The Trial Of Jesus In The Gospels

As we have been discussing in class over the last few weeks, the Gospels, while all telling the same story, tell it in different ways. Some contain more details, some less, and sometimes they even contrast each other. The accounts of the trial of Jesus are no different— while they do have a number of similarities, they all differ slightly from each other. One of the first things Frigge points out about this topic of the Gospels differing from each other is, “As part of a specific community in a specific time and place, each evangelist was influenced by his community’s life experience, questions, and concerns. Because each Gospel was written with a concrete audience or community in mind, each redactor chose and shaped or reshaped material to suit concerns, questions, and needs of his particular audience.” (Frigge, 156-167). I believe that the three author’s differences root from their different intended audiences. Mark’s audience was the Gentiles who had already experienced a tremendous amount of persecution and suffering for their faith, which is why it was important to Mark to remind them their Savior suffered also (for their sake). Mark’s description of the trial is the longest of the three, which is not surprising since his Passion narrative is so lengthy. Frigge credits this to the fact that …show more content…
He often paints Jesus as a prophet and the account of his trial is no exception to this. The response Luke has Jesus give to the question “Are you the Messiah?” is extremely different than the answer he gave in the other two accounts. In Luke, Jesus says, “If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I question you, you will not answer.” (Luke 22:67-68). While this is a very prophetic answer, the overall message of it still aligns with what Jesus said in the other books- He is the Messiah, but they will not believe