Luke and John

On Sunday, we begin talking about the crucifixion of Jesus; however, we did so in a slightly different light. I am no expert at theology--actually, a little weak in this area--but I feel comfortable looking hard at a text, analyzing it, and thinking about the specific context which gave birth to the text.

In our case, this "text" is the Bible, and we are approaching the 4 accounts of Christ's crucifixion from a historical standpoint.

On Sunday, we saw that Mark and Matthew--the two earliest gospels--place equal blame on the shoulders of the Jews and the Romans regarding Christ's death.

This Sunday I want to focus on the accounts that the writer of Luke and the writers of John provide. To this end, we will first provide some quick context for these two gospels. Who are the author(s), when were they written, with what purpose, amongst other important tidbits of info.

Next we will look at:
Luke 22:47-23:26
&
John 18-19:17

One last point: Again and again, the Temple, the two times it was destroyed, the subsequent Babylonian Exile, pop up either in our discussion or in the verses we are looking at. For the writers of this period, these events were monumental, like 9/11 for us. Paradoxically, since these events were so monumental, they were not directly discussed or explained--once again, it would be like me explaining what happened on 9/11 to my wife or a peer.

For us as readers and with over 2000 years separation, we are often lost when talk of the Temple, the sacking of it, the Babylonian exile, enters into our conversation.

Thus on Sunday, I will have a handout that lays out what you need to know. Important dates, events, and names. It isn't much but it will be quite helpful.