Hi All
Thanks for your presence and participation last Sunday! Laura and I are enjoying you all and look forward to upcoming sessions together.
Here are some highlights from last time:
We spent the first part of class working a little more on the theory of "sources" as applies to similarities and differences among three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We presented a diagram representing how common and unique oral and written sources about Jesus may have found their way into the respective books. This diagram is on printed notes; if you missed you may pick one up next Sunday.
We discussed, as a large group, some of the characteristics that distinguish common stories from each other in the "synoptic" Gospels. We reviewed a chart comparing three accounts of the calling of Matthew Levi, noting that all three books treat the story in a very similar way with small differences in detail. Of interest for example is that Matthew's book refers to this disciple as only "Matthew", while Mark and Luke refer to him as 'Levi the son of Alphaeus' and 'Levi'. How interesting, since Matthew writes to a Jewish audience, yet uses his Greek name, "Mathias", while Mark and Luke, who write to more general audiences use his Hebrew name. We also noticed that some of the words of Jesus are identical, word for word, in each book, giving an example of evidence scholars note when theorizing that there was, at one time, a collection of the sayings of Jesus, which all three writers may have used.
We also explained that the "Q" document, a theoretical work that may have been used by these three authors, is called "Q" because it is a German word "Quelle" (pronounced "kwell-eh", accent on first syllable, thanks, Harold), meaning, literally, "source".
We discussed last week's reading assignment: Matthew and Luke, chapters 1 and 2. We figured out pretty quickly that these chapters share a common subject, the birth of Jesus Christ, but present different accounts, emphasizing different characters, and with different details. For instance, in Matthew Joseph is the recipient of an angel's message about Jesus; in Luke Mary receives a message. Luke also goes into much more detail, in general. We didn't mention that Mark does not contain an account of Jesus' birth. So chapters 1-2 of Matthew and Luke are an example of content that is unique to each writer.
In order to focus on the message and meaning of the birth stories, we split into four groups of four and discussed two passages from Matthew and Luke that speak to the "why" of Jesus' birth. Both Matthew 1:18-24 and Luke 1:76-80 refer to Jesus as the one who will forgive sins and bring salvation from a merciful God.
For next week, we invite you to review a couple of web sources:
www.wikipedia.com, search "synoptic gospels"
www.crivoice.org/pdf/synoptic.pdf, search "synoptic Gospel problem"
Laura will be your lead teacher on Sunday, September 21, 10:00 a.m. in the church parlor. Hope to see you then, and also be aware that guests are welcome. Feel free to refer anyone to the class blog, www.stpaulpastor.blogspot.com for class notes and opportunity to comment. We also welcome questions and insights sent to this email address, pastordanta@mac.com.
Blessings!
Pastor Dan and Laura
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