How does the beginning of Mark's Gospel compare to the beginning of the other Gospels?

Answer 1

A:Scholars have demonstrated that the Gospel of Mark was the first gospel to be written, and that the other gospels were based, directly or indirectly on Mark, rather than being written as independent records. Mark begins the story of Jesus with the story of John the Baptist, followed by the baptism of Jesus. Each of the other gospels provides an elaboration before this account, but otherwise begins with much the same story of John the Baptist.

Matthew precedes the story of John the Baptist with the genealogy of Jesus, back through his father Joseph and grandfather Jacob, followed by the story of the birth of Jesus, the flight from Bethlehem to Egypt and the later journey to a new home in Nazareth.

Luke adds a further elaboration, linking Jesus and John the Baptist through Elizabeth, a cousin of Mary. After telling the story of the birth of John, Luke then tells of the birth of Jesus and of their return to their home in Nazareth. In this account, the family had no fear of Herod or his son, Archelaus, so as pious Jews they travelled each year to Jerusalem for the Passover. The genealogy of Jesus is placed after the story of John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus, but in this case, the father of Joseph is called Heli.

John does not give us a nativity story or a genealogy, but instead precedes the story off John the Baptist by a declaration that the Word was in the beginning with God and the Word was God.