Columbia International University

The New Testament opens with four Gospel accounts that introduce the reader to Jesus Christ. From the very beginning, the redemptive drama moves toward the cross. The final week of Jesus's life, Passion Week, takes up nearly 40 percent of the entire narrative. The canonical Gospels provide four different perspectives on the life of Jesus. He is portrayed in this fourfold account as King and covenant keeper (Matthew), as obedient Son-servant (Mark), as the perfect Man among men (Luke), and as the eternal Son of God (John), the only person ever born whose central purpose in living is to die. The Gospels are Passion narratives with extended introductions. This is the governing principle of the present work as Jesus moves toward the culmination of his saving mission. From early adumbrations to deepening shadows to direct predictions and finally to the detailed narratives of Passion Week, the Gospels follow the Lord's inexorable journey to the cross.
This synthetic study, which follows the life of Jesus in a chronological sequence while attempting to preserve the unique contribution of each of the four Gospel accounts, draws upon the long-established tradition of harmonies of the Gospels, dating back to Tatian's Diatessaron (AD 170). The ordering of the data follows, with minor rearrangements, The NIV Harmony of the Gospels edited by Robert L. Thomas and Stanley N. Gundry. In The Passion of the Servant, eighteen chapters with thirteen maps trace the geographical context of Jesus's ministry. Biblical quotations are taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) except where otherwise noted. The chronology adopted in this work, one that assumes a spring AD 30 date for the crucifixion, is appended, along with a brief bibliography of works that have been particularly helpful to the author. The front cover is a portrait of the risen Lord instructing the two disciples near Emmaus that the events surrounding his death and resurrection fulfilled the sacred prophecies of the Old Testament (Luke 24:25-27).

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This study is an attempt to forge a full-orbed theology of Christian leadership grounded in the teaching of Scripture. What emerges from tracing the theme of leadership through the biblical record is a servanthood pattern, one that is wholly distinct from prevailing secular models. Our exposition begins with the biblical language of the servant, the term of choice for those great leaders used of God to further his saving purposes in the world. Eleven Old Testament and five New Testament leaders are profiled. The portrait of Jesus Christ focuses on three motifs that governed his training of the twelve for kingdom ministry. The Pauline letters are mined for those convictions that governed Paul's practice of leadership, both of his mission team and of the faith communities that emerged from that mission. The treatment of each leader, from Joseph to Paul, begins with a series of preliminary questions and concludes with a mini-profile that correlates the biblical data with these questions. The final chapter offers a summary profile of the servant leader, one whose character, motives and agenda align with the divine purposes.