Luke has done more than Matthew to turn Mark’s narrative into good Greek, tho Matthew has also improved it. The agreement of Matthew and Luke in the addition of αὐτὸν in Mt xiii, 4, and Lk viii, 5, where it does not occur in their exemplar (Mk iv, 4), is sometimes held to indicate a text of Mark containing this word. The hypothesis of assimilation seems simpler; or in this case even accidental agreement would not be strange. The insertion of πάλιν in Mk iv, 1, not in Matthew and Luke, has been suggested by Weiss to be the work of an editor who saw the confused character of the geographical references since Mk iii, 7.[30]
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER
(Mk iv, 13-20; Mt xiii, 18-23; Lk viii, 11-15)
Matthew changes Mark’s Σατανᾶς to ὁ πονηρὸς. The latter is used by Matthew in this sense five times, and not at all by Mark and Luke. The change may therefore be regarded as stylistic. Luke’s addition of “lest they should believe and be saved” sounds like a Christian addition, and may be explained by the development of the Christian doctrine. Mark’s loose and unliterary addition of “and the desires for the rest of the things,” after the “cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches,” Luke very naturally corrects into “the cares and wealth and pleasures of life.” In iv, 19, Mark uses the participle εἰσπορευόμεναι in a somewhat inexact manner: “The cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for the rest of the things, coming in, choke the word.” Luke’s change may be accounted for by his desire to improve the style; which he does without discarding Mark’s misplaced participle. For he says, “And by the cares ... as they [i.e., the people who have heard the word] proceed, they are choked and rendered unfruitful.” Probably Schmiedel’s statement, in his article in the Encyclopedia Biblica, that this instance alone would prove literary relation between Mark and Luke is too strong; especially considering the fact that Luke’s participle is not precisely the same as Mark’s; but the deviation is certainly an interesting one. In the earlier part of the passage Matthew and Luke both omit Mark’s reference to the dulness of the disciples. The omission is due to their customary deference to the feeling of a later time.
A GROUP OF DETACHED SAYINGS
(Mk iv, 21-25; Mt v, 15; x, 26; vii, 2; xiii, 12; Lk viii, 16-18; vi, 38)
The divergences in wording, the fact that the verses found together in Mark are separated in both Matthew and Luke, and the additional fact of doublets in Matthew or Luke for all but one of Mark’s verses, indicate beyond a doubt that these verses stood in both Mark and Q.
THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED
(Mk iv, 30-32; Mt xiii, 31-32; Lk xiii, 18-19)
This section also stood in both Mark and Q. Luke is perhaps independent of Mark here, preferring to follow Q. Matthew seems, as often, to try to combine the two sources, showing some resemblances to Mark as against Luke, and others to Luke as against Mark. The passage is narrative only in Mark, parable only in Luke, and a combination of narrative and parable in Matthew. The anacoluthon in Mk iv, 31, is avoided by Matthew and Luke.[31]