Jesus’ Biographers
Probably the greatest difficulty for a biographer is trying to work out where their story will begin.
Jesus had four biographies written about Him within sixty years of His ministry life and death and they each began at a different place.
The first to be written was almost certainly Mark’s gospel. Mark portrayed Jesus as the ‘Son of Man.’ Jesus was a man among men and for three and a half years was so much in the public eye that Mark begins his story of Jesus with John the Baptist, who would “announce” Jesus to the Jewish people.
Luke and Matthew both penned their gospels around the same time. Because Matthew saw Jesus as the King of the Jews, he went back to the beginning of Jewish history, tracing Jesus’ human ancestry back to Abraham. Luke wanted his readers to know Jesus was the Saviour of the World and accordingly traced Jesus’ earthly family all the way back to Adam.
But John begins his gospel quite differently again. John presents Jesus as the Son of God. No earthly ancestry fits such a title so John has none. ‘In the beginning was the Word …’ (John 1:1). Why does John say ‘in the beginning’ and not ‘forever in the past …’? John knew the human mind in his day could not grasp the infinite past. But because the human mind could understand the moment before creation John decided on ‘In the beginning …’
Jesus is from everlasting to everlasting. He has always been and always will be. He had no beginning and will have no end. He is a man among men, the King of the Jews and the Saviour of the world.
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