The Real Jesus of the Four GospelsAtwater, John Birdseye
Religion
The Real Jesus of the Four Gospels
Atwater, John Birdseye
Jesus Christ -- Biography
John's Chapter XXI, which, as has been said, appears clearly to have
been a later addition to the original Gospel, relates an appearance of
Jesus in Galilee, which is materially different from that of Matthew.
The appearance is not on a mountain, but on the shores of the sea of
Tiberias, and, instead of the eleven apostles being present, there were,
at most, only seven, including Nathaniel of Cana (John XXI:2). All of
them have considerable trouble in recognizing Jesus (John XXI:4, 12).
Nothing is said by Jesus about baptizing, or preaching to, the Gentiles,
but, on the contrary, Jesus tells Peter to feed "my sheep," or "my
lambs" (John XXI:15, 16, 17). Nothing is said about any ascension of
Jesus into heaven.
The Gospels of Mark and Luke, the original Gospel of John, and the Acts,
all agree in fixing the after-death appearances and ascension of Jesus
in Jerusalem or its neighborhood (Luke XXIV:50; Acts I:12). Apparently
the apostles remained for some time in Jerusalem after the Crucifixion
(possibly for forty days, Acts I:3; II:1), until they separated and
"went forth and preached everywhere" (Mark XVI:20). In the Acts it is
said that Jesus "commanded" them to remain in Jerusalem, until the gift
of the Holy Ghost should be sent to them (Acts I:4).
It is evident, in all these accounts, that the apostles had never
understood, or had entirely forgotten, the predictions of Jesus in His
lifetime that He would rise from the dead (Matt. XVI:21; XVII:23; XX:19;
Mark VIII:31; IX:31; X:34; Luke IX:22; XVIII:33). They were not
expecting any resurrection. They were not waiting at the tomb for it to
occur, and, by the unanimous testimony of all the writers, they showed
the greatest surprise and incredulity at the first reports of Jesus'
appearance alive (Matt. XXVIII:17; Mark XVI:11, 13; Luke XXIV:11, 16,
37, 41; John XX:9, 14, 25).
Furthermore, it is also evident that Jesus, in these appearances, must
have assumed some form or shape different from His natural earthly body.
Otherwise His intimate friends and associates could not have been in
such uncertainty about recognizing His identity.
Thus Matthew says that when He appeared to the eleven "some doubted."
But if He had appeared in His natural form, how could any of the
apostles have doubted as to whether the apparition was He or some other
person?
According to Mark, the apostles questioned the accuracy of the report by
Mary and the two disciples that they had seen Jesus (Mark XVI:13, 14).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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