The story you’re about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles (Mt 10:17-18).

22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue (Jn 9:22).

One overlooked issue in Gospel harmonization is whether the Evangelists sometimes changed names and circumstances (or anonymize) to protect the identity of the innocent. Given that Christians were persecuted by both Roman and Jewish authorities, when a Gospel writer recorded an incident involving named individuals, he’d have to consider whether he was painting a bull’s-eye on their back. Depending on when the Gospels were written, some participants might have died by then, but others would still be alive, and liable to persecution.

The disciples are named. As official representatives of Jesus, they can’t evade public scrutiny or persecution. But what about private individuals caught in the crossfire? It’s possible that Gospel writers shielded some still living participants by altering details to make it harder for hostile authorities to finger them. As a rule, I don’t have the same right to expose others to danger that I have to put myself in harm’s way. I must make more allowance for their safety than my own.