Gospel of John Chapters 1-6 & Raymond Brown

The assigned chapter readings from the Gospel of Luke (1-9,17-24) and Gospel of John (1-6) do in fact have a lot in common. They both tell stories about the beginning of the belief in Christ, although slightly different they both hold a lot of the same details. For example in John Chapter 6: “Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were sitting there; he then did the same with the fish, distributing as much as they wanted. When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples ‘Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing is wasted’ So they picked them up and filled twelve large baskets with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves… This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world” (pg 1755-1756). This story is the exact same story as in Luke Chapter 9 where Jesus performs a miracle in feeding 5,000 people from a minuscule amount of food.

Although both storytelling gospels are overly similar, the two do have a lot of underlying differences as well. The first thing that I noticed during the first six chapters of reading is that John’s gospel feels a lot more symbolic. I don’t know if I’m articulating this correctly, but I feel that Luke’s gospel was more first-person per se and personable whereas John’s gospel feels more synthetic. Additionally, even though they are saying very similar things, they have different perceptions of Jesus. Throughout the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is portrayed as this merciful individual. He is someone who is always there when someone needs his help and is compassionate in spreading his word. I also get the impression that throughout Luke, Jesus is just living his life and going with the flow of time. He doesn’t seem overly tense of anything like that and is committed to serving the poor, women, children, and especially gentiles.

On the contrary, the Jesus in the Gospel of John is seen as almost powerful. He is noble and seems to know where he is going and is in control of his destiny. He makes commands like in Chapter 2 saying “Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (pg 1748). Although he was not speaking of the physical temple, and rather him rising from the dead, this quote appears to be delivered with confidence and passion.

I think that a partial reason to the disparity between the works is when they were written. Luke is said to have been written 80-85 CE and John 90-110 CE. Additionally, Luke’s gospel was written within the company of the people of Theophilus whereas Johns gospel was written within the company of Jews, the Samaritans, and the Gentiles as well. I feel like these small differences could’ve definitely played a large role as to why these differences exist and are so noticeable.