Mark 6:45-52 and Matthew 14:25-27, 32-33
Mark 6:45-52 is a series of passages that recount the story of the “stilling of the storm” by Jesus. He sends his disciples away ahead of Him but later sees that they are struggling and goes to help them. Seeing a figure walking on water, the disciples become scared, but Jesus reassures them and climbs into the boat. At this point, the storm calms, and the disciples are amazed and confused because they did not understand an earlier fable. The version presented in Matthew 14:25-27 and 32-33, with the intermediate portion being an anecdote where Peter tries to walk on water but cannot due to a lack of faith, changes the ending. In it, rather than hardening their hearts, the disciples worship him as the Son of God. On its surface, this change is minor, but there is some context behind it that is significant.
In Mark’s version, the stilling of the storm is a minor event that serves as a demonstration of Jesus’s divine powers. The disciples are aware of these abilities, and so, while they are impressed and surprised by the display, it merely increases their respect for Jesus. By contrast, in Matthew’s version, Jesus’s divinity is reaffirmed by the disciples’ worship of him. According to Martin, the reason for this edit is that Matthew represented a specific church that emphasized faith and used the apostles as an allegory for its members (106). Just as a churchgoer should do, the disciples worship Jesus for delivering them from the danger of the storm. The anecdote in Matthew 28-31 reinforces this notion by showing that Peter tried to walk on water but sunk when his faith wavered, needing Jesus to rescue him.
Mark 9:2-10 and Matthew 17:1-13
Mark 9:2-10 is the story of the Transfiguration, in which Jesus leads Peter, James, and John up a mountain, where his clothes become pure white, and Moses and Elijah appear. God confirms to the disciples that Jesus is His son. Jesus then swears them to secrecy until the Son of Man rises from the dead, indicating His knowledge of His fate. Matthew’s version features several additions to the story, both minor and significant. In addition to His clothes becoming pure white, His Face shines like the sun. At God’s confirmation, which is also expanded, the disciples fall facedown to the ground, and Jesus comes and tells them to stand up. Lastly, and likely most significantly, the disciples ask Jesus why the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first. Jesus responds that he has done so already, and the disciples realize that He means John the Baptist.
Matthew’s agenda is more apparent in this case than in the last one, as the addition is less subtle. According to Muddiman and Barton, most of these additions are profoundly meaningful (56). Jesus’s sun-like face is a reference to that of Moses in Ex 34:29-35, as is the fear of the disciples, and the entire event is a reference to Moses that reinforces Jesus’s parallels to the prophet from the Old Testament. The disciples’ question and Jesus’s answer are aimed at a real-life objection that He cannot be the Messiah because Elijah has not come yet. By assigning that role to John the Baptist, Matthew tries to resolve the contradiction. Overall, while Mark’s gospel appears to outline a general version of Christianity, Matthew’s version is targeted at a specific Christian denomination that had formed in the decades since the religion’s foundation. It gives more specific commandments to members of the writer’s church and addresses the theological debates of that time.
Works Cited
Martin, Dale B. New Testament History and Literature. Yale University Press, 2012.
Muddiman, John, and John Barton, editors. The Gospels. Oxford University Press, 2010.