Why are there differences in the four passion narratives?

                                                           ..... the passion of Jesus today.......                            

March 29, 2026

We all are aware that there are four Gospels and accordingly four different Passion narratives.  And to help us reflect on all four, the Catholic Church offers us the three Synoptic passion narratives on Palm Sunday, one in every one of the three liturgical years,  (Year A has Mathew, Year B has Mark, and Year C has Luke), while we hear John’s story on every Good Friday. While all the passion narratives  generally tell us the same story, each one’s theological focus is different.

In Mark’s Gospel, chronologically the first written of the four Gospels,  we find the story told for a Christian community which is itself suffering in many ways and is still to come to terms with the scandal of Jesus, the one sent by God, as having to suffer. The community has not yet begun to see, as reflected in John’s Gospel  (of the four, it is the last to be written), that his suffering does not take away from his specialness. So in Mark’s Gospel  Jesus is deeply distressed in Gethsemani, ‘’My soul is sorrowful unto death’’; the disciples fail him completely as they can’t stay awake;, one betrays him, the rest flee when he is arrested; and one who later follows him from a distance eventually denies knowing him.  And Jesus’ last words are ‘’My God, my God, why have you forsaken me’’ To the early Christians Mark is telling them that fidelity is not easy, they must endure through much darkness.  This was an extremely difficult lesson for those who had it drilled into them over centuries that the coming of the Messiah meant that their days of suffering would be over.

 

In Mathew’s Gospel, from where today’s reading is taken (Year A) , the struggle between the Jews and the newly formed community of the followers of Jesus which is predominantly Jewish, is the background. So it is important for the writer to establish that Jesus is indeed the Messiah the Jews were longing for. Consequently, while both Mathew and Luke make extensive use of Mark’s Gospel, and so many of the elements found in Mark are also found in these two, Mathew’s Gospel ‘softens’ the scandal by frequently referring to how Jesus’ suffering, like much else in his life, happened ‘’as a fulfillment of the Scriptures’’. As a result in Mathew’s Gospel the reference to such a fulfillment is made around 26 times, while in Mark and Luke there are only 5 such references, and John has just about 13 such references.  Moreover, in Mathew’s Gospel the Jewish religious establishment, whose members over the centuries had killed many prophets, are squarely to blame. Furthermore, Jewish apocalyptic signs like earthquakes, opening of tombs, saints coming out alive, occur at the moment of Jesus’ death - all of which are added to prove that Jesus is indeed the promised one, and his death on the cross becomes a moment of revelation and judgement on those who reject him.

 

The author of Luke’s Gospel, the author is a companion of Paul who is clear that he has been called to ‘bring the good news to the Gentiles’ (Romans 11:13). And since this writer is writing for a Greco-Roman audience, his theological theme is the opening up of the possibility of salvation to all, which is shown by God’s all-encompassing care of and forgiveness even to non-JEWS.  So in this Passion narrative Jesus heals the servant whose ear is cut off, forgives those who have crucified him, invites one of the criminals who is hanging with him into his Kingdom, and ends with a complete confidence in God, ‘’Into your hands I commend my spirit’’.

 

The writer of John’s Gospel writes his version around two or three decades after Mathew and Luke.  It is written at a time when the persecution of Christians by the Roman emperors was at its height and the Christians needed to know that Jesus was still in charge and they would be vindicated.  So in his passion narrative we do not see the suffering Messiah of Mark’s Gospel, but the ever-loved Son of God, who will eventually rule the world. As a result in John’s Gospel, there is no agony at Gethsemani; it is Jesus who steps forward to be arrested when those who came to arrest him seem to hesitate; Jesus carries his own cross without any help from Simon of Cyrene; and he ends with a satisfaction that he has completed his God-given task, ‘’It is finished’’.  The Cross is not defeat, but a triumphant completion of his vocation. This triumphant theme is carried over into the Book of Revelation, probably written by the same author, where Jesus comes to rule over all heaven and earth.

 

So we have four Passion narratives, each focused on the needs of a particular audience. One could say that John’s triumphant Jesus story which comes last, builds on the suffering of Jesus in Mark, the Jesus who is the promised one, the fulfillment of the Scriptures in Mathew, and the Jesus of Luke’s story, who comes to heal a world that goes far beyond the Jewish people. Each story appeals to a different contemporary need of the early Church, and perhaps to different needs in our own lives.

 

This understanding of the nuances of the passion stories found in the different Gospels, also apply to the Bible as a whole.  As I have reiterated in many of my earlier blogs,we must understand the Bible as God speaking to us over the long pilgrimmage not only of our entire human race represented by the Jews, but also over the journey of our own individual lives.  And so it is neither an archival-type of historical account, nor a rule book, nor a magical book of prophecies, but a book that shares with us our evolving understanding of God’s ways of dealing with human beings, and how we can/ought to engage with God.  But this lesson is given to us not in the form of a manual which gives clear instructions, but in the form of a story which we have to explore in order to discover what exactly is the message to each of us.  

 

And since the Bible is a book that calls us to discover, not prescribe, what it means to relate to God, we are constantly called to avoid the easy way of using it as a rule book that tells us what to do  (‘the Bible tells us so’), - and thus escape from having to take the trouble to discover the Truth embedded in its stories and books.  And as we meditate to try and discover this message for each of us, we must not shy away from asking questions when they trouble us,  rather than blindly depending on somebody else to give us the answers. As one of Tony D’mello’s very brief stories, which I have shared in an earlier blog, goes:

A disciple once complained to his guru:  You tell us stories, but you never reveal their meaning to us.

Said the Master: How would you like it, if someone offered you fruit, and masticated it before giving it to you?

First Reading: Isaiah 50: 4-7

 

The Lord God has given me
    a trained tongue,
that I may know how to sustain
    the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens,
    wakens my ear
    to listen as those who are taught.
The Lord God has opened my ear,
    and I was not rebellious;
    I did not turn backward.
I gave my back to those who struck me
    and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
    from insult and spitting.

The Lord God helps me;
    therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
    and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

 

Second Reading: Philippians 2: 6-11

Jesus, though he existed in the form of God,    
did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,

but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a human, he humbled himself 

    and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross.

Therefore God exalted him even more highly
    and gave him the name that is above every other name,
    so that at the name given to Jesus
    every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
    and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

 

Gospel: Matthew 26: 14 – 27: 66

Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests  and said, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver.  And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?”  He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’ ”  So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal.

 

When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve disciples, and while they were eating he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”  And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, “Surely not I, Lord?”  He answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.  The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.”  Judas, who betrayed him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” He replied, “You have said so.”

 

While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”  Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you,  for this is my blood of the[c] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

 

When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

 

Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night, for it is written,

‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

“But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”  Peter said to him, “Even if all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.”  Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.”  Peter said to him, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And so said all the disciples.

 

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”  He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be grieved and agitated.  Then he said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.”  And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not what I want but what you want.”  Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour?  Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial;[g] the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  Again he went away for the second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”  Again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.  So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words.  Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Now the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Get up, let us be going. Look, my betrayer is at hand.”

 

While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people.  Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him.”  At once he came up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.  Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you are here to do.” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him.  Suddenly one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear.  Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will die by the sword.  Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?  But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?”  At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a rebel? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me.  But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

 

Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered.  But Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards in order to see how this would end.  Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death,  but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’ ”  The high priest stood up and said, “Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?”  But Jesus was silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I put you under oath before the living God, tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”  Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

 

Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy.  What do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death.”  Then they spat in his face and struck him, and some slapped him,  saying, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who is it that struck you?”

 

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A female servant came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.”  But he denied it before all of them, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.”  When he went out to the porch, another female servant saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.” Again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man.”  After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.”  Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment the cock crowed.  Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

 

When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death.  They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

 

When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. He said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.  But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money.” After conferring together, they used them to buy the potter’s field as a place to bury foreigners.  For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the people of Israel had set a price, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

 

Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.”  But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer.  Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?”  But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

 

Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone whom they wanted.  At that time they had a notorious prisoner called Jesus Barabbas.  So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” For he realized that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over.  While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.”  Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed.  The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.”  Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” All of them said, “Let him be crucified!”  Then he asked, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”

 

So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”  Then the people as a whole answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”  So he released Barabbas for them, and after flogging Jesus he handed him over to be crucified.

 

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him.  They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,  and after twisting some thorns into a crown they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”  They spat on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.  After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

 

As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull),  they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots; then they sat down there and kept watch over him.  Over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

 

Then two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.  Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads  and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”  In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying,  “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him.  He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to, for he said, ‘I am God’s Son.’ ”  The rebels who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way.

 

From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.  And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.”  At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink.  But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.  The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.  After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many.  Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”

 

Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him.  Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

 

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who also was himself a disciple of Jesus.  He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.  So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth  and laid it in his new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away.  Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

 

The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’  Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise, his disciples may go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception would be worse than the first.”  Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.”  So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.