Reading the Gospels Together Jesus and the Passover – Part 4 Of course the question that lurks in the background at this time is the question of just how long the ministry of Jesus lasted. It is because John mentions three Passovers that we have come to think of the ministry of Jesus lasting about three years. But if John spoke of three Passovers for theological reasons rather than historical reasons, which is what I think is the case, then we are left without any reference about how long the ministry of Jesus actually lasted. We have seen how Mark condensed the Jerusalem Controversy into a day or two at most for his own reasons to make his story more powerful. There we sided with John who does not have anything invested in collapsing the timeframe and came to the conclusion that perhaps John reflects actuality better and that the Jerusalem Controversy likely unfolded over several months. Here it is John who has a whole lot invested in Passover and likely expanded one Passover into three with Mark reflecting more accurately what likely happened by speaking of one climatic Passover in which all the elements also mentioned by John happened. Reading the gospels together helps us to make these judgments. We will need to talk more about all of this later as we draw some conclusions about our present study. But for now it is worth saying that even though gospel writers tell the same story in strikingly different ways does not mean that the events that underlie these stories are not true. We can be sure that Jesus did cleanse the Temple in connection with Passover and that he also instituted the Lord’s Supper in connection with Passover and that he was crucified at Passover. That remains true even if we cannot finally decide which gospel writer is closer to historical accuracy than another. And that truth is all that is really important anyway.