Matthew 6:24

6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate 1  the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise 2  the other. You cannot serve God and money. 3 

Matthew 16:3

16:3 and in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, because the sky is red and darkening.’ 4  You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, 5  but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times.

Matthew 20:22

20:22 Jesus 6  answered, “You don’t know what you are asking! 7  Are you able to drink the cup I am about to drink?” 8  They said to him, “We are able.” 9 

1 sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.

2 tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”

3 tn Grk “God and mammon.”

4 tn Or “red and gloomy” (L&N 14.56).

5 tn Grk “The face of the sky you know how to discern.”

7 tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said.” This is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

8 tn The verbs in Greek are plural here, indicating that Jesus is not answering the mother but has turned his attention directly to the two disciples.

9 tc Most mss (C W 33 Ï, as well as some versional and patristic authorities) in addition have “or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” But this is surely due to a recollection of the fuller version of this dominical saying found in Mark 10:38. The same mss also have the Lord’s response, “and you will be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized” in v. 23, again due to the parallel in Mark 10:39. The shorter reading, in both v. 22 and v. 23, is to be preferred both because it better explains the rise of the other reading and is found in superior witnesses (א B D L Z Θ 085 Ë1,13 pc lat, as well as other versional and patristic authorities).

10 sn No more naïve words have ever been spoken as those found here coming from James and John, “We are able.” They said it with such confidence and ease, yet they had little clue as to what they were affirming. In the next sentence Jesus confirms that they will indeed suffer for his name.