The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are often referred to as the synoptic gospels because they agree moderately on the life and mission of Jesus - thus 'synoptic', seeing with the same eye. Many of the same stories are in same sequence and use exactly the same words in the original Greek language. Mark's Gospel was the first gospel, written anonymously around 70 CE, with
Matthew following ten to twenty years later, then
Luke. The authors of
Matthew and
Luke are known to have copied everything they knew about the life and mission of Jesus from
Mark, hence the close similarity in the wording. But
Matthew and
Luke are also based in part on sayings material taken from the hypothetical 'Q' document, a reason for further similarities between the last two synoptic gospels.
In one way, the words correspond more closely among the three synoptic gospels than do the narratives. This is because the authors of
Matthew and
Luke wanted to 'improve' the original stories they found in
Mark. A too-simple story would be elaborated or an apparent geographical error corrected. An example is in the last words of Jesus on the cross. In Mark's Gospel, Christ's very last words on the cross were, "
My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? [taken from Psalm 22:1]" This was the cry of a very human Jesus, and the author of
Luke (and the author of
John) felt they were inappropriate for the dying Saviour, changing them to the more noble
"Father into thy hands I commend my spirit." The author of
Matthew used the last words from
Mark, perhaps recognising the words as a verse from a psalm.
The gospels are at pains to exonerate the Romans for the crucifixion of Jesus, making it very apparent that the fault lay entirely with the Jews, and not with Pontius Pilate or any Roman. The Christian evangelists knew they had to deal with the Romans, but they would suffer little by insulting the Jews.
The gospels are not just biographies, nor are they history. They are scriptures. As such they had to win converts and present Jesus and the new religion in a favourable light to persuade the Romans that Christianity would be no threat to the Romans peace.