What are the similarities between the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of John?
Because the Gospel of John was inspired by the Gospel of Luke, whenever John parallels the synoptic gospels it is most similar to Luke, except for a small number of passages that came direct from Mark. Some of the more important similarities follow. In one respect, John is the direct reversal of Luke. Luke, more than any other gospel is concerned for the poor, whereas John's Gospel shows concern for the wealthy and powerful with Jesus associating frequently with rich people and reserving his best miracles for his rich friends. A direct reversal can be evidence of influence just as much as a parallel would be.Of course there are episodes that John shares with all the synoptics, such as the cleansing of the temple, in which he overturned the tables of the moneychangers. Here, the author placed this episode at the beginning of the mission of Jesus, rather than at the very end. This is evidence of our author's literary licence - we need not expect John to be a faithful copy of its sources.Mark's original reference to the cleansing of the Temple was a single verse in which Jesus cast out them that sold and bought in the Temple and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of them that sold doves, and then he would not allow vessels to be taken through the Temple, after which he left the city and they saw the fig tree. Matthew's version is much more elaborate, referring to the blind and lame coming to be cured, and the children crying Hozanna, after which he went out of the city to Bethany. Luke's version retains the simplicity of Mark, without even the reference to carrying vessels through the Temple nor of leaving the city afterwards. Apart from the imaginative depiction of Jesus with a scourge, John had none of the elaborations of Matthew, nor the original refusal to allow vessels through the Temple as in Mark, nor the reference to leaving the city afterwards. In this case, the link to Lukeis weak, but it is much closer than to Mark and Matthew. While John could have copied and elaborated Luke's version, he is unlikely to have arrived at the same story if he began with either Mark or Matthew.Luke's Gospel is the only synoptic gospel that mentions Mary and Martha or Lazarus. It tells of a parable in which Lazarus is resurrected. In John's Gospel, Lazarus, now the brother of Mary and Martha, really is resurrected by Jesus. The similarities could not have come by chance, while the differences are so great that they could not have been the same story.Luke's Gospel is the only synoptic account that has Peter run to the tomb and, stooping down, look in and see the linen clothes laid by themselves. A feature of John's Gospel is that it often compares Peter unfavourably with the"disciple whom Jesus loved", and that is the case here, when John has the disciple accompanying Peter, outrunning Peter and seeing the clothes before Peter arrived. Nevertheless, John was careful to agree with Lukein that Peter did go straight to the tomb and see the clothes.Luke's Gospel is the only synoptic account that has the risen Jesus visit the disciples in the room in Jerusalem and share a meal. John's Gospel has two appearances that are both quite similar to the single appearance in Luke except, as Elaine Pagels points out in Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, the account seems intended to disadvantage the disciple Thomas, by causing him to miss the blessing of the Holy Spirit and then appear to doubt that it was Jesus that he saw. The author of Johnknew nothing of Matthew's Gospel and may have known that Mark's Gospel (in its early form) contained no appeances of the resurrected Jesus. So he was careful to agree with Luke in that Jesus had visited the disciples at their meal, but had no problems in adding more detail and a second visit.John has the risen Jesus tell the disciples in Galilee to cast their nets on the other side, at which they caught a most astonishing catch of fish, although they had previously been toiling without a catch. This parallels a particularly similar event recorded in Luke chapter 5 as occurring before the crucifixion. John's author had no qualms about changing the time and setting of a story, as is well known with the story of the money-changers.
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