6. A Review of the Third Division of Gospel Accounts and the Determination of the Sequence of Events for the Third Part of the Gospel History

We enter the final section of Gospel accounts, speaking of the final events of the Lord Saviour’s activity according to the divine economy of the Incarnation during His stay in Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan in His last half-year.

Here we encounter three groups of accounts and events: the first defines the Lord’s stay at the Feast of Tabernacles and the Dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem; the second—His stay beyond the Jordan; the third—the Lord’s last days on earth.

The accounts themselves indicate such a distribution.

The evangelists Matthew and Mark, having said that the Lord went from Galilee to Jerusalem by the region beyond the Jordan, then tell of certain events which took place before the Lord’s movement to Jerusalem, as has already been indicated; after them they also speak of the Lord’s movement to Jerusalem to His Passion. To them, having finished the account of the ninth journey of the Lord through Galilee, the evangelist Luke also joins, speaking in agreement with them both of the events before the Lord’s movement to Jerusalem, and His movement itself, and the Passion and death which followed.

Thus it is evident that the Lord’s movement to Jerusalem to His Passion was preceded by a series of events. But where and when did they take place?

Reading the evangelists Matthew and Mark, one might think that these events were accomplished by the Lord in passing during His transition from Galilee to Judea by the region beyond the Jordan. But, taking into account also the accounts of the evangelist John, we must think about this somewhat differently. The holy John says that beyond the Jordan the Lord had passed from Jerusalem after the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple, because of the extreme irritation of the Jews against Him, and here He taught and healed, always surrounded by a multitude of people who revered Him from the time of the testimony about Him by John the Baptist. Then, having stayed here for a certain time, He directed Himself toward Jerusalem, on account of the death of Lazarus. This movement to Jerusalem was the same as the movement of the first three evangelists, namely: the movement to His Passion and death. Since in these evangelists the account of events preceding the Lord’s movement to Jerusalem is closely connected with His movement to Jerusalem, we must conclude that they were accomplished by the Lord beyond the Jordan, in the interval of time from His passing beyond the Jordan from Jerusalem after the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple to His movement toward Jerusalem on account of the death of Lazarus, and not in passing during His transition from Galilee to Judea, and serve as an indication of the truth of what the evangelist John said in fact, that the Lord beyond the Jordan taught and healed.

We have thus two groups of events: the events beyond the Jordan and the events of the Lord’s last days on earth; for the Lord’s movement to Jerusalem was the beginning of these days. What took place before the Lord’s passing from Jerusalem beyond the Jordan will constitute the third group—namely the events at the Feast of the Dedication and Tabernacles.

It remains for us only to apply a beginning to all this. The evangelist John provides the beginning with the words of the brothers to the Lord. The Lord answered them: I will not go with you. And then He went alone and in secret. To this it is fitting to apply the words of the evangelists Matthew and Mark: the Lord went into Judea by the region beyond the Jordan. And He passed through this region, stopping nowhere, until He reached Jerusalem, and appeared in the temple in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Thus are all the accounts of the final section of Gospel accounts distributed.