About a hundred years after the gospel of John was written, Clement of Alexandria called John the Spiritual Gospel.
In studying the gospels, I’ve been struck with John’s “spiritual” reworking of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Is it possible that John not only knew the Synoptic gospels but creatively reworked them for a spiritual purpose?
The relatonship between Matthew, Mark and Luke is well established. They, in contrast to John’s gospel, are called the Synoptic gospels because the stories they tell as well as the way in which each tells them can be “together” (syn) “seen” (optics) or “seen together.” Compare the accounts of Jesus blessing the little children in Matthew, Mark and Luke.
These similarities suggests a literary relationship rather than an oral one. One or more of the gospel writers copied the others in writing there own. Which leads to the question of the precise relationship between them. This question is known as the Synoptic problem.
The answer to the “problem” is that both Matthew and Luke borrowed from Mark in writing their gospels and that either Luke borrowed from Matthew or Luke and Matthew independently borrowed from a now lost source scholars name Q.
John, however, does not share in this explicit borrowing and thus scholars are less certain about its relationship with the synoptics. Some think John is completely independent of Matthew, Mark and Luke while others think John had a knowledge of the synoptics but doesn’t rely upon this knowledge in writing his own gospel.
It is true that much of John’s story is radically different from what is found in the three gospels and that lends support to the claims above. But I think a number of examples indicate that John not only knew the synoptics but creatively reworked them in writing his own.
The story of the foot-washing in John’s gospel is a case in point. Neither Matthew, Mark nor Luke have the story of Jesus washing his disciples feet. Each shares the story of how Jesus instituted the breaking of bread and drinking of wine at his final meal. Matthew and Mark are very similar on this point.
It’s well known that Matthew and Luke used Mark as a source for writing there gospels. What isn’t as clear is the relationship between John these first three gospels. Did John known them? Did John use them and if he did how and to what extent?
1. Parable of Lazarus and the rich man
2. Mary and Martha
3. The Raising of the Widow of Nain’s Son/The Healing of the Centurions’ Servant
4. The Raising of Jarius’ daughter.
5. Allusion to Genesis 29
