ACC ~ Matthew 13 v10

THE DISCIPLES GENTLY CAME AND ASKED

CHRYSOSTOM: We have good cause to admire the disciples. Longing as they do to learn, they know when they ought to ask. They do not ask in the presence of the crowd. Matthew shows this by saying, “And they came.” But to show that this is not a conjecture, Mark has expressed it more distinctly by saying that “they came to him privately.” [1] This is what his brothers and his mother should have done. It would have been better if his family had not called him out and made a scene.

But mark the disciples’ gentle affection, how they have much regard for the others and how they seek the other’s good first and then their own. “For why,” they ask, “do you speak to them in parables?” They did not say, “Why do you speak to us in parables?” On other occasions as well we can see their kindness in their human relationships, as when they said, “Send the multitude away” [2] and “Do you know that they were offended?” [3] THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 45.1. [4]

[1] Mk 4:10.

[2] Lk 9:12.

[3] Mt 15:12.

[4] PG 58:471; NPNF 1 10:284.

THE REQUEST IN THE BOAT

JEROME: The question may be raised as to how the disciples came up to Jesus when he was sitting in the boat. Perhaps we should understand by this that they had gotten into the boat with him a short while before and were now standing there asking him to interpret the parable. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 2.13.10. [1]

[1] CCL 77:103.