Chapter 48—Who Is the Greatest?
This chapter is based on
Matthew 17:22-27
;
Matthew 18:1-20
;
Mark
9:30-50
;
Luke 9:46-48
.
On returning to Capernaum, Jesus did not repair to the well-known
resorts where He had taught the people, but with His disciples quietly
sought the house that was to be His temporary home. During the re-
mainder of His stay in Galilee it was His object to instruct the disciples
rather than to labor for the multitudes.
On the journey through Galilee, Christ had again tried to prepare
the minds of His disciples for the scenes before Him. He told them
that He was to go up to Jerusalem to be put to death and to rise again.
And He added the strange and solemn announcement that He was to
be betrayed into the hands of His enemies. The disciples did not even
now comprehend His words. Although the shadow of a great sorrow
fell upon them, a spirit of rivalry found a place in their hearts. They
disputed among themselves which should be accounted greatest in the
kingdom. This strife they thought to conceal from Jesus, and they did
not, as usual, press close to His side, but loitered behind, so that He
was in advance of them as they entered Capernaum. Jesus read their
thoughts, and He longed to counsel and instruct them. But for this He
awaited a quiet hour, when their hearts should be open to receive His
words.
Soon after they reached the town, the collector of the temple rev-
enue came to Peter with the question, “Doth not your Master pay
tribute?” This tribute was not a civil tax, but a religious contribution,
[433]
which every Jew was required to pay annually for the support of the
temple. A refusal to pay the tribute would be regarded as disloyalty to
the temple,—in the estimation of the rabbis a most grievous sin. The
Saviour’s attitude toward the rabbinical laws, and His plain reproofs
to the defenders of tradition, afforded a pretext for the charge that He
was seeking to overthrow the temple service. Now His enemies saw
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