Discovery BoxMatthew 8:16 
Context8:16 When it was evening, many demon-possessed people were brought to him. He drove out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick. 1
Matthew 12:15
Context12:15 Now when Jesus learned of this, he went away from there. Great 2 crowds 3 followed him, and he healed them all.
Matthew 13:32
Context13:32 It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest garden plant and becomes a tree, 4 so that the wild birds 5 come and nest in its branches.” 6
Matthew 15:37
Context15:37 They 7 all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.
Matthew 25:31-32
Context25:31 “When 8 the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 25:32 All 9 the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Matthew 26:35
Context26:35 Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you.” And all the disciples said the same thing.
Matthew 28:19
Context28:19 Therefore go 10 and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 11
1 sn Note how the author distinguishes healing from exorcism here, implying that the two are not identical.
2 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
3 tc א B pc lat read only πολλοί (polloi, “many”) here, the first hand of N reads ὄχλοι (ocloi, “crowds”), while virtually all the rest of the witnesses have ὄχλοι πολλοί (ocloi polloi, “great crowds”). In spite of the good quality of both א and B (especially in combination), and the testimony of the Latin witnesses, the longer reading is most likely correct; the shorter readings were probably due to homoioteleuton.
4 sn This is rhetorical hyperbole, since technically a mustard plant is not a tree. This could refer to one of two types of mustard plant popular in Palestine and would be either ten or twenty-five ft (3 or 7.5 m) tall.
5 tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).
6 sn The point of the parable seems to be that while the kingdom of God may appear to have insignificant and unnoticeable beginnings (i.e., in the ministry of Jesus), it will someday (i.e., at the second advent) be great and quite expansive. The kingdom, however, is not to be equated with the church, but rather the church is an expression of the kingdom. Also, there is important OT background in the image of the mustard seed that grew and became a tree: Ezek 17:22-24 pictures the reemergence of the Davidic house where people can find calm and shelter. Like the mustard seed, it would start out small but grow to significant size.
7 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
8 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
9 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
10 tn “Go…baptize…teach” are participles modifying the imperative verb “make disciples.” According to ExSyn 645 the first participle (πορευθέντες, poreuqentes, “Go”) fits the typical structural pattern for the attendant circumstance participle (aorist participle preceding aorist main verb, with the mood of the main verb usually imperative or indicative) and thus picks up the mood (imperative in this case) from the main verb (μαθητεύσατε, maqhteusate, “make disciples”). This means that semantically the action of “going” is commanded, just as “making disciples” is. As for the two participles that follow the main verb (βαπτίζοντες, baptizontes, “baptizing”; and διδάσκοντες, didaskontes, “teaching”), these do not fit the normal pattern for attendant circumstance participles, since they are present participles and follow the aorist main verb. However, some interpreters do see them as carrying additional imperative force in context. Others regard them as means, manner, or even result.
11 tc Although some scholars have denied that the trinitarian baptismal formula in the Great Commission was a part of the original text of Matthew, there is no ms support for their contention. F. C. Conybeare, “The Eusebian Form of the Text of Mt. 28:19,” ZNW 2 (1901): 275-88, based his view on a faulty reading of Eusebius’ quotations of this text. The shorter reading has also been accepted, on other grounds, by a few other scholars. For discussion (and refutation of the conjecture that removes this baptismal formula), see B. J. Hubbard, The Matthean Redaction of a Primitive Apostolic Commissioning (SBLDS 19), 163-64, 167-75; and Jane Schaberg, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (SBLDS 61), 27-29.
