temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves; and said unto them : 13 It is written: "My house shall be called the house of prayer ; but ye have made it a den of thieves." And the blind and the 14 lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. And 15 when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying : Mark xi. 11-15, that this was not done on the day of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, but the day after, he having passed the night in Bethany. 12. Into the temple of God, i. e. the outer court of the temple, whither Gentiles were accustomed to resort. Jesus had before made a similar purification of the temple. John ii. 13–17. — The money-changers. Or, brokers, persons who exchanged the coin of the Jews, which was necessary for those who paid the usual taxes and contributions to the temple, and took in return Roman and other foreign coin. -Them that soid doves. The poor, who were unable to purchase larger animals, were allowed to offer doves for sacrifice. Lev. v. 7, xii. 8. These traffickers had stationed themselves in the courts of the temple, for the convenience of trading, to provide for the approaching festival. 13. It is written. Isa. lvi. 7; Jer. vii. 11. Jesus, with a reference to the prophets whom they respected, expressed his detestation of their dishonesty and overreaching in trade, and their profaning the precincts of the most holy temple. ·A den of thieves. Robbers. Reference is here made to a custom common to robbers of all countries, to take refuge in caves. It is unnecessary to suppose that any miraculous power was exerted on this occasion. Jesus was already known as a distinguished individual. His very boldness awed them, and en couraged the impression that he was a prophet, and therefore, according to the opinion of the times, had a right to regulate these things. Their own consciences too might secretly subdue any inclination to resist. But we find here no traces of sedition, or of a political attempt on the part of Jesus, for he was the sole actor, and though no resistance was offered, no other acts of a similar kind were afterwards performed. We learn too an incidental proof of the Roman toleration, under the sanction of which a private Jew could thus vindicate, without opposition, the sanctity of his temple. Our Lord would cleanse even the court of the Gentiles from fraud and desecration, that the proselytes of the gate, so called, or those who did not conform to the Jewish ceremonial, might worship God in peace. This transaction, therefore, instead of arguing a Pharisaical punctiliousness, may be regarded as a proof of his liberality, which would provide for the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, a fitting place for worship. 14, 15. We are here carried back again to what occurred on the day of Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem, which had been interrupted by the episode of the cleansing of the temple. The wonderful things. Alluding, probably, to his entrance in triumph, and his miracles of healing. The children. Luke xix. 39. Understood by some commentators to be the servants, i. e. the disciples Hosanna to the Son of David! they were sore displeased, and 16 said unto him: Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them: Yea; have ye never read : "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise"? 17 And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany, and he lodged there. 18 Now in the morning, as he returned into the city, he hun19 gered. And when he saw a fig-tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only; and said unto it: Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And pres retires to a quiet village and humble friends to pass his nights? He thus escaped any plots against his own life, and avoided any occasion of popular tumult that might be raised in his favor. Besides, the calm scenes of Mount Olivet were more congenial to his mind, than the din of a crowded city. How unambitious and beautiful was his retiring to Bethany, after thousands had saluted him with every mark of royal honor! This humility bears the palm alone. 18, 19. As Jesus was returning into the city from Bethany, fully bent on his great duties, he suffered hunger; an evidence of his absorption in his work, and forgetfulness of his bodily wants. He finds a fig-tree by the roadside, and therefore belonging to no one. The original is more exact, one fig-tree, one among many, a fig-tree that was distinguished from others. Mark says, that "the time of figs was not yet." It might be asked, then, why he went to it, expecting fruit. The answer is, that, as the fruit of the fig-tree appears before the leaves, and as this tree was covered with leaves, it was reasonable to expect that it had fruit. As it was not the usual time for gathering figs, none were expected from any tree but this, because, perhaps, no others had leaves, the indication of away ently the fig-tree withered away. And when the disciples saw 20 it, they marvelled, saying: How soon is the fig-tree withered ! Jesus answered and said unto them: Verily I say 21 unto you, if ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig-tree, but also, if ye shall say unto this mountain: Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things whatsoever ye shall ask 22 in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. fruit. It was not likely that the fruit had been picked, for the fig harvest was not yet. Failing of receiving physical nourishment from the tree, Jesus makes it an instrument of spiritual good; the highest use to which any object can be put. Not in the petulance of disappointment, but with a calm power, seeking to impress his disciples, he devotes the tree to barrenness henceforth, and it soon withered away. Perhaps this event had some connexion with the parable of the figtree, Luke xiii. 6-9. He would teach the value of faith, as we learn from verse 21, by a symbolical action, a frequent method in the east. This lesson was especially needed by the disciples, standing as they did, on the eve of mighty events that would try their faith severely. Most commentators have drawn also another moral from the event, that of the unfruitfulness and destruction of the Jewish nation, to which, covered over as it were with the leaves of good professions, our Lord had come seeking fruit, but finding out of the ordinary course of Jesus' miraculous deeds, and startling on account of its suddenness. 21. This mountain. The Mount of Olives. A similar hyperbole concerning this very mountain is found in Zech. xiv. 4. See note on Matt. xvii. 20; xviii. 19. In general, they would be able, if they had faith, to perform the greatest miracles for the promotion of religion; not that literally the plucking up and casting of a mountain into the sea would be a proper act to perform. The Jews called those who were most distinguished as teachers, for genius and virtue, rooters up of mountains, or capable of overcoming the greatest difficulties. The gift of working miracles was limited to the apostolic age, and there are no trustworthy accounts of its having been since possessed or exercised. 22. Believing, ye shall receive. Mark, in the parallel passage, states forgiveness, as well as faith, to be a condition of efficacious prayer. If the declaration was applicable only to the Apostles, the sense would be, that God would grant them, in answer to believing prayer, all things necessary to their office. If the promise was more extensive, it announces that whatever shall be asked in prayer, in a confiding spirit, shall be received. For a good man will pray that only what is consistent with God's will may be given him. His devotions will always 6 23 And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said: By what authority doest thou these things? and who 24 gave thee this authority? And Jesus answered and said unto them I also will ask you one thing; which, if : ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things: 25 The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying: If we shall say: From heaven; he will say unto us: Why did ye not then be have this saving clause, If it be the Divine pleasure. Prayer is therefore eminently an act of faith, a referring of all things to God, a full confiding in his goodness, as able and willing to grant us, if not the identical objects of our petition, yet what is far better. We have, in 1 John v. 14, 15, the Christian philosophy of prayer. 23-27. Parallel to Mark xi. 2733; Luke xx. 1–8. 23. The chief priests and the elders of the people. Members of the Sanhedrim, and perhaps, making the inquiry with the authority of that body. Jesus had now returned from Bethany to Jerusalem, and whilst walking in the temple and teaching his disciples and auditors, he met these insidious men. They proposed these two questions, What was Jesus' authority, and, From whom he derived it. For he had entered the city in triumph, hosannas had been shouted by the people, he had cleared the courts of the temple of merchandise, and healed the sick and preached the Gospel in the sacred places, without asking permission from the Sanhedrim, the Jewish ecclesiastical court. 24. Our Lord did not wish to elude the question, or merely to confound his adversaries, and disappoint them by not explicitly declaring himself to be the Messiah, as they expected. His motives were higher. According to the customs of the Jewish doctors, and even Grecian disputants, if any one proposed a captious question to another, the other had a right to ask one in return, and not to answer the question addressed to him until his own had received a reply. The question of Jesus showed with what consummate wisdom he could in- \ volve them in their own snare. He took the wise in their own craftiness. 25. The baptism of John. Or, better, according to Newcome, by John. The leading feature in his office stands for his whole ministry. Baptism was his striking peculiarity, and the epithet of the Baptist was always joined to his name. — From heaven, or of men? From God, or of merely human authority? Jesus had already given every reasonable proof of his own divine commission. If his miracles and instructions were not convincing, nothing could be sufficient to persuade his wilful opponents. the question he now proposes brings them to a dilemma from which all their adroitness could not set them free. - Why did ye not then believe him? i. e. in his testimony of me? If John's mission was authorized by God, they would be inexcusable in not being his followers. The Saviour could also draw another inference from this fact, that if John came from God, he was not alone to be believed and followed, but also But lieve him? But if we shall say: Of men; we fear the people; 26 for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and 27 said: We cannot tell. And he said unto them: Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. But what think 28 ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said: Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. He answered 29 and said I will not; but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second and said likewise. And he an- 30 swered and said: I go, sir; and went not. Whether of them 31 twain did the will of his father? They say unto him: The first. Jesus saith unto them: Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before Jesus, to whose Messiahship he had often testified, and of which he was the forerunner. If they acknowledged John as being from heaven, they must acknowledge Jesus to be also. If they could not pronounce upon John's baptism, they were certainly incompetent to decide upon the claims of Jesus. 26. We fear the people. Luke adds, that they "will stone us." As their reasoning with themselves to fix upon an answer showed their total want of truth, so this confession argued their moral cowardice, lest they should commit themselves. Jesus had answered them so that they could find no handle of accusation against him. What depth of sagacity. 27. We cannot tell. A palpable falsehood, for their very querying with themselves proved that they knew the whole subject throughout. There are none so blind as those who will not see. Neither tell I you, &c. As the question of Jesus required to be answered first, and they had confessed their inability, he was released from the obligation of making them any reply. As they had pleaded ignorance, he takes them at their own word, and infers their incompetency to be judges in the matter. Still, in the subsequent parables he indirectly informs them, what was the nature and source of his authority, and their guilt in resisting it. The wounds which Jesus inflicted upon the spiritual pride of the Scribes and Pharisees, and his detection of their hypocrisy, so exasperated them, that they could only be satisfied with his crucifixion. 28. The object of the following parable is to rebuke them for disbelieving John; the object of the one succeeding it is to condemn them for rejecting Jesus. A certain man had two sons. Under this figure Jesus describes two classes; the Scribes and Pharisees, and the openly immoral and irreligious. -- 29, 30. Repented, i. e. changed his mind. By the son who expressed his willingness to obey, are represented the professedly religious, who yet in the end are the most hardened and guilty. By the other one, are imaged those who, openly vicious at first, afterwards repented and brought forth the fruits of righteousness. The condition of the hypocrite is more hopeless, than that of those in bondage to their appetites and passions. 31. Of them twain, i. e. which of the two. — They say unto him: The first. Thus condemning themselves |