What are the differences between the passion narratives in the synoptic Gospels and John?

Answer 1

The synoptic gospels describe the mission of Jesus as involving a period of apparently less than one year. Since Luke's Gospel states that John the Baptist began to preach in 28 CE, this suggests that the crucifixion of Jesus could have been in 30 CE.

John's Gospel makes it clear that, in the author's view, the mission of Jesus took three years, with Jesus going to Jerusalem for the annual Passover festivals. Assuming Luke is correct on the date on which John began to preach, 30 CE becomes too early for the crucifixion of Jesus, which in John's Gospel could have been in 33 CE.

Other dates for the crucifixion of Jesus have been suggested, but these are the most popular.

Answer 2

A:The real differences between the passion narratives in the synoptic gospels and John's Gospel are theological. John's Gospel opens by saying that Jesus was divine and pre-existing, and the passion narrative reflects this. The author of John's Gospel cleverly changes the timing of events in order to present Jesus as the Paschal lamb but also the divine Jesus who is personally unconcerned by his fate.

The first synoptic gospel to be written was Mark's Gospel. Matthew and Luke were both largely based on Mark's original, although they contain changes and elaborations, so it is simpler to make the comparison between Mark and John. A summary of the timing of the passion of Jesus in Mark's Gospel can then be compared with the similar detail from John. The twenty four hour period is broken up into eight intervals of exactly three hours each:

1. We start with the celebration of the Passover Feast, which becomes the Last Supper. It began "when it was evening" (Mark 14:17), or when the sun went down: approximately 6 pm and the beginning of the day of the Passover by Jewish reckoning. Mark knew that the duration of the Passover meal was three hours and that it concluded with the singing of a hymn, so the first thing Jesus did was to sing a hymn with his disciples. Then Mark says, "And when they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives". It was about 9 p.m.
2. Mark then has Jesus and the disciples go to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus went to pray. He suffered alone and in agony, asking God that, if possible, he take this cup (his destiny to be crucified) away from Jesus. Meanwhile his disciples, Peter, James and John, were not able to remain awake. "Could you not watch one hour?" Jesus asked. The process was repeated two more times. The disciples could not watch one, two or three hours. It was now midnight.
3. The betrayal of Jesus, the darkest deed in human history, came next, occurring at the stroke of midnight.
4. At 3:00 a.m., Jesus was led away for a trial before the high priest and other senior priests and elders. It was on the basis of his messianic claim that he was judged to be worthy of death.

   Peter's threefold denial of Jesus, once each hour until the cock crowed, marked the end of that phase of the night, the watch between 3 am and 6 am being known as cockcrow. It was 6 o'clock.

5. "As soon as it was morning", which would be 6 am, Jesus was led by the chief priests, scribes and elders to Pontius Pilate for judgement.
6. "It was the third hour when they crucified him," that is, 9 o'clock.
7. When "the sixth hour had come" (12 noon), darkness covered the whole earth, reflecting the betrayal at 12 midnight. After three hours of darkness, at 3 p.m., Jesus cried out and gave up the ghost.
8. Joseph of Arimathea then asked Pilate for the body of Jesus, so that he could be buried before the Sabbath began. Jesus was buried in the final period from 3 to 6 pm, before the sun went down.

Notice in the above that the crucifixion takes place on the day of the Passover, after the Seder feast. John 13:1-2 says that Jesus and the disciples finished a meal "before the feast of the Passover." This is confirmed in John 19:14, which says that it was the preparation of the Passover when Jesus was placed on trial before Pontius Pilate. After the trial and Jesus was sent for crucifixion on the sixth hour, leaving less than three hours for him to be on the cross.

The timing before the Passover is important in John, because Jesus is compared to the Paschal lamb killed in the afternoon before the Seder feast. John 19:14 reminds us of this when it says it was the preparation of the Passover when Jesus was sent for crucifixion. The Paschal lamb must be perfect, with no broken bones, so John tells us that the soldiers did not break his legs to ensure that he was dead, as they did to the other two being crucified.

Not only was Jesus on the cross for a lesser period of time, he did not suffer. We can see this in the calm way he talked to his mother and the beloved disciple, giving instructions for the care of Mary. And when he died, his last words were a calm, "It is finished." Compare this to Mark, where Jesus' forlorn last words were, "My God. My God. Why hast thou forsaken me?" In Mark, Jesus was finally aware that God had not taken away his cup of destiny. In John, Jesus knew his destiny and simply gave up the ghost when his mission was complete.

In the synoptic gospels, the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemene is part of the story of how greatly Jesus suffered. In John's Gospel, Jesus does not pray in the Garden of Gethsemene and does not ask God to be spared from crucifixion, but does say a triumphant prayer to God before reaching the Garden, saying that his time had come.

An important difference exists between John and Matthew with the addition in Matthew of the miracle of the earthquake which opened the graves, and the saints rose up and walked into Jerusalem where they were seen by many. No other New Testament gospel has this passage, and of course the 'many' never wrote about this amazing event.