Bible Study - Jesus birth through baptism

As I have mentioned, in Bible study we are reading “A Harmony of the Gospels” by Ralph Heim, which is a parallel way of looking at the gospels. Each gospel is lined up so that you can see what they have in common and what they don’t. For this week’s assignment we read the first section (basically, the birth of Jesus through his baptism and temptation by the devil).

The most interesting part is the volume of words. The book of John is mute. There is no writing in this section at all. Mark is second, keeping his words to a minimum. Mathew and Luke however have a great deal to say.

It is also interesting to note the phrasings that are identical between some of the books: John the Baptist “making the path straight”; John saying “After me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry”, and they all seem to concur that the heavens were opened and a dove came down (although there seems to be some semantic disagreement about who / what the dove is) along with a voice that was heard saying, “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased”. They also all seem to agree that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. Luke and Matthew give much more detail to this, while Mark’s explanation is rather brief.

I also found differences as interesting as similarities. For example, neither Mark nor John speaks of Jesus’ lineage in this section; however, Matthew and Luke do. Interestingly too, differences arise. One, the lineages don’t match until both reach King David. Two, it is interesting that Matthew only extends the line back to Abraham while Luke finds importance in extending the line back to Adam and therefore God. Of course I find it rather interesting that this paternal genealogy is so pertinent when just a few verses later they make a point that Joseph is not the father of Jesus, but that Jesus is God’s son and he has no earthly father.

I look forward to a lively conversation on this section and can barely wait to read on and see what else I notice due to the different format. How I wish I knew and understood more. I will pray for God to continue to direct my learning and understanding of this miraculous book, the Bible.

If you read the Gospels in parallel form, I would love to hear about some of your insights.