St Mark 9:30-37
Prediction of the Passion
9:30They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it,
9:31for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.”
9:32But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
9:33Then they came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?”
9:34But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest.
9:35He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”
9:36Then he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms he said to them,
9:37″Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
[30]Καὶ ἐκεῖθεν ἐξελθόντες παρεπορεύοντο διὰ τῆς Γαλιλαίας, καὶ οὐκ ἤθελεν ἵνα τις γνῷ·
[31]ἐδίδασκε γὰρ τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου παραδίδοται εἰς χεῖρας ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ἀποκτενοῦσιν αὐτόν, καὶ ἀποκτανθεὶς τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀναστήσεται.
[32]οἱ δὲ ἠγνόουν τὸ ῥῆμα, καὶ ἐφοβοῦντο αὐτὸν ἐπερωτῆσαι.
[33]Καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς Καπερναούμ· καὶ ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ γενόμενος ἐπηρώτα αὐτούς· τί ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς διελογίζεσθε;
[34]οἱ δὲ ἐσιώπων· πρὸς ἀλλήλους γὰρ διελέχθησαν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τίς μείζων.
[35]καὶ καθίσας ἐφώνησε τοὺς δώδεκα καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· εἴ τις θέλει πρῶτος εἶναι, ἔσται πάντων ἔσχατος καὶ πάντων διάκονος.
[36]καὶ λαβὼν παιδίον ἔστησεν αὐτὸ ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐναγκαλισάμενος αὐτὸ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς·
[37]ὃς ἐὰν ἓν τῶν τοιούτων παιδίων δέξηται ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐμὲ δέχεται· καὶ ὃς ἐὰν ἐμὲ δέξηται, οὐκ ἐμὲ δέχεται, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἀποστείλαντά με.
Comments
Jesus delivers a prophecy: ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς (‘he was telling them’) in the context of verse 31 indicates the performative speech of prophecy, and the present tense of the first prediction (‘he is being handed over’) shows that he is using excited language about an imminent dangerous event. Whether his tone of speech is animated is a matter for speculation.
[30] παρεπορεύοντο: ‘they were passing through’ (impf.) (late Gk). Through where? διὰ τῆς Γαλιλαίας (‘through Galilee’) completes the meaning of the vb.
[31] παραδίδοται: ‘he is handed over’, ‘he is being handed over’ (pres.). In anticipating his Passion, Jesus uses the present tense in his first prediction and the future in the next two statements/ predictions (ἀποκτενοῦσιν αὐτόν, καὶ ἀποκτανθεὶς τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀναστήσεται, ‘they will kill him off, and after being killed off, he will rise on the third day’). The present can be used to express a future event the occurrence of which is presented as absolutely certain. The present as future is esp. common in prophecies in anc. Gk. or generally ‘in animated language’ to express danger among other eventualities (on the general use see Goodwin, Syntax 32/ p. 11). Jesus commences his prophecy with vivid, emotional language.
[32] ἠγνόουν τὸ ῥῆμα: ‘they failed to understand’; note the privative alpha in the vb ἀ-γνοέω/ ῶ. The impf. denotes that their failure to understand or know—their ignorance—was ongoing.
τὸ ῥῆμα: ‘what is said’, essentially synonymous with λόγος (ΕDNT s.v., p. 210).
[34] διελέχθησαν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τίς μείζων: διαλέγομαι, ‘converse’, cl. Gk; here the meaning is ‘they argued’ (in an adversarial way), a meaning which can be matched in cl. Gk (LSJ s.v. διαλέγω, ΙΙ. Β). τίς μείζων, indirect discourse or the topic of their arguments, viz., ‘who [was] greater’.
[35] πρῶτος εἶναι, ἔσται πάντων ἔσχατος καὶ πάντων διάκονος: a chiaston of opposites:FIRST +vb to be,
vb to be +LAST + SERVANT. FIRST and LAST are adjectives; SERVANT, added for good measure to fortify LAST, is a noun. πάντων (‘of everyone’), repeated twice, brings out the extremely lowly status of Jesus’ follower in relation to everyone else.
[36] ἐναγκαλισάμενος αὐτὸ: ἐναγκαλίζομαι, mid. vc., ‘take in one’s arms’ (late Gk).
[37] ὃς ἐὰν ἓν τῶν τοιούτων παιδίων δέξηται ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐμὲ δέχεται· καὶ ὃς ἐὰν ἐμὲ δέξηται, οὐκ ἐμὲ δέχεται: δέχομαι in two different moods is repeated four times for the sake of emphasis. Δέχομαι, ‘welcome a person’ (already in Homer); the basic meaning is ‘take, receive, accept’ in cl. and later Gk (cf. EDNT s.v., p. 292).
The fuller form ἐμὲ is emphatic per se (‘ME’); here used three times, it gains still more emphasis. ‘…receives ME; and whoever receives ME, does not receive ME but…’
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 