Chapter LXIV.—Of the Occasions on Which He Foretold His Passion in Private to His Disciples; And of the Time When the Mother of Zebedee’s Children Came with Her Sons, Requesting that One of Them Should Sit on His Right Hand, and the Other on His Left Hand; And of the Absence of Any Discrepancy Between Matthew and the Other Two Evangelists on These Subjects.

124. Matthew continues his narrative in the following terms: “And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify Him; and the third day He shall rise again. Then came to Him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping Him, and desiring a certain thing of Him;” and so on, down to the words, “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.”625    Matt. xx. 17–28. Here again Mark keeps the same order as Matthew, only he represents the sons of Zebedee to have made the request themselves; while Matthew has stated that it was preferred on their behalf not by their own personal application, but by their mother, as she had laid what was their wish before the Lord. Hence Mark has briefly intimated what was said on that occasion as spoken by them, rather than by her [in their name]. And to conclude with the matter, it is to them rather than to her, according to Matthew no less than according to Mark, that the Lord returned His reply. Luke, on the other hand, after narrating in the same order our Lord’s predictions to the twelve disciples on the subject of His passion and resurrection, leaves unnoticed what the other two evangelists immediately go on to record; and after the interposition of these passages, he is joined by his fellow-writers again [at the point where they report the incident] at Jericho. 626    Luke xviii. 31–35. Moreover, as to what Matthew and Mark have stated with respect to the princes of the Gentiles exercising dominion over those who are subject to them,—namely, that it should not be so with them [the disciples], but that he who was greatest among them should even be a servant to the others,—Luke also gives us something of the same tenor, although not in that connection;627    Luke xxii. 24–27. and the order itself indicates that the same sentiment was expressed by the Lord on a second occasion.

CAPUT LXIV. Ubi secreto duodecim discipulis de passione sua praedixit, et mater filiorum Zebedaei cum filiis suis petiit ut unus eorum ad dexteram ejus, alter ad sinistram sederet, quomodo non repugnet Matthaeus aliis duobus.

124. Sequitur Matthaeus, et dicit: Et ascendens Jesus Jerosolymam assumpsit duodecim discipulos secreto, et ait illis: Ecce ascendimus Jerosolymam, et filius hominis tradetur principibus sacerdotum et Scribis; et condemnabunt eum morte, et tradent eum Gentibus ad deludendum et flagellandum et crucifigendum; et tertia die resurget. Tunc accessit ad eum mater filiorum Zebedaei cum filiis suis, adorans, et petens aliquid ab eo, etc., usque ad illud ubi ait, Sicut Filius hominis non venit ministrari, sed ministrare, et dare animam suam redemptionem pro multis (Matth. XX, 17-28). Hunc cum illo ordinem etiam Marcus tenet, filios Zebedaei perhibens dixisse quod ab eis, non per eos ipsos, sed per matrem dictum esse Matthaeus expressit, cum illa eorum voluntatem attulisset ad Dominum. Unde magis ipsos quam illam dixisse quod dictum est, Marcus breviter intimavit. Denique et Dominus, et secundum Matthaeum et secundum Marcum, ipsis potius quam matri respondit. Lucas autem posteaquam ex eodem ordine commemoravit, quae de passione et de resurrectione sua duodecim discipulis praedixerit, praetermittit ea quae isti commemorant, post quae interposita occurrunt ei ad Jericho (Luc. XVIII, 31-35). Quod autem dixerunt Matthaeus et Marcus de principibus gentium, qui dominantur subjectis, non ita futurum inter illos, sed eum qui erit major etiam servum aliorum futurum: dicit tale aliquid et Lucas, sed non eo loco (Id. XXII, 24-27); et ordo ipse indicat, iterum esse eamdem sententiam a Domino dictam.