Глава XXI

Matthew 21:1–3. And when He drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them: Go to the settlement that is in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt near her; untie them and bring them to Me. And if someone tells you something, then say that the Lord has need of them and will soon release them 450. He leaves Jericho, bringing out as large a crowd of people as possible and, having restored health to the blind, approaches Jerusalem, showered with many good wishes; Having given salvation to believers, He wants to enter the city of peace and the place of contemplation of God, and the fortress appointed to keep an eye on 451 [the enemy - arcem speculatorii]. And when He approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, that is, to the “house of jaws” (it was a settlement of priests, a model of confession, and was located on the Mount of Olives, where the light of knowledge was concentrated and where there was rest from labors and sorrows). He sent two of His disciples, speculative (θεορητικόν) and active (έργαστικόν), that is, “knowledge” and “action,” to enter the settlement, and said to them: “Go to the settlement that is in front of you.” 452 Indeed, it was before the apostles [that is, hostile to them] and did not want to accept the yoke of teaching, “and immediately you will find,” he says, “a donkey tied and a colt near her; untie them and bring them to Me" 453 The donkey was tied with many bonds of sins. And the frisky colt and not bearing the reins with his mother, according to the Gospel of Luke (Luke 19:30), had many masters as not being subject to one error and teaching: and yet many masters, who had acquired inadmissible power, seeing the true Lord and the slaves who came from Him, sent to untie him, did not dare to resist. What this donkey and this foal are, we will say in a further speech. Matthew 21:4–5. And all this happened in such a way that the prediction of the prophet was fulfilled, who says: Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold, your King is approaching you, meek, sitting on a donkey and a colt born from one who bore a yoke. 454 This is written in the book of the prophet Zechariah, which we will write about more fully in its place, if time of life allows us. Now it is necessary to briefly touch upon the fact that, in the literal sense, on a small crossing (in parvo itineris spatio) He could not sit on both animals. In fact, either He was sitting on a donkey, then the colt was without a rider; or He used the colt to mount - which seems more likely - then the donkey was led free. Since the direct meaning (historia) thus presents to us either something impossible or seductive (turpitudinem), we are transferred to something more sublime in order to understand that this yoke-ridden ass, enslaved, carrying the burden of the law, is the synagogue [or the people of the Jews]; and the colt, playful and free, are the heathen nations on which Jesus sat; To these two He sent His two disciples: one to the circumcision, and the other to the Gentiles. Matthew 21:6–7. The disciples went away and did as Jesus commanded them. And they brought a donkey and a colt and put their clothes on them and set Him on top. 455 This colt and this donkey, on which the apostles placed their clothes so that Jesus would not sit hard, were naked and shivering from the cold before the coming of the Savior, while many seized power over them. And after they received the apostolic garments, they became more beautiful in order to have the Lord sitting on them. The apostolic garment must be understood either as a teaching about virtues, or as an interpretation of the Scriptures, or as a variety of church dogmas, with which the soul, if it is not instructed and adorned, will not deserve to have the Lord seated on it. Matthew 21:8. Many people spread their clothes along the road. Here you can see the difference in each face. The apostles lay their clothes on the donkey, and the less important crowd throws them at the donkey's feet, lest he somehow bump into a stone, step on sharp thorns, or slip into a rut. And others cut branches from trees and spread them along the road. Branches were cut from fruitful trees and scattered along the path - from the trees with which the Mount of Olives was lined - in order to make the spoiled path good and to equalize the unequal, and thus Christ, the conqueror of demons and vices, would enter the hearts of believers with greater convenience and ease. Matthew 21:9. The crowds that went ahead and those that followed [Him] exclaimed, saying: Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest! 456 Since the direct meaning (historia) is clear, we will try to discover the spiritual meaning. The crowds that came out of Jericho and followed the Lord and His disciples, after they had taken away the untied colt - which had previously been tied - and adorned with the clothes of the apostles, and the Lord sitting on it, threw away their clothes and littered the road with tree branches. And when they finished doing all this (opere fecissent), they gave their testimony with their voices: preceding and following Him, they not with meek and quiet confession, but very loudly declare (plenissimo clamore): “Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest” And the words of the evangelist: “The crowds that went before and those that followed behind” show that both the one and the other people, that is, those who believed in the Lord before the Gospel, and those who believed after the Gospel, unanimously and unanimously in confession praise Jesus, and according to the example shown in the above parable about the makers of the various clocks, they receive the same reward for their faith. Further, what the following words mean: “Hosanna to the Son of David”, as far as I remember, I said many years earlier in a short letter to Damasus, at that time the Bishop of Rome, and now I will briefly touch on it. In the One Hundred and Seventeenth Psalm, which was undoubtedly written regarding the coming of Christ, among other things we also read the following: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner: this is from the Lord, and is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad on it!” And then he immediately adds: “Oh, Lord, save me! Oh, Lord, make haste! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord,” and so on (Ps. 117:22-26). Instead of what the Seventy Interpreters have ώ Κύριε, σώσον δή, that is, “O Lord, save,” in Hebrew we read: appa Adonai [lehova] osianna (אנא יהןה הןשיעהנא), which is more Symmachus clearly translated with the words: “I beg you earnestly, Lord, save me, I beg you earnestly.” So, let no one think that this word is composed of two words, namely: from Hebrew and Greek; it is all completely Jewish and has the meaning that the coming of Christ is salvation for the world. Therefore, the following words follow: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” The Savior also confirms this in the Gospel: “I came in the name of My Father, and you do not receive Me; But if another comes in his own name, you will receive him” (John 5:43). Also, the added word “Hosanna,” that is, “salvation in the highest,” clearly shows that the coming of Christ is the salvation not only of people, but of the whole world, connecting earthly with heavenly: “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth” (Phil. 2:10). Matthew 21:10–11. And when He entered Jerusalem, the whole city began to stir, and they said: Who is this? And the people said: This is Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. When Jesus and all the crowds entered the city of Jerusalem, the city began to move, marveling at the multitude, not knowing the truth, and saying: “Who is this?” Elsewhere we read that the angels also say: “Who is this King of glory?” (Ps.23:8). While others doubted or asked questions, the simple crowd confessed Him; starting from the smaller, she moves on to the larger and says: “This is Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.” That prophet about whom Moses proclaimed that 457 one like him would come, and who in Greek is written with the member itself (άρθρώ). And from Nazareth of Galilee because He was raised there, so that the flower of the fields is brought up on the flower of virtues. Matthew 21:12–13. And Jesus entered the church of God and drove out all those selling and buying in the church, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and said to them: it is written: “My house will be called a house of prayer”; and you made it a den of robbers. Accompanied by a crowd of believers, who spread their clothes along the way so that the colt could walk without hurting his legs, 458 Jesus enters the church and drives out everyone who was selling and buying in the church: he overturned the tables of those who exchanged coins and scattered the seats of the sellers of doves and told them - citing the testimony of Scripture (Is. 56, 7) - that His father's house should be a house of prayer, and not a den of thieves or a house trade transactions (Jer.7, 11). This is also written in another Gospel (John 2:16). Regarding this place, first of all, you need to know that, according to the prescription of the law, in this holiest church of the Lord in the whole world, where people flocked from almost all the countries of Judea, countless sacrifices were made, especially on holidays, of rams, bulls and goats; while the poor, in order not to be left without sacrifices, brought chicks, pigeons and turtle doves. In most cases it was the case that those who came from afar did not have sacrificial animals. Thus, the priests figured out how to take booty from the people, and began to sell on the spot all kinds of animals needed for sacrifices, so that at the same time they supplied the poor, and themselves again received back what was sold. But such transactions often turned out to be unsuccessful due to the lack of buyers, who themselves needed funds and did not have not only sacrificial gifts, but even the means to buy birds and cheap gifts. Therefore, [the priests] stationed there also coin exchangers, who, under guarantee, lent money [to the needy]. But since it was prescribed by law (Lev. 25, 36; Deut. 23, 19) that no one should take interest and therefore could not use money given at interest, for they not only did not give any profit, but could even be lost; Therefore, they invented another method, the so-called “collivists” (Collybistas). The Latin language has no expression to convey the meaning of this word. They called colliva what we call tragemata, that is, small cheap gifts [gifts], for example: roasted peas, raisins and apples of various kinds. Thus, the Collivists, not being able to take interest when giving money at interest, took in return various objects, so that what was not allowed [to be taken] in the form of money, they demanded in objects that were purchased for money, as if this was not what Ezekiel preached when he said: “Do not take interest and what is more than you owe.” (Ezek.22:12) 459 “The Lord, seeing in His Father’s house this kind of transaction, or robbery, prompted by the ardor of the spirit, - according to what is written in the Sixty-eighth Psalm: “Zeal for Your house consumes me” (Ps.68:10), made himself a scourge of ropes and drove out a large crowd of people from the church with the words: “It is written: My house will be called house prayers, and you made it a cave of robbers.” 460 Indeed, a robber is a person who makes a profit out of faith in God, and he turns the church of God into a cave of robbers when his service turns out to be not so much service to God as monetary transactions. This is the direct meaning (juxta historiam). And in a mysterious sense, the Lord daily enters the church of His Father and casts out everyone, both bishops, presbyters and deacons, and the laity, and the entire crowd, and considers both those who sell and those who buy equally criminal, for it is written: “Freely you have received, freely give.” He also overturned the coin changers' tables. Pay attention to the fact that due to the love of money of the priests, the altars of God are called tables of coin exchangers. And he overturned the benches of those selling doves, [that is] selling the grace of the Holy Spirit and doing everything to devour the people under their control, about whom He says [or: it is said]: “Who devour My people like food of bread” (Ps. 13:4). 461 According to the simple meaning, the pigeons were not on seats, 462 but in cages; Only pigeon sellers could sit on the seats. And this is almost meaningless, because the concept of seating (cathedra) refers primarily to the dignity of teachers, which comes to nothing when mixed with profits. Let everyone understand what we said about the Churches in relation to himself, for the Apostle says: “You are the church of God, and the spirit of God lives in you” 463 Let there be no trading transactions in the house of our heart, neither selling nor buying, nor greed for gifts, lest Jesus enter in severe wrath and cleanse our church only with the help of a scourge, to make it a house of prayer from a cave of thieves and from a house of trade. Matthew 21:14. And the blind and the lame came to Him in the church, and He healed them. If He had not overturned the tables of coin-changers and dove-sellers, the blind and lame would not have deserved to be restored to sight and to regain the ability to walk. Matthew 21:15. 464 When the chief priests and scribes saw the miracles that He performed, and the children shouting in the church and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant and said to Him, “Do you hear what they say?” Many people think that the greatest of the signs is that He raised Lazarus (John 11), or that the blind man received sight (lumen) from his mother's womb (John 9), or that the voice of the Father was heard on the Jordan (Matthew 3), or that, having been transfigured on the mountain, He showed the glory of His triumph (Matthew 17). To me, among all the signs that He created, it seems most amazing that one man - at that time despised and so humiliated (vilis) that he was later nailed to the cross - while the scribes and Pharisees were breathing anger against Him, seeing how their assumptions about benefits were upset, could, with the blows of one whip, scatter such a great multitude of people, overthrow tables, destroy benches and do something else that was not would have been done by a large (infinitus) army. Indeed, from His eyes came a certain fiery, star-like ray, and the greatness of the Divine shone on His face. And since the priests did not dare lay hands on him, they slander his deeds and turn the testimony of the people and children, who exclaimed: “Hosanna to the Son of David,” into dishonor, because this was precisely said only in the appendix to the Son of God. So, let bishops and any holy people see with what great danger they can allow this exclamation to be applied to themselves, even if the Lord, to whom alone this exclamation is applied in the real meaning of the word, is blamed. Matthew 21:16. Jesus says to them: Yes! Have you never read: “From the mouths of babes and sucklings You have ordained praise”? How moderately He adapts [His] judgment, at one time giving an answer and condemning their slander. He did not say, as the scribes expected, that the children do well, thus giving evidence of Me, but He did not say that the children are mistaken and that you must forgive them for their [young] age: they are children. No (sed)! He gives the testimony of the Eighth Psalm, so that the saying of the Scriptures will confirm the testimony of the children, while the Lord is silent. Matthew 21:17. And leaving them, He withdrew beyond the gates of the city to Bethany, and remained there. 465 He left the unbelievers and left the city of contradictions, and went to Bethany, which means: “house of obedience,” even then prefiguring the calling of the pagans, and he remained there because he could not remain among Israel. This can also be understood in the sense that He was so poor and did not want to flatter anyone so much that He did not find a single hospitable host or a single dwelling in the big city; and stayed in a small settlement with Lazarus and his sisters, for Bethany was the village in which they lived. Matthew 21:18–20. On the morning [of the next day], returning to the city, He became hungry. And seeing a fig tree along the road, he approached it and found nothing on it, only some leaves. And he said to him: May no fruit be born from you forever; and the fig tree immediately withered. And seeing [this], [His] disciples were surprised, saying: How did it dry up immediately? 466 After the dispersal of the darkness of the night, after the spread of the morning rays and at the approach of noon, when the Lord was to enlighten the world by His suffering 467, returning to the city [Jerusalem], He felt hunger, either demonstrating the reality of [his] human nature, or experiencing a strong desire [esuriens - as if a strong hunger] for the salvation of the believers and suffering from the unbelief of Israel. And when I saw one tree (by which we mean the synagogue and the Jewish congregation) near the road: for the synagogue had the law and therefore was as if by the way; since she did not believe in the Way, He comes to her, standing motionless and without the feet of the Gospel, and He found nothing on her except only leaves, that is: the rustling of promises, the tradition of the Pharisees, [their] boasting of the law and beautiful words without any sign of the fruits of the truth. Therefore, another evangelist says: “The time was not yet” (Mark 11:13), either in the sense that the time for the salvation of Israel had not yet come, since the people of the pagans had not yet entered, or in the fact that the time of faith had already passed, because, having first come to him and having met contempt from him, the Savior withdrew to the pagan nations. And he said to him: “Let no fruit be born from you ever,” 468 or: “in eternity,” for the Greek word αίών [or: αίώνα ] has both meanings; and the fig tree dried up, not having the food that the Lord wanted from it to eat; the leaves dried out so that only the trunk remained. After the branches fall away, the root will gain strength [or: will live], this root at the very last time, if it wants to believe, it will give off shoots of faith, and the Scripture will be fulfilled, which says: “There is hope for the tree” (Job 14:7). 469 And according to the literal meaning, the Lord, who must 470 suffer among the nations and bear the burden of the temptation of the cross, had to first confirm the souls of the disciples with a sign. That is why the disciples are surprised and say: “How did it dry up immediately?” 471 Thus, the Savior could have dried up His enemies with the same power, if he had not expected their salvation through repentance. Matthew 21:21–22. Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea,” it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer with faith, you will receive. The pagan dogs cry out against you, in their scrolls (books), left in memory of their own wickedness, claiming that the apostles did not have faith, because they could not move mountains. To this we will answer them that, according to the testimony of the Gospel of John, the Lord did many signs, which, if written down, the world could not contain (John 21:25). This does not mean that the world could not contain it, because, no matter how numerous they are, it is possible even for one cabinet or drawer; this means that the world could not bear their content due to the greatness of the signs and its unbelief. Therefore, we believe that the apostles did this too, but this is not written down for the purpose of not giving unbelievers more reason for controversial objections. On the other hand, let us ask them whether they believe in those miracles about which there is a written report or not? When we see that they do not believe, we can consistently conclude that they will not believe anything else. It's against them. However, we, as we said earlier, by mountain we mean the devil who is proud and boastfully rebels against His Creator: even the prophet calls him a corrupt mountain. And when he takes possession of the human soul, and [so to speak] takes root in it, then by the apostles and those who are like the apostles, he can be moved into the sea, that is, into salty, wavy and bitter places that do not have any divine sweetness. The same thing is read in the psalms. Let us not be afraid when the earth is in turmoil and the mountains are carried into the depths [cor, heart] of the sea (Ps. 45:2). Matthew 21:23. And when He came into the church and taught, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him and said: By what authority are You doing this? and who gave you such power? In only other words (diversis verbis) they weave the same blasphemy as before, namely: when they said: “By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, He casts out demons.” For when they ask: “By what authority are You doing this?” They doubt the authority of God and want it to be implied that the devil owns what He does; they also add: “Who gave you such power,” clearly denying the Son of God when they think that He works miracles not with His own, but with the powers of others. Matthew 21:24–27. [beginning of 27th]: Jesus answered and said to them, “I will also ask you one thing; If you tell Me about this, then I will tell you by what authority I do this. Where did the Baptism of John come from: from heaven, or from men? They reasoned among themselves: if we say: “from heaven,” then He will tell us: “Why didn’t you believe him?” And if we say: “from men,” we are afraid of the people, for everyone reveres John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus: We do not know. This is what the common people call: “A bad nail or wedge must be driven into a bad branch of a tree” 472. With an open answer, the Lord could reject the blasphemy of the tempters; but He puts 473 a wise question before them, so that by their silence or answer they condemn themselves. Indeed, if they had answered that John’s baptism was from heaven (which they had foreseen with experience), then the next question would have been: “Why were you not baptized by John?” And if they wanted to say that it was invented by human deception and had nothing Divine in it, then they should have been afraid of the people; for the whole multitude of the people in their entirety accepted the baptism of John and thus recognized him as a prophet. Therefore, the most wicked crowd gave an answer, they used the word of humility, saying that they “do not know,” in order to adapt themselves to the answer to a dangerous question for themselves. Matthew 21:27. [end of 27th]: He also said to them: And I will not tell you by what authority I do this. They told a lie with their answer about ignorance. Corresponding to their answer, the answer should also come from the Lord: “And I do not know.” But Truth cannot tell lies, that’s why He said: “And I will not tell you.” By this He showed that they also know, but do not want to answer, and He knows, but does not speak because they are silent regarding what they know. Immediately then He adds a parable, with which he denounces them and shows that the Kingdom of God must be transferred to the pagans. Matthew 21:28–31. [beginning of 31st]: What do you think? one man had two sons; and he, approaching the first one, said: “Son! Go and work in my vineyard today.” But he answered: “I don’t want to”; and then, repenting, he left. And going up to the other, he said the same thing. This one said in response: “I’m coming, sir”; and didn't go. Which of the two fulfilled the will of the father? They tell Him: first. Jesus tells them. [compare: Luke 15] - These are the two sons who are described in the parable of the Gospel of Luke, that is, the prudent (fragi) and the dissolute, and about whom the prophet Zechariah speaks: “I will take for myself two rods, and I will call one favor, the other chains, and with them I will feed the sheep” (Zechariah 11:7). 474 Under the name of the first, it is said about the pagans with an indication of the natural law: “Go, work in My vineyard,” that is, do not do to others what you do not want to happen to you (Tov.4:15). 475 And he proudly answered: “I don’t want to.” Afterwards, after the coming of the Savior, he repented, he worked in the vineyard of God and corrected the stubbornness found in his word with his work. And by the second we mean the son - the Jewish people, who answered Moses: “Whatever the Lord says, we will do” (Ex. 24:3) 476 and did not go into the vineyard, because, having killed the Son of the householder, he considered himself an heir. Others think that this is a parable not about pagans and Jews, but simply about sinners and righteous people, because the Lord later resolves the question in the same sense. Matthew 21:28–31. [end of 31st]: “Truly I say to you, tax collectors” (tax collectors) “and harlots are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God.” because they, having refused to serve God through evil deeds, upon repentance, received baptism from John. But the Pharisees, who preferred righteousness and boasted of fulfilling the commandments of the law, rejected the baptism of John and fulfilled the commandments of God. Therefore He says: Matthew 21:32. For John came to you in the way of righteousness; and you did not believe him, but the publicans and the harlots believed him; But you, having seen this, did not repent afterwards to believe him. Further words: “Which of the two fulfilled the will of the father?” 477 and the answer to them: “The last”, are not, you should know, in the original lists, but in them there is: “the first,” so they are condemned by their own court. But if we wanted to read: “the last one,” then the meaning of this place is obvious: we can say that in fact the Jews understood the true meaning [of the parable], but they use cunning and do not want to say that they understand; just as they did not want to speak out about the baptism of John, although they knew that it was from heaven. Matthew 21:33. Listen to another parable: There was a man, a householder, who planted a vineyard and surrounded it with a fence, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and gave it to the farmers, and went far away. 478 This is what the Lord designated, borrowed from the proverb: “It is difficult to go against a prick” (Acts 9:5). The high priests and elders of the people asked the Lord: “By what authority are You doing this, and who gave You such authority?” and those who wanted to catch Wisdom in words are overcome by their own art and listen, under images and parables, to what they do not deserve to hear openly. This householder is the same one who had two sons and who, as another parable says, brought workers into his vineyard. He planted a vineyard, which Isaiah speaks about in great detail in his song, concluding with the words: “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel” (Is. 5:7). And the psalm says: “You brought the vine out of Egypt, drove out the nations, and planted it (Ps. 79:9). And he surrounded it with a fence,” that is, either with a city wall, or with angelic armies, and “he dug a winepress in it,” that is, either he built an altar, or those winepresses, the name of which is designated by the three psalms: the eighth, the eightieth and the eighty-third, “and he built a tower”; there is no doubt that this is the church, which is spoken of through Micah: “And you are a tower touching the clouds, the daughter of Zion” (Mic. 4:8), 479 and gave it to the farmers, whom in another place he called cultivators of the vineyard, who were taken in the first, third, sixth, ninth and eleventh hours (Matthew 20); and “went far away.” This is not a matter of changing places, for God, with whom all things are filled, can Is it possible not to be present somewhere? He also says through Jeremiah: “I am the Lord who approaches and not from afar, says the Lord (Jer. 23:23). But He seems to be moving away from the vineyard in order to give the winemakers complete freedom in their work. Matthew 21:34–36. When the time for [gathering] the fruits approached, he sent his servants to the farmers so that they would receive his fruits. And the farmers, seizing his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned the third. Again he sent more slaves than before; and they did the same. 481 He gave them a law and in it ordered them to cultivate the vineyard, so that in the works of the law they would find fruit. After this, He sent slaves to them, whom they captured, either beat, like Jeremiah, or killed, like Isaiah, or stoned, like Naboth (1 Kings 21:14) and Zechariah, whom they killed between the altar and the church (2 Chronicles 24:21). Let's read Paul's letter to the Hebrews (Heb. 11:33-39), and from it we will learn in detail which of the Lord's servants suffered and how much. Matthew 21:37–38. And at the very last time he sent his son to them, saying: They will receive my son with fear. The slaves, seeing their son, said to each other: “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and take possession of his inheritance.” 482 In the words quoted above: “Again he sent more slaves than before; and they did the same, 483 the householder shows patience in sending more to call the evil workers to repentance: but they stored up wrath for themselves for the day of wrath (Rom. 2:5). 484 The words then added: “They will receive My son with fear” 485 do not come from ignorance [of the future]. Indeed, what does the householder, who in this place means God the Father, not know? However, it is often said about God that He doubts whether free will can be preserved in man. Let's ask Arius and Eunomius. It is said about the Father [in the parable] that He does not know and keeps His judgment and, as far as you understand, He [seemed] to have allowed a lie. But whatever they answer us regarding the Father, let them understand the same about the Son, who says that he does not know the day of the end of the world. Matthew 21:39. And they seized him, took him out of the vineyard and killed him. And the apostle says that outside the city [outside the gates] Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross (Heb. 13:2). We can also understand differently that He was thrown out of the vineyard and killed there, namely: in order to transfer the vineyard to others when the pagans accepted Him. Matthew 21:40–41. So, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do with these vinedressers? They say to Him: These evildoers will be put to an evil death, and the vineyard will be given to other vinedressers, who will give him the fruit in their own time. The Lord asks them not because he does not know what they will answer, but so that they will be condemned by their own answer. And the vineyard was handed over to us and handed over on the condition that we render the fruit to the Lord at the proper time, and know at every moment what we should either say or do. Matthew 21:42. Jesus says to them: Have you never read in the Scripture: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner: this is from the Lord, and is marvelous in our eyes”? 486 The same truths (res) are combined with different parables and different sayings. Those whom He previously called laborers, winemakers and farmers, He now calls builders, that is, masons. Therefore, the apostle says: “You are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9). So, these masons, just as winemakers receive a vineyard, receive a stone that should have been laid either in the foundation, like the builder Paul, “in the same place,” or in a corner, so that it would connect two walls, or two nations (Eph. 2:14) and which was rejected by them; but he became the head of the corner. And this was from the Lord, not by human strength, but by God’s power. The Apostle Peter also speaks quite confidently about this stone of support: “The stone which the builders rejected, but which became the head of the corner” (1 Pet. 2:7). And the prophet Isaiah, “Behold,” he says, “I lay a stone for the foundation in Zion, a tried stone, a corner stone, precious, firmly established: he who believes in it will not be put to shame” (Is. 28:16). 487 Matthew 21:43. Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who bear the fruits thereof. Repeatedly in another place I have already said that by the Kingdom of God the Jews should understand 488 the Holy Scriptures, which the Lord took away from them and handed over to us so that we would bear their fruit. This is the vineyard handed over to farmers and winemakers; those who do not labor in this vineyard, if they have only the name of the 489 Scriptures, will lose the fruit of the vine. Matthew 21:44. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him. It is another thing to offend Christ with evil deeds, and another thing to reject Him. He who sins and yet believes in Him, indeed, falls on a stone and is crushed, but is not ultimately crushed, for through repentance he is preserved unto salvation. But the one on whom He falls, that is, on whom the stone itself will fall and who completely renounces Christ, will be crushed so that not a piece will remain from which a drop of moisture could be collected. Matthew 21:45–46. And hearing His parables, the high priests and Pharisees understood that He was talking about them. And they tried to seize Him; but they were afraid of the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet Although they were hard-hearted and, due to unbelief and wickedness, unresponsive to the words of the Son of God, they could not deny the open instructions and understood that the judgments of the Lord were directed against them. For this reason, they really wanted to kill Him, but they were afraid of the crowd, because the people saw Him as a prophet. The crowd is always mobile and does not insist on the accepted intention: it, like waves, is carried away by the movement of the wind this way and that. Against the One whom those who are part of it reverence and call a prophet, they subsequently shout: “Crucify, crucify Him” (John 19:6). In the translation: The Gospel of Matthew - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them: go to the village that is right in front of you; and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her; untie, bring to Me; and if anyone says anything to you, answer that the Lord needs them; and he will send them forthwith” – ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “Go to the village that is right in front of you” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “a donkey tied and a colt with her; untie, bring to Me” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “Nevertheless this happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, who says: “Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold, your meek King is coming to you, sitting on a donkey and the colt of a donkey, the son of the yoke” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “The disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them: they brought a donkey and a colt and put their clothes on them, and He sat on top of them - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “The people who preceded and accompanied exclaimed: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest” – ed. In the lane: I walked with an uninjured leg - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “You take growth and interest” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: it is written: “My house will be called a house of prayer”; and you made it a den of robbers” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “They who eat My people as they eat bread” - ed. The translator provides a link to: 1 Cor 6:15; 2 Cor 3:16. According to the new Synodal Russian translation of 1 Cor 6:15: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” According to the new Synodal Russian translation, we are talking, rather, about 1 Cor 6:19: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you, which you have from God, and you are not your own?” 2 Cor 3:16-17 “When they turn to the Lord, then this veil is removed. The Lord is the Spirit" - ed. Gives a different breakdown into verses than in the new Synodal Russian translation of the Gospel. – ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “And, leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “In the morning, returning to the city, he became hungry. And, seeing a fig tree along the road, he approached it, and, finding nothing on it except some leaves, he said to it: Let there be no fruit from you henceforth forever. And the fig tree immediately withered. When the disciples saw this, they were surprised and said, “How did the fig tree immediately wither?” – ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “Let there be no fruit from you forever” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “There is hope for the tree” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “How did the fig tree immediately wither?” – ed. This, it seems, is something similar to the Russian: “They knock out a wedge with a wedge” - (Translator’s note). The text of the “Interpretation” states (Zech. 11, 8) -ed. According to the new Synodal translation: “What you hate, do not do to anyone” - ed. According to the new Synodal translation: “We will do everything that the Lord has said” - ed. According to the new Synodal translation: “Which of the two fulfilled the will of the father?” – ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “Listen to another parable: there was a certain owner of a house who planted a vineyard, surrounded it with a fence, dug a winepress in it, built a tower and, having given it to winegrowers, went away - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “And you, tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “Am I God only near, says the Lord, and not God far away?” – ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “When the time for fruit approached, he sent his servants to the winegrowers to take their fruits. The vinedressers seized his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than before; and they did the same to them” – ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “Finally, he sent his son to them, saying: They will be ashamed of my son. But the vinedressers, seeing their son, said to each other: This is the heir; let's go, kill him and take possession of his inheritance - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “Again he sent other servants, more than before; and they did the same to them” – ed. From the translator according to the old Synodal Russian translation: “wrath on the day of wrath” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “They will be ashamed of my son” - ed. The text references verse 2 – ed. You might be interested in: