Chapter LXXVI.—Of the Harmony in Respect of the Order of Narration Subsisting
Between Matthew and the Other Two Evangelists in the Accounts Given of the Occasion
on Which He Foretold the Destruction of the Temple.
146. Matthew proceeds with his history in the following terms: “And Jesus went out
and departed from the temple; and His disciples came to Him for to show Him the buildings
of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye all these things? Verily I say unto you, There
shall not be left here one stone upon another which shall not be thrown down.”1185 This
incident is related also by Mark, and nearly in the same order. But he brings it in after a di-
gression of some small extent, which is made with a view to mention the case of the widow
who put the two mites into the treasury,1186 which occurrence is recorded only by Mark
and Luke. For [in proof that Mark’s order is essentially the same as Matthew’s, we need only
notice that] in Mark’s version also, after the account of the Lord’s discussion with the Jews
on the occasion when He asked them how they held Christ to be David’s son, we have a
narrative of what He said in warning them against the Pharisees and their hypocrisy,—a
section which Matthew has presented on the amplest scale, introducing into it a larger
number of the Lord’s sayings on that occasion. Then after this paragraph, which has been
handled briefly by Mark, and treated with great fulness by Matthew, Mark, as I have said,
introduces the passage about the widow who was at once so extremely poor, and yet
abounded so remarkably. And finally, without interpolating anything else, he subjoins a
section in which he comes again into unison with Matthew,—namely, that relating to the
destruction of the temple. In like manner, Luke first states the question which was pro-
pounded regarding Christ, as to how He was the son of David, and then mentions a few of
the words which were spoken in cautioning them against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.
Thereafter he proceeds, as Mark does, to tell the story of the widow who cast the two mites
into the treasury. And finally he appends the statement,1187 which appears also in Matthew
and Mark, on the subject of the destined overthrow of the temple.1188
1185 Matt. xxiv. 1, 2. According to Migne, certain codices add here the clause, “when the disciples were asking
the Lord privately what was the sign of His coming.”
1186 Mark xii. 41-xiii. 2.
1187 Luke xx. 16-xxi. 6.
1188 [Many harmonists insert at this point the events narrated in John xii. 20–50. Augustin does not express
an opinion in regard to this passage.—R.]
Of the Harmony in Respect of the Order of Narration Subsisting Between Matthew and the Other Two Evangelists in the Accounts Given of the Occasion on Which He Foretold the Destruction of the Temple.
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Of the Harmony in Respect of the Order of Narration Subsisting Between Matthew…