Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-5213:31 He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 13:32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of…

Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s gospel text, Mt 13:31-33, 44-52, is densely packed. Each of the five parables in these verses begins “the kingdom of heaven is like;” each presents a unique situation and plot. Also included in today’s reading is a brief interchange between Jesus and his disciples, which contains…

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-4313:24 He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 13:25 but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 13:26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then…

Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s gospel lesson (Mt 13:24-30, 36-47) presents the parable of the wheat and weeds, and an accompanying interpretive narrative. The parable, unique to Matthew, trades in eschatological imagery and a stark good/evil dividing of human actors—tropes familiar to Matthew’s audience. These frames of reference rarely resonate with…

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-2313:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 13:2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 13:3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went…

Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary The familiar parable of the sower (Mt 13: 1-9), coupled in Matthew with its interpretation (Mt 13:18-23), occurs in all the Synoptics.  Sermons based on it generally see the sower as Jesus (or God the Father), the seed as the gospel summons to trust and follow Jesus,…

Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s Gospel lection, Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30, can seem an odd collection of rhetorically disparate fragments. A parable (vv.16-17), judgment in the form of an antimony (vv.18-19b), a proverb (v. 19c), a brief prayer (vv. 25-26), a chiastic theological self-identification (v.27) and a summons accompanied by promise (vv.…

St Matthew 10:40-4210:40 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 10:41 Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 10:42…

Today’s gospel reading, Matthew 10:40-42, concludes the discourse in which Jesus discloses what his disciples can expect as they disperse into the villages of Israel, announcing the reign of God and healing the sick (see Mt 9:36-10:1). Most scholars take the view that the discourse reflects the early missionary experience of Matthew’s own community in…

24 Οὐκ ἔστι μαθητὴς ὑπὲρ τὸν διδάσκαλον οὐδὲ δοῦλος ὑπὲρ τὸν κύριον αὐτοῦ. 25 Ἀρκετὸν τῷ μαθητῇ ἵνα γένηται ὡς ὁ διδάσκαλος αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῷ δούλῳ ὡς ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ. Εἰ τὸν οἰκοδεσπότην Βεελζεβοὺλ ἐκάλεσαν, πόσῳ μᾶλλον τοὺς οἰκιακοὺς αὐτοῦ;  26  Μὴ οὖν φοβηθῆτε αὐτούς· οὐδὲν γάρ ἐστι κεκαλυμμένον ὃ οὐκ ἀποκαλυφθήσεται, καὶ κρυπτὸν ὃ οὐ γνωσθήσεται. 27  Ὅ λέγω ὑμῖν ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ, εἴπατε ἐν τῷ φωτί, καὶ ὃ εἰς τὸ οὖς ἀκούετε, κηρύξατε ἐπὶ τῶν δωμάτων. 28 Καὶ μὴ φοβηθῆτε ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποκτεννόντων τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν μὴ δυναμένων ἀποκτεῖναι· φοβήθητε δὲ μᾶλλον τὸν δυνάμενον καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα ἀπολέσαι ἐν γεέννῃ. 29 Οὐχὶ δύο στρουθία ἀσσαρίου…