MARK 12:39 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts:”
And have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets — the most important seats and places of honor complete the status-performance description: positions that communicate importance rather than serving function. The synagogue seats of honor (facing the congregation) and the banquet seats of honor (near the host) are visible signals of status that the teachers of the law seek rather than avoid.
Church Fathers on Mark 12:39
After confuting the Scribes and Pharisees, He burns up as a fire their dry and withered examples.
To walk in long clothing is to go forth into public clad in garments too much ornamented, in which amongst other things, that rich man, who fared sumptuously every day, is said to have sinned.
But they used to walk in honourable garments, because they wished to be highly esteemed for it, and in like manner they desired other things, which lead to glory.
Read all 7 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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