Life of Christ
Lecture Notes-----
Topic 3.2.5 for Religion 102 / 305
Topics 3.1 - 3.6 for Religion 311

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        When one begins to take seriously the story of Jesus in each of the four canonical gospels, a pattern emerges in the way this story is told. The pattern is much tighter in the Synoptic Gospels in that they use a common overarching structure for telling their story of Jesus. The fourth gospel has its own way of telling the story, but can be correlated to the synoptic gospel framework in a supplementary manner.
        What follows below is an investigation into that structure. The outline for this is the Life of Christ. This includes six major segments in the story:

3.2.5.1. Background and Preparation for Ministry
3.2.5.2. Beginning of Public Ministry
3.2.5.3. The Galilean Ministry
3.2.5.4. The Later Judean-Perean Ministry
3.2.5.5. The Final Week and Crucifixion (Passio Christi)
3.2.5.6. Resurrection and Appearances

3.2.5.1. Background and Preparation for Ministry

        As reflected in the above list, this segment in the story of Jesus is missing in the Gospel of Mark. For his own purposes, Mark jumps directly into the public ministry of Jesus rather than prepare his readers by providing some details of who Jesus was either from his historical origins (as in Matthew and Luke) or from his spiritual nature (as in John).
 

         In the two synoptic gospels, the background of Jesus is presented in a more historical oriented narrative typically designated the Infancy Narratives by modern scholars. Some general observations are in order:
        (1) From the per centages listed above, Luke (11%) devotes more space to this segment than does Matthew (4%). This is reflected in the specific episodes included in each account.
        Although Matthew contains nine episodes to Luke's eight episodes, Luke provides greater detail in each of these pericopes about the birth and early childhood of Jesus. Additionally, Luke begins with a formal prologue to his gospel account that followed ancient patterns of prologue composition. Important to remember: both gospels deal only with the first three or four years of Jesus' childhood, with the one exception of the Lucan account of Jesus' bar mitzvah at the beginning of puberty around his twelfth birthday. In ancient Jewish tradition a male did not become an adult until his thirtieth birthday, which Luke marks as the beginning of Jesus' public ministry (Lk. 3:23). The canonical gospels are silent about the time from around three years until his thirtieth year with the one Lucan exception (see #8 in above list). Luke simply summarizes all these years with the short statement in 2:52: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor" (NRSV).
        Outside the canonical gospels, however, the NT Apocryphal Gospels attempt to 'fill in the void' with numerous episodes supposedly depicting events in the childhood of Jesus. Mostly they focus on Jesus' early childhood in the same time period of Matthew and Luke. Among these so-called infancy gospels are the Infancy Gospel of James, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, the Infancy Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, and the Birth of Mary. They paint a dramatically different picture. Jesus' childhood was no ordinary, normal experience as depicted in Matthew and Luke. To the contrary, the deity aspect overwhelmed Jesus' consciousness even as an infant and dictated his pattern of behavior. As an infant he could think and talk like an adult and had complete awareness of being perfectly divine and possessed full supernatural powers as a child. He performed miracles as a three year old; as a small youngster he offered sage advice to adults, especially religious authorities, that put their ignorance of divine matters to shame; he basically told his parents what to do rather than the other way around. With the contemporary model of the Greco-Roman Theos Aner (God-Man) emphasizing that significant persons had this kind of childhood, later Christians in the second through fifth centuries, with no Jewish roots and a deep anti-semitic bias against things Jewish, reinterpreted Jesus with non-Jewish, Greco-Roman cultural contours to make him more appealing to the people of their day. Never mind that their stories were complete fabrications with no basis in history at all! One can easily see why mainstream Christianity in this era quickly and thoroughly rejected this 'gospels' as worthless accounts about the Jesus of history.
        (2) Each synoptic gospel writer has his own distinct account of this period. No overlapping of episodes occurs between the two accounts.
        The closest thing to an overlap in Matthew (see pericopes 1 and 2 above) and Luke (see pericope 15 below) is the genealology listing. Yet, even here each gospel writer is very distinctive in the presentation of the family tree of Jesus. Matthew traces Jesus' ancestory back to Abraham, while Luke goes back to Adam. Matthew traces the ancestory through Mary, while Luke traces it through Joseph. Matthew traces the lineage forward to Christ, while Luke traces it backward to Adam. Unlike Matthew, Luke places the geneaology at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry section.
        Once Matthew has introduced Jesus through his ancestoral lineage, he turns to a selected number of events highlighting the coming of God's Annointed Deliverer. These include:
        4. Angelical announcement to Joseph 1:18-23
        5. Joseph's obedience 1:24-25
        6. Visit by wise men. 2:1-12
        7. Flight to Egypt 2:13-15
        8. Slaying of children in Bethlehem 2:6-18
        9. Return from Egypt 2:19-23
These events cover the announcement of Jesus' birth with the positive image of Joseph stressed in pericopes 4 and 5. Interestingly, almost no description of Jesus' birth is contained. Only two brief allusions are found in Matthew: (1) "Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way" (1:18); and (2) "he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus" (1:24b-25). These parentheses to the Joseph narratives merely allude to the birth of Jesus. The next mention of Jesus in pericope 6 is to an event happening subsequent to Jesus' birth - the visit of the magi from the area of ancient Babylon where Jews had lived since the exile in the sixth century B.C.E. The hostile response of Herod the Great to their visit prompts the fleeing to Egypt by Joseph in order to save the life of the young Jesus. No mention is made as to where in Egypt they lived, nor of how they lived while there. After Herod's death in 4 B.C.E., Joseph brings his family out of Egypt and resettles at the village of Nazareth in southwest Galilee where Mary had grown up. Containing never more than two hundred residents, the small village was settled after the Babylonian exile and was located not far from the old capital city of  Sepphoris and also was near one of the major north-south trade routes from Damascus to Egypt (see map). Jesus lived out his childhood and youth there until the beginning of his ministry at reaching adulthood on his thirtieth birthday. But Matthew makes no mention of anything that happened during these years.
        After Luke introduces his gospel with a formal prologue in the pattern of many such instances of this genre in ancient literature, he begins his story of the birth and childhood of Jesus. But he concentrates on entirely different events than those found in Matthew.

2. Announcement of John's birth 1:5-25
3. Announcement of Jesus' birth 1:26-38
4. Mary's visit to Elizabeth 1:39-56
5. John's birth 1:57-80
6. Jesus' birth 2:1-21
7. Jesus' presentation in the temple 2:22-40
8. Jesus' visit to the temple 2:41-52

        (3) Both synoptic gospel accounts treat only the birth and early childhood of Jesus through his first twelve years. This is quite different from modern biographical concerns that demand a full accounting of all the years of the person being described. To modern westerners accustomed to biography patterns, the absence of any mention of the life of Jesus from twelve years to thirty years seems strange. Yet, Matthew and Luke did not deem it necessary to provide a detailed accounting of the first thirty years of Jesus' life. For Mark, these years were not important to his concerns in telling the story of Jesus, and thus no mention of them is made at all. That is not to say that later Christian tradition wasn't interested in these years. In the so-called Apocryphal Infancy Gospels the focus of attention is mainly on these years as legendary stories of fantastic accomplishments of the boy Jesus are set forth in the pattern of the ancient Greco-Roman Theos-Aner (God-Man). The Protevangelium of James, produced in the second century A.D. Syrian Christian circles, focuses on the glorification of Mary as a perpetual virgin who only gave birth to Jesus via supernatural means. The brothers and sisters of Jesus are claimed as being from a previous marriage of Joseph before he married Mary. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, also from the second century A.D., provides numerous stories of spectacular feats of the boy Jesus. Below is an excerpt from the Arabic Infancy Gospel, providing a sampling of this type of legendary material:

37. On a certain day the Lord Jesus, running about and playing with the boys, passed the shop of a dyer, whose name was Salem; and he had in his shop many pieces of cloth which he was to dye. The Lord Jesus then, going into his shop, took up all the pieces of cloth, and threw them into a tub full of indigo. And when Salem came and saw his cloths destroyed, he began to cry out with a loud voice, and to reproach Jesus, saying: Why hast thou done this to me, O son of Mary? Thou hast disgraced me before all my townsmen: for, seeing that every one wished the colour that suited himself, thou indeed hast come and destroyed them all. The Lord Jesus answered: I shall change for thee the colour of any piece of cloth which thou shalt wish to be changed. And immediately He began to take the pieces of cloth out of the tub, each of them of that colour which the dyer wished, until He had taken them all out. When the Jews saw this miracle and prodigy, they praised God.

38. And Joseph used to go about through the whole city, and take the Lord Jesus with him, when people sent for him in the way of his trade to make for them doors, and milk-pails, and beds, and chests; and the Lord Jesus was with him wherever he went. As often, therefore, as Joseph had to make anything a cubit or a span longer or shorter, wider or narrower, the Lord Jesus stretched His hand towards it; and as soon as He did so, it became such as Joseph wished. Nor was it necessary for him to make anything with his own hand, for Joseph was not very skilful in carpentry.

39. Now, on a certain day, the king of Jerusalem sent for him, and said: I wish thee, Joseph, to make for me a throne to fit that place in which I usually sit. Joseph obeyed, and began the work immediately, and remained in the palace two years, until he finished the work of that throne. And when he had it carried to its place, he perceived that each side wanted two spans of the prescribed measure. And the king, seeing this, was angry with Joseph; and Joseph, being in great fear of the king, spent the night without supper, nor did he taste anything at all. Then, being asked by the Lord Jesus why he was afraid, Joseph said: Because I have spoiled all the work that I have been two years at. And the Lord Jesus said to him: Fear not, and do not lose heart; but do thou take hold of one side of the throne; I shall take the other; and we shall put that to rights. And Joseph, having done as the Lord Jesus had said and each having drawn by his own side, the throne was put to rights, and brought to the exact measure of the place. And those that stood by and saw this miracle were struck with astonishment, and praised God. And the woods used in that throne were of those which are celebrated in the time of Solomon the son of David; that is, woods of many and various kinds.

40. On another day the Lord Jesus went out into the road, and saw the boys that had come together to play, and followed them; but the boys hid themselves from Him. The Lord Jesus, therefore, having come to the door of a certain house, and seen some women standing there, asked them where the boys had gone; and when they answered that there was no one there, He said again: Who are these whom you see in the furnace?' They replied that they were kids of three years old. And the Lord Jesus cried out, and said: Come out hither, O kids, to your Shepherd. Then the boys, in the form of kids, came out, and began to dance round Him; and the women, seeing this, were very much astonished, and were seized with trembling, and speedily, supplicated and adored the Lord Jesus, saying: O our Lord Jesus, son of Mary, Thou art of a truth that good Shepherd of Israel; have mercy on Thy handmaidens who stand before Thee, and who have never doubted: for Thou hast come, O our Lord, to heal, and not to destroy. And when the Lord Jesus answered that the sons of Israel were like the Ethiopians among the nations, the women said: Thou, O Lord, knowest all things, nor is anything hid from Thee; now, indeed, we beseech Thee, and ask Thee of Thy affection to restore these boys Thy servants to their former condition. The Lord Jesus therefore said: Come, boys, let us go and play. And immediately, while these women were standing by, the kids were changed into boys.

       (4) The literary sub-genre of this material is Infancy Narrative. For an extensive bibliography on research done in this area, see my Annotated Bibliography: 1.2.1 Infancy Narratives. In the ancient world the dramatic, extraordinary beginnings of important people were considered to be an essential mark of a superior life that rose above the ordinary. Without it, one would have had a difficult time being regarded as anymore than 'run of the mill.'  The pagan birth legends are a part of the literary drive behind the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke, although the Jewish infancy narrative tradition also played an important role, perhaps the more important model for the canonical gospel writers. The birth of Moses (Exod. 2:1-10) stands as a beginning point here, and was extended in the OT Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal materials. To be sure, the non-canonical infancy gospels are driven in large part by the pagan birth legend tradition in second and subsequent centuries Greco-Roman cultural reinterpretation of apostolic Christianity.
 
 

        In the fourth gospel, an entirely different approach to introducing Jesus is taken. ThePrologue to the fourth gospel sets forth foundational concepts about Jesus that become the theological basis for telling the story of Jesus in the remainder of the gospel account. The pericope is crafted in skillfully composed step parallelism poetic structure at the informal level of through structure, as is illustrated by the following diagram:
 

A  1-5     In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.  B    6-8     There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. C     9-13     The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

A’     14     And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. B’     15John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”   C’     16-18From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

Analysis of the Text:
 

ALogos                        light   B    John/witness     C              received     light

A’    Logos              grace and truth   B'   John/witness     C'             received   grace and truth

        The central theme of both sections, vv. 1-13, 14-18, is the Logos, in as much as it serves as the header for each section. Thus the central theme of the entire prologue is Logos. Understanding the main point of the prologue then will depend upon an accurate understanding of this key term. The boundary markers to the first section, vv. 1-13, is the repetition of the word light. In the second section, vv. 14-18, the repeated phrase grace and truth  serves the same role. The center strophe to each section focuses upon the witness of John the Baptist. The movement in each section flows from the Logos through the witness of John to the response of receiving the Logos through John's witness. The conceptual structure of the first section, vv. 1-13 is universal: the Logos and all of creation including humanity. The Logos manifests himself, is witnessed to by John, but only a very small segment of humanity responds with acceptance. The step, advancement of thought to a new level, occurs in section two, vv. 14-18, where the Logos is received both Jew and Gentile in a fuller experience that brings the 'receiver' face to face with Almighty God himself. The Logos reveals himself to the world in vv. 1-5 and is largely rejected inspite of John's witness. But in the section section, vv. 14-18, to those receiving the Logos He reveals himself dramatically as the Shekina glory of God who tabernacled with His people, v. 14 , and John's witness, v. 15,  highlights that superior revelation. The second receiving section, vv. 16-18, opens up dramatically larger experiences of encounter. Each of the three strophes of both sections contains an advancement of thought in the second section parallel to that in the first section.
        The first section (vv. 1-13) develops the theme of the Logos in relation to the created order of things. A climax is reached in the dominant rejection of the Logos as redeeming Light in the C section, but in spite of this some respond favorably and become the nucleus of a new community of faith (1:12-13). This transitions into the section section (vv. 14-18), which develops the theme of the Logos in relation to the believing community. Here, where positive reception of the Logos prevails, "grace and truth" become the dominant tones of this relationship. The divine glory/presence reveals itself in the tabernacling of the Logos with his new people. John has a witness to this community; the consequence is that the community is overwhelmed by the bestowal of divine grace and truth.
        The conceptual structure set forth here in the prologue becomes the interpretative filter through which the story of Jesus is told in each of the subsequent pericopes in the remainder of the fourth gospel. This is part of what gives the fourth gospel its very distinctive character and tone. The Bible student must first grasp this introductory 'theology of the Logos' if he/she is to correctly exegete any subsequent pericope.

3.2.5.2. Beginning of Public Ministry

A. The public ministry of John the Baptist

B. The Beginning of Jesus' Public Ministry

3.2.5.3. The Galilean Ministry

        The formal public ministry of Jesus, as recorded by the synoptic gospel writers, took place primarily in the northern part of ancient Palestine, in the Roman province of Galilee. Over half of the space devoted to the story of Jesus in both Matthew and Mark narrates events taking place here. Luke devotes about one-fourth of his gospel to this segment of Jesus' ministry, and the Johannine gospel de-emphasizes the significance of Galilee considerably with only 15% of its story given over to events taking place in Galilee.
        How this period of ministry unfolded can be debated from these sources, but two pivotal turning points seem to signal shifts in the direction that Jesus' ministry took. The first was the appointment of the twelve disciples as the inner circle of followers that Jesus would give special training to and who would then be entrusted with the responsibility to continue his ministry once Jesus had ascended back to the Heavenly Father after his resurrection. The second turning point, at least in the synoptic gospel framework, was the execution of John the Baptizer. Through the use of a flash-back literary device, the execution of John that took place earlier signals a new phase of activity for Jesus. Up to this point the growing opposition to Jesus had stemmed largely from the Jewish religious authorities based primarily in Jerusalem. But after Herod executed John somewhat reluctantly he became concerned about rumors that John had come back to life in the person of Jesus. He then turned on Jesus in opposition. With the combined religious and political hostility targeting Jesus, the remaining time spent in northern Palestine was largely outside of the Roman province of Galilee that Herod controlled. In the adjacent provinces Herod had little or no political influence and thus Jesus was safer from arrest. These two turning points become the basis for the outline listing below, since they create three detectable segments of ministry by Jesus in northern Palestine.
        At the end of this period Jesus will leave Galilee headed south to Judea where the last segments of public ministry will occur.

A. Phase One: To the Choosing of the Twelve

B. Phase Two: To the Withdrawals from Galilee

C. Phase Three: To the Departure to Jerusalem

        This third segment of Jesus' ministry in northern Palestine lasts just a brief period of no more than two to three months just prior to his departure south to Judea where he will spend the remaining time leading up to the celebration of the Jewish Passover in the spring of AD 30. It is at this celebration that he is arrested and then executed by the Roman authorities.
        The defining marker of the beginning of this period of ministry in northern Palestine is the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, the only miracle of Jesus to be recorded by all four gospel writers. As is obvious from the above charts, Mark and Matthew contain the most detailed accounting of this period of activity, while John has the shortest account with only five pericopes. A careful reading of these gospel texts will reveal that most of the recorded activity of Jesus during this period occurs outside the Roman province of Galilee. Because of the personal danger to Jesus once Roman governmental opposition to Jesus linked up with the religious opposition of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, Jesus conducted most of his ministry in the adjacent provinces where Herod had no jurisdiction. Quick trips across Galilee from one province to another will punctuate his activity. Additionally, this period stresses growing focus on preparing the Twelve for what would lay ahead in Jerusalem. Thus, ministry time is more divided between public actions and private actions with just the Twelve.

3.2.5.4. The Later Judean-Perean Ministry
        As a casual observation of the pericopes listed below dramatically suggests, this segment of Jesus' public ministry follows a different pattern of treatment than the others do. Mark as a source provided very little information for the other gospel writers to use. Only Matthew followed it closely. Luke picked up but a very few of the Marcan pericopes at the tail end of his depiction of this ministry segment. Thus the amount of attention devoted to this segment varies greatly. Mark (8%) and Matthew (6%) devote very little space to it. But Luke (35%) and John (28%) provide great attention to this phase of Jesus' public ministry. And most of their material is unique to their individual gospel accounts; only four episodes comprise triple tradition material:

        In addition, a couple of double tradition pericopes emerge from an observation between Mark and Matthew:

      Some of the Lucan pericopes in this section have parallels in Matthew and Mark but have been placed in earlier segments of Jesus' ministry by these two gospel writers. These include:

A. Early Judean Phase

B. Early Perean Phase

C. Later Judean Phase

D. Later Perean Phase

        At this point in the Lucan narrative both Mark and Matthew pick up the story line again. Notice here that only some of the Lucan material overlaps Mark and Matthew creating triple tradition.

        Although these four pericopes stand as triple tradition, they are inserted somewhat differently sequentially. Luke follows his Marcan source sequentially at this point, whereas Matthew reverses the sequence of the first two periocopes (#s 120 and 121). Additionally, in Matthew's pattern, there are two men healed (#125) rather than just one as in Mark (#60) and Luke (#117). This pericope merits further attention as an illustration of tendencies in the synoptic gospel writers in the use of their sources.

        This healing miracle of Jesus is narrated by all three synoptic gospel writers, but in their own distinctive ways. Several of these distinctives surface with just a casual reading the the three depictions:
        (1) Mark includes more narrative details than either Matthew or Luke. This is rather typical of the Marcan writing style. Althought the shortest of the three synoptic gospels, this shortness is mainly due to the inclusion of fewer pericopes than either Matthew or Luke and not because of brevity of narrative details inside each of the overlapping pericopes with the other two gospel writers.
        (2) Although all three gospel writers locate this event as taking place in the town of Jericho (see above map), they differ in the spatial location of the miracle. Mark (v. 46) indicates that the miracle took place as Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho. Matthew follows his Marcan source (v. 29), but Luke locates the miracle as taking place as Jesus and his disciple were coming into Jericho (vv. 35-36).
        (3) Luke follows his Marcan source indicating that a single individual was the recepient of Jesus' healing action. Although Mark identifies him as "Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar" (v. 46), Luke only picks up his blind condition and his begging (v. 35). Matthew, however, describes "two blind men sitting by the roadside"  (v. 30). Matthew tends to identify Jesus' actions as taking place with two individuals rather than one.
        (4) Luke follows his Marcan source by stressing the role that the faith of the blind man played in the healing experience. Matthew, on the other hand, stresses the compassion of Jesus as prompting the healing action.
        Inspite of these distinctions, the essential storyline of the healing narrative is the same in all three gospels. (1) The beggars were sitting by the roadside in Jericho as Jesus and his disciples passed by. (2) When informed that Jesus was passing by, they began shouting out for Jesus to take pity on them. (3) The people standing by them told them to be quiet but more persistent cries were the response. (4) Jesus stopped and addressed the beggars standing in front of them asking what they wanted from him. (5) They replied that they wanted to see again. (6) Jesus honored the request by granting sight to these blind men. (7) The healed men then followed Jesus.
        This pericope follows the traditional structure of ancient miracle stories by (1) identifying the need for miraculous action, (2) describing the miraculous action, and (3) depiciting the results of the miraculous action on first the person in need, and secondly upon the by-standers who witnessed the action (Luke stresses this part). This is the 32nd miracle story of the 35 specific miracle narratives contained in the four gospels, highlighting the tendency of the gospel writers to gradually reduce the number of miracles narratives at they approach the accounting of the greatest miracle of all that happened in the resurrection of Jesus.

        Some of the pericopes in this second stand only as double tradition, rather than triple tradition material. These are charted below.
 

110. Ten lepers cleansed 17:11-19
111. Coming of the Kingdom 17:20-37
112. Parable of the widow and the unjust judge 18:1-8
113. Parable of the Pharisee and the publican 18:9-14
118. Zaccheus 19:1-10
119. Parable of the pounds 19:11-27

        This final leg of the transitional period of ministry between Galilee and the Passion Week in Jerusalem provides us glimples into important teachings of Jesus, as well as  reactions of the masses of people as Jesus moved toward his fate at the hands of the Jewish religious leaders and the Romans in Jerusalem.

3.2.5.5. The Final Week and Crucifixion (Passio Christi)

        The final seven days of Jesus' earthly life are traditionally known as the Passio Christi (the Suffering of Christ), since they narrate the events leading directly to his arrest and crucifixion. As is obvious from the percentages listed below, these seven days occupy a major place in the gospel accounts. Also, the four gospel narratives are closer to one another in their description, both in framework and narrative details, here than in any other segment elsewhere in the story of Jesus.
        The charting out of the sequence of events during these seven days is easier than in other segments of the story of Jesus in the gospels. Yet, some challenges do exist. One of the difficulties has to do with the timing of the 'Annointing at Bethany' pericope charted here on the first Saturday. This is based on the Johannine narrative, rather than the synoptic narratives. In Mark and Matthew this event would come on Tuesday evening after Jesus had finished the busy day of teaching and confrontation in the temple inside Jerusalem. But the Johannine sequence suggests the event took place at the end of the sabbath on Saturday evening. See Jn. 12:1ff, "Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him...." Matthew and Mark do not provide as specific time markers as does John. Another tension is the location of the event. In Matthew and Mark, the dinner took place in the home of Simon the leper (Mt. 26:6 and Mark 14:3), while in John the dinner was at the home of Lazarus (Jh. 12:1). The tension between these spatial markers could suggest two separate events, but the almost identical narrative details in the bulk of the story across all three gospels make that hypothesis very unlikely.
        Another challenge in this segment of the Jesus' story has to do with the Johannine timing of the Last Supper and thus of the crucifixion, over against that in the synoptic gospels. The Johannine text suggests to some extent  that the Last Supper took place on Wednesday evening with the arrest and crucifixion taking place the following day on Thursday. One possible indicator of this comes in Jhn 13:1: "Now before the festival of the Passover..." naturally suggests Wednesday evening, since the Passover celebration officially began at sundown on Thursday evening. Yet, Jhn. 20:31 suggests that Jesus was crucified on Friday, the day of Preparation for the Passover celebration that concluded at sundown on Friday evening when the sabbath began. A.T. Robertson in his A Harmony of the Gospels, pp. 281-284, has a helpful synopsis of five critical texts in the fourth gospel that must be treated in seeking a resolution of this issue: 13:1f.; 13:27; 18:28; 19:14; 19:31. Many NT scholars are convinced that, although some natural tension does exist here, the reconciliation of John with the synoptics on at least the basics is possible without distorting the natural meaning of the texts.
        Some awareness of the geography of these events is important.

A. Friday, arrival at Bethany

        John 11:55-57 details a plot made against Jesus right at the outset of this final week of his earthly life (NRSV): "55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 They were looking for Jesus and were asking one another as they stood in the temple, 'What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?' 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus was should let them know, so that they might arrest him." Thus these final days of Jesus' life were cast under the dark cloud of religious opposition to him that was actively seeking to apprehend him in order to silence his message. In the synoptics, this same fate had been already anticipated with the three separate occasions when Jesus had predicted his arrest and death in Jerusalem: first prediction in Mk. 8:31-33 //Mt 16:21-23 // Lk 9:22; second prediction in Mk 9:30-32 //Mt 17:22-23 // Lk 9:43b-45 // Jn 7:1; third prediction in Mk 10:32-34 //Mt 20:17-19 //Lk 18:31-34.

B. Saturday, prophetic anointing

        For the sequential issue of exactly when this took place see the introductory section above. Matthew and Mark contain this episode, which somewhat parallels a similar one in John. Luke omits any reference to it. John additionally details a plot to kill Lazarus as well because of his witness after Jesus had raised him from death.
 

        To be certain, several temporal and spatial challenges exist in this pericope. The Marcan and Matthean sequence places this on Tuesday evening, rather than Saturday evening as does John. The location of the dinner is in the home of Simon the leper in Mark and Matthew, while it was in the home of Lazarus in John. An unnamed woman annointed Jesus in Mark and Matthew, while she is identified as Mary, the sister of Martha in John. The annointing was of Jesus' head in Mark and Matthew, while it was of Jesus' feet in John. Mark and John identify the value of the spices as 300 denarii while Matthew simply says a large sum. In Matthew the disciples fuss about this action being wasteful, while Mark leaves the hostile reaction more general, "some who were there...". John, however, identifies the protestor as Judas. All three gospels record a somewhat similar response by Jesus: it was a preparation of Jesus for his burial after crucifixion. Mark and Matthew add the extra statement that this woman will always be remembered for her kind, thoughtful action toward Jesus. These differences, while not making an adequate argument to two separate events, do present difficulties in understanding the details of the events of that evening.
        The essential point of these narratives, however, is clear: Jesus affirmed the action of the woman who had more spiritual perception about coming events than did his own disciples. She had made great sacrifice both financially and action wise in order to show her compassion for Jesus. Their negative reaction, while within the boundaries of Jewish law and expectations for genuine piety among Jews of that day, missed an important point. The benevolent action of giving to the poor in Jewish tradition was more motivated by the desire to accumulate 'good works' against the day of final judgment, than it was an expression of concern for the poor. Jesus' reaction was aware of these issues and he refocused attention back on the sincere expression of compassion by the woman.
        In the Johannine narrative, Jesus' presence in Bethany was made known to a large number of people who responded with curiosity to both him and Lazarus [Jn 12:9-11 (NRSV)]: "9 When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus." The determination of the religious leaders to eliminate the influence of Jesus reached bazaar levels when they resorted to plotting murder. Something should have clicked in their heads: "Look, our anger is leading us to violate one of the most basic laws of the Torah." But it didn't, and they persued their intention to get rid of Jesus. If nothing else, this passage warns us about the power of religion and anger. When mixed together at high levels, a volatile combination is created that can produce horrifically evil actions.

C. Sunday, Messianic Manifestation

        Palm Sunday, as it is labeled among Christians today, was a celebratory time that created high excitement in the city of Jerusalem. All four gospel accounts record this event, while preserving their individual perspective in narrating this significant evet.
 
 

        When Jesus entered Jerusalem on this Sunday morning, the pattern and the strategy was different from what it would be the remaining days when he would return to Jerusalem each mo