Reading the Gospels Together Some Indirect Points of Contact between John and the Synoptic Gospels – Part 7 Points of Contact Shared by Luke and John – Martha, Mary, and Lazarus: In this section we will need to consider Luke 10:38-42 and John 11:1-12:11. Only Luke and John mention Mary and Martha in their gospels. John adds their brother, Lazarus, to the story. A good question to ponder is whether or not they have the same family in mind. My judgment is that they do! John provides us with much more information about the family. They live at Bethany near Jerusalem – just two miles away. If Luke and John are talking about the same family, this means that Luke is aware of a Judean ministry of Jesus. We have noted that John has Jesus move back and forth between Galilee and Judea. Luke is faithful to his main source, Mark, and has Jesus remain in Galilee. We noted earlier that The Galilean Ministry of Jesus is likely Mark’s invention. It is important to Mark’s story! But maybe the presence of Martha and Mary in both Luke and John indicates that in actuality Jesus’ ministry was not limited to Galilee. It certainly wasn’t in John’s gospel! So, once again, reading the gospels together may expand our understanding of the ministry of Jesus. We are ready now to move to the events surrounding Jesus’ death and resurrection. There we will find many more points of contact – and perhaps a few surprises.