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Gospel Analysis The synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all speak about the death of Jesus and have similar renditions of what actually occurred. Reading each gospel as a whole text and comparing the differences may lead to different interpretations than just comparing the details about the death of Jesus. The following analysis will compare only the writings about the death of Jesus, which have quite distinct differences from one another. In comparing these three gospel stories, the differences between them seem to suggest that each writer had a different audience. Each story seems to focus on different aspects of the humanity or divinity of Jesus, with different approaches being necessary to apply to each audience. This analysis will assume that the gospel of Mark was written first, or the point of departure. Assuming that Mark is the point of departure is necessary to apply the argument that Mark wrote his gospel to apply to all audiences, more of a general synopsis of events, whereas the gospel of Matthew speaks to the followers of Christ and Luke’s gospel speaks to non-believers, possibly even non-Jews and Romans. The gospel of Mark contains six versus about the death of Jesus, which is the middle position, as far as size, between the gospels of Matthew and Luke. The size of the story is an interesting point of comparison. As previously stated, it seems that Mark’s rendition of Jesus’ death is a general synopsis of events. By writing the original gospel, Matthew and Luke would have to either add or subtract context which is pertinent to their audience. Mark’s writings portray Jesus’ humanity and divinity. The other gospels focus more attention to Jesus’ divinity or humanity. One example of this is Mark 15 v.38, which states: “the curtain temple was torn in two, from top to bottom”. This verse is positioned after the death of Jesus. Verse 39 states, “…when the centurion facing him saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man is the son of God!’”.
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