If you are comfortable saying things like, “the Johannine Jesus,” or “the Markan Jesus,” to your congregation, you are to be complimented. Your congregation’s biblical literacy is high. Most of us just get blank stares when we go there. Wouldn’t it be nice to seriously upgrade their biblical understanding?

Most of us preach from the Gospels regularly. This often requires having to provide certain amounts of background to catch the people up to the text before we can begin to preach on it. We will never totally eliminate the need for background, but wouldn’t it be helpful not to have to do it so often?

For most congregants, the Gospels are all jumbled up in their minds. The idea that each has its own story to tell and presents us with different ways of looking at Jesus, discipleship, and the church is lost on them. But it doesn’t have to be this way.