Laudator Temporis Acti

Matthew 10:35-37 (KJV):

35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

35 ἦλθον γὰρ διχάσαι ἄνθρωπον κατὰ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ θυγατέρα κατὰ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτῆς καὶ νύμφην κατὰ τῆς πενθερᾶς αὐτῆς·

36 καὶ ἐχθροὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οἱ οἰκιακοὶ αὐτοῦ.

37 ὁ φιλῶν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα ὑπὲρ ἐμὲ οὐκ ἔστιν μου ἄξιος, καὶ ὁ φιλῶν υἱὸν ἢ θυγατέρα ὑπὲρ ἐμὲ οὐκ ἔστιν μου ἄξιος.

Mark 3:32–35:

32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.

33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?

34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

32 καὶ ἐκάθητο περὶ αὐτὸν ὄχλος, καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· ἰδοὺ ἡ μήτηρ σου καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοί σου ἔξω ζητοῦσίν σε.

33 καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς αὐτοῖς λέγει· τίς ἐστιν ἡ μήτηρ μου ἢ οἱ ἀδελφοί μου;

34 καὶ περιβλεψάμενος τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν κύκλῳ καθημένους λέγει· ἴδε ἡ μήτηρ μου καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοί μου·

35 ὃς γὰρ ἂν ποιήσῃ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ, οὗτος ἀδελφός μου καὶ ἀδελφὴ καὶ μήτηρ ἐστίν.

32 post ἀδελφοί add. καὶ αἱ ἀδελφαί σου RP NA

Luke 14:26:

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

εἴ τις ἔρχεται πρός με καὶ οὐ μεισεῖ τὸν πατέρα [a]αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν μητέρα καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ τέκνα καὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς καὶ τὰς ἀδελφάς, ἔτι τε καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχήν, οὐ δύναταί μου εἶναι μαθητής.

F.F. Bruce included Luke 14:26 among his Hard Sayings of Jesus, chapter 29 (Hating One's Parents). John Nolland, Luke 9:21-18:34 (Dallas: Word Books, 1993 = Word Biblical Commentary, 35B), pp. 762-763:

Hommel (ZNW 57 [1966] 1-23) is surely right to compare the strand in the Greek philosophical tradition reaching back to Socrates that, in the name of a single-minded devotion to truth, devalued family loyalties and concern for one's own bodily life and its needs (see Epictetus, Diss. 3.3.3-5; Xenophon, Memorabilia 1.2.49-55). Against Hommel (20-21) there is no sufficient basis for claiming a common source (but it is just possible that Luke's addition of "and even his own life" is motivated in part by a desire to point up the parallel with Socrates).

The reference is to Hildebrecht Hommel (1899-1996), "Herrenworte im Lichte sokratischer Überlieferung," Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 57.1-2 (1966) 1-23, rpt. in his Sebasmata: Studien zur antiken Religionsgeschichte und zum frühen Christentum, Bd. II (Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1984 = Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 32), pp. 51-74.