The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 420

~ospels. And a man's foes she.II be they of passage~ (viM 811_.{lra), cf. also Luke xvii. 88 his own honeehold (1eal •xBpol Tov &v8p~..-ou and even John xn. 25. Observe that in our ol ol1e,a1eol auTov). 'Ex8po( is predica.te. His chapter vers. 37, 38 are equivalent to Luke very household (not t.o be limited to xiv. 26, 27; vers. 38, 89 to Luke ix. 23 24, servante) turns against him. ver. 39 to Luke xvii. 83. A compnris~n of Vere. 37, 38.-Parallel pas..oage: Luke the various passages leads to the inference xiv. 26, 27, where the saying is spoken to that the original occasion of vers. 37, 88 we.a the multitudes-presumably its original that of Luke xiv. 26, 27, and the original occasion of ver. 39 was that of eh, xvi. 25. occasion. Ver. 37: A man must place me T~us ou_r p~sage is a compendium, and oh. before his nearest ties. Ver. 38 : Yen,, must xv1. 25 1s either a modification by our Lord receive his cross (however it is brought to of an earlfor thought, or, more probably him), a.nd with it follow after me. Obsen·e another "setting" of the utterance in plao~ the shadow of the cross upon our Lord's of something that corresponded to it. Luke :xvii._ 33, on the other hand, may be a modi- mind. ficat10n by our Lord, or an insertion made Ver. 37.-He that loveth. Natural e.nd in the process of the composition of the spontaneous love ( ~ <f>,J..wv), father ... mother Gos~el. He ~hat findeth; found (Revised ... son . .. daughter. No mention of wife, Version margm); d ,uprfw: but unneces- ?rothers, sisters, e.s in the parallel passage sarily, the statement is timeless and the m Luk"~ perhaps because not mentioned in inherent thought of completion is' contained our vers. 35, 36. Is not worthy of me. And also in our present tense. Findeth; after ex- of e.ll that I can be to him. Observe Christ's penditure of trouble, and so oh. xvi. 25 with consciousness of his own wortll. And he parallel passnges, "wish to save,'' and Luke that loveth son, etc. A separate clause, xvii. 33, " seek to gain." Observe also the because of the difference between the love idea of acquiring for personal use common of child to parent e.nd that of parent to both to •uplcr1e•w and "'•f.11ro1Eicr8a1 (Luke). child. The latter is the stronger. The The phrase," find the sou ," occurs only here clause is omitted in B*, D, and two or three (twice) and eh. xvi. 25b; cf. Heb. x. 39. Hill lesser authorities, but probably throuo-h 0 life (eh. vi. 25, note). As the full develop- homoiotekuton. ment of personality in true independence Ver. 38.-Besides the parallel passage, and energy is the aim and the promise for Luke xiv. 27 (mdti supra), cf. also (for vers. hereafter, so its shrinking and weakening 38, 39) oh. xvi. 24, 25 (pare.lie! passages : by sin ends in loss of moral independence Mark viii. 34, 35; Luke ix. 23, 24). And and mental worth. Shall lose it : and he he that ta.keth not; doth not take (Revised that loseth his life for my sake shall llnd Version), which calls attention to the change it. He shall acquire that personality of his to the more definite mode of expression with all its inherent germs of power fully (!J ... 'A.aµ/3dv.,). Taketh. Receives in sub- developed (cf. Luke xxi. 19; Heb. x. 39; mission when given him; contrast d:p&.,-.,, cf. also the apocryphal logion, ::!~(011 cr1, 1eal ••te.ke up from the ground" (eh. xvi. 24), ;, ,/,11xfi crou, Resch, 'Agrnpha,' p. 145). In and /3acr-rd(,i, "bear" (Luke xiv. 27). His Talm. Bab., • Tumid,' 32a, Alex11nder the oross. A reference to the custom ( vide Great asks "the elders of the south" ten Meyer) of criminals carrying their cross be- questions, among them, "What shall a man fore they were crucified upon it. If, there- do that he way live?" They answer, " Let fore, the figure me.y be pressed, the reference him put himself t.o death." "What shall here is to the bearing of trials, even though a man do that he may die?" "Let him they are such as point forward t.o greater make himself alive." But though there is trials in the future. Observe the t.orture and so much verbal similarity, it may be doubted the ignominy of the trials that Christ expects whether Ras hi is not right in explaining the his followers to be prepared for. And fol- passage as a merely worldly wise warning loweth after me. For Christ's journey against provoking the envy of others by ended in nothing less. Is not worthy of pride and ostentation, me. "And having been a little cha6tised, Vere. 40-42.-Final encouragement. The they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and foWld them wortliy of evangelist takes the me.in idea of these himself" (Wied. iii. 5). Compare the reply verses from our Lord's words to the seventy 1f St. ThomBS Aquinas to our Lord in vision (Luke x. 16), but moulds it in the form of after be bad completed his "Summa:" his later saying, oh. xviii. 5 (cf. espeofolly "Thoma, bene acripristi de me; Quam reci- the paro.llel passage, Luke ix. 48, also Mark piu a Aid pro t11,0 labore mercedem 1 Do- mine, flOII nin Te" (Archbishop1 Vaughan's ix. 37). He further o.dds (ver, 42) other ' Life of St. Thomas,' frontispieoe), words also spoken later (Mo.rk ix. 41; of. Ver. 39,-Besides eh. xvi. 25 and parallel ver, 42 there wUh our oh. xvili. 6), oa. x. 1----12.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 417