YESUS MENURUT INJIL MATIUS

Matius menulis kepada pembaca berlatar belakang Yahudi dan salah satu tujuan dari Injilnya itu
memperlihatkan silsilah Yesus dan penggenapan nubuat-nubuat Perjanjian Lama bahwa Yesus
adalah Mesias yang sudah lama dinantikan, dan harus dipercaya. Penekanan Matius adalah pada
Yesus sebagai Raja yang dijanjikan, sang Anak Daud yang akan duduk di tahta Israel untuk
selama-lamanya (Matius 9:27; 21:9).
Compare then these brief theological musings concerning Mark's theological emphases with what
we find when we turn to the gospel of Matthew. Matthew's structure, more often than not, parallels
Mark's. He too has a key turning point at Peter's confession on the road to Caesarea Philippi in
chapter 16, with the pivot probably coming between verses 20 and 21.
a. Five Key Discourses
But it would appear that Matthew is also particularly concerned to introduce into Mark's narrative
(which he otherwise broadly follows) five key segments of texts that appear as sermons or
comparatively uninterrupted discourses of Jesus of a chapter or more in length. These five include
the so-called Sermon on the Mount (in chapters 5-7); the instructions to the disciples for their first
missionary journey (in chapter 10); a lengthy discourse in parables (13:1-52), eight to be precise;
Matthew 18 entirely devoted to the topics of humility and forgiveness, both from divine and human
perspectives, addressed solely to the disciples; and then chapters 23-25. These can be viewed as
either one or two addresses back-to-back that include His woes to a select group of scribes and
Pharisees for their hypocrisy (chapter 23), followed by His discourse, or message, to the disciples
on the Mount of Olives about the coming end.
b. Matthew's View of Jesus
1. Jesus as Teacher like Moses
Thus, as we turn to views of Jesus, it is appropriate to begin with Jesus as teacher for Matthew's
distinctive portrait. Some have even gone so far as to observe that the five blocks of sermonic
material in Matthew match in number the five books of Moses in the Torah or Pentateuch (Genesis
through Deuteronomy, the five books of the law with which the Hebrew Scriptures begin). This
may well be simply a coincidence. It is hard to know how it would be proved. But in either event it
is certainly fair to see Jesus as being portrayed as a teacher like Moses, but also as One who is
greater than Moses. His teaching is not simply a new law, but a law that is doable, written on
human hearts as Old Testament promises of the new covenant stressed. Jesus also speaks of this in
His paradoxical words in Matthew 11:28-30 in which He invites all who are weary to come to Him
for His yolk is easy and His burden is light. These are terms not normally associated with that
which is either easy or light.
Still, like Moses, Jesus has miracles surrounding His infancy another key distinction between
Matthew and Mark. The first two chapters of Matthew show key events surrounding Jesus' birth.
He causes turmoil among the rulers of the land, again like Moses. Again like Moses, He survives
when babies His age are massacred. He retraces the journey of the exodus to and from Egypt. He
is tempted in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights, just as the Israelites wandered in the
wilderness. But where they gave into temptation, Jesus resists. Perhaps then, we are also to see
some of this parallelism as showing Jesus succeeding where Israel of old, at the beginning of the
first covenant between God and His people, proved a failure. Even mountains, much like Mount

Sinai where Moses received the law in the book of Exodus, remain more significant in Matthew
than in other gospels including as places of revelation, not only in the Sermon on the Mount, but
in the Transfiguration and the giving of the Great Commission.
2. Titles Used to Refer to Jesus
i. Son of David
Titles more common and distinctive to Matthew include Son of David, which stresses His regal
ancestry and thus King and Royal Messiah as well. Son of David occurs nine times in Matthew,
eight of which are not found in any other gospel. The title fits Matthew's Jewish orientation (which
we will turn to in a moment), and the conventional expectation of a Messiah who would be a
descendant of the lineage of the house of David and who would exercise kingly functions. Thus
Herod and his followers (2:1-12) fear a literal king who will dethrone them because their power is
illegitimate illegitimately usurped. And Pilate wonders (27:11) if Jesus is a King of the Jews.
Intriguingly, whereas these people in power who should have been able to recognize a true
Messianic candidate but can't, individuals who address Jesus as Son of David are consistently the
powerless ones (particularly those in need of physical as well as spiritual healing).
ii. Son of God
We may also speak of a heightened Son of God Christology in the gospel of Matthew. Key
references, again, frame Matthew's text (see both 2:15 and 26:63). The devil assumes Jesus to be
God's Son at his temptation (4:3, 6). Only in Matthew do the disciples confess Jesus as Son of God
after he walks on the water (14:33). This is one of those places where in Mark, dramatically
different, their hearts are hardened. Of course, one can imagine some mixture of both after such a
remarkable miracle, so that these need not be flat out contradictions. But it is striking how each
writer chooses to emphasize a different aspect of the account in line with their overall emphases.
Perhaps even more striking is the elaborate expansion of the Cesarea Philippi narrative in Matthew
16. Instead of having Peter confess Jesus as the Messiah and then having Jesus immediately silence
him, Peter says: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus replies: "Flesh and
blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." And Jesus then goes on in the
famous passage regarding the keys to the kingdom to declare that on the rock, which Peter
represents, He would build His church.
iii. Emmanuel - God with us
Another framing device sees Jesus as not merely a heightened Son of God but God with us,
Emanuel. This title used at His conception (1:23) and implicit in His closing promise (28:20): "I
will be with you", God with you or us always.
iv. Lord
Perhaps the most important of Matthew's titles for Jesus is not one of his most distinctive. Many
people call Him Lord here and in other gospels. And, as we noted in our last lecture, in some
contexts it need mean nothing more than Master. But in several places particularly in Matthew (see
8:2, 6, 25; 9:28 and perhaps also 2:2; 8:11; 14:33), He is apparently worshipped as one who alone
has divine power.
c. Wisdom Incarnate

Finally, we may note the theme of wisdom incarnate in the gospel of Matthew. In 12:42 and 13:54,
Jesus' wisdom is highlighted. In 11:19, John the Baptist and Jesus are said to vindicate God's
wisdom. And in 11:25-30, which we have already alluded to part of, Jesus calls the lowly to
Himself and promises them rest in a passage quite similar to one in the intertestamental book of
Wisdom attributed to Ben Sirach. Perhaps Matthew has a slightly distinctive concern, at least
among the synoptic gospel writers, to portray Jesus as God's wisdom incarnate based on the already
existing pattern of Proverbs 8 and 9.
d. The Move from Particularism to Universalism in the Offering of the Gospel
Other distinctive and dominant themes for Matthew include what has been called the move from
particularism to universalism in the gospel offer. More clearly than in any of the other gospels,
early on in Jesus' public ministry, He stresses that His mission is solely to the "lost sheep of the
house of Israel". He makes this claim both in the context of sending out the twelve (10:5-6) and
also in His initially brusque reply to the Canaanite woman's appeal for healing for her daughter
(15:24).
Yet this is also the gospel that ends with the fullest version of the Great Commission in which Jesus
sends His disciples to the ends of the earth to make disciples of all nations. Matthew is the only
gospel that includes the quasi-parable of the sheep and the goats (25:31-46), announcing the
judgment of all peoples or nations, presumably following the evangelism of all nations. And
Matthew is the only gospel which, in its account of the parable of the wicked tenants (21:43),
includes the line from Jesus that the kingdom would be taken away from the current Jewish
leadership and given to a people or nation who will produce its fruit.
Thus, it appears that Matthew is following very much the logic that Paul in Romans 1:16 spells out:
that the gospel was first of all a message of salvation for the Jews, because they had been God's
elect people in the Old Testament. Because it was from them that the Messiah was to emerge, they
had the right to hear the gospel first. But God's intention was never to stop at that point. It was
then to move on the rest of the world.
e. The Jewish Emphases in the Gospel of Matthew
The very Jewish emphases of Matthew's gospel can be viewed in numerous other respects.
Matthew quotes the Old Testament about twice as often as Mark and has about twice as many texts
in which the Hebrew Scriptures are explicitly said to be fulfilled. We see a barrage of these already
in the infancy narrative (chapters 1 and 2). Indeed, if one asks why Matthew includes such different
events surrounding Christ's birth as Luke (the one other gospel to deal with this period of Jesus
life), the answer almost certainly is because he is portraying those five clusters of events that can be
said to fulfill various prophesies, either literal or by typology (that is to say, patterns of God's acting
in human history repeating). And he does so because, as early church tradition uniformly insisted,
Matthew is the one gospel of the synoptics, and probably the one gospel of the four, written to
exclusively, or almost exclusively, Jewish Christians.
Not surprisingly, he would want to link the story of Jesus as he presents it back to the Old
Testament wherever possible. This was both to confirm these Jewish Christians in the choices they
have made to follow Jesus, as well as to give them theological ammunition (as it were) to defend
those choices as they share the good news with family and friends in the Jewish world who have not
yet chosen to follow Jesus as Messiah.
In the same context, we are not surprised to see the concept of Jesus fulfilling the law and the
prophets (5:17-20). Prophecy in the sense of prediction, we, of course, expect to be fulfilled. But

how is the law fulfilled especially when the examples in the rest of chapter 5 in the Sermon on the
Mount are all examples in which Jesus takes issue with prevailing interpretations of the law, if not
with the law itself? Presumably the answer is that the word for fulfill can and did often in the
Greek, and the underlying Hebrew and Aramaic, mean something like what in English we would
mean if we said to fill full that is to bring to full completion all of the intended meaning of some
initial law or principle or event.
f. Jesus Demands Righteousness of His Followers
Thus a dominant and distinctive theological emphasis in Matthew's gospel is also that He regularly
demands righteousness of His followers. Indeed Jesus requires a greater righteousness than even
the key Jewish leadership (5:20 ). But, again, if we appeal to 11:28-30, we see that with this greater
demand comes a greater empowerment.
g. Discipleship
When we look at Matthew's view of discipleship and, although it can be and has been overstated,
there is nevertheless a perceivable difference between the relatively negative, or at least very
ambivalent portrait of the disciples in Mark, and a somewhat more positive picture of them in
Matthew. In a number of key places where Mark stresses their lack of faith, Mathew focuses on at
least a fledgling belief that they do have (see 8:26, 13:51 and 14:33 again).
h. Matthew Uses the Greek Word for Church, "ekklesia"
Intriguingly, Matthew is also the only one of the four gospels ever to use the Greek word for church,
ekklesia. And then he uses it only three times and in two verses (16:18; 18:17) in the context of
Peter's foundational role in the assembly of the Jesus' followers and then when similar promises are
given to the entire twelve in the context of community discipline and forgiveness (18:17).
i. Matthew Refers to Jesus' Followers as "Little Ones"
A distinctive term for Matthew for Jesus' followers is "little ones" (see 10:42; 18:6, 10, 14; 25:40),
stressing the Christian's humble position before God.
And it is possible that Matthew may reflect the later establishment of key offices or roles in his
church, or in the Christian church more broadly, with such distinctive references as those to wise
men, prophets and scribes (10:41; 13:52; 23:34).
He may even be concerned to oppose false teachers in his midst who rely on a kind of charismatic
or elitist's spiritual, self-appointed authority despite an unwillingness to follow even basic universal
moral law that spans both covenants. This could explain the strong warnings of the Sermon on the
Mount (for example, 7:15-23).
j. Growing Conflict with Jewish Authorities
Finally, a key theological emphasis in Matthew, also reflecting the narrative structure of the gospel,
is the growing conflict with Jewish authorities. Whereas in Mark, these conflicts seem to punctuate
a narrative which otherwise returns to speak of Jesus' popularity and fame until reasonably close to
the final stages of His earthly life, in Matthew a graph could be plotted of a fairly linear downward
progression of the state of affairs between Jesus and the Jewish leaders of His society as things
become more and more hostile as Matthew's narrative unfolds.

How does this mesh with a gospel which, as we have already seen, is otherwise so thoroughly
Jewish? Most likely Matthew's Jewish Christian audience, sometime in the 60s at the earliest, has
increasingly broken from the local synagogue many times. No doubt, this was because it was the
Jews who expelled their members who acknowledge Jesus as Messiah. But, as we see so often in
the book of Acts when Paul is rejected by sufficient numbers of the local synagogue so that he turns
to the Gentiles in that community, the location of his ministry does not geographically move very
far afield. Indeed, Graham Stanton has used the expression "the synagogue across the street" based
on various archeological excavations from communities in the ancient Mediterranean world where
church and synagogue were literally across the street to one another to suggest the theological
environment in which Matthew's church finds itself. Or, put another way, these are not Jewish
Christians who have left their ties behind them and simply become assimilated to part of a larger
Gentile community. They are still actively engaged in defending their choices and in trying to call
their Jewish friends and family to join them.
Thus warnings of coming judgment make sense in this context even the strong ones, like the woes
of chapter 23 or the cries of the crowd at the crucifixion in 27:25, "His blood be on us and on our
children." Nothing here should be taken as indicting the entire Jewish people or a generation
beyond that in which judgment did fall on the children of the generation that crucified Jesus (that is
to say, in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70 by the Romans, 40 years after Christ's crucifixion in
AD30). Still there is judgment on those who were antagonists toward Jesus and never repented
from that position. Many of these then went on to be persecutors of Jesus' followers as well.
Given this background it is not surprising that Matthew has a distinctive and dominant reference to
the Sadducees among the various Jewish leaders, since they held the power in the Sanhedrin at the
time of Jesus' crucifixion. They appear seven times in Matthew, always negatively, whereas in the
rest of the gospels they appear only twice.
By contrast, Matthew has significantly shortened the miracle stories and has made them
much more clear, which demonstrates the lesson of faith that they contain, while also
portraying the disciples as men who understand the lesson, although do not always have a
strong faith in Jesus capabilities (White 182). A clear example of this is seen in Matthew
14:22-33 when Jesus walks on water and calms the waves. Matthew is seen omitting
language that is used in Mark that makes Jesus seem misunderstood by the disciples (Mk
6:52) and replaces it with language that confirms Jesus identity as the Son of God (Mt
14:33). Matthews author also adds in the story of Peter, which falls in line with Matthews
reoccurring portrayal as Jesus disciples having little faith (Mt 14:31).
Matthews depiction of Jesus traveling and healing multitudes in 12:15-21 has an element of
the messianic secret that Mark depicts in 3:7-12. The difference between the two of these
stories is that Matthew attributes this secrecy to fulfillment of prophecy by quoting Isiah
42:1-4. By quoting this scripture, Matthew is able to explain this need for secrecy, which
also contributes to the clearer and more straight-forward depiction of Jesus. These miracle
stories, coupled with the emphasis Matthew places on the sermons of Jesus, bolsters the
image of Jesus as a teacher that the author of Matthew has crafted throughout his gospel.

YESUS MENURUT INJIL MARKUS

Markus menulis kepada orang-orang non-Yahudi sebagaimana yang nyata dari tidak
dimasukkannya beberapa hal yang penting bagi para pembaca dengan latar belakang Yahudi
(silsilah, silang pendapat antara Kristus dan para pemimpin Yahudi pada zamanNya, seringnya
rujukan pada Perjanjian Lama, dll). Markus menekankan Kristus sebagai Hamba yang Menderita,
Dia yang datang bukan untuk dilayani melainkan untuk melayani dan memberi nyawaNya menjadi
tebusan bagi banyak orang (Markus 10:45).
a. Mark's View of Jesus
For Mark, much of what he is trying to do theologically appears to be related to the unique two-part
structure of his gospel.
1. Jesus as Miracle Worker and Popular Prophet
It has regularly been observed that, from 1:1 to 8:29 (or perhaps 8:30), there is entirely a focus on
Jesus' adult ministry. It has rapid action, fast-paced narrative sequence and the frequent use of the
word immediately to link events potentially separated by a certain amount of time to keep that sense
of rapidity going. Per segment of text, there is a significant focus on Jesus as miracle-worker and as
the popular self-styled prophet/rabbi that attracts ever-increasing crowds. This is in part because of
His teaching, but even more because of His miracles. Indeed, there is what one might call a
growing sense of Jesus as a divine Messiah.
2. Jesus as Suffering Servant
This is followed then abruptly with 8:30 (or 8:31) to the end of the gospel with a much slower
narrative in terms of the amount of time covered. There is much more of a focus on the preparation
for Christ's death and the road to the cross. There is a much higher percentage of dialogue and
teaching, as over against miracles or other fast-paced events. And thus the focus is much more on
Jesus as the suffering Messiah.
Various proposals from time-to-time have attempted to understand Mark as having inherited one of
these two points of focus from his tradition from Christians who began to put together their way
of framing the life of Christ before him. Mark then uses the other one of the two emphases as a
balancing feature.
Thus, for example, some have stressed that, as the gospel spread into Greek and Roman circles,
Jesus may well have been thought of as a theos anr, the Greek for a divine man, a deified hero or
great wonder-worker according to Greco-Roman categories. This is a very exalted figure, but one
whom Mark then ameliorates or moderates with his portrait and emphasis on Jesus as Suffering
Servant. Conversely, others, though perhaps not as often, have seen Mark as inheriting the view of
Suffering Servant and wanting to balance that out with his emphasis on Jesus' great power and
authority and miracle-working ability.

Both approaches, however, seem too one-sided. A writer wanting to play down what he believed
was too strong an emphasis in his tradition would probably not have retained a full half of his
gospel for that emphasis. For this reason it would seem that Mark is deliberately trying to stress
both Jesus' divinity and His humanity, both His suffering and His exultation. He stresses both the
road to the cross and His coming glory foreshadowed in part already during His ministry.
b. Titles Used to Refer to Jesus
1. Son of God
In addition to this balance, a key Christological title for Mark is Son of God or, at times, just Son.
While not occurring frequently in the gospel, it appears at highly strategic places in Mark's
narrative. First of all, it is in Mark's opening verse which forms a kind of headline to the gospel: the
beginning of the good news of Jesus, the Christ and Son of God. It recurs again in the climactic
position on the lips of the centurion who watches Jesus die and confesses: "Truly this man was the
Son of God" (15:39). In between these two texts, we read that the voice from heaven designates
Jesus as Son at His baptism (1:11) and then again at His transfiguration (9:7). Intriguingly,
elsewhere the title occurs only on the lips of demons representing their supernatural knowledge of
Jesus' identity (see 3:11; 5:7).
2. Christ
The other Christological title that appears in Mark's opening verse is indeed Christ, the Greek
translation of Hebrew Messiah or Anointed One. This title is not particularly common either. In
fact, it does not appear again until Peter's confession on the road to Caesarea Philippi (8:29), and
then six times later in Mark's narrative. But all of these opening eight chapters, as already noted,
seem to build toward the confession on the road to Caesarea Philippi as the pivot or hinge or turning
point of Mark's gospel, with Peter's bold announcement immediately silenced as Jesus goes on to
redefine it in terms of the suffering that Peter is not yet ready to accept.
Indeed, what makes the title "Christ" so significant for Mark is not its frequency, but the fact that
this practice of Jesus silencing those who come to recognize him as Messiah (or its functional
equivalent) put so starkly with Peter (8:30) is a recurring both dominant and distinctive theme in
Mark. It appears in the other gospels, but not nearly as frequently. More so than elsewhere, Jesus
regularly commands people not to tell anyone about His identity. We see this when He separates off
the insiders from the outsiders in terms of those who understand parables (4:10-12). We see it when
demons' confessions of Christ are rebuked (1:25, 34; 3:12). We see it when spectacular miracles are
followed up by commands to silence, as if that were realistically possible (see for example 1:44;
5:18-19, 43; and so on).
A famous view was promoted by the turn of the 19th to 20th century scholar, William Wrede. He
dubbed this the Messianic Secret theme, or motif, in Mark's gospel. He argued that this was Mark's
technique for introducing the view, or the conviction, that Jesus was the Messiah, when in fact He
had never Himself made or acknowledged such claims. The idea then was that Mark introduced
this literary fiction of Jesus, regularly silencing people who had come to this understanding, so that
they would not tell others. This then supposedly explained why in Mark's day, writing probably in
the 60s, he was able to call Jesus the Messiah, even though many of his readers presumably would
not have heard of this claim before and wonder why they had not heard of it.
It is much more likely, however, that Jesus did believe Himself to be the Christ and so proclaim and
acknowledge that fact. But He was very hesitant about accepting the title, or accepting it
unqualified. This, no doubt, would have produced premature enthusiasm for a military ruler or

royal Messiah, when in fact that was not how He saw His mission during this first coming of His on
earth. Clearly popular Christological hopes did not leave room for a suffering Messiah. It was not
just Peter who was unprepared for such a claim. Only after Christ's crucifixion and resurrection
could His more glorious nature be described without this kind of fear of misunderstanding. Thus
9:9 is the one place in Mark's gospel where the Messianic Secret theme appears, but a limit is put on
the so-called secrecy. After His resurrection, then that veil of secrecy can be lifted.
3. Suffering Servant
As we noted in discussing the theology of the death of Christ in the synoptics in our previous
lecture, it is Mark's gospel also that contains the two most crucial passages for demonstrating His
role as Suffering Servant in 10:45 and in 14:24.
c. Role of Disciples and Discipleship
When we turn to other distinctive and/or dominant themes of the gospel of Mark outside of
perspectives on Jesus, the role of disciples and discipleship hits us immediately. Somewhat akin to
the Messianic Secret theme is the frequent negative portrait of the disciples, particularly with them
also failing to understand fully what Jesus was about. As we already mentioned, even they, at one
level, did not grasp Jesus parables, though at least they remain followers of Jesus to hear the
explanations which others do not (see 4:11-13, 33-34). Elsewhere Mark describes their heats as
hardened or that they have little or no faith. They are perplexed or puzzled after various miracles.
On one crucial occasion after the transfiguration, they are wholly unable to fulfill Jesus' already
previously given charge to them to cast demons out of a particular individual (see 9:14-29).
And as we already noted, Jesus has to rebuke Peter immediately after his confession on the road to
Caesarea Philippi, because he has no room for a concept of a suffering Messiah. Indeed the account
of the disciples' spiritual blindness on this occasion is contrasted with two miracle stories shortly
before and after this passage (8:22-26; 10:46-52) in which literal blind people received their sight
and apparently become spiritual followers of Jesus as well.
Then, of course, climactically at the end of the gospel, Peter denies his Lord and Judas betrays Him
while all the disciples flee. On the assumption that Mark's gospel ended at 16:8, as it does in the
earliest and most reliable manuscripts, the entire narrative ends with the women fleeing the tomb
saying nothing to anyone because they are afraid.
On the other hand, while they do fail to understand, the disciples are also those who did respond to
His initial call to follow Him (see the various call narratives in chapters 1-3), are given truths that
outsiders are not permitted to receive (4:14-20; 7:17-23), and get to hear promises about the future
in which, at the end of human history as we now know it, they will receive special privileges, or in
the case of Jesus' resurrection in the more immediate future. Thus, their ultimate role seems
somewhat ambiguous.
The same can be said for Jesus' women followers, even though they were not part of the formal
gathering of twelve apostles. Throughout most of Mark's gospel they appear to fare better than the
inner circle of twelve men. Jesus praises their tenacious faith (5:28, 34; 7:29), their sacrifice
(12:41-44) and lavish love for Himself (14:3-9). When the men flee, the women stay and are there
present to watch Jesus die on the cross, to see where He is buried and go to the tomb to honor it
after the Sabbath has past (though, of course, they do not find it). But the women's bewilderment at
the angel's announcement of the resurrection, their flight and initial silence with which the most
probable earliest form of the gospel ended, somewhat qualifies their success earlier on. This
suggests that ultimately all of Jesus' followers of either gender fail Him at one point or many.

At first glance, this would seem to be an odd emphasis for a gospel, until we realize that Mark was
probably written to Roman Christians in the 60s. This was shortly before or in the midst of Nero's
persecution of Christians in that region. Therefore, this is, in a backhanded way, a theme that has
particular poignancy for these Christian churches. They would have known, by the very fact that
disciples had subsequently come and evangelized them (Peter himself being the first leader of the
church in Rome), that the disciples did not end on the bleak note that it appears they might in
Mark's narrative alone. Jesus was able to reinstate them and use them mightily in the first
generation of Christian history as described in the book of Acts.
Therefore, those who felt inadequate or felt that in one way or another they had already denied or
betrayed their Lord during times of persecution should have been able to take heart. Just as Jesus
was able to forgive His closest followers when they repented and use them mightily, He could do
the same with them.
d. Mark's View of End Times as Imminent
Another key theme for Mark has often been identified as his view of eschatology or end-times
events as still imminent. He sees it as still a lively hope of that which might happen quite soon.
This is appropriate for the earliest gospel. One looks particularly at the one extensive sermon that
Mark preserves compared to numerous, longer, uninterrupted messages in the other gospels and
discovers that it is the sermon Jesus preached on the Mount of Olives about the events surrounding
the destruction of the temple and then beyond that to the end of the age and to His return in chapter
13.
e. Use of the Word Gospel to Refer to the Story of Jesus' Life and Ministry
So too it would appear that Mark may well have been the first Christian to use or reapply the term
gospel, Greek euaggelion, or good news, for the story about Jesus, rather than just the message
Jesus Himself brought and announced. This is the way a number of translations take Mark 1:1 the
gospel of Jesus Christ; the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The of the means about. In
several other places in Mark's narrative, he adds the term gospel into his narrative where others do
not have it. Understandably, Mark's finished product was then given this title and it became
increasingly a way of referring to a book or work of literature about Jesus.
Mark is speculated to be written during the Jewish revolt against Rome and potentially after
the destruction of the temple (White 264). People of the time were looking for a political
Messiah and not realizing that Jesus was going to be associated with suffering and death.
This might be a reason why Mark portrays Jesus as a misunderstood character and
emphasizes this through the interactions that the disciples have with Jesus (White 266). His
miracles are veiled in secrecy (Mk 3:12) and are complexly described, which makes for very
perplexed and confused disciples in Marks miracle stories (Mk 6:52). However, the author
of Mark also uses an element of irony with this portrayal because he is writing to an
audience who already knows the story of Jesus and how he is ultimately revealed as the
Messiah. The miracle stories in Mark serve as a sort of commentary on the narrative,
which make the characters in the stories examples to the reader (White 273). A case of this
is seen in Mark 6:45-52 where Jesus walks on water. The disciples are terrified at first
because they think Jesus is a ghost, and by the end of the story, they are astounded and
have hearts that are hardened. The audience of Mark is able to see Jesus significance,
while the disciples are depicted as confused and unable to understand Jesus

KHOTBAH DI BUKIT
Menurut Penginjil Matius, pengajaran tentang sabda bahagia disampaikan di sebuah lereng
perbukitan (Matius 5:1), sehingga sering disebut khotbah di bukit. Perbukitan itu tidak jauh
dari Tabga. Egeria melukiskan bahwa tempat itu berupa sebuah gua: "Di lereng perbukitan
dekat Tabga ada sebuah gua tempat Yesus berdiri mengajarkan sabda bahagia." Arkeolog
Fransiskan, Bellarmino Bagatti, dalam penggaliannya tahun 1935 menemukan sisa-sisa
reruntuhan kapel berukuran 7,20 x 4,48 m yang dibangun pada abad ke-4 dengan sangkristi
berbentuk gua. Kemungkinan besar kapel itu dihancurkan oleh pasukan Persia tahun 614.
Secara jelas Lukas menulis "disuatu tempat yang datar" (Yunani, epi topou pedinou)
demikianlah disebutkan untuk membedakannya dengan "Khotbah di Bukit" pada Matius
pasal 5 s/d 7.
Selanjutnya kita juga bisa teliti dalam Injil Matius, bahwa ucapan bahagia yang kedua dari
Injil Matius ini muncul dalam bentuk yang sangat berbeda dari ucapan ketiga dalam Injil
Lukas. Ucapan ketiga dalam Injil Matius tidak muncul sama sekali dalam Injil Lukas.
Ucapan keempat dalam Injil Matius menjadi ucapan kedua dalam Injil Lukas, dengan minus
kata-kata "dan haus akan kebenaran". Ucapan kelima, keenam, ketujuh dalam Injil Matius
semuanya tidak terdapat dalam Injil Lukas; Ucapan kedelapan dalam Injil Matius muncul
sebagai yang keempat dalam Injil Lukas, dengan bentuk yang cukup berbeda.

Menurut kerangka karangan Matius, pemberitaan Yesus di Mat. 5-7 sejajar dengan berita Musa
yang menerima *Dasa Titah di Gunung *Sinai.
Sebutan Khotbah di Bukit pertama kali diberikan oleh Santo Augustinus (sekitar 392 M). Sebagian
bahannya terdapat juga dalam Luk. 6:20-49, yang lebih singkat, yang dikatakan disampaikan Yesus
di dataran. Akan tetapi, Lukas menambahkan pada empat *ucapan bahagia Yesus, juga empat
ucapan 'celakalah' yang bersangkut paut dengan kehidupan Kristen dalam Gereja,
Yang memang pokok khas dari Lukas: perhatikan tambahan kata 'setiap hari' dalam Luk. 9:23 (yang
tidak ada di Mrk. 8:34). Khotbah di Bukit ini adalah suatu kumpulan perkataan Yesus yang disusun
oleh penulis Injil. Perkataan-perkataan itu disampaikan pada berbagai kesempatan dan sekarang
disusun untuk menampilkan Yesus sebagai Musa baru, menyampaikan kebenaran baru untuk para
*murid-Nya. Khotbah di Bukit ini adalah suatu bagian integral dari keseluruhan Injil, tetapi dapat
ditinjau sebagai satu unit khusus.
Bagian pertama (Mat. 5:1-12) terdiri dari sembilan *ucapan bahagia atau berkat, yang menyatakan
bahwa dalam *Kerajaan Surga (atau Allah) akan ada pembalikan nilai-nilai secara besar-besaran.
Ucapan-ucapan bahagia disampaikan dalam bentuk indikatif, bukan imperatif. Ucapan-ucapan itu
adalah pernyataan mengenai suatu kehidupan yang sama sekali lepas dari suatu persekutuan
tertentu, Yahudi ataupun Kristen. Berlaku untuk semua orang. Para murid disapa (5:1), tetapi juga
orang banyak (7:28).
Imperatifnya tentu ada -- bagaimana para murid harus mengikuti kehidupan ideal di mana pun.
Sejumlah contoh praktis menyusul memaparkan cita-cita kerajaan dalam keadaan hidup ini:
pembunuhan, perzinahan, sumpah dan permusuhan semuanya dilarang oleh ukuran mutlak dari
kerajaan itu. Kemudian menyusul (Mat. 6:1-7:12) suatu kumpulan *pengajaran Yesus mengenai
*kebenaran di hadapan Allah; kemurahan dan pengendalian diri; berpuasa yang tersembunyi dan
memberi sedekah yang benar; kepercayaan yang sempurna dan sikap yang tidak menghakimi.

Pusat dari bagian ini adalah '*Doa Bapa Kami' (6:9-13) dan diakhiri dengan *kaidah atau hukum
utama (7:12). Interpretasi dari perintah-perintah ini terpecah. Pada satu pihak, ada (kebanyakan
Katolik) yang menganggapnya sebagai perintah untuk ditaati sebagaimana bunyinya: sebab dengan
*anugerah Allah semua itu dapat dilakukan, paling tidak oleh mereka dengan panggilan khusus,
seperti mereka yang masuk ke dalam ordo-ordo.
Di lain pihak, ada (kebanyakan Protestan) yang memandang Khotbah di Bukit ini memberi ideal
untuk diupayakan; sebab, suatu tuntutan untuk mengasihi Allah sebagaimana Allah mengasihi
(5:46), adalah tuntutan mustahil untuk menjadi sempurna (Mat. 5:48) dan sesungguhnya
menghukum pembacanya karena ketidaksempurnaannya, dan Injil Lukas misalnya sudah
memperlunaknya dengan mengatakan: 'Hendaklah engkau murah hati seperti Allah bermurah hati'
(Luk. 6:36). Satu bagian dari Khotbah di Bukit itu (Mat. 5:17-48) menunjukkan perbedaan antara
kebenaran yang dituntut oleh hukum *Taurat dengan apa yang dihadapkan kepada murid-murid
Yesus dalam bentuk 'antitesis'.
Dalam bentuk ekstrem, itu dimaksudkan untuk menggiring para pembaca Injil Matius untuk
melakukan perbuatan yang dijiwai kasih (Mat. 22:39), tetapi itu juga berarti peningkatan dari
hukum Taurat dan bukan meniadakannya.
Penginjil Matius memaparkan sabda bahagia dalam dua kelompok. Kelompok pertama
menyangkut orang-orang yang tidak beruntung, tetapi dengan tekanan pada sikap hati
mereka (miskin dalam roh, lemah lembut, lapar dan haus akan kebenaran). Ketidakberuntungan mereka pada masa ini dikoritraskan dcngan kelimpahan yang akan mereka
terima kelak (akan dihibur, dipuaskan, memiliki bumi). Kelompok kedua diawali dengan
orang-orang yang baik (murah hati, suci hati, membawa damai) dan kembali kepada orang
yang tidak beruntung, yakni orang yang menderita penganiayaan karena kebenaran.
Kebaikan dan penderitaan mereka itu akan dibalas dcngan kebaikan Allah yang jauh lebih
hesar (akan beroleh kemurahan, melihat Allah, disebut anak-anak Allah, menjadi empunya
Kerajaan Surga). Selanjutnya penganiayaan itu pun dikonkretkan (dicela, difitnah) dan
disejajarkan dengan derita para nabi zaman dahulu. Mereka akan berbahagia karena upahnya
besar di surga.
Sabda bahagia merupakan pengantar dan dasar untuk tuntutan-tuntutan radikal Yesus bagi
orang yang mau menjadi pengikut-Nya. Syarat-syarat itu berat, sehingga orang perlu melihat
apa yang akan diperolehnya nanti, yakni keselamatan dan kebahagiaan.
Penginjil Lukas melengkapi sabda bahagia dengan sabda celaka. Dalam ketiga sabda yang
pertama, ucapan berbahagialah diikuti dengan lukisan keadaan para murid (miskin, lapar,
menangis) dan diakhiri dengan alasan mengapa mereka disebut berbahagia. Kebahagiaan itu
karena keadaan mereka di masa mendatang yang sudah dimulai sekarang (akan dipuaskan,
akan tertawa). Sabda bahagia keempat melukiskan beban derita yang dialami para murid
karena Anak Manusia, yang disusul dengan alasannya, yakni upah besar di surga. Upah itu
sama seperti yang diperoleh para nabi dan akan diterima pada masa mendatang, sedangkan
keempat sabda celaka berupa kebalikan dari keempat sabda bahagia itu.
Sabda bahagia dan sabda celaka mengajarkan bagaimana seharusnya para murid hidup di
tengah-tengah dunia yang penuh perselisihan dan perlawanan. Sebab dalam konteks
sebelumnya Yesus telah memanggil dan memilih murid-murid-Nya (Lukas 5:1-11; 6:12-16)
yang disela dengan lima kisah perlawanan dari para pemimpin masyarakat Yahudi (Lukas
5:12-6:11).

The Prodigal Of Lost Son

The story of the Prodigal Son is only found in Luke 15. Luke recorded the parable of the
Prodigal Son both to instruct and to challenge. Jesus told this story to teach the listeners the
character of God and the character of humanity. And to make the point that no matter how
far sinners run, how well they hide, how lost they are they cannot escape Gods love. He
does this by using a trilogy of parabolic analogical arguments in response to the legalistic
didactic accusations of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were accusing him of associating with
sinners and Jesus was essentially using the parables to argue that God sent him to find the
lost.
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
The prodigal son.
There's no doubt you've heard of it, but let's dig deep.
The word "prodigal" is an adjective that means wasteful or spendthrift or wanton (sorry, the SAT is
coming up). Luke doesn't actually call his character the "prodigal son," but we modern peeps just
love us some titles.
Here's a quick recap: a father gives his two sons their inheritance. One of them takes his newly
found fortune to a far-away country and spends every single dime living it up. But there's a severe
famine, and the son is forced to tend pigs, which are unclean animals for Jewskind of double
blow to this son who's already sunk pretty low. Eventually, the son decides to return to his father,
who is overjoyed to see him and welcomes him home with a big party.
Meanwhile, the second son, who's been at home working hard for his father this whole time, is kind
of perturbed at all of this hullabaloo. His father's never thrown a big party for him and here this
brother of his is feasting on the juiciest steaks after squandering all of his inheritance on liquor and
prostitutes. How is that fair?
The father's response resounds with intense humanity: "Son, you are always with me, and all that is
mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has
come to life; he was lost and has been found" (15:31-32).
Take It, Luke
The story of the Prodigal Son is only found in Luke (15:11-32)none of the other gospels give it a
go. And it's not surprising, because the parable picks up several important Lukan themes. Let's take
a look.
Jesus tells the story in response to scribes and Pharisees who are "murmuring" or "grumbling"
because Jesus welcomes and even eats with the "tax collectors and sinners" who are coming out in
droves to listen to his teaching (15:1-2). Hanging with the wrong crowd is a common criticism of
Jesus (5:29-32; 7:37-39; 19:7), who repeatedly insists that he has come precisely for such "sinners"
as well as other social outcasts.
As a way of explaining the logic of this mission, Jesus tells two little parables right before he
launches into the story of the prodigal son. In one, a shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep in order to
search for "the one that is lost" and rejoices when he finds it (15:3-7). In another, a woman searches
her whole house for a single lost coin and when she finds it, she throws a party for her friends

(15:8-10). Jesus explains that this is the joy the otherworldly beings feel when a single person who's
in really bad shape turns his or her life around (15:7, 10).
Now think back to the prodigal son. You can probably see why his father throws a big party for him
after he gets back. Luke insists that "sins" or past errors or crimes may by erased by "forgiveness," a
central feature of Jesus's work at several important junctures (4:18; 5:20; 7:48).
The Other Brother
The brother's response to all of this is also worth checking out, especially in terms of Luke's attempt
to come to terms with the negative response of the Jewish leaders to Jesus in general.
Like the Jewish leaders, the brother claims to have been faithful to his father's every "command"
(15:29) and is pretty resentful of the prodigal son's second chance; sounds like the Jewish leaders in
5:29-32, 7:37-39, 15:1, and 19:7, right? But the brother's concern is voiced sympathetically here
(15:28-32), and the father levels honestlyeven tenderlywith his faithful son. Does that mean the
grumbling of Jewish leaders also has substance? Will they join the Jesus party? Will the other
brother?
Everyone loves a second chance, right? That might just be why this particular parable has such
staying power.
This article has attempted to demonstrate that Jesuss parable of the prodigal son in Luke
15:11-32 can be interpreted to convey both moral and relational messages, and that it
conveys moral and relational dynamics which apply both vertically, to ones relationship
with God, and horizontally, to ones relationship with ones fellow man. Each son in the
parable represents a different type of person in relationship to God. Th
e prodigal son represents, alternatively, a person lost in sin, and a person receiving grace th
rough repentance. The older brother represents a person who perceives himself to be in
close proximity to the father through his abstention overt, obvious sin, yet neither loves his
fellow man, nor values the love of the father for his fellow man. The father represents God,
giving his son the freedom to choose to sin, but seeking his return and welcoming him as a
son when repentance is demonstrated. Early and Wheeler apply this parable to a template
for praying for one who is living in sin: Lord please: Bring them to a place of famine
and need (v. 14), create within them holy hunger and homesickness (v. 16-17), cause them
to come to their senses (v. 17), draw them home (v. 18), give them the gift of repentance (1821), and give us welcoming grace (v. 20).23 The parable is not to be allegorized or limited
to one point. The moral and relational lessons of Luke 15:11-32 are to be taught, heard, a
nd taken to heart. They are to be taught by Gods church and given as calls; calls to the lost
to respond to Gods grace, love, and forgiveness; calls to reconcile relationships to Go
d, and calls to reconcile relationships to each other.