ACC ~ Matthew 27 v9 - 10

SPOKEN BY THE PROPHET

CHRYSOSTOM: All these things had been foretold from ancient times by prophecy. It was not the apostles alone but the prophets who were also declaring these events precisely as they occurred. Don’t you see how they foresaw in every way the suffering of Christ? How they knew of its chastisement beforehand? THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 85.3. [1]

[1] PG 58:761; NPNF 1 10:509.

ON THE SOURCE OF MATTHEW’S QUOTATION

JEROME: This prophecy does not come from Jeremiah but from a similar passage in Zechariah, [1] who is almost the last of the twelve prophets. Although the meaning does not differ much, Zechariah’s word order and vocabulary do conflict with Matthew’s quotation. [2] In a copy of the Hebrew Scriptures given to me by a member of the Nazarene sect, I recently read an apocryphal edition of the book of Jeremiah in which this quotation from Matthew appeared word for word. Nevertheless it still seems more likely to me that Matthew took this prophecy from Zechariah, since it was the ordinary practice of the Evangelists and apostles to communicate only the meaning of texts from the Old Testament while neglecting to observe their word order. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4.27.10. [3]

[1] Zech 11:12-13.

[2] In reality the citation corresponds in part to Jeremiah 32:6-9 and in part to Zechariah 11:12-13. On the apocryphal book of Jeremiah mentioned here by Jerome, the information is limited and unclear.

[3] CCL 77:264-65.

THE POTTER’S FIELD

MAXIMUS OF TURIN:

This field then is this entire world, in which we who have been dispersed and scattered bear the fruit of good work for the Lord.

Yet perhaps you would inquire of me, if the field is the world, who the potter might be who could have the ownership of the world. Unless I am mistaken, the potter is the one who made the vessels of our body from clay. Scripture says of him, “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust from the earth.” [1] The potter is the one who, with the warmth of his own breath, made alive the slimy clay of our flesh and with fiery heat put together the fluid and earthly matter of our bodies.

The potter, I say, is the one who fashioned us unto life with his own hands and who is refashioning us unto glory through his Christ. The apostle says, “We are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another.” [2] That is to say, we who from our previous condition have broken to pieces because of our own misdeeds are restored in a second birth through the loving kindness of this same potter. We who have been struck by death because of Adam’s transgression rise anew through the grace of the Savior. Clearly this potter is the one of whom the blessed apostle says, “Will what is molded say to its molder?” And again, “Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use?” [3] For from the same clay of our body God preserves some persons for the kingdom on account of their individual merits and keeps others for punishment.

The field of this potter, then, was bought with Christ’s blood for travelers. For travelers, I say, who were without home or country and were cast about as exiles throughout the earth, rest is provided by the blood of Christ, so that those who have no possession in the world might have a burial place in Christ. Who do we say that these travelers are if not very devout Christians who, renouncing the world and possessing nothing in the world, rest in the blood of Christ? For the Christian who does not possess the world utterly possesses the Savior. Christ’s burial place then is promised to travelers so that the one who preserves himself from fleshly vices like a traveler and stranger may merit Christ’s rest. For what is Christ’s burial place if not the Christian’s rest? We therefore are travelers, in this world, and we sojourn in this life as passersby, as the apostle says: “While we are in this body we are away from the Lord.” [4] We are travelers, I say, and a burial place has been bought for us at the price of the Savior’s blood. “We have been buried with him,” the apostle says, “through baptism in his death.” [5] Baptism therefore is Christ’s burial place for us, in which we die to sins, are buried to evil deeds and are restored to a renewed infancy, the conscience of the old person having been dissolved in us for the sake of another birth. SERMONS 59.3-4. [6]

[1] Gen 2:7.

[2] 2 Cor 3:18.

[3] Rom 9:20-21.

[4] 2 Cor 5:6.

[5] Rom 6:4.

[6] CCL 23:237-38; ACW 50:142-44*.