Bible Quiz

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Incidents Appearing in Only One Gospel

1. Which Gospel tells of a young man who was almost arrested with Jesus in Gethsemane?

2. Both Matthew and Luke narrate more than 50 parables attribute to Jesus, whereas Mark has fewer than 25. Every one of the parables in Mark appears also in Matthew and or Luke except for one. Which parable is found only in Mark?

3. Matthew is the only evangelist to speak of earthquakes occurring in the course of the Gospel story. On what two occasions are they said to happen?

4. The wise men following a star in search of an infant king appear in which Gospel?

5. How did the shepherds learn of Jesus’ birth?

6. A unique feature of Luke’s version of Jesus’ trial and execution is that participants in the proceedings no less than six times declare Jesus innocent of any crime. Which three persons, who are not among the followers of Jesus, make this declaration?

7. Which Gospel depicts the risen Jesus as being “carried up into heaven” after commissioning and blessing the Apostles?

8. What extraordinary action of Jesus, recounted in only one Gospel, provokes the authorities to arrest and execute him?

9. In which Gospel do the preaching careers of John the Baptist and Jesus explicitly overlap?

10. Which Gospel contains three unique statements attributed to the dying Jesus, including one addressed to his executioners?

Prepared by James J. Megivern, chairman Department of Philosophy and Religion, University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

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Answers

1. Mark. Judas led an armed crowd to Gethsemane, where Jesus was praying with his disciples. There they arrested Jesus, and as they took him away, “a young man followed him [Jesus], with nothing but a linen cloth about his body; and they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked” (Mark 14:51–52). Because none of the other Gospels records this incident, and its function in the narrative is not immediately obvious, it has always been a puzzling passage. Modem authors suggest that the “young man” may have been Mark himself. In any event, it is one of those relatively few passages in Mark that are not in Matthew nor in Luke.

2. “The Seed Growing Secretly.” Sitting in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus used parables to teach a crowd that had gathered on the shore. In the parable known as “The Seed Growing Secretly” he said: “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26–29). One possible reason why this parable was left aside is because its message is unclear.

3. Jesus’ death and resurrection. At the moment Jesus died, “the curtain of the temple was tom in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split …” (Matthew 27:51). When Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, and Mary Magdalene went to the tomb where Jesus’ body had been placed, “there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it” (Matthew 28:2). These incidents follow the biblical tradition, in which earthquakes symbolized the cosmic impact of God’s special appearances and interventions.

4. Matthew. At the sign of a star, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem seeking the child “who has been born king of the Jews” (2:2). King Herod, pretending he wanted to worship Jesus, commanded the wise men to tell him when they found the child. The wise men “went their way; and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was” (2:9). After paying homage to Jesus and “being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another route” (2:12).

5. An angel told them. As the shepherds kept watch over their flock at night, an angel appeared and said, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10–11).

6. Pontius Pilate, the “Good Thief” and a Roman centurion. Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, four times during Jesus’ trial declared Jesus innocent. In his first statement, he said, “I find no crime in this man” (Luke 23:4; see also 23:14–15, 22).

When one of the two criminals crucified with Jesus railed at him and demanded that he save them, the other (the “Good Thief”) rebuked him, saying, “we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man [Jesus] has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41).

The third witness is the Roman centurion who saw Jesus die. Whereas in Mark (15:39) and Matthew (27:54) the centurion says, “Truly this was the Son of God,” in Luke the centurion proclaims “Certainly this man was innocent!” (23:47).

7. Luke. In their last meeting on earth, Jesus “opened [his disciples’] minds to understand the scriptures” and told them “that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations” (Luke 24:45, 47). Then he blessed them “and parted from them, and was carried up into heaven” (Luke 24:51). Luke’s singular depiction of Jesus being “carried up into heaven” is reinforced in the second volume he Wrote, The Acts of the Apostles, which says, “He was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (1:9).

8. The raising of Lazarus. After Jesus’ friend Lazarus of Bethany had died and had lain in his tomb for four days, Jesus restored him to life. Some of those who “had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done” (John 11:45–46). The Pharisees in council said, “If we let him go on thus, every one will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation” (John 11:48).

9. John. The Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark and Luke—leave the impression that Jesus began to preach only after John the Baptist had been silenced by arrest. But the Fourth Gospel (John) tells of a time when John and Jesus were simultaneously engaged in their preaching ministries. As Jesus, with his disciples, baptized people in the land of Judea, “John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim …” (John 3:23). When some of John the Baptist’s followers complained that “all are going to him [Jesus]” to be baptized, John answered: “I am not the Christ …. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 4:28, 30).

10. Luke. Three dying statements are found only in Luke: (1) A prayer for his executioners: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (23:34); (2) a promise to the Good Thief: “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (23:43); and (3) his last words: “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” (23:46).

Incidents Appearing in Only One Gospel

1. Which Gospel tells of a young man who was almost arrested with Jesus in Gethsemane?
2. Both Matthew and Luke narrate more than 50 parables attribute to Jesus, whereas Mark has fewer than 25. Every one of the parables in Mark appears also in Matthew and or Luke except for one. Which parable is found only in Mark?