Q: In Matthew 26:47, Judas Iscariot is said to come to Jesus and identify him with a kiss. But in John 18:3-8, no such kiss is mentioned. Jesus simply tells the soldiers who he is -- at which point they fall backwards, before recovering and arresting him. These are two different things!
A: Yes; they are different, but not contradictory. Repeatedly, John seems to take it for granted that his readers have already been informed about Jesus; John seems to have written in order to supplement the Gospel of Mark. So it is no surprise that John does not repeat much of the material which Mark had already related, or, when the same events are described, that John does not merely repeat what Mark wrote.
The scene in the garden, when harmonized by a cross-comparison of the parallel-passages, looks like this:
(A) Jesus and the disciples cross the Kidron brook.
(B) Later, Judas enters the area with a large group of soldiers. And I mean, a /large/ group -- more than enough for one squadron to be led by Judas straight to Jesus while the rest surrounded the apostles.
(C ) Judas greets Jesus with a kiss, and steps back as the soldiers present themselves.
(D) Jesus affirms His identity Himself by referring to Himself as The Son of Man, thus communicating to the bystanding soldiers that He is indeed Jesus of Nazareth.
(E) Next comes the material in John (18:4-9) that the Synoptics omit: the brief discussion between Jesus and the soldiers, when they momentarily fall back and He instructs them not to take only Him.
(F) A skirmish breaks out as Peter draws his sword and wounds Malchus; here the accounts converge.
The entire confrontation between Jesus and the soldiers took no more than 20 seconds. At night, with several squads of soldiers in a relatively small area, it does not seem particularly surprising that Peter witnessed the initial encounter between Judas and Jesus, and then directed his attention toward Malchus, thus not taking note of what commenced between Jesus and the soldiers.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
A: Yes; they are different, but not contradictory. Repeatedly, John seems to take it for granted that his readers have already been informed about Jesus; John seems to have written in order to supplement the Gospel of Mark. So it is no surprise that John does not repeat much of the material which Mark had already related, or, when the same events are described, that John does not merely repeat what Mark wrote.
The scene in the garden, when harmonized by a cross-comparison of the parallel-passages, looks like this:
(A) Jesus and the disciples cross the Kidron brook.
(B) Later, Judas enters the area with a large group of soldiers. And I mean, a /large/ group -- more than enough for one squadron to be led by Judas straight to Jesus while the rest surrounded the apostles.
(C ) Judas greets Jesus with a kiss, and steps back as the soldiers present themselves.
(D) Jesus affirms His identity Himself by referring to Himself as The Son of Man, thus communicating to the bystanding soldiers that He is indeed Jesus of Nazareth.
(E) Next comes the material in John (18:4-9) that the Synoptics omit: the brief discussion between Jesus and the soldiers, when they momentarily fall back and He instructs them not to take only Him.
(F) A skirmish breaks out as Peter draws his sword and wounds Malchus; here the accounts converge.
The entire confrontation between Jesus and the soldiers took no more than 20 seconds. At night, with several squads of soldiers in a relatively small area, it does not seem particularly surprising that Peter witnessed the initial encounter between Judas and Jesus, and then directed his attention toward Malchus, thus not taking note of what commenced between Jesus and the soldiers.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
