the tindog coffeehouse

Happy New Year! As you may have heard, the world is supposed to end this year, so, um, yeah…

Anyway, I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions, but I am starting a new Bible reading plan today. I’ll be reading through all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) simultaneously in chronological order. Seminary-type folks call this the “harmony of the Gospels”, but to me that sounds like a southern church choir led by Aretha Franklin, so instead I’m referring to it as the Gospel Project.

Here’s how it works: I took the “harmony of the Gospels” chronology from my Life Application Study Bible and divided it up into 70 days. That works out to one reading assignment every weekday from now through Good Friday on April 6. I’ve left the weekends open in case I fall behind and need to catch up. Pretty easy, no?

If you’re interested in doing it, too, I’ve included the plan in PDF format below:

>> The Gospel Project (PDF)

I’m really excited about this project. I’ve read each of the gospels numerous times but never in parallel with each other. By reading them chronologically, I’m hoping to get a much more complete picture of who Jesus is and better understand the context of what happened throughout His life.

One of the complaints that non-Christians have of the Bible is that each of the four gospels is extremely different. They see these differences as a way to discredit Scripture; after all, if it were really true, then all four would say the same thing, right? Well, no, not necessarily. Think of it this way: If someone were to ask four siblings to write a biography of their father, each one would include different events depending on how they remember things, which details were most important to them, and what kind of narrative they were trying to present. Naturally, there would be a lot of overlap, especially when it came to major events, but there would be lot of things that would only make it in to one or two bios but not the others. It’s the same with the gospels. Each one offers a slightly different view of Jesus. While there are a lot of similarities, each presents a slightly different narrative depending on what the author’s purpose was. It’s only when you put all four together that you get a full 360° view of this man known as Jesus of Nazareth.

To begin to understand the different gospels, you first have to go to the book of Revelation. In Chapter 4, John describes four “living creatures”, all of whom were covered in eyes front and back: a lion, an ox (or calf), a human, and an eagle. Scholars sometimes equate each of these creatures with one of the four gospels:

Lion = Mark. Mark’s gospel, the first to be written, presents Jesus as a king who has authority over heaven and earth. Mark doesn’t recount Jesus’ birth but instead focuses on what He did during His ministry: the people He healed, His authority over demons, etc.

Ox = Matthew. Matthew, a Jew, was writing to a Jewish audience. His purpose was to present Jesus as the promised Messiah. As a result, Jesus would’ve been the ultimate sacrifice for the Jews, the culmination of the Mosaic law. Matthew doesn’t present his gospel in chronological order, instead focusing on proving how Jesus was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

Human = Luke. Luke, a Gentile or non-Jew, wrote to a Gentile audience. His purpose was to present a highly detailed and complete biography of Jesus. Thus, you see His humanity more in this gospel than in any others.

Eagle = John. John presents Jesus as not just the Son of God but as God Himself, as much spirit as human. Like Mark, John doesn’t recount Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Instead, John goes all the way back to before Creation to show that Jesus has always existed with God and as part of God.

I don’t know how much of this project I’ll end up blogging about. Probably some, but I don’t have any specific plans. If you decide to do follow along, though, I’d love to hear from you. You can leave me a comment below or shoot me a tweet.

Happy reading!

Previously:
Bible reading: It is finished (but just beginning)
Jesus as the fulfillment of prophecy
Will you stay, or will you go?
Who are you following?
In the beginning…