Kata Markon

[JFAlward AT aol.com]

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