Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Thursday, February 7, 2013 Read – Luke 8:1-39 Luke begins with a summary story that wraps together the four episodes that have preceded the story he now tells. Verses 1-3 are unique to Luke. At the end of his gospel Mark will tell us that there actually were women who followed Jesus from Galilee – but they play no role in Mark’s story (Mark 15:40-41). That episode of Mark may have been brought forward here by Luke but at least its placement so early in the gospel is unique. The Twelve are joined by a cadre of women – Mary Magdalene who will be the first witness of the resurrection – especially in John’s telling of the story (John 20:1-18) – and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward, and Susanna are named. Others are mentioned. It is significant that Luke includes these women at this point – the “Sermon on the Plain” demands it. Outsiders are made insiders. Just as easily as Luke had laid aside Mark’s narrative, he now picks it up again. As we may recall, Mark had just told about the calling of the Twelve. In Mark’s sequence Mark now goes on to discuss the deadly conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders – they think that Jesus is controlled by Satan. And in the process of discussing these religious leaders and their blasphemy which will lead to un-forgiveness – Mark brings Jesus’ own family into the conflict. According to Mark, Jesus’ own family think he is crazy and they come to take Jesus home (Mark 3:21). Apparently this was just too much for Luke – he omits this part of Mark and moves the story about the religious leaders and the unforgivable sin to a place much later in his gospel and much safer for Jesus’ family. Perhaps it was this very episode in Mark that motivated Luke to move to his other main source of “Q” – if you are going to interrupt the sequence what better place than a place like this? Luke also moves the story of Jesus defining his true family to a later and safer point in his story (Luke 8:19-21). It is only after having removed these parts of Mark that Luke picks up Mark’s story again with the parable of the sower. Incidentally, we should notice that Matthew also simply removes this controversial story of Jesus’ family thinking he is crazy from his gospel. So, Luke has company in being uncomfortable with Mark’s strange story – so does the whole church after Mark – there have been countless attempts to try make Mark say something else than he really says. None are successful – we are much better off just letting Mark speak! Parables played a significant role in Mark’s gospel – they were like riddles that hid more than they revealed. While Luke keeps the semblance of that usage of Mark at this point in his story, we will discover that Luke uses parables in a much different way. Later in the story we will meet the wonderful and clear parables of the Good Samaritan, the coin, the lost sheep, and the Waiting Father. All of those parables are unlike anything we hear in Mark! But for now Luke is content to relay Mark’s parable of the sower along with Mark’s purpose for it and its explanation. But Luke has significantly shortened all of it taking much of the punch out of Mark’s usage. Luke dutifully tells the parable of the lamp under a jar without changing Mark. Then, Luke drops out one of Mark’s other seed parables (Mark 4:26-29) and moves another to a later point in the story (Mark 4:30-32 = Luke 13:18-19). Luke also omits Mark’s closing comments about the parables (Mark 4:33-34) and tucks the story of Jesus true family into the sequence at the end. In the process of what he has done Luke has significantly and successfully modified Mark’s story to fit his own understanding of parables. What Mark had to share was important enough to include – but not in the same way. Following Mark and with very little modification, Luke relates the story of Jesus and his disciples crossing the sea in a boat. Jesus is asleep and a storm rises which causes frightened fishermen to wake Jesus. Did they wake him because they thought he might help them? Not necessarily – they are surprised when Jesus stills the storm. This story has functioned well for Mark to invite the question of just who Jesus is. That question is not lurking in Luke’s gospel story – we know that he is the expected Messiah longed for by Isaiah. The identity of Jesus is not in question in Luke as it is in Mark. Thus the story has less importance for Luke – but it is a story worth keeping. On the other side of the sea Jesus heals a demoniac. This story likely was more interesting for Luke since the place is obviously gentile territory and outsiders are at the forefront of the story. Luke simply takes Mark’s story over with little modification. It is one more piece of evidence about Jesus’ care for the poor and the outcast.