Compare and Contrast: Mark vs Matt

Jesus' entry into Jerusalem:

Jesus' entry into Jerusalem is quite different in detail between the two stories, however the overarching theme within them is almost exactly the same. In Mark, Jesus enters Jerusalem, takes his colt, and heads straight to the temple with praise along the way by the people in the streets. This is the same as in Matt, however Matt adds a few interesting details, along with a wholly different section about how Jesus was received at the temple.
Matt's account makes a specific note on how Jesus asking for the colt fulfills a once revealed prophecy about the savior, making sure that the reader knows that Jesus is the real deal. To emphasize this point further, he adds an encounter in which one town's person asks another who the man on the colt is. The person replies enthusiastically that it is "the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee." Just driving home the point that Jesus is in some way more significant than anyone really knows yet. Then, he adds another piece to the story which Mark did not have, and that is the arrival at the Temple. In this scenario, Matt portrays Jesus as he cleanses the temple and then performs miracles, once again, seeming to focus on Jesus as a magic man or prophet than just Jesus as a man the way Mark portrays him. However, the theme of humility remains the same in both stories. By having Jesus enter on a colt, it lowers him to human status, outlining his ever important humanity. Both stories do this, however Matt likes to run with his other more divine side a bit more than Mark did.

The Crucifixion:

These two stories are almost identical, with very little variance between them. Both have Simon carrying the cross, Jesus enduring the full extent of suffering by refusing the wine. Also the charge against him reads simply King of the Jews, something used by the writers to highlight the non-criminal aspect of his crime. He then, in order to create more contrast, is placed between two robbers. After being berated by the town's folk and the guards and the two robbers, Jesus also does not come down or is not delivered from the cross. This is to illustrate that Jesus is a sacrifice. It is God's will that this happen in order to atone for man's sins, not an act of man which God is not concerned with. Both stories have the same details (minus the myrrh/gall and wine) and have the same overarching point that Jesus was a sacrifice dying for man, bearing the full brunt of suffering in the most miserable manner imaginable at that time, all at God's will.