The Narrative of The Crucifixion

Extract

In a recent article in New Testament Studies (vol. IV, Jan. 1958, PP. 115–19) ProfessorJ. Jeremias maintained that when Luke deviates from Mark's order in the succession of narratives, it is a clear sign that he is following his special source. In the course of his argument he examines the narratives of the Crucifixion in Mark xv. 20b–41 and Luke xxiii. 26–49 and maintains that, if Luke had followed Mark, he would have thrown the material into complete confusion. He supports this claim by numbering the fourteen separate details in Mark's account and the seventeen in Luke and by setting against the Lukan series the corresponding numbers of the Markan series. Thus arranged the Markan series of the details in question is I, 6, 2, 6, 4, 8, 10, 7, 5, 9, 12, II, 13, 14. He is clearly justified in saying that in this rearrangement the Markan narrative would be completely ‘muddled up’ (voliständig durcheinandergewirbelt). It is reasonable to conclude that Luke is not using Mark, but his special source.