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   In analyzing anything relevant to Christianity, the entire New Testament is   
   significant and, to a lesser degree, the Old Testament. With respect to the   
   life of Jesus himself, one must be concerned primarily with the four Gospels.   
   Unfortunately we    
   encounter considerable discrepancy about the facts as presented in the four   
   Gospels, particularly in comparing the Gospel of John with those of Matthew,   
   Mark and Luke (the Synoptic Gospels, grouped together because of their   
   literary similarities). Thus,    
   while John strongly implies that Jesus was in no way born in Bethlehem, the   
   two gospels that clearly record the date and place of Jesus' birth – that is,   
   Matthew and Luke – agree only that he was born in Bethlehem. [75] Where   
   Matthew suggests that Jesus    
   was born in 4 B.C. at Bethlehem, which was the original home of Joseph and   
   Mary, [76] Luke places the date around 6 A.D. in Bethlehem, where Joseph and   
   Mary had gone only for tax registration purposes. [77] There is also a wide   
   divergence in the    
   genealogies presented by Matthew and Luke. [78] Besides the vast difference in   
   the number of generations (according to Matthew it is 28 generations from   
   David to Jesus, whereas Luke specifies 42 generations), the two genealogies   
   cannot agree even on who    
   was Joseph's father or from which son of King David the line is descended.   
   Matthew records the entire Sermon on the Mount [79] taking place on a   
   mountain, but Luke splits it up, having Jesus deliver at least part of the   
   sermon on the plains. [80] All of    
   the Gospels present the story of Jesus in a different order as, for example,   
   the timing of Jesus' visit to Nazareth. [81] As regards the crucifixion, there   
   are three different versions of Jesus' last words. Matthew and Mark have him   
   die crying out the    
   opening words to Psalm 22. [82] Luke has Jesus surrendering his spirit to God.   
   [83] And John has Jesus declaring, “It is finished.” [84]   
      
   Regarding the crucifixion event, the whole story given by John differs   
   radically from that of the other three Gospels. In the Synoptic Gospels, a man   
   called Simon who was from Cyrene carried the cross for Jesus, [85] but John   
   records that Jesus carried    
   his own cross. [86] According to Matthew, Mark and Luke, all of Jesus'   
   acquaintances, including his mother and the other women who followed him,   
   watched the crucifixion from a great distance, [87] but John claims that he   
   and Jesus' mother and the other    
   women were standing just by the cross, so close that Jesus could have easy   
   conversation with them. [88] John is the only one of the four to record the   
   piercing of Jesus' side, and the “blood and water” which immediately flowed   
   from that alleged wound. [   
   89] Ultimately there is no logical or even miraculous way to resolve these   
   contradictions. If we try to reconcile the Synoptic Gospels with John, then we   
   must credit not just Jesus but also the women who followed him with   
   supernatural abilities – how    
   else could they jump back and forth from both far and near to the cross? Not   
   only that, if we give credence to John's story, we must accept that the corpse   
   of Jesus made medical history. One may concede that three out of four Gospels   
   may have erred in    
   where the mother of Jesus and John were standing at the time of the   
   crucifixion, but it seems highly unlikely that these three would fail to   
   record a significant event such as the piercing of Jesus' side, had this   
   really taken place. To be reasonable, we    
   must surely reject the entire story of the crucifixion given by John, basing   
   our analysis on the more probable data presented in the Synoptic Gospels.   
   Briefly, a man called Simon the Cyrene carried the cross for Jesus (or   
   whomever was crucified); and,    
   when the crucifixion took place, there was nobody who knew Jesus well close   
   enough to the cross to clearly witness the event, unless it was that Simon the   
   Cyrene himself. It is also worth noting here that, even if Simon the Cyren   
    did know Jesus personally (which probably he did), in any event he seems to   
   have disappeared mysteriously immediately following the crucifixion. [90]   
      
   All in all, from beginning to end, from his very birth to his alleged death,   
   Jesus was a most controversial character. In trying to piece together his life   
   and deeds, the Gospels are often more confusing than helpful. The Synoptic   
   Gospels, however, are a    
   bit more credible than John; and, of those three, Luke would appear to be the   
   most reliable and unbiased chronicler of events. [91] Luke seems also to be   
   the author of The Acts of the Apostles, the New Testament book following the   
   four Gospels. This book    
   provides the only comprehensive record found in the Bible of events of the   
   early Church, albeit that record is clearly prejudiced in its heavy   
   concentration on the activities of Paul, with whom Luke was closely   
   associated. [92] That Acts was written by    
   Luke may be concluded not only from the aforementioned circumstance, but also   
   by virtue of the similar literary style found in Luke and Acts, by the fact   
   that the author of Acts apparently did write a Gospel, and that Acts   
   definitely follows more easily    
   after Luke than after any of the other three Gospels found in the Bible. Also,   
   both Luke and Acts are addressed to the same person, Theophilus, while none of   
   the other books of the New Testament are written for him. [93] Thus, in   
   analyzing the life of    
   Jesus, the story in Luke tends to take precedence over those in Matthew and   
   Mark; and all of the Synoptic Gospels take precedence over John, although   
   Matthew, Mark and John all become very significant and may even precede Luke   
   when one wants to study or    
   analyze the teachings and philosophy of Jesus or of the early Church. In any   
   event, a proper analysis of the life, actions and teachings of Jesus demands   
   that one take the evidence of all of the Gospels with the proverbial grain of   
   salt, often trying to    
   read more in between the lines than in the numbered passages.   
      
   Ambition   
   Our first question is: “What was the real ambition of Jesus – was it spiritual   
   or political?” Without a doubt the Church would insist that Jesus was totally   
   apolitical. Unfortunately, one can no more easily believe that Jesus'   
   activities were apolitical    
   than one can believe that a Polish Pope's interest in the Polish trade union,   
   Solidarity, is purely pastoral. [94] An incredible effort went into   
   establishing Jesus as a direct descendant of David, by which virtue Jesus   
   would clearly have been entitled    
   to ascend the Jewish throne – this is the first hint. The Gospel of Matthew   
   starts on this point, and Davidic descent is a recurring theme throughout the   
   Gospels. [95] There is, of course, a slight inherent contradiction in the   
   lineage of Jesus in that    
   Joseph, not Mary, was allegedly descended from David, but both Matthew and   
   Luke stated with vigor that Joseph was not the father of Jesus. [96] However,   
   I think we can safely ignore this problem as everyone in Israel at the time of   
   Jesus ignored it. The    
   significance given the birth of a popular heir to David's throne was enough to   
   trouble Herod I who, according to Matthew's account, was the official King of   
   the Jews in Israel when Jesus was born. [97] Herod was a practicing Jew, but   
   not at all of such    
   illustrious descent. Technically he was not entitled to sit on the Jewish   
   throne. Hence, we are told, he sought to murder Jesus and thereby eliminate   
   the competition. [98]   
      
      
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