Ver. 19. And the Chief Priests and the Scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.20. And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him to the power and authority of the governor.21. And they asked him, saying, Master, we know that you say and teach rightly, neither accept you the person of any, but teach the way of God truly:22. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or no?23. But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, Why tempt you me?24. Show me a penny. Whose image and superscription has it? They answered and said, Caesar’s.25. And he said to them, Render therefore to Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and to God the things which be God’s.26. And they could not take hold of his words before the people: and they marveled at his answer, and held their peace.
Cyril: It became indeed the rulers of the Jews, perceiving that the parable was spoken of them, to depart from evil, having been thus as it were warned concerning the future. But little mindful of this, they rather gather a fresh occasion for their crimes. The commandment of the Law restrained them not, which says, The innocent and righteous men you shall not slay, but the fear of the people checked their wicked purpose. For they set the fear of man before the reverence of God. The reason of this purpose is given, for they perceived that he spoke this parable against them.
Bede: And so by seeking to slay Him, they proved the truth of what He had said in the parable. For He Himself is the Heir, whose unjust death He said was to be punished They are the wicked husbandmen who sought to kill the Son of God. This also is daily committed in the Church when any one, only in name a brother, is ashamed or afraid, because of the many good men with whom he lives, to break into that unity of the Church’s faith and peace which he abhors. And because the chief priests sought to lay hold of our Lord but could not by themselves, they tried to accomplish it by the hands of the governor; as it follows, And they watched him, etc.
Cyril: For they seemed to be trifling, yet were in earnest, forgetful of God, who says, Who is this that hides his counsel from me? For they come to Christ the Savior of all, as though He were a common man, as it follows, that they might take him in his speech.
Theophylact: They laid snares for our Lord, but got their own feet entangled in them. Listen to their cunning, And they asked Him, saying, Master, we know that you say and teach rightly.
Bede: This smooth and artful question was to entice the answerer to say that he fears God rather than Caesar, for it follows, Neither accept you the person of any, but teach the way of God truly. This they say, to entice Him to tell them that they ought not to pay tribute, in order that the servants of the guard, (who according to the other Evangelists are said to have been present,) might immediately upon bearing it seize Him as the leader of a sedition against the Romans.
And so they proceed to ask, Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? For there was a great division among the people, some saying that for the sake of security and quiet, seeing that the Romans fought for all, they ought to pay tribute; while the Pharisees, on the contrary, declared, that the people of God who gave tithes and first fruits, ought not to be subject to the law of man.
Theophylact: Therefore it was intended, in case He said they ought to give tribute to Caesar, that He should be accused by the people, as placing the nation under the yoke of slavery, but if He forbade them to pay the tax, that they should denounce Him as a stirrer up of divisions to the governor.
But He escapes their snares, as it follows, Perceiving their craftiness, he said to them, Why tempt you me? Show me a penny. Whose image and superscription has it?
Ambrose: Our Lord here teaches us, how cautious we ought to be in our answers to heretics or Jews; as He has said elsewhere, Be you wise as serpents.
Bede: Let those who impute the question of our Savior to ignorance, learn from this place that Jesus was well able to know whose image was on the money; but He asks the question, that He might give a fitting answer to their words; for it follows, They answered and said, Caesar’s. We must not suppose Augustus is thereby meant, but Tiberius, for all the Roman kings were called Caesar, from the first Caius Caesar. But from their answer our Lord easily solves the question, for it follows, And he said to them, Render to Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and to God the things which be God’s.
Titus: As if He said, With your words you tempt me, obey me in works. You have indeed Caesar’s image, you have undertaken his offices, to him therefore give tribute, to God fear. For God requires not money, but faith.
Bede: Render also to God the things which be God’s, that is to say, tithes, first fruits, offerings, and sacrifices.
Theophylact: And observe that He said not, give, but return. For it is a debt. Your prince protects you from enemies, renders your life tranquil. Surely then you are bound to pay him tribute. Nay, this very piece of money which you bring you have from him. Return then to the king the king’s money. God also has given you understanding and reason, make then a return of these to Him, that you may not be compared to the beasts, but in all things may walk wisely.
Ambrose: Be unwilling then, if you would not offend Caesar, to possess worldly goods. And you rightly teach, first to render the things which be Caesar’s. For no one can be the Lord’s unless he has first renounced the world. Oh most galling chain! To promise to God, and pay not. Far greater is the contract of faith than that of money.
Origen: Now this place contains a mystery. For there are two images in man, one which he received from God, as it is written, let us make man in our own image: another from the enemy, which he has contracted through disobedience and sin, allured and won by the enticing baits of the prince of this world. For as the penny has the image of the emperor of the world, so he who does the works of the power of darkness, bears the image of Him whose works he does, He says then, Render to Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, that is, cast away the earthly image, that you may be able, by putting on the heavenly image, to render to God the things which be God’s, namely, to love God. Which things Moses says God requires of us. But God makes this demand of us, not because He has need that we should give Him any thing, but that, when we have given, He might grant us this very same gift for our salvation.
Bede: Now they who ought rather to have believed such great wisdom, marveled that in all their cunning they had found no opportunity of catching Him. As it follows, And they could not take hold of his words before the people: and they marveled at his answer, and held their peace.
Theophylact: This was their main object, to rebuke Him before the people, which they were unable to do because of the wonderful wisdom of His answer.
Ver. 27. Then came to him certain of the Sadducees which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him,28. Saying, Master, Moses wrote to us, If any man’s brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed to his brother.29. There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children.30. And the second took her to wife, and he died childless.31. And the third took her; and in like manner the seven also: and they left no children, and died.32. Last of all the woman died also.33. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? for seven had her to wife.34. And Jesus answering said to them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage:35. But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:36. Neither can they die any more: for they are equal to the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.37. Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.38. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live to him.39. Then certain of the Scribes answering said, Master, you have well said.40. And after that they durst not ask him any question at all.
Bede: There were two heresies among the Jews, one of the Pharisees, who boasted in the righteousness of their traditions, and hence they were called by the people, "separated;" the other of the Sadducees, whose name signified "righteous," claiming to themselves that which they were not. When the former went away, the latter came to tempt Him.
Origen: The heresy of the Sadducees not only denies the resurrection of the dead, but also believes the soul to die with the body. Watching then to entrap our Savior in His words, they proposed a question just at the time when they observed Him teaching His disciples concerning the resurrection; as it follows, And they asked him, saying, Master, Moses wrote to us, If a brother, etc.
Ambrose: According to the letter of the law, a woman is compelled to marry, however unwilling, in order that a brother may raise up seed to his brother who is dead. The letter therefore kills, but the Spirit is the master of charity.
Theophylact: Now the Sadducees resting upon a weak foundation, did not believe in the doctrine of the resurrection. For imagining the future life in the resurrection to be carnal, they were justly misled, and hence reviling the doctrine of the resurrection as a thing impossible they invent the story, There were seven brothers, etc.
Bede: They devise this story in order to convict those of folly, who assert the resurrection of the dead. Hence they object a base fable, that they may deny the truth of the resurrection.
Ambrose: Mystically, this woman is the synagogue, which had seven husbands, as it is said to the Samaritan, You had five husbands, because the Samaritan follows only the five books of Moses, the synagogue for the most part seven. And from none of them has she received the seed of a hereditary offspring, and so can have no part with her husbands in the resurrection, because she perverts the spiritual meaning of the precept into a carnal. For not any carnal brother is pointed at, who should raise seed to his deceased brother, but that brother who from the dead people of the Jews should claim to himself for wife the wisdom of the divine worship, and from it should raise up seed in the Apostles, who being left as it were unformed in the womb of the synagogue, have according to the election of grace been thought worthy to be preserved by the admixture of a new seed.
Bede: Or these seven brothers answer to the reprobate, who throughout the whole life of the world which revolves in seven days, are fruitless in good works, and these being carried away by death one after another, at length the course of the evil world, as the barren woman, itself also passes away.
Theophylact: But our Lord shows that in the resurrection there will be no fleshly conversation, thereby overthrowing their doctrine together with its slender foundation; as it follows, And Jesus said to them, The children of this world marry, etc.
Augustine: For marriages are for the sake of children, children for succession, succession because of death. Where then there is no death, there are no marriages; and hence it follows, But they which shall be accounted worthy, etc.
Bede: Which must not be taken as if only they who are worthy were either to rise again or be without marriage, but all sinners also shall rise again, and abide without marriage in that new world. But our Lord wished to mention only the elect, that He might incite the minds of His hearers to search into the glory of the resurrection.
Augustine: As our discourse is made up and completed by departing and succeeding syllables, so also men themselves whose faculty discourse is by departure and succession make up and complete the order of this world, which is built up with the mere temporal beauty of things. But in the future life, seeing that the Word which we shall enjoy is formed by no departure and succession of syllables, but all things which it has it has everlastingly and at once, so those who partake of it, to whom it alone will be life shall neither depart by death, nor succeed by birth, even as it now is with the angels; as it follows, For they are equal to the angels.; For as the multitude of the angels is indeed very great, yet they are not propagated by generation, but have their being from creation, so also to those who rise again, there is no more necessity for marriage; as it follows, And are the children of God.Theophylact: As if He said, Because it is God who works in the resurrection, rightly are they called the sons of God, who are regenerated by the resurrection. For there is nothing carnal seen in the regeneration of them that rise again, there is neither coming together, nor the womb, nor birth.
Bede: Or they are equal to the angels, and the children of God, because made new by the glory of the resurrection, with no fear of death, with no spot of corruption, with no quality of an earthly condition, they rejoice in the perpetual beholding of God’s presence.
Origen: But because the Lord says in Matthew, which is here omitted, You do err, not knowing the Scriptures, ask the question, where is it so written, They shall neither marry, nor be given in marriage? for as I conceive there is no such thing to be found either in the Old or New Testament, but the whole of their error had crept in from the reading of the Scriptures without understanding; for it is said in Esaias, My elect shall not have children for a curse. Whence they suppose that the like will happen in the resurrection. But Paul interpreting all these blessings as spiritual, knowing them not to be carnal, says to the Ephesians, You have blessed us in all spiritual blessings.
Theophylact: Or to the reason above given the Lord added the testimony of Scripture, Now that the dead are raised, Moses also showed at the bush, as the Lord said, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. As if he said, If the patriarchs have once returned to nothing so as not to live with God in the hope of a resurrection, He would not have said, I am, but, I was, for we are accustomed to speak of things dead and gone thus, I was the Lord or Master of such a thing; but now that He said, I am, He shows that He is the God and Lord of the living. This is what follows, But he its not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. For though they have departed from life, yet live they with Him in the hope of a resurrection.
Bede: Or He says this, that after having proved that the souls abide after death, (which the Sadducees denied,) He might next introduce the resurrection also of the bodies, which together with the souls have done good or evil. But that is a true life which the just live to God, even though they are dead in the body. Now to prove the truth of the resurrection, He might have brought much more obvious examples from the Prophets, but the Sadducees received only the five books of Moses, rejecting the oracles of the Prophets.
Chrysostom: As the saints claim as their own the common Lord of the world, not as derogating from His dominion, but testifying their affection after the manner of lovers, who do not brook to love with many, but desire to express a certain peculiar and especial attachment; so likewise does God call Himself especially the God of these, not thereby narrowing but enlarging His dominion; for it is not so much the multitude of His subjects that manifests His power, as the virtue of His servants. Therefore He does not so delight in the name of the God of heaven and earth, as in that of in God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now among men servants are thus denominated by, their masters; for we say, ’The steward of such a man’, but on the contrary God is called the God of Abraham.
Theophylact: But when the Sadducees were silenced, the Scribes commend Jesus, for they were opposed to them, saying to Him, Master, you have well said.
Bede: And since they had been defeated in argument, they ask Him no further questions, but seize Him, and deliver Him up to the Roman power. From which we may learn, that the poison of envy may indeed be subdued, but it is a hard thing to keep it at rest.
Ver. 41. And he said to them, How say they that Christ is David’s son?42. And David himself said in the book of Psalms The Lord said to my Lord, Sit you on my right hand,43. Till I make your enemies your footstool.44. David therefore calls him Lord, how is he then his son?
Theophylact: Although our Lord was shortly about to enter on His Passion, He proclaims His own Godhead, and that too neither incautiously nor boastfully, but with modesty. For He puts a question to them, and having thrown them into perplexity, leaves them to reason out the conclusion; as it follows, And he said to them, How say they that Christ is David’s son?
Ambrose: They are not blamed here because they acknowledge Him to be David’s Son, for the blind man for so doing was thought worthy to be healed. And the children saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, rendered to God the glory of the highest praise; but they are blamed because they believe Him not to be the Son of God. Hence it is added, And David himself says in the book of Psalms, The Lord said to my Lord. Both the Father is Lord and the Son is Lord, but there are not two Lords, but one Lord, for the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. He Himself sits at the right hand of the Father, for He is coequal with the Father, inferior to none; for it follows, Sit you at my right hand. He is not honored by sitting at the right hand, nor is He degraded by being sent. Degrees of dignity are not sought for, where is the fullness of divinity.
Augustine: By the sitting we must not conceive a posture of the human limbs, as if the Father sat on the left and the Son on the right, but the right hand itself we must interpret to be the power which that Man received who was taken up into Himself by God, that He should come to judge, who at first came to be judged.
Cyril: Or, that He sits on the Father’s right hand proves His heavenly glory. For whose throne is equal, their Majesty is equal. But sitting when it is said of God signifies a universal kingdom and power. Therefore He sits at the right hand of the Father, because the Word proceeding from the substance of the Father, being made flesh, puts not off His divine glory.
Theophylact: He manifests then that He is not opposed to the Father, but agrees with Him, since the Father resists the Son’s enemies, Until I make your enemies your footstool.
Ambrose: We must believe then that Christ is both God and man, and that His enemies are made subject to Him by the Father, not through the weakness of His power, but through the unity of their nature, since in the one the other works. For the Son also subjects enemies to the Father, in that He glorifies the Father upon earth.
Theophylact: There fore He asks the question, and having excited their doubts, leaves them to deduce the consequence; as it follows, David therefore calls him Lord, how is he then his son?