38.  From Tatian’s time to the present there have been repeated attempts to construct a harmonious representation of events and teachings in the ministry of Jesus, generally by setting the parallel accounts side by side, following such a succession of events as seemed most probable.  Our evangelists cared little, if they thought at all, about the requirements of strict biography, and they have left us records not easy to arrange on any one chronological scheme.  Concerning the chief events, however, the gospels agree.  All four report, for instance, the beginning of the work in Galilee (Matt. iv. 12, 17; Mark i. 14, 15; Luke iv. 14, 15; John iv. 43-45); the feeding of the five thousand when Jesus’ popularity in Galilee passed its climax (Matt. xiv. 13-23; Mark vi. 30-46; Luke ix. 10-17; John vi. 1-15); the departure from Galilee for the final visit to Jerusalem (Matt. xix. 1, 2; Mark x. 1; Luke ix. 51; John vii. 1-10); and the week of suffering and victory at the end (Matt. xxi. 1 to xxviii. 20; Mark xi. 1 to xvi. 8 [20]; Luke xix. 29 to xxiv. 53; John xii. 1 to xxi. 25).

39.  These facts are enough to give us a clear and unified impression of the course of Jesus’ ministry.  When, however, we seek to fill in the details given in the different gospels, difficulties at once arise.  Thus, first, what shall be done with the long section which John introduces (i. 19 to iv. 42) before Jesus’ withdrawal into Galilee?  The other gospels make that withdrawal the beginning of his public work.  A second difficulty arises from the unnamed feast of John v. 1.  By one or another scholar this feast has been identified with almost every Jewish festival known to us.  Another problem is furnished by the long section in Luke which is so nearly peculiar to his gospel (ix. 51 to xviii. 14).  If the section had no parallels in the other gospels we might easily conclude that it all belongs to a time subsequent to the final departure for Jerusalem; but it contains at least one incident from the earlier ministry in Galilee (Luke xi. 14-36; compare Mark iii. 19-30), and many teachings of Jesus given by Matthew in an earlier connection appear here in Luke.  Furthermore, the section has to be adjusted to that portion of the Gospel of John which deals with the same period and yet reports none of the same details.

40.  If Mark has furnished the narrative framework adopted in the main by the first and third gospels, the problem of the order of events in Jesus’ life becomes a question of the chronological value of Mark, and of the estimate to be placed on the narrative of John.  If the fourth gospel is held to be of apostolic origin and trustworthy, the task of the harmonist is chiefly that of combining these two records of Mark and John.  The testimony of the Baptist, with which the fourth gospel opens, must have been given some time after he had baptized Jesus, and the ministry which preceded Jesus’ return to Galilee (i. 19 to iv. 42) belongs to a period ignored by the other