In Scripture we have four Gospel accounts Jesus, his life here on earth, his ministry, purpose and message. The four Gospel accounts have some differences as John and Matthew are eye witnesses.Mark, and Luke are relaying information gathered from interviewing various eye witnesses, though Peter is the primary source for Mark, and Mary is the primary source for Luke, each account relaying information from different vantage points.
As a result the varying accounts (some accounts will have more information that others), where possible I have put each account of a specific situation side by side to show the different writers view of that event. The synoptic Gospels are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. They are called synoptic Gospels because Matthew and Luke in large part follow the outline put forth by Mark. John’s Gospel is very different in that it covers a lot of additional information the majority of which is not found in the other three Gospel Accounts.
Some interesting facts regarding the Gospel accounts.
Mathew Mark, and Luke have Jesus eating the Passover meal as the “last supper” where John’s Gospel has Jesus being put to death on the Passover making him the “Passover Lamb”. Of course many see this as a contradiction. John did this on purpose, there were two calendars used by different Jewish sects, and John utilized this fact to show Jesus as the Passover Lamb. John writing his Gospel was familiar with the other Gospel accounts, and purposefully writes in other events than those covered in the other three. I believe that his purpose for doing this was that he was clearly wanting to shed more light on the life and ministry of Jesus.
Another interesting fact about the Gospels is that in both Matthew and Luke we see Jesus Genealogy. Interestingly different people are listed Joseph’s father between the two. In fact many different people are listed throughout both. By careful examination we find that Matthew’s Gospel shows Joseph’s genealogy, and Luke shows Mary’s. Joseph’s father listed in Luke is his father in-law. By studying scripture you find that Christ, the Messiah had to be blood related to King David. While Joseph was a direct decedent of King David, Joseph was not blood related to Jesus. It had to be through Mary that Jesus has his blood line, being a direct descendant of King David.
What makes the Gospel of Mark so interesting, is that he is not one of the twelve Disciples of Jesus. Also, it is the shortest Gospel account, and focuses on Jesus’s actions more than His words. Most Bible scholars agree that Mark’s Gospel is actually Peter’s version of the events, and is the first Gospel written. It was written shortly after Peter’s execution around 68 AD.
Because Mark is the first Gospel Account written, I will use his Gospel as the outline to follow.
Mark, also known as John Mark is mentioned multiple times in the New Testament. By looking at these areas of scripture where Mark is mentioned we can learn a lot about who he was and the role he played in the development of the Early Christian Church.
Who is Mark?
In Mark 14:50-52 Mark likely witnessed some of the events regarding Jesus first hand.
50 Then all of this disciples deserted him and ran away. 51 One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him he slipped out of his shirt and ran away necked.)
Many believe that this young man is Mark as this is the only Gospel account referring to this young man, and also as his mother is a lady named Mary, and her house is where many in the early church met. It was this house that Peter went to when he was miraculously released from jail.
Acts 12:12 “When he (Peter) realized this (that he was actually release from Jail) he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark were many were gathered for prayer. He knocked at the door in the gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, “Peter is standing at the door.”
By looking at Acts 4:36,
“36And Joses,who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus,”
And also by looking at Colossians 4:10
“Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, with Mark the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him),”
Mark is likely a Levite because he is Barnabas’s Cousin. Levites in the Old Testament times were a royal priesthood who’s primary purpose was to take care of the Temple and the Ark of the covenant. In this verse we also see that towards the end of Paul’s ministry and life, Mark was a help to him.
In Peter’s farewell shown in1Peter 5:12-14Mark is believed to be a convert of Peter’s as Peter refers to him as his son. He is also helping Peter in his ministry in Rome (The word Babylon is believed to be a code word in scripture for Rome).
“12By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.
13 She who is in Babylon, elect together withyou,greets you; andso does Mark my son.
14Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.”
Next Mark joined Barnabas and Saul later known as Paul on their missionary journey in Acts 12:25. It is interesting to note that Scripture refers to them as Paul and Barnabas after this verse.
“25And Barnabas and Saul returned fromJerusalem when they had fulfilled theirministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.”
Acts 13:13 John Mark departed from Paul and Barnabas.
“13Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.”
Acts 15:36-40 Paul and Barnabas part ways over a disputed about Mark joining them again on other missionary journeys.
“36Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord,and seehow they are doing.”
37Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark.
38But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work.
39Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus;
40but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God.”
Paul’s farewell in the letter to Philemon in verses23 and 25 Paul calls Mark a fellow laborer.
“23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, 24 as doMark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers.
25The grace of our Lord Jesus Christbewith your spirit. Amen.”
II Timothy 4:11 Paul while in prison is asking that Mark be brought to him as he is helpful in the ministry.
“11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.”
As mentioned I intend where possible to do a verse by verse comparison, but in these sections of scripture, the sequence of events is written in a slightly different order. As a result I thought it best to do a section by section comparison instead. My purpose of aliening the Gospels side by side is to more clearly see every documented detail of the Gospel events.
In John 21:25
25And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.
we see that there were many things that were not and could not be recorded for us. As a result it is my goal to take as close of a look as possible regarding what was documented for us to gain a full understanding of the Gospel events, and more importantly it’s message.
Each of the four Gospel accounts begin at different times. Matthew’s Gospel begins with Jesus birth, Luke’s Gospel begins with Jesus birth, but gives more detail. John’s Gospel begins at Creation, and serves as a commentary of sorts on the opening chapters of Genesis. It also clearly lays out the nature of God in the Trinity through verses 1 through 14, as does Genesis Chapter 1, specifically versed 26 and 27.
Mark’s Gospel begins with Jesus baptism, and primarily deals with the Ministry of John the Baptist. In reading the scriptural accounts of John the Baptist, you will see a man called of God for a very specific purpose and ministry. A ministry that only last six months. You will also see a man who fulfilled his ministry with unwavering courage to bring forth his message. Everyone from King Hared down to the person on the street heard what he had to say ultimately costing him his life. I hope that you will find it interesting and informative to go through the Gospel accounts comparing each account to gather the most information possible.
The outlines that I am posting are the outcome of a weekly men’s bible study held a Calvary Chapel of Las Cruces, Thursday evenings at 6:00pm.