ACC ~ Matthew 23 v38 - 39

YOU WILL NOT SEE ME AGAIN

CHRYSOSTOM: “For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” This is the language of one that loves earnestly. He is poignantly appealing to them in relation to the judgment that is to come. He is not merely warning them concerning their past follies. He is now speaking of the future day of his second coming.

So did this occur? Did they not see him from that time? He was speaking of the time up to his crucifixion.

They had been continually accusing him of being a foe to God. He can do nothing now but show them who he is, as Son of the Father, in full accord with the Father’s will. He indicates himself to be the very one expected by the prophets. This is why he uses the same words as did the prophets. In this way he intimated both his resurrection and his second coming. He made all this plain even to the utterly unbelieving but even more surely to all who would worship him. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 74.3. [1]

[1] PG 58:683; NPNF 1 10:447-48.

THE VISION OF FAITH

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: That which has been spoken possesses an interpretation that comes through the vision of faith. For when “the fullness of the nations come in” [1] and they believe in Christ, then the Jews who believe after these things see the beauty of the divine nature of Christ. They behold the Father in the Son and declare him to be the Redeemer proclaimed through the prophets, whom the prophets previously mentioned as coming in the name of the Lord. For the other prophets did not come in the name of the Lord. For they were saying, “The Lord says these things” [2] and “I am the servant of the Lord, and I worship the God of heaven.” [3] FRAGMENT 264. [4]

[1] Rom 11:25.

[2] Jer 14:15.

[3] Jon 1:9.

[4] HE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST | MATTHEW 14:1-12