LIEUT.-COL. G. MACKINLAY, ON SOMK LUCAN PROBLEMS. 197 



(b) Some general resemblances or interdependence of arrange- 

 ment between the narratives. 



Coming now to resemblances in arrangement between the 

 narratives, we find that the employment of the lesser Insertion 

 allows Luke (A) to begin, as does Luke (B), with extracts from 

 the Sermon on the Mount, or other addresses, in the summer of 

 A.D. 27. These are to be found in Matthew (or Q) but not 

 in Mark. Hence a reason is suggested for the employment of 

 the lesser Insertion. 



We now proceed to search for the i-eason for the great Omission, 

 which is in Luke (A) narrative. On looking at the context we find 

 that it embraces a period of six months, as indicated in the 

 diagram, for Luke ix, 17, tells of the miracle of feeding the five 

 thousand, which was at Passover* (early spring) A.D. 28, and 

 Luke ix, 18, was a week before the Transfiguration, which is 

 generally allowed to have been in the autumnf (a.d. 28). 



Luke (B) covers much the same total period of time as 

 Luke (A) (see diagram). We might naturally expect that this 

 second narrative, following as it does a Matthaean (or Q) and 

 also a special Lucan source, would supply the deficiency caused 

 by the great Omission in Luke (A). But as a matter of fact, 

 we find a greater Omission in Luke (B), which includes the 

 great Omission of Luke (A) with three months added both before 

 and after it. For Luke xiii, 18-21, tells of the Parables of the 

 Mustard Seed and the Leaven ; according to both MatthewJ 

 and Mark§, the Parable of the Mustard Seed was spoken at 

 the same time as that of the Sower (winter a.d. 27-8), and 

 Matthew also adds that the Parable of the Leaven was given 

 at the same time ; Luke xiii, 22, tells of the start for the final 



John vi, 4-14. There was according to Matt, xiv, 19, "grass"; 

 Mark vi, 39, " green grass" ; John vi, 10, "much grass." Grass is only 

 to be seen in Palestine for a few weeks in spring. It is afterwards burnt 

 up by the dry summer heat. 



t Peter's suggestion to make three tabernacles (Luke, ix, 33) was 

 almost certainly a reference to the booths then, being made at the Feast 

 of Tabernacles (autumn). 



\ Matt, xiii, 31-33. It is generally thought that Matthew often 

 collects together the sayings of Christ uttered at different times, but 

 on this occasion, according to Dean Alford, The New Testament^ note on 

 Matt, xiii, 1, 2, " The Seven Parables related in this chapter cannot be 

 regarded as a collection made by the Evangelist as relating to one subject, 

 the Kingdom of Heaven and its development ; these are clearly indicated 

 by verse 53 to have been all spoken on one and the same occasion, and 

 form indeed a complete and glorious whole in their inner and deeper 

 sense." The italics are the Dean's. 



§ Mark iv, 31, 32. 



