A Harmony of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus
Foreword & Before We Begin
During the next few weeks, as we approach Good Friday and Easter, we will be sharing a “Harmony of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus.” This is taken from my book, Fear No More! (All my books can be found on Amazon. Just search under my name.)
We begin with the “Foreword” and the first chapter, “Before We Begin.” We will post one chapter and some notes each day. Hopefully, these postings will help you prepare for Holy Week and Easter. May God bless you as you meditate on everything our Lord did for our salvation!
Foreword:
This book came about when I was preparing a special Good Friday service for my church. Many church manuals will have a “Harmony of the Passion” to be used on Good Friday. This is one single account compiled from the four Gospels telling the story of the passion of our Lord.
Some of these “Harmonies” are longer than others. Some leave certain things out. I ended up utilizing a couple of them, and I carefully combined them, and even added more events. I then included some events before Palm Sunday, and then added the Easter stories and Paul’s references to the appearances of Jesus after his resurrection. The last part is the Ascension and Mark’s Ending.
Please note that this is my own attempt at making a Harmony. I have been very faithful to the layout of the old Harmonies, but I have arranged it according to my own understanding. The end result: Here is the story of the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ from Bethany to the Ascension.
I have also included some notes on various questions that arise when you try to make a Harmony of the passion and resurrection. Not everything fits together that easily. Scholars have long puzzled about some parts of our story. I will talk more about this.
The paradox here is that the four Gospels were not originally written to be harmonized and blended together. They are each unique, distinct, and special. They each show us something different about Jesus and reveal important insights. The Holy Spirit designed them this way, and that is what makes Matthew, Mark, Luke and John so powerful.
However, and this is the other side of the paradox, it is also powerful when you read the whole story of the passion all at once. That is why the “Harmony of the Passion” is read aloud at Good Friday services. When you hear about everything Jesus did for our salvation, you are awestruck and filled with wonder.
That is the whole point of the passion and resurrection narratives – they tell the powerful story about the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. His death and resurrection is what the Bible is all about. It’s all about Jesus! Discover once again now, the power and depth of the greatest story ever told.
BEFORE WE BEGIN:
The four Gospels of the New Testament tell the story of Jesus of Nazareth. They describe real events and actual people. The Gospels are not fiction. Here we are dealing with historical truth. All of these events really occurred, and all of these words were truly spoken. That is what I believe, and that is how I interpret the Scriptures.
If I encounter something that is hard for me to understand, I will set it aside and study it. If I can’t figure it out, then that’s not a big deal. Paul says, “Now, we know in part. Then, we shall fully know.” What this means is that in this earthly life, we are always studying and increasing in our understanding of the Bible. In heaven, we will know the Triune God directly and perfectly. All of our theological questions will be answered.
It is often pointed out by some people that the four Gospels contain glaring contradictions and many unresolved discrepancies. I don’t think this is the case at all. For example, some scholars say that John mistakenly places the cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, when the other three Gospels place it near Palm Sunday. I think both are correct. In fact, I think Jesus cleansed the temple courts multiple times. I bet that every time Jesus visited Jerusalem, he would have to clean up the temple. And I think as soon as Jesus left town, the merchants would drag all that junk back into the temple courts. (Plus, the high priests made a nice profit out of all of these dealings. They became very wealthy from this corruption.) Human nature being what it is, this seems plausible to me.
“Harmonization” is the attempt to explain seeming contradictions. This is just what I did with the cleansing of the temple by Jesus. For some people, it’s a big problem. For me, it’s not. I can easily see a solution. The same holds true for other issues.
As we look at the story of the passion and resurrection of our Lord, I will examine some key points where people ask questions. It can be a bit confusing trying to match up the sequence of events. This is especially true on Easter morning, when there is a lot going on, and people are running back and forth all over the place. Also, during Palm Sunday, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the trial of Jesus, where there is so much that is occurring.
One important point to remember is that the Gospel writers are not strictly chronological when they describe the many events in the life of Jesus. The Gospels often structure their stories around major themes and patterns. They are often topical in their presentation. What Jesus did is more important than when he did it. These stories may jump around a bit. And sometimes a story is split up and something else is inserted inside of it to make an important point. The Gospels are not like a modern biography, which are very linear. They tell the story of the ministry of Jesus, and they explain it to us in their own manner and style.
But the basic overall structure of the Gospels is this: The Birth of Jesus, the work of John the Baptist, the Baptism of Jesus, his Temptation, the calling of the 12 apostles, his early work in Galilee, his preaching, the casting out of demons, and many miracles of healing and nature. The Transfiguration is kind of a midpoint, and from there, Jesus starts trending towards the cross and resurrection. He will continue to preach, teach, and work miracles, but Jesus becomes more and more focused on his last trip to Jerusalem. It all climaxes with the events of Good Friday and Easter.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke follow this pattern very closely. (Mark just begins with John the Baptist.) John was written after the other three, and so he does not mention many of the stories already covered by the others, such as the Temptation, the Transfiguration, and so on. John is going to tell us what the others didn’t.
Please note that “Harmonization” is something different from a “Harmony.” A Harmony is the combining of different writings into one work. Many attempts were made in the early church to make a complete single Harmony of the four Gospels. The idea of four different Gospels was a problem for some people. So they tried blending the four Gospels into one single book. It really didn’t work out the way they hoped.
The “Diatessaron of Tatian” was the most famous of these attempts. It was wildly popular for a while (especially in the churches of Syria and Iraq), but then it faded away. The “Diatessaron” was made in the third quarter of the second century by Tatian, a controversial teacher, well known in Rome and Syria.
The Diatessaron was published and widely distributed, but it had its quirks because much freedom was used by Tatian to come up with his book. The early church ultimately stuck with the four Gospels. They realized that this is the way God intends for us to hear the story of Jesus. Harmonies of the Gospels stopped being something people wanted.
However, the “Harmony of the Passion” is something that has continued on. These are still popular because they serve a basic purpose, especially around Good Friday and Easter. They are still being used today.
They are not meant to replace Scripture, but they are a devotional exercise that helps us better understand everything Jesus did for our eternal salvation. That is the goal of this book.
After an introduction to the days of Holy Week, we begin with what happened at Bethany in the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and will then continue onwards, all the way until the risen Lord Jesus ascends from the Mount of Olives into heaven.