Reading the Gospels Together Some Indirect Points of Contact between John and the Synoptic Gospels – Part 1 We have noticed that John does not tell any of the stories of the Galilean ministry of Jesus other than the twin stories of the Multiplication of the Bread and Jesus Walking on the Water. There are; however, some other indirect points of contact that we might notice as we read John’s gospel and those of Mark, Matthew, and Luke. We are going to look at a number of these indirect points of contact in this section. The references for each will be cited separately. The Relationship between Jesus and His Family: In this section we will need to consider Mark 3:19b-21 and 3:31-35; Matthew 12:46-50; Luke 8:19-21; and John 2:1-5 and 7:1-9. The relationship between Jesus and his family provides an interesting connection especially between the gospels of Mark and John. Though the stories are very different both John and Mark seem to be aware of some tension between Jesus and his immediate family. This is likely very surprising to readers of the gospels. We don’t expect this tension. And over the years the church has had a difficult time with these stories. So did Matthew and Luke. If we begin with Mark, the gist of his story is that the family of Jesus begins to think that perhaps Jesus has “gone out of his mind” and they come to take him home. It is interesting that English translators of Mark have almost universally changed the wording so that it appears the “people” are thinking this of Jesus, but the Greek is quite clear that it is Jesus own family who thinks he is “out of his mind.” Interestingly, Mark has tucked this troubling episode in the middle of a deadly conflict that Jesus finds himself engaged in with the religious leaders and at the conclusion of the episode Jesus is told that his mother and brothers are waiting outside, supposedly to take him home, and Jesus says that his true family consists of those who do his Father’s will. Both Matthew and Luke follow Mark with respect to the rest of this story but both drop out the part about Jesus’ family thinking he is “out of his mind.” Apparently they were very uncomfortable with it; however, in different locations they do include the story of Jesus mother and brothers coming to look for him and being told that Jesus’ true family consists of those who do his Father’s will. But without the first part of the story, Matthew and Luke have softened the punch of the story – the family of Jesus is included by implication by Matthew and Luke. As we read John’s gospel we also become aware of a degree of tension between Jesus and his family. The first hint at this tension is in the strange response that Jesus gives to his mother, Mary, during the story of the wedding at Cana in Galilee. When Mary suggests that Jesus do something about the lack of wine, Jesus’ response seems unnecessarily harsh. In our colloquial English it is as if Jesus were to say to his mother, “What’s it to you?” Of course John is making the point that the “hour” has not come for Jesus, but the language of the story seems to indicate that there may be some tension going on. In an even clearer way John tells his readers that Jesus brothers do not believe in him. The episode is midway through the first part of John’s gospel when the tension between Jesus and the Jerusalem leaders is brewing. John tells his readers that the Feast of Booths is approaching and Jesus’ brothers as much as tempt him to go to Jerusalem knowing that he is facing danger there. John clearly says that his brothers do not believe. It is interesting that both John and Mark contain elements of tension between Jesus and his immediate family. We might ask ourselves why Mark and John would tell these stories. The most likely reason is that there is some truth behind them and that there really was tension within Jesus’ immediately family about him. Why would either Mark or John make up such a thing? It is much easier to understand both Mark and John if we let the tension stand as an uncomfortable fact we simply need to accept. Reading Mark and John together confirms both. Mark never resolves the tension. John seems to do that since he will once again speak of Mary, the mother of Jesus, at the foot of the cross. This time the tension is absent. And Luke will speak of both Mary and James, the brother of Jesus, being important leaders in the early church. Reading the gospels together does put us in touch with an interesting bit of insight into the story of Jesus though.