Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 53:2 (Jun 2010)
Article: “Who Is The Greatest?”
Author: Don Garlington

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JETS 53:2 (June 2010) p. 287

“Who Is The Greatest?”

Don Garlington

Don Garlington resides at 59 Shoredale Drive, Toronto, ON M1G 3T1, Canada.

The question, “Who is the greatest?” is posed in all three Synoptic Gospels (Matt 18:1-4; Mark 9:33-37; Luke 9:46-48; 22:24-30),1 and readers of the “triple tradition” come away with the definite impression that this query was a matter of some moment for the disciples of Jesus.2 While it is possible to attribute their in-house wrangling to the foibles of human nature and then dismiss it simply as the beginning of ministerial jealously, the issue for Jesus is much weightier. In a nutshell, his followers must be willing to die to themselves for the sake of being his servants. In Matthew’s account, the issue is no less than this: if they continue to quarrel about “Who is the greatest?” they will forego their place in the eschatological kingdom. The lion’s share of attention will be devoted to Matt 18:1-4 just because of this startling proposition, unique to Matthew, that even the circle of Jesus’ followers will “never enter the kingdom of heaven” unless they turn and humble themselves after the model of a child. Thereafter, we will look at the parallels in Mark and Luke and then take some account of additional incidents in which the disciples continue to debate their comparative status in the kingdom.3

JETS 53:2 (June 2010) p. 288

I. Matthew 18:1-4

1. The setting. The First Gospel has aptly been called “the way of righteousness.”4 As is commonly known, the teaching of Jesus in Matthew is structured in terms of five major discourses: chapters 5-7 (the Sermon on the Mount); chapter 10 (the mission discourse); chapter 13 (the parables of the kingdom); chapter 18 (instructions for the believing community); and chapters 23-25 (the woes against the scribes and Pharisees and the expectation of the end-time). As Stanton further notes, by giving such prominence to the five discourses, the evangelist stresses the continuing importance of Jesus’ instruction for his own day. The point is made explicitly in the final v...

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