Chapter XXIII.—Of the Person Who Said to the Lord, “I Will Follow Thee Whithersoever Thou Goest;” And of the Other Things Connected Therewith, and of the Order in Which They are Recorded by Matthew and Luke.

54. He next appends the following statement: “And a certain scribe came and said unto Him, Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever thou goest;” and so on, down to the words, “Let the dead bury their dead.”391    Matt. viii. 19–22. We have a narrative in similar terms also in Luke. But he inserts it only after a variety of other matters, and without any explicit note of the order of time, but after the fashion of one only bethinking himself of the incident at that point. He leaves us also uncertain whether he brings it in there as something previously omitted, or as an anticipatory notice of something which in actual fact took place subsequently to those incidents by which it is followed in the history. For he proceeds thus: “And it came to pass, that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto Him, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.”392    Luke ix. 57. And the Lord’s answer is given here in precisely the same terms as we find recited in Matthew. Now, although Matthew tells us that this took place at the time when He gave commandment to depart unto the other side of the lake, and Luke, on the other hand, speaks of an occasion when they “went in the way,” there is no necessary contradiction in that. For it may be the case that they went in the way just in order to come to the lake. Again, in what is said about the person who begged to be allowed first to bury his father, Matthew and Luke are thoroughly at one. For the mere fact that Matthew has introduced first the words of the man who made the request regarding his father, and that he has put after that the saying of the Lord, “Follow me,” whereas Luke puts the Lord’s command, “Follow me,” first, and the declaration of the petitioner second, is a matter of no consequence to the sense itself. Luke has also made mention of yet another person, who said, “Lord, I will follow Thee, but let me first bid them farewell which are at home at my house;”393    Luke ix. 61. of which individual Matthew says nothing. And thereafter Luke proceeds to another subject altogether, and not to what followed in the actual order of time. The passage runs: “And after these things, the Lord appointed other seventy-two also.”394    Septuaginta duo. Luke x. 1. [An early variation in the Greek text; comp. Revised Version margin.—R.] That this occurred “after these things” is indeed manifest; but at what length of time after these things the Lord did so is not apparent. Nevertheless, in this interval that took place which Matthew subjoins next in succession. For the same Matthew still keeps up the order of time, and continues his narrative, as we shall now see.

CAPUT XXIII. De illo qui ait Domino, Sequar te quocumque ieris, et aliis quae juxta sunt, quo ordine narrentur a Matthaeo et Luca.

54. Deinde quod subjungit, Et accedens unus Scriba ait illi: Magister, sequar te quocumque ieris, usque ad illud ubi ait, Dimitte mortuos sepelire mortuos suos (Matth. VIII, 19-22); hoc similiter narrat et Lucas. Sed ille post plura, nec ipse sane expresso ordine temporum, sed recordantis modo: utrum quod prius omisit, an quod posterius etiam factum quam sunt ea quae sequuntur, praeoccupavit, incertum est. Ita enim dicit: Factum est autem ambulantibus illis in via, dixit quidam ad illum, Sequar te quocumque ieris. Et respondit ei prorsus eadem quae Matthaeus commemorat. Quod autem Matthaeus dicit tunc istud gestum esse, quando jussit ut irent trans fretum, Lucas vero, ambulantibus illis in via, non est contrarium; quia in via utique ambularunt, ut venirent ad fretum. Et de illo qui petit primum sepelire patrem suum, Matthaeus et Lucas omnino consentiunt. Quod enim Matthaeus primo ejusdem verba posuit hoc propter patrem suum petentis, et deinde Domini dicentis, Sequere me, Lucas autem primo Domini dicentis, Sequere me, et deinde illius hoc petentis, ad sententiam nihil interest. Commemoravit Lucas et alium dixisse, Sequar te, Domine, sed primum permitte mihi renuntiare his qui domi sunt ; de quo tacet Matthaeus. Inde jam Lucas in aliud perrexit, non in illud quod ordine temporis sequebatur. Post haec autem, inquit, 1104 designavit Dominus et alios septuaginta duos (Luc. IX, 57; X, 1). Post haec quidem, manifeste; sed quanto temporis intervallo posthaec fecerit illud Dominus, non apparet. In ipso tamen intervallo fit quod deinceps Matthaeus subjungit: nam idem Matthaeus ordinem temporum adhuc tenet, ita narrans: