Luke 18:34

This is peculiar to Lk. A similar statement in Luke 9:45 with the same curious repetition. “An emphatic prolixity” is Meyer's comment. J. Weiss (Meyer) from the facts that this verse repeats Luke 9:45 and that Lk. avoids repetition infers that the words must have been in his source. I rather think that we have here an effort on Lk.'s part to compensate by a general statement about the ignorance of the Twelve for the instructive narrative about the two sons of Zebedee which comes in at this point in Mt. and Mk., and which Lk. omits, doubtless by way of sparing the disciples an exposure. The iteration (same thing said three times) is in Lk.'s manner (Acts 14:8), but it is significant here. The aim is by repetition of a general statement to convey the impression made by the concrete story an utter impossibility. No wonder Lk. labours in expression, in view of that humiliating proof of ignorance and moral weakness! But the attempt to express the inexpressible is interesting as showing that Lk. must have had the sons of Zebedee incident in his mind though he does not choose to record it. The omission of this incident carries along with it the omission of the second and most important saying of our Lord concerning the significance of His death. Lk.'s gospel contains hardly any basis for a doctrine on that subject (cf. Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45).