We began the lecture by talking about Jesus and politics. Jesus’ historical life ended with a political execution, a crucifixion, which was typically used for people who rejected imperial authority. Typically, people who were crucified were defiant slaves or people who gathered a following. Mark was defined as the earliest gospel and he defined “kingdom” as a political term. Jesus wanted to use the kingdom of God for a political purpose while on earth. In all of the gospels, but especially Mark Jesus used political means. He preplanned his entry to Jerusalem on a doney, which symbolized peace. He also referred to the temple as a ‘den of robbers’.
We then talked in the lecture about the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount was the first of Jesus’ five long speeches outlined in the gospel of Matthew. It is a controversial speech because at face value it seems to claim that followers of Jesus should still obey the entirety of the law. However, it removes itself from several parts of the law.
We then began to address ways in which the gospels differ. Mark comments that Jesus declares all food clean, whereas Matthew says nothing of the sort. Also, in Mark Jesus told his followers to pray that tribulation did not overtake them and in Matthew, the Sabbath is mentioned in this passage and still meant to be followed by Matthew’s readers. One of the major differences in the gospels is the characterization of Jesus and the rhetorical devices. Matthew characterizes Jesus as the embodiment of Jewish wisdom, whereas John portrays Jesus as the Passover Lamb. Mark portrays the theme of fear through repetition and Matthew portrays Jesus’ presence through his placement at the beginning and end of the book.
I enjoyed getting to learn about the similarities and differences of the Bible and how they are interrelated through the readings for class.