ACC ~ Matthew 20 v31

THE CROWD TOLD THEM TO BE SILENT

CHRYSOSTOM: Christ permitted the crowd to rebuke them so that their earnestness might all the more appear and that we might learn how worthily they would receive the benefits of a cure. He does not so much as ask, “Do you believe?” as he did with many. For their cry and their struggling to come to him were sufficient to make their faith evident.

Learn this, beloved. Though we may be very vile and outcast, yet when we approach God with utter earnestness, we come closer to what we ask for. Just look at these men. They do not have any of the apostles to plead for them. Instead, here is the crowd trying to shut them up, telling them to be silent. Yet they were able to overcome all these obstacles and come to Jesus himself. Yet the Evangelist does not attest to any faith in them but only to their importunity. Their earnestness sufficed above all other factors. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 66.1. [1]

[1] PG 58:625-26; NPNF 1 10:404.

SON OF DAVID

JEROME: He calls them blind because they were not yet able to say, “By your light we shall see the light.” [1] They were ignorant of Christ’s way. They apparently had some knowledge of the law, however inadequately conceived. Some propose a spiritual interpretation here: that the two blind men are to be understood as the Pharisees and Sadducees. Others view one of them as symbolizing the people following natural law without Christ, hence blind, and the other as symbolizing people following the written law of the old covenant in a blinded way. [2] In any event, they were not able to see for themselves. Yet they heard the announcement of the Savior’s coming. They proclaimed him Son of David.

But let us suppose that each of the two blind men is blind with respect to the people of the Jews. What might it mean that the crowd rebuked them? It could suggest that the Gentile crowd was rebuking the Jews. Thus let us remember that the apostle advises those of us who are Gentiles not to boast or be haughty against our own roots in the old covenant. For we were the wild olive tree grafted on to a good olive tree. [3] So in no way should we begrudge the salvation of the prior people of the covenant, the Jews. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 3.20.31. [4]

[1] Ps 36:9 (35:10 LXX).

[2] The “people” discussed here were understood to mean the pagans. The episode of the two blind men was suited to a wide variety of allegorical interpretations, amply illustrated by the selected passages.

[3] Rom 11:17-18.

[4] CCL 77:180-81.

THEY SHOUTED ALL THE MORE

EPIPHANIUS THE LATIN: Christ is the way. Therefore, the two blind men [the Gentiles] were sitting on the way [yet without seeing the way]. By straying through idols, they had completely wandered from the way of truth. Degenerated in the obscurity of sins, they destroyed the eyes of the heart. Thus those sitting shouted, “Son of David, have mercy on us.” But the crowd rebuked them to become silent. But they shouted all the more: “Son of David, have mercy on us.” For with the Jews neither believing nor willing, the blinded nations were shouting all the more through faith, saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us.” And for us, dearly beloved, whether envy opposes a man or the devil holds him back in darkness, let us therefore shout the more through faith, “Son of David, have mercy on us.” INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 30. [1]

[1] PL Supp 3:873.