The only saying in this section is that paralleled in Lk xiii, 15-16, and duplicated in Mt xii, 11. The incident is somewhat similar to that recorded in Mk iii, 1-6; and it is noticeable that Matthew, in taking over that incident from Mark, inserts in the midst of it this saying of Jesus about the ox or ass falling into the pit on the Sabbath. If the saying occurred in Q, Matthew has thus taken it out of its original context and made it a part of a Marcan story; but he would hardly have done this if it already, in his copy of Q, constituted part of another and equally good story. In view of the general character of Q as a collection of "sayings," with as little mixture of incident as possible, it seems better to say that this saying about the ox or ass falling into the pit occurred once in Q, unconnected, and that Luke found it again in the story before us, in some other source.
ABOUT TAKING THE LESS HONORABLE SEATS AT TABLE
This saying may have been manufactured upon the basis of Mk xii, 39 ("they love the chief seats at feasts," etc). Vs. 11 is the oft-repeated formula discussed on p. 182. While this and the following section are not impossible for QLk, it seems better to assign them both to one of Luke's special sources.
This saying of Jesus seems out of place at a dinner to which he had been invited. The saying itself is not unlike Q. Observing that this saying and the two just preceding are placed by Luke at feasts given for Jesus, but that they contain sayings of Jesus either placed elsewhere by Matthew or not given by him at all, Mr. Streeter is inclined to assign the setting of these sayings in each case to Luke, and the sayings to Q. This would seem more justifiable if it were not plain that Luke had, besides his recension of Q and Mark, at least two or three other sources. One cannot be categorical on such a matter, and it is possible that this section with the two preceding should be assigned to QLk.
THE PARABLE OF THE DINNER AND THE INVITED GUESTS
This parable is generally regarded as parallel to Mt xxii, 1-10, and the two are assigned to Q. But while the two evangelists are evidently relating the same parable, there is so little verbal resemblance as to give no proof of a common literary source. Upon the assumption of such a source, the violence done to it by Matthew or Luke or both in its transcription is quite beyond belief. If the parable in either Gospel is assigned to Q, the one in the other should be otherwise assigned. It seems better to ascribe both of them to special sources. The two versions are about as unlike as they could well be, and still be versions of the same parable.