Confrontation between John and the Synoptic Gospels

If you grew up looking at Sesame Street, as I did, you've probably seen one of the many iterations of the song that says, “One of these things is not like the other; one of these things simply doesn't belong. " The idea is to compare 4 or 5 different objects, then choose the one that is noticeably different from the rest.

Oddly enough, it's a game you could play with the four Gospels of the New Testament.

For centuries, Bible scholars and general readers have noticed a great division in the four Gospels of the New Testament. In particular, the Gospel of John differs in many ways from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. This division is so strong and evident that Mathew, Mark and Luke have their special name: the Synoptic Gospels.

Similarities
Let's do something clear: I don't want to make it seem that the Gospel of John is inferior to the other Gospels, or that it contradicts any other book of the New Testament. It is not like that at all. Indeed, on a general level, the Gospel of John has much in common with the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.

For example, the Gospel of John is similar to the synoptic Gospels in that all four of the Gospel books tell the story of Jesus Christ. Each Gospel proclaims that story through a narrative lens (through stories, in other words), and both the Synoptic Gospels and John include the main categories of the life of Jesus: his birth, his public ministry, his death on the cross and the his resurrection from the grave.

Going deeper, it is also clear that both John and the synoptic Gospels express a similar movement when they tell the story of Jesus' public ministry and the main events that led to his crucifixion and resurrection. Both John and the Synoptic Gospels highlight the connection between John the Baptist and Jesus (Mark 1: 4-8; John 1: 19-36). Both underline the long public ministry of Jesus in Galilee (Mark 1: 14-15; John 4: 3) and both pass a closer look at Jesus' last week spent in Jerusalem (Matthew 21: 1-11; John 12 : 12-15).

Similarly, the Synoptic Gospels and John refer to many of the same individual events that occurred during Jesus' public ministry. Examples include feeding the 5.000 (Mark 6: 34-44; John 6: 1-15), Jesus who walks on water (Mark 6: 45-54; John 6: 16-21) and many of the events recorded within Passion Week (e.g. Luke 22: 47-53; John 18: 2-12).

More importantly, the narrative themes of the story of Jesus remain coherent in all four Gospels. Each of the Gospels records Jesus in regular conflict with the religious leaders of the time, including the Pharisees and other law teachers. Likewise, each of the Gospels records the slow and sometimes painstaking journey of Jesus 'disciples from willing but mad initiates to men who wish to sit at Jesus' right in the kingdom of heaven - and later to men who responded with joy and skepticism. to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Finally, each of the Gospels focuses on the fundamental teachings of Jesus regarding the call to repent of all people, the reality of a new covenant, the divine nature of Jesus, the elevated nature of the kingdom of God and so on.

In other words, it is important to remember that in no place and in no way does the Gospel of John contradict the narrative or theological message of the Synoptic Gospels in a substantial way. The fundamental elements of Jesus' history and the key themes of his teaching ministry remain the same in all four Gospels.

differences
Having said that, there are a number of conspicuous differences between the Gospel of John and those of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Indeed, one of the major differences concerns the flow of different events in the life and ministry of Jesus.

Except for some variations and differences in style, the Synoptic Gospels generally cover the same events during the life and ministry of Jesus. They pay wide attention to the period of the public ministry of Jesus in all the regions of Galilee, Jerusalem and in various locations including - including many of the same miracles, speeches, important proclamations and clashes. True, the different authors of the Synoptic Gospels have often organized these events in different orders because of their unique preferences and objectives; however, it can be said that the books of Mathew, Mark and Luke follow the same larger script.

John's Gospel does not follow that script. Rather, it marches to the rhythm of its drum in terms of the events it describes. In particular, the Gospel of John can be divided into four main units or sub-books:

An introduction or prologue (1: 1-18).
The Book of Signs, which focuses on Jesus' messianic "signs" or miracles performed for the benefit of the Jews (1: 19–12: 50).
The Book of Exaltation, which anticipates the exaltation of Jesus with the Father following his crucifixion, burial and resurrection (13: 1–20: 31).
An epilogue that explains the future ministries of Peter and John (21).
The end result is that while the synoptic Gospels share a large percentage of their content in terms of the events described, the Gospel of John contains a large percentage of material that is unique in itself. In fact, about 90 percent of the material written in the Gospel of John can only be found in the Gospel of John. It is not recorded in the other Gospels.

explanations
So how can we explain the fact that John's Gospel does not cover the same events as Matthew, Mark and Luke? Does this mean that John remembered something different in Jesus' life - or even that Matthew, Mark and Luke were wrong about what Jesus said and did?

Not at all. The simple truth is that John wrote his Gospel about 20 years after Matthew, Mark and Luke wrote theirs. For this reason, John chose to skim and skip a large part of the land that had already been covered in the Synoptic Gospels. He wanted to fill some gaps and provide new material. He also spent a lot of time describing the various events surrounding the week of the Passion before the crucifixion of Jesus - which was a very important week, as we now understand.

In addition to the flow of events, John's style differs considerably from that of the synoptic Gospels. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are largely narrative in their approach. They present geographic settings, a large number of characters and a proliferation of dialogues. The synoptics also record that Jesus taught mainly through parables and brief outbursts of announcement.

John's Gospel, however, is far more elaborate and introspective. The text is full of long speeches, mainly from the mouth of Jesus. There are far fewer events that would qualify as "moving along the plot", and there are many more theological explorations.

For example, the birth of Jesus offers readers a great opportunity to observe the stylistic differences between the Synoptic Gospels and John. Matthew and Luke tell the story of Jesus' birth in a way that can be reproduced through a crib - complete with characters, costumes, sets and so on (see Matthew 1: 18–2: 12; Luke 2: 1- 21). They describe specific events chronologically.

The Gospel of John does not contain any characters. Instead, John offers a theological announcement of Jesus as the divine Word - the Light that shines in the darkness of our world even though many refuse to recognize it (John 1: 1-14). John's words are powerful and poetic. The writing style is completely different.

In the end, while the Gospel of John eventually tells the same story of the synoptic Gospels, there are important differences between the two approaches. Alright then. John intended his gospel to add something new to the story of Jesus, which is why his finished product is significantly different from what was already available.