Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
The yoke of discipleship
11:16 “But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,
11:17 ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’
11:18 “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’;
11:19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
11:25 At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants;
11:26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
11:27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
[16] Τίνι δὲ ὁμοιώσω τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην; ὁμοία ἐστὶ παιδίοις καθημένοις ἐν ἀγοραῖς, ἃ προσφωνοῦντα τοῖς ἑταίροις αὐτῶν λέγουσιν·
[17] ηὐλήσαμεν ὑμῖν, καὶ οὐκ ὠρχήσασθε,
ἐθρηνήσαμεν ὑμῖν, καὶ οὐκ ἐκόψασθε.
[18] ἦλθε γὰρ ᾿Ιωάννης μήτε ἐσθίων μήτε πίνων, καὶ λέγουσι· δαιμόνιον ἔχει.
[19] ἦλθεν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων, καὶ λέγουσιν· ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος φάγος καὶ οἰνοπότης, τελωνῶν φίλος καὶ ἁμαρτωλῶν. καὶ ἐδικαιώθη ἡ σοφία ἀπὸ τῶν τέκνων αὐτῆς!
[25]᾿Εν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπεν· ἐξομολογοῦμαί σοι, πάτερ, κύριε τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅτι ἀπέκρυψας ταῦτα ἀπὸ σοφῶν καὶ συνετῶν, καὶ ἀπεκάλυψας αὐτὰ νηπίοις·
[26] ναί, ὁ πατήρ, ὅτι οὕτως ἐγένετο εὐδοκία ἔμπροσθέν σου.
[27] Πάντα μοι παρεδόθη ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός μου· καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐπιγινώσκει τὸν υἱὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατήρ, οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα τις ἐπιγινώσκει εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ ᾧ ἐὰν βούληται ὁ υἱὸς ἀποκαλύψαι.
[28] Δεῦτε πρός με πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι, κἀγὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς.
[29] ἄρατε τὸν ζυγόν μου ἐφ᾿ ὑμᾶς καὶ μάθετε ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ, ὅτι πρᾷός εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ εὑρήσετε ἀνάπαυσιν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν·
[30] ὁ γὰρ ζυγός μου χρηστὸς καὶ τὸ φορτίον μου ἐλαφρόν ἐστιν.
Comments
Jesus delivers what may be parody of a children’s ditty in vv. 17-19.
[16] Τίνι δὲ ὁμοιώσω τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην;: an opening rhetorical question to which the speaker gives an answer. Such a question, called a hypophora, is meant to arouse the interest of the audience. It can occur in ancient Greek poetry, but esp. in philosophical education. But there is more to this particular formulation here. Quite coincidentally, the question ‘What shall I compare you to?’ followed by ‘I compare you to X, Y, Z’ is very ancient in Greek, esp. in wedding songs, drinking songs, and children’s ditties. (See J. C. B. Petropoulos, Eroticism in ancient and medieval Greek poetry, London, 2003, pp. 25-8.) For instance, cf. Sappho fr. 115 LP, a bridal song: ‘To what may I well compare you, dear bridegroom? I compare you above all to a slender sapling.’
προσφωνοῦντα: pres. tense part., προσφωνέω/ῶ, ‘call or speak to’ (cl. Gk, LXX, and NT). The children are calling to each other, but perhaps, as others have suggested, they are actually singing in two antiphonal choruses. Jesus quotes the make-believe ditty (vv. 17-19), which consists of parallel statements.
τοῖς ἑταίροις αὐτῶν: ἑταῖρος carries many classical associations. In Homer the noun means (aristocratic) ‘comrade-in- arms’ or ‘messmate’. In LXX, it can mean ‘close companion’ or associate (Muraoka s.v., 1). It is, in any case, a word for grown-ups which Matthew turns into ‘playmate’.
[17] ἐκόψασθε: ‘you (pl.) did not beat your breasts’ (middle voice), a sense already attested in Homer (LSJ s.v. κόπτω, ΙΙ).
[18] μήτε ἐσθίων μήτε πίνων: participles in NT as a rule take the negative μή and the correlatives μήτε– μήτε. (In cl. Gk these negatives are ‘subjective’, used only when a supposition or other subjective thought is implied). Blass-Debrunner-Funk, par. 430.
[19] καὶ ἐδικαιώθη ἡ σοφία ἀπὸ τῶν τέκνων αὐτῆς!: in Matthew, σοφία has children, not ‘results’ as in the Engl. translation. Thus in Greek: ‘And Wisdom was vindicated by her offspring!’
[26] ὁ πατήρ: the nominative is often used instead of the vocative in LXX and the NT; this reflects Hebrew usage. See Blass-Debrunner-Funk, par. 147.
[27] οὐδεὶς ἐπιγινώσκει τὸν υἱὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατήρ, οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα τις ἐπιγινώσκει εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱὸς: ‘the son except the father, the father except the son’, a chiasmus, i.e., an AB ~ ba pattern of parallel phrases that interweaves son and father.
ἐπιγινώσκει: ‘know’ (not intellectually); in effect, ‘know and accept’ (EDNT s.v., 2a).
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 