Compare Two Pericopes From Mark and Matthew Term Paper

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Pericopes From Mark and Matthew on Divorce

A pericope, hermeneutically speaking is defined as a selection or extract from a biblical book such as one of the gospels. It is especially used to reference a selection from the Bible, appointed to be read in the churches or used as a text for a sermon used to teach or instruct upon a specific rather than a general matter of Church doctrine and comes from the Greek meaning a "cutting" or a textual extract. ("Pericope," The American Heritage Dictionary, 2004) The synoptic Gospels of Mark and Matthew show many parallels in their relating of the events of Jesus' life in their selection of such textual extracts. However the order of these two gospels is slightly different in terms of the way they set and vary the different blocks of Jesus' teachings. ("Introduction to the New Testament," p. iii)

The overall chronology of Jesus' life is the same in the sense that Jesus has a ministry, dies upon the cross, and is then resurrected. But Mark contains omissions, like the nativity of Jesus. Additionally, the first book of Matthew's stress upon Jesus' lineage has caused scholars to call it the most 'Jewish' of the gospels, or at least the one that appeals the most to past Israeli religious authority and to the heritage of Jesus. ("The Gospel According to Matthew," p.1) Mark, widely considered the oldest gospel, shows a Jesus that stands alone and in almost complete rebellious opposition to the authorities of his day. ("The Gospel According to Mark, p.47)

One of the most noteworthy distinctions between Matthew and Mark's use of pericopes, is the younger text of Matthew's inclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, through which it frames many of Jesus' most famous and notable teachings, particularly those regarding humility.

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The Sermon on the Mount, found in Chapter Five of Matthew, thus does not include all new material, in contrast to Mark. It also reframes older material present in Mark but in different authoritative terms. It appeals to Jewish authorities and teachings of the past, as well as challenges them, in contrast to the structure, framework, and setting of Mark.

For instance, regarding the issue of a man's right to divorce, his wife, a right granted in the Torah, in Mark 10:1, Jesus is shown first simply speaking to some crowds near the River Jordan about some undefined issues. Then, some Pharisees barge in, come and ask Jesus specifically, Mark tells us, "to test him" if it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife. (10:2, p.62) In contrast, the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew takes place on a mountaintop. Jesus speaks to a large gathering of loyal followers. Jesus speaks spontaneously, without a prompt, on the subject of divorce, not as the result of a cunning challenge from the competing authorities of the law-conscious Pharisees.

Mark's Jesus also says, in apparent contrast to the Pharisees' teachings, that Moses only allowed a man to "write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce" his wife, because "of your hardness of heart" thus "he wrote this commandment for you." (10:5-7, p.62) Matthew makes no reference to the hardness of hearts of the men who seek divorce, or to the Pharisees. Instead, the Jesus of Matthew's sermon says, "Do not think that….....

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