John vs Mark in the narrative of Andrew’s calling

Video: “12 Contradictions in the Bible” by Holy Koolaid
The texts in question are Mark 1:14-20 and John 1:35-42.

Below are Mr. Koolaid’s statements (in bold) followed by my response.

“Now, there’s not much information in the Gospels on Jesus between His childhood and His ministry, but as an adult before He started preaching and performing miracles, he needed to build a following.”

That’s really not an unfair take for an atheist but it does need to be developed further. He didn’t need to build a following so much as He needed to train and prepare men for His ministry that would follow after His atoning death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven. The 12 disciples that He specifically called to Himself would go on to become Apostles and fulfill that ministry (with the exception of Judas, of course).

“So at the start of his ministry each Gospel has Jesus gathering disciples, starting with Andrew.”

Not quite. Jesus started calling His 12 disciples by first calling Philip. More on that below.

“In John chapter one a local preacher John the Baptist is chilling with this guy named Andrew.”

Could someone please point out to me which scripture states that “John the Baptist was chilling with this guy named Andrew?” I’d appreciate it. I’m pretty sure John was rather quite busy baptizing people and dealing with the religious folks, such as the priests and Levites (John 1:19), and the Pharisees (1:24) who challenged his authority to do what he was sent to do, which is to prepare men and women for the immanent ministry of the Messiah. Between those times he was busy preaching a necessity for folks to be prepared to meet Jesus the Messiah when He began His ministry.

“John looks up, sees Jesus, and shouts out “Behold the Lamb of God.” On hearing this, Andrew leaves John and becomes Jesus’ disciple.”

John 1:37-39 states that Andrew followed Jesus around after he heard John the Baptist point to the Messiah’s presence as He was walking near where John the Baptist was working (1:35). Andrew was not following Jesus in the sense of being a disciple (yet) but in the sense of walking in His vicinity (“Jesus turned and saw them following… One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him was Andrew…” verses 38 and 40).

In fact, the first disciple chronologically and officially called was Philip in verse 1:43 of John’s gospel when Jesus specifically called him by telling him to “follow Me.” This occurred the day after two disciples of John the Baptist, one of whom was Andrew, started following Jesus around. Jesus had not yet officially called Andrew to follow Him.

“But in Mark chapter one John isn’t even there and Jesus calls Andrew directly.”

Since Mark doesn’t record every single thing Jesus said or did in His three year ministry it should be pretty obvious there are gaps of time in his Gospel (and the same for the other three Gospels as well). There is an obvious gap of time between Jesus’ baptism (in vv. 9-11) and His time in the wilderness (vv. 12-13), and when Jesus specifically calls Andrew and Peter to “follow Me’ (vv. 16-18). More on this below.

“In the first account, John the Baptist is still a free man but Mark specifically says that Jesus called Andrew after John the Baptist had been arrested by Herod and was about to be executed. In John’s account this happened near the Jordan River the day before Jesus went north to Galilee but in Mark’s account Jesus calls Andrew on the shores of Galilee and after Andrew decides to follow Jesus. In John’s account he leaves to find his brother Simon Peter to tell him about Jesus but in Mark’s account Andrew’s literally sitting in a boat with his brother Simon Peter and Jesus calls both of them simultaneously.”

I can understand that knowing the chronology of New Testament history is difficult for most people, especially atheists, who don’t know where to find the necessary tools to help them along or even where to look for them. The best way to understand the New Testament chronology is to pick up a chronological New Testament Bible, such as One Perfect Life (John MacArthur) or The Four In One Gospel of Jesus (Nikola Dimitrov).

Jesus called His next four disciples (after He had already called Philip) after He was rejected in Nazareth some time later. While MacArthur and Dimitrov don’t follow the same exact chronologies, they both place the calling of Andrew (along with Peter, James, and John) in or near Capernaum at the Sea of Galilee after Jesus left Nazareth. This happened at least a few weeks, and possibly more, after Andrew started following Jesus around as detailed in John 1:35-42.

Also, please pay close attention to the first three verses in this particular section in John’s Gospel: “Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus” (vv. 35-37). The two disciples, of which Andrew was one of them, are specifically mentioned as being disciples of John the Baptist, not Jesus.

Since the so-called contradiction is specifically about Andrew’s calling to be a special disciple of Jesus, and not the death of John the Baptist, I’ll ignore the comments about John. I always prefer to settle one issue at a time and the way to do that is to avoid tangential arguments that distract from the issue at hand. But if you would like to see how the particular chronology of John the Baptist transpired, feel free to consult one or both of the chronological New Testament books noted above. And there are plenty more if you want to get a different version.

For those of you who are interested in a general chronology from Jesus’ baptism to Andrew’s calling:
Jesus is baptized – Matt 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22
Jesus is tempted in the wilderness – Matt 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13
John the Baptist testifies about Jesus – John 1:15-34
Andrew and Peter meet Jesus – John 1:35-42
Jesus is preparing to leave for Galilee – John 1:43
Philip is called to follow Him and Nathanael meets Jesus – John 1:43-51
Jesus at the wedding in Cana of Galilee – John 2:1-12
Jesus’ first cleansing of the Temple during Passover – John 2:13-25
Jesus meets with Nicodemus – John 3:1-21
Jesus’ ministry supersedes John the Baptist’s – John 3:22-36
John the Baptist put in custody – Matthew 4:12; Mark 1:14
Jesus meets the Samaritan woman near Sychar – John 4:1-30
Jesus evangelizes the village of Sychar – John 4:39-42
Jesus heals a nobleman’s son – John 4:43-54
Jesus’ rejection at Nazareth – Luke 4:14-30
Jesus calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow Him – Matt 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20