VIII.
(1) We enter here on a series of events, following, in St. Matthew’s arrangement, on the great discourse. They are common to St. Mark and St. Luke, but are not narrated, as the following table will show, in the same order: —
ST. MATTHEW.
ST. MARK.
ST. LUKE.
(1.)
The leper (Matthew 8:1-4).
(1.)
Peter’s wife’s mother (Mark 1:29-31).
(1.)
Peter’s wife’s mother (Luke 4:38-39).
(2.)
The servant of the centurion (Matthew 8:5-13).
(2.)
The leper (Mark 1:40-45).
(2.)
The leper (Luke 5:12-15).
(3.)
Peter’s wife’s mother (Matthew 8:14-15).
(3.)
The stilling of the storm Mark (4:35-41).
(3.)
The servant of the centurion (Luke 7:1-10).
(4.)
The excuses of two disciples (Matthew 8:18-22).
(4.)
The Gadarene demoniac (Mark 5:1-20).
(4.)
The stilling of the storm (Luke 8:22-25).
(5.)
The stilling of the storm (Matthew 8:23-27).
—
(5.)
The Gadarene demoniac (Luke 8:26-39).
(6.)
The Gadarene demoniacs (Matthew 8:28-33).
—
(6.)
The excuses of two disciples (Luke 9:57-62).
A comparison such as this, especially if we take into account the narratives which in St. Mark and St. Luke come between those which St. Matthew makes to follow close one upon another, and the apparent notes of succession in each case, is enough to show, once for all the difficulty of harmonising the Gospel narratives with any certainty. Three conclusions may fairly be received as all but certain. (1.) The independence of each record. It is scarcely conceivable that St. Mark or St. Luke would have departed so widely from St. Matthew’s order had they had his Gospel before them. (2.) The derivation of all three from earlier records, written or oral, each embracing some few acts or discourses of our Lord. (3.) The absence of any direct evidence as to the order of these events, so that each writer was often left to his own discretion, or to some internal principle of grouping.
In dealing with such cases, therefore, while the parallel narratives in the other Gospels will be noticed, so far as they make the record here more vivid and complete, there will seldom be any attempt to discuss elaborately the order in which they stand.