Matthew, Mark and Luke

The synoptic gospels consist of matthew mark luke and john all four men make up the synoptic gospels

4-7-2017 For two thousand years the Catholic Church tried to forbid people to read the bible. They translated it to Latin specifically because most people could not read Latin. Eventually the bible was translated to English and scholars started making up nonsense explanations for things they did not understand, such as the reason for having four versions of the same story. They decided that John was the real story and Matthew, Mark, and Luke were only synopses, summaries. They were completely mystified by disagreements such as the genealogies having different names. The savior was prophesied as a servant, a king, a man, and the son of God. There are five prophecies, but the reference to a king is repeated in Jeremiah, so there are four different aspects of his life to be documented. Each gospel treats one of these four aspects. Matthew is the story of a king. The genealogy in Matthew is the royal line, in ascending order because a king traces his ascent to the throne. It is in Matthew that we are told of wise men bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh: the traditional gifts to a king. It is in Matthew that another king tries to murder the infant Jesus to protect his own status. It is in Matthew that Jesus declares most of the new, stricter interpretations of the law of Moses, acting on his kingly authority. In Matthew we see the pageantry of an angel rolling the stone away from the tomb and sitting upon it. The other gospels just say the tomb was open. Mark is the story of a servant. It begins, with only a slight preamble, where Jesus's ministry begins. Very little of what Jesus said is recorded, since a servant's opinions and pronouncements are important only insofar as they come from his master. His last words are not recorded, he just "cried with a loud voice." Mark is a short, terse record of where Jesus went and what he did. There is no genealogy because a servant has none. Luke is the story of a man. As such it has a man's genealogy, recorded in descending order because a man traces his descent from an ancestor. The genealogy in Luke is the legal line, beginning with "as was supposed", which is a legal term meaning "determined by law". The genealogy in Matthew is the kingly line, recorded in ascending order because a king traces his ascent to the throne. The genealogy in Luke says so-and-so "son of" so-and-so, and some of the names were in fact adopted sons. But in Matthew it says so-and-so "begat" so-and-so, a purely human genealogy. Mark has no genealogy because a servant has none. John has a very short genealogy: he is the son of God. His last words on the cross, "It is finished", recall his first recorded words, "Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business?"