Will Your Pastor Hate – Part Five Questions

Ask. Pastor… Where does John come from with all the detailed dialogue in chapters 14-17 when no other Gospel begins to mention any of it? This had to be done from memory right? No one could get those kinds of details right if they just wrote from memory, especially since in just a few more minutes, everyone would be running for their lives, leaving Jesus alone. It does say, “everyone ran away.” I just think it’s strange that the Gospel says it was written so late and at the end, it has the most detail, while Mark, written first, has little or none of this dialogue. Or is this a case of writing what the author would imagine Jesus would have said in such circumstances, which I understand was a writing style of the time?

Ask. Pastor… Mark 16:8 tells us that the women came out of the tomb frightened and said nothing to anyone and then the original Gospel of Mark ends. Where is the end? Also, Matthew 28:6-8 says that the women fled with “great joy”, which seems to me like Matthew felt the need to correct Mark. Luke 24:9-12 says that they went and told the disciples, contradicting Mark and John 20:1-2 says that Mary told the disciples that the body had been stolen which contradicts the “great joy” of Matthew. What gives? Does it sound to me like the women ran away in fright with great joy telling no one but everyone that the body had been stolen? Help me here!

Ask. Pastor… Mark 16:14-15 tells us that Jesus tells the eleven to preach the Gospel. Matthew 28:9 allows Mary Magdalene and another Mary to take his feet, but then John 20:17 forbids touching, as he had not yet ascended, but the following week, Thomas touches Jesus’ hands. I assume that Jesus was referring to his later public ascension and did not make a secret trip back to heaven to record before he actually came back into view. What is the story here?

Ask. Pastor… Why so much doubt about the resurrection of Jesus with his disciples? In Mark 16:11, Luke 24:11 – Everyone doubts and/or is afraid at first, but eventually they see the light and believe. In Matthew 28:16 only some doubt, but the majority believe. In John 20:24-28 everyone believes, except Thomas, who comes to believe. Do you see how doubt becomes less and less in the order of writing? It seems that each author is clearing away the doubts of the previous one in order to paint a prettier picture and make the disciples not look so doubtful. Believing gets easier and easier as time goes by, right?

Ask. Pastor… When and where did Jesus return to heaven? Mark 16:14-19 says that he ascends while everyone is sitting at the table, inside, I suppose, near Jerusalem. Matthew 28:16-20 does not mention the ascension at all, but Jesus meets the disciples for the first time on a mountain in Galilee where he had told them in 26:32 that he would meet them after his resurrection. But then in Luke 24:50-51 Jesus ascends outside, after dinner, and in Bethany and on the very day of the resurrection! I guess Luke realized that Jesus would have had to go through the roof in Mark’s account, so he moved him outside where they could see him go up into the clouds instead of just the rafters. Luke also corrected Matthew’s “First I will meet you in Galilee” by saying in Luke 24:5-8 that they were to remember that Jesus told them, when they were in Galilee, that he would see them again in Jerusalem by rising from the dead there. .

It seems that Luke is correcting Matthew’s idea that Jesus would see them in Galilee by reminding them that Jesus told them that when they were in Galilee, they would see him in Jerusalem, where events were meant to take place for Luke. John does not mention any ascension and in Acts 1:9-12 we are told that Jesus ascends at least 40 days after his resurrection and the Mount of Olives.

Now all these things cannot be a harmonious account of where and when the ascension occurred. We remember Luke’s ascension story in Acts, but the others don’t match his. They just don’t.

Ask. Pastor… When did John know that Jesus was the Messiah? In Matthew 3:13-17, John appears to know and baptize Jesus, but then in Matthew 11:2-3, while in prison, John the Baptist sent followers to Jesus to ask if Jesus was the Messiah. Did he forget? (Luke 7: 18-22) While he was in prison. John the Baptist sent followers to Jesus to ask if Jesus was the Messiah. (John 1:29-34,36) John already knew that Jesus was the Messiah. Also, he remembers how when pregnant Maria entered pregnant Isabel’s room and Juan jumped for joy in Isabel’s womb. Did baby John’s memories of Jesus as Lord fade and he was not told all the miraculous stories of both their births? Maybe John doubted everything after finding himself in prison facing death. Or maybe the story evolved a bit like we’ve seen in other stories?

Ask. Shepherd… In Matthew 9:18 as a certain ruler approaches Jesus to ask for help, saying that his daughter was already dead. But in Luke 8:41-42, Jairus came to Jesus for help because his daughter was dying. Now I am a father and I would know if my son was dying or dead! Curing the dying is a bit easier than curing the dead, too, I might add. So was she or wasn’t she?

Ask. Shepherd… In Matthew 10:10 Jesus instructed the disciples not to carry a staff and not to wear sandals. But in Mark 6:8-9, Jesus instructed his disciples to use sandals and a staff on his journey. It seems the same sending to preach and not two different times. Can you see how confusing this is? I wonder who showed up wearing or not wearing and wearing or not wearing what. Since Mark is the oldest Gospel, don’t you think that’s the way to go?

Ask. Shepherd… In Matthew 20:20-21 the mother of Jesus asked James and John, sons of Zebedee, to sit next to her in her Kingdom. But in Mark 10:35-37 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, asked to sit next to Jesus in his Kingdom without mentioning mom. Could it be that Matthew added that Mom made the request to cover the embarrassingly true story of the disciples James and John making this humble request right after Jesus had just given a short speech about first being last and last being first? , and what were obviously missing? point? And if so, is this not the edition of the inspired word of God again by men?

Ask. Pastor… How many blind men pleaded with Jesus? Matthew 20:30 says that two blind men sought healing, but in Luke 18:35-38, only one blind man did. Do you think maybe Luke just didn’t see the other…ha! Or maybe Luke was deaf and didn’t hear the story right. Ok, just kidding. We have to relax here! But I would remember if there were two or just one since I have a brother who is blind.

Ask. Pastor… Did Jesus preach his first sermon on the mount or on the plains? Matthew, in 5:1-2, says that Jesus preached his first sermon on the mount but, of course, Luke 6:17 and 20 says that Jesus preached his first sermon on the plain.

In Biblical times, were mountains also considered plains? I know the difference between our Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains here in America, but maybe I’m missing something. I know the temptation here is to say it doesn’t matter where you preached, but if you gave a really good sermon in church and kept telling everyone it was in the park, wouldn’t you want me to correct you? Or at least you wouldn’t think that one of us wasn’t really there to hear it?

Ask. Pastor… Where did the devil take Jesus first? In Matthew 4:5-8 the Devil took Jesus first to the parapet of the temple, then to a high place to see all the Kingdoms of the world. But in Luke 4:5-9, the devil took Jesus first to a high place to see the kingdoms, then to the parapet of the temple. What the hell is happening here! Again, I know he would remember if he went to Greenville, SC first and then Rochester, NY or Rochester first, then Greenville. I only remember things like that! What gives?

Ask. Pastor… In Matthew 6:9-13 Jesus delivered the Our Father during the Sermon on the Mount before the crowds. But in Luke 11:1-4, he delivered it only before the disciples, and not as part of the Sermon on the Mount. What was, or were the disciples too far back in the crowd to hear that it was originally given on the Mount? Or was it the Plain, I don’t remember? And while we’re at it, why doesn’t Paul quote him and instead say in Romans 8:26 “for what we should ask for as we should, we don’t know, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unspeakable groans.” He seems to have invented a new “how men should pray” and never heard the format of the Lord. Well, I realize he lived and died before the Lord’s Prayer was written, but you’d think he would have heard a such basic teaching of Jesus. I guess it’s nice to know that the Spirit grows for us. Can’t the Spirit just speak? Never mind…

Ask. Pastor…Matthew says in 19:19 “honor your father and your mother.” But then in Luke 14:26 he says that those who “come to me and do not hate his father and his mother cannot be my disciples.” Even in John 2:3-4 Jesus is said to have responded to his mother when the wine ran out: “Woman, what does it matter to you and me?” A bit hard isn’t it? Then in Matthew 8:21 when a disciple asks permission to go buy his father, Jesus says no, and that all of his spiritually dead family should bury his father. Wow… if this is Jesus’ idea of ​​honoring mom and dad, it seems a little off putting, to say the least. What do you think?

END PART FIVE