A Comparison between Matthew and Mark
While both books of Mark and Matthew portray Peter as one of the most important followers of Jesus, Mark seems to emphasize Jesus' spiritual career unlike the broad, more in-depth pursuit of Jesus' life that Matthew embellishes on. As both Jesus' student and friend, Peter is the one disciple most commonly referred to in the stories. Yet the two passages seem to draw different pictures of Jesus' distinguished disciple. In Matthew, Peter seems to play a larger role in Jesus' teachings and seems more significant to Jesus throughout the book. In Mark, he is still important, but to a lesser extent in the eyes of the author. Mark leaves Peter out of a few of the stories altogether and only touches on Peter's importance to Jesus towards the very end. Each difference in the stories connected to Peter gives a slightly altered account of his personality and role.
Peter is introduced as one of Jesus' first followers in both Matthew 4.18 and Mark 1.16. Both passages seem to recount Jesus' speech word-for-word. He merely said to Simon (a.k.a. Peter) and his brother, "'Follow me and I will make you fish for the people'"(Matthew 4.19, Mark 1.17). Their reaction is described in a simple phrase, "And immediately they left their nets and followed him"(4.20, 1.18). This story presents Peter and his brother as incredibly devoted to their leader from the first few moments. Whether their lives as fishermen were prosperous or not, to simply abandon everything for one stranger is risky and takes faith. The story's important message about Jesus' strength as a leader and his follower's devotion entices both authors to include it among their lessons.
Yet, Matthew's next significant mention of Pe...
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...ch the world through his sayings and actions, rather than waste words on the doings of his mortal followers. Peter's importance is determined by this difference of views, leaving two different pictures of him behind. In Matthew, his personality is unfolded through several insightful passages that leave behind a lively and devoted friend and follower. In Mark, he is merely one of the disciples, more important definitely, but nothing compared to Jesus. The absence of those few important passages throw a shadow over this figure and leave him humbly depicted, rather than the outspoken, involved man shown in Matthew. Yet his faith and deep devotion to Jesus make Peter stand out from the other disciples in both passages, and leave him weeping in misery over the denial and loss of his friend and teacher.
Works Cited
The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version.
There are four Gospels in the new testament; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each one writing his perspective story about Jesus, his teachings, his works, his sacrifice, and his resurrection. At the same time, they each seem to elaborate on specific elements of Jesus. The gospel of Matthew writes about the bloodline, the ancestors of Jesus. The gospel of Mark, writes about Jesus as a servant to God. The gospel of Luke, writes about Jesus being the son of a human. The gospel of John, writes about Jesus being the son of God. Having an understanding on the focus of each gospel will help the reader know Jesus and his works better. However, this essay will concentrate on “The Gospel According to Mark,” written in Bruce Manning Metzger, translator of, The New Oxford Annotated Bible, Revised Standard Version with The Apocrypha (p. 1791). The gospel of Mark is documentation of
The authorship of First Peter seems very obvious, but according to commentary from Edward Gordon Selwyn there is definite room for discussion. Peter is written in the prelude to chapter one, but in the final greetings in chapter five, help from Silas is mentioned. There are many different parts of the book that confirm Peter as the main author though. In chapter five, verse one, the author states that he was a "witness of Christ's sufferings," in which Peter witnessed all that Jesus endured. The author exhorts the elders in chapter five, verse two, to tend to God's flock that is under them. Peter could be saying this in reference to the instance when Jesus was speaking to him in John chapter 21 about feeding His lambs and taking care of His sheep. These are just a couple of statements that would be "quite natural" for Peter to make in his writing (Kelcy 8). The other possibility in the authorship of First Peter is that Silas, also known as Silvanus, helped write the book as an amanuensis. With Peter's lack of formal schooling, some scholars say that Silvanus must have had a part in the...
First of all, there are several ways that can explain the passage. The first way is that everything has a symbolism. The ship is Israel, while the disciples are the remnant. Jesus going to pray is like Jesus dismissing the Jews for a time and leaving them for a time. The waves are the the nations which toss about those that around them, with the help of the waves of persecution. Just as the disciples were troubled when Jesus came unto them, those that are not right with the Lord will be frightened when the Lord returns. Then, as he did in this story, he will call out and calm the fears of the people. Then Peter, who stands for the church, which is also called out from Israel, was called out. In the symbolism, this stands for the church being caught up in the air to be with the Lord. When the Lord does rescue “Peter”, the wind will forever be calm for the Christian.1
After reading and studying Markan text, it is clear what he thought of Jesus as a person and a leader. The way that Mark writes and the descriptions that he chose to include truly give a Markan picture of Jesus. Consequently, his words also are used to relate the words of Jesus with Mark’s contemporaries. It is crucial to include every aspect of Mark and his audience when using Markan text to study Jesus.
He said to them " I have chosen you to be with me…I will also send you
Probably one of the most well-known disciples, Simon Peter was the first called to be a part of Jesus' ministry. He willingly left his life's occupation as a fisherman to follow the new and unorthodox teacher that some said was the prophesied one. After Jesus summoned Peter (and his brother), the Bible states that he told him (them), “...Follow me and I will make you fishers of men”(Matt. 4:19). What did Peter interpret this saying to mean? Although he probably didn't understand a single word, Matthew 4:20 and Mark 1:18 both record that Peter followed Jesus “immediately”. Unafraid to follow a man whom he hardly knew, Peter made a life-changing decision in leaving his line of work. No longer bound to the life of a fisherman, he was able to completely devote himself to the Lord's occupation. Because he made himself available, Simon Peter would soon experience the change that Jesus could bring into his heart. He was to be transformed into a completely different man in only the few years of Jesus ministry on Earth.
Watson and Keller. Dr. Watson said the second part of the Mark begins with Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi, where theme of Jesus as a suffering servant begins (Watson, 47). Furthermore, Dr. Watson lists the cruel punishment called the crucifixion Jesus had to went through with its process (Watson, 48). In the beginning of the chapter nine, Keller states Mark 8 as pivotal chapter (Keller, 103). Jesus accepts the confession made by Peter, but explains further how He have to suffer in order to save the humanity (Keller, 104). The focus began to shift from who Jesus is to Jesus’ purpose (Keller,
That was Jesus in the gospel of Luke giving Peter some cogent instructions on what to do, and how to take charge after His exit. But did Peter get that? An out-right yes or no answer will not be enough here; but please join me as we take a walk on this issue together.
One of the main characteristics of the gospel of Mark is it’s length. Mark is much shorter than Matthew and Luke, but what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality. The author of Mark does not slow down the gospel story and makes sure that only important and relevant details are included. When Mark is compared with Matthew and Luke, it becomes obvious to see what Mark has eliminated. The author’s omission of Jesus’ birth, lineage, resurrection, and ascension denote careful planning and purpose in the gospel of Mark.
Compare and contrast the birth narratives in the Gospel of Matthew and that of the Gospel of Luke.
Senior, Donald. 1998. "The Gospel of Matthew and the Passion of Jesus : Theological and Pastoral Perspectives." Word & World 18, no. 4: 372-379. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed March 13, 2014).
Mark’s portrait of Jesus as a servant originates from the middle of the first century, Mark wrote his gospel during this time of persecution because the people being oppressed lacked faith that God would provide for them. Mark gives them the model of Jesus as a man submissive to the Lord so that they can receive salvation if they remain faithful to the servant of God. Mark stresses that Jesus is a suffering Messiah with the passage concerning Jesus praying to God that “Abba(Father), all things are po...
Mark was Peter's son (I Peter 5:13, possibly spiritual son), who wrote down what Peter said about who Jesus was, what He did, where He went and what happened; Mark's gospel is therefore Peter's account, an eye-witness account, written down by Mark.
When Jesus called His disciples, His invitation was simple. He invited them to follow Him. The same is true today. In Matthew 28, Jesus gave His last charge to His disciples, and the charge was simple. He called his followers to go and make disciples. Much effort has been placed by Christians to fulfill this charge, commonly referred to as the Great Commission. Jesus chose to fulfill the implementation of the New Covenant through 12 men who He called, appointed, and commissioned, and he only had a few short years to prepare them for the task (Willson, 1990). His methods were unconventional and were revolutionary for that time. His disciples were to be trained extensively by Jesus, living with Him for three years prior to His ascension. He taught about servant leadership and its meaning for both the leader and follower Matt. 20:25-28). From the beginning, Jesus put in place a careful plan, and an examination of His actions in the Gospels showed that Jesus left behind the pattern to be replicated. His methods, which included the incorporation of three different levels of discipleship, included His interaction with Peter, His closest three (Peter, James, and John), and finally the group of 12. This paper identified and analyzed the three levels of discipleship Jesus modeled, these discipleship methods were then measured against modern leadership theories, and Jesus’s level of involvement and interaction with his disciples were critiqued in light of these modern theories in an effort to determine the effectiveness of this approach.
Mark 8:34 is the only time on the Gospel when Jesus calls the crowd together with disciples because his message is of very high importance. The price for discipleship is a complete denial of yourself in the name of God . And the mission of Jesus is to bring this message to humankind through his suffering and death on the cross. In Mark's gospel Jesus provides his identity which becomes the turning point in the human history. Before He was teaching, healing the sick, had scraps with authorities and established a group of disciples . Was it his mission? No. Jesus is the Messiah.