ACC ~ Matthew 16 v3

YOU CANNOT INTERPRET THE SIGNS

CHRYSOSTOM: What then does he say to all this? “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.” Observe Christ’s meekness and moderation.

Even earlier he did not just refuse and say “no sign shall be given.” And so now he goes further and states the reason why he gives them no sign, even though they were not asking for information.

What then was the cause? It is much as in the sky, he says, where one thing is a sign of a storm and another of fair weather. No one when he saw the sign of foul weather would expect a calm, nor in calm and fair weather would one expect a storm. So you would do well also to think with regard to me. My coming in this present time is different from the way in which I shall come in the future. Now there is need of these signs which are on the earth. But those in heaven are stored up against that time. Now as a physician I have come to heal. Then I shall come as a judge. Now I am seeking out those who have gone astray. Then I will demand an account. Now I have come in a hidden manner. Then I will come much more publicly, folding up the heaven, hiding the sun, not permitting the moon to give its light. Then “the very powers of the heavens shall be shaken,” [1] and the manifestation of my coming shall imitate lightning that appears suddenly. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 53.3. [2]

[1] Mt 24:29.

[2] PG 58:529; NPNF 1 10:328-29.

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