My scripture professor said that if we could swap the four gospels for a video tape of everything Jesus said and did, we wouldn’t make the trade. The gospels as written not only report the actions and words of Jesus but we can also discern in them how those words impacted the early Church and the theological reflection of the evangelists as they wrote the story. Take, for example, the teaching of Jesus to ask, seek, knock because God will respond. Matthew’s version concludes that like any loving Father God will give “good things” to those who ask. Luke’s account is slightly different: the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. For Luke, the good thing is the Holy Spirit!
