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  • From: JFAlward AT aol.com
  • To: gmark AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: Parable of the Wicked Tenants
  • Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2001 17:18:22 EST


I read Richard Anderson's article about the differences between the Marcan
and Lucan accounts of the parable of the wicked tenants at
http://www.geocities.com/gospelofluke

My impression is that the interpreter in this case might be far more
ingenious than either author. I won't summarize Anderson's arguments, since
they were quite long, and there's a good chance I would inadvertently
misrepresent his position. I will, however, give my understanding of the
differences between the two accounts. (The Marcan and Lucan parables are at
the end of this post.)

I see only three very minor and easily understood differences between the
Marcan and Lucan accounts of the wicked tenants parable, and there's no
evidence that the differences represent anything of theological consequence.

(1) Information from Isaiah 5 about the wall, winepress, and watchtower is
of no use in the remainder of the parable, so Luke streamlines the parable by

omitting it. Mark probably included it for the same reason he included so
many other clear references to the Old Testament: he wanted his readers to
see that events in the life of Jesus were prefigured by events in the Old
Testament. Another reason Luke may omitted this material is that he wanted to
minimize the story's connection to the Old Testament (Isaiah 5), thereby
making the parable less confusing to gentiles.

(2) Luke makes Jesus' sacrifice greater than that of others by having him be
the only one who is killed by the tenants. (Jesus has not yet been killed,
but will be.) Mark, on the other hand, perhaps wished to make Jesus seem
more heroic: Even though Jesus had seen that men who'd gone before were
slain, he would nevertheless confront the authorities. But, the more likely
explanation is the simpler one: Mark had some of Jesus' predecessors killed,
while Luke didn't, for reasons unknown, and unimportant.

(3) At the end of the parable, Luke wanted to make doubly sure his readers
knew that "the people" listening to Jesus understand the terrible
consequences they personally will suffer if they don't rise up against the
high priests, elders, and teachers of the law. Thus, Luke's warning to the
readers is more explicit than Mark's, but it's still the same message: Jesus
was sent by God to save some of them from the ruination that comes when men
don't obey the law of the Lord.


Thus, I don't see any real difference between the Marcan and Lucan parables.
Each tell a thinly disguised story about the caretakers of the Lord's
inheritance--the house of Israel, who have let it slide into sin and ruin,
are unable to provide fruit of the vine--righteous men--to the Lord, and who
will be killed by the Lord and the land given to others. There's no reason
we must believe that either Mark or Luke had anything more complicated than
this in mind; remember, their audience--the people they were trying to
recruit into their church--consisted mainly of peasants.

I still have the as yet unsolved problem of accounting for the men beaten,
struck on the head, and even killed in Mark's parable; the rest follows
naturally from either the Old Testament or the dictates of narrative logic.
Does anybody have a clue where these men came from?


Here are the Marcan and Lucan accounts:

Mark 12:1 He then began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a

vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a
watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a
journey. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from
them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him and
sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they
struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still
another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they
beat, others they killed. 6 "He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved.
He sent him last of all, saying, `They will respect my son.' 7 "But the
tenants said to one another, `This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the
inheritance will be ours.' 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him
out of the vineyard. 9 "What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will
come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.



Luke 20:9 He went on to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a
vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10 At
harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of
the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away
empty-handed. 11 He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and
treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12 He sent still a third, and
they wounded him and threw him out. 13 "Then the owner of the vineyard said,
`What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect
him.' 14 "But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. `This
is the heir,' they said. `Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'
15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. "What then will the
owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and kill those tenants
and give the vineyard to others." When the people heard this, they said, "May
this never be!"


Regards,

Joe Alward
================
Joseph F. Alward, Ph.D.
Department of Physics
University of the Pacific
Stockton CA 95211
email: JFAlward AT aol.com
Home Page: http://members.aol.com/jalw/joseph_alward.html




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