ACC ~ Matthew 12 v38

FLATTERING THE TEACHER

CHRYSOSTOM: Then. When? Just when they ought to be kneeling before him, to admire, to be amazed and give way, then they refuse to cease from their wickedness. And note their words too, teeming with flattery and dissimulation. For they tried to draw him out in their deceptive way. First they insult, then they flatter him; now calling him a demoniac, now again Master, both out of an evil mind. No more self-contradictory words were ever spoken.

This is why he rebukes them severely. Note that when they were questioning him roughly and insulting him, Jesus reasoned with them gently. But when they were flattering him he reproached them with greater severity. They imagine that he is in control of neither passion and that he can be at one moment moved to anger and in the next moment softened by flattery. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 43.1. [1]

[1] PG 57:457; NPNF 1 10:273.

THEIR PERVERSITY

ANONYMOUS: When the demoniac had been healed, some of the Jewish bystanders blasphemed the Lord, saying, “This man does not cast out devils except by Beelzebub, the prince of devils.” And others tempted him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see you give a sign from heaven.” The form of those expressions may be different indeed, but they have a common perversity. To ascribe to the devil the works of the Son of God is to blaspheme the Son of God or the Holy Spirit. Likewise, to seek from the Son of God a sign of his divinity is to insult the Son of God, because to seek from him a sign of his divinity is nothing else but to disbelieve the words of him who is speaking, as it were, false things about himself unless he backs up his words with overt signs. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 30. [1]

[1] PG 56:787.

WE WISH TO SEE A SIGN

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: They say the miracles he has performed are from devils. He only conjures up imaginary images on the earth. So come then, by your power: perform a miracle from heaven. For another Evangelist says clearly that they wanted Jesus to perform a sign from heaven as an action befitting his divine power. [1] They said this, blinded in their minds, as though Jesus were unable to do anything befitting God. For to open the eyes of the blind and to raise the dead and to rebuke the winds and the sea—all these miracles could be accomplished only by a divine power. FRAGMENT 160. [2]

[1] 3.

[2] MKGK 204.