How Are the Gospels Different?

The four canonical Gospels (that’s the four that we have in the Bible) – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – are very similar but also quite different. In each of the gospels we receive a different “portrait” of Jesus. What I mean by that is that each one communicates something different about Jesus – different approaches and messages about the same God, if that makes sense. The word gospel literally means “good news”. We are given the word in the very beginning of Mark’s work: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ (the Son of God).” - Mark 1:1


Matthew, Mark and Luke are known as the synoptic gospels. Syn meaning “alike” (as in “synonym”), optic meaning “view” (as in optical allusion or optometrist). The three synoptic gospels give a similar view of Jesus, a little distinctive from St. John’s fourth (and last) gospel. One recognizable difference is that St. John’s gospel doesn’t have pure parables, as the other three have.
What you will find as you read and pray through the other three gospels, however, is that what each saint is communicating about Jesus is very different. And that’s a good thing. Those differences should make us feel even better about the Gospel – if they were too similar, many would think it was all just “copying” and that, perhaps, only one person really thought these things.
The four Gospel authors come from different backgrounds, wrote to different audiences, transcribed their gospels at different times and focused on different aspects of Jesus’ ministry, life and mission.
Many Biblical scholars spend their entire lives trying to prove that Mark was written after Matthew, or that there is another source (called “Q”) that was used (in addition to Mark) as a sort of “template” (outline) for both Matthew and Luke. And while those are some really interesting debates and conversations to get into someday, if you really want to, it’s probably far more important for you to focus on the here and now, as you read through the rest.
Here’s a little BACKGROUND on each, to help you on your way.

Matthew and John were part of the original twelve apostles (Mt. 9:9, Jn. 21:24). ~~~~>
Mark and Luke were not part of the original twelve.
Mark was a young disciple of Jesus’, traveled with St. Paul (Acts 12:25) and was close with St. Peter (1 Pet. 5:13).
Luke was a physician who spent a great deal of time with St. Paul. (Col 4:14, Phl. 1:24 and 2 Tim. 4:11). Luke also wrote the Acts of the Apostles.

Audience

Matthew is writing to Jewish Christians of Palestine.
Possibly originally written in Hebrew (i.e., the Aramaic dialect), and afterwards translated into Greek, either by Matthew himself or by some person unknown. Though Matthew wrote mainly for the Jews, most were familiar with the Greek language.

Mark is written for a Roman audience.
We know this because there are no allusions
to Jewish Law, or references to Jewish culture like there are in the other Gospels. This
Gospel was written primarily for a group of people who did not know Christ first hand.

Luke is writing to all non-Jewish readers, but especially Greeks who know very little about the Jewish faith.
We know this because he translates all the Hebrew and Aramaic terms into Greek as well as explaining the Jewish Laws, customs and geography. It’s also important to remember that the Greeks admired human perfection and so Luke often shows Jesus as the perfect answer to their quest…the IDEAL.

John is writing to the early Church, close to the end of the First Century.
This Gospel had a much more universal audience (not necessarily for a particular group of people) than the other Gospels.

<~~~ about the image: "Carpet Pages" were purely decorative, and were so named for their resemblance to eastern carpets. This carpet page from Folio 27v of the Book of Kells depicts the symbols for the four evangelists: Matthew the Man Mark the Lion Luke the Calf (or Bull) John the Eagle (derived from the vision of Ezekiel)

Datelines

Matthew - written before the destruction of Jerusalem (Matt. 24) which was in 70AD, and some time after the events it records. The probability is that it was written between the years A.D. 60 and 65.
Mark - Just before or just after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., probably about 63 AD.
Luke - It was more than likely written between the years 80-90.
John - Around 90-95 AD, there is great evidence to support this dateline.

Central Themes

Matthew - The central theme is Christ the Messiah and King came to establish a Church.
Mark - The central theme is on action and service, more than teaching.
Luke - The central theme is liberation and healing
John - The central theme is the identity of Jesus, the reality of the Sacramental Church
My hope and prayer is that you would read and pray all four, taking your time as you do. And once you finish with St. John, go back and begin through St. Matthew’s again. You can spend the rest of your life in just the four gospels and they will ever get stale, that’s the beauty (and depth) of God’s work.


Source:  The Bible Geek over @ Holy Spirit Interactive Youth
Re-post from 5-29-2008

Symbols of the Four Evangelists and Jesus

St. Matthew's Symbol: An Angel St. Mark's Symbol: Winged Lion

Symbols of Jesus: Chi Rho & Alpha Omega

St. Luke's Symbol: Winged Ox St. John's Symbol: An Eagle Image source: http://catholic-resources.org/Art/USF-StIgnatiusParish.htm

The Calling of St. Matthew (today's Gospel reading)

H/T to Jackie over @ CatholicMomof10. Thank you for sharing this great information!
Fr Guy Nicholls writes: Thought for the week here & below:

THE CALLING OF ST. MATTHEW

St. Matthew tells us in his own words about his calling by our Lord to be an Apostle. For those who know the painting of this scene by Caravaggio, which is to be found in the Church of St. Louis of France in Rome, it impossible to think of this event without seeing this picture in their mind’s eye. Matthew describes it in a very simple and unadorned way, yet one that leaves a great deal to the imagination.

Whereas Andrew, Simon Peter, James and John were fishermen, and the other Simon was a Zealot, or former insurrectionist against the Romans, we know nothing of the previous life of any of the other Apostles.

Matthew, also known as Levi, must have seemed to many at the time of his calling to have been the most unlikely to be chosen by Our Lord. He was a tax-collector—a way of life deeply hated by his fellow Jews since it involved co-operation with the occupying power for personal gain. A tax-collector was not only granted a license to gather the taxes from the local people on behalf of the Romans but was allowed to take his “cut” as a perk. So they were judged to be not only “collaborators” but also self-servers, lining their own pockets at their fellow-citizens’ expense. No wonder they were so unpopular!

Matthew records the celebration which he held to mark this enormous change in his life. He invited his friends, the other local tax-collectors and various public “sinners” whom the respectable folk shunned with distaste, even hatred. Yet Our Lord neither shunned nor hated them. He ate with them and so earned the Pharisees’ wrath and contempt. They throw this challenge in the face of Jesus’s other disciples: “Why does your master eat with tax-collectors and sinners?” What kind of rabbi is He, then? Look at the disreputable company He keeps! So it is that Jesus Himself replies to the Pharisees: “It is not the healthy who need the doctor. Go and learn the meaning of the words: ‘what I want is mercy, not sacrifice’. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners”.

It is the drama behind these words which Caravaggio captures in this wonderful painting. We see Jesus suddenly breaking with a sharp beam of light into this darkened room of men hunched over their pile of ‘filthy lucre’. Jesus’s outstretched finger points commandingly at Matthew who responds with amazement and an incredulous finger pointing back at himself in echo of Our Lord’s hand, as though he is saying, “Who? Me? Surely not!” The two older men are so absorbed in the money that they fail even to notice Our Lord, but the two younger men, flooded in the light passing from Jesus towards Matthew, are caught up with puzzlement at the sudden appearance of Our Lord and His companion who are dressed humbly, unlike the expensive and worldly garb of Matthew’s companions.

St. Matthew’s calling reminds us of Our Lord’s words elsewhere to His disciples: “You have not chosen me, it is I who have chosen you”. This most unlikely Apostle was to become the writer of the First Gospel and a martyr for love of Christ.

Matthew 9:9-13

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."




St. Matthew's Symbol - An Angel

How Are The Gospels Different?

A great answer from The Bible Geek over @ Holy Spirit Interactive Youth.
"The four canonical Gospels (that’s the four that we have in the Bible) – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – are very similar but also quite different. In each of the gospels we receive a different “portrait” of Jesus. What I mean by that is that each one communicates something different about Jesus – different approaches and messages about the same God, if that makes sense.
The word gospel literally means “good news”. We are given the word in the very beginning of Mark’s work: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ (the Son of God).” - Mark 1:1

Matthew, Mark and Luke are known as the synoptic gospels. Syn meaning “alike” (as in “synonym”), optic meaning “view” (as in optical allusion or optometrist). The three synoptic gospels give a similar view of Jesus, a little distinctive from St. John’s fourth (and last) gospel. One recognizable difference is that St. John’s gospel doesn’t have pure parables, as the other three have.
What you will find as you read and pray through the other three gospels, however, is that what each saint is communicating about Jesus is very different. And that’s a good thing. Those differences should make us feel even better about the Gospel – if they were too similar, many would think it was all just “copying” and that, perhaps, only one person really thought these things.
The four Gospel authors come from different backgrounds, wrote to different audiences, transcribed their gospels at different times and focused on different aspects of Jesus’ ministry, life and mission.
Many Biblical scholars spend their entire lives trying to prove that Mark was written after Matthew, or that there is another source (called “Q”) that was used (in addition to Mark) as a sort of “template” (outline) for both Matthew and Luke. And while those are some really interesting debates and conversations to get into someday, if you really want to, it’s probably far more important for you to focus on the here and now, as you read through the rest.
Here’s a little BACKGROUND on each, to help you on your way.

Matthew and John were part of the original twelve apostles (Mt. 9:9, Jn. 21:24). ~~~~>
Mark and Luke were not part of the original twelve.
Mark was a young disciple of Jesus’, traveled with St. Paul (Acts 12:25) and was close with St. Peter (1 Pet. 5:13).
Luke was a physician who spent a great deal of time with St. Paul. (Col 4:14, Phl. 1:24 and 2 Tim. 4:11). Luke also wrote the Acts of the Apostles.

Audience

Matthew is writing to Jewish Christians of Palestine.
Possibly originally written in Hebrew (i.e., the Aramaic dialect), and afterwards translated into Greek, either by Matthew himself or by some person unknown. Though Matthew wrote mainly for the Jews, most were familiar with the Greek language.

Mark is written for a Roman audience.
We know this because there are no allusions
to Jewish Law, or references to Jewish culture like there are in the other Gospels. This
Gospel was written primarily for a group of people who did not know Christ first hand.
Luke is writing to all non-Jewish readers, but especially Greeks who know very little about the Jewish faith.
We know this because he translates all the Hebrew and Aramaic terms into Greek as well as explaining the Jewish Laws, customs and geography. It’s also important to remember that the Greeks admired human perfection and so Luke often shows Jesus as the perfect answer to their quest…the IDEAL.
John is writing to the early Church, close to the end of the First Century.
This Gospel had a much more universal audience (not necessarily for a particular group of people) than the other Gospels.

<~~~ about the image: "Carpet Pages" were purely decorative, and were so named for their resemblance to eastern carpets. This carpet page from Folio 27v of the Book of Kells depicts the symbols for the four evangelists: Matthew the Man Mark the Lion Luke the Calf (or Bull) John the Eagle (derived from the vision of Ezekiel)

Datelines

Matthew - written before the destruction of Jerusalem (Matt. 24) which was in 70AD, and some time after the events it records. The probability is that it was written between the years A.D. 60 and 65.
Mark - Just before or just after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., probably about 63 AD.
Luke - It was more than likely written between the years 80-90.
John - Around 90-95 AD, there is great evidence to support this dateline.

Central Themes

Matthew - The central theme is Christ the Messiah and King came to establish a Church.
Mark - The central theme is on action and service, more than teaching.
Luke - The central theme is liberation and healing
John - The central theme is the identity of Jesus, the reality of the Sacramental Church
My hope and prayer is that you would read and pray all four, taking your time as you do. And once you finish with St. John, go back and begin through St. Matthew’s again. You can spend the rest of your life in just the four gospels and they will ever get stale, that’s the beauty (and depth) of God’s work."