Yeshua in Context >> Archive
A Gospel Proficiency Test
How well-read are you in the gospels? The point of this test is to help you assess your own familiarity. It is a spiritual exercise and may motivate you to further reading and learning. This test is about what you can and should know from being a regular and thorough reader of the gospels in English translation. The test does not require knowledge from commentaries, Greek, Aramaic, or historical knowledge. It is a test of your proficiency in the English gospels. Take the test as a closed book exam. No open Bibles. This is a test of your retention of gospel stories and sayings (not a test of your ability to look things up!!). The test has fifty questions. I recommend either printing it out or pasting it into a text document. ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Reading Strategies , Study Tips
Passover - Last Supper - Crucifixion, #2
In Part 1, we talked about the discrepancy between Mark and John regarding the day on which Yeshua was crucified and whether the Last Supper was a Passover Seder or not. I will explain this again briefly below a different way. I should repeat that this problem is well-known in New Testament studies and if it is new to you, please don't think I made it up or "discovered" it. I said there we have three basic options: (1) decide Mark is right and John wrong (Maurice Casey does this in Aramaic Sources of Mark's Gospel), (2) decide John is right and Mark wrong (McKnight in Jesus and His Death and Brown in The Death of the Messiah, Vol. 2), or (3) harmonize them in some way (I used to follow ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Gospels as History , Last Supper , Passover
John 14:31, Why Close Reading Helps
The disciples are with Yeshua at the Last Supper from John 13:1 up to 14:31. The Last Supper in John has some similarities, but is on the whole quite different than the Last Supper accountsin Mark, Matthew, and Luke. But what matters here is that most readers don't notice something unusual in John 14:31. Here it is and some comments on it after the jump: John 14:30-31 (RSV) I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me; but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go hence. ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Literary Features , Reading Strategies , Study Tips
Comparing the "Body" and "Blood" Sayings, Last Supper
As part of my ongoing look into and thought about the Last Supper and the five traditions we have about it, I am making some notes of comparison and contrast here. In my opinion the historical order in which the five accounts were written down is Mark, Paul, Matthew, John, and Luke. This is simplifying a somewhat more complex picture since John may have been written in an early edition with later additions and Luke's account of the Last Supper, possibly, also has two layers. I am currently thinking of Mark being written in the 40's. Paul's account in 1 Corinthians is from the 50's. Matthew is from the early 70's. The early edition of John is somewhere in the late 70's. And Luke is likely from the 80's. With that ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Last Supper , Passover
Passover - Last Supper - Crucifixion, #1
This is an excerpt from a post at Messianic Jewish Musings where I preface these notes and conclude them with some thoughts about the problem of finding discrepancies in the gospel accounts. If you'd like to read the fuller version, click here. The Last Supper Was / Wasn't a Passover Seder To keep things simple, I am only comparing Mark and John's accounts here. Matthew, Luke, and Paul follow Mark mainly (there is complexity overlooked in that statement, though, since Luke is influenced by John in some way-see Fitzmeyer's commentary on Luke or Paul Anderson's study on The Fourth Gospel and the Quest for Jesus for more about this). ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Gospels as History , Last Supper , Passover
Guest Post: The Joy of Hearing
In response to my podcast and essay "The Joy of Reading" from last week, a friend in California wrote to say that some people learn by hearing. In his case, a busy working and commuting life leaves less time for reading, but plenty of time for hearing. I liked what he had to say so much, I invited him to offer it as a guest post. Hmmmm, I wonder if I should let him make a podcast out of it . . . The Joy of Hearing by Brian Richie After perusing through Rabbi Leman's blog "The Joy of Reading" the other day I found myself once again breaking the 10th commandment. Will God be angered by my coveting of another man's study time? Joking aside, I have found that ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Reading Strategies , Study Tips
Yeshua and the Mishnah on Carrying in the Temple
What did Yeshua oppose in his Temple protest action (Mark 11:15-19)? He opposed three things: (1) trading in the Temple courts (2) carrying vessels through (3) filling the place of prayer in such a way as to prevent the main activity which should be here. The second issue Yeshua had, which is stated directly in Mark 11:16, is also discussed in the later deliberations of the Mishnah (c. 200 CE). What is the problem with carrying things through the Temple? ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Background to Gospels , Temple and Torah
Yeshua and Idolatrous Coins
Twice in Mark (with parallels in other gospels) Yeshua confronts hypocrisy about idolatrous coins. The issue of coins containing symbols of foreign worship (avodah zara) came up in an early rebellion against Rome in 6-7 CE (Horsley and Hanson, Bandits, Prophets, and Messiah, pgs. 196-7). The two conflicts of Yeshua involving idolatrous coins concern the Temple tax coinage and Yeshua's protest action (Mark 11:15-19) and the entrapment question about paying the poll tax to Caesar (Mark 12:13-17). ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Background to Gospels , Temple and Torah
The Joy of Reading
This is the transcript for today's podcast at Yeshua in Context (the podcast will post later today). I had an experience last night that gave me an idea for this podcast. I've been closely reading the gospels and books on the gospels and books on the historical inquiry into the life and message of Yeshua for several years now. It's like swimming in a sea of information at times. But sometimes a surprise breaks through. Actually, it happens more often than sometimes. Last night I got one of those surprises reading Paul Anderson's The Fourth Gospel and the Quest for Jesus. It reminded me of the joys of reading, especially the joys of reading the life and message of Yeshua. ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Podcasts , Reading Strategies , Study Tips
Understanding Yeshua's Temple Protest Action
The Temple protest action of Yeshua (a.k.a. the Temple cleansing, Mark 11:15-19) is poorly understood because few consider the details of this narrative and place Yeshua's actions in the context of the Judaism of his time and the context of the Temple of Herod and the way it was run by the powerful Temple state. Mark's account is the best of all four gospels to help us reconstruct what happened. This incident is of great importance, probably being what sealed Yeshua's doom in the eyes of the Temple state and Rome. We should read Yeshua's actions in the giant Temple complex as a commotion, not bringing the whole Temple activity to a standstill. Yeshua acted alone and did not ask his disciples to participate. In the comments that follow, I ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Aims of Yeshua , Background to Gospels , Enactments and Symbolic Actions , Gospels as History , Temple and Torah
Schweitzer on the Son of Man Problem
February 9th, 2011 | 1 Comment
The meaning of "Son of Man" in Yeshua's sayings is complicated. Does he mean "human being" in any or all of the sayings? Does he mean "present Messiah" by the term (i.e., is he saying that is presently the exalted human ruler of Daniel)? Or does he mean "future Messiah" (i.e., when he returns he will be the exalted human ruler of Daniel)? In 1906, Schweitzer explored the problem in depth from its linguistic, historical, and exegetical angles and wrote this spectacular comment: Jesus did not, therefore, veil his Messiahship by using the expression Son of Man, much less did he transform it, but He used the expression to refer, in the only possible way, to His Messianic office as destined to be realized at His "coming," and did so in ... Read entire article >>
Filed under: Son of Man , Spectacular Commentary