Discovery BoxLuke 3:11 
Context3:11 John 1 answered them, 2 “The person who has two tunics 3 must share with the person who has none, and the person who has food must do likewise.”
Luke 14:35
Context14:35 It is of no value 4 for the soil or for the manure pile; it is to be thrown out. 5 The one who has ears to hear had better listen!” 6
Luke 18:16
Context18:16 But Jesus called for the children, 7 saying, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God 8 belongs to such as these. 9
Luke 22:26
Context22:26 Not so with you; 10 instead the one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader 11 like the one who serves. 12
1 tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Grk “Answering, he said to them.” This construction with passive participle and finite verb is pleonastic (redundant) and has been simplified in the translation to “answered them.”
3 tn Or “shirt” (a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin). The name for this garment (χιτών, citwn) presents some difficulty in translation. Most modern readers would not understand what a ‘tunic’ was any more than they would be familiar with a ‘chiton.’ On the other hand, attempts to find a modern equivalent are also a problem: “Shirt” conveys the idea of a much shorter garment that covers only the upper body, and “undergarment” (given the styles of modern underwear) is more misleading still. “Tunic” was therefore employed, but with a note to explain its nature.
4 tn Or “It is not useful” (L&N 65.32).
5 tn Grk “they throw it out.” The third person plural with unspecified subject is a circumlocution for the passive here.
6 tn The translation “had better listen!” captures the force of the third person imperative more effectively than the traditional “let him hear,” which sounds more like a permissive than an imperative to the modern English reader. This was Jesus’ common expression to listen and heed carefully (cf. Matt 11:15; 13:9, 43; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 8:8).
7 tn Grk “summoned them”; the referent (the children) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.
9 sn The kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Children are a picture of those whose simple trust illustrates what faith is all about. The remark illustrates how everyone is important to God, even those whom others regard as insignificant.
10 tn Grk “But you are not thus.”
11 tn Or “the ruler.”
12 sn And the leader like the one who serves. Leadership was not to be a matter of privilege and special status, but of service. All social status is leveled out by these remarks. Jesus himself is the prime example of the servant-leader.
