Seeking Harmony in Life through Harmonizing Words

SUNDAY, JANUARY 4, 2009

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

Matthew 3:1-6, Mark 1:1-6, Luke 3:1-6, John 1:6-8

Perhaps some recall, in the beginning of the year I said one of my resolutions was to create my own Harmony of the Gospels in a translation I prefer. I try to also add some history and commentary as I go.  I have slowly been working on it. I have just gotten up to John the Baptist's ministry. I added the first part on John coming to the wilderness the other day. 

You will see on my Night Writing in the Morning Light Blog a Blurb to the right showing the last update. However, the latest will say "two months ago" and above you see a date of January 4.

This entry was not posted to my Harmony on that date.  I am backdating the posts so the narrative shows chronologically with the Scripture on my Harmony Blog, so the latest post always shows the earliest post date.  Just thought I'd confuse everyone). Maybe as I go I will also post each new entry here as well.

  Anyway, here was the first post on John appearing:

Judea spring of 26 A.D.

The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar[Tiberius Claudius Nero BC42-AD37]-—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea [AD 26-36 Died AD39],, Herod [Antipas] tetrarch of Galilee [BC 4-AD 39 Died AD39],, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis[BC 4-AD 34 Died AD34], and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene[AD 29 – see Note 1] — during the high priesthood of Annas[AD 6-15, President Sanhedrin AD15-66] and [Joseph, son of Annas, see note 2] Caiaphas, [AD18-37] the word of God came to John son of Zechariah],  in the desert.

 

Note 1.  An inscription was found on a temple from the time of Tiberius (the Roman emperor from 14 - 37 AD), which named Lysanias as the Tetrach of Abila near Damascus, just as Luke has written.

The temple inscription reads:

Huper tes ton kurion Se[baston] soterias kai tou sum[pantos] auton oikou, Numphaios Ae[tou] Lusianiou tetrarchou apele[utheors] ten odon ktisas k.t.l

Translation:

"For the salvation of the August lords and of all their household, Nymphaeus, freedman of Eagle Lysanias tetrarch established this street and other things."

The reference to August lords is a joint title given only to the emperor Tiberius (son of Augustus) and his mother Livia (widow of Augustus). This reference establishes the date of the inscription to between A.D. 14 and 29. The year 14 was the year of Tiberius' accession and the year 29 was the year of Livia's death.

Therefore the 15th year of Tiberius is the year 29 A.D., and it lies within the reign of the August lords. This evidence supports Luke's reference that Lysanias was a tetrarch around the time of John the Baptist (29 A.D.).

Note 2.  Annas, who’s name means "The grace of Jehovah" was the son of Seth and appointed high priest of the Jews in 6 A.D in his 37th year. He was high priest from 6 to 15 A.D. but as long as he lived he was the virtual head of the priestly party in Jerusalem. He was chosen to the high priesthood by Quirinius, the imperial governor of Syria; obliged to give way to Ismael by Valerius Gratus, procurator of Judaea, in the beginning of Tiberius' reign, 14 A.D. Eleazar, the son of Annas, followed Ismael; then Simon; then Joseph Caiaphas, son-in-law of Annas (John 18:13).

In the time of Christ high priests were appointed and removed at the command of the Roman governors. Although removed from office, Annas' power and influence was so great that five of his sons, as well as his son-in-law Caiaphas and his grandson Matthias, also became high priests. Years afterward he lost the high priesthood, but even then he was popularly considered as still in office and was called "high priest"; even after Pentecost his name appears first in the list of priestly leaders:

Acts 4:5-7 "And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. "

In John 18:19, 22 the high priest is undoubtedly Annas, although in vs. 13 and 24 Caiaphas is mentioned as the high priest. Annas is referred to in connection with the beginning of John the Baptist's ministry, which took place "in the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas" (Luke 3:2 ), as though father and son-in-law were joint holders of the office.

It seems clear that due to his ability and force of character he was virtually high priest, although Caiaphas had the title. When Jesus was arrested, He was first brought before Annas (John 18:13). It was apparently Annas who questioned Him about His disciples and His teaching, and who gave orders to one of the officers standing by to strike Jesus with his hand (18:19-22). After the questioning, he sent Jesus "bound" to Caiaphas.

John 18:19-24 "The high priest then asked Jesus about His disciples and His doctrine. Jesus answered him, "I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing. Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said." And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, "Do You answer the high priest like that?" Jesus answered him, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?" Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest."

He was undoubtedly the ruling voice in the council that condemned Jesus, although nothing is said about his part in the proceedings that followed the preliminary questioning. He was present at the meeting of the Sanhedrin before which Peter and John defended themselves for preaching the Gospel of the Resurrection (Acts 4:6).

Annas is called "high priest," Caiaphas, John, and Alexander are called "of his kindred." He lived to old age, and he had five sons apointed as high priests. http://www.bible-history.com/HighPriests/NTHIGHPRIESTSAnnas.htm

 

 

 

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

 

"I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.

Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation.'

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her 
that her hard service has been completed, 
that her sin has been paid for, 
that she has received from the LORD's hand 
double for all her sins.

3 A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare 
the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.

5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, 
and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken." Isaiah 40: 1-5

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John and so John came. He went into all the country around the Jordan, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

People went out to him from Jerusalem and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him, and all Judea, the whole Judean countryside, and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

 

Through the Lens of Jim

When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!  Hebrews 9:11-14

The ostrich poking his beak into our car is not as graceful perhaps as the swans on Jim's "Journaling for Growth" Blog, but it is certainly taking a bird's eye view of things. Unfortunately, that is the only view some ever take of Scripture for usually we use the expression "taking a Bird's Eye view" as seeing things from a distance. So, I guess in truth this ostrich wasn't taking a bird's eye view at all, but one up close and personal, much to the unease of my wife.

If you take the opportunity to read Jim's Blogs, both  "Journaling for Growth" and "Love One Another", you'll learn how much there is up close and personal in Scripture.  Jim doesn't just give you the bird's eye view, he gets down in the dust and gives the worm's eye view as well. You learn the depth of God's Word .

It reminded me of my childhood when I wanted, and got, for Christmas a microscope.

That's right, as a kid I wanted to be a scientist.  First an herpetologist, then an entomologist, then a chemist, then an anthropologist and when I finally did go to college, I was majoring in sociology, a social science. Oh, I had a lot of interests and I got pretty involved in each for a while, but I missed the most important of all in what I considered excursions into the mysteries and life and a search for truth. I ignored the Scriptures. I considered them as nice little tales mixed with a lot of boring stuff that was hard to pronounce and difficult to read.

Now I see it all differently. I think what I discovered is exactly what Jim knows. Scripture is multi-layered that you could study forever and always find another truth.

That's why my microscope came to mind. It was a very nice microscope. It had several lens on a disc you could turn. Each lens was more powerful than the last. If you put an insect on the slide and peered through the first lens, it appeared bigger, but still similar to what you saw with the naked eye. But each turn of lens reveled more about the structure of the creature until the last lens where you saw the fine veins and delicate colors of its wings, which had appeared as colorless with your bird's eye view.

And that is what you get when you begin to see how all the Bible fits into a story of God's relationship to man, into the story of atonement through Christ's sacrifice and salvation through his future return, and all the colors of our God.

Thank you, Jim, for taking the time and putting in the effort to help us see these things.

Rub-a-dub-dub Three Men in a Tub to When Pigs Fly: Bible as a Whole

Do you think that pig on the left is thinking about flying right into that river and drowning itself?

Huh, what do flying suicidal pigs have to do with the Bible.

I'll get to that later.

I would hope, it's hard enough understanding that book without you confusing people further. I don't know what you see in that anthology of stories, myths, fables and poems. 

That's because it isn't an anthology. It's one continuous history of God's relationship to man from the past creation of this world to the future end of this world.  If we accept that fact, We'll have a better understanding not only of the Bible,  but of world events going on around us today.

Such as?

Such as not being scared by all the Global Warming hype when you understand what the Bible says is ahead. Such as not being fearful of threats from other countries when you see how the Bible says they will line up.  The Thinking Frog in one of his posts said, "The only thing we have to fear is God Himself." He is absolutely right, for we have a Fearsome and Awesome God, who has let us in on His plan in the Bible so we need not fear anything else. 

Also, understanding the Bible as a whole clears up a lot of those little events in the Bible that seem mysterious. 

Oh Yeah, how is all that stuff in the Old Testament relevant to anything. A lot of you people find that mysterious enough to avoid.  All those "begats" and hard to pronounce names like Jebusites, Girgashites,  Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. I bet most wouldn't know a Pathrusite from a Stalagmite. What's with all these ites, huh? 

Well, except for Stalagmite,  they are groups of people named after some body's son, you know, the result of all those begats. Take the Girgashites...

Bless you.

Very funny. Girgashites, in fact, all those "ites" you named, were descendants of Ham. You remember Noah had three sons,  Japheth, Shem and Ham. 

Ah, ha, your Rub-a-dub-dub Three men in a Tub silliness!

Yes.

Where are the flying pigs?

We'll get to them, possibly not until my next post however. Anyway, Shem is the ancestor of the Jews. We get the term Semite from him, a corruption from the Greek or Latin because there is no H in those languages. Japheth's descendants went north after the flood. We of European blood descended from his tribes. Ham had a son whose name you probably know by the country he inhabited. His name was Canaan. 

Canaan begat Sidon, his firstborn, and he begat Hitt,  Jebu,  Amor and so forth. In fact his next begat was Girgash...

And Girgash formed a tribe called Girgashites.

Correct. And the Girgashites and those other tribes all lived in the land of milk and honey God intended for the Hebrews. God drove all those people out of Canaan because they weren't very nice. He took His time, but those peoples were driven out. 

Ha, took his time. Maybe your God isn't so powerful after all. Why didn't he just zap them, like Sodom and Gomorrah? Use up all his power turning Lot's wife into salt did he?

God wasn't too weak to "zap". He did it because the Hebrews weren't strong enough to subdue the country yet. If God had zapped those tribes, then the wild animals would have been left uncontrolled and overrun the place before the Hebrews could get a handle on them. God is pretty sparing with the zapping and the miracles. He likes to work his plan through people, only he knows why. But that's another story, just accept it for now that God always knows what he's doing.

Back to the point. The Girgashites ended up controlling a region southeast of the Sea of Galilee, know later as the Gadarenes or the Gerasenes. This is an area known for the Decapolis, or the ten cities. We have cities such as Gadara and Gerasa in this country. Near Gadara are a lot of tombs and on the east shore of Lake Tiberias (another name of the Sea of Galilee), at el-Kursi, near the Wadi es-Samak is a cliff. We have a story about Jesus involving tombs and a cliff in the region of the Gerasenes. Might not have been those specific tombs or that particular cliff, but these were things in the area so it wasn't unusual they were mentioned.

Okay, nice little history lesson, or is it a geography lesson. All this gobbly-gook about Girgashites, Gerasenes, Gerasa and Gadara and you still haven't said anything about pigs.

I mentioned Ham.

Oh, now who is being cute. 

Fine, old haunt, I'll get to the flying pigs in my next post, but first I want you to contemplate Isaiah 65:1-7

"I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, 'Here am I, here am I.'

All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations-a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; 
who eat the flesh of pigs, 
and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat; who say, 'Keep away; don't come near me, for I am too sacred for you!' 
Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.

"See, it stands written before me: 
I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps-both your sins and the sins of your fathers," 
says the LORD.

Then the next time you're roaming around, we;ll talk about this story put together from Matthew 8:28-34, Mark 5:1-20 and Luke 8:26-39.

They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. "What do you want with us, Son of God?" they shouted. "Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?" When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs.

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He cried out and fell at his feet. He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me! I beg you, don't torture me!" For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man, had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!" Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.

Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"

"My name is Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him."for we are many." And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs. Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them. " and He gave them permission. He said to them, "Go!" and so when they, the demons, the evil spirits, came out of the man, and they went into the pigs, and the whole herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned and died in the water.

When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off, went into the town and reported all this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man, how the demon-possessed man had been cured. —and told about the pigs as well. And then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus, when they saw him, to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. The people, they began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

So He got into the boat and left. As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed, whom the demons had gone out, begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but Jesus sent him away but said, saying, "Go Return home to your family and tell them how much the Lord God has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." So the man went away and told all over town and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

How You Like Weather Depends Where You Watch

Two people react to a winter morning:

"Ah, it snowed this morning. It began early, the lawn was white when I awoke. I stood at the window and enjoyed the beauty of the landscape. The ground was clean and dazzling white and there was a festive trim of icicles hanging from each trees. Behind me was the comforting crackle of the fireplace blaze. It was wonderful."

"Aw, it snowed this morning. It began early, the roads were already slick when I started out. I could barely see out the windshield and the landscape was only a smooth gray slate that confused my whereabouts. There were patches of ice and a car behind nearly slid into me.  It was terrible."  

Would we question the veracity of either speaker? Would we say they were describing two different storms? They could be, but there is no reason to doubt it is the same storm despite how much the descriptions vary. 

How it was explained depended on where the viewer was. The first observed it from the side. The other from the middle.

Even if in the middle, a person's description might vary depending on when they tell it and to whom. If the second speaker had been hit by the skidding car an initial news report might say, "A car was found off the road against a tree along Route 40 during this morning's storm. The driver was taken to the hospital complaining of chest pains. The accident is under investigation."

A later report might elaborate. "The accident on route 40 reported on earlier was caused by ice. A vehicle, which left the scene prior to arrival of emergency crews, had skidded and pushed the accident victim off the road into a tree. The driver of that car was taken to the hospital for examination and treatment after complaining of chest pains. It was determined the victim was suffering from bruised ribs. Police are searching for the other driver."

No one would claim the first news report was describing a different event or the differences in the second report invalidated the event. The initial report is a brief summary of an event. The second goes into more detail of how the event came about and the results.

Or the victim, when visited by family, may say, "I was driving to work in the storm when I was hit by another car. I thought I was having a heart attack." Later, retelling the events, the victim may give an account with all the salient details.

In fact, a short burst about an event followed by a more elaborated telling is not at all uncommon in literature, whether fiction or nonfiction. It is a popular devise to catch one's interest. I have beside me Les Standiford's, Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Transformed America. Chapter One describes an event of "a late Spring day in 1919"; the next 295 pages elaborate on the how and why of it.

I see no discrepancy in the Bible when this same thing is done. I don't say it was told this way in chapter one and another way in chapter two, it must be a different event or a different person writing. One can be an amplification or a summary of the other.

So God created man in his own image,in the image of God he created him;male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens-- and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground-- the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2:4-7

Or a telling can be given for different purposes or circumstances.

So I made the ark out of acacia wood and chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands.  The LORD wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments he had proclaimed to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me.  Then I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made, as the LORD commanded me, and they are there now. Deuteronomy 10: 3-5

To claim that this passage means the ark was just a simple wooden box and choose to give that claim more validity by dismissing the descriptions of the Ark of the Covenant in all other passages is cherry picking at its worse (as one author has done, claiming he has found the lost Ark). 

The LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give. These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows ; acacia wood; olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

 "Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.

"Have them make a chest of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Exodus 25: 1-9

The Deuteronomy passage is an informal speech in the first person, given by Moses before the people as a summary of all that had happened up to that point. He skims through events quickly, not boring with details. His statement of making a box doesn't mean it was a plain wooden box nor that it was made first. 

The Exodus passage is more formal and in the third person. It is a detail accounting of what happened and goes into a full description of the Ark, the tabernacle, the implements of worship and even the clothing of the priests.

Don't ignore the complete Scripture for a phrase. It is like those who claim the Hebrews crossed the Red Sea at a place where the water is only a few inches deep and sometimes even dry because of the winds. They ignore that an army in chariots drowned in those "few inches of water". They never mention the second time this type of miracle occurs when Joshua lead the people across the Jordan.

How it Was, My Brother's Women, a Life Story into Art Without Consequence: An Old friend Remembers Papa's Final Years Or How Gospels Work

I've always been a voracious reader. This is only a portion of my library. I have many more volumes downstairs and stored away. I pruned it a couple years back and gave almost a thousand volumes to the local library. It was difficult. I know I will never reread all those in my collection, I wouldn't have the time left to do it, but it is hard for me to part with a book. I lost several hundred to water damage over a decade and a half ago and still mourn them.

There are several hundred biographies included. Mostly political, historic and artistic personages. There are twenty people on whom I have multiple bios. Just to name a few by number of volumes: 

Four - Bob Dylan, Franklin Roosevelt, H. P. Lovecraft (includes one I wrote), Bill Clinton, J. Edgar Hoover, Lyndon Johnson, Elvis Presley

Five - Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hughes

Six - Harry Houdini

Eighteen - John F. Kennedy

Twenty-One - Richard M. Nixon.

There are many more studies on people I haven't read, some I don't even know about. Most of the people I just mentioned, they can't stop writing about.

The title of this post was a combination of some of the 13 biographies on Ernest Hemingway I have: How It Was, My Brother Ernest Hemingway, The Hemingway Women, Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story, Life into Art,  A Life Without Consequence, An Old Friend Remembers, Papa and The Final Years.  (How Gospels Work is not the title of a Hemingway life saga.)

But what does how or why the gospels work have to do with any of this? Only that people criticize the four gospels for not being totally alike. Three (Matthew, Mark and Luke) have a number of similarities, although they vary in numerous passages. "And now for something completely different", the gospel of John, which starts off with all this stuff about the words becoming flesh and the light in the darkness. How weird. Why couldn't these guys get their act together and write the same thing so we couldn't question the "discrepancies".

Nineteen biographies of JFK, twenty-one of Nixon, do you think each was exactly the same as the others? What would be the point of that? Wouldn't it be boring to read them? Yes, some are very similar in accounting for the events in these men's lives, but some include things other's don't. Some focus on specific occurrences in the men's lives, some on different aspects of their personalities. Look at the titles of those Hemingway tomes. Some looked at his life as it was lived, some in respect to how it influenced his writing, some on his end of life breakdown, some from the vantage point of a relative, others from the vantage point of a friend. Some with casual presentations, some scholarly. One focused on the women in his life, one was written by his last wife.

It is the same with the Gospels. Matthew's focus is Jesus as the Messiah, Mark's is on person and his teaching, Luke's to show him as human and savior, John to prove Jesus is who he says he is.  Matthew and John were Apostles, with Jesus almost from the very beginning of his ministry.  Mark was a later disciple, who learned much serving Peter and Paul. Luke was a physician, who traveled with Paul and wrote as a biographer to clarify the events. Some argue that Matthew and Luke used Mark as a reference for their own writing. So what? Luke admits he is pulling together information from various accounts. 

In truth, the Gospels are not biographies. Although cover both the birth and death of Jesus, they mostly concentrate on the three years of his ministry and the Passion with the purpose of presenting their theme. There are many things in Jesus's life left out.

As for "discrepancies", under fair examination they dissolve away, especially if we wisely apply  Occam's razor and we study each passage in context to the whole of Scripture. If you have the time, you can sit down with the four Gospels side by side and cut and paste them into a coherent narrative of Jesus's life without losing a word or fudging a sentence. Doing such an exercise clears up the so called conflicts. I chose to do the passage below because all four Gospels are included.

Christ Before Pilate

Matthew 27: 11-14

Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

  "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.

When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?" But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor. 

Mark 15: 2-4

"Are you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate.

 "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.

 The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of." 

Luke 23: 2-3

 And they began to accuse him, saying, "We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king."

So Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?" 
     

"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. 

John 18: 28-38

Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What charges are you bringing against this man?"

 "If he were not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed him over to you."

 Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own laws.”

"But we have no right to execute anyone," the Jews objected. This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.

 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?”

"Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?" 

 "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you are accused of?”

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."

 "You are a king, then!" said Pilate. 
      

Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."  

"What is truth?" Pilate asked.

Now put these four exerpts together as a single narrative:

Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What charges are you bringing against this man?"

 "If he were not a criminal," they replied," we would not have handed him over to you."

 Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor. Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own laws.”

"But we have no right to execute anyone," the Jews objected. This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.

And they began to accuse him, saying, "We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king." The chief priests accused him of many things. When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.

Then Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?" But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

 Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"

 "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you are accused of?”

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."

 "You are a king, then!" said Pilate.

Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

"What is truth?" Pilate asked.

One truth is, the Gospels work in unison, not in conflict, just as many biographies of anyone's life need not be contradictory, but focus on the myriad pieces that make up each of us.

Note: If you want to put the four Gospels together, you don't have to do all the work. It's been done for you. Find Johnston M. Cheney's The Life of Christ in Stereo. It uses a different translation of the Bible than I used for the narrative on Christ before Pilate (New International Version), but that's all right, you can do it with any acceptable version.