Matthew 13:34-43
“Notice what you notice.” I keep seeing “the house”: Then He left the crowds and went into the house (v. 36). I just find it fascinating that Jesus has “a house” to go into. In addition, whenever I see “the house”, I just expect that He is in Capernaum, staying with Peter. Nothing more, just that – He went into the house.
Both the ESV and NASB translate verse 36 as it is written above. The NKJV offers a different perspective: Then Jesus sent the multitude away… (v. 36). It’s two completely different meanings between Jesus’ simply leaving the crowds and His sending them away. Frankly, it’s hard to see Jesus “sending them away”. At the Feeding of the 5000, when His disciples came to Him and asked Him to send the crowd away so that they could buy food, His response was to challenge the disciples to feed them, which He/they then did. So “sending them away” seems like an unlikely action for Jesus.
I wouldn’t have noticed verse 42(b), except that my Study Bible pointed out that “weeping and gnashing of teeth” occurs six times in Matthew and nowhere else in the New Testament. Still, it’s a phrase that seems to enjoy common usage – at least from my perspective.
It’s late and it’s been a very long day for me.
Slava Bohu!