Disparities Between The Four Gospels

The four gospels work together to create a picture of Jesus’ life, in general they are able to complement each other despite different goals of the authors. As the authors are intentional about including specific details they are able to direct attention of the audience to various points in the gospels to promote a theological purpose. However in the eyes of some readers the creative liberty that the authors take seem to be contradictory to each separate gospel. These disparities between the gospels become especially clear when all four gospel writers include the same story. One of the most prominent examples of this is found in the accounts of the Anointing at Bethany; making an appearance in all four gospels the accounts contain the same sequence of events but different details that emphasize different points to the readers.

At first read through the four gospels might seem to have the same story but upon closer inspection it becomes clear that these four accounts have several detailed differences. The similarities lie mainly within the sequence of events

These challenges are found in the disparities between whose home the anointing takes place at, whether it occurred in the house of Simon the leper as it did in Matthew 26 and Mark 14, the house of a Pharisee as it does in Luke 7:36, or, as John 12 says, in a home in Bethany where Martha served them dinner and Lazarus joined Jesus at the table. Second, the gospels contradict where the oil is poured, in Matthew and Mark the ointment is poured over Jesus’ head whereas in Luke and John the woman pours the ointment over his feet. Next the who the woman is changes depending on the gospel the story is found in: in Matthew and Mark the woman remains nameless, in Luke the woman is described as a sinner from the city, John takes it a step further and actually names the woman as Mary (John