therefore an addition either by the author or an outgrowth of tradition from the community of which he was a member.
Lukan Additions
Luke has altered the baptism account by omitting any reference to the Baptist, as noted earlier, and by relating that Jesus’ experience is the result of prayer. This is in character with one of the particular interests of this writer, since he always describes Jesus at prayer before the critical and decisive decisions of his ministry (cf. 6.12; 9.18; 22.41). The opening of the heavens and the descent of the Spirit become responses to Jesus’ prayer and to his openness to God, rather than a sudden, unexpected and spontaneous inbreaking of the Spirit into his consciousness.
Conclusions
Thus the intentions and concerns of each gospel writer become evident to the reader through a careful and critical examination of the baptism pericope. The most consistent account, in the opinion of this writer, is found in the Gospel of Mark. There is no ambiguity, but rather a clear and incisive depiction of Jesus as a man without any supernatural or divine qualifications who is chosen by God from the community of humanity as represented by Israel, anointed with the Spirit, and commissioned to be the deliverer of God’s people and all people from the destructive bondage to sin, death, and evil to which every human being is enslaved. The Markan account is most consonant with the Pauline poetic paean,
“Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend.
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”
Signs and Wonder Stories in the Gospels
¶ Signs and wonder stories constitute a very large proportion of the tradition preserved by the early Christian community about the ministry of Jesus. These stories fall into a number of categories that include:
l) the healing of physical ailments,
2) exorcisms,
3) the control of natural phenomena,
4) raising the dead, and
5) occasions when numerous healings and exorcisms are lumped together into general accounts.
There are eighteen of these stories in the gospel of Mark with six general references, nineteen in the gospel of Matthew with ten general references, and twenty in the gospel of Luke with ten general references. Eleven of these stories are found in all three gospels. To set our discussion in perspective, the signs and wonder stories in Mark constitute three thousand four words of his total of eleven thousand forty-seven words, approximately twenty-seven per cent of the total; the stories in Matthew constitute two thousand three hundred twenty-three words of his total of eighteen thousand two hundred thirty-nine words, approximately thirteen per cent of his total; and in Luke a total of two thousand six hundred eighty-one words of his total of nineteen thousand three hundred forty-six words, approximately fourteen per cent. The word count is based upon the text of Codex Vaticanus
It is to be noted that the signs and wonder stories form a very large portion of the gospels, especially of the gospel of Mark since almost one-third of this gospel consists of signs and wonder narratives. It seems proper at this point to identify the material that is used as the basis for this analysis, so that there may be no question in the mind of the reader as to the inclusiveness or completeness of the analysis. Therefore the signs and wonder stories are named and listed according to category for future reference in the essay.
First and most numerous are the healings of physical ailments. The three gospels have the following in common:
(1) the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever (Mark 1.29–31; Matthew 8.14–15; Luke 4.38–39),
(2) the cleansing of a leper (Mark 1.40–45; Matthew 8.1–4; Luke 5.12–15),
(3) the healing of a paralyzed man (Mark 2.1–12; Matthew 9.1–8; Luke 5.17–26),
(4) the restoring of a withered hand (Mark 3.1–6; Matthew 12.9–14; Luke 6.6–11),
(5) the healing of a woman with a hemorrhage (Mark 5.24b–34; Matthew 9.20–22; Luke 8.42b–48),
(6) and the restoring of sight to Bartimaeus (Mark 10.46–52; Matthew 20.29–34; Luke 18.35–43).
Two additional healings are reported by Mark,
(7) the healing of a deaf man with a speech impediment (Mark 7.31–37) and
(8) and the restoring of sight to a blind man at Bethsaida (Mark 8.22–26).
Matthew and Luke add the account of
(9) the healing of the Roman centurion’s servant or slave (Matthew 8.5–13; Luke 7.1–10).
In addition, Matthew has
(10) the restoring of sight to two blind men (Matthew 9.27–31).
Luke adds
(11) the healing of a woman with an infirmity (Luke 13.10–17),
(12) the healing of a man with dropsy (Luke 14.1–6),
(13) the cleansing of ten lepers (Luke 17.11–19); and
(14) the restoring of the ear of the slave of the high priest (Luke 22.49–51).
A summary indicates that Mark and Matthew each have eight healings, whereas Luke reports eleven.
The next most numerous are the exorcisms. Two are reported in all three gospels:
(15) the demon-possessed Legion (Mark 5.1–20; Matthew 8.28–34; Luke 8.26–39) and
(16) the epileptic (Mark 9.14–29; Matthew 17.14–21; Luke 9.37–43a).
Mark and Matthew report
(17) the exorcism of the daughter of the Syrophoenician or the Canaanite woman (Mark 7.24–30; Matthew 15.21–28)
Mark and Luke report
(18) the exorcism of an unclean spirit in a synagogue at Capernaum (Mark 1.23–28; Luke 4.33–37).
Matthew and Luke report
(19) the casting out of a demon from a man that was dumb (Matthew adds that he was also blind) (Matthew 12.22; Luke 11.14).
Matthew alone reports
(20) the exorcism of a dumb demoniac (Matthew 9.32–34).
There are four exorcism stories in Mark, five in Matthew, and four in Luke.
The nature signs and wonder stories cover a variety of events and include two narratives in all three gospels:
(21) the wind and the sea obey Jesus (Mark 4.35–41; Matthew 8.18–27; Luke 8.22–25) and
(22) the feeding of the five thousand (Mark 6.30–44; Matthew 14.13–21; Luke 9.10–17).
Mark and Matthew report
(23) Jesus’ walking on water (Mark 6.45–52; Matthew 14.22–33),
(24) the feeding of the four thousand (Mark 8.1–10; Matthew 15.32–39), and
(25) the cursing of the fig tree (Mark 11.12–14, 20–26; Matthew 21.18–22).
Luke alone tells of
(26) the great catch of fish (Luke 5.4–7).
There are five nature signs and wonder stories in Mark, five in Matthew, and three in Luke.
There is only one story of the raising of the dead in the three gospels, that is,
(27) the raising of Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5.21–24a, 35–43; Matthew 9.18–19, 23–26; Luke 8.40–42a, 49–56).
Luke alone has the additional