Kata Markon

["L. J. Swain" <larry.swain AT wmich.edu>]

JFAlward AT aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 3/14/01 10:21:56 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> larry.swain AT wmich.edu writes:
>
>
>
>> how do we connect the one scene of the young man running away nude
>> with a
>> scene in which he is at the
>> tomb BEFORE everyone else and giving instructions of such a nature
>> that
>> everyone, women and apostles, do as he says?  Perhaps I'm just
>> obtuse.........
>>
>> Larry Swain
>
>
> I don't think so. The young man at the tomb is angelic, while the one
> at the
> arrest scene is a shamed coward; the two couldn't be connected.
>
> I still say Mark symbolized Jerusalem's cowardice and shame with the
> flight
> of the naked man, and that this man has nothing to do with the one at
> the
> tomb.  As for the man at the tomb, Mark may have wished for us to
> believe he
> was an angel, or perhaps Jesus' ghost, but that's pure speculation and
> is
> without Old Testament antecedent as far as I know.
>
>
> Joe Alward
>

Sorry for the delayed response, things have gotten away from me at the
moment.  Just to remind everyone of the thread, I've included more
message than is perhaps necessary.

On the other hand, Joe, there are those such as Karel and those he has
cited who have connected the two scenes based in large part on the fact
that in only those two places does Mark use these words.  What I'm
wondering is besides the incidence of the vocabulary, what else and how
else can we connect these scenes as anything other than a sharp contrast
of two different people.  I just haven't seen it, but perhaps I'm
obtuse.  But those who have suggested such a connection are certainly
fly by night scholars in the field, so I don't find it easy to simply
dismiss the suggestion even if I don't see it.

Now what I'm wanting from you is something in the narrative that
connects the young man to Jerusalem or the Jerusalem establishment.
Quite apart from possible echoes or allusions to Hebrew Bible passages
which are far from certain, what is there in the narrative in your view
that compels you to read the young man as a reference to Jerusalem?  You
see, I don't see this either.

Larry Swain