Chapter 21

Chapter 21. — On the Ass and the Colt. On the Lame and the Blind. On the Withered Fig Tree. On the Chief Priests and Elders Who Questioned the Lord. The Parable of the Two Sons. On the Vineyard

¹ And when they drew near to Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them: Go into the village over against you, and immediately you shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them and bring them to me; and if anyone say anything to you, you shall say that the Lord has need of them, and immediately he will send them. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: Tell the daughter of Zion: Behold, your King comes to you, meek, and mounted upon an ass, and a colt the foal of a beast of burden. He sat upon the ass, there being no other need, save to fulfill the prophecy, and to show you how one ought to ride in humble fashion; for he was carried not upon a horse, but upon a humble little ass. He fulfills, then, the prophecy both according to the history and according to the higher sense: according to the history, as the one seen sitting upon an ass; according to the higher sense, because he sat also upon the colt—the new and untamed people, the unsubjected. And both the ass and the colt were bound with the cords of their own sins. And two [disciples] were sent to loose [them]: Paul to the Gentiles, and Peter to the circumcision—that is, the Jews. And even to this day, two loose us from our sins, the Apostle and the Gospel. And Christ comes meek; for he came not to judge the world at his first coming, but to save [it]. And whereas the other kings of the Hebrews were rapacious and unjust, Christ is a meek King.

² And the disciples went, and did as Jesus had commanded them, and brought the ass and the colt, and put their garments on them, and he sat upon them. Luke and Mark spoke only of a beast of burden, but Matthew [spoke] of an ass and a colt, [yet] they do not say contrary things; for as the colt was led, its mother followed along with it. And he sat upon them—not the two beasts, but the garments; or first he sat upon the ass, and then also upon the colt. For he first rested upon the synagogue of the Jews, and then upon the people from the Gentiles.

³ And the very great crowd spread their garments in the way; and others cut branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way; and the crowds that went before and that followed cried out, saying: Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. According to the history, the spreading of the garments and the cutting of branches displays great honor, a token of festal celebration; but according to the higher sense, learn that after the apostles laid down their garments—that is, their virtues—then the Lord sits [upon them]. For unless the soul be adorned with the apostolic virtues, God does not ride upon it. And those who go before are the prophets before the incarnation of Christ; and those who follow are the martyrs and teachers who came afterward, who strew their garments for Christ—that is, they subject the flesh to the spirit; for the body is the garment and covering of the soul. They spread [them], then, in the way—that is, in Christ. For I am the way, he says. For unless one strew his flesh—that is, humble it—in the way—that is, abiding in Christ, and not being a heretic—the Lord does not ride upon him. As for the “Hosanna,” some say that it signifies a hymn or psalm, but others [say], what is also more exact, “Save now.” And the Lord is called “he who comes,” as being expected by the Hebrews to come; for thus John also says, Are you he who comes, instead of “he who is expected to come.” And in another sense too he is called “he who comes,” inasmuch as his second coming is awaited day by day; each one, then, ought always to expect the consummation, and the Lord ever coming, and to make himself ready.

⁴ And when he had entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken, saying: Who is this? And the crowds said: This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth of Galilee. The crowds, being guileless and unaffected, neither envied Christ nor again held the fitting opinion concerning him. Wherefore here too they call him a prophet. But perhaps, since they say it with the article, “the prophet,” it can be understood that this is the awaited prophet, of whom Moses said that God will raise up for you a prophet. For they did not say, “This is a prophet,” but, “The prophet”—that is, that long-awaited one.

⁵ And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and cast out all those who sold and bought in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of those who sold doves. And he says to them: It is written: My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers. As master of the house, that is, of the temple, he cast out those who sold, showing that the things of the Father are his own as well. And this he did, at once both caring for the good order of the temple, and signifying the transference of the sacrifices; for by casting out the oxen and the doves he foretold that there would no longer be need of animal-sacrifices or victims, but of prayer; for “my house,” he says, “is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers”; for in the dens of robbers there are slaughters and sheddings of blood; or [he so calls it] because of the petty traders, and those buying and selling, that he called the temple a den of robbers; for the love of gain is a robber’s passion. And the money-changers are those whom we call bankers; for “kollybos” is a kind of paltry coin, just as we perhaps have obols or small silver pieces. And those who sell the offices in the Churches also sell doves. For the grace of the Spirit, which is the dove, these men sell. Wherefore they are cast out from the temple above and from the one below; for they are unworthy to exercise the priesthood. But take heed, you also, lest you make the temple of God—that is, your own mind—a den of robbers, that is, of demons. And it will become a den if we have thoughts that love matter, that buy and sell and love money, gathering up even the very “kollyba,” that is, the paltry coins; and if we sell and traffic away the doves—that is, if there be in us any spiritual teaching and thought of such a kind—we have made ourselves a den of robbers.

⁶ And the lame and the blind came to him in the temple, and he healed them. By healing the sick he shows that he is God and does well in casting out the unworthy from his house with authority. And this too is shown, that after the Jews were cast out, those who clung to the law and to animal-sacrifices, the blind and the lame from among the Gentiles were taken in, being healed by him.

⁷ But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they were indignant, and said to him: Do you hear what these are saying? And Jesus says to them: Yes. Have you never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise? The Pharisees, seeing the children offering to Christ the hymn of David, which the prophet seems to dedicate to God, are cut to the heart with envy, and reproach him as one who tolerates the things of God being said of himself; but he, rather confirming it, says, “Yes.” “For I am so far,” he says, “from silencing those who say these things to me, that I even bring forward the prophet as a witness, and prove you to be either ignorant or envious. For have you not read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise?” And “you have perfected” stands for “You have shown forth a complete and perfect hymn, even though these seem imperfect in age.” For it was not they who spoke what they spoke, but, having given only their mouth to the Spirit, they were his instruments. For this reason, then, he says, “Out of the mouth of babes,” hinting that the words were not of their own understanding, but only of the mouth, moved by divine grace. And this signified that he would be blessed even by the Gentiles, who are babes and foolish. And this was a consolation also to the apostles, that to them too a word would be given, even though they were somewhat simple. And you also, if you become a babe in evil, being without malice, and suck the spiritual milk, the divine oracles, then you will become worthy to hymn God.

⁸ And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there. He withdraws from these men as unworthy, and comes to Bethany, which is interpreted “house of obedience”; for from the unsubjected he passes over to those who obey him, and lodges among them. For he says, I will dwell in them and walk among them.

⁹ Now in the morning, returning to the city, he was hungry; and seeing a single fig tree by the way, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only, and he says to it: Let no fruit grow on you henceforth forever. And immediately the fig tree withered away; and when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying: How did the fig tree wither away so soon? Since the Lord had wrought many miracles for the benefit of all who beheld [them], but had displayed no punitive miracle, lest some should suppose that he was unable to punish, he shows here this power of his also—not abusing it against men, but [using it] against a tree, as one who loves mankind, just as before [he had used it] against the swine. He withers, then, the tree, that he might bring men to their senses; and the disciples marvel, with reason. For this tree is more full of sap, and the wonder is the more displayed, that it withered quickly; and the fig tree signifies also the synagogue of the Jews, which has leaves only—that is, the visible letter—and not the fruit of the Spirit. But also every man who has given himself over to the sweetness of the present life is likened to a fig tree, who has no spiritual fruit to give to the hungering Jesus, but leaves only, the fleeting and decaying show [of things]. This man, then, hears himself cursed: Depart, he says, you cursed, into the fire. And his tongue is also dried up, like that of the rich man.

¹⁰ And Jesus answered and said to them: Verily I say to you, if you have faith and doubt not, you shall not only do this of the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be removed and cast into the sea, it shall be done; and all things whatsoever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive. Great is the promise of Christ to the disciples, that they can remove mountains, if we doubt not—that is, waver not; for whatever we ask, believing without doubt in the power of God, we shall receive. “Yes,” one says, “but if I ask something unprofitable, and foolishly believe that God will give me this, shall I then receive even that which is unprofitable? And how is God a lover of mankind, if he fulfills my unprofitable request?” Hear, then. First, that whenever you hear “faith,” you ought to understand not the foolish kind, but the true kind; and that prayer which asks the things that are profitable, as the Lord delivered it, saying, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, and whatever words belong to such a prayer. Then consider also the very word “doubt.” For he who is united to God, and is one with him, and is not divided nor separated [from him]—how should he ask the unprofitable thing? So that, if we are inseparable and undivided from God, then we shall ask the things that are profitable, and shall receive [them].

¹¹ And when he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, saying: By what authority do you do these things? and who gave you this authority? And Jesus answered and said to them: I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or from men? And they reasoned among themselves, saying: If we say, From heaven, he will say to us, Why then did you not believe him? But if we say, From men, we fear the crowd; for all hold John to be a prophet. And they answered Jesus and said: We do not know. And he also said to them: Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things. The teachers of the law, envious that he had cast out of the temple those who trafficked there, come questioning him, as if [to say]: “Who are you to cast out of the temple those who do business? Is it as a priest? Yet you have no priestly office. Is it then as a king? Yet you are neither a king, nor, even if you were, would it be permitted you to do such things; for it is not lawful for kings to do these things in the temple.” And they asked these things of the Lord so that, if he should say, “I do these things by my own authority,” they might slander him as a rebel claiming to have authority of his own; but if he should say, “I do these things by divine authority,” they might draw away from him the crowds who praised him as God, showing the crowds that “Behold, he himself is not God, but does these things by the authority of God, as a servant.” What then does Christ, who is Wisdom itself? He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and asks them the like concerning John, so that, if they should say that the preaching of John was from heaven, they might be found fighters against God, as not having accepted it; but if they should say it was from men, they might be endangered by the crowd. For all held John to be a prophet. And the Lord shows from this that one need not answer those who question with malice. For neither did he himself answer the Jews who questioned him in guile, although he was not at a loss for an answer. And at the same time we learn that to praise oneself is not according to Christ. Behold, then, the Lord, though able to say by what authority he does these things, did not say it, lest he should seem to praise himself.

¹² But what do you think? A man had two sons; and he came to the first and said: Son, go work today in my vineyard. But he answered and said: I will not. Yet afterward he repented and went. And he came to the second and said likewise; and he answered and said: I go, sir; and went not. Which of the two did the will of the father? They say to him: The first. Jesus says to them: Verily I say to you that the publicans and the harlots go before you into the kingdom of God. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but the publicans and the harlots believed him; and you, when you had seen it, did not even afterward repent, that you might believe him. He introduces two ranks: one, of those who promised from the beginning—such as were the Jews, who said, All that God has spoken we will do and obey; and another, of the disobedient, such as harlots and publicans, but also indeed of the people from the Gentiles, who, having from the beginning obeyed the will of God, afterward repented and obeyed. See, then, the wisdom of Christ. He did not at once from the beginning say to them that the publicans and the harlots are better than they, but he first secured them, and they confessed that of the two sons the obedient one was he who did the will of the father. Then, when they had thus confessed, he added that “John came in the way of righteousness”—that is, in a blameless life; for you cannot say that his life was open to blame—“yet nonetheless the harlots obeyed, but you did not; therefore they also go before you—that is, they enter before you into the kingdom; so that you too must strive, that you may at least enter after them, you yourselves believing; but if you do not believe, you shall not enter in at all.” And many even to this day promise God and the Father, perhaps, that they will become monks or priests, but after the promise grow slothful. Others, however, did not promise the monastic or priestly manner of life, yet they live in monastic and priestly fashion; so that these are obedient children, who do [the work] even though they promised nothing.

¹³ Hear another parable. There was a certain man, a householder, who planted a vineyard, and put a hedge about it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. He brings forward another parable to them, showing that, although they had been deemed worthy of countless cares, they were not made better. For the man, the householder, is the Lord, who is called “man” on account of his love of mankind. And the vineyard is the people of the Jews, planted by God in the land of promise; for, having brought them in, he says, you shall plant them in your holy mountain. And the hedge is the law, not permitting them to mingle with the Gentiles; or [it is] the angels who guarded Israel. The winepress is the altar. The tower is the temple. And the husbandmen are the teachers of the people, the Pharisees and scribes. And the householder, God, went into a far country, when he no longer spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; or the going into a far country [is] the long-suffering of God. For God seems both to slumber and to go away in being long-suffering, and in not exacting the penalties for wrongdoings on the very heels [of the deeds].

¹⁴ And when the time of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, to receive his fruits. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and stoned another, and killed another. Again he sent other servants more than the first, and they did to them likewise. But afterward he sent to them his son, saying: They will reverence my son. But the husbandmen, when they saw the son, said among themselves: This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and seize on his inheritance. And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. The time of the fruits drew near in the times of the prophets. For the servants sent are the prophets, whom the husbandmen—that is, the false prophets and false teachers of the several times—insulted in various ways. For one they beat, as Micaiah, whom Zedekiah struck on the cheek; another they killed, as Zechariah, between the temple and the altar; and they stoned [another], as Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the high priest. And afterward the Son of God was sent, having appeared in the flesh. And the [saying] “They will reverence my son” he spoke, not in ignorance that they were about to kill him, but signifying what ought to have come to pass. For it ought, he says, even if they killed the servants, that they should at least reverence the dignity of the Son. But the husbandmen, when they saw him, said: “This is the heir; come, let us kill him.” For indeed the Jews, who said, “This is the Christ,” they crucified him. And they cast him out of the vineyard, for outside the city the Lord was put to death. But also, since we said that the vineyard is [the people] of the guileless disposition, the Pharisees killed him.

¹⁵ When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those husbandmen? They say to him: He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out the vineyard to other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons. “When he comes”—when? Is it at the second coming? This too seems to be intended; nevertheless it is better understood thus: The lord of the vineyard is God the Father, who sent his Son, who was also slain by them. When, then, this one comes—that is, when he looks upon the lawlessness which the Jews committed—then he will miserably destroy those wicked men, sending against them the Roman armies. And his vineyard—that is, the people—he will let out to other husbandmen—that is, to the apostles and teachers. And understand by the vineyard also the divine Scriptures, in which the hedge is the letter; the winepress dug is the depth of the Spirit; and the tower is theology, being lofty and most exalted. These Scriptures, then, wicked husbandmen, the Pharisees, possessed before; but God let them out to us, who cultivate them well. For those men also killed the Lord outside the vineyard—that is, outside [the things] of which the Scriptures spoke.

¹⁶ Jesus says to them: Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore I say to you that the kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone shall be broken; but on whomever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. He names himself a stone; and the builders are the teachers of the Jews, who rejected him as useless, saying, You are a Samaritan, and have a demon. But he, having risen from the dead, was set as the head of the corner—that is, he became the head of the Church, joining together the Jews and the Gentiles into one faith. For just as the stone which forms the corner in a building holds together the wall on this side and on that, so also Christ bound all together into one faith. And this corner is marvelous, and was the Lord’s doing. For the Church which holds us together and unites us in faith was the Lord’s doing, and is worthy of much wonder, because it was so well built. And in another way too it is marvelous, because the word of Christ was confirmed and strengthened by the miracles; so that the constitution of the Church is marvelous. The kingdom of God, then, was taken away from the Jews—that is, the intimacy with God—and was given to those who believed. For those who stumble at the stone, and are scandalized at Christ, shall indeed be broken in the second coming; but already from now they have been ground to powder by him—that is, they have been scattered everywhere over the earth, as we now see the wretched Jews. This, then, is the [meaning of] “it will grind to powder”—that is, it will scatter them.

¹⁷ And when the chief priests and the Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke of them; and seeking to lay hold on him, they feared the crowds, since they held him to be a prophet. See again that the crowd, being guileless and unaffected, follows the truth; but the teachers of the law work wickedness. And even to this day the Hebrews seek to lay hold of Jesus, but they neither lay hold of him nor understand [him]. For they shall lay hold of the Antichrist, and shall worship him; but Christ shall not be seized, that is, understood, by them.