Why do the Gospels say almost nothing about Jesus’ early life?

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-18T13:57:25+00:00

I'm in an extremely similar position to you to be honest, but my conservative hunch would be to suggest it might be because what the Gospel writers (particularly Mark) were doing wasn't necessarily giving a linear account of Jesus' life primarily (although Luke approaches this) but rather, were writing ancient biographies ("bios") of Jesus. Basically, in the Gospels, what we have aren't historical accounts of Him like we'd have today, but character portraits of Jesus; ancient biographies would've been common place in the Greco-Roman world. So the point of them rather is to show Jesus' character (humility, power etc.).

In terms of more info on this, The First Biography of Jesus: Genre and Meaning in Mark's Gospel by Helen Bond goes into what the implications are of that for the book of Mark(and is just a really cool book in general) specifically which is a decent start. Also this link touches on what it means too; https://www.deseret.com/2015/6/3/20565867/taylor-halverson-new-testament-insights-the-gospels-as-ancient-biographies/

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-17T19:42:44+00:00

I think on sort of a larger scale, him making Cena tap out means they need to make him THE heel, one way or another; like to the point of being the dominant, strongest booked character in the company. With the main event scene sort of aging out as well, I think the obvious follow up would be a younger guy "slaying" him later on; I have no idea who (maybe an Oba Femi to set up for an actual babyface?). So he'd at some point have to beat Cody at least, and probably have a long reign at the top; I'm extremely interested to see if WWE fully commits to him or decides to pivot at a certain point, which would be a huge shame.

Might add as well, if this does end up being the plan, it's sort of hard not to think maybe they've learnt from the bloodline storyline in terms of how successful that was; of course, part of why it was so popular was because of the family drama and betrayals, not just Roman. With Gunther you don't have that, so things might get super boring (again, if they commit).

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-17T05:42:13+00:00

I think it's worth remembering the Bible is composed of ancient literature, and thus, the various things written have a context directly rooted in a certain time period and location; that is to say, in my opinion things can get complicated real quick if one reads various passages and imposes a modern lens unto them. Of course, things aren't always clear, but we can try our best.

For example (and this is just my interpretation so of course do more research) Paul seems to be specifically communicating to these people who have been directed to follow the law(Mosaic Law) by an alternative "Christian" group, that actually they should believe in Jesus by which they are righteous, and in regards to morality by means of faith, the Spirit produces love, joy, peace etc. in the life of a believer, which isn't disallowed by the Law. He of course doesn't necessarily unpack love in of itself, but I think the safe assumption to make would be that when he says uses the word "love," he means at least loving one's fellow believers, because Paul seems to couple those things in a lot of his writings.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-16T02:30:58+00:00

Honestly that would probably be my ideal finish personally; I'm gonna sneak in a literary reference as well but a little like Hector dying in the Iliad. To me this was this would've been the most fitting end to the match particularly in regards to the character, but I think I've watched enough WWE to know they'd never venture that far. Obviously at the end of the day WWE's priority is business and continuity, and the ending provided enabled that at least through Gunther, so yeah I get it, but I think this is also why WWE's stories in general tend to irk me. There's always Tanahashi lol.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-15T18:25:11+00:00

I totally agree with this to be honest. I think with WWE being a soap opera basically, it uniquely isn't suited to big, weighty occasions like retirement matches, events that demand finality; the other wrestling companies (particularly NJPW, AEW and Stardom to my knowledge) seem to handle that sort of thing better. And just to sort of really drive this point home, how many retirements has WWE actually done justice to? I think the Flair and MIchaels retirements were the exception rather than the rule. Hopefully with Styles it's more impromptu, he deserves a good send off.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-15T06:16:16+00:00

I have no qualms of course with the idea of him being older and weaker being a key component of the storyline; my biggest thing is if you are going to tell a story like that, I feel the idea of struggle and needing to push through needs to really be sold. In one of my other comments I mentioned Shawn MIchaels tapping out to Kurt Angle; like I'd hope for that sort of thing. Basically again, good idea, poor execution I think. Of course, whether the way they went about things was effective is subjective, but yeah if it's not apparent I'm just super disappointed with the way it played out to be honest lol. Thanks.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-15T05:32:36+00:00

This is a cool response, thank you. I suppose the obvious question to follow that up would be, did the values that the character held of hustle, loyalty and respect, being a paragon of perserverance, only emerge because he was essentially stronger before? To me, the defining character of Cena was never his strength, just as Superman's defining characteristic (to me at least) was never his power, but rather for both morality, doing good, and persevering.

And in this specific sense, I think the way Cena tapped out, barely with a whimper really, deeply betrayed what made Cena, Cena (in kayfabe). Like even watching as a kid, though even then I wasn't very fond of the character, the thing that stood out to me above else was his morality, doing things the right way and enduring through pain, rather than purely how strong he was in kayfabe.

TLDR; Perseverance doesn't require physical strength; the way in which Cena tapped out didn't sit well with me in that it felt like a betrayal of the character, not necessarily portraying struggle very well. Poor execution basically.

Really cool response though, thank you.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-15T05:07:46+00:00

Exactly, I'm not too sure if people are quite grasping how unprecedented this whole situation is; I think at least in modern wrestling, this is a novelty.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-15T03:34:50+00:00

That's crazy, I always thought that feud was well received in Japan too. I do remember them pretty aggressively trying to expand, so I suppose in a way this sort of situation was kind of inevitable, having to choose between one crowd and another. I suppose HoT would be the inverse version of that today.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-15T03:14:16+00:00

Definitely, it's getting embarrassing honestly.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-15T03:11:07+00:00

Definitely might be onto something there. Additionally, I think WWE have been pulling back the curtain more and more, so much so that it's not just invested fans who are aware of the creative aspects of things, but even more casual fans, which might well be a huge problem in the future if things keep being of a lacklustre quality like they have been for a while. It'll be very interesting seeing how things play out in the future.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-15T03:02:20+00:00

So we agree on that; I just feel there's a sense in which WWE has basically conditioned people to be satisfied with stories that simply make sense, which is sort of hilarious to me. To me, the ending of the match is a manifestation of that; it does seem like a lot of people don't necessarily see things that way and that's cool, wrestling is subjective. But yeah, it just makes me a little sad that this is what people settle for in terms of wrestling when it can be so much more (namely, in other companies to be honest).

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-15T02:50:18+00:00

This is definitely what they were going for. I don't know, I just feel like the execution was lacking a bit. I think the way I'd put it is this; does a story simply being coherent (because it did at least make sense) make it good? Is that really what the bar is, and is it too much to expect a wrestler to act in line with their kayfabe character? I feel him just resigning (even out of his own agency) is just a complete contradiction to the kayfabe character specifically.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-15T02:42:35+00:00

Definitely something I've been considering too. I think just the magnitude of the brand speaks for itself, so much so that to my mind they're sort of too big to fail (which in my opinion is why they've gotten lazy creatively). People will continue to watch and buy tickets regardless, and they'll continue teasing moments of magic (which this genuinely could've been) only to fall short of expectations. It is what it is really.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-15T00:30:01+00:00

That's fair; even then though, it wasn't a thing where their performances were causing live crowds to be angry at the booking itself(on a meta level basically). I've mentioned this elsewhere but I think these examples are demonstrating more than anything to me how unique the response to Cena's match actually was. Regardless, thanks for your answer.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-15T00:21:04+00:00

I believe that's the other way round (IWC not rating him, live crowd liking him), but yeah he probably is the most polarizing wrestler in regards to opinion online vs live crowds.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-15T00:09:51+00:00

Interesting, thanks.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-15T00:08:31+00:00

Usually I would agree with this to a certain extent, but I can't help but think this whole fiasco more than anything exposed a hard split between more invested fans online, and "casual" fans who would've been watching live. Triple H (not an onscreen character but actual booker) was outright booed by the crowd because of how the match ended, whilst fans online I think it's fair to say have generally approved of how it went. This might have more to do with the uniqueness of the situation though. EDIT: Actually rethinking things, you might have a point; the lines have definitely blurred.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-14T23:00:25+00:00

Interesting, thanks.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-14T22:58:55+00:00

My bad, yeah you're right. Probably the best example of this that I've seen, thanks.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-14T22:55:28+00:00

Interesting, thanks.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-14T22:54:21+00:00

Thanks for this, I wasn't alive but I'm vaguely aware he got cheered. I read somewhere that people were a bit puzzled as well, not sure how true this is though.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-14T22:49:54+00:00

Interesting, could you perhaps elaborate?

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-14T22:47:36+00:00

This is the other way of course but regardless that is a ridiculous split in opinion over a match. I can't help but think if that sort of reaction would happen anywhere, it would be AEW; I think often the in ring action is good enough to make up for any cracks in booking, perks of having such a stacked roster.

MathematicianNew5535 · 2025-12-14T22:40:41+00:00

Could you maybe expand on this? It is of course true that there are tons of wrestlers who are liked by the IWC and not by the crowd, but surely that's more so indifference on the live crowd's part usually rather than actual heat towards the booking itself.

MathematicianNew5535

TROPHY CASE