As a typical example of parallel accounts of the same event in the Bible which do not always agree word-for-word, take the story of the feeding of the 5,000, which is the only miracle except for the resurrection to be recorded in all four gospels. Let's look at the details surrounding this story to show why there are minor variations in the way the gospel writers tell it.
Jesus and his disciples withdrew to the wilderness (Matt,Mk), the town of Bethsaida (Lk), or the other side of the sea (Jn).
Matthew and Mark point out the wilderness setting to stress the similarity between Moses and Jesus taking care of the people there. Luke, on the other hand, has just previously described Herod's beheading of John the Baptist so he specifically points out that Jesus has moved out of Herod's territory, probably to the mountains nearby.
For there were many coming and going and they had no time to eat (Mk).
The word “many” occurs six times in Mark's account to emphasize the greatness of the needs Jesus is filling.
He had compassion on them (Matt, Mk) because they were like sheep without a shepherd (Mk).
Mark here adds an interpretation that points to Jesus as a new Moses or David, both shepherds.
The people are taught (Mk), healed (Matt), healed and taught about the Kingdom of God (Lk).
The concept of teaching is important to Mark in this story and he uses the word “taught” three other times in ch. 6. Luke adds that the nature of the teaching was about the “Kingdom of God.” Luke utilizes this phrase more than the other Gospels, especially the concept that it was taught.
The day was far spent (Mk), evening had come (Matt), the day began to wear away (Lk), the Passover of the Jews was at hand (Jn).
All four accounts use different wording to describe the same time of day (since each new day began at sundown)—a strong indication that these are four independent witnesses of the same event; they haven't just copied from one another. John specifies what day of the week it was instead. The first half of John's Gospel is arranged around the various Jewish observances, so in pointing out this detail, he reminds us of the similarity of Moses and Jesus in feeding the multitude. “The Jews” is a characteristic phrase of John's, who uses it about 70 times, usually referring to those who are hostile to Jesus.
Jesus said to the 12, “Give them to eat” (Mk,Matt,Lk); Jesus asked Philip, “Where are we to buy bread?” (Jn).
The Synoptic wording is identical to II Kings 4:42-44 where Elisha directs a man to feed a crowd with a few loaves of bread; this indicates a prophetic role for Jesus. John will make the same point in a different way a few verses later.
John is the only gospel writer to give us any information at all about Philip, and it is through his account in John 1:44 that we know that Philip came from Bethsaida – the town near which this miracle took place, which may help explain why Jesus specifically directed the question to him among all the apostles. He would be the most likely to know where food could be obtained.
And this he said to test him for he himself knew what he would do (Jn). John adds this comment to make it clear to the reader that there was no doubt in Jesus' mind as to how he was going to feed the multitude. John uses the verb “to know” 2-3 times more often than the Synoptic Gospels, and there are ten times when he records that Jesus knew something, none of which are in the other three Gospels.
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fishes, but what are these among so many?” (Jn).
John's account is the only one which mentions where the five loaves and two fishes came from. It is interesting that in the first chapter of John's Gospel, we learn that Andrew was also instrumental in bringing Peter to Jesus. Thus, this is a characteristic behavior of Andrew, to be a go-between. The detail that the loaves were of barley is the way John uses to refer to the miraculous feeding by Elisha found in II Kings.
They sat down by hundreds and by fifties on the grass (Mk), they sat down in companies about fifty each (Lk), the people sat down. Now there was much grass in the place (Jn).
Mark's wording indicates a quasi-military organization such as in the camps under Moses in Exodus 18:21,25 and Deuteronomy 1:15.
There were 5,000 men (Mk), there were 5,000 men besides women and children (Matt), there were about 5,000 (Lk), the men sat down, about 5,000 in number (Jn).
Again, Mark's account compares it to a military encampment, and even Matthew's version can be interpreted to mean that there were no women and children present.
By comparing the minor differences between parallel accounts, we can actually increase our understanding of the events as well as seeing the particular concerns that each of the gospel writers has.
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