Which is more accurate, Mark or Luke?

April 1, 2007 -- Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

By Fr. Michael Stubbs

	Fr. Mike Stubbs

When Henry David Thoreau was lying on his deathbed, someone gently suggested to him that he ought to make his peace with God. He replied that he was not aware that they had ever quarreled.

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At times, a person's last words will fittingly sum up their life. That appears to have happened for Thoreau. His last words make a point, while at the same time display considerable wit. They reflect his entire life. We can also expect the same for Jesus Christ. His dying words should speak of his life. But, what were they?

This Sunday, we hear the account of Jesus' death as presented in Luke's gospel, 22:14-23:56. While Luke follows in many ways the general outline of the passion narrative in Mark's gospel, Luke also leaves his own characteristic stamp on his account.

For example, in Luke's passion narrative, Jesus emerges as a heroic figure. Mark emphasizes the suffering humanity of Jesus. In contrast, Luke's Jesus is superhuman. He shows courage in his sufferings. He brings forgiveness to others, even while he is dying. He calmly accepts his fate.

This last point comes out most clearly in the words we hear on the lips of the dying Jesus in Luke's gospel, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." (Luke 23:46)

At first glance, these words appear to contrast strongly with the last words of Jesus in Mark's gospel, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34) Mark's words strike a note of pained anguish, while Luke's words are filled with a peaceful resignation.

The contrast between the two dying statements in Mark and Luke might prevent us from noticing the significant common element that they share. They are both quotations from the Psalms. They are both utterances of prayer. In Mark, the quotation comes from Ps. 22:2. In Luke, the quotation comes from Ps. 31:6.

We can expect a devout Jew who is dying to pray. The Psalms would serve as the natural source for that prayer. The words that Mark and Luke attribute to the dying Jesus make perfect sense in light of that.

At the same time, we might ask, which is more accurate, Mark or Luke? Did one record the last words of Jesus, while the other one write down something Jesus said an hour earlier?

At such a moment, we should remember that neither Mark nor Luke intended to write a history as we know it, nor were they newspaper reporters. They, above all, wished to convey the theological truths lived out through the person of Jesus Christ. Those truths were mediated through his life. And death.

Both Mark and Luke reflect a tradition that, as Jesus hung dying on the cross, he prayed the Psalms. That, in itself, shows him to be a man of prayer. In Luke, when Jesus is praying, he precedes the words from the Psalm with the word, "Father." That term of endearment for God reveals Jesus' closeness to God, the special relationship that Jesus enjoys with God. That is a theme which has pervaded the entire gospel of Luke. In this final prayer of Jesus, it sums up his life. "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Jesus, our spiritual hero, gives us an example of how we should end our lives, with peaceful trust in God's will.

(Fr. Stubbs, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, has a master's degree in theology from Harvard.)