It is Easter Sunday as I write this. Happy Easter!
Let's dig right in.
You've heard me use the phrase "synoptic gospels" over and over again for months now, but we've yet to go after the etymology on this terminology. Allow me to remedy that. The word "synoptic" is from the ancient Greek "sunopsis," or "sun" (together) and "opsis" (seeing). The word synoptic, then, means "having a common view."
Recall that "synoptic" is the word we use to describe the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. All people well versed in the gospel will understand why those three gospels are set apart as "having a common view" and why the Gospel of John is not included in that list. The Gospel of John has an uncommon view, relative to the other gospels. There is no way around this fact.
To be sure, there are differences between the synoptic gospels themselves. The synoptics do not always agree in chronology or geography, and there are anecdotes, stories, and parables that appear in some synoptic gospels and not others. But the differences between the synoptics themselves pale in comparison to the differences between the synoptics as a set and the Gospel of John.
Today, we'll do a brief overview of ten differences between John and the synoptics. We're going to take these rapid fire right now, because all of this is overview for more detailed work we will do later.
Ten of the Major Differences Between John and the Synoptics
- 1 - The first event in the synoptic gospels is the birth or baptism of Jesus. The first event in the Gospel of John is the creation of the universe. The scope of John is immediately far beyond what the synoptics ever set out to accomplish.
- 2 - In two of the three synoptics, Jesus birth is described as being to a virgin, whereas the word "virgin" is not mentioned anywhere in the Gospel of John. John contains no narrative of the birth of Christ at all.
- 3 - In the synoptic gospels, Jesus is shown doing lots of exorcisms. The Gospel of John shows Jesus performing a grand total of zero exorcisms.
- 4 - In the synoptic gospels, Jesus speaks frequently in parables. All of the well known parables of Jesus are from the synoptic gospels. These include:
- The Parable of the Sower, found in Matt, Mark, and Luke.There are no true parables in the Gospel of John.
- The Parable of the Mustard Seed, found in Matt, Mark, and Luke.
- The Parable of the Wicked Husbandman, found in Matt, Mark, and Luke.
- The Parable of the Lost Sheep, found in Matt and Luke...
- ...and many others.
- 5 - The synoptic gospels show Jesus' ministry lasting for one year. The Gospel of John inexplicably extends this figure to three years.
- 6 - The famous incident during which Jesus knocked over the tables of those engaged in commerce inside of The Second Temple, which led to his execution, occurs at the beginning of Jesus' ministry in the Gospel of John. In the synoptic gospels, Jesus' assault on the capitalists occurs near the very end of his ministry.
- 7 - In the synoptic gospels, Jesus has his last supper with his men the night before Passover, and is killed on Passover. In John, Jesus has his last supper with his men the night before the night before Passover, and is killed on the Day of Preparation for Passover.
- 8 - In the synoptic gospels, Jesus talks again and again about the poor and the suffering of the world. In the Gospel of John, he almost never mentions these unfortunates.
- 9 - In the synoptic gospels, Jesus almost never references himself and does not seek to build himself up. In the Gospel of John, Jesus cannot stop from referring to himself nor from building himself up.
- 10 - In the synoptic gospels, Jesus says salvation is gained by good works - by feeding the hungry and by clothing the poor, etc. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says that to be saved, one must only believe that Jesus is the unique Son of God. Allow me to reiterate: the Jesus in the synoptic gospels disagrees with the Jesus in the Gospel of John as to how Jesus' followers might attain salvation.
This list of differences goes on, but these are some of the more critical ones.
A few sessions ago, we started down our current path of inquiry on account of something a friend of mine had told me. Recall that I had asked my friend if the words of Jesus didn't naturally take precedence over everything else in The New Testament. My friend had responded that "the entire New Testament was divinely inspired. The New Testament is the inerrant word of God, and thus all of its text is equally important."
To push back at this notion my friend holds, we've made an overview of the plethora of apocryphal Christian texts that were available as early as 250 AD, and wondered about the nature of "canon." Now, we've highlighted some of the glaring differences between the synoptic gospels and the Gospel of John. Next time, we will look at The New Testament more broadly and continue highlighting inconsistencies, anomalies and straight-up-disagreements between texts in this collection. Through all of this, we believe we will have shown that the New Testament, just like any other historical work of language, bears intense scrutiny and even distrust, not blindly unquestioning belief.
If the entire New Testament is equally valid and was entirely dictated by God, than God is divided against itself.
How can God be divided against itself?
Let's get back to our gospel reading.
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Matthew 5:5
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
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Today, we have Jesus Saying Number Eight, which is also Beatitude Number Three. Recall that in the Beatitudes, Jesus seems to be calling out the righteous among humanity. In the First Beatitude, Jesus blessed the poor and expressed his preference for them. In the Second, he blessed those in mourning, expressing his preference for them. Now, in the Third Beatitude, he blesses the meek, calling them out as morally superior to the non-meek, and proclaiming that "they will inherit the land."
This saying is so straightforward. It cannot be confused. Jesus wants his followers to be meek in their earthly lifetime because he believes his followers will gain significant reward for attaining sufficient meekness.
"Meek" can be defined as "quiet, gentle, and easily imposed upon," or as "submissive."
Easily imposed upon...
I like this Beatitude. It might be the most important thing, to me, that we've read together so far. Beatitude Number Three perfectly fits with what we know about the historical Jesus. This saying gets near the very heart of Jesus' emerging philosophy.
I have experimented with levels of meekness in my own life. I will not claim to be "meek" by nature, but I will claim the capacity to occasionally lever my mind and heart into a position of temporary meekness through some effort. I can report that all of my limited experimentations with meekness have yielded wildly positive results.
I am going to meditate this week on being quiet, gentle, easily imposed upon, and submissive. I don't want to say much else about this morsel of Christian morality. It really is too perfect to bear much talking about.
Blessed are the meek.
Next time, we'll continue digesting the rich vein of moral data we call The Sermon on the Mount by reading Beatitude Number Four. With each passing session, now, our understanding of Jesus Christ's teachings will be directly advanced. We are in the thick of it now.
Happy Easter again. Thank you for reading.
Love.
This saying is so straightforward. It cannot be confused. Jesus wants his followers to be meek in their earthly lifetime because he believes his followers will gain significant reward for attaining sufficient meekness.
"Meek" can be defined as "quiet, gentle, and easily imposed upon," or as "submissive."
Easily imposed upon...
I like this Beatitude. It might be the most important thing, to me, that we've read together so far. Beatitude Number Three perfectly fits with what we know about the historical Jesus. This saying gets near the very heart of Jesus' emerging philosophy.
I have experimented with levels of meekness in my own life. I will not claim to be "meek" by nature, but I will claim the capacity to occasionally lever my mind and heart into a position of temporary meekness through some effort. I can report that all of my limited experimentations with meekness have yielded wildly positive results.
I am going to meditate this week on being quiet, gentle, easily imposed upon, and submissive. I don't want to say much else about this morsel of Christian morality. It really is too perfect to bear much talking about.
Blessed are the meek.
Next time, we'll continue digesting the rich vein of moral data we call The Sermon on the Mount by reading Beatitude Number Four. With each passing session, now, our understanding of Jesus Christ's teachings will be directly advanced. We are in the thick of it now.
Happy Easter again. Thank you for reading.
Love.
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For the index of Christ's words, click here.
