Dr. Ben Witherington is one of my favorite evangelical scholars for a host of reasons. I was therefore delighted to see that he has started a series on the Gospels on his blog. I will try to keep you posted with updates but I would encourage you to visit his blog regularly and be edified by this man’s exquisite writings. You won’t be disappointed.

From here:

A NOTE TO THE READER

Before there ever were four written Gospels, there was the single oral telling of the Good News. The world of Jesus was an oral culture. Paul for example uses the phrase Word of God (singular) in 1 Thess. 2.13 to refer to this oral proclamation of this singular story of Jesus that changed their lives— one story, not two, four or ten. So what did the story of Jesus look like before there ever were Gospels written in the last third of the first century A.D.? This little book attempts to give you a sense of that. But you may be asking— why do we need such a ‘harmony of the Gospels’? There are several good reasons that come immediately to mind.

Firstly, it is high time we did a better job of looking at things from a first century Christian perspective, not a fourth century one when the canon of the New Testament was settled. Evangelical and other orthodox Christians say they want to be more like the earliest Christians— well its time to live into that in the 21rst century especially when it comes to Jesus. The original story that went out from Jerusalem did not come pre-packaged as four artful and different Gospels like we have in the canon. That was a development of the later first century A.D. And when the Gospels were finally written, at least two of them were not written by eyewitnesses! I do not say this to critique our Gospels. I love the fact that we have four versions of Jesus’ story. Jesus is a man who fits no one portrait— he is too big and complex a historical figure. I simply say it to point out that there was a singular history and a single story telling before there were written Gospels–what did it look like? Hopefully this little book gives us a glimpse.

Thirdly, we live in the age of atomization and sound bytes— and it happens to the Good News almost every Sunday– we can’t see the forest for focusing on the individual very interesting trees. And when you look in detail at particular Gospel passages what you discover is a very telegraphic bare bones treatment of Jesus’ words and deeds. Doubtless this was originally in part because of the need to confine the whole story to one papyrus roll, but even in the case of Luke’s Gospel which is the longest and could just barely be squeezed onto one papyrus roll, we are still left wanting more— more description, more context, more background. What would a more circumstantial chronicling of Jesus’ life with more historical detail and comment have looked like? This little book seeks to begin to answer that question a bit. I don’t think there should be any tension over this— we need to see the grand sweep of the unified story, and we need the four portraits approach as well. Just now, it is the former that is neglected again and again in a church which preaches single words, or salient ideas or tiny passages, and uses lectionaries etc. There is a need for an overview like this to put the various Gospel pieces together, not to supplant the four portraits of the Gospels but to supplement them and build upon them. What is especially needed is some showing of how the Synoptic Gospel portraits and that of John’s Gospel fit together.

Imagine for a moment if Jesus were to come back and tell his own story— wouldn’t we want to hear that just as much as we love to hear the later tellings by the Evangelists? Who wouldn’t pay good money to have been in on that Emmaus road Bible study led by Jesus where he went through the OT and showed where it referred to him? My point is simple— a good critical probing and blending of the story is as close as we can get to ‘what actually happened back there’ as a single storyline. Why wouldn’t we want to try to do that as a faith venture, not to supplant the four Gospels, but to supplement, to enhance our understanding of the history behind the four stories?

Armed with these reasons and rationales, what I have attempted to do here might be called Ben’s Diatesseron, four Gospels in one, like the effort of Tatian the early Church Father. I have stuck as closely as I could to a verbatim of the four Gospels, not trying to present a ‘critical’ edition of the story, with things omitted because of historical doubts. No, this was an exercise in seeing if one could make sense of the stories as they are, if one combined them all together.

Easter 2010

Check out the whole thing.

Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame. But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. All flesh is not the same: Human beings have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.

—1 Corinthians 15:29-40 (TNIV)

Several things of interest are contained in this passage from Paul. First, note the courage, purpose, and hope that Paul has because of the resurrection. He tells the Corinthians that he could not be a minister of the Gospel and face the danger he does without the resurrection hope. Indeed.

Second, notice how Paul’s orientation of life would be radically altered if there were no resurrection. Without the hope of the resurrection, replete with its eternal perspective on what real life is all about, life would be reduced to eating, drinking, and being merry, baby (i.e., about satisfying our carnal desires), because we only have a limited amount of time to enjoy all the worldly goods at our disposal. This, of course, would necessitate that we spend all our time accumulating as much as we can get so that we can enjoy as much as we can. Are you living this kind of lifestyle? If you are, how’s that working for you beyond any measure of superficiality?

With the resurrection hope, however, Paul understands that life is about so much more than the world and satisfying our bodily desires. It is about having a life-giving relationship with the Source and Author of all life so that we have real power to face the brokenness of our fallen world and enjoy the blessings we have at God’s hand.

Last, did you notice Paul’s response to the question about how God raises the dead? He considers the question foolish because it is beyond our ability to understand or comprehend, even as it is not beyond God’s ability to effect. Paul is essentially telling us that we need to make a decision about God. Is he omnipotent or not? Is he who he says he is? If God is not omnipotent or who he says he is, then why bother to try to worship or obey him, why put on a charade? Instead, get on with eating, drinking, and making merry!

However, if God is omnipotent and is who he says he is, why would we doubt him or his promises, especially since we know Christ has been raised? It is an historical fact! Consequently, why wouldn’t we spend our time adoring him, worshiping him, loving him, and trying to please him for all he has done for us?

The resurrection has been a mind-blowing event from the beginning. But it is petty cash in God’s economy and power. No wonder Paul had the kind of joy, hope, and purpose of living that he did. Do you have that kind of power, the power of God, in your life?

All four evangelists were unable to keep quiet either about Jesus’ passion or his resurrection. One dealt with this aspect, another with that, but all remained in perfect harmony with the truth. If I tried to show you how this could be, I’m afraid you would be overcome with boredom long before you began to understand the truth.

—Sermon 240.1

You too may wish to take hold of the feet of Jesus. You can, even now. You can embrace not only his feet but also his hands and even his sacred head. You too can today receive these awesome mysteries with a pure conscience. If you are so disposed, along with him, to be compassionate, you shall hear not only these words, “All hail” but also those others: “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world.”

—John Chrysostom, The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 89.3

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The prophets, receiving the gift of prophecy from this same Word, retold his coming in the flesh, which brought about the union and communion between God and humankind ordained by the Father. From the beginning the word of God prophesied that God would be seen by people and would live among them on earth; he would speak with his own creation and be present to it, bringing it salvation and being visible to it. He would “free us from the hands of all who hate us,” that is, from the universal spirit of sin, and enable us “to serve him in holiness and righteousness all our days.” Humankind was to receive the Spirit of God and so attain to the glory of the Father.

—Irenaeus, Against Heresies