On 16 Mai, 16:25, Molly Brogan <[email protected]> wrote:
> It is interesting to me that when most people think of the anger of
> Jesus in the biblical stories, this is the one they come up with. Are
> there others?
>
There is, Molly, and it's a good one too. In Mark's account, just
before the the expulsion of the moneychangers from the temple (Mk
11:12-14, 20-25) (Matthew places the incident after the temple event),
Jesus curses a fig tree, because it has no fruit, causing the tree to
wither. Mark emphasises that it was not the season for fruit on the
tree.
Textual analysis people are pretty certain that this is a very old
story, with high factual likelihood. What argues for it is that it
doesn't fit well with the general picture of Jesus as presented by the
evangelists. Luke, who certainly knew Mark's gospel (at least in an
early form,) leaves it out altogether, Mark and Matthew both do a
fairly stretched link to a meaning illustrating the power of faith in
order to get it to fit in. The argument for authenticity goes that -
in the normal course of writing, the authors of Matthew and Mark might
have felt tempted to leave it out, but the tradition was too strong
and (possibly) had authentic testimony backing it.
I like the story because it's a hint - just a hint, mind you - at the
original man Jesus, behind all the stories. Tired, and hungry, and
frustrated. And now this f***ing fig tree doesn't have any fruit! So
he gets royally pissed of and curses it. Like you or I would kick a
car when it broke down. Had a bad day. Just another manic Monday.
Personally, I think the links to the power of faith explanations spoil
the story. I like the idea of a (divine) fit of pique/bad temper much
better :-)
Francis
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
""Minds Eye"" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
