Meet the Storytellers Part 3

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What is a synopsis? Well “opsis” comes from the Greek root for seeing.
And “syn” means together.
It is very illuminating to take these three documents and put their
material into side-by-side columns. One of the things that we see
immediately is that there are a lot of stories and incidents from the life
of Jesus that are replicated in the three first gospels. 155 of the verses
in Mark are not repeated in Matthew or Luke. And yet, much of what he
does write is richer in detail. And at the same time the number of
incidents is markedly smaller.
Mark's language is unique among the Gospels. Some scholars have argued
that Mark's style is unsophisticated and unrefined or awkward. But others find
Mark's Greek very dense and detailed. Mark is full of Latinisms, in idioms and
vocabulary. Mark tends to conjoin verbs and sentences with καὶ (kai, "and");
in fact, more than half the verses in Mark begin with καὶ. Mark is also notably
fond of εὐθὺς (euthùs, "immediately") and πάλιν (pálin, "again"), frequently
uses dual expressions, and often prefers the historical present tense. ] In
essence, then, Mark's style is not so much literary as thoroughly colloquial. 3
Mt 8:23–25 Lk 8:22–24 Mk 4:35–38
As he got into
the boat, his
disciples
followed him.
And a great
storm
developed on
the sea so that
the waves
began to
swamp the
boat. But he
was asleep. So
they came and
woke him up
saying, “Lord,
save us! We
are about to
die!”
One day Jesus got into
a boat with his disciples
and said to them, “Let’s
go across to the other
side of the lake.” So
they set out, and as
they sailed he fell
asleep. Now a violent
windstorm came down
on the lake, and the
boat started filling up
with water, and they
were in danger. They
came and woke him,
saying, “Master,
Master, we are about to
die!”
On that day, when evening
came, Jesus said to his
disciples, “Let’s go across to the
other side.” So after leaving the
crowd, they took him along,
just as he was, in the boat,
and other boats were with
him. Now a great windstorm
developed and the waves were
breaking into the boat, so that
the boat was nearly swamped.
But he was in the stern,
sleeping on a cushion. They
woke him up and said to him,
“Teacher, don’t you care that
we are about to die?”
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