{"id":61672,"date":"2019-04-15T05:44:17","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T09:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=61672"},"modified":"2019-04-14T14:08:28","modified_gmt":"2019-04-14T18:08:28","slug":"the-owner-of-the-donkey-and-the-need-of-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2019\/04\/the-owner-of-the-donkey-and-the-need-of-the-lord.html","title":{"rendered":"The Owner of the Donkey and the Need of the Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There is a double entendre in Mark 11:3 and its parallels, in phrasing that remains fairly consistent across the Gospels, perhaps for that reason. The Greek text says \u00a0\u1f49 \u03ba\u03cd\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03c7\u03c1\u03b5\u03af\u03b1\u03bd \u1f14\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9, which is usually translated in one of the two possible ways that it could be, \u201cThe Lord has need of it.\u201d But the reader of the text in English may miss the other possible meaning of the Greek text. The word that means \u201cof it\u201d comes after the word \u201clord\u201d and the word \u03ba\u03cd\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2, usually translated with \u201clord\u201d in this passage, also indicates an \u201cowner\u201d (see for instance Matthew 20:8<\/a> as one example of this within the New Testament). The result is that the same phrase could equally mean \u201cthe lord has need of it\u201d and \u201cits owner has need.\u201d This double meaning is clearly intentional. It remains a very\u00a0interesting question what (if anything) this indicates about the scenario, whether on the level of the Gospel narratives or in a possible historical event lying behind the texts. Did Jesus make prior arrangements and have a donkey ready for his use, with a prearranged signal to those charged with tending it? Did Jesus supernaturally know about and gain possession of a donkey that belonged to some random person living in this area? Or did Jesus use a pun to get his disciples to, in effect, steal a donkey for him, instructing them to say something if questioned that would make it sound as though the owner of the donkey had sent them, when in fact their Lord was not the donkey\u2019s owner?<\/p>\n

Craig Evans\u2019 commentary<\/a> shows awareness of these possibilities and discusses them and even others.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your impression of this text? Did you read it on Sunday? Did you read it in Greek even if the congregation you were in was reading it in English? Did you notice the double entendre, and assuming you agree that the Gospel authors intended for there to be two ways of understanding the text, what is your impression of what Jesus and\/or the Gospel authors intended?<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a double entendre in Mark 11:3 and its parallels, in phrasing that remains fairly consistent across the Gospels, perhaps for that reason. The Greek text says \u00a0\u1f49 \u03ba\u03cd\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03c7\u03c1\u03b5\u03af\u03b1\u03bd \u1f14\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9, which is usually translated in one of the two possible ways that it could be, \u201cThe Lord has need of it.\u201d But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":36596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,33],"tags":[2798,2817,6702,7103,16015],"class_list":["post-61672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gospel-of-luke","category-gospel-of-mark","tag-donkey","tag-double-entendre","tag-lord","tag-master","tag-owner"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Owner of the Donkey and the Need of the Lord<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There is a double entendre in Mark 11:3 and its parallels, in phrasing that remains fairly consistent across the Gospels, perhaps for that reason. 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