Group Activity

Matthew and Mark

As we have discussed, textual critics assume that Mark is one of the sources for the two other "synoptic" gospels, Matthew and Luke, and there are certainly many places in Matthew where we can see the materials of Mark showing up almost verbatim.  But if Matthew partly rewrites Mark, he also transforms him, creating a new and different text (it takes him, for instance, seven chapters to get through the material Marks gets through in one).  The following exercise asks you to reflect on the connections between the two gospels, thinking about larger interpretive issues of how they present distinct pictures of Jesus.  In some cases, I'll be asking you to look at things which could only be called "additions" to Mark's text, in some cases "variations" on Mark's materials.  In either case, I'll be sticking to material from the early chapters of Mark.

1.    Choose one person to act as recorder for your group's discussion.

2.    Decide, as a group, if your Matthew text is an addition to or a variation on the gospel of Mark. 

• if an addition, answer the following:
  • What is the nature of the added material?
  • What function does it perform in the gospel?
  • How does it alter the meaning of the material which surrounds it?
  • How does its function differ from the function of the material in Mark which comes closest to paralleling it?
• if a variation, answer the following:
  • What similarities exist between the two passages?
  • What differences?
  • How do the differences change the meaning of the passage?
  • What new things can you notice about each passage in light of its parallel passage?
  • How do these two passages differ in the way that they tell the story of Jesus, in the broadest sense?

3.    Evaluate, as a group, the strengths and weaknesses of the two passages, perhaps, if you like, choosing a favorite.  How would you characterize the two gospels as wholes, in the light of these passages?

Group 1--Introduction of Jesus (Mark 1.9-11 and Matthew Chap. 1)

Group 2--Introduction of Jesus (Mark 1.9-11 and Matthew Chap. 2)

Group 3--John the Baptist (Mark 1.1-8 and Matthew 3.1-12)

Group 4--Baptism of Jesus (Mark 1.9-11 and Matthew 3.13-17)

Group 5--Temptation of Jesus (Mark 1.12-13 and Matthew 4.1-11)

Group 6--Jesus's Teaching (Mark 1.21-22 and Matthew 6.1-18, 7.28-9)

Group 7--Jesus and the Pharisees (Mark 7.1-8 and Matthew 5.17-48)

Group 8--Healing Stories (Mark 5.21-43 and Matthew 9.18-26)