Week 38 Luke
Right away you notice the difference between them.
Mark starts like this: here begins the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. Then he devotes seven verses to John the Baptist. A total of five to Jesus’ baptism and temptation. And six verses on disciple-selection. By verse 21 the Lord’s ministry has begun.
Luke is more patient. He tells the long back-story of John’s miraculous conception and the long back-story of Jesus’ even more miraculous conception. Then the birth of John and the birth of Jesus.
Luke’s also interested in John’s early life: John grew up and became strong in spirit. Then he lived out in the wilderness until he began his public ministry. And he’s interested in Jesus’ early life too: so Jesus grew both in height and in wisdom, and he was loved by God and by all who knew him. It takes Luke 183 verses to do what Mark does in 21.
Mark’s account has drive and energy and action and it blasts-right-through from one thing to the next – a kind of Life of Jesus in bullet-points. Luke is different. Thoughtful deliberate careful; an orderly narration of events.
I don’t think Mark wrote his gospel in a bus on the way to work. And I don’t think Luke sat in a library researching his material. But if I found out they did I wouldn’t be surprised.
Note: quotes from Mark 1:1, Luke 1:80, 2:52 (NLT)