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The table below is a "harmony" of the four
gospels with regards to the events recorded concerning the trials of
Jesus. Every effort has been made to identify like events in
each gospel and accurately develop a progression of events from the
earliest to the latest. If you study the four accounts together
I believe you'll develop a greater appreciation of the suffering our
Lord experienced after his arrest in Gethsemane. Naturally,
developing such a table has limitations, the greatest (in my opinion)
being the incomplete record found in each individual gospel.
However, identifying like events in each gospel and building the
events recorded in only one or two gospels around them allows one to
develop such a table. As I was putting this work together I
came to realize a few things I'd never considered before. This
was presented to my Sunday morning Bible class, and one of the
strongest reactions I received regarded the events recorded in John
19:1-5 and their placement within the table. I will briefly
summarize my reasoning concerning this passage. Please notice
Luke 23:22. When Jesus returned from his visit with Herod, he
had not yet been chastised. For this reason I placed John
19:1-5 after Luke 23:22. In John 19:1-5 we see the
chastisement Jesus received at the hands of Pilate: He was
scourged, had a crown of thorns placed upon His head, mocked and
struck. After this, Pilate took him before the Jews wearing the
robe and crown of thorns. However, Pilate had not yet released
Jesus and, according to John 19:5-15 it would be a little while
before he did so. John records the delivery of Jesus to the
soldiers in 19:16. Now lets look at the accounts in Matthew and
Mark. In both we see Jesus was scourged after Barabbas
was released and shortly before Jesus was delivered to the
soldiers. After being delivered to the soldiers, what did they
do? We see in Matthew 27:27-31 and Mark 15:16-20 that they
again placed a crown of thorns on His head, a symbolic robe on His
shoulders and mocked Him. What can we learn from these three
accounts? According to John 19, Jesus was crowned with thorns
and scourged well before being released to the soldiers.
However, in Matthew and Mark we see He was scourged around the time
of his release to the soldiers and had the crown of thorns placed by
the soldiers after His delivery to them. No record of
His returning before Pilate after the crown of thorns was placed is
made in either Matthew or Mark. I believe the three accounts
record two separate scourgings and two separate mockings with the
placement of the thorny crown and symbolic robe. For me, this
is even more sobering as I consider the sufferings He experienced for
each of us.
I would also like to briefly comment on the placement
of Matthew 27:19 and John 19:13. I placed these two verses
together because they both show Pilate sitting on the judgment
seat. When Pilate's wife came to him in Matthew 27:19, we have
recorded Pilate's sitting on the jugment seat. The other
account in the gospels also showing Pilate in this posture is John
19:13. Imagine the pressure Pilate experienced during this
short period of time. The Jews had just warned Pilate that he
would not be considered a friend of Caesar should he release Jesus
(John 19:12). He goes and sits down on the judgment seat.
While there his wife comes to him with an account of a dream she had
experienced concerning Jesus. He was already frightened by the
claim Jesus had made that He was the Son of God (John 19:7,8).
Now his wife tells him of her dream. Despite all of this he
gives in to the wishes of the Jewish leaders and their followers and
delivers Jesus for crucifixion. Please carefully consider
the four accounts of Jesus' trials as you go through the table below.
| Matthew |
Mark |
Luke |
John |
| |
|
|
18:12-14
|
|
26:57-75 |
14:53-72 |
22:54-71 |
18:15-27 |
|
27:1,2 |
15:1,2 |
23:1 |
18:28 |
|
|
|
|
18:29 |
|
|
|
23:2 |
18:30-32 |
|
|
|
|
18:33-36 |
|
27:11 |
15:2 |
23:3 |
18:37 |
|
|
|
|
18:38 |
|
|
|
|
18:38 |
|
27:12-14 |
15:3-5 |
|
|
|
|
|
23:4 |
18:38 |
|
27:15-18 |
15:6-10 |
|
18:39,40 |
| |
|
23:5 |
|
| |
|
23:6-12 |
|
| |
|
23:13-16 |
|
| |
|
23:17 |
|
| |
|
23:18,19 |
|
| |
|
23:20 |
|
| |
|
23:21 |
|
| |
|
23:22 |
|
|
|
|
|
19:1-5 |
|
|
|
|
19:6 |
|
|
|
|
19:6 |
|
|
|
|
19:7 |
|
|
|
|
19:8-11 |
|
|
|
|
19:12 |
|
27:19 |
|
|
19:13 |
|
27:19 |
|
|
|
|
27:20 |
15:11 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
19:14 |
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