Four Portraits, One Jesus - Evidence of Reliability (Part 3 of 8)

Every human being possesses something that differentiates them from every other person. That something is a fingerprint. In similar fashion, every individual has a personality, way of talking, and certain habits that distinguish them from other individuals. If Jesus was a real person and the four gospel authors reliably wrote about his life and ministry, one would expect to see a unified figure emerge from the divergent accounts. We are not here talking about Jesus being a Jew, born of Mary and Joseph, preacher in Galilee, and crucified under Pontius Pilate. Rather, in all the varying nuances of the stories, the teachings, the interactions, and the incidental details, does a unified figure emerge? Making the task even more difficult, all four authors had to strike the right balance of a Jesus who was both human and divine. An entire book could be written on this topic, but a few examples will have to suffice.

Have you ever noticed that Jesus can be both gently and mild but also sharp and sarcastic? Depending upon the attitude of his audience, Jesus handles the situation differently. Jesus tells the religious leaders that their father is the devil (John 8:44), they are whitewashed tombs (Matthew 23:27), and it would be better if they had a millstone tied around their neck (Mark 9:42). But this same Jesus weeps over Jerusalem (Luke 13:34), grants rest to weary souls (Matthew 11:28), forgives the ones who crucified him (Luke 23:34). All of these sayings and actions of Jesus take place in a variety of circumstances but bring to light a very unified Jesus. A real person emerges, consistent but not contrived, revealing a unique personality behind the text.

Other examples could be multiplied. Jesus has a deep love for certain close friends. His primary earthly mission was oriented toward the Jews. He regularly retreated to pray. Jesus often displayed an ability to know the thoughts or intentions of those around him. He favored the weak, broken, and needy. Throughout the gospels, in all their variations and sameness, one man emerges. His wit, sarcasm, love, compassion, parables, self-awareness, confidence, mercy, tenderness, teaching, and miracles coalesce in one person represented in four different gospel accounts. The ordinary reader can sense with a strong intuition that a real man of history stands behind these narratives. 19th century theologian Charles Row summarizes the evidence nicely:

“It is not a unity as to some one trait of that character, but it is one which pervades all its various modifications…The great work which the Evangelists have accomplished is, that not only all four Gospels dramatize a single attribute in the person of Jesus with a perfect unity of conception, but that they have succeeded in presenting us with a perfect unity in their dramatization of a number of attributes of a very complicated nature, and that they have interwoven each in precisely the same proportions in the character which they have depicted.” (Row, The Jesus in the Gospels)