In a New York Post clipping I saved from last spring, when the media was hyping the discovery of the 1,700-year-old Gospel of Judas, an incredibly smug Bill O’Reilly wrote in his nationally syndicated column, “My third-grade teacher at St. Brigid’s School, Sister Mary Lurana, would not be having any of this. The good sister understood that the Gospels were teaching tools, not history, and that the story of Judas was consistent with one of Jesus’ central messages: Don’t sell out what you believe in for money.”

Further down in his piece, entitled The Judas Factor, O’Reilly continued, “The so-called ‘Gospel of Judas’ has some theologians in a tizzy. One Princeton professor even wrote that discoveries of this kind are ‘exploding the myth of a monolithic Christianity.’ Sister Lurana would have definitely scolded that professor in no uncertain terms.

“The good sister would likely say that the Judas tract explodes nothing. It is simply another early Christian writing explaining an author’s viewpoint on this apostle and his relationship with Jesus. Again, the Scriptures are not history; they were written to instruct people as how Jesus lived and what his message was.

“Whether Judas was a traitor or not is really not important. What is imperative to those who want to follow in the footsteps of Christ is to understand that hurting another person for money is not acceptable.”

Wow, talk about being deceived by the devil! O’Reilly is clueless! What’s funny is how sure of himself he is in his inanity. He doesn’t even get what a dummy he comes off as!

*****

The Four Gospels present Jesus Christ in a four-fold picture, each looking at him from a different perspective. Matthew says, “Behold your king.” Mark says, “Behold the servant.” Luke says, “Behold the man.” John says, “Behold your God.”

Jordan explains, “Around the throne of God is the cherubim and they have four faces—the face of an eagle, ox, man and lion. Each one of those four faces matches one of these four views presented in the gospels. That's why there are four gospels and not six. That's why there are four gospels and not one.

“When you hear people try and harmonize the gospels and the life of Christ into one continuum. . . God could have written it that way, but He didn't because He had something else in mind. There's a doctrinal, spiritual picture being laid.

“Matthew talks about the Lord Jesus Christ as Israel's king—presents Him as king. Mark presents Him as the servant of God. Luke presents Him as the embodiment of manhood—He's the Branch.

“In the Bible, there are four Branch titles—He's the Davidic branch; He’s ‘my servant the branch’; He's the man whose name is the Branch and then, in the Book of John, He’s the branch of Jehovah.

“John presents Him as Jehovah who will accomplish all these other things—bring Israel's kingdom, bring her deliverance and make her the blessing to the nations that Matthew, Mark and Luke are designed to demonstrate.

“And the reason John stands separate from what are called the Synoptics is not because of the writing style that everybody gets involved in talking about. The writing style is different in order to communicate the doctrinal difference. The doctrinal difference is that it's as Jehovah, as He’s identified in the Book of John, that all these other things are accomplished.

“If you take the way the information is laid out in John in those eight signs, and compare that with the tabernacle God gave Israel through Moses, that pattern—that tabernacle He gave Israel through Moses—is designed according to a pattern. What He gave Moses was a model, or a picture, or a shadow of the true tabernacle that the Lord pitched in the heavens.”

*****

Luke gives the picture of Christ’s humanity.

Jordan explains, “Luke's a medical doctor. He starts his book by saying, ‘Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.’

“What he's saying is, ‘I’ve been a good historian. I've gone back and talked to the eyewitness accounts; I've talked to the people this all happened to.’ He says, ‘I've done the work and I'm going to lay this all out for you,’ and consequently the Book of Luke gives you a tremendous amount of historical data in relationship to dating and the ordering of things.

“You can figure out from the dating in Luke 1, for example, the time of the birth of Christ. The date of the conception of John (the Baptist) is June 25, so if you add six months to that you get Christ’s conception.

*****

Jordan continues, “There's a wonderful thing in Luke 2 about Mary. He writes, “But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.’ What he’s saying is that because nobody knows what goes on in your heart but you and God, Mary had to share her information with him.

“It’s that little footnote that Luke uses all through his gospel, where he’ll put down the insights he’s had. Mary sat down with this man and was willing to bear her innermost feelings—her joys, her sorrows, her puzzlement and her delight about all that she was going through. Luke had a good bedside manner.

“Luke 1 tells us that holy thing that was born of Mary was of God. Literally, God the Holy Spirit took the DNA out of Mary and crafted an earthly tabernacle of flesh for God the Son to come and tabernacle in so that He could become one with our humanity.

“Now there's not anything like that in philosophy or in religion. You know what philosophy would say? ‘It's what your heart tells you.’ God says, ‘The best you ever did came short of who I am.’ And so God Himself came to become one of us in order that He might take us and give us life in His family. That's what the gospel's all about.”