Living with Mystery

07 A Chronology of the Life of Jesus

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A Chronology of the Ministry of Jesus 

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A CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF JESUS

This attempt to delineate a chronology of events in the life of Jesus takes a different route from the traditional ones. For reasons which will shortly be explained, it is based on the primary assumption that the most chronological of the Gospels is John. Since John does not cover most of the gospel stories, Luke is taken as the next best chronological Gospel followed by Mark (although there is little difference between them in the order in which the main material is presented). Matthew then is considered non-chronological especially since he collated his material into sections of what he considered relevant topics. Consequently, in creating an ordered table of events, the Gospels are collated in reverse order, John, Luke, Mark and then Matthew representing this suggested chronological reliability.

Also, unlike other chronological arrangements of the gospel events, not every single account is included. This applies particularly to the Parables. Matthew collates seven parables together in his Gospel when there is little evidence that Jesus told all seven at one time. The order of parables is presented as where they are placed chronologically in Luke, and since he does not record them all, I have simply left them out as adding nothing significant to the timeline. Mark’s Gospel is only considered up to Mark 16:8 which is the official end of Mark’s Gospel.

The idea constructing this chronology was inspired by reading ‘Jesus and the Eyewitnesses’ by Richard Bauckham. In that book, Richard makes a strong case for the author of John being an eyewitness who was a resident of Jerusalem or Judea and not John, as tradition holds, the fisherman from Galilee. From that book, came the idea that the material which John exclusively records happened when his twelve apostles were not present with him. That would account not only for the absence of John’s material largely from the Synoptics, but also for the lack of the mention of any of the Apostles’ names. John only uses the term ‘disciples’ to describe the followers of Jesus and never uses the term ‘Apostle'. He does use the term ‘The Twelve’ around the time of the feeding of the five thousand and in the account of the resurrection appearances in Galilee. From that, it is inferred that the time when Jesus travelled alone for ministry was firstly when the Twelve were sent out on mission (Luke 9) and secondly when subsequently seventy-two were sent out (Luke 10). John 6 records the time following that first mission, and John 11 and onwards is taken as when the Lord met the seventy-two in Perea before entering Jerusalem for Passion Week.

There are a few sources which propose this chronological reliability:

From the Psephizo blog
How many times did Jesus visit Jerusalem? | Psephizo
Rev Dr Ian Paul discusses the chronology of the visits to Jerusalem as they appear in the Gospels.

This article is based on a conference of The British New Testament Society. It presents material to suggest that Luke was familiar with the Gospel of John. The main fascinating arguments come from George van Kooten and this link provides an extensive sheet outlining his materials and arguments.

This is a treatise by Richard Bauckham on the reliability of Luke. Luke wrote as a historian treating his material in an orderly way and integrating much eyewitness source material.

Stuart Robert
In The Footsteps Of Jesus: A Chronological Journey by Hon Stuart Robert, MP
Though this is a single book, Robert’s chronological attempt does not resort to a single narrative. Every word of the gospels is included and put in a chronological order to try to build a flowing picture of Jesus’s life and ministry. Stuart writes in an introduction:

This book’s chronological attempt, however flawed, tends to follow the order of the gospel of Luke. Luke was writing an historical account for his benefactor and thus tended to be more concerned with timing of events. Luke was a doctor in his time and it’s fair to say that order was a little more up his alley. He was also keen to emphasise Jesus’ compassion to Gentiles and Samaritans so that the travel diaries of Jesus in His final months on earth (Luke 10-20) are largely unique to that gospel.

Oxford Bible Church
Oxford Bible Church - The Chronology of Jesus from John's Gospel
This is an interesting link from an Oxford Church. It too takes John as the best chronological authority followed by Luke.

Steve Sontag
Chronology of the Four Gospels
Luke’s prologue clearly states his intention to “write an orderly account.” As can be seen by a close review of this Chronology, except for the first passage, Luke’s gospel is essentially in order.

Stephen Venable
The Gospels and Chronology | beholding Jesus
Stephen argues for a chronology in similar ways to the basis for this one:
1. An exact chronology is impossible with the information the Holy Spirit chose to include in the canonical gospels. We cannot project onto the gospels a modern concept of reporting of events that was foreign to antiquity or pretend there aren’t significant gaps in what has been revealed.
2. A chronological arrangement is not the only way to view the life of Jesus. The bulk of the gospel of Matthew is clearly not arranged chronologically. Instead, it evidences an oscillating pattern of discourse and narrative. This must be valued and appreciated as a reflection of the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
3. “Chronological” does not mean comprehensively chronological. The Gospel of John is arguably the most rigidly chronological of the four, and yet it skips vast portions of Jesus’s public ministry.

Further reasoning

This can be found by following the chronological table link at the beginning of the page. The table may also be used to read the Gospels chronologically by simply reading the references in order a row at a time.

Events and occasions which are taken as reinforcing the chronology as detailed in the table

First encounters

John records the first meeting of Jesus with some of the Twelve when He first met John the Baptist. It seems that these men were followers of John in some context; maybe they had come to see him from accounts of his ministry and perhaps had also been baptised by him. I assume they were visiting as they were still working as fishermen. In this way, Jesus first met Peter and Andrew; there is no indication that John the fisherman was there for that first meeting. It says that they returned to the place where Jesus was lodging. Could this lodging have been with John the author of the Gospel? Such a lodging arrangement could become the place where John became affectionately related to Jesus. John’s home could also have been the place where Jesus lodged when He returned alone to Jerusalem in His later ministry. If Jesus came alone to Jerusalem as this chronology assumes, and lodged with John who was a younger man, it is entirely possible that with that close relationship that he became the Disciple whom Jesus Loved!

A family occasion

John records the miracle at Cana in Galilee as the first sign from Jesus. It says that Jesus was there with His family members and disciples. Accounts and pictorial representations tend to assume all twelve disciples were there with Jesus but there is nothing in the record to suggest that was the case. It may just have been the four whom Jesus met when visiting John the Baptist. If we accept John’s chronology, then His visit to Capernaum with his family could also just have been referring to these first four disciples.

The first Passover

After this John records Jesus visiting Jerusalem for the Passover with His disciples. If we accept John’s chronology, this is a first cleansing of the Temple. Again, there is no indication of how many disciples comprised this group; we assume it included John the author but may not have included James and John the fishermen whom Jesus had yet to meet. We can presume that Jesus met with Nicodemus during this first Passover time and there was no mention of the disciples with him, although John was able to record the details of that encounter. From Jerusalem they went to the Jordan where His disciples baptised people although there is no number of disciples mentioned. Jesus decided to leave the area when He foresaw some early unwanted friction with the Pharisees and travelled to Galilee. John’s itinerary would have Jesus passing through Samaria on the way to Galilee, again with an unmentioned number of disciples which may have included John the author. It says that the disciples went to buy food while Jesus spoke to the woman at the well. 

Ministry in Galilee

John records His second sign healing the Royal Official’s child after which point this chronology presumes that John the author may have returned to Jerusalem. From there we need to rely on Luke for the ministry in Galilee. The accounts of Luke and Mark essentially run parallel to one another. That is, except that this chronology asserts there was a second call of the disciples. This is recorded by both Mark and Matthew, and it is the occasion when Jesus first calls James and John who had no doubt heard about Jesus or maybe even heard Jesus teach by this point. 

Choosing the Twelve

This chronology also presumes a third and final call of the disciples which Luke alone records and is the one where they leave their fishing employment for good. It is this during this period that Jesus accumulates many disciples who follow Him and from whom He picked The Twelve.

First missionary tour

After working with the disciples in Galilee, He chose twelve as Apostles and sent them out to work miracles and teach in the Galilee area. This chronology assumes that while the Apostles were on that mission in pairs that Jesus went alone to Jerusalem where he healed the man at the pool of Bethesda. As mentioned, he may have lodged with John the author who was able to record this part of His ministry in detail.

Feeding of the five thousand

Jesus returned to Galilee and met the Apostles after their outreach. This chronology assumes that John the author accompanied Him and gave the greater detailed account of the feeding of the five thousand and the subsequent contention with Jewish leaders. Presumably, John then returned to Jerusalem. Following this, Jesus continued to minister in the Galilee area and began to prepare His followers for His eventual passion.

Second missionary tour

This chronology has Jesus meeting His brothers for the final time before embarking to Jerusalem for a longer stint and meeting up with John the author. It was at this time that Jesus commissioned the Seventy-two for mission as Luke records. John then records that Jesus went to Jerusalem in secret which also suggests that He was alone and not accompanied by a crowd of disciples. He was there for the Feast of Tabernacles. John records in chapter 10 that Jesus was there for the Feast of Dedication in winter. Whether this was also during this second visit to Jerusalem alone is not made clear. However, at the end of this chapter John records that He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptising at first, and there He stayed. This chronology assumes this was Perea and that it was there that Jesus rendezvoused with the Seventy-two at the conclusion of their mission. Jesus had sent the Seventy-two out two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. This chronology assumes the area they were sent to would be the Judean and Perean areas rather than Galilee since they had already spent a long time working in there.

Final Jerusalem ministry

From Perea Jesus had set His face to Jerusalem and all four Gospels have records of this time. This chronology attempts to harmonise them in some kind of order. It was from here that Jesus heard about Lazarus and then made the belated journey to his tomb. After his passion, and at the resurrection appearance in Galilee, John the Beloved Disciple records that the sons of Zebedee were there along with five others. It would be strange for the author to record himself as a son of Zebedee and also later as The Beloved Disciple. This also points to the author not being John the fishermen. And a further reference in Acts 4 says that when the Jewish leaders saw the boldness of Peter and John (the fisherman), they perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men. This suggests that John would not have authored the Gospel which displays an accomplished and educated ability. Although not part of the reasoning for this chronology, might it be possible that John the author being with Jesus in Jerusalem committed what he witnessed to some form of writing at the time of the events. This would help to explain the great detail which he includes, especially in the interactive narrative discourses. There is evidence that notes were being made in this period of history. (see Vindolanda tablets - Wikipedia)

The identity of the author of John’s Gospel

For detailed discussion of this I would recommend reading chapter 20 of ‘Jesus and the Eyewitnesses’ by Richard Bauckham where he deals with this subject in great theological depth. I acknowledge that a wealth of respected theological commentators accepts the traditional authorship of John the fisherman and I do not pretend to know better than them. However, this chronology does provide some possible explanations to many of the unanswered questions about the authenticity and reliability of the Gospel accounts.

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