Chapter XXXIII.—Of the Occasion on Which He Calls Them to Take His Yoke and
Burden Upon Them, and of the Question as to the Absence of Any Discrepancy Between
Matthew and Luke in the Order of Narration.
80. Matthew proceeds thus: “At that time Jesus answered and said, I make my acknow-
ledgment to Thee,996 O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things
from the wise and prudent,” and so on, down to where we read, “For my yoke is easy, and
my burden is light.”997 This passage is also noticed by Luke, but only in part. For he does
not give us the words, “Come unto me, all ye that labour,” and the rest. It is, however, quite
legitimate to suppose that all this may have been said on one occasion by the Lord, and yet
that Luke has not recorded the whole of what was said on that occasion. For Matthew’s
phrase is, that “at that time Jesus answered and said;” by which is meant the time after His
upbraiding of the cities. Luke, on the other hand, interposes some matters, although they
are not many, after that upbraiding of the cities; and then he subjoins this sentence: “In that
hour He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit,998 and said.”999 Thus, too, we see that even if Matthew’s
expression had been, not “at that time,” but “in that very hour,” still what Luke inserts in
the interval is so little that it would not appear an unreasonable thing to give it as all spoken
in the same hour.
996 Confiteor tibi. [Comp. Revised Version.—R.]
997 Matt. xi. 25–30.
998 Spiritu sancto.
999 Luke x. 21.
Of the Occasion on Which He Calls Them to Take His Yoke and Burden Upon Them, and of the Question as to the Absence of Any Discrepancy Between Matthew and Luke in the Order of Narration.
308
Of the Occasion on Which He Calls Them to Take His Yoke and Burden Upon…