Jesus Mortal |
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beloved disciple The death of the “beloved disciple” c AD 90-100 marks the close of the apostolic age and essentially the end of the imminent apocalypse. During Jesus’ time and thereafter, the disciples expected the arrival of the LORD’s kingdom within their lifetimes. But the disciples died off one by one until the last one left was an anonymous old man in Ephesus who claimed to have been a disciple of Jesus. Rumor had it that Jesus was due to return before the beloved disciple died. And then he died. From that point, scripture started talking about the delayed return of Jesus. Eventually the hope for heaven’s kingdom coming before you die turned into the hope for a life up above the clouds in heaven after you die. Whoever he was, the beloved disciple brought a highly unusual and unprecedented vision of who Jesus was and what he had said and done. The three synoptic gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) largely agree on Jesus’ life and teaching. They were composed when there were eyewitnesses around to keep the evangelists honest. But the fourth gospel clocks in at the last decade of the first century, when all the eyewitnesses but one were dead. Or maybe this so-called eyewitness is no such thing, and the beloved disciple represents an evangelist given free reign with Jesus’ life and teachings, without even his own personal testimony to keep him on track. According to an appendix, the fourth gospel was the personal testimony of “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” This reference makes John the only canonical gospel that claims to be based on the account of an eyewitness, even indirectly. It’s a paradoxical mark of distinction since the gospel includes little that is historical and much that is fanciful. Here, for example, is where Christians first identify Jesus as the eternal word of god incarnate. Peter and the anonymous beloved disciple appear in the gospel as the two most prominent disciples. In the synoptics, it’s James and John who are associated closely with Peter as leading disciples, but in John these two are never named. They get a single mention as the sons of Zebedee, but only in an appendix. In one of the Bible’s many ironies, the gospel that gives short shrift to the prominent disciple John ended up being attributed to him as its author and bearing his name. But the apostle John, a historical figure and a pillar of the Jerusalem church, didn’t write this gospel. It’s not clear why his circle wanted to keep him anonymous. He may have been a disciple from Jesus’ brief time in Jerusalem rather than from Galilee. The gospel’s account virtually cuts Galilee out of the picture, portraying Jesus as leading a three-year ministry mostly in and around Jerusalem. The gospel also ignores the teachings and exorcisms for which Jesus was famous in Galilee. There was a rumor to the effect that the beloved disciple would not die, but that the Kingdom would come in his lifetime. This rumor itself is a watered down version of the earliest Christian expectations. Paul didn’t expect to die, and in the 50s he implied that others in the Corinthian congregation would also live to see the Second Coming. But near the end of the first century this apocalyptic hope had been reduced to this: that one single disciple, the one that Jesus loved, would never die. Perhaps the fourth gospel was written in response to the evident proximity of the Second Coming, with all the apostles but this one dead, and the beloved disciple himself aging. Naturally, when this disciple died, the gospel associated with him required an appendix explaining that the rumor had been only that, a rumor, and not a divine prophecy. Ninety years later, when the heresy-fighter Irenaeus needed to bolster proto-orthodox claims against those of the gnostics, he found an apostolic connection for each of the four gospels that he declared to be canonical. For the fourth gospel, he asserted that the beloved author was none other than John the apostle. John’s biography was from then on to include a move to Ephesus where he lived to a ripe old age and apparently gave up the illiteracy of his peasant upbringing in favor of studying Greek and Hellenistic philosophy. Apologists argue that the beloved disciple must be John or else there’s no explanation for why the evangelist would leave John out of the gospel. The problem with this argument is that the evangelist gives John exactly as much ink as he gives his brother James—none. James is just as important as John, and he doesn’t get a mention, but no one concludes that the fourth gospel must have been written by James. The book of Acts records that James met a martyr’s death, as Mark has Jesus predict (Mark 10:39). In the same verses, Jesus predicts John’s death, too, and many scholars conclude that Mark wouldn’t have Jesus “predict” John’s martyrdom unless John had already been martyred by the time Mark penned his gospel. The official word became that James was martyred but not John, though references to the two of them being martyred together would occasionally pop up in martyrologies and early medieval references.
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contents table of contents you're already looking at it introduction for the inquisitive reader biographical overview who he was and wasn't
afterlife not Jesus' concern animal sacrifice bloodless religion apocalypse did Jesus preach hellfire? baptism sin wash for Jesus and others beatitudes Jesus' words and others' words beloved disciple witness for the un-gospel bible scripture old and new bishop the unjesus body focus on the physical Buddha Jesus' close kin charity key Christian virtue and legacy of Jesus The Da Vinci Code secret (and false) messages divorce women's status dreams convenient literary device Elijah Jewish prophet with his own second coming equality ancient source of modern egalitarianism exorcist Jesus and demons failure reinterpreting Jesus as a failure faith from trust to blind belief father Jesus on titles of honor Francis of Assisi the most Christlike Christian Gandhi the 20th century's most Christly holy man Galilee Jesus' inauspicious homeland gentiles Jesus' inadvertent audience god how Jesus became god golden rule key to Jesus' success gospels competing accounts heaven from sky to spiritual home hell revenge fantasy humanism Jesus' legacy inerrant Christian treatment of scripture Thomas Jefferson ethics of Jesus Jewish guilt Christian libel John's gospel the un-gospel John the baptist, see John the washer John the washer Jesus' apocalyptic mentor Judaism libeled religion of Jesus kingdom of god what Jesus promised Lao Tzu poet of the cosmic way logos jesus as the word of god C. S. Lewis famous, flawed trilemma little drummer boy Luke beats Matthew logos Jesus as the divine word LORD Yahweh transitioning to the one god of all Luke's gospel the all-around best gospel Mark's gospel the gospel that lost its point Mary of Magdala women, visions, and sex massacre of the innocents bloodshed starts early Matthew's gospel best gospel for church reading Mormon, see Joseph Smith Moses Jewish lawgiver Muhammad a prophet who got it right mystery Orpheus and transubstantiation oppression origin of Jesus' compassion The Passion of the Christ Luke as buzzkill Paul revealer of the revealer private and public public Jesus and secret Christ relativism the secret power of the golden rule sacrifice Jesus' death and Christian sacrament Albert Schweitzer Jesus as a failure sheol dark pit of death show Jesus' deeds as put-ons slavery abolished by Jesus' efforts Joseph Smith flesh-and-blood Jesus Socrates secular Jesus son of god on close terms with the man upstairs soul, see body synoptics three gospels that agree temple center of Jewish religion trinity unifying and divisive doctrinre vision, see dreams Yahweh, see LORD Zoroaster Persian dualistic holy man
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