What is the chronological history of Jesus Christ?

Answer 1

The story of Jesus Christ is in the gospels, with the synoptic gospels in substantial agreement on chronology, but John's Gospel providing a somewhat different order of important events. Scholars have established that Mark was the first gospel to be written and that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were substantially based on it, with John loosely based on Luke. Therefore the most important source for the chronological history of Jesus should be Mark's Gospel, while John certainly seems to have altered the original sequence of some events.

As with the other New Testament gospels, Mark was originally anonymous. Although we do not know who actually wrote the gospel, or how reliable his sources were, there is a way to establish whether he changed the chronological order of events or perhaps even created events to portray in his gospel. For this we are fortunate to find that a framework parallel structure encompasses the entire gospel. Parallel structures, in which an opening set of events is contrasted with a second, parallel set that mirrors the first, were used in classical times to create emphasis or develop themes through context and association:

A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

We can immediately say that these events did not really occur in the same chronological as reported in the gospel, because real-life events do not occur in such perfect symmetry. The author of Mark either changed the order in which events actually occurred or created the events himself (or both), so as to develop the gospel structure that we see above. The authors of Matthew and Luke were unaware of this elegant structure and, although they copied the contents more or less faithfully, they destroyed the nature of Mark's structure. The author of John was writing theology, not history, so felt that the order of events was unimportant.

To the above events must be added the nativity accounts that precede them, and the resurrection appearances that would follow. In terms of chronology, Luke's nativity story can not be harmonised with Matthew's: either the young family returned peacefully from Bethlehem to Nazareth a few weeks after Jesus' birth, or they remained in Bethlehem until they fled to Egypt to escape King Herod. Mark's Gospel originally ended at verse 16:8 with the young man telling the women that Jesus was risen and they fled in terror, telling no one; the 'Long Ending' (verses 16:9-20), added much later, is no more likely to be correct than any of the endings in the other gospels.