“As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” ⁵ “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. ⁶ “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” ⁷ The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. ⁸ Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. ⁹ For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. ¹⁰ In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered.

¹¹ The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. ¹² In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” ¹³ “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

¹⁵ But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. ¹⁶ I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” ¹⁷ Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸ Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, ¹⁹ and after taking some food, he regained his strength.” Acts 9:3-19

“We have four “Gospels”, written later by people who believed passionately that what Jesus had done and said, coupled with his death and what happened afterwards, were of massive ongoing significance. The Gospels are highly detailed. They are clearly written from particular (pro-Jesus) points of view. But, unlike today’s historian…we have simply a history book written forty or fifty years later (by Josephus, an aristocratic Jew who went over to the Roman side in the war of AD 66-70) and a scattering of other material, bits and pieces, tracts, coins, letters, and so forth. Out of these very disparate sources we have to reconstruct the setting in which what Jesus did and said made the sense it did, so much sense that some thought he was God’s Messiah and others thought he had to be killed at once.” (“The Problem of Historical Complexity”, Simply Jesus,  N. T. Wright, p. 20-21)

Can you imagine the number of books that have been written about Jesus over the last two thousand years? There continue to be new books written, and there will continue to be books written until the time Jesus comes back. But in the Bible, the book we refer to for the “truth” of our Christian faith, within the pages of our canon we have four short tracts: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The question has been debated over and over again: are the Gospels history or metaphor? Are the Gospels truth or myth? Are the Gospels all of the above or none of the above?

Three of those Gospels are similar – we call them the synoptic gospels, because they are structured similarly, though not entirely mimicking one another. They offer their own unique stories from their own communities, and they share some stories that were common to many of the Christian communities of their day. The fourth gospel, the Gospel of John, is written in a different style from the other three – adding to the mystery of these accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus. But this is all we have for making sense of the person-hood and the divinity of Jesus – but it is enough for each one of us to study for our entire lives, and still feel as if we do not fully appreciate who Jesus was and what Jesus is about. But that does not stop us from trying. I encourage you to read one or two pages of the bible every day. And as you read those pages, underline parts that make sense, and highlight those that challenge you. Then take some time to pray over your questions and your insights.

Pastor Dave