ACC ~ Matthew 22 v41 - 46

OVERVIEW:

Pharisees and Sadducees asked their deceptive questions to tempt Jesus, not to learn from him. They appeared to be well-prepared doctors of the law but were not. They were probing him only as tormentors. This is why the Lord chose to put his own questions to those who were professing to have knowledge of the law: that these matters might be argued before the people (ORIGEN). They were being gradually shown that it was not merely a man who was being tempted but God, whom no one is able to tempt. He was neither able to say straightforwardly the truth about himself nor to keep silent. He was not able to speak candidly, lest the Jews, in finding a greater occasion for blasphemy, be all the more enraged. However, it was not possible to silence the truth that had come in him. He propounded this ingenious question to them in order that while he was silent his question itself might reveal his identity and show them that he was not a man but God. So he asks directly, “How is it then that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls him Lord?” For how was it possible for him to be his Lord who was yet to be born from David (INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW)? He confused them by their own question so that, blushing, they might back away from his directness and thereafter ask him nothing further (ORIGEN). They had supposed that he was a mere man, yet they also said that the Christ is “the Son of David” (CHRYSOSTOM). The incarnate Lord, truly God, truly human, is both David’s Son as in a human line of ancestry and David’s Lord as truly God (AUGUSTINE). Their mouths were stopped but not their anger. The faults of the jealous are indeed able to be overcome but are difficult to put to rest (JEROME).

22:41 | Jesus Questions the Pharisees

THE TABLES ARE TURNED

INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW: The confusion of the crowd had come about because of the providence of God, the gradual divine economy, which brings all things to ripeness at the proper time. Christ desires not to question those who resist but to teach them in whatever ways he can. Christ desires to teach even further those who already wish to be taught, and for this reason they desired to be questioned. The Lord who sets the limits of the sea is found here boldly setting himself against the devil. He can set such a limit there at any time he wants to. HOMILY 42. [1]

[1] PG 56:875.

22:42 | Whose Son Is the Christ?

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE CHRIST?

CHRYSOSTOM: Remember how many miracles have preceded this dialogue—after how many signs, after how many questions, after how great a display of his union with the Father in deeds as well as in words—now Jesus asks his own question. After so many previous events, he is now quietly leading them to the point of confessing that he is God. He does this so that they may not be able to say that he is an adversary to the law and a foe to God, even though he has worked mighty miracles.

With his own disciples on the mount of transfiguration he had asked first what the others say and only then what they themselves say. But in this case he did not proceed in this way. For surely they would have said a deceiver and a wicked one, speaking all things without fear. So for this cause he inquires directly for the opinion of these men themselves.

For since he was now about to go on to his Passion, he sets forth the prophecy that plainly proclaims him to be Lord. It is not as if the call to confession has emerged without any precipitating occasion, or from no reasonable cause or as if he had this as his prior aim. For he had already brought the issue to their attention, and they had answered that he was a mere man, in opposition to the truth. Now he is overthrowing their mistaken opinion. This is why he introduces David into the discussion, that his true identity and divinity might be more clearly recognized. For they had supposed that he was a mere man, yet they also say that the Christ is “the Son of David.” Hence he now brings in the prophetic testimony to his being Lord, and to the genuineness of his Sonship and his equality in honor with his Father. [1] THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 71.2. [2]

[1] Ps 110:1 (109:1 LXX).

[2] PG 58:663; NPNF 1 10:432.

22:43 | David Calls Him Lord

DAVID INSPIRED BY THE SPIRIT

ORIGEN: It is very worthy for us to consider that our Savior willingly proposed to the Pharisees his question about the Christ, hoping that they might respond in a fitting manner. They were not able to respond adequately. Nonetheless it was the will of the Savior to enter into dialogue with his audacious proponents, the Pharisees, with their many propositions, and similarly with the Sadducees, who placed before him the question of the seven brothers and their one wife. [1] The Pharisees and Sadducees asked their many questions to tempt Jesus, not to learn from him. They appeared to be well-prepared doctors of the law but were not. This is why the Lord chose to put his own questions to those who were professing to have knowledge of the law: that these matters might be argued openly before the people. The Lord did not give clear responses to his questioners even though he himself responded to all their questions. It was entirely appropriate that the Lord himself, in accordance with the custom of dining with the doctors, show and hand over true divine teaching. They nevertheless did not recognize him as the prophet who was the pinnacle of all prophets. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 5. [2]

[1] Mt 22:23-38; Mk 12:28-33; Lk 20:27-33.

[2] GCS 38.2:9-10.

22:44 | Sit at My Right Hand

THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD

INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW: The judgmental Jewish leaders were tempting Christ the man. They would not have tempted him if they had believed that he were the Son of God. Christ therefore was ready to show himself to them. He knew the dishonesty in their hearts. He was ready to show them that it was not a man who was tempted but God, whom no one is able to tempt. He was not able to say straightforwardly the truth about himself or to keep silent. He was not able to speak openly, lest the Jews, in finding a greater occasion for blasphemy, be all the more enraged. However, it was not possible to silence the truth that had come to him in order that he might let this same truth be known. And it was for this reason that he propounded this ingenious question to them, in order that while he was silent his question itself might show them that he was not a man but God. So he asks directly, “How is it then that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls him Lord?” For how was it possible for him to be his Lord who was yet to be born from David? I think that he posed this question not only against the ancient Pharisees but against our contemporary heretics as well. For he was the Son of David according to the flesh but Lord according to his divinity. HOMILY 42. [1]

[1] PG 56:875.

22:45 | How Is He David’s Son?

IF DAVID CALLS HIM LORD

AUGUSTINE: Here then there is need for caution, lest Christ himself be thought to have denied that he was the Son of David. He did not deny that he was the Son of David, but he probed his detractors on the particular way this can be. You have said that Christ is the Son of David. I do not deny it. But “if David thus calls him Lord, how is he his Son?” Tell me how he could be his son who is also his Lord? They did not answer him but were dumbfounded.

Let us then answer them by the explanation given by Christ himself. Where given? Through his apostle. By what source can we prove that Christ himself has explained it? The apostle says, “Would you receive a proof of Christ who speaks in me?” [1] So it is through the apostle’s voice that Christ has allowed this question to be solved. In the first place, do you remember what Christ said, speaking by the apostle to Timothy? “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel.” [2] So it is easy to see that Christ is the Son of David. But how is he also David’s Lord? Let the apostle again tell us of the one who, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.” [3] Acknowledge David’s Lord. If you acknowledge David’s Lord, our Lord, the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord of the angels, equal with God, in the form of God, how is he David’s Son? Note what follows. The apostle shows you David’s Lord by saying, “Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” And how is he David’s Son? “But he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in human form, he humbled himself, having become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God has also highly exalted him.” [4] Christ “of the seed of David,” the Son of David, rose again because “he emptied himself.” How did he empty himself? By taking upon himself that which he was not, not by losing that which he was. He emptied himself. He “humbled himself.” Though he was God, he appeared as a man. [5] He was despised as he walked on earth, he who made the heaven. He was despised as though a mere man, as though of no power. He was not only despised but also killed! He was that stone that was laid aside on the ground, which the Jews stumbled against and were shaken. And what does he himself say? “He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls, it shall grind him to powder.” [6] First he was laid low, and they stumbled against him. He shall come from above, and he will “grind” them that have been shaken “to powder.”

Thus you have heard that Christ is both David’s Son and David’s Lord: David’s Lord always, David’s Son in time. David’s Lord, born of the substance of his Father; David’s Son, born of the Virgin Mary, conceived by the Holy Spirit. Let us hold fast both. The one of them will be our eternal habitation; the other is our deliverance from our present exile. SERMON 92.2-3. [7]

[1] 2 Cor 13:3.

[2] 2 Tim 2:8.

[3] Phil 2:6.

[4] Phil 2:6-9.

[5] The verb apparere here signifies “to show oneself, to make onself seen.” It does not at all imply the concept, so widespread in the second and third centuries, that the body assumed by Christ had been merely apparent.

[6] Mt 21:44.

[7] PL 38:572-73; NPNF 1 6:400-401* (Sermon 42).

22:46 | No One Was Able to Answer Him

NONE DARED QUESTION HIM

ORIGEN: And so Matthew added, “No one was able to say a word to him, and no one dared from that hour to ask him anything.” The reason, however, that they had not dared to ask him even another word was this, that having been asked themselves, they could not respond. For if their question had come from a desire to learn, then they would never have proposed their questions to him. They dared not ask him anything now. For they were asking him only as tempters, and for this reason he wanted to confuse them by their own question so that, blushing, they might back away from his directness and thereafter ask him nothing further. We have spoken these things according to an understanding of the plain sense of the text. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 5. [1]

[1] GCS 38.2:10.

NO MORE QUESTIONS

JEROME: The Pharisees and Sadducees had been looking for an opportunity for deceiving him, looking to find some word that might be taken advantage of by the plotters. Yet they had been totally confounded in their conversations. So they asked nothing further. What did they do then? All they could do was turn him over to the custody of the Roman authorities. From this we learn that the faults of the jealous are indeed able to be overcome but are difficult to put to rest. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4.22.46. [1]

[1] CCL 77:210.