Bauer Daniel Fr. Golitzin Religion Midterm Paper March 5, 2008 The Passion It seems like it would be very hard for the biblical accounts of Jesus' death and resurrection to be very different within four completely different books, but that is not the case. In fact there are many differences within the books for many reasons. Many people must understand that before the Bible and these books were written all these accounts were based off oral tradition and the accounts of witnesses, but there are similarities and it is not like each book is completely different but each book has its own themes highlighted and different points of view present. For example, in a broad sense the whole book of Matthew is unknown who the author is historians can only speculate whether it is the apostle of Jesus himself or someone with that pseudonym. "Much of the material peculiar to this Gospel is concerned with the Jews or with the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies" (Matthew preface). Mark focuses a lot on presenting Jesus as the true Son of God and highlights a lot of these actions that separates him from the others. Luke is known as the historian. His gospel is more of a historical account with focus on specific dates and times and other details that are important to his style. The author of gospel of John, scholars speculate that it was the disciple John himself, the one that Jesus loved, which would explain the exact pinpoint details that are present within the gospel. Whichever gospel one is reading, there are unique characteristics applied to each one and a great place to
display these are within the passion narratives, arguably the most important part of the gospels and New Testament and foundation for our faith. There are 4 main parts that make up the Passion Death and Resurrection of our Lord: The Last Supper, followed by Jesus' arrest and trial, his sentence to crucifixion and preparation for death, to his death and burial. The Last Supper is the very beginning of the passion account in all the gospels. There are not many discrepancies between the gospels on this. There are just many different references used throughout all the books. In Matthew, the book of Isaiah is heavily mentioned. In the International Bible Commentary they note the strong influence that Isaiah has "The language of v. 28 draws heavily on Isa 52:12, for Jesus is that Servant who will pour out his soul to death and bear the sin of humankind" (IBC 1322). The Commentary goes on to explain the similarities between Jesus' suffering and the suffering Servant within Isaiah. "...In Isaiah 53 the Servant's suffering, death, and resurrection are seen as the means for extending that kingdom to all. This is not the only Gospel that draws from other books or themes from the Bible; they are present in just about every book. The amazing thing is that each Gospel is unique though in their references. There are still some events or ideas that have a common ground. The language and order of events in Mark's account is very similar to Matthew. The only obvious difference among the two is that Judas is not directly named as the one who is eating with Jesus as his betrayer. John has a bit of a different approach on the Last Supper. It is presented that it almost seems like Jesus was the one responsible for giving Judas the piece of bread. "It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish...he gave it to Judas. After he received the piece of bread Satan entered him" (John 13:26-27).
After this, there are not much if any differences among the Gospels. They proceed to go to the Garden of Gethsemane where in all four accounts; the arrest of Jesus is mostly the same. In Luke however there is an apparent difference between the other three. According to the IBC, Luke's account of the Mount of Olives omits much of what the other gospels have, there is very little display of emotion and feeling, it is all facts. (IBC). The language used by all the gospels is once again different but there is no omission of important facts. John tends to draw into more detail and use more specifics when describing events, such as during the arrest of Jesus, Matthew Mark and Luke do not mention who the person is that cuts the ear of the soldier, but in John he states that it was Simon Peter. Also Mark and Matthew do not account for the notion that Jesus healed the soldier's ear as well. They leave out that Jesus still performed miracles even while he was being charged with doing such actions. The entire trial and affliction endured by Jesus is the next prominent event in the passion. After being arrested in the garden, Jesus is led back to the city to stand trial before the high priests. In all four accounts there are no stand out differences. All accounts state that Jesus was led away from the Garden and sent to be question before the high priest. The only difference between all the gospels is whether or not the high priest Caiaphus's name was stated. While in front of the high priest, Jesus is interrogated as well as beaten and abused. Many people who were witnesses began to give false statements to try to convince Caiaphus Jesus was evil. Once the morning arrived the crowd was able to take Jesus before Pilate after the high priest stated that there was nothing he could do to him. Along with Jesus they brought false reports of what Jesus had done. interesting One event that is only mentioned in Matthew's gospel is the news about Judas. Once Judas heard what all had happened to Jesus
he immediately gave back his blood money and proceeded to kill himself. "When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the scribes...he went and hanged himself" (Matthew 27:3-5). This is interesting to note that this event is copied down. It goes along with the theme of Matthew of fulfilling prophesy stated from before. During the course of the interrogation by Pilate, Matthew and Mark do not really write about the responses by Jesus to the questions, whereas in John, he documents most of everything that Jesus states to Pilate. Along with that, there is no mention of Jesus being led from Pilate to go speak with Herod except in the account by Luke. Being the historical narrative, this is not very surprising that such a little detail is mentioned only in Luke. After being interrogated by Pilate, Jesus is led away to be flogged and tortured. In Matthew Mark and John, there are quite descriptive accounts of what goes on. The viciousness and brutality that Jesus suffers along with the humiliation and pain brought on by the actions of the soldiers. In Luke's account however there is not much mention of the acts that Jesus endured, in fact it briefly mentions the flogging but jumps right to Pilate's decision to have Jesus crucified. The crucifixion and death of Jesus is the climax of the passion narrative. The moments leading up to the crucifixion are typically a bit different within each account. In Matthew's gospel, Pilate seeks advice from his wife saying to have nothing to do with Jesus's death, but for fear of a riot he grants the mob's request. Also Matthew is the only book in which Jesus is clothed with a scarlet robe. In all the others, Jesus is forced to wear a purple robe. The significance of this is that scarlet or red is used to symbolize bloodshed and lots of it. The color purple which is used in the other accounts is used to represent that of a king. The soldiers
mocked him and beat him, crowned him with a crown of thorns and made him wear a purple robe. This portrayal is very different than that of Matthew. The focus is on the torture and pain that Jesus endured instead of focusing on his status as the King of the Jews. Jesus' journey to be crucified all the way up to his crucifixion is different throughout each gospel. Some are shorter than others. In Matthew's gospel, after being led away from Pilate, they meet Simon the Cyrenian, who helps Jesus carry his cross. This is different from John's gospel where it says that Jesus carried his own cross. "So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull" (John 19:16b-18). Another difference is in Luke's account on Jesus' way to be crucified. There is no previous mention by another of the other writers that Jesus had a crowd watching him on his journey. Within Luke however, he presents that the streets were lined with supporters and enemies of Jesus. "A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him" (Luke 23:27). This is once again a more historical detailed account; Luke's account also contains more dialogue as well from Jesus. Once Jesus reaches the Place of the Skull in all four accounts it is the same. He is stripped, nailed to the cross, and put up to die. His garments are split among the soldiers and they cast lots to see who receives his robe. The companions Jesus has on his left and right are also consistent. The variation however occurs in small areas. For example, after Jesus is up on the cross in John it states that he becomes thirsty and asks for a drink, but in the other gospels there is no such request. The soldiers do give him something to drink but it appears that they did it on their own accord. John's gospel once again has the most variation within it. There is no mention of an argument among the mob and Pilate about what the inscription says, also Jesus never meets with his mother and talks to her in the
other three accounts. These differences appear to make this gospel seem more of a firsthand account. The notion that John the disciple himself wrote this seems very likely. Ultimately, Jesus dies on the cross and there is no huge difference in that. It is very hard to have a different account about death. Jesus shouts out to God, breathes his last, an earthquake erupts, followed by the sudden belief by the crowd that "Truly this man was the Son of God" (Mark 15:39). All these events and differences can be an argument for some non-believers to question whether the Bible is in fact true. This is not a fair argument and it must be clear that regardless of the details left out in Matthew that are in John, or Luke's more historical account versus Mark. The believer must understand that each writer had his own style and way to portray this horrible event. Jesus' death is a clear example of how much love he has for us and we must go out and show that love to others around us.
References The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrapha. Metzger, Bruce M. and Roland Murphy ed. Oxford University Press. New York, New York: 1991. International Bible Commentary. Farmer, William ed. Liturgical Press. 1998.