Paper Example on Different Perspectives of the Life and Works of Jesus

Introduction

There are four gospels in the new testament of the bible explaining the life and mission of Jesus. The four gospels though focusing primarily on the same thing end up giving different perspectives on their subjects, which are Jesus and the surrounded people. The texts also tend to be addressed to varying audiences, which the gospels of Mark and Matthew target the Hebrews, while Luke and John seem to have a broader audience. The following paper will compare and contrast two of the gospels that are from Mathew and Luke. Since, the two gospels seem to have different target audiences, so there must be some differences in the text translations and perspectives.

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The very first perspective of Matthew's gospel that can be distinguished from Luke's gospel is that the image of Jesus. Specifically, Matthew wrote his Gospel for and to the Jews and primarily directs his work in the book around the concept of Jesus being the king of the Jews. In Matthew 2:2, wise men ask, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." (Coogan 1749) It was just after the birth of Jesus and Matthew already shows that Jesus is seen as the king of the Jews. To the contrary, Luke was a physician, who researched his work profoundly and went ahead to approach his writing by Jesus as a son of man. Luke shows how Jesus was an ordinary individual and his ultimate interest in people without segregation; He interacted with everyone. Luke's ample work takes a focus on the birth of Jesus, his childhood with his parents and his Human characteristics (Luke 2:7-21). In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus has been entirely seen as the promised Messiah for the Jewish people, He was to be their greatest prophet. But in Luke Jesus does not have the concern for the Jews. Instead, he focuses on the non-Jews, who are the Gentiles.

Both the gospels have a similarity, in that; both portray Jesus, a teacher. He teaches his subjects on the right ways of God, and He has total concerns over his subjects during the teachings. The two gospels also acknowledge Jesus having a massive crowd of follow up since birth, in Matthew, he was visited by Magi, while in Luke the visitation was by shepherds. In their versions, Matthew and Luke differ significantly on the birth of Jesus. Matthew traces the origin of Jesus to Abraham to stress his responsibility as the Messiah of the Jews. Saint Luke describes him as a descendant of Adam, to express universal significance of Jesus' life and teachings. Matthew says Christ's birth took place in Bethlehem because there lived Mary together with Joseph. They then fled from King Herod in Bethlehem to Egypt for safety. They afterward returned and settled in Nazareth as they were at a safe there. Luke states that they resided in Nazareth, after which they went to Bethlehem for the process of the census and were forced to have baby Jesus born in a manger. Matthew does not give the manger as a place of birth. Lucas says the baby was visited by the shepherds whereas Matthew says the wise men visited him.

After baptism and temptation of Jesus, Saint Luke immediately takes us to Nazareth, while Matthew tells us that relocated to Galilee after John the Baptist imprisoned. At the termination of Jesus' preaching at Galilee [Luke] deliberates his location near the onset of his message. Jesus proceeded to Capernaum where he performed miracles [Luke 4: 14-15, 23]. He afterward went to Nazareth. Guided by the Holy Ghost, he defeated the enemy with his overwhelming words and began his mission. He declares openly that the Holy Spirit is upon him. Luke once again emphasizes the significance for the Holy Ghost to have you, preach and declare the good word. People in Nazareth were all talking about the Messiah, and they were expecting him. St Luke's narration takes a different angle at this juncture. Jews expected the Messiah to be a political savior, to liberate them from Roman dictatorship. According to Matthew's account, In Jerusalem, King Herod hunts all over the region for baby. He intends to kill the already famous Jesus. From Luke's story, the child is declared publicly in the center of the city of Jerusalem by Anna and Simeone. Saint Luke says about Jesus and his family moving to Jerusalem, but according to Saint Matthew, they are believed to avoid the city. But Jesus tells the people he will not revenge, but instead will bring them salvation. This meant that the kingdom was at risk of being snatched from Jews. In history, the religious structure was challenged by the word of Christ for the first time, and this made people refer Jesus as the Messiah.

After Nazareth's interview, Luke's takes us to Capernaum where he gives us the impression that Jesus had not gone there before. He nevertheless inform us in (Lk 4:23) he is aware that the Messiah had gone there before getting to Nazareth. He now tells us what Jesus is engaged in by preaching, healing the sick and casting away demons - a sign showing the Lord's kindness to them. People bring forth the question: "What is this learning?" - Lukas once again emphasizes speech inspired by the Holy Spirit, while Mark on the same happenings simply asks: "What is it? "[5]

The above also applies to the description of Jesus' act of healing the mother-in-law to Peter, a narration that is similar in both the gospel of Matthew and Luke. In the narration according to Saint Matthew, He is said to have healed a woman, and that Luke was rebuking the sickness. He stresses words said by Jesus; "I have to preach (Luke 4:43), and therefore preached (Lk 4:44) The two gospels have a similarity in how they refer Jesus as they both portray Jesus, as a teacher. He teaches multitudes on the right ways outlined by his father, God. The gospels portray Jesus' dedication to his work of preaching. They show how Jesus had multitudes of followers as early as at birth. According to Matthew, he was visited by Magi, whereas according to Luke he was visited by shepherds. After the baptism and temptation, Jesus started preaching, and his popularity is seen to grow very fast. People as far as Nazareth are said to have heard about him and were eager to see and hear from him. This is clear from (Luke 4:23) as people express their urge to explore the power and preaching of Jesus.

The two gospels give a similar narration of the birthplace of Jesus. They both say that Jesus' place of birth was Bethlehem as in Matt 2:1 and Luke 2:4-7. According to Saint Matthew, the Messiah was born in a house somewhere in Bethlehem before moving to Egypt for safety. According to Saint Luke, both Mary and Joseph, the later foster father were from in Nazareth. They had both traveled to Bethlehem as the census was taking place at that time. While they are there for the exercise, Jesus is born in a manger

The two narratives invite their audience to follow the teachings of Jesus. According to Luke, Mary is s the real model of discipleship. This is because she listens to the word of the creator and practices. According to Matthew, Joseph is someone who interprets Torah.

Both accounts discussed in the two gospels express the faith in the Messiah as the son of the highest after death and resurrection of Christ. This conviction was expressed by associating the birth of Christ with the power of Holy Spirit. According to Luke, an angel tells Mary that the Holy Spirit would descend upon her and she would be overshadowed by the power of the highest (Lk 1:35). In Matthew, Joseph learns in a dream that he should take Mary to his house as a wife who had conceived by the strength of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20). Both narratives emphasize that the coming of the Messiah is in continuity and is final fulfillment of Israel's agreement with the Creator. They repeatedly resort to the scriptures of Israel to affirm this.

The two gospels declare the birth of the baby as significant for all humankind. Magi the magician and perhaps his genealogy transmit this. Luke continuously refers to Jesus as a bearer of peace, and these have a global implication. Both gospels associate the importance of the baby with his death on the cross. Matthew outlines direct contradictions between the episode of the magicians and Jesus' death. For the Christian faith, such insights of the writers of the inspired Gospels are of the utmost importance in reading their words.

Annotated Bibliography

Coogan, Michael D. "The New Oxford Annotated Bible." Oxford University Press 10.9 (2010): 1749.

In this verse, some men who studied the star came to Jerusalem from the East and are asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." (Matthew 2:2) Matthew is mentioning that Jesus was born for the Jewish people only, he was a prophet that was meant to serve them. To the Jews, He was a sent Rabbi to come and guide them in their undertakings, to teach them about the ways of God and to protect them. This can be use to show that Jesus was born as the king of the Jews under Matthew's perspective, and since he is written his gospel for the Jew, this can be seen as a useful source to compare with Luke's image of Jesus, which alike an average person.

Coogan, Michael D. "The New Oxford Annotated Bible." Oxford University Press 10.9 (2010): 1832-1833. The chapter gives an account of Jesus from birth.

According to Luke, Jesus is born in a manger and is wrapped in bands of cloth (Luke 2:7 GN), this is a standard birth that any person would undergo. After birth, Jesus goes ahead to experience the process every average person would go through, after eight days he is named, as it was the recommended time for circumcision (Luke 2:21). Later on, Mary and Joseph perform purification, which was a requirement to all the people as per the Law of Moses. Since, Luke was a physician and he focuses on Gentiles, whose are non-Jews, so his writing is about Jesus taking the path of an average person's lifestyle. This is a useful source to compare with Matthew's perspective, since it shows how Luke describes Jesus as an average person from his birth and his lifestyle.

Thomas A. Wayment, "First-Century Sources on the Life of Jesus" in How the New Testament Came to Be: The Thirty-fifth Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, ed. Kent P. Jackson and Frank F. Judd Jr. (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2006), 109-122

Thomas article gives the similarities and differences between Matthews and Luke's birth narratives. They both mention King Herod the great, conception of Christ through the spirit and that Christ was born in Bethlehem. On the differences, they differ in the location of conception. Matthew speaks of the place of birth being a house (Matt 2:11) while Luke speaks of birth taking place in a stable (Luke 2:7). In this article, we are able to trace the actual early sources of the history of life, work of Christ.it compares the information in the gospels with other earlier sources, and this is seen to have shown some similarities.