Fear No More!: A Harmony of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus

This book came about when I was preparing a special Good Friday service for my church. Many church manuals will have a "Harmony of the Passion" to be used on Good Friday, which is a single account compiled from the four Gospels telling the story of the passion of our Lord.

Some of these "Harmonies" are longer than others. Some leave certain things out. I ended up utilizing a couple of them, and I carefully combined them, and even added more events. I then included some events before Palm Sunday, and then added the Easter stories and Paul's references to the appearances of Jesus after his resurrection. The last part is the Ascension and Mark's Ending.

Please note that this is my own attempt at making a Harmony. I have been very faithful to the layout of the old Harmonies, but I have arranged it according to my own understanding. The end result: Here is the story of the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ from Bethany to the Ascension.

I have also included some notes on various questions that arise when you try to make a Harmony of the passion and resurrection. Not everything fits together that easily. Scholars have long puzzled about some parts of our story. I will talk more about this.

The paradox here is that the four Gospels were not originally written to be harmonized and blended together. They are each unique, distinct, and special. They each show us something different about Jesus and reveal important insights. The Holy Spirit designed them this way, and that is what makes Matthew, Mark, Luke and John so powerful.

However, and this is the other side of the paradox, it is also powerful when you read the whole story of the passion all at once. That is why the "Harmony of the Passion" is read aloud at Good Friday services. When you hear about everything Jesus did for our salvation, you are awestruck and filled with wonder.

Also included in this book are several sermons which explain many of these events and apply them to our spiritual life. That is the whole point of the passion and resurrection narratives - they tell the story about the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. His death and resurrection is what the Bible is all about. It's all about Jesus! Discover once again now, the power and depth of the greatest story ever told.

Volker Heide