Q
Luke 6:36 ~ Mt 5:45
Being Full of Pity Like Your Father

This is from the end of the second part of the Lukan Sermon.

IQP. Be full of pity, just as your Father . . . is full of pity.

• Mt 5:45 (ASV): that ye may be sons of your Father who is in Heaven, for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.
• Lk 6:35b (ASV): . . . for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil. [36] Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Comment. The indeas are reversed in the Mt/Lk passages. The explicit Lk 6:36 (adopted by IQP as representing both) has no real counterpart in Mt ("sons of your Father" does not specify the ground of the resemblance), and the true parallel is the concept of undifferentiated bounty, that of nature in Mt and of God in Lk. God is frequently identified with nature in the OT, and either of the pair might have been the precedent for the other. There is no strong indication of directionality.

Authenticity. This special interpretation of the mechanics of alms giving and analogous actions goes beyond anything that may be inferred about Jesus's thought in Mark (though the beginnings of opposition to wealth as such may be detected in the late layers of Mark). It thus probably belongs to a later development, and was not a saying of the Historical Jesus.

12 May 2011 / Contact The Project / Exit to Alpha Page