St Matthew Chapter XI : Verses 7-19
Contents
- Matt. xi. 7-19 Douay-Rheims text & Latin text (Vulgate).
- Notes on the text
Matt. xi. 7-19
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| The Baptist as a boy. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
Illis autem abeuntibus, cœpit Jesus dicere ad turbas de Joanne : Quid existis in desertum videre? arundinem vento agitatem?
8 But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings.
Sed quid existis videre? hominem mollibus vestitum? Ecce qui mollibus vestiuntur, in domibus regum sunt.
9 But what went you out to see? a prophet? yea I tell you, and more than a prophet.
Sed quid existis videre? prophetam? Etiam dico vobis, et plus quam prophetam.
10 For this is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.
Hic est enim de quo scriptum est : Ecce ego mitto angelum meum ante faciem tuam, qui præparabit viam tuam ante te.
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| John the Baptist. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
Amen dico vobis, non surrexit inter natos mulierum major Joanne Baptista : qui autem minor est in regno cælorum, major est illo.
12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away.
A diebus autem Joannis Baptistæ usque nunc, regnum caelorum vim patitur, et violenti rapiunt illud.
13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John:
Omnes enim prophetæ et lex usque ad Joannem prophetaverunt :
14 And if you will receive it, he is Elias that is to come.
et si vultis recipere, ipse est Elias, qui venturus est.
15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Qui habet aures audiendi, audiat.
16 But whereunto shall I esteem this generation to be like? It is like to children sitting in the market place.
Cui autem similem æstimabo generationem istam? Similis est pueris sedentibus in foro : qui clamantes coæqualibus
17 Who crying to their companions say: We have piped to you, and you have not danced: we have lamented, and you have not mourned.
dicunt : Cecinimus vobis, et non saltastis : lamentavimus, et non planxistis.
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking; and they say: He hath a devil.
Venit enim Joannes neque manducans, neque bibens, et dicunt : Dæmonium habet.
19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say: Behold a man that is a glutton and a wine drinker, a friend of publicans and sinners. And wisdom is justified by her children.
Venit Filius hominis manducans, et bibens, et dicunt : Ecce homo vorax, et potator vini, publicanorum et peccatorum amicus. Et justificata est sapientia a filiis suis.
Notes
7. when they went their way. Jesus did not praise St John in their presence.
to say to the multitudes. As though to remove from their minds any suspicion as to the Baptist’s constancy, and his faith in Christ as the Messias, which suspicion might have resulted from their hearing the messengers’ question, without knowing the motives which prompted it.
What went you out, etc. ? Jesus bids His hearers revert to the motives which led them to follow St John so eagerly, even “ into the desert.”
a reed shaken, etc. Our Lord employs a metaphor here. He refers to the two things which attracted men to the Baptist : —
1. His strength of character and absence of human respect.
2. His austerity of life.
A reed. “ The reed of Egypt and Palestine is described as a very tall cane, growing twelve feet high, with a magnificent panicle of blossoms at the top, and so slender and yielding that it will lie perfectly flat under a gust of wind, and immediately resume its upright position. It grows in great cane-brakes, in many parts of Palestine, especially on the west side of the Dead Sea. On the banks of the Jordan it occurs in large patches, but is not so lofty” (Maas, S.J., Life of Christ, p. 152).
8. a man clothed in soft garments ? An allusion to the coarse camelhair garment worn by the Baptist.
in the houses of kings. St Luke amplifies here : Behold they that are in costly apparel and live delicately, are in the houses of kings. By living delicately we are to understand that enervating mode of life which demoralizes a man. The Herods had splendid palaces at Tiberias, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and elsewhere. They were also noted for their magnificent apparel and luxurious surroundings. Cf. Herod being arrayed in kingly apparel, sat in the judgment seat (Acts xii. 21).
Josephus thus speaks of the magnificence of Herod’s robes : “He put on a garment made wholly of silver and of a contexture truly wonderful, and came into the theatre early in the morning ; at which time the silver of his garment being illuminated by the fresh reflection of the sun’s rays upon it, shone out after a surprising manner, and was so resplendent as to spread a horror over those that looked intently upon him ; and presently his flatterers cried out, one from one place and another from another— (though not for his good)— that he was a god ” (Antiq., xix. 8, 2).
9. a prophet. St John was esteemed as such. Cf. If we say, of men, the whole people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet (St Luke xx. 6).
more than a prophet. All the people accepted him as a prophet. St John was greater than a prophet because of —
1 . His miraculous birth and his being sanctified in his mother’s womb.
2. The early manifestation of his prophetic gifts. Cf. When Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb (St Luke i. 41).
3. The predictions concerning him, and the special name of “the Angel ” bestowed upon him.
4. His holiness of life, and the superabundance ‘of the gifts of the Holy Ghost which he received.
5. His special mission as the Precursor of the Messias.
10. Behold I send, etc. The original quotation runs thus : Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face (Mai. iii. 1). The prophet wrote “ my face, ” and the Evangelist gives it as “ thy face, ” but this is explained, if we remember that the sacred writers paid more attention to the sense of the original than to the exact words. The prophet represents the Messias as speaking, while in St Matthew the words are given as addressed to Christ by the Father.
11. a greater than John the Baptist. There is evidently only a comparison between the Baptist and the prophets of the Old Law. Hence neither the apostles nor our Blessed Lady are included in those with whom St John is compared.
lesser in the kingdom, etc. This is a difficult passage, and has been variously interpreted, e.g. —
1. The least saint in heaven, having won his crown, is greater than St John on earth (St Jerome).
2. Jesus is comparing Himself with St John (for Christ was younger in age and less in the esteem of men at the beginning of His ministry) (St John Chrysostom).
3. There is no comparison of personal merits, but the Old Law is contrasted with the New. On account of the intrinsic superiority of the New Law (ratione status novæ legis), and the fulness of graces therein received, the least member of the Church is greater than the Baptist, who stood indeed on the threshold, but never entered it. He was the connecting link between the Old and the New Dispensation, the latter being only formally promulgated after Pentecost,
12. from the days of John .... until now. From the time when the Baptist began his mission, about the autumn of A.D. 26, until the second year of our Lord’s ministry ; hence it covers an interval of about two years.
the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence. Some commentators take these words to mean that many, on account of the preaching of St John and of our Lord Himself, were seriously striving to ensure their salvation by entering the Messianic kingdom, but this view clashes with verses 17-24, in which Christ reproaches the Jews with—
(a) indifference, verse 17.
(b) captionsness, [Ed. captious: Apt to catch at faults or take exception to actions; disposed to find fault, cavil, or raise objections; fault-finding, cavilling, carping.] verses 18, 19.
(c) incredulity and impenitence, verses 21-24.
Other writers take these words as applying to those who refused to enter the kingdom of heaven themselves, and who endeavoured to wrest it from those who would secure it. This view harmonizes with the context, with the ordinary meaning of the words “ suffereth violence,” which are generally used in an adverse sense in the Scriptures, and with historical facts, since Christ was rejected by the Jews as a nation. (Abridged from Maas, St Matt.).
Note. — Whichever of these opinions appeals to the student, it is absolutely certain that in order to attain salvation men must ask, seek, knock, and strive to enter by the narrow gate (St Luke xiii, 24).
the violent bear it away. Note our Lord’s words to the Pharisees : Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites : because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in : and those who are going in, you suffer not to enter (infra, xxiii. 13).
13. all the prophets and the law. “ The Law and the Prophets ” summarize the Mosaic dispensation, and both testified to the coming of the Messias. By the Law is meant the five books of the Pentateuch. The “ Prophets” embrace the works of the major and the minor prophets, but in the other historical books we also find prophecies concerning Christ. The expression, the law and the prophets, was often used as a synonym for the Scriptures.”
until John. The Baptist was the last and the greatest of the prophets, because “ those who preceded him had only announced the coming of the Messias, whereas John pointed Him out to men ” (St Greg, the Great).
14. And if you will receive it. Our Lord implies that they will not accept the truth He here teaches.
he is Elias that is to come. According to the prophecy : Behold I will send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord (Mal. iv. &). Elias had not died, but had been taken up to heaven while conversing with Eliseus. And as they went on, walking and talking together, behold a fiery chariot, and fiery horses parted them both asunder, and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven (4 Kings ii. 11). There was therefore an expectation among the Jews, that Elias should return to earth as the forerunner of the Messias.
This tradition that Elias would return is confirmed in Apoc. xi,, where the witnesses referred to are supposed to be Elias and Henoch. Moses had said, a prophet should be raised up by God (Deut. xviii. 15), but this refers to Christ Himself.
15. He that hath ears, etc. A Jewish proverb. It occurs also twice in ch. xiii. 9, 43. In like manner a prophet of old had finished his discourse. Thus saith the Lord God: He that heareth, let him hear (Ez. iii. 27). The meaning is : “ Let him who hears, pay attention and follow My teaching.”
Note. — St Luke, in the parallel passage, here contrasts the different effects of Christ’s teaching : And all the people hearing, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with John’s baptism. But the Pharisees and the lawyers despised the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized by him (vii. 29, 30). These words are probably a continuation of Christ’s testimony to the Baptist, and not an interpolation of the Evangelist. The meaning is, that the publicans, who accepted St John’s teaching and baptism, glorified God and acknowledged His infinite mercy. The Pharisees, on the contrary, rejected John’s ministry, and refused to be baptized by him. By so doing they neglected, to their own condemnation, the means of salvation ; and as far as they were concerned, they frustrated the merciful designs of God. Note that man, by his free will, has the fatal power of resisting God, but to his own destruction.
16. like to children. etc. Jesus employs the similitude of children at their games. Two groups are playing at funeral processions and marriage feasts, but the one group is sullen and peevish, and refuses to join in what pleases the other. This similitude has been explained in two ways : —
1. St John displeased the Jews by his austerity, and our Lord offended their prejudices by conforming to the customs of ordinary social life. Here the children and their companions represent the Jews, who maintain a sullen, peevish frame of mind, whoever of the two preaches to them.
2. The two groups of children represent the Jews, who occupied themselves with childish trifles, and disagreed among themselves. With such, the children of wisdom contrasted favourably.
18. neither eating, — i.e. not eating bread. Cf. His meat was locusts and wild honey (supra, iii. 4).
nor drinking. Because he was a Nazarite from his birth. Cf. he shall he great before the Lord : and shall drink no wine nor strong drink (St Luke i. 15).
He hath a devil. We do not know when and where this accusation was put forward against the Baptist. The same charge was made against our Lord Himself. And many of them said : He hath a devil, and is mad : why hear you him ? (St John x. 20).
19. the son of man came, etc. To shew that in order to lead a holy life, it was not necessary to be an austere hermit. There have been saints in all ranks of life.
wisdom, (ἡ σοφία, the wisdom), — i.e. the wise counsel of God, by which such opposite means conduce to the same end, viz. the salvation of mankind.
is justified by her children. Whatever be the judgments of the unbelieving, those who accept the Gospel of Christ will justify wisdom, i.e. they will proclaim that God does all things well.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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