Luke 23:43 (Focus)
nick lunn
nick_lunn at wycliffe.org
Mon Oct 7 16:32:50 EDT 2002
AMHN LEGW SOI SHMERON MET'EMOU ESH EN TW PARADEISW
'Truly I tell you today you shall be with me in paradise'.
There are two ways to interpret this verse according to its information
structure. We can display these two ways simply as follows:
(1) First option:-
AMHN LEGW SOI SHMERON MET'EMOU ESH EN TW PARADEISW
Speech introduction When What Where
(2) Second option:-
AMHN LEGW SOI SHMERON MET'EMOU ESH EN TW PARADEISW
Speech introduction What Where
To help us decide which of these is that which is most probably intended we
need to look at the thief's original question in v.42:-
IESOU, MNHSQHTI HOTAN ELQHS EIS THN BASILEIAN SOU
'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom' |
Here we see that the structure is:-
[Vocative] What When
The vocative is an extra-clausal constituent and need not concern us here.
The basic utterence consists of a main clause, plus a circumstantial
clause. We note that the main clause contains both 'actants', that is,
- the agent (you = Jesus, encoded by means of the verbal suffix)
- the patient (me = thief).
'Remember me', says the thief. This is the thrust of his communication to
Christ.
We need to ask ourselves which part of Christ's response corresponds to
the request of the thief. Clearly it is MET'EMOU ESH, 'you shall be with
me'. Here we have again both actants present - 'YOU shall be with ME'.
Does this not suggest that this is the thrust of Christ's response? The
thief says, 'Remember me', and Jesus answers 'You shall be with me',
implying that he would indeed be remembered. As the thief's request is
clause-initial, being the main assertion of his utterance, is it not
reasonable to suppose that Christ's response corresponding to this would
also be clause-initial? In both cases the main assertion comes first,
followed by a less prominent circumstantial clause/phrase. If this is a
correct analysis, this would give us:
'Remember me when you come into your kingdom'
'You shall be with me in paradise'
What When/Where (Circumstance)
The conclusion of this analysis is that 'today', SHMERON, forms no part of
the main proposition. Surely the greater thing is to be WITH CHRIST, the
day when this happens is peripheral in comparison.
I am reminded of 1 Thess 4:15-18:-
15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are
alive, who are left until the COMING of the Lord, will by no means
precede those who have died.
16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's
call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven,
and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the
clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so WE WILL
BE WITH the Lord forever.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Here is the Lord coming at the end of the age following which we will
'be with' him forever. Paul tells us to comfort one another with these
words, that is, with the fact that we shall always be with the Lord.
If the Spirit of the Lord inspiring Paul led him to offer present
comfort by means of a post-parousia event, would the same Lord offer a
different comfort to the dying thief? Just a thought.
Nick Lunn
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