Chapter XLVIII.—Of the Absence of Any Discrepancy Between Matthew and Mark on
the One Hand, and John on the Other, in the Accounts Which the Three Give Together of
What Took Place After the Other Side of the Lake Was Reached.
102. Matthew proceeds as follows: “And when they were gone over, they came into the
land of Genesar. And when the men of that place had knowledge of Him, they sent out unto
all that country round about, and brought unto Him all that were diseased, and besought
Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment: and as many as touched were made
perfectly whole. Then came to Him scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem, saying, Why do
thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they
eat bread,” and so on, down to the words, “But to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a
man.”1071 This is also related by Mark, in a way which precludes the raising of any question
about discrepancies. For anything expressed here by the one in a form differing from that
used by the other, involves at least no departure from identity in sense. John, on the other
hand, fixing his attention, as his wont is, upon the Lord’s discourses, passes on from the
notice of the ship, which the Lord reached by walking upon the waters, to what took place
after they disembarked upon the land, and mentions that He took occasion from the eating
of the bread to deliver many lessons, dealing pre-eminently with divine things. After this
address, too, his narrative is again borne on to one subject after another, in a sublime
strain.1072 At the same time, this transition which he thus makes to different themes does
not involve any real want of harmony, although he exhibits certain divergencies from these
others, with the order of events presented by the rest of the evangelists. For what is there to
hinder us from supposing at once that those persons, whose story is given by Matthew and
Mark, were healed by the Lord, and that He delivered this discourse which John recounts
to the people who followed Him across the sea? Such a supposition is made all the more
reasonable by the fact that Capharnaum, to which place they are said, according to John, to
have crossed, is near the lake of Genesar; and that, again, is the district into which they came,
according to Matthew, on landing.
1071 Matt. xiv. 34-xv. 20.
1072 John vi. 22–72.
Of the Absence of Any Discrepancy Between Matthew and Mark on the One Hand, and John on the Other, in the Accounts Which the Three Give Together of What Took Place After the Other Side of the Lake Was Reached.
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Of the Absence of Any Discrepancy Between Matthew and Mark on the One Hand,…