Immediately
(Matthew 21:19) – “Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.
Did Jesus cleanse the Temple once or twice? Matthew, Mark, and Luke report Jesus driving merchants and moneychangers out of the temple, but some critics claim that the chronology doesn’t match. Did Jesus cleanse the temple more than once? Do the gospels disagree? How do we reconcile these passages?
Donkey and colt
(Matthew 21:2-7) – “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them, and bring them to Me. 3“And if anyone says something to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” 4Now this took place that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 5“Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” 6And the disciples went and did just as Jesus had directed them, 7and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid on them their garments, on which He sat.”
Two blind men
(Matthew 20:29-30) – “And as they were going out from Jericho, a great multitude followed Him. 30And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”
Who made the request to sit beside Jesus in His kingdom? It was the mother who asked on different occasions.
Problem: Jesus says, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone” (Lk. 18:19). Cultists and skeptics argue that Jesus is claiming that he is not God in this passage. Is this the case?
Problem: Jesus said, “Unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 18:3). Does this mean that believers should be naïve and gullible?
We find the parallel account for this teaching in Mark 10:2-12. We will look at the extended version in Matthew, while comparing and contrasting the differences.
(Mt. 19:3) Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?”
No Peace
(Matthew 10:34-36) – “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35″For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.”
(Luke 12:51,52) – “Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; 52for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two, and two against three…”
(Luke 22:36) – “And He said to them, “But now, let him who has a purse take it along, likewise also a bag, and let him who has no sword sell his robe and buy one.”
Problem: Jesus said that hell is a place “where `their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched’ ” (Mark 9:48). But what do everlasting worms have to do with hell?
Six Days later
(Matthew 17:1) – “And six days later Jesus *took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and *brought them up to a high mountain by themselves.”
(Mark 9:2) – “And six days later, Jesus *took with Him Peter and James and John, and *brought them up to a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them;”
Problem: In Mark, the Pharisees ask for a sign from Jesus, but He says that no sign shall be given to that generation. But Matthew’s account says that Christ responded that the sign of the Prophet Jonah would be given (namely, Jesus’ resurrection).
Problem: When a Canaanite woman came to Jesus pleading for help, he told her that he “was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt. 15:24). When she persisted, he said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (v.26). He eventually healed her daughter, but why did he call her and her daughter “dogs”?
Can take a staff
(Mark 6:8) – “and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belt.”
Problem: Matthew records that the disciples shouldn’t acquire “a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff” (Mt. 10:9-10). Mark records, “[Jesus] instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt—but to wear sandals” (Mk. 6:8-9). Whereas Luke records that Jesus instructed, “Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics apiece” (Lk. 9:3). The discrepancy can be seen in this way: