Dramatic Moments in the New Testament Quiz

Answer: The mob took Jesus to the top of a cliff to throw him off, but somehow he walked right through the crowd and escaped.

The total passage Jesus read, Isaiah 61: 18-19, reads as follows in the Amplified Bible:

"The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity], To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound."

The included variants, especially the one claiming to be the Messiah, help one understand what upset the townspeople. The entire story is in Luke 4.

Answer: Jesus said "Go, your son will live." Believing, the official returned, where he found his son's fever had broken.

In the Amplified Bible, John 4: 49-54 tells us:

"Jesus answered him, Go in peace; your son will live! And the man put his trust in what Jesus said and started home.
"But even as he was on the road going down, his servants met him and reported, saying, Your son lives!
"So he asked them at what time he had begun to get better. They said, Yesterday during the seventh hour [about one o'clock in the afternoon] the fever left him.
"Then the father knew that it was at that very hour when Jesus had said to him, Your son will live. And he and his entire household believed [adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Jesus).
"This is the second sign [wonderwork, miracle] that Jesus performed after He had come out of Judea into Galilee."

Answer: The woman pointed out that dogs eat the children's scraps. Jesus relented and sent the demon out of the child.

Mark 7:29-30 says, "And He said to her, Because of this saying, you may go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter [permanently]. And she went home and found the child thrown on the couch, and the demon departed." "Thrown on the couch" sounds to me like an angry demon.

This is one of the key passages in the Gospels showing that the Gentiles were starting to be treated much differently than they historically had been. At first Jesus treated the woman as "unclean," as current teachings required, but he soon changed and treated her as well as the believers of Judea.

Answer: They went out, went to King Herod's men, and began to plot to kill Jesus.

Mark 3:6 reads, "Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus."

The different gospels offer different reasons why the religious leaders worked to stop Jesus, but they all are similar to this one.

Answer: The temple curtain was torn in two from the top. An earthquake broke open tombs, and resurrected bodies went into Jerusalem.

Matthew's crucifixion moment is by far the most dramatic of the four gospels; the others have none of the details in the answer to this question. The cutting off of a soldier's ear comes from Matthew 26, when Jesus was arrested. The crucifixion itself is in chapter 27, and the pertinent part follows:

"Now from the sixth hour [noon] there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour [three o'clock]. And about the ninth hour [three o'clock] Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?--that is, My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me [leaving Me helpless, forsaking and failing Me in My need]?
"And some of the bystanders, when they heard it, said, This Man is calling for Elijah! And one of them immediately ran and took a sponge, soaked it with vinegar (a sour wine), and put it on a reed [staff], and was about to give it to Him to drink. But the others said, Wait! Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him from death.
"And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. And at once the curtain of the sanctuary of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep [p]in death were raised [to life]; And coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
"When the centurion and those who were with him keeping watch over Jesus observed the earthquake and all that was happening, they were terribly frightened and filled with awe, and said, Truly this was God's Son!"

Answer: Jesus, accompanied by Moses and Elijah, met them on a high mountaintop.

Everything in this question (except, of course, for the wrong answer) is found at the end of John in chapters 20 and 21. The very last two verses says that there were too many signs and miracles for John to write about them all; he wrote about those three in order that readers may believe that Jesus is the Christ.

This question's answer, and any other times Christ appeared that you may know about, are from the synoptic Gospels.

Answer: They met daily at the temple, ate together happily, and pooled all their property.

Reading Acts 2:42-47, it seems as if the believers were almost giddy with the Good News, something like being on a spiritual honeymoon. This loving each other and the resulting communal activity was a hallmark of the early Christians for several generations.

Answer: Disciples tied ropes to a large basket, and in the middle of the night let Saul down over the city's wall.

As you can imagine, both in Damascus and later in Jerusalem the faithful had trouble believing that Saul was really now one of them. Acts 9:26-30 in the Amplified Bible tells what happened after Paul was lowered over the wall.

"And when he had arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to associate himself with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe he really was a disciple.
"However, Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and he explained to them how along the way he had seen the Lord, Who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached freely and confidently and courageously in the name of Jesus.
"So he went in and out [as one] among them at Jerusalem,
"Preaching freely and confidently and boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and discussed with and disputed against the Hellenists [the Grecian Jews], but they were seeking to slay him.
"And when the brethren found it out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus [his home town]."

Answer: He fell down and died because he didn't give God the glory.

To me, there are several odd things about this story. From Acts 12: 21-24 in the Amplified Bible:
"On an appointed day Herod arrayed himself in his royal robes, took his seat upon [his] throne, and addressed an oration to them.
"And the assembled people shouted, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!
"And at once an angel of the Lord smote him and cut him down, because he did not give God the glory [the preeminence and kingly majesty that belong to Him as the supreme Ruler]; and he was eaten by worms and died.
"But the Word of the Lord [concerning the attainment through Christ of salvation in the kingdom of God] continued to grow and spread."

I think it strange that this was seen as helping the Word grow and spread, although it did dramatically remove a major obstacle. I think it even stranger that "eaten by worms" is reported before "died." Here's one place in Acts where I really would like more detail.

Answer: The slave's owners, deprived of profit, charged them with causing confusion and had them imprisoned.

More drama followed. In prison, Paul and Silas witnessed to the other prisoners. That night there was a great earthquake, opening the prison. When the jailor saw the prison doors open, he started to kill himself, but Paul shouted "we are all here." The jailor converted and cared for their wounds.

The next day the magistrates sent orders to release Paul and Silas, but Paul insisted "they have beaten us openly and publicly, without a trial and uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now thrust us out secretly? No, indeed! Let them come here themselves and conduct us out!" Terrified, the magistrates apologized, ushered them out of prison, and asked them to please leave the city. The entire story constitutes Acts 16.