In the New Testament we have four gospel accounts of Jesus’ final words. However, only one account actually records his final words.
If we compare the four passages we see interesting parallels and emphasises. We see harmony as well as different perspectives.
Download the following attachment as we compare and contrast all four gospel accounts in John 19:28-30 , Luke 23:44-46 , Mark 15:33-38 and Matthew 27:45-51 .
Worksheet
If you’d like to perform this activity in your own Sunday School class feel free to use the following resources which compare the same passages listed above, and places them side by side:
Comparing Gospel Accounts of Jesus’ Last Words
What are some of the things you notice about the four accounts?
- Notice how all four are different . They are not carbon copies of each other.
- There are many similarities between the other three accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
- There is an interesting difference with the three gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke with the veil of the temple.
- Out of all the four accounts, John’s is the most different, and this could be due to his perspective – being closer and a first-hand eyewitness of the event. This might account for why John mentions aspects that the others do not, for example, Jesus states I thirst , and the other accounts don’t state this fact, then after taking the vinegar says It is finished .
Conflict With Gospel Accounts?
Just because we have differences of perspective in the gospel accounts, does not mean there are conflicts. If we were to conduct our own experiment of an event by four different witnesses we should have four different perspectives and this will be seen in what is written.
A different perspective provides us with different angles of the same event. As mentioned before John had a different perspective as he was there at the site of Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus giving over the care of his mother to John ( John 19:27 ).
But what about the tearing of the veil? When did this happen?
When we look at the accounts, we can see that the passage in Luke has this occurring during the time when darkness was upon the earth. Luke mentions the veil was rent in the midst (middle), whereas the other two accounts in Mark and Matthew have the veil being rent in twain (two).
Luke is speaking about the start of the veil tearing and stating the location where the rending was happening (in the middle), and the other two accounts state the end result of the tear, stating by the time Jesus had given up the ghost (died) the veil was now completely torn in two.
Access to the holy of holies was now no longer limited to the priests, the task Jesus was to accomplish was done. It is finished .
Who filled the spunge, one or many?
In John 19:29 the passage states they filled a spunge , when Mark and Matthew accounts state one ran and filled a spunge . So was it one or many?
The thought here is that there were several people around the cross, one person filled a spunge, but John notes the plural form that there were others, which adds credibility because in Matthew 27:49 he states the rest said implying that there were more people around the site when the person who had the spunge and lifted it to Christ to quench his thirst.
Summary
By comparing the gospel accounts side by side and seeing how they contrast when we look at their passages, we can see there is harmony and different perspectives.
We have seen that John provides the closest first-hand witness account and provides for us things that Jesus says, whereas the other accounts list something that Jesus yells with a loud voice.
By studying the Scripture accounts like this we can begin to appreciate the wonder and beauty of the Bible.