Same Words, Different Context

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest." (Matthew 9:38)

Not only does today's Gospel reading provide us with a means to prayer and meditation, it also teaches us a little about the how the evangelists composed the Gospels in the first place. The quotation that I have cited above is one that appears in both the Gospel of St. Matthew as well as the Gospel of St. Luke. However, though the words are identical in each Gospel, the context in which they appear are completely different. In addition, we hear echoes of the same sentiment in St. John's Gospel when he speaks to the apostles after having met the Samaritan woman.

It is important that we remember that the Gospels were written some thirty or more years after Jesus returned to the Father. The evangelists did not sit down immediately after Jesus' ascension to write the Gospels. The entire community was under the impression that Jesus would return as soon as a year after his departure. The memory of Jesus was fresh; his words were still ringing in their ears. It was only after a number of years that they began to realize, as the eyewitnesses began to die themselves, that Jesus' return was not imminent. So they began to write down the words that they had heard Jesus say. These sayings were compiled into a document that is no longer extant. Scripture scholars refer to it as the "Q" source, "Q" for "Quelle," a German words that means "sayings."

When the evangelists began their compositions, the Q source was worked into stories about the healing activity and preaching of Jesus. In the instance of the above-cited quotation, St. Matthew and St. Luke both use it, but the stories in which it is set are different. In other words, St. Matthew and St. Luke use it to further their specific composition, their individual contribution to the Christian Scriptures. St. Matthew, an apostle as well as an evangelist, may even have heard Jesus say these words while St. Luke admits that he was not an eyewitness and is simply writing what he has been told by others.

Knowledge of the compositional skills, however, while interesting is not the end of our consideration. The Gospels were meant to change our lives, to spur us to repentance and conversion, the primary focus of the preaching of Jesus. Knowledge of the writing techniques of the evangelists is secondary to that purpose. So we sit with these words and realize that there is still much that needs to be done in conforming our lives to the Gospel. As St. Francis of Assisi said to his followers as he lay upon his deathbed, "Let us begin, for up to now we have done nothing."