Week after week, we preachers are offered a set of texts from the lectionary. When we choose the gospel lesson (as I most often do), we do our best to understand how that episode in the life of Jesus fits into the larger story.
But which story of Jesus? There are four of them, and that’s the problem. The church, for 2,000 years, has tended to harmonize the gospels. That’s how we first heard the story of Jesus in Sunday school or from preachers.
Some of us began to explore the variety among the gospels in seminary or pastoral-formation training. Others of us are still looking forward to a deeper exploration of the gospels. Either way, we carry at least a hint that the four gospels differ—and perhaps a sense of how intriguing that variety might be.
But we have such limited time. Pastoral needs and administrative duties demand so much of our attention. We have just a few hours a week to study the text and craft a sermon. And Sunday morning is always less than a week away.
Four gospels, four narratives, four contexts
The Bible contains a wealth of diversity—and nowhere is this more apparent than in the four gospels. Each story begins and ends in a different place, follows a different plot, and portrays the same characters (such as Peter) in strikingly different ways. We may never notice details like these, but this diversity exists. A deep dive into it can deepen our Bible study and enrich our preaching. What follows is a glimpse of what that exploration offers.
Mark: A story filled with fear
It begins in the Galilean wilderness with frightening imagery. The heavens are “torn apart” (schizō). The Spirit, descending through that tear, goes into (eis) Jesus and throws him out (ekballō) into the wilderness. When Jesus preaches in Capernaum, the congregation is terrified (plēsso) at his announcement that the kingdom is near. As the story develops, each of the 12 disciples fails out of fear—betraying, denying, deserting Jesus. The story ends with the women fleeing from the tomb, “for they were afraid” (Mark 16:8).
Luke pushes back against Mark’s fear
In the first words spoken in Luke, Gabriel says, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah.” Later he tells Mary, “Do not be afraid, Mary.” Angels tell the shepherds, “Do not be afraid.” Jesus tells Peter, “Do not be afraid” (Luke 1:13; 1:30; 2:10; 5:10). From beginning to end, fear gives way to joy: “And they worshiped [Jesus], and returned to Jerusalem with great joy” (Luke 24:52).
Matthew’s argument with Luke
Luke-Acts fully embraces Paul’s inclusive vision. Peter has a dream in which all food is declared clean (Acts 10:15). But Matthew’s Jesus sees things differently: “Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19). Matthew instructs Jewish Christians to “enter through the narrow gate” (observe the Torah), to take the hard road that “leads to life” (Matthew 7:13–14). For Matthew, the mission to the nations doesn’t bypass the Torah—it runs straight through it. At the gospel’s end, we see Jesus on the mountaintop, instructing his disciples: Go to all the nations (ethnē = “gentiles”), “teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19–20). And Matthew has uniquely organized Jesus’s teachings into five distinct discourses, reminding his readers of the Torah, the five books of Moses.
John: Embracing a Hellenistic worldview
John has largely left behind the Jewish context of the synoptic gospels. Shaped by Greek dualism, John’s Jesus speaks of two worlds: “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world” (John 8:23). John’s Jesus came down from the world above and became incarnate in the world below. His ministry? “When I am lifted up from the earth, [I] will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32). People in the world below are prone to misunderstanding. The story of Nicodemus plays off the double meaning of anōthen, which can mean both “above” and “again.” When Jesus tells Nicodemus that one must be born “from above,” Nicodemus hears that one must be born “again” (a second time). John does not look forward to a kingdom to be realized in this world but to an eternal kingdom that exists already in the world above.
Enriching our preaching
We should not be surprised that the gospels are so different. Each gospel addresses different churches facing different challenges. Think of each gospel as a “sermon” preached to a particular church in a particular moment. Ask questions like these:
- What was the pastoral situation each gospel writer faced?
- How did they address that community’s issues?
- What parallels do you see with today’s church?
- What can we learn from the evangelists about shaping how we tell the story of Jesus to address our congregations’ needs?
This is the approach I take in my recent book, One Life, Four Stories: Invitations to Faith and Wonder. It’s not the final word on the subject—but it offers fertile ground for further exploration.
