GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 9:16
Argumentation
There are several words in the English language that have vague meanings. Well, in fact, there are hundreds of such words. I’m thinking, in this instance, of social discourse—quarrel, discuss, debate, argue, etc. One of the first words I would always define in my logic classes was “argue.” Narrowly defined, the word refers to a series of premises, each growing from the previous one, leading logically to a conclusion. Etymologically, the word “discuss,” on the other hand, means to “shake apart”—that is, to break a subject down to its constituent parts for examination. Historically, the word “quarrel” means “to complain, accuse, or perhaps even hiss.”
When Jesus and his three disciples descended the mountain and approached the surprised crowd, Mark wrote that he saw the crowd, the disciples, and some scribes huddled together. “And he asked them, ‘What were you discussing with them?’” (Mark 9:16) Neither Matthew nor Luke mentions this question. The word “discussing” (συζητέω, suzéteó; from σύν—“along” and ζητέω—“seek”), which Mark used here to record Jesus’ Aramaic statement, is found throughout the New Testament and is variously rendered as “debate,” “argue,” or “discuss.” Some translators think Jesus directed this question to the scribes. Mark’s wording, however, does not mention the scribes and seems to imply that Jesus directed the question to the nine disciples who had stayed behind. Since no one answered the question, it may have been pedagogical rather than inquisitive—that is, Jesus may have been implying something like, “Why are you wasting time discussing it with them? Their minds are made up.”
One must choose with which crowd to stand—the disciples or the scribes whose minds were already closed to Jesus’ message.
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