Sources of the Synoptic GospelsPatton, Carl S. (Carl Safford)
Religion
Sources of the Synoptic Gospels
Patton, Carl S. (Carl Safford)
Bible. Gospels -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Those who argue for Luke's omission of so much Q material which (according
to their assumption) stood before him, allege as a precedent his omission
of so much Marcan material, especially of the continuous section Mk vi,
45-viii, 21. It is held by many students that the copy of Mark used by
Luke did not contain this section.[128] The writer does not see the
necessity for this assumption as there are obvious reasons for Luke's
omission of the section if it stood in his copy of Mark. It contains the
doublet of the feeding of the four thousand. Luke avoids doublets as far
as possible. It contains the story of the walking on the sea, a story
similar in many respects to that of the storm at sea which Luke had
already taken from Mark. The dispute about hand-washing and the things
that defile would have no interest for Luke or his gentile readers. The
story of the Canaanitish woman and her difficulties in securing help from
Jesus, and the methods of healing the dumb man, would offend Luke's
non-Jewish sympathies and his artistic sense. The discussion about leaven
he would omit because he had a partial parallel from another source. In
this whole section which Luke omits from Mark there are very few sayings
of Jesus, and those of a character not to please or interest Luke. The
omission of such a section, or of anything else that Luke omits from Mark,
offers no precedent for the omissions he is alleged to have made from Q.
In the preceding table of contents for Q material in Matthew (pp. 222-23),
there are twenty-nine sections for which Luke has no parallel. Five of
these, the omitted beatitudes, have already been discussed. Of the
remaining twenty-four there are a few which, it may be admitted, Luke
might not have cared to include, even if they were in his Q. Such are the
sections on oaths, on fasting, on the blamelessness of the priests, and on
the Pharisee instructed in the kingdom of God--all of a strongly Jewish
character. To these may be added four other brief sections, all from
Matthew's discourse against the Pharisees; especially, the reference to
phylacteries, which would have no meaning for Luke's readers, and the
injunction not to be called "Rabbi." The saying, "Give not that which is
holy unto the dogs [heathen] nor cast your pearls before swine
[unbelievers]," he would hardly have taken if it had stood in his source.
But there are other sections which would particularly have delighted him,
and which it is almost inconceivable that he should have read and omitted.
Such are the sections on alms-giving (a favorite subject with Luke; see Lk
xi, 41; xii, 33); on prayer (a subject which he mentions eighteen times
against Matthew's ten, outside of this passage); the three little parables
of the Treasure Hid in the Field, the Pearls, and the Fish-Net, and the
beautiful saying, so fitted to Luke's universalistic purpose, "Come unto
me."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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