Mark 3.31ff has just dealt with two groups of people - the crowd who
were seated PERI AUTON and the mother and brothers who were ECW [exo,
outside - I can't remember what the convention is for transliterating
Xi]. They call to him and he replies by looking round at TOUS PERI
AUTON KUKLWi KAQHMENOUS. This helps us with Mark 4.10-12. There
is one group that we know of from 3.31-35, hOI PERI AUTON - those
about him, close to him, his adoptive family, and EKEINOIS TOIS ECW,
those outside - his real family, and people like the scribes (cf.
3.20-30) - to whom everything remains in parables.
I hope that this proves interesting.
Mark
------------------------
Dr Mark Goodacre
Department of Theology
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham B15 2TT
Tel.: 0121 414 7512 Email: M.S.Goodacre@Bham.ac.uk
Fax.: 0121 414 6866 http://www.bham.ac.uk/theology/goodacre.htm