kratew / Mark 3,21
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Jan 3 20:21:39 EST 2000
At 7:48 PM +0100 1/3/00, storch at storchsites.de wrote:
>Hello everybody,
>
>I am pondering about Mark 3,21. Especially the word "kratew" (krathsai) it
>is normally translated in a way that indicates, that Jesus? relatives tried
>to violantely take him back home. (Some german translations are very
>explicit in this point).
>Is it also possible to translate, that they tried to hold him back from his
>ministry? According to the STRONG?s Concordance this is a possible
>translation of kratew, but I didn?t find any translation that translates
>this way.
>In this context it seems to make more sense for his relatives could not lay
>hold on Jesus, for they could not enter the house.
I would agree that Charles Stevens that we can't say anything about the
INTENT of the family; yet in the context of this extraordinary Marcan
"triptych" (my own preferred descriptive term for the enclosure of one
pericope between two closely-related "framing" pericopae so that the
framing pericopae interpret the centerpiece and the centerpiece throws
light back upon frame) the impact of their action would effectively be to
"hinder" Jesus' activity. Note that 3:21: his family come to seize Jesus
because he is apparently out of his mind; 22-30 Scribes from Jerusalem
assert even worse: Jesus is subject to Satanic power, to which Jesus
replies with riddles about power disrupted and about seizing control over
"the strong one"; 31-35 news reaches Jesus that his family are seeking him,
to which he replies that his real family are those in his company or those
who do the will of God.
Without endeavoring to assert an interpretation as such, I would just note
that Mark's gospel lacks the sort of semi-sympathetic stance of Jesus
towards his family that other gospels suggest; in fact, Mark's gospel is
one of numerous stark contrasts and harsh (at least superficially)
judgments. I think that the use of the word KRATEW in 3:21 signals a theme
of this whole sequence 3:21-35.
Here's what I think hits the nail on the head in L&N for the meaning of
KRATEW in Mk 3:21:
37.110 KRATEW; EPILAMBANOMAI; EPIBALLW TAS CEIRAS/ (EPI) (an idiom,
literally 'to lay hands on'); EKTEINW TAS CEIRAS EPI÷ (an idiom, literally
'to stretch out hands upon'); PIAZW : to take a person into custody for
alleged illegal activity - 'to seize, to arrest.'
KRATEW; hO GAR hHRWDHS KRATHSAS TON IWANNHN EDHSEN AUTON KAI EN FULAKHi
APEQETO 'for Herod had ordered John's arrest, and had him tied up and put
in prison' Mt 14:3.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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