3:14).  The name YHWH thus identifies God as the Ground of Being, the source of all that is.  Out of reverence, Orthodox Jews do not pronounce the most sacred Name.  They substitute for it another name, such as the Hebrew Adonai, meaning "the Lord."  Just as Luke emphasizes Jesus' humanity, John emphasizes Jesus' divinity.  Early Christian theologians recognized how important it is for our scripture to include both emphases.

    Like the other gospels, John avoids the radical individualism which many Americans follow, with its emphasis on the salvation of one's own soul.  Instead, John records Jesus' teaching about eternal life being something which begins here and now in the Christian community.  The tension between "already" and "not yet," between promise and fulfillment, is based on our present experiences.  Thus John's gospel doesn't portray eternal life as pie in the sky by and by, but as a continuation of the fellowship which we enjoy with each other, by means of God's love for us.  

    One of the most sensitive expressions of this concern is Jesus' high priestly prayer, which is found only in John.  Jesus has prepared his disciples for how they will continue their community after he is gone.  Just before he is arrested, he prays to God "that they may be one," just as the Son and the Father are one (17:11).  This prayer for unity is the theme of the ecumenical movement today.

    Jesus also tells his disciples that they will not be left alone after his death; God will send them the Holy Spirit in his place.  The special term for the Holy Spirit used in John's gospel is Paraclete, meaning "Helper" or "Comforter."  Anyone who experiences the death of a loved one or the loss of a close relationship needs a person to stand by them, helping and comforting them.  The Paraclete represents God's strength and support.  Christians feel that this promise was fulfilled by the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.    

    The theme of service is consistent in John's gospel.  Like Matthew, John includes some stories of Jesus' appearances to the disciples.  In one of these resurrection accounts, Jesus broils some McFish sandwiches for the disciples for breakfast.  Then after breakfast he has a discussion with Rocky (Simon Peter) about love.  Jesus implies that love doesn't just mean saying "I love you," but rather feeding the sheep = living a life of service.  

    Rocky is also a key figure in another Johannine story about service.  The disciples gather in an upper room to share their last supper with Jesus, on the night before Good Friday.  The other three gospels describe the meal, but only John tells us about something else quite unusual that happens there.  In fact, it is so shocking that Simon refuses to participate until it is explained to him.  Jesus washes the feet of the disciples!  He then says, "Do you understand what I have done to you? ... I, your Lord and teacher, have just washed your feet.  You, then, should wash one another's feet."  (1:12-14)  Of course, Jesus doesn't mean that we should simply repeat the ritual.  Rather, it should remind us to help one another in many ways.

    John closes his book with these words:  "Now there are many other things that Jesus did.  If they were all written down one by one, I suppose that the whole world could not hold all the books that would be written!"  (21:25)  There's no substitute for sitting down and rereading the gospels.  I hope that this review has whetted your appetite to do just that.  I also hope that it has helped you to identify some of the key themes in the gospels.  

MAP REVIEW:  ISRAEL IN THE NEW TESTAMENT PERIOD

Now let's review some key places in the story of Jesus' life.  Please get out your map of Israel in the New Testament period, and follow along.  The purpose of this review is to help you remember New Testament incidents and persons associated with each place on the map.  I will be your tour guide, as we visit various places in first-century Israel, traveling from south to north.

Dr. Kellogg:  Our adventure begins when we fly El Al Airlines faster than the speed of light, from the Emory Airport to the place where Jesus was born.  Our pilot navigates by following a bright star in the sky.  Here we are in the southern part of Israel about 2,000 years ago.  How time flies!

You:  Yes, Dr. Kellogg, time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana.  Where are we anyway -- Jerusalem?

Dr. Kellogg:  That's a good guess!  Jerusalem is the key city of Israel.  But its name comes from the Jebusites who originally occupied it and Salem = Shalom, meaning "peace."  The name of this town where Jesus was born means "House of Bread."  

You:  Oh, then it must be Bethleham!

Dr. Kellogg:  You're close, but no ham is permitted for observant Jews living in Israel.  Pork is forbidden food.  Jesus' birthplace is the town of Bethlehem, from beth, meaning "house," and lehem, meaning "bread."  Pita bread, which is made in Bethlehem, Emory, and other towns, is delicious!  Here's the traditional site where Jesus was born, in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem:

You:  That bright star is hovering over a cave in back of the Cave House.  Let's go inside.  Some donkeys and cows are in the cave munching on hay, and there in a stone manger full of hay is a little baby.  What should we do?

Dr. Kellogg:  I suggest we bow down and worship him.  He must be the baby Yeshua, known in Greek as Jesus.  He appears to be about two years old.  Look, some wise-looking strangers from the East have come into the cave, and they're bringing gifts.  You must remember that story from Matthew's gospel.  How many Wise Men are here?

You:  I don't know.

Dr. Kellogg:  Good for you!  No green slime will be poured on you for admitting that you don't know.  Matthew doesn't tell us how many visitors come to bring gifts to the Christ Child.  

You:  My favorite Christmas story is The Story of the Other Wise Man, by Henry Van Dyke.  It's a beautiful, sensitive portrayal of a fourth wise man.  The Bible tells us that the strangers bring gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Later legend attributes one gift to each person and names them as Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar.  But there may be four or a dozen Magi!

Dr. Kellogg:  You know, we need to find some way to get to Jerusalem ...

Stranger:  Excuse me, sir.  I couldn't help overhearing you.  Our caravan has an extra camel that we rented from Ryder Rent-a-Camel in Jerusalem, and we need to drop him off.  My friends and I are bypassing Jerusalem to avoid King Herod, when we go back East.  We're going home by a different way.

You:  Great!  We'll be glad to ride your camel back to Jerusalem!  Dr. Kellogg, do you know how to get a camel started?  Do we have to kiss him?

Dr. Kellogg:  Hmmm ... I once saw a camel owner kiss his own camel, near the town of Bethlehem, when I was there in 1974 A.D.  My little dog Rascal likes to give me puppy kisses.  But I don't think that we should kiss this camel, since we're strangers.  Camels are notoriously bad-tempered.  We'd better do something to get on the camel's good side before we ride him.

You:  I know!  We're here in Bethlehem, the "house of bread," so let's give him a Bethlehem special:  salad-in-a-pita!  Yala -- off we go!

Dr. Kellogg:  We're really humpin'!  Since Jerusalem is just a few miles north of Bethlehem, here we are already.  The beauty of Jerusalem the Golden is overwhelming!  But how can we find where Ryder Rent-a-Camel is?

You:  Let's go to the Chamber of Commerce.  It's in Herod's Palace.  We can ask for directions there.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dr. Kellogg:  That took longer than I thought.  Hey -- our camel is eating an overtime parking ticket!  And here comes a really angry judge who is wearing a crown!

Judge:  By the authority vested in me by the Roman Empire, I, Herod, King of the Jews, hereby sentence you to ten years in prison for overtime parking.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dr. Kellogg:    I'm glad that our ten-year jail term is finished.  Let's go to the Temple to offer up a sacrifice of thanksgiving.  

You:    Over there in the Courtyard of Israel is a young man about twelve years old who looks very familiar.

Dr. Kellogg:  Yes, he must be Jesus!  The last time we saw him, a decade ago, was when those Zoroastrian astrologers were visiting him in Bethlehem.  He's discussing the Torah and the Prophets with some learned rabbis.

You:  They're really enjoying themselves, debating over a lot of points of interpretation!  Oh-oh.  A man and a woman with worried faces are coming up and taking Jesus with them.  They must be Mary and Joseph.  

Dr. Kellogg:  I'll bet they're headed to their home town of Nazareth.  I know they live there, because Jesus is sometimes called the Nazarene.  Let's walk along with them.

You:  Whew!  It's been a long walk.  I'm glad that we're finally in Nazareth.  I'm ready to settle down here!

Dr. Kellogg:  Me too!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dr. Kellogg:    The years have passed quickly.  We really like the town of Nazareth.  It's a close-knit, warm community with great lyceum programs and a good stick-ball team.

You:  Yes, and I've fallen in love with someone from the nearby town of Cana.  I'm going to send an invitation to Yeshua, that person who attracted us to Nazareth so many years ago.  He's now thirty years old.  I've enjoyed visiting with him in his carpenter shop.

Dr. Kellogg:  His brothers and sisters have also been friendly to us, even when we were strangers.  I'll bet the whole family will come to the wedding, including Jesus' mother Mary.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mary:  We share your happiness and wish you the very best in your new life together!

You:  Thank you, Mary.  But I've got a problem:  we've run out of wine, and I don't know how we'll provide the right hospitality for our guests.

Mary:  No problem -- I'll just talk to my son.

Dr. Kellogg:  Here are some huge jugs full of water for purification rituals.  But nobody drinks water at a wedding party.  Wow!  Yeshua has turned that water into wine -- right here in Cana -- and rescued the party!  This simple act of friendship shows how much Jesus is a part of normal human life.  2,000 years later, people will see all kinds of symbolism in this action, as the story is told and retold!  By the way, where will you go on your honeymoon?

You: My goodness, Dr. Kellogg, I thought you knew that we're going to Caesarea!  Newlyweds love a chance to swim in the Mediterranean Sea and to enjoy the beach.  Besides, Caesarea is the main headquarters of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.  Going there will be almost as exciting as going to Richmond or Nashville and catching a glimpse of the governor!

Dr. Kellogg:  I'm glad you're so happy!  Would you like to bury a souvenir for the future, just in case a couple of millennia from now an archaeologist digs up the ruins of ancient Caesarea?

You:  Yes, I think I'll write my name and my spouse's name on something that will last for many centuries.  Someday this will be the most common kind of object that is identified and dated by archaeologists:  a potsherd.

Dr. Kellogg:  You're right.  Potsherds, broken pieces of pottery dishes, will someday reveal all kinds of secrets about Middle Eastern cultures. 

You:  Dr. Kellogg, now that the honeymoon is over, my spouse wants to go back to Nazareth to fix up our home.  Could I travel with you to some more places in Israel?

Dr. Kellogg:  Of course!  Let's go down to the southwestern town of Jamnia, also known as Yavneh.  I want to introduce you to a young lawyer-rabbi named Yochanan ben-Zakkai.  The Hebrew form of his name means "John, son of Zack."  

Yochanan:  Welcome, honored visitors!  I have a great dream:  someday Jamnia will have the best seminary in the country -- a place to combine religious and legal studies.  I'm going to pour my whole life into this project, even if they have to bring me here in a box!

You:   I admire your insight and determination, and I can catch a glimpse of your vision, Yochanan!  I've got a hunch that long after your time, lawyer-theologians will want to come here and work on producing the very first Jewish Bible.

Dr. Kellogg:  It's time to move on now.  Which direction shall we go?

You:  East.

Dr. Kellogg:  OK -- hey, look, there's a familiar hump on the horizon.  It's our long-lost camel, still chewing his cud of salad-in-a-pita!  He escaped from Ryder just to be with us.  He'll take us across Judea to the Dead Sea.  Do you feel like some mountain climbing?

You:  I saw a movie once about Masada, and it really impressed me -- do you really think we can climb up that steep mountain?

Dr. Kellogg:  Of course!  Almost a thousand Zealots did it, when they wanted to escape from the Roman army in the 70's A.D. 

You:  Wow!  Up here we have a great view of the surrounding area!  Here's the palace that King Herod had workmen to carve out of the solid rock.  But Masada has an aura of sadness, because I remember from the movie that those last remaining men, women, and children who had fought for their freedom against the Romans died here in a mass suicide -- just before they would have been captured.

Dr. Kellogg:  Yes, I agree; this place represents the desire for freedom that most people have.  Let's go to another place where an even smaller group of Jews wanted to get away from people that they saw as oppressive.  But they were escaping the leadership of the High Priest and other Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, in order to practice their own form of Judaism.  This little group of Jews known as Essenes settled north of Masada, in an area which will centuries later come to be known as Qumran.  Do you hear the beautiful music floating through the air?  Has Stephen Sieck brought the choir here?

You:  Let's peek in this big stone building.  There's a sign that says this is an Essene monastery.  Hmm, there are about a hundred people in long white robes, singing hymns from scrolls.  The Hymns of Thanksgiving remind me of the Psalms.  Let's join the choir and sing along with them!

Dr. Kellogg:  I'd sure like to get a copy of a scroll.  But there's a stern warning note:  "All rights reserved -- photocopying prohibited."  I hope that in 1947 a little goatherd will find some of these Dead Sea Scrolls in one of those caves up above us, and then in 2006 you guys can go see them at the Discovery Museum in Charlotte.

You:  I just can't help it; like Joe Reiff, I'm an Atlanta Braves fan, and I want to see if I can throw this rock hard enough to reach that high cave.  Maybe I can hit a jar with a scroll already in it.

Dr. Kellogg:  That wasn't a good pitch -- that was an error!  You hit a shepherd who was sleeping in the cave, and he was so mad that he chased us all the way to Jericho!

You:  Well, I wanted to come to Jericho anyway.  It's known as the City of Palms, and it has a mild, pleasant climate.  The Herods come here whenever the winter in Jerusalem is too cold.  

Dr. Kellogg:  Jericho doesn't have only palm trees.  All kinds of other trees grow prolifically here, such as fruit trees and sycamore trees.  But we don't have time to admire the orchards, because that angry shepherd from the Qumran cave is still after us.  We haven't eaten enough Kellogg's Corn Flakes to have the energy to outrun an angry shepherd.  What can we do?

You:  Let's climb that sycamore tree and hide from him up there.  Oh, excuse me, this tree is already occupied.  Sir, why are you up in this tree?

Tree Sitter:  My name is Zacchaeus, and I'm waiting for a parade.  I'm short, so I climb trees in order to get a better view.

Dr. Kellogg:  I predict that in a couple of years a man named Jesus will come to Jericho in a parade, and that he'll stop at this tree and gently nudge you, Zacchaeus, into a whole new way of life.

You:  Hey, there's a parade right now.  But it isn't coming into Jericho -- it's leaving Jericho.  People are streaming out of town toward the Jordan River.  ¡Vámonos!

Dr. Kellogg:  We've blended in with the crowds pretty well.  There's a man wearing a camel-hair robe.  He's standing in the river, baptizing people -- dunking them in the water.  I wonder who he is?

You:  Somebody told me that his name is John, but because he baptizes people, he's nicknamed John the Baptist.  He may have studied religion at that Essene community where we were, down by the Dead Sea.

Dr. Kellogg:  Water is really important in Israel!  Let's go to an oasis with a well that people say was dug by the patriarch Jacob.  It's in the center of the area, near the ancient city of Samaria.  Oh, this is good, cool water.  

You:  Here comes a Samaritan woman to draw water for her flocks.  Let's tell her about our travels. 

Samaritan woman:  Your friend Jesus stopped by here recently.  He helped me to look inside myself and try to live closer to what I know is right.  He also helped me to see the difference between worship that focuses on a temple or a mountain and true worship, which is spiritual.  Before Jesus came here, my religion was centered on that mountain over yonder:  Mount Gerizim, which we Samaritans consider our holiest place.

Dr. Kellogg:  I have a mountainous urge to climb up to the top!  Back home in Virginia, I like to go up on White Top or Grayson Highlands, because the view is fantastic, with range after range of mountains.  Ah, from up here on Mount Gerizim, we can see, far to the northeast, a shimmering that must be the Sea of Galilee.  That's our next stop.  

You:  Let's go over to the lakeshore.  A Galilean fisherman has just caught a big load of fish in his net.  Shalom -- it looks like you're having good luck with your fishing today!

Fisherman:  Yes, I am!  My name is Nahum.  Why don't you come with me to my town?  It's called Kfar Nahum, meaning "Nahum's Town," or Capernaum in Greek.  We do a lot of good fishing there!  Unfortunately, I can't take you in my boat, because I have to leave it here with my friends to finish a day of fishing.

Dr. Kellogg:  That's OK.  Here comes our camel, and he'll be happy to carry all of us.

Nahum:  I want to take you to the home of Simon Peter here in Capernaum.  Ah, here's Peter's mother-in-law.  I've brought some new friends with me!  And they know Yeshua of Nazareth.

Mama:  Please come in!  After a while, Peter will go to Long John Zebedee's and get fish and fries for you guests.  One time Yeshua healed me of a very high fever, when I thought I was a goner.  Jesus always feels at home here!   In fact, he's healed a bunch of other people here:  a man with an unclean spirit, a paralytic for whom his friends had to dig a hole in a roof, a man with a withered hand, and a woman with a hemorrhage.  Maybe one day you'll be able to read about these healings, if somebody writes down gospel stories.  Pete, what can you tell our visitors about Jesus?

Peter:  I remember one time when the guys from Jerusalem came up here to collect the half-shekel Temple tax from Jesus.  I told them that we didn't have a lead shekel to pay them.  But Jesus gave me the most unusual way to get money for the tax.  He told me to go look inside something.

You:  Inside a rock?

Peter:  Ha-ha!  I catch the pun on my nickname, Rocky.  How could I look inside a rock, unless it was shaped like a Chinese fortune cookie?

Dr. Kellogg:  Inside a camel?

Peter:  Don't you know the expression, "Don't look a gift camel in the mouth"?  No, he told me to look inside a fish!  

Dr. Kellogg:  Oh, I know that kind of fish!  In another era, when I will spend a week at Kibbutz Ein Gev on the Sea of Galilee in the summer of 2000 A.D., we will be served "Peter's fish."  They are flat and shaped like a coin!  

You:  Gblmxzfnh!  I almost choked on something in the fish that I'm eating.  No, it's not a coin -- it's a token, redeemable for a free seafood dinner at Long John Zebedee's.

Dr. Kellogg:    Peter, could you go with us a little ways up north to the town of Meron?  

Peter:  I'll be glad to, Fred -- that's not nearly as hard as walking on water!

Dr. Kellogg:  This town has special meaning for me.  In the great Jewish war against Rome in the 60's A.D., Josephus will fortify Meron against the invading Roman legions.  Then in 1974 A.D., I will be on an archaeological team that will dig up the ruins of the town.  Rabbi Shammai, the main rival of Rabbi Hillel, lives here now.  Simon Peter, you may have heard some of his famous interpretations of the law.  

Peter:    Let's go up to Caesarea Philippi.  This town has special meaning for me, because it was here that Jesus nicknamed me Peter, and he said, "On this rock I will build my church."

You:    If we go due west, we'll end up in the city of Tyre, in an area settled by the Phoenicians, who came there from the Greek islands many centuries ago.  

Dr. Kellogg:  In my lifetime that area will be called Lebanon, and I will have a good friend, Samir Saliba, who will grow up in Lebanon.  One day he and his nephew Ramzi Saliba, an E&H alumnus who will become a Lebanese banker, will take me to see the city of Tyre and the nearby city of Sidon, and I'll eat some delicious shrimp in a restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.  Yummm...  Dr. Saliba will take a group of a dozen or so Emory & Henry students to Lebanon in the summer of 2006.

Peter:  Well, one time when we twelve disciples were in Tyre with Jesus -- that was the farthest north that Jesus ever traveled -- we were sitting around enjoying our close-knit fellowship.  A stranger came in, a Phoenician woman, and asked Jesus to heal her daughter.  Jesus gave a very strange response.  Later on I realized that it was a test of the woman's sincerity and faith.  He told her, "It's not right to take the children's food and give it to the puppies."  She could have slapped him for that insult!  Instead, she said, "But the puppies hanging around under the table eat the crumbs that the children drop."  

You:  With that one statement, the Lebanese woman became a model of faith!  And I'll bet Jesus did heal her daughter.

Peter:  Yes, he did.  Jesus was speaking of two stages of revelation, the giving of spiritual food and healing.  The children must be the Jews who are to be "fed" first, and the puppies must be the Gentiles.

Dr. Kellogg:  Now I know who should receive the Nobel Peace Prize:  this woman who valued the life of one child much more than national or ethnic pride.  I hope that the future of southern Lebanon, which will suffer so much from war, will someday be in the hands of people like her!

    It's time to go back home to Emory now.  I've enjoyed this trip, and I hope you have too.  I will appreciate any good news or bad news which you want to share with me about this attempt to study the meaning of the Good News.  If you like, you can send me e-mail: fkellogg@ehc.edu

To look at one of my other syllabi or to review a unit in a different course, go to my Home Page.

To review a different unit in the New Testament course, go directly to one of the following:

    Unit 1, Backgrounds of the New Testament
    Unit 3, Paul
    Unit 4, Epistles and Revelation

If you prefer, you may return to the Emory & Henry College Home Page.

Last updated:  October 16, 2007