A. There are actually quite a few big differences between the Jesus portrayed in the book of Mark and the Jesus portrayed in the book of John. When Jesus is arrested, Mark shows Jesus as a man in distress. He’s crying and praying to God and getting mad at his disciples for falling asleep while he’s doing it. Once the soldiers arrive at the garden to arrest Jesus, Judas is with them and he says “the man I kiss is the one you’re looking for”. In John, Jesus is seen as much more relaxed and at peace with everything that is about to happen. John mentions over and over again that Judas is the one who betrayed him because it isn’t really a clear part of this version. The soldiers who arrest Jesus have to ask a couple of time which guy is Jesus.

Another situation in which these gospels are different is when Jesus is walking to his death. In Mark, someone walking by is kind of recruited to carry Jesus’s cross for him. In John, Jesus has to carry the cross up the hill himself.

When Jesus is on the cross, Mark shows him as being in distress. He keeps crying out to God while the people on either side of him are mocking him. Just before he dies, he lets out a loud cry. In John, Jesus gets to see his mother and Peter before he dies. He seems to be more in control of the situation and instead of screaming, he simply says “it is finished” and dies.

Finally, Jesus rises from the dead. In John, Mary Magdalene seems kind of stressed because she doesn’t know where Jesus has gone. Even after the angels have explained it to her, she’s still upset. Some disciples also show up at the tomb so they can see what’s happening with their own eyes. They see the empty tomb and the wrappings on the ground and they believe. In Mark, however, Mary Magdalene isn’t really given a chance to be upset. Once she reaches the tomb, there is already an angel there explaining the situation – that Jesus has risen from the dead just like he said he would to fulfill the prophecy.

B. John presents Jesus in more of a powerful light than Mark does. John’s Jesus seems to be in control of every situation. He accepts everything that comes at him with grace. He doesn’t really have human emotions, as compared to Mark’s Jesus, who does. He cries out to God several times in this book, asking not to die. He is presented as more of a human rather than a Godly figure, kind of like a more relatable Jesus.