Matthew 22

Matthew 22:1

TRIUMPHAL ENTRY OF JESUS INTO JERUSALEM

[Matthew 22, 1-11 Mark 11, 1-10 Luke 10, 2-15]

ON the following morning¹ Jesus left Bethania and went to Jerusalem. When He had come to Bethphage², on the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, saying: “Go ye into the village that is over against you, and immediately you shall find an ass and a colt³ with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. And if any man shall say anything to you, say ye that the Lord hath need of them.”

So the disciples went and found the colt standing as Jesus had said. They therefore brought the ass and the colt⁴ to Jesus, and, laying their garments upon it, they made Jesus sit thereon. Now many wished to see Jesus, because He had raised Lazarus from the dead. When, therefore, Jesus was near the city, His disciples and a great multitude⁵ spread their garments in the way:

¹ Following morning, Jesus had passed Friday and Saturday (Sabbath) at Bethania, where He was anointed by Mary. On the next day, Sunday, He made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

² Bethphage. A little village situated to the west of Bethania, on the summit of the Mount of Olives, and not far from Jerusalem.

³ A colt. “On which no man hath sitten”, added our Lord. Therefore the first service performed by this beast was dedicated to Him.

⁴ The ass and the colt. The disciples brought the ass as well as the colt to Jesus, because this last, having never been separated from its mother, might have proved unmanageable without her.

⁵ A great multitude. The news of the raising of Lazarus had spread through Jerusalem, and had kindled in the crowd of pilgrims, who had flocked thither for the Paschal Feast, the belief that Jesus was indeed the Messias. They therefore prepared this triumphal entry for Him.

— LVI. TRIUMPHAL ENTRY OF JESUS INTO JERUSALEM.

while some cut down branches¹ from the trees and strewed them along the road. And a vast multitude went before and followed after, crying: “Hosanna² to the Son of David!“³ Blessed is He that cometh in the name⁴ of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest!⁵

There were also in the crowd some Pharisees, who, being filled with envy and hatred, never lost sight of Jesus. Seeing the honours that were now paid to Him, they indignantly⁶ asked: “Hearest Thou⁷ what these say?” Jesus replied: “If these should hold their peace, the stones⁸ will cry out.” The nearer He came to the city, the greater the crowd became, and the more the enthusiasm of the people increased.

Then was fulfilled the prophecy of Zacharias, that Jerusalem should be visited by her king as a Saviour; that He should be poor and riding on an ass. Zach. 9, 9

But seeing⁹ Jerusalem, Jesus wept over it, saying: “If thou also¹⁰ hadst known, and that in this thy day¹¹, the things¹² that are for thy peace, but now they are hidden¹³ from thy eyes! For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench

¹ Branches. It was the custom to carry and wave palm-branches as a sign of joy and victory.

² Hosanna. This exclamation is the equivalent of our “Hurrah!” and means “Save, we pray”.

³ To the Son of David. To the Messias. ⁴ In the name. Sent by the Lord God.

⁵ The highest. They appealed to the angels to share the joy with which they greeted their Messias.

⁶ Indignantly. At the sight of the people’s exultation. As they did not dare to impose silence on the populace, they turned on Jesus and rebuked Him.

⁷ Hearest Thou? How they greet you as the Messias! Do you accept this homage without protest?

⁸ The stones. The truth that I am the Messias cannot be suppressed; it must be proclaimed; and if men did not bear witness, God would miraculously testify to this truth by means of the very stones. When, at our Lord’s death, His disciples, crushed by fear and grief, held their peace, the quaking earth and the rent rocks bore witness to their Lord and Creator (St Ambrose).

⁹ Seeing. From the Mount of Olives. He wept over the blindness and obstinacy which must draw down such a terrible judgment on the city.

¹⁰ Thou also. As well as this shooting crowd.

¹¹ Thy day. On this day which is so important for you and so decisive of your fate.

¹² The things. Namely the belief in the Messias, which would bring you salvation.

¹³ Hidden. By your own fault, your wilful blindness. — LVI. TRIUMPHAL ENTRY OF JESUS INTO JERUSALEM.

about thee, and straiten thee¹ on every side, and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee, and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone, because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation.“²

As Jesus rode through the streets directly to the Temple, the whole city was moved³. Then the sick, the blind and the lame were brought to Him from every side, and He cured them all. At this sight the children began to cry out again: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” But the Pharisees, becoming furious, told Him to rebuke them. Jesus answered them: “Have you never read the words: Out of the mouths of infants and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise?“⁴

COMMENTARY.

Jesus, the Promised Redeemer. Hitherto our Lord had avoided all tokens of veneration on the part of the people (see chapter XXXIII); but now that He was approaching Jerusalem to suffer and die for the Redemption of the world, it was His will to enter its walls solemnly, as Messias and King. He desired that thousands of voices should proclaim in the presence of the unbelieving people of Jerusalem, that He was indeed their promised Redeemer. But He did not make this entry in battle-array, and mounted on a war-horse: He rode in, meek and gentle, sitting on an ass, the type of peace, to signify that He was not the Founder and King of an earthly city, raised by force of arms, such as most of the Jews fondly expected, but the Prince of Peace, whose kingdom was one of truth and grace.

¹ Straiten thee. Our Lord saw in spirit the terrible fate which would ere long overtake the unbelieving city; how it would be surrounded by enemies, and utterly destroyed.

² Thy visitation. You refuse to see that God is visiting you at this moment, when your Saviour is entering within your walls.

³ Moved. Scripture adds, “When He was come into Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying: Who is this?” And the people said, “This is Jesus, the Prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.” The multitude which had formed the joyous and triumphant procession was principally composed of pilgrims from Galilee and Persia. The exultation of these strangers caused even the inhabitants of Jerusalem out of their indifference, and they asked: “Who is this Man? Why is He so honoured and praised?” They quite ignored or forgot the miracles He had worked in their midst: they would not know Him, and thereby betrayed that unbelief over which Jesus had but just before shed such bitter tears.

⁴ Perfected praise. Jesus applied the passage (Psalms 8, 5) to Himself, saying thus to His adversaries: “These children, by shouting in praise of Me, do but fulfil that which the Prophet foretold they would do.”

— LVI. TRIUMPHAL ENTRY OF JESUS INTO JERUSALEM.

Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus showed Himself to be God, and this in a fourfold way. 1. He knew that His disciples would find the ass and her colt tied up, as described, in the village of Bethphage, and He knew the disposition of their owner. 2. He foretold the siege and destruction of Jerusalem (for the account of which see chapter LVIII). He knew the things which were invisible, as also those things which had not yet taken place, and the secret thoughts in the hearts of men. He was, therefore, omniscient. 3. He applied to Himself the passage in Psalm 8: “Out of the mouths of infants” &c. This Psalm relates to the adoration paid by all creation, and even little children, to the Lord God. By applying it to Himself, Jesus claimed to be the Lord and God of creation. 4. He showed His divine Omnipotence by healing the lame, blind and sick who were brought to Him.

The tears of Jesus. All in the midst of the joy of the people and the homage paid to Him, Jesus burst into tears at the sight of the holy city! He who had dried the tears of so many, and had said to the mourners: “Weep not”, now wept Himself. “This scene is so moving that it defies all attempts at description. The soul alone can try to discern what passed through the mind of Jesus, and weep with Him as a child weeps with its mother, the reason of whose tears it cannot understand. And in truth the tears of Jesus are a mystery to us, so incomprehensible is the love which brought Him from heaven to this vale of tears. He prayed for those who persecuted Him, but it is infinitely more that He should have wept over their misfortunes” (Schegg). Let us try to penetrate the mystery of these tears! He gazed at the Temple, both the erection and the services of which pointed to Him, the Redeemer, whom, in spite of all, this highly favoured city refused to acknowledge! That day was the last day of grace for both city and people. His solemn entry was for them the last warning and the time of visitation; and Jesus knew but too well that this last grace would be passed by, unused, as all the rest had been, and that His chosen people would blindly reject salvation, while hatred and envy of their Saviour filled the hearts of their leaders. Jesus wept therefore 1. over the blindness and obstinacy of the chosen people, for He, the Saviour, was bringing no salvation to the impenitent city which, by its final rejection of Him, would fill the measure of God’s wrath, and draw down on itself speedy and terrible judgment. This knowledge drew bitter tears from Him. He wept 2. over the coming downfall of Jerusalem, and the calamities which its people would bring on themselves; and still more over the eternal woe which would overtake this unfaithful and impenitent city. He therefore wept especially 3. over the eternal loss of so many souls which He had come to save. How very great is the love of the Divine Heart of Jesus, that it should make Him shed bitter tears over those who repaid His love with such ingratitude, and who were ruined by their own fault!

— LVII. THE PARABLE OF THE MARRIAGE-FEAST.

Resistance to grace. We see by the case of the unbelieving city of Jerusalem how possible it is to resist grace.

Sins against the Holy Ghost. The Pharisees and those under their influence envied Jesus on account of the wonderful works which He did, and resisted the known truth that Jesus was the Messias; and thus deliberately persevered in impenitence.

Palm Sunday, with the blessing of palms and its solemn procession, is thus celebrated 1. in memory of our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem; 2. in thankful remembrance of the victory of faith over unbelief; and 3. as a salutary warning to us that we must overcome sin if we desire to enter heaven triumphantly.

APPLICATION. To neglect the hour of grace, and to resist grace are the most terrible of misfortunes. Will you suffer such a misfortune to overtake you? Will you be obstinate, impenitent, and lose your soul? A man’s heart becomes bad little by little, not all at once; and he who in his youth refuses to listen to warnings, and resists God’s grace, is likely to grow up leading an evil life, and is on the high road to obstinacy in sin and final impenitence. Apply this to yourself!

THE PARABLE OF THE MARRIAGE-FEAST

[Matthew 22, 1-14. Luke 14, 1-22]

IN the evening Jesus returned from Jerusalem to Bethania. Next morning, however, He went back to the city and taught in the Temple¹. What grieved Him most was the fickleness of the Jews and their hardness of heart. Wherefore He spoke to them this parable:

“The kingdom of heaven is like to a king who made a marriage² for his son. He sent his servants to call them³ that were invited to the marriage; and they would not come⁴. Again he sent other servants, saying: ‘Tell them that were invited:

¹ The Temple. He cleansed it again of buyers and sellers, driving them out as He had done previously (see chapter XV)

² A marriage. Who provided a bride and a nuptial feast for his son. ³ To call them. To fetch those who had been already invited.

⁴ Would not come. The bride chosen did not please them. They wished the king to choose another.

— LVII. THE PARABLE OF THE MARRIAGE-FEAST

Behold, I have prepared my dinner¹, my beeves and fatlings² are killed and all things are ready; come ye to the wedding.³ But they⁴ neglected and went their ways, one to his farm and another to his merchandise. And the rest laid hands⁵ on his servants, and having treated them contumeliously, put them to death.

“But when the king heard of it, he was angry, and sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city⁶. Then he saith to his servants: Go ye, therefore⁷, into the highways⁸, and as many as you shall find, invite to the marriage. So his servants, going out into the highways, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was filled with guests.

“Then the king went in to see the guests, and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding-garment⁹. He saith to him: ‘Friend, how camest thou in bither not having on a wedding-garment’? But he was silent¹⁰. Then the king said to the waiters: ‘Having bound his hands and feet, cast him into exterior darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth’. For many are called, but few are chosen!”

COMMENTARY.

The Parable of the Marriage-feast. The king signifies God the Father; and therefore his son is the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹ Dinner. The principal meal to the evening. ² Fatings. Fatted poultry. ³ The wedding. Which is fixed without any possibility of change.

⁴ But they. “What does this marriage signify to us?” said they to themselves, and so saying, they went about their various occupations, although the date of the wedding had been fixed for some time, and they might have arranged their business accordingly.

⁵ Laid hands. They looked on the king’s persistence in inviting them to a marriage of which he knew they did not approve, as a personal insult, and showed their resentment by ill-treating and murdering his messengers.

⁶ Their city. It is evident that those invited lived in a town not far from the king’s palace.

⁷ Therefore. In order that the meats may not be wasted.

⁸ The highways. Where usually travellers and tramps are to be found. All were invited indiscriminately, no inquiry being made as to what sort of lives they had led previously.

⁹ Wedding-garment. In the east kings used to provide their guests with wedding-garments, to ensure them all being suitably attired. This man ought to have clothed himself in his wedding-garment, as all the others had done.

¹⁰ He was silent. For he had no excuse to offer. KNECHT, Commentary. 3. ed. — LVI. THE PARABLE OF THE MARRIAGE-FEAST.

The bride is the Church, and the marriage-feast is our Lord’s spiritual union with the Church: the invited guests are those who are called to believe. Those who accept the invitation are those who are spiritually united to our Lord, and who have a share in the treasures of His grace. Those guests who were first invited are the Jews, who were called by God’s servants (i. e. His prophets down to St. John the Baptist) to prepare themselves by penance for the coming of the Messias. They did not obey the call; for a kingdom, the condition of belonging to which was penance, did not please them. Then God, when the work of Redemption was completed, and the Church founded, sent out other servants, namely His apostles and disciples, to warn the Jews that “all things were now ready”, and that now was the time to enter His kingdom. But, sunk as they were in carnal notions, given over to avarice, pleasure-seeking and the love of dominion, the Jews had no relish for the idea of a kingdom of grace and salvation, and paid no heed to the urgent call; and many of them -the Scribes and Pharisees—persecuted, maltreated and killed God’s servants for daring to deliver God’s message. The apostles were imprisoned, scourged &c., and St. Stephen was stoned to death, as you will see. Then Almighty God sent the Roman army to execute His judgments on the ungrateful people. The Romans killed a million of Jews and destroyed and burnt their city of Jerusalem. Then God sent His apostles among the Gentiles who had hitherto been wandering about, faithless and homeless, in the highways of the world, and invited them to the feast. These accepted His invitation, are still accepting it, and will go on doing so till, at the end of time, the Church is “filled with guests”.

In the first part of the parable our Lord relates in a few words the history of His kingdom on earth, the Church militant, up to the time of His return. He foretold that Israel, taken as a whole, would reject the Gospel, and would therefore be rejected by God; but that the Gentiles would believe, and would, little by little, be received into His Church. It is only when the wedding is completely furnished with guests that the real marriage-feast, of which the second part of the parable treats, can take place. Eternal happiness is to be understood by this marriage-feast. This, however, must be preceded by the judgment, which will prove each one, whether he has on his wedding-garment, i. e. sanctifying grace. Whosoever is not found in a state of grace will be shut out of the kingdom of heaven, and cast into the exterior darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Only one man is cited in the parable as being found without a wedding-garment, to show that not even one will escape the test. To obtain salvation it is not enough to believe and to be members of the Church: we must be clothed with, and be able to present, before the judgment-seat of God, the robe of innocence, sanctifying grace, which we received in holy Baptism, and which we must either have preserved, or been re-clothed with in the Sacrament of Penance.

— LVIII. THE TRIBUTE TO C.ESAR.

Hell is a place of punishment into which no ray of grace or glory can penetrate, and which our Lord, therefore, calls a place of exterior darkness. The lost souls are imprisoned; they cannot get free, but are shut in without help and without hope. In hell there is nothing but weeping and gnashing of teeth, pain, rage and despair!

The excuses of sinners. The rejected guest was silent, for he could bring forward nothing in excuse. Here, upon earth, careless Christians are always excusing themselves, both to themselves and to others. But before the judgment-seat of the All-knowing and All-holy God they will have to keep silence.

The despisers of the Church and her ministers. Those who persecute and speak evil of the bishops and priests of the Church, are like those rebels who ill-treated the servants of the king, and who thereby drew down on themselves his anger and vengeance. With such as these Almighty God will hold a strict account, for our Lord has said: “He that despiseth you, despiseth Me!”

Holy Communion is a Feast in which the Divine Saviour entertains Himself with the individual soul. The Church, by her ministers, invites us to this Feast, commanding us to receive Holy Communion once a year at Easter, and urging us to more frequent Communion. He who does not partake of this Feast on earth, will find himself shut out from the marriage-feast in heaven. But only he who has on a wedding-garment, only he who is in a state of grace, may receive the Bread of Angels; for he who presumes to receive Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin, will be cast, if he does not repent, into hell, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.

APPLICATION. Have you a high idea of sanctifying grace? Do you bear in mind what a beautiful garment of the soul it is, and how our Lord recognises his spouses by it? Take care of it as your greatest treasure, and never lose it by mortal sin. The best way to preserve it is to pray and to practise your religion. Never make vain excuses.

Matthew 22:15

THE TRIBUTE TO C.ESAR

[Matthew 22, 15-22. Mark 12, 13. Luke 29, 29]

THE Scribes and Pharisees, understanding that the parable of the marriage-feast was meant for them, hated our Lord more than ever. They went, therefore, and consulted together, how

39* — LIVIL THE TRIBUTE TO CESAR.

they could lay hold of some of His words¹, in order to accuse Him publicly. For this purpose they sent some of their disciples, with the Herodians², to ask Him, by way of satisfying their doubts, whether it were lawful to pay tribute³ to Cæsar, or not. Now, by Cæsar, was meant the Roman Emperor, to whom Judæa was then subject. They thought that, if He answered “Yes”, He would make Himself odious to the Jews, and that, on the other hand, if He answered “No”, He would draw down on Himself the revengeful hatred of Herod and the Romans.

But Jesus, knowing their malice, said: “Why do ye tempt Me, ye hypocrites?⁴ Show Me the coin⁵ of the tribute.” They showed Him a penny (Fig. 82). And He said to them: “Whose

image and inscription is this?” They said: “Cæsar’s”. Then He said to them: “Render, therefore⁶, to Cæsar the things⁷ that are Cæsar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” The messengers could find no opening for

accusing Him, and went away. But again the Pharisees laid a snare for Him. One of them, a doctor of the law, asked Him, tempting Him: “Master, which is the great commandment of the law (i. e. the greatest of the six hundred and thirteen command-

¹ His words. Which they hoped to twist into a means of bringing Him into disfavour either with the populace, or with the state authorities.

² Herodians. These were in favour of the Roman rulers and of Herod their creature, whereas to the Pharisees and to most of the Jews his government was abhorrent. The Herodians and Pharisees were thus political adversaries, but they were united in their hatred of Jesus, and were willing to form an alliance to injure Him.

³ To pay tribute. They prefaced their question with artful flattery. “We know,” said they, “that Thou art a true speaker, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest Thou for any man, for Thou dost not regard the person of man. Tell us, therefore, is it lawful to give tribute to one who is a Gentile”?

⁴ Ye hypocrites. Such did Jesus call them, because they acted as if they had sought Him for the sole purpose of learning the truth as to what was God’s will, whereas their real wicked purpose was to “tempt” Him, or lay a snare for Him. By these words He showed that He penetrated their evil design.

⁵ The coin. In which the tribute was always paid, and on which was the image of the Emperor with his name.

⁶ Render, therefore. For you use coins on which is his image, and therefore practically acknowledge him to be your sovereign, even though your state of subjection be a punishment permitted by God.

⁷ The things. Such as tribute, taxes &c. — XVIII. THE TRIBUTE TO CESAR.

ments)?” This being a point of dispute among the Jewish Scribes, he hoped that, whatever our Lord’s answer might be, He would give offence to some one. Jesus said to him: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like to this (i. e. as great and important): Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law¹ and the prophets”.

COMMENTARY.

Obedience to temporal authority. We are not only allowed, but commanded to obey the authority of the state, and to pay such taxes &c. as are a due; for the authority of the state is ordained by God to protect the lives and property of subjects. If there were no temporal authority, disorder, robbery, murder &c. would be rampant; and, therefore, as the authority of the state exists for the good of subjects, it is the duty of these last to pay those taxes &c. without which it cannot be kept up.

The Worship of God. We are to be equally particular to give to God what is due to Him: faith, hope, love, thanksgiving, worship, and obedience to His commandments.

The Veracity of our Lord. Even His enemies bore witness that He taught in truth. “Master, we know that Thou art a true speaker, and teachest the way of God in truth.” This very testimony condemned them, for, in spite of their saying this, they did not believe what He taught.

Unbelief is, as we see in the case of the Pharisees, untiring in its efforts to find objections to faith, and to forge fresh weapons against the Christian religion, showing its enmity sometimes openly, sometimes veiled under hypocritical flattery. It deals with the Church and the faithful to this day exactly as it dealt with the Divine Founder of the Church.

The two commandments, to love God and to love our neighbour, form, in fact, only one commandment. Without the love of God there can be no true love of our neighbour; and he who does love God must, of necessity, love his neighbour as an image of God.

For the love of God there exists no measure, for we must love Him as much as we can, and more than we love anything else, because He is infinitely worthy to be loved.

The measure of our love of our neighbour is to be found in our love of ourselves, which God has implanted in the heart of each one of us. We are, our Lord says, to love our neighbour as ourselves.

¹ Dependeth the whole law. i. e. even as anything which hangs on a prop falls to the ground, if the prop be removed, so would all other commandments fall, if these two were removed.

— 614 LIN. THE WOES AGAINST THE PHARISEES, AND THE WIDOW’S MITES.

Self-love is, as we have just seen, part of our human nature; but our nature having been corrupted by the Fall, our self-love easily degenerates into a sinful love of self, if it is not limited and regulated by the love of God and of our neighbour.

APPLICATION. Do you love God with all your heart? You will very likely answer: “I do indeed love God! Who could help loving so good a God!” But I ask you: Could you not love Him still more? If you do not love Him with every power that you possess, you do not love Him enough. And how do you show your love for God? Have you a horror and hatred of sin? Would you rather die than commit a mortal sin?