Vv. 1-14. Ambition rebuked (Mk. ix. 33-50; Lk. ix. 46-50, xv. 3-7, xvii. 1-4).— Ver. 1. ἐν ἐκ. τ. Spq, in that hour ; the expression connects what follows very closely with the tax incident, and shows that the two things were intimately asso- ciated in the mind of the evangelist.—
236
a Ch. xi. rz; Mic easy NE
ieee λλλδΜὰ
b John xii. 2.
40 (επιστ. , T.R
Καὶ προσκαλεσάµενος 6
Acts vii. 29. Pe ς Ch. xxiii. 12. Lk. xiv. II; XVili. 14. d Ch. xxiv. 5 parall,
οὐρανῶν.
φις οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ
1 ΝΝΒΙ, al. omit ο |.
XVIII. 1. "EN ἐκείνῃ τῇ Spa προσῆλθον οἱ μαθηταὶ τῷ “Inood, “Tis dpa "μείζων ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν ; ᾿Ιησοῦς 1 παιδίον ἔστησεν αὐτὸ ἐν µέσῳ αὐτῶν, 3. καὶ εἶπεν, ''᾽Αμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν μὴ ὃ στραφῆτε καὶ Ὑένησθε ὡς τὰ παιδία, οὗ μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἲς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν 4. ὅστις οὖν “ταπεινώσῃ " ἑαυτὸν ὡς τὸ παιδίον τοῦτο, µείζων ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν. δέξηται παιδίον τοιοῦτον ἓν ὃ “ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί µου, ἐμὲ δέχεται:
5. καὶ ὃς ἐὰν
} ταπεινωσει in all uncials.
3 ev before παιδιον in BDLZ; τοιοντο in S$§BLA for the more usual τοιοντον in T. R. (ev παιδιον τοιουτο in Tisch. and W.H.).
τίς ἄρα μείζων: who then is greater, etc. ? The dpa may be taken as pointing back to the tax incident as suggesting the question, but not to it alone, rather to it as the last of a series of circumstances tending to force the question to the front: address to Peter at Caesarea Philippi; three disciples selected to be with the Master on the Hill of Trans- figuration. From Mk. we learn that they had been discussing it on the way home.—v τ. βασ.τ. ovp.,inthe Kingdom of Heaven; this is wanting in Mk., where the question is a purely personal one; who is the greater (among us, now, in your esteem)? In Mk. the question, though referring to the present, who is, etc., points to the future, and presents a more general aspect, but though it wears an abstract look it too is personal in reality = which of us now is the greater for you, and shall there- fore have the higher place in the king- dom when it comes? It is not necessary to conceive every one of the Twelve fancying it possible he might be the first man. The question for the majority may have been one as to the respective claims of the more prominent men, Peter, James, John, each of whom may have had his partisans in the little band. —Ver.2. παιδίον: the task of Jesus is not merely to communicate instruction but to rebuke and exorcise an evil spirit, therefore He does not trust to words alone, but for the greater im- pressiveness uses a child who happens to be present as a vehicle of instruction. The legendary spirit which dearly loves certainty in detail identified the child with Ignatius, as if that would make the lesson any the more valuable |--- Ver. 3. ἐὰν μὴ στραφῆτε: unless ye turn round so as to go in an opposite direction. “' Conversion”? needed and
demanded, even in the case of these men who have left all to follow Jesus! How many who pass for converted, regenerate persons have need to be converted over again, more radically! Chrys. remarks: “We are not able to reach even the faults of the Twelve; we ask not who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, but who is the greater in the Kingdom of Earth: the richer the more powerful” (Hom. lviii.). The remark is not true to the spirit of Christ. In His eyes vanity and ambition in the sphere of religion were graver offences than the sins of the worldly. His tone at this time is markedly severe, as much so as when He denounced the vices of the Pharisees. It was indeed Pharisaism in the bud He had to deal with. Resch suggests that στραφῆτε here simply τε- presents the idea of becoming again children, corresponding to the Hebrew