Day 7 of 10
Gospel: Four Portraits, One Jesus
The Genre the Early Church Invented
Scripture Readings
Today's Reading
Read Mark 1:1-15: Mark's breathless opening — the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. John the Baptist, Jesus's baptism, temptation, and the explosive announcement: "The kingdom of God is at hand."
Then read John 1:1-18: John's majestic prologue — "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Reflection
The four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — are unlike anything in the ancient world. They are not pure biography, though they tell the story of a life. They are not pure history, though they report events. They are not pure theology, though every page is saturated with theological meaning. The early church essentially invented a new genre to tell the story of Jesus.
Compare the two openings you just read. Mark launches immediately into action — no genealogy, no birth narrative, no prologue. Within fifteen verses, John the Baptist has appeared, Jesus has been baptized, the Spirit has descended, Satan has tempted, and Jesus is proclaiming the kingdom. Mark's Jesus is a man on the move, and his Gospel races breathlessly toward the cross.
John could not be more different. He begins not with history but with eternity: "In the beginning was the Word." Before Jesus walked the dusty roads of Galilee, He was with God. He was God. The light was shining in the darkness. John's Gospel unfolds slowly, meditatively, with long discourses and carefully selected signs that reveal the glory of the incarnate Word.
N.T. Wright explains why the Gospels are more than biographies:
"The gospels are not simply 'biographies of Jesus'... They are the climax of the story of Israel, the long-awaited denouement of the great drama that began with Abraham."
Each Gospel writer tells the same story — the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus — but from a different angle, for a different audience, with a different emphasis. J.I. Packer explains the complementary nature of this fourfold witness:
"The four Gospels give us, not four rival portraits of Jesus, but four complementary ones, each presenting the same Christ in a different light to bring out different aspects of his person and work."
Going Deeper
When reading a Gospel, pay attention to what the author includes, excludes, and emphasizes. Each Gospel is a carefully shaped theological narrative, not a random collection of stories about Jesus. Ask yourself: Why does this author tell the story this way? What does he want me to see about Jesus?
The fact that we have four Gospels rather than one is itself a gift. No single portrait could capture the full reality of who Jesus is. It takes four.
Key Quotes
“The gospels are not simply 'biographies of Jesus'... They are the climax of the story of Israel, the long-awaited denouement of the great drama that began with Abraham.”
“The four Gospels give us, not four rival portraits of Jesus, but four complementary ones, each presenting the same Christ in a different light to bring out different aspects of his person and work.”
Prayer Focus
Thanking God that He gave us four Gospels rather than one — four windows into the inexhaustible reality of who Jesus is
Meditation
What differences do you notice between how Mark begins his Gospel and how John begins? What does each opening reveal about each author's purpose?
Question for Discussion
We have four Gospels that tell the same story with different emphases and even different details. Do you think the differences between the Gospels strengthen or weaken the Bible's credibility -- and what does it reveal about God that he chose to give us four portraits rather than one authorized biography?