Questions and Answers - 7 

Why do the gospels emphasize that Jesus called tax collectors to be followers?

The gospel of Matthew relates that, as he walked, Jesus saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office said to him, "Follow me." And the man got up and followed him. (Mt. 9:9)  The idea of someone who works for a tax office becoming a Christian is not surprising to us, so we have to understand the first century context in which this story was told. In the time of Jesus those who collected taxes were working for the Romans, whose harsh rule over the kingdoms of Galilee and Judah caused tremendous suffering for the Jewish peasants. Thus, Matthew was not just an employee of the state. For the Galilean peasants following Jesus, Matthew was an agent of the oppressor. The poor who were encouraged by Jesus' teachings about the coming kingdom of God might well have expected that collaborators with the Romans, like Matthew, would be punished when the kingdom came. Certainly, they would have been angry to see a tax collector among the disciples of Jesus.

The gospel of Matthew, however, was not written for Galilean Christian peasants, but for Greek-speaking Jewish Christians living in a major Roman city. These Christians, who benefited from Roman rule, probably had quite a different view of Jews who served the Romans in collecting taxes. No one likes taxes, but those who make money under the rule of a government recognize the necessity of funding the enforcement of the laws that protect their property. Moreover, the churches in Roman cities did not want to be identified with protest or rebellious movements, and surely that is the way many Romans saw the Jesus movement in Palestine that Pilate tried to stamp out by crucifying its leader. The teaching that Christians should pay taxes was perhaps first articulated by Paul (Romans 13:7), as part of his campaign to extend the gospel among Jews and Gentiles in Roman cities like Corinth, Rome, Ephesus and Philippi. But the gospel of Mark later attributed the teaching to Jesus (Mk. 12:17) and the gospels of Matthew (Mt. 22:12-22) and Luke (Lk. 20:20-26) confirmed this law-abiding imperative within the church's witness.

In the gospels Jesus not only calls a tax collector to be his disciple, but Jesus eats with tax collectors and others who are identified as sinners under Jewish law. Among Jewish leaders in Palestine this would have been seen as a criticism of the religious leadership akin to the ancient message of the prophets that accused priests and political elites of hypocrisy because they adhered to ritual details of the law but failed to provide the poor the justice God that commanded. At the time the gospel of Matthew was written this emphasis in the story might also have implied more openness in the church to Gentiles, who were considered by traditional Jews as "sinners" simply because they did were not Jewish. This was not, of course, a concern in the ministry of Jesus, but it was a crucial issue in the life of the churches in the latter part of the first century.

Who wrote the letter of James?

This letter is attributed to James, the brother of Jesus, who became the first bishop of the church in Jerusalem. The letter is written in Greek, and it is very unlikely that the brother of Jesus was educated in Greek, thus the letter reflects the hand of a Greek-speaking Jewish leader of the church. But it may well communicate the teaching of James the Just, as he was known in the early church, for James was concerned with living the word of God and not simply with confessing it. The letter of James is a good corrective to the letters of Paul, because Paul is so concerned to open the church to Gentiles that he emphasizes having faith in a way that may seems to ignore good works. But the letter of James is a minor voice in the New Testament, which is nearly drowned out by the arguments of Paul in his many letters.

Recovering the letter of James today means recognizing the conflict among the apostles in churches of the first and second century and renewing our concern for living the faith and not merely confessing Christian beliefs. The gospel of Matthew is also written to correct the excessive emphasis in the letters of Paul on faith rather than good works, for there Jesus teaches that many call him "Lord, Lord," but fail to do the will of the Father. (Mt. 7:21-23) Preaching requires practice. Faith without works is merely belief, and belief alone is not saving.

In which gospel does Jesus says, "I did not come to judge the world, but to save it"?

In the gospel of John (12:47). In this passage the Jesus of the gospel of John affirms that his words have come from God and are God's commandment offering eternal life. Jesus affirms that he has not spoken on his own authority, but with the authority of God. It is, of course, a Christian doctrine that Jesus is the word of God, but one may nonetheless distinguish the words attributed to Jesus by a gospel author from the living word of God, which is the message of the entire Christian Bible. Although the specific words used by Jesus here in the gospel of John are not corroborated by the other gospels in the New Testament, we may conclude that the emphasis on salvation rather than judgment is the word of God because this "good news" is the overwhelming witness of the Christian Bible.

There are, of course, many passages about judgment in the New Testament, and certainly Christians since the first century have actively judged others in the name of God as well as offered them the good news of salvation. For many Christians the ideas of salvation and judgment go together, because salvation is a kind of judgment finding one worthy. Those found unworthy, therefore, are not saved. But the affirmation of the church is that none of us are worthy of salvation, and thus the good news of salvation is not about judgment but instead reflects the grace of God.

Where in the New Testament is the Great Commandment?

In Matthew 22:36-39 Jesus says: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is similar: Love your neighbor as yourself."  This is one of the most familiar passages in the New Testament. The gospel of Matthew records that when Jesus is asked by a Pharisee to identify the greatest commandment in the Jewish law, he quotes two commandments: the first from Deuteronomy (6:5) and the second from Numbers (19:18). In the account of this same incident in the gospel of Luke it is a lawyer who puts the question to Jesus, and in the gospel of Luke Jesus asks the lawyer how he understands the law and the lawyer quotes the same two commandments. Are these different memories of the same event? More likely, the gospel of Matthew emphasizes the authority of Jesus as teacher and interpreter of the Jewish law, whereas the gospel of Luke is happy to allow the Jewish lawyer to interpret his own law.

When the church chose to include both the gospel of Matthew and the gospel of Luke in the New Testament, it might have edited one or the other to make these stories consistent. Or, it might have taken the four gospels that were included in the New Testament and used the information in them to write a single gospel. But the church chose not to alter the gospel accounts that had come to be understood by various Christian communities as authentic witnesses to the salvation offered by God in Jesus Christ. Instead, it ignored factual inconsistencies among the gospels and included them all, as they were, in the New Testament. Clearly, the church was not primarily concerned with presenting an account of "the facts" as would be the case today, but sought to present a compilation of the faith testimonies that had served to build of the church in the first few centuries of its existence.

Where does Jesus say, "Happy are they who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be filled"?

In the gospel of Matthew Jesus says: "Happy are they who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be filled. Happy are the merciful, for mercy will be shown to them." (5:1-12)  These teachings attributed to Jesus are known as the "beatitudes," the Latin word for "blessings," which is the traditional English translation for the Greek verb that begins each verse. These teachings are also found in the gospel of Luke in a slightly different form. In the gospel of Matthew the beatitudes are the beginning of what is known as the Sermon on the Mount for which that gospel is famous. In this sermon Jesus ascends a mountain and instructs his disciples. For the author of the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is the new Moses who interprets the law of God. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus comes down from a meeting in the hills with his disciples to deliver this and other teachings on a plain to the people who have come from both Gentile and Jewish cities to hear him and to be healed by him. For the author of the gospel of Luke, Jesus is not the new Moses who is reaffirming and reforming Jewish law, but a teacher and healer whose authority and power is recognized by both Jews and Gentiles.

The parallel beatitude in the gospel of Luke is: "Happy are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied." (Lk. 6:21) In the gospel of Luke, Jesus promises the people that their hunger will be satisfied. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus promises those who hunger for justice, that there will be justice and that those who show mercy will receive mercy. The meanings in the two gospel accounts are not the same, but each promises that God's intervention in history will bring an end to human injustice and the hunger that results from human greed. These words of hope have inspired Christians throughout the centuries to struggle for justice and to feed those who are hungry.

In the gospel of Matthew.  In Mt. 10:6 Jesus names his twelve disciples and then sends them out to "the lost sheep of Israel."  He explicitly tells his disciples not to go to Gentile or to Samaritan towns, but only to Jewish communities. The gospel of Mark contains the same list of disciples and they, too, are sent out to preach and heal, but in this gospel Jesus does not restrict their mission to Jews. (Mk. 3:13-19, 6:7) The gospel of Luke also does not include the restriction that appears in the gospel of Matthew. ("Lk. 9:1), and it names "Judas the son of James" rather than "Thaddaeus" as the eleventh disciple. (Lk. 6:12-16)

The gospel of Matthew seems to have been written for a largely Jewish Christian community, whereas the gospels of Mark and Luke are directed to Christian communities dominated by Gentiles. This might explain why only the gospel of Matthew limits the ministry of the disciples to the Jewish community. It is impossible to say which is historically accurate. It is clear, however, from the Acts of the Apostles and from Paul's letters, that the church in Jerusalem led by the disciples of Jesus required Gentile converts to the church to keep at least some of the tenets of Jewish law. And in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples that every rule of the law of Moses is to be adhered to until "heaven and earth pass away." (Mt. 5:17-20) There was a conflict in the early church about requiring Gentile converts to keep Jewish law, and it appears that the gospel of Matthew is asserting a position close to that of the church in Jerusalem and contrary to the teaching of Paul and the other apostles to the Gentiles.

In the gospel of John.  The fourteenth chapter of the gospel of John is one of the most beautiful and well-known portions of the Christian Bible. It is unique among the four gospels of the New Testament. In this chapter Jesus is questioned by three of his disciples, Thomas, Philip and Judas (not Iscariot), who never speak in the first three gospel accounts. Jesus answers their questions with statements that appear nowhere else in the New Testament. Jesus speaks of "the Father who dwells in" him (v. 10) He tells his disciples that he will pray the Father to give them "another Counselor" to be with them forever, "even the Spirit of truth." (verses 16-17) Jesus comforts his disciples about his coming departure by saying, "I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." (v. 20) He names the Counselor as "the Holy Spirit" who will teach the disciples all that they need to know. (v. 26) And, he gives them his peace. (v. 27)

Christians have long wondered how the Jesus who proclaimed the kingdom of heaven (God) in parables, as the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke report, could also have spoken like this to his disciples? It might be, of course, that the author of the gospel of John simply has material from the life of Jesus with his disciples that was not available to the other gospel writers. But Christian scholars in the first centuries of the church noticed that the entire gospel of John seems more designed to express a theology of Jesus, rather than a narrative account of his ministry, than the first three gospels of the New Testament. The gospel of John (and this wonderful passage from it) seems to be largely an interpretation of the meaning of the Jesus, rather than an historical report of his ministry. The truth of this reading, however, is the peace that it brings to our hearts, whether or not Jesus actually said these words to his disciples.

Where in the New Testament is the phrase, "one Lord, one faith, one baptism"?

In Ephesians 4:5 we read: "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all." This letter may have been written by Paul, or by his disciples, to be circulated to many churches, because unlike the other letters attributed to Paul in the New Testament this letter is not addressed to a particular church or person. Galatians is addressed to the "churches of Galatia," and Romans is addressed to "all God's beloved in Rome." Paul's two letters to the Corinthians are addressed to "the church of God, which is at Corinth," and the letter to the Philippians begins with the statement, "To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi." Ephesians, on the other hand, is addressed to "the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus." It may be that a copy of this letter was known in the early church to have been found among Christians in Ephesus and so, when the letter was included in the New Testament canon, it was named "Ephesians."

What is the Holy Spirit?

There is much in the Old Testament about the Spirit, the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of the Lord, and there is frequent mention of the Holy One of Israel, especially in Isaiah. I have found, however, only three places in the Old Testament where the adjective "holy" precedes the noun "spirit," and in each of these the phrase is clearly attributing holiness to God. Psalm 51:11 reads, "Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me." Isaiah 63:10-11 refers twice to "his holy Spirit" where the reference is obviously to God. Thus, the phrase in the New Testament, "the Holy Spirit," which appears in all four of the gospels, in Acts of the Apostles, and in Paul's letters, represents a break with the understanding of ancient Israel.

Who was Simeon?

Simeon is a character in the gospel of Luke.  In Luke 2:22-38 we read that Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple to fulfill the requirements of Jewish law (Leviticus 12:2-8). Because of their poverty, they are permitted to present a pair of turtle doves, rather than a lamb and a dove, as a burnt offering to purify Mary (because her flow of blood has made her unclean) and as a sin offering to atone for any sins they may have committed. Simeon, an old man waiting in the temple to see the coming of the Messiah, takes Jesus in his arms and blesses God. His song of praise has come to be known in the church as the "Nunc Dimittis," because these are the first words of the Latin translation.

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