[B-Greek] Mark 2:9-10 EUKOPOTERON
Elizabeth Kline
kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Tue Mar 23 13:26:25 EDT 2010
On Mar 23, 2010, at 9:48 AM, Elizabeth Kline wrote:
> Jesus turns this around and uses the healing as evidence for this authority. In other words, Jesus question is a riddle. The answer lies in how you understand the implications of the speech act AFIENTAI SOU hAI hAMARTIAI. If the speech act amounts to the deed, forgiving sins then it is very difficult given the theological framework of scribes.
On the other hand, for a charlatan it would be easier to say AFIENTAI SOU hAI hAMARTIA because no physical evidence was required for verification. So Jesus' riddle plays on the ambiguity of the speech act, assuming the scribes consider him a charlatan, the words AFIENTAI SOU hAI hAMARTIA did not amount to performing the deed and were easy to speak. But Jesus sets out to undermine this point of view by performing the more difficult deed (for a charlatan) the healing to prove that he was able to also perform the truly more difficult deed forgiveness of sin. This is a case of contrast in perspectives, Jesus momentarily adopts the perspective of the scribes to demonstrate that their perspective leads them to a wrong conclusion.
Elizabeth Kline
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