ACC ~ Matthew 11 v25 - 30

OVERVIEW:

All creation is encompassed in the two terms “heaven and earth” (AUGUSTINE). The Arians object that because Christ renders thanks to the Father, he is less than the Father. To this the apostolic tradition answers that nothing prevents the consubstantial Son from accepting and praising his own Father, saving the world beneath heaven through him (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). The Son here glorifies the Father, who had foreseen the trajectory of the Word from the Jews to the Gentiles (ORIGEN). Jesus called the scribes and Pharisees wise though they did not really possess wisdom but only that which appeared to be wisdom, because of their cleverness with words. He called fishermen, unskilled in evil, to be the children to whom he revealed his Word (THEODORE OF HERACLEA, EPIPHANIUS THE LATIN). We are not to attempt to plumb the depths of the mystery of the motivations of the divine will (ANONYMOUS). We can, however, know the Father by knowing the Son (HILARY). Here the Son shows that his nature is ineffable and inconceivable, like the Father’s. For only the divine nature of the Trinity comprehends itself. Only the Father knows his own Son, and only the divine child recognizes the eternal One by whom he has been begotten. Only God the Holy Spirit understands the deep things of God in the intercommunication of the Father and the Son (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA, CHRYSOSTOM).

What do we learn from him whose yoke we take? Go deep, descend low, become lowly of heart, build a deep foundation for excellence (AUGUSTINE). As the Maker and Lord of all, he spoke to the weary Jews who did not have the strength to bear the yoke of the law. He spoke to idolaters heavy laden and oppressed by the devil and weighed down by the multitude of their sins (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA). It is a pleasing weight that strengthens even more those who carry it. We do not bear grace; grace bears us (ANONYMOUS).

11:25 | Things Hidden from the Wise

REVEALED TO THE GENTILES

ORIGEN: Jesus praises and glorifies the Father, who had foreseen the entire trajectory of the Word first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. Our Lord here gives thanks to his Father, the Lord of heaven and earth, for his mission in becoming incarnate in the form of a servant. He speaks about the Father’s good pleasure now to hide this mystery about himself from Israel, which might be expected to be wise, and to reveal it to the Gentiles, who were until now without understanding. It is thereby demonstrated that God did not forget to fulfill his purpose, nor did Christ’s coming fail in its appointed end. These things indeed have happened, God knowing them beforehand and having commanded beforehand the repentance of grace. The justice of God’s good pleasure is here passed over in silence, but elsewhere it is clearly displayed. God’s good will is not irrational. People do not fail to attain knowledge and wisdom about it for any reason other than their own deficiencies. FRAGMENT 239. [1]

[1] GCS 41.1:112; cf. Origen Fragments from Commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew 301, Apollinaris Fragment 66, in MKGK 19.

LORD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

AUGUSTINE: Jesus says, “My Father, Lord of heaven and earth,” Father of him through whom all things were made. Surely all creation is embraced by these two nouns heaven and earth. Therefore the first book of God’s Scripture says, “In the beginning God made heaven and earth.” [1] And “my help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” [2] By the name of heaven is understood whatever is in heaven, and by the name of earth is understood whatever is on earth. Thus, by mentioning these two parts of creation no aspect of creation is overlooked, since the created object is either here or there. Moreover, when the Son speaks to his Father his confession, Jesus admonishes us that confession is owed to God not for our sins alone. For very often when it is heard in the Scriptures, “You shall confess to the Lord,” many who hear this beat their breasts in remorse. They do not recall that the term confession means anything else except their accustomed use when they show repentance, confessing their sins and awaiting their just deserts from God, not because they deserve to suffer but because God deems it worthy to act mercifully. But if there were not confession in the act of praise, Jesus would not say, “I confess to you, Father,” since he had no sin to confess. It is said in another book of the Scripture: “You shall confess to the Lord” and say in your confession that “all the works of the Lord are very good.” This is certainly a confession of praise and not of fault. SERMON 68.2. [3]

[1] Gen 1:1.

[2] Ps 121:2 (120:2 LXX).

[3] MA 1:356-57; WSA 3 3:222-23.

I THANK YOU, FATHER

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: He employs the phrase “I confess you” in accordance with human custom. Instead of saying “I acknowledge you,” he brings in the phrase “I glorify you.” [1] For it is customary in the divinely inspired Scripture for the word confession to be taken in some such a sense. It is written, “Let the people give thanks,” Lord, “to your great name, because it is formidable and holy.” [2] And again, “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart.” [3]

But those who are perverted in mind say, “Look here, if he renders thanks to the Father, how then is he not less than the Father?” To this objection one who knows how to guard the doctrines of truth might say, “My good man, what prevents the consubstantial Son from accepting and praising his own Father, who through him saves what is under heaven? If you believe because of this confession that he is in a lesser position than the Father, look also at what comes next. Jesus acknowledges and calls his Father Lord of heaven and earth. For he confesses him as ‘Lord of heaven and earth’ and at the same time he calls upon him as ‘Father.’ But the Son of God who is ruler of all is in every way with him the Lord and Master of all, not as one worse or differing in substance, but as God from God. He is crowned with equal renown, having substantially with him equality in everything whatsoever.” FRAGMENT 145. [4]

[1] Cyril indicates that exomologeisthai is here used not in its normal sense of “to confess, admit, acknowledge” but in the sense of “to glorify.”

[2] Ps 99:3 (98:3 LXX).

[3] Ps 9:1; 111:1 (9:1; 110:1 LXX).

[4] MKGK 199.

GRACE REVEALED TO THOSE SIMPLE AT EVIL

THEODORE OF HERACLEA: Jesus called the Jews wise, either because they were entrusted with the oracles of God or because they were evildoers and wise at doing evil, but he called the apostles children. He called the scribes and Pharisees wise, though they did not really possess wisdom but only what appeared to be wisdom because of their cleverness with words. He called the fishermen, who were unskilled in evil, children. In this way, the grace of God was clearly manifested as Jesus made himself known to simple men. … And even if it was Christ himself who, for the most part, did these things, nevertheless, by giving thanks for them as things done by the Father, he shows that they share a common will and gives thanks for God’s love for us in the things by which we have received benefit. FRAGMENT 80. [1]

[1] MKGK 78-79.

REVEALED TO BABES

EPIPHANIUS THE LATIN: And he revealed these things to children. To which children? Not those who are children in age but to those who are children in respect to sin and wickedness. To them Jesus revealed how to seek the blessings of paradise and the things to come in the kingdom of heaven, because thus it was well pleasing before God that “they should come from the east and the west and that they should lie down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but that the sons of this worldly kingdom should be cast into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” [1] INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 26. [2]

[1] Mt 8:11-12.

[2] PL Supp 3:865.

11:26 | The Father’s Gracious Will

PLEASING TO GOD

ANONYMOUS: He does not say why it was thus pleasing to him but only gives thanks to the Father, because it was thus pleasing to him. So also you should never discuss God’s designs, what he did in his works or why he did so. But in whatever way God so wished to arrange his own creation, let thanksgiving be sufficient for you as evidence in regard to the very nature of God. God does nothing without reason and justice. He created you not for his own examination but for his own honor. God did not want you to be a judge of his own actions but a servant of his commands. It is characteristic of a good master to foresee everything that concerns the benefit of the servant. Moreover, it is characteristic of a good servant to work faithfully and not to discuss the master’s actions. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 28. [1]

[1] PG 56:777.

11:27 | Knowing the Father by the Son

ALL THINGS DELIVERED TO ME BY MY FATHER

JEROME: The Father entrusts. The Son receives. What is entrusted? All things have been entrusted to the Son, but this does not mean cosmically heaven and earth and the elements and the rest of nature which God himself made and established. Rather, it refers personally to the people who have access to the Father through the Son and who were formerly rebellious but afterward began to know God. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 2.11.27. [1]

[1] CCL 77:86.

NO ONE KNOWS THE FATHER EXCEPT THE SON

HILARY: So that it might not be supposed that anything in him is less than what is in God, [1] Jesus said that everything was entrusted to him by his Father, that he alone was known to his Father and that his Father was known to him alone or to one to whom he himself had wished to reveal his Father. By this revelation Jesus showed that the same essence of both Father and Son existed in their knowledge of each other. One who could know the Son would also know the Father in his Son, because everything was handed down to him from the Father. Moreover, nothing else was handed down than what was known to the Father in the Son alone, but the things that belonged to the Father were known to be revealed in the Son alone. Thus in this mystery of mutual knowledge it is understood that nothing else existed in the Son than what was known to be in the Father. ON MATTHEW 11.12. [2]

[1] On Christ as image (= revealer) see Col 1:15.

[2] SC 254:266.

ANYONE TO WHOM THE SON CHOOSES TO REVEAL HIM

CHRYSOSTOM: This may seem to the uninitiated quite disconnected with the passage that went before, but the two stand in full accord. Having said “all things have been delivered to me by my Father,” he adds, “and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” In this he is quietly signifying his great privilege of knowing the Father and being of the same substance with him, he being the only One who knows the Father so intimately. …

Note the timing and context in which he said this. It was just after he had worked miracles and the disciples of John had received proofs of his might by his works. He then thanks the Father that “that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes.” THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 38.2. [1]

[1] PG 57:430; NPNF 1 10:252**.

EVERYTHING HANDED DOWN FROM THE FATHER

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The one who sees the Son, who has the image of the Father in himself, sees the Father himself. … These things are to be understood in a manner befitting to God. He said, “Everything has been handed down to me” so that he might not seem to be a member of a different species or inferior to the Father. Jesus added this in order to show that his nature is ineffable and inconceivable, like the Father’s. For only the divine nature of the Trinity comprehends itself. Only the Father knows his own Son, the fruit of his own substance. Only the divine Son recognizes the One by whom he has been begotten. Only the Holy Spirit knows the deep things of God, the thought of the Father and the Son. FRAGMENT 148. [1]

[1] MKGK 200.

11:28-29 | Rest for Your Souls

LEARN FROM MY LOWLINESS

AUGUSTINE: You are to “take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.” [1] You are not learning from me how to refashion the fabric of the world, nor to create all things visible and invisible, nor to work miracles and raise the dead. Rather, you are simply learning of me: “that I am meek and lowly in heart.” If you wish to reach high, then begin at the lowest level. If you are trying to construct some mighty edifice in height, you will begin with the lowest foundation. This is humility. However great the mass of the building you may wish to design or erect, the taller the building is to be, the deeper you will dig the foundation. The building in the course of its erection rises up high, but he who digs its foundation must first go down very low. So then, you see even a building is low before it is high and the tower is raised only after humiliation. SERMON 69.2. [2]

[1] Mt 11:29.

[2] PL 38:441; NPNF 1 6:315** (Sermon 19).

YOU WILL FIND REST

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Stand apart from the inclination to love sin and to love the flesh. Turn to deeds worthy of praise. Draw near to me, so that you may become sharers of the divine nature and partakers of the Holy Spirit. Jesus called everyone, not only the people of Israel. As the Maker and Lord of all, he spoke to the weary Jews who did not have the strength to bear the yoke of the law. He spoke to idolaters heavy laden and oppressed by the devil and weighed down by the multitude of their sins. To Jews he said, “Obtain the profit of my coming to you. Bow down to the truth. Acknowledge your Advocate and Lord. I set you free from bondage under the law, bondage in which you endured a great deal of toil and hardship, unable to accomplish it easily and accumulating for yourselves a very great burden of sins.” FRAGMENT 149. [1]

[1] MKGK 201.

11:30 | An Easy Yoke, a Light Burden

MY BURDEN IS LIGHT

APOLLINARIS: If the yoke is easy and the burden light, why did he call “the way” “narrow”? It is narrow to the careless, for to the zealous the Lord’s tasks are light. For even if they involve bodily suffering for a little while, yet the one who is now nourished with good hopes is the devout one who easily bears these pains. FRAGMENT 67. [1]

[1] MKGK 19.

HOW CHRIST’S YOKE DIFFERS FROM THAT OF MOSES

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: How is it then that he himself demands a high degree of strictness? He answers, “You have not yet had experience of things that are mine, and for this reason you think this way. But if you would take up my yoke and would believe in those things I give, you would find the greatest difference between the things that are from me and those that are from Moses. From me there is great, patient endurance and kindness. Seeing such a weight of sins—murders and self-love and things more unnamable than these—I am longsuffering and bear with those who do these things, not despising them but waiting for them to repent. If ever they should repent and change their ways, I immediately forgive them, not remembering their former acts. But the law of Moses is not like this. When you sin, it immediately punishes the sinner. It knows no repentance. It promises no remission. When I make demands about the covenant, I am not so much preoccupied with investigating the things that happened. For me, it is enough that a soul choose what is good with a genuine resolution. But the law goes overboard, both adding more punishments to the smaller ones and cursing the transgressors. Therefore my yoke is good on account of forgiveness, and my burden is light because it is not a collection of customs and various observances but decisions of the soul.” FRAGMENT 67. [1]

[1] MKGK 118.

WHAT MAKES THE YOKE EASY

EPIPHANIUS THE LATIN: Therefore let everyone who wants life and desires to see good days put down the yoke of iniquity and malice. The prophet says, “Let us burst their bonds and thrust their yoke from us.” [1] For unless one throws behind the yoke of iniquity, that is, the spark of all vices, one cannot take up the agreeable and light yoke of Christ. But if the yoke of Christ is so agreeable and light, how is it that divine religion seems so harsh and bitter to some people? It is bitter to some because the heart that has been tainted by earthly desires cannot love heavenly things. It has not yet come to Christ, so that it can take up his yoke and learn that he is gentle and humble of heart. Hence we observe, my dearest friends, from the teaching of our Lord, that unless a person is gentle and humble of heart, he or she cannot bear the yoke of Christ. INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 26. [2]

[1] Ps 2:3.

[2] PL Supp 3:865-66.

GRACE BEARS US

ANONYMOUS: “My yoke is easy and my burden light.”… The prophet says this about the burden of sinners: “Because my iniquities lie on top of my head, so they have also placed a heavy burden on me.” [1] … “Place my yoke upon you, and learn from me that I am gentle and humble of heart.” Oh, what a very pleasing weight that strengthens even more those who carry it! For the weight of earthly masters gradually destroys the strength of their servants, but the weight of Christ rather helps the one who bears it, because we do not bear grace; grace bears us. It is not for us to help grace, but rather grace has been given to aid us. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 29. [2]

[1] Ps 38:4 (37:4 LXX).

[2] PG 56:780.