This research discusses the gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke. There are four gospels in the New Testament, but only three are addressed here. The focus is on comparing and contrasting the topics covered in the three gospels.
The four gospels begin at different times in the ministry of Jesus Christ, and at different places. While John, which won't be considered here, begins the story of Jesus as God with eternity, Mark begins the story of the servant of God with John the Baptist and Jesus' baptism (1:1-13). Both Matthew and Luke, scholars at heart, begin with Jesus' lineage, a matter of much more importance to the educated person in those days than it is now (Matt. 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38). Matthew, seeking to show Jesus as the Son of David and fulfillment of prophecy, traces him through Joseph to establish his legal possession of the Davidic kingdom and then to Abraham, which is all that would matter to a Hebrew. (At this point, that Joseph was Jesus' step-father is important, since Matt. 1:11 "Jeconiah" is Jehoiachin of 2 Kings 24:10-15 of whom God said none of his descendants would again sit on the throne of David Jer. 22:28-30.) Luke, on the other hand, takes Jesus' lineage through Mary all the way to Adam in order to establish him before the Gentiles as the "Son of God" (Luke 3:38).
John the Baptist and Jesus' baptism is one of three or four events included in all four gospels, for that is where Jesus' ministry of salvation began. Since Luke as a doctor was more interested in the people surrounding those events, he begins with them, telling of Elizabeth and Zacharias (Luke 1:5-25, 39-45), and Simeon and Anna (2:21-38), as well as Mary (1:26-38), but not Joseph until the birth (2:1). Thus Luke tells of Jesus' birth because of the tax census, including the shepherds who saw and heard the angels (2:15-20). Matthew, on the other hand, tells of Jesus' birth because of the tax census and the wise men that came afterwards (Ma...