A Very Challenging "Contradiction" in the Gospels: The Mark Series pt 57 (14:1-12)

BibleThinker

Mike Winger

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2021

⏱️ 72 minutes

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Summary

I almost gave up trying to resolve this supposed "contradiction" between Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Was Jesus anointed with oil/perfume once, twice or three times? Is there error in the Gospels about this? This is a rather complicated set of problems that will take time to unpack. In my study this week I searched and searched and could not find a satisfactory answer; and I'm not really ok with half-answers, so I was about to give up on the issue when I set aside all my resources and just worked with the texts themselves. Now I think I understand a very plausible explanation for the differences and similarities in the four Gospels on this issue. Today is all about apologetics! I'll be answering a lot of the following questions. If Luke is a separate account that happened at a different time and place how do we explain the similarities between his account and those in Mt, Mk and John? Like the other Gospels, Luke records a woman anointing Jesus, using fragrance from an alabaster flask and the name of the home owner being "Simon". Even if Luke is a separate account we have questions about how John can be harmonized with Matt and Mark. Critics claim that John has this event happening 6 days before Passover while Mark and Matt have it happening 2 days before Passover. They say that John has this happening at the home of Lazarus while Mark and Matt have it happening at the home of Simon the Leper. Yet these three accounts seem too similar to say it happened twice in such a short period of time. This puzzle had me confused for a time, and when I looked up resources from other people who tried to figure out a good solution I found myself bothered even more. The solutions often disregarded obvious challenges! In the end, I think I've figured it out and decided to do a whole video on it to make sure a good resource was out there for those looking to answer the question. I also think we should talk a bit about the anxiety Christians often feel when trying to resolve a supposed contradiction. How do we process that, especially if we simply don't know the answer yet? This is part 57 of the Mark Series, going verse-by-verse through the Gospel of Mark. Today we are in chapter 14:1-12. Feel free to use my videos in your own gatherings as an aid to studying Scripture. See the WHOLE Gospel of Mark playlist here:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3iRMLYFlHuGenHwUdeiQ5M-uj5XW4sF

Transcript

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0:00.0	Well, I almost didn't teach this study, I got really close to not teaching it, and the
0:08.3	reason is because I almost gave up, I didn't know if I could find a resolution to this supposed
0:13.0	contradiction, and now that wouldn't ruin my faith in Christ, and I want to talk about
0:17.1	that today.
0:18.1	What we're going to do is we're going to go through this very, honestly, very challenging
0:22.0	supposed contradiction.
0:23.8	I don't think it is a real contradiction, but I think that people can understandably
0:28.4	have problems with it.
0:29.7	And so we're going to go through it in detail.
0:32.3	We're going to answer what I think are the sort of spaghetti of questions that come up
0:37.8	between Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John when it comes to the anointing of Jesus by a woman,
0:43.8	or two women, or three women.
0:45.5	What's the real story here?
0:46.9	We're going to go through it all, and we're going to try to resolve this contradiction.
0:50.1	I'm interested in your feedback on whether you think the resolution I'm offering is sufficient.
0:53.3	I'm very satisfied with it, but I'll tell you what.
0:56.0	I could not find any resource that dealt with this in a way that I felt was satisfactory,
1:02.3	which means that I had searched a number of Christian resources and well-known ones and
1:07.0	thoughtful people who just didn't really give a resolution to this apparent or supposed
1:11.5	contradiction in a way that I thought was substantial.
1:14.2	In fact, some of them just straight up said, this is a contradiction, right?
1:18.4	Luke is borrowing from Mark here and changing the story.
	...

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