He had often entered Jerusalem before, but never with so much at stake. Why were earlier visits different? They came early in the dispensation, when he was not very well known. The time of his Passion had not drawn near. He mixed in without distinction, keeping his identity under wraps. Had he appeared in this mode earlier, he would not have been held in high esteem. He would only have excited them to greater anger. But by now he had given them sufficient proof of his miraculous power. The cross was at the door. He now makes himself more conspicuous. He does not hesitate to do things that were likely to inflame them. All this happens with dramatic impact. It might have been possible for these things to have been done earlier, but it was neither profitable or expedient.

Note carefully how many miracles occurred so quickly. Observe how many prophecies are fulfilled. For example, when he said, You will find an ass^[1] he foretold that no man should hinder them but that all, when they heard, should hold their peace. . . . He had already persuaded many who had never known him before to give up their own property and follow him. The Jews of Jerusalem were hardly persuaded, however, even though some of them were present with him when he worked his miracles.

Two disciples are sent to the village to loosen the ass tied up with its colt and to bring them to him. And should someone ask them why they are doing that, they are to respond that the Lord needs the animals, which must be released to him without delay.

From the previous sermons^[1] we remember that the two sons of Zebedee symbolize the double vocation of Israel. Therefore, now it is fitting to interpret the two disciples sent to release the ass and the colt as the subsequent double vocation of the Gentiles. It applies first of all to the Samaritans, who abandoned the law after their dissent and lived in a state of dependence and servitude. Yet it also applies to the rebellious and ferocious Gentiles.

Therefore the two disciples are sent to loosen those who were bound and arrested by the bonds of error and ignorance. They are sent from Jerusalem, since these vocations originated in that city. On the other hand, it was on the way to Jerusalem that the Zebedees’ mother prayed to the Lord, since it is by the two vocations of the apostles and John, which proceeded from the law, that Israel is saved.

Similarly Samaria (which believed through Philip)^[2] and Cornelius (who was brought to Christ by Peter)^[3] are the first fruits of the Gentiles. The fact that the disciples are instructed to respond, should someone ask them, that the two animals are needed for the Lord and must be released immediately means that the two preachers of the faith according to the gospel have to give themselves to the Lord as his own nation. Therefore the prophecy that announced the Lord’s entering Jerusalem on the ass and colt is fulfilled.^[4]

If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and he will send them immediately. Do not say your Lord or our Lord or the Lord of the beasts of burden, so that they all may understand that I alone am the Lord, not only of animals or only of those who have been set under me but of all humanity, even of those who are against me. For even sinners are mine by right, even though they are the devil’s by their own will. For the world is mine and all its fullness.^[1] Just say, The Lord has need of them, for it is entirely fitting that the brute creature should serve its own Creator.

Into the mystery of future nations, sitting upon an ass and its colt, he entered into the temple. In this way he joined together the nations with the Jews. But knowing as a prophet the wickedness of the Jews, that they would speak against Christ ascending into the temple, he therefore predicted that through this sign the Jews would recognize their own kingdom, saying, Behold, your king comes to you gentle, sitting on an ass and its colt.^[1]

Behold is the word of the one showing. That is, don’t look at your King alone but examine the matter with spiritual intellect. Ponder the works of his virtues, not the external outline of his appearances. For if you look at his outline, you will be disappointed by human nature. If, however, you behold his work, you will be saved by God’s own goodness.

A prophet who stood much earlier, however, observing with spiritual vision him who had not yet been born, was saying behold in order to show that he, about whom it was spoken, already was before he was born. When therefore you see him in the temple, oh Jews, do not wish to act haughtily toward him, saying, By what power do you do these things?^[2] Rather, Behold, your king comes to you gentle, sitting on an ass. Do not consider by what power he does them but only if he is able to do them. Believe. Do not put him to a test. Behold, your king comes to you gentle, sitting on an ass. Do not say, We have no king but Caesar only.^[3] Behold, your king comes to you gentle, sitting on an ass. If you understand, he comes to you. If you do not understand, he will come against you. If you understand, he will come in order to save you and to set the nations under your feet, so that you may say with the prophet, Since God is lofty, terrible and the great king over all the earth, he subjected the peoples to us and the nations under our feet.^[4] He chose us for himself for his inheritance, the image of Jacob, whom he loved.^[5] If, however, you do not understand, he will come to destroy you and to expel you from the temple of holiness, and to take another wife more pure from the nations into his bed of holiness. [Then] you, cast forth and standing in the darkness, may say with Solomon, Do not look at me, since I have been blackened, since the sun has despised me.^[6]

Do you wish to know the gentleness of the one who is coming? Consider the image of his arrival. He does not sit on a golden chariot, shining with priceless purple. Nor is he mounted upon a foaming horse, the lover of discord and quarreling, which has a chest filled with glory’s boasting, which sniffs out war from afar and rejoices at the sound of the war trumpet and, when it sees a bloody battle, says in its own heart, It is well done. Rather, he sits upon an ass of tranquility, a friend of peace.

It is again a prophecy, that of Zechariah, just as that also found in the book of Matthew, which informs us that a donkey’s foal was tied to its mother. For the prophecy reads, Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, shout, daughter of Jerusalem; behold, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation; he himself is humble and mounted on a donkey and on a newly born foal.^[1] Now who doesn’t, while waiting for a righteous king, immediately understand that the Christ is in view, who prefigured likewise the name of Melchizedek, whose name in translation evokes the king of justice?^[2] So the prophet himself does not only say king of justice, but he added and redeemer. He did so in order to indicate, in an additional way through this means, the name of Jesus, which when translated means salvation of God and healing. And he added next, He himself is humble and mounted on a donkey and on a newly born foal. He does so to show in advance he who is written about in the Gospels: Learn of me, for I am gentle and humble of heart.^[3] Now there was never any king, simultaneously just, a redeemer, gentle and seated on a donkey, who came to Jerusalem, unless this is he who alone is King of kings, God and Redeemer, Jesus. He is kind, gentle and abundant in mercy for all those who call upon him,^[4] as it is written.

All of these circumstances surrounding his appearance point to the shape of the future. By means of parabolic signs and by the conditions of present things, the form of the future is here suggested. The Lord is taking possession of the nations! His brightness is approaching! He is occupying the minds of the nations—just as the rider of a beast. He is proclaimed by the entire army of his retinue of patriarchs, prophets and apostles. The patriarchs are spreading their garments, which signify their glory, under the Lord. By their generations, names and struggles, the Lord was prophesied. Going to him with all the ornaments of their own worthiness and scattering themselves under his seat, they will show that all their glory had been laid beneath him in preparation for his coming. The prophets are spreading their own garments under the route of the one who is coming. They predicted this path long ago. They knew that the nations would uphold God. Many had died and offered themselves to stoning. They, in a certain sense, stripped their very bodies and offered their garments upon this path. The apostles are scattering the branches from the cut trees after casting their garments. This is not simply an act of human piety. It might at first seem that the branches might impede the one who is proceeding and might make the journey of the one who is hastening more difficult and entangled. Yet even in this the reasoning of the prophets is preserved and the form of the future announced. These branches are the fruitless nations, or the fruits of the oftentimes faithless nations. These branches are scattered under the route of the Lord by the apostles. They are preparing for the entry of the Savior.

The garments are the divine teachings and spiritual grace. For just a garment covers the disgrace of nakedness, so the teachings of divine grace cover the evils of our flesh. We were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.^[1] Even Adam therefore saw himself naked as a sinner, and so he covered his own nakedness with leaves from a fig tree; that is, with the commands of a harsh law. God is promising his own justice, that he will take his kindness away from the nation of Judea, just as the Lord had said through the prophet Hosea: And I shall take away my garments and linens, I will show your disgrace to the nations.^[2] Therefore they placed their garments over them—that is, they placed over the Jews and Gentiles commands and kindnesses they received from Christ. For Christ would not have been able to rest among them if his commands had not been with them.

Most of the crowd spread their garments; others, however, cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Clearly these garments and trees would be trampled when he comes on the beast of burden. The garments are the commands, just as we said. The leaves, however, are the appearance of piety. Both the commands of the law and the appearances of the Jewish practice were ordered to be treaded upon by Christ on the road. So they spread them then under the feet of the beast of burden on the road. The apostles placed their garments over the beast of burden. The rest of the crowd placed them under the feet of the beast of burden. This means dated legalism is trampled, while the commands of the apostles are spread out. . . .

Yet an entirely different view of this passage is that those who deposited their garments upon the ass are the apostles and teachers. The garments, however, are the beauty and form of glory. Therefore the glory which Christ received from the Father, he gave to his disciples. The disciples, however, receiving it from Christ, gave it to the nations, so that Christ may pleasingly sit among us, just as he himself says: And the glory which you gave to me I have given to them, so that they may be one, just as we also are one.^[1] The crowds, however, who spread their garments on the road, were trusting in circumcision and, upon seeing Christ, cast down the glory that they had from the law. [They are] humbling themselves and saying with the apostle Paul: In accordance with the justice which is from the law, I was converted without complaint, but whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ, and I count it as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ as profit.^[2]

Is this the crowd who would applaud his crucifixion? How was their hatred earned from his grace? Even the words of their commendation pointed to the power of redemption. Hosanna in Hebrew signifies the redemption of the house of David. They are calling upon the Son of David. They are celebrating the inheritance of the eternal kingdom. They are proclaiming blessing in the name of the Lord. Soon their shouting of Crucify him! would be blasphemy. But at present, the deeds he was doing were exhibiting the form of the future. It is granted that the crowd was doing these things with very confused emotions. The things that would follow would be different. Nevertheless they were, inadvertently and without willing it, pointing to heavenly things unfolding. In this way the whole city of Jerusalem was stirred.

Indeed, on the one hand, the fact that the donkey walks on the branches and leaves of palm trees would make it clearly known that not only he who was mounted upon it but also those who would believe in him were going to subdue all their enemies, trample them under their feet and win a glorious victory. For the branches and leaves of palm trees are the emblems of the victory. On the other hand, the fact that the people took off their coats and threw them on the ground was a proclamation—in an immediate and manifest fashion—to speak of what appeared in reality in the events that followed.

Indeed, when these believers were ridding themselves of all they possessed and even of their clothes, which is a sketch in miniature, they were following the gospel of grace. For it is written in the book of Acts that all who were owners of land and houses, when they sold them, took the money from what had been sold and laid it at the feet of the apostles, and one gave to each according to his need.^[1] If this were not so, if there were not things mysteriously prefigured in what was coming to pass, the branches and the clothes would have even become an obstacle for the progress of this donkey, by impeding its feet like nets.

And the crowd that went ahead of him and those that followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David.’ This phrase (namely, Hosanna to the Son of David), in passing from the Hebrew language to the Greek language, is translated as praise, or a psalm, to the Son of David. As for Jesus, it does not suit a man to be honored or praised by a psalm. But such does suit him alone who is by nature God, as it is said: He has placed in my mouth a new song, praise to our God^[2] and I will sing to my God, as long as I live.^[3]

And those who were crying out still added this: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest. And certainly it would have been necessary that those who were praising spoke according to custom: You are the good one who has come. He is like the one who came a first time, or like the ancients greeting the prophet Samuel, asking from the outset, Do you come in peace, O seer?^[4]

For Jesus’ part, the fact that they were crying out Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest (Luke as well added, Peace in heaven and glory in the highest)^[5] is the act of those who proclaim his second coming, by which he will come from the heavens with glory. After his coming he will join by peace earthly things to heavenly things when he will likewise judge all the earth with justice,^[6] and he will bring into the kingdom of heaven those who have lived well. This is why indeed it was also very small children who were praising and crying out like this. They were those who entered into the temple with him, for Jesus himself says, Truly, I say to you, unless you change and become like one of these little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.^[7]

Consider still the branches as bearers of victory, by which those who were acclaiming him were honoring the one who was praised in a manner worthy of God. Therefore the Evangelists wrote that already, when he approached and was ready to descend from the Mount of Olives, the crowd began to welcome him and walk in front of him, to praise him and cut branches from the trees. The Evangelists clearly show that these branches were from olive trees. They had to be olive branches because they were growing on the mountain named the Mount of Olives.

Now the olive plant indicates the reconciliation of God and his loving advent to be with us. He accomplished this not because of our righteousness, which did not even exist, but because of his mercy. In the same way indeed it is a dove holding and carrying in its beak the leaves of an olive tree who likewise signaled the end of the flood in the days of Noah and the ceasing of wrath by the mercy of peace which comes from on high.^[8]

Even when the crowds grasped that something great was happening, their inward thoughts remained uninformed, lowly, unworthy and lacking in understanding. But Jesus did these things in their presence not to display pomp but as I have said, to fulfill prophecy, teach self-denial and to comfort his disciples, who were grieving for his death. He was showing them that he would suffer all these things willingly. Mark well the accuracy of the prophets, how they foretold all these things, some from David’s psalms, some from Zechariah. They had proclaimed them beforehand.

John’s Gospel also reported this, but at the beginning of his narrative. But now in Matthew we are coming to the end of the narrative. Thus it is probable that this was done twice and on different occasions. That there was a first cleansing of the temple and then a second is evident from many evidences. In John’s Gospel he came at the time of the Passover. Here it was before Passover. In John the Jews said, What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this? In Matthew they hold their peace, though reproved, because he was not marveled at among all the population.

If this happened on two different occasions, this becomes a heavier charge against the Jewish leadership. He did it not only once but a second time, and still they continued their buying and selling and called him an adversary of God. They should have learned from the first cleansing to honor his Father and his own power. They could see his works agreeing with his words, and they could behold his miracles. They could hear the prophet pointing to him. They could see the children attesting him in a manner beyond their age. But all this did not persuade them. Instead, they were indignant. So he brings in Isaiah^[1] as their accuser when he says, My house shall be called a house of prayer.

Columns of a temple that are installed in a perfectly upright manner actually grow more stable when more weight is placed on them, but columns which are at first slightly askew only move farther off center with greater weight. Likewise, if a man’s heart is upright, it will be strengthened in wisdom when he sees or hears about the good works of a just man. But the man who begins with a perverse heart will only be provoked to envy and greater perversity by the works of the righteous. In this way also, when the priests of the old covenant saw Christ healing the sick and heard children praising him, they did not thereby come to believe in Christ but were only hardened in their opposition to him, saying, Do you hear what they are saying? . . .

But Jesus said to them, ‘Have you not read: out of the mouth of infants and sucklings you brought perfect praise?’ ^[1] It is as if he had asked rhetorically, Am I to blame because the children cry out my praise, or is it my fault that the prophet foretold this event so many thousands of years ago? If we bear in mind how the Gospel said above that the crowds which preceded him and followed him were shouting,^[2] we can understand that they are called infants because of the simplicity of their hearts, not with respect to their age, for literal infants and sucklings can neither understand anything nor give praise. Similarly they were called sucklings because their cries of praise arose from the delight they took in Christ’s wondrous works, as though in the sweetest milk, for it is written, I have lifted up my soul, like a child at its mother’s breast.^[3] Milk represents the working of miracles, but bread is the teaching of perfect justice, as the apostle says: My preaching was not with persuasive words of wisdom but in the manifestation of the Spirit and power.^[4] And again: I was not able to speak to you as spiritual persons but as people of the flesh; like the children in Christ you are, I gave you milk, not solid food.^[5] Every first introduction to the faith, consisting of simple doctrine, is called milk because it can be assimilated without a great deal of laborious chewing and because it tastes sweet, just like milk. Neither do miracles require much labor from those who witness them. Moreover they are sweet to behold and provide a winsome invitation to faith. Bread, on the other hand, signifies the teaching of that more perfect justice which no one can assimilate without exerting a great deal of mental effort on spiritual matters, for whoever hears it will need to meditate on it within himself and to analyze it, as though grinding it up with spiritual teeth.

Hearing even the children proclaiming, the disciples were ready to stifle them. They remarked, Do you hear what they are saying? Jesus said to them, Yes. The children were singing to him as to God. Since the disciples were speaking against things being revealed, he applies his corrective more in the way of reproof: Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and infants you have brought perfect praise’?^[1] For what the children were saying had not reached to their level of understanding. So of his power he gives articulation to their tongues, which are as yet immature.

Their voices were a prototype of the lisping of the Gentiles of the gospel.^[2] They were sounding forth great things of faith. The apostles found consolation in this. For they had already been perplexed as to how even the unlearned should be able to publish the gospel. But now they were already finding that the children were anticipating them. The children removed all their anxiety, teaching them that God would grant them utterance, who made even these little ones to sing praises.

This showed that he is Creator of nature. The children, although of immature age, uttered things that had a clear meaning in accordance with testimony from above. But others thought them only to be teeming with frenzy and madness. For such is the nature of wickedness.

So his detractors found many things to provoke them: the multitude, the cleansing out of the buyers and sellers from the temple, the miracles, the children. He once again departs from them, giving room to their swelling frustration, not yet willing to begin seriously his own teaching, lest boiling with envy they should be all the more displeased at what he would say.

How could he who is truly God be hungry in the morning? He is found in human form, so this flesh has ordinary human feelings.

It was not his will to exhibit his anger upon men. Rather upon the plant he furnished the proof of his might in taking vengeance. But when such things are done, whether to places, or to plants, or to brutes, do not be overly curious about the divine will. Do not say, Was it just that the fig tree withered? especially if it was not yet the time of figs. This sort of question is the utmost trifling.^[1] Just behold the miracle and admire and glorify the worker of it.

And seeing a fig tree alongside the path, he approached it and found nothing on it except leaves. The fig tree represents the synagogue, for the great many seeds dwelling within one rind of the fig tree is like the great many faithful men living in the one house of the synagogue, as it is written: God who causes them to dwell single-mindedly in one house.^[1] Observe how the leaves of the fig tree are formed to resemble human hands. The greenness of its leaves is like the mere appearance of holiness among men who are full of religious words but lack the fruit of good works. The sentient tree then [is] the religious person who professes to be a man of God but fails to perform works of righteousness. [He] is like a leafy tree which bears no fruit, concerning whom the apostle prophesied: In the last days there will be lovers of self, lusting after money, arrogant, prideful, disobedient to their elders, preferring their own will over the will of God, having the appearance of piety but denying its power.^[2] . . . The path along which the fig tree was discovered represents the world. Christ was unable to find any fruit among the Jews because they had been living alongside the world, which is to say that they had been living according to the world. The world is the common path along which everyone travels who has ever been born, as we indicated in our treatment of the parable of the sower. The faithful man, then, the sentient tree, will never be able to bear the fruits of righteousness if he lives in proximity to the world.

It was not because Christ cursed it that the tree produced no fruit; instead, because the tree first produced no fruit, Christ cursed it to ensure that it would produce no leaves. Likewise, it wasn’t because God abandoned them that the Jews squandered his righteousness; rather, because they failed to produce the fruits of righteousness, God abandoned them to ensure that they would not have the appearance or reputation of righteousness. Just as it would have been better had there never been a tree at all than for there to have been a tree which produced no fruit according to its kind, so also would it have been better had there never been a man of God than for there to have been a man of God who did not live in accordance with God. If those who are not yours in the first place fail to obey you, you suffer nothing. You will suffer severely, however, if the one who belongs to you despises you and serves another instead. In this way, God’s wrath was not kindled nearly as much by the fact that people who were strangers to him openly served the devil as it was by the sight of his own possession doing the devil’s will.

Now in order to convey this truth^[1] the Lord acted prophetically. By this I mean that in reference to the fig tree, it was not his will merely to exhibit a miracle but rather through this sign to convey an intimation of that which was to come. He often taught and persuaded us by such means. So even when our wills resist, he persuades us and brings us to faith.

We first ask how was it the tree’s fault that it had no fruit? Even if it had no fruit in its proper season, its season of mature fruit, still the tree would bear no fault. For the tree is without sense and reason, so it could not be blamed. But to this perplexity is added another, which we read in the narrative of the other Evangelist who expressly mentions this: It was not the time for that fruit.^[2] For this was the time when the fig tree was just shooting forth its tender leaves, which come, as we know, long before the fruit. This sequence has a spiritual meaning. The time for fruit was soon coming with the day of the Lord’s Passion, which was at hand. And so to make this clear, the Evangelist, to his credit, notes that the time of figs was not yet. So then, if it was only a miracle that was being demonstrated and not something to be prophetically prefigured, it would have been much more worthy of the clemency and mercy of the Lord if he had found a withered tree and restored it to life. This would seem more in accord with his healing of the sick, cleansing lepers and raising the dead.

But to the contrary, as though against the ordinary rule of his charity, he found a green tree, not yet bearing fruit, even before its fruit-bearing season but still awaiting the hope of fruit, and what does he do? He withers it straight away! This is a prophetic anticipation of things soon to come, by which he in effect says to us: I have no delight in the withering away of this tree. By doing so I want to convey to you that I am not acting absurdly but for a lesson you might take more seriously. It is not this literal tree that I have cursed. It is not on an insensible tree that I have inflicted punishment. Rather, I have made you fear, whoever you are who considers this matter, that you should not fail Christ when he is hungry and that you might hope to be in the coming season of fruit than to be in the preparatory season of leaves. . . .

Therefore, beloved, I must tell you and teach you according to my poor abilities that which the Lord has given me for your benefit. I must convey to you what you may hold as a rule in the interpretation of all Scripture. Everything that is said or done is to be understood either in its literal signification, or else it signifies something figuratively; or it may contain both of these at once, both its own literal interpretation and a figurative signification also. . . .

Thus Christ, wishing to convey this lesson to us, wanted us to produce fruit and in this way set forth for us a figurative fiction which is not a deceiving fiction but a fiction worthy of praise.

Jesus is referring here to an invisible mountain, one which produces fruitless trees, a rocky and rough place where there are steep cliffs, caves and overhanging crags, not fit for human habitation but only for beasts. There are no level fields in it for resting peacefully, but the ground is rising or falling away because, among those who stand against the devil, some rise and some fall. The devil is called a mountain, not because of the height of his worthiness, like the holy angels, but because of the size of his prideful ego; not on account of the constancy of his virtue but on account of his immovable and incorrigible malice. Remove this mountain from the midst of the saints, where there is faith, hope and charity, where there are fields of peace and beautiful fountains of doctrine, where meadows abound with the dew of grace, where holy birds adorn a perpetual springtime with their songs. And be cast into the sea. That is, into this world, where the water is brackish and worthless, which is to say that the people are evil and add nothing to the glory of God; even the sweet rivers of every spiritual grace which flows into them are unable to purify them. Instead, their brackishness spoils the sweetness of the rivers of grace flowing into the sea of this world, where there are perilous battles between conflicting spirits and where the powerful always rule.

That you might learn that it was for the disciples’ sakes that this was done, that he might train them in confidence, listen to what he said afterward: You also shall do greater things, if you are willing to believe and to be confident in prayer.^[1] All this was done for their sakes, that they might not be afraid and tremble at plots against them. He repeated this to enable them to cleave to prayer and faith. For you shall not only do this, but you shall also remove mountains; and many more things you shall do, being confident in faith and prayer.

And whatever you ask in prayer with faith, you will receive. God gives the grace of faith, but humanity nourishes and strengthens it. Faith then causes one to abstain from evil and to do good works. The more you abstain from evil and follow the good, the stronger you will make your faith. The less you abstain from evil, however, and the more you neglect good works, the weaker your faith will become.

Prior to this, the Pharisees had seen many things more worthy to be called great miracles, but now they were deeply troubled and asked Jesus to identify the authority by which he performed these works. The great mystery of the future is included in the consequences of present deeds. They felt the urge for special questioning, then, because the prefiguration of every danger was made known in this event. The Lord replied that he would tell them by what authority he did these works if only they would also reply to his question about whether they considered John the Baptist to have come from heaven or from man. They hesitated while pondering the dangers of responding. If they confessed John to have come from heaven, they would be convicted by that very confession for not believing in the authority of a heavenly witness. They were afraid to say that he was merely from man, however, because of the large crowd of people who believed John to be a prophet. So they answered that they did not know (they did in fact know him to be from heaven) because they feared that they might be convinced by the truth of their own confession. But they told the truth about themselves, even though it was their intention to deceive; it was only through their infidelity that they did not know John the Baptist to be from heaven. And they could not have known that John the Baptist was from man, because he was not.

Knowing their irreformable evil, the Lord asked them an entirely rhetorical question, not that they might understand it and respond but that they should be hindered from interrogating him further, for he had commanded, Do not give what is holy to the dogs,^[1] and it was not fitting that what the Lord commanded should be violated. But it would have profited them nothing, even if he had answered directly, since a darkened will cannot discern what is of the light. What good is it to show something beautiful to a blind man? Spiritual blindness consists of an evil heart, and evil people are not able to understand the mystery of devotion any more than the blind can gaze upon the splendor of the light. When a stealthy hunter sees a place to dig a trap, he also raises a net adjacent to it so that wherever the prey he is seeking to capture attempts to flee, it will either be caught in the net or fall into the pit. Likewise, the Lord set a trap for the chief priests and elders by means of his simple question, in such a way that if they professed John to have come from heaven, he would be able to ask them, Why, then, did you not believe him? But if they replied that John was of the world, they would thereby have run into the danger of being stoned to death by the people, as though fleeing into a hunter’s trap. It was proper that the Lord teach his interrogator and weaken his tempter in whatever way he could and confound the cleverness of his reproach with rational arguments, while not making known the truth of his own mystery. The Lord did virtually the same thing elsewhere to the devil, who had cited against him a scriptural text without understanding it: For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will hold you in their hands, lest your foot stumble on a rock.’ ^[2] The Lord did not respond, That is not what this Scripture means. Rather, he left the devil ignorant of the true meaning of the text and instead refuted him with another, clearer passage from Scripture in order to confound the devil’s arrogance without revealing the prophetic mystery.

They answered Jesus, saying, ‘We do not know.’ And he said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.’ He did not say, Neither do I know. It was as if he had said, You know the truth because you are men, but you deny it because you are evil; I know it because I am God, but I will not tell you because you are unworthy. Liars will lie to themselves if they have no one to deceive. Similarly truth will keep itself pure if it finds no one to save.

In answering Jesus that they did not know, the chief priests and elders lied. Consequently it would have been appropriate for the Lord to respond by saying, Neither do I know. The truth cannot lie, however, so he replied instead, Neither will I tell you. By this he shows both that they knew the answer but were unwilling to say it and that he also knows the answer but will not speak it because they remained silent. Immediately, then, he tells a parable designed to convince them of their own sinfulness and of the necessity that the kingdom of God be transferred to the Gentiles.

Who is this if not the God who created all people and loves them with a fatherly affection, the God who preferred to be loved as a father rather than feared as a lord, even though he was Lord by nature? On this account, at the beginning of the commandments of the law, he did not say, You shall fear the Lord with all your heart but you shall love the Lord with all your heart.^[1] To elicit love is not characteristic of a lord but of a father.

Of the two sons in this parable, the older one represents the Gentiles, since they come from their father Noah. The younger son represents the Jews, who come from Abraham. And approaching the first, he said, ‘Son, go and work today in my vineyard.’ Today refers to this present age. How did he speak to his sons? He didn’t address them face to face like man, but he spoke to the heart, like God. Man only utters words to the ear, but God supplies understanding to the mind.

What does it mean to work in the vineyard? To work in the vineyard is to do justice. We noted above that the vineyard is the justice that God has planted generally in the nature of all people but more particularly in the Jewish Scriptures. Each vine in the vineyard represents a different type of justice, and each person, according to his individual virtues, produces either more or fewer vines. I do not know of anyone, however, who is sufficient to work the entire vineyard.

And he said, ‘I will not.’ How did he say, I will not? He said it in his thoughts, for whoever understands the difference between good and evil and abandons the good to follow evil seems to be rebelling against the Lord in his thoughts; for I will not is spoken against the faculty of the intellect, which was created by God for himself. No one would ever have been able to sin unless he had first said in his heart I will not, as the prophet indicates: Injustice speaks within him that he might sin.^[1] The pagans, who abandoned God and his justice from the beginning and converted to the worship of idols and to a life of sin, seem to have rebelled in their thoughts, as though they had said, We will not do the justice which we learned from you.

Approaching the other, Jesus asked the same thing, and he replied, ‘I will go,’ but he did not go. When the Jewish people, represented here by the younger son, were asked both by Moses and by John the Baptist, as though God were speaking through each of them, they promised that they would do everything the Lord commanded. Afterwards, however, they turned away and lied to God, as the prophet had foretold: Foreign sons deceived me.^[2]

Which of these two did the will of the Father? They replied, ‘the first.’ Notice how, as we have already said above, attracted by the truth of the parable, they turned its meaning against themselves when they said that the first son, who represented the pagan Gentiles, had done the will of the father. It is better to do the righteousness of God without promising to do so than it is to promise and then to renege.

The first son represents the people who are from the Pharisees. Urgently admonished by God through the prophecy of John to conform themselves to his commandments, they remained insolent, disobedient and contemptuous to God’s warnings.^[1] They put their faith in the law and despised repentance from sin, glorying instead in the noble prerogative that they had from Abraham. Later they came to believe through the miracles worked by the apostles after the resurrection of the Lord, and, having returned by a faithful act of the will to evangelical works, they repented and confessed the guilt of their former insolence.

The second son represents the group of publicans and sinners who later returned to the sinful state in which they lived at the time. They were instructed by John to expect salvation from Christ and to be baptized and to believe in him. When the Lord says in the parable that the second son did not go as he promised to do, he shows that these people believed John. But because they were not able to receive the teaching of the gospel through the apostles until after the Lord’s Passion (for it was then that the mysteries of human salvation were to be accomplished), they did not go. He didn’t say that they refused to go but simply that they did not go. Their failure to go does not make them guilty of disbelief, because to do so would have been very difficult. Therefore it is not that the second son did not want to do immediately what he was ordered to do but rather that he was unable to do it. His will is shown free from guilt by the obstacles of the circumstance.

If he had said simply, harlots go before you, the word would have seemed to them to be offensive. But now, uttered after their own judgment, it appears to be less harsh.

Therefore he adds also another accusation: John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. John came to you, he says, not to them. You cannot find fault with him, as if he were some careless person of no value. His life was irreprehensible. His care for you was great, and yet you did not pay attention to him.

The word they go into the kingdom before you is not meant to emphasize that some were following but as having a hope, if they were willing. For nothing so much as jealousy rouses our passions. Therefore he is forever saying things like the first shall be last and the last first.^[1] Thus he mentioned here both harlots and publicans that they might provoke them to jealousy. Taken together these two represent chief sins engendered by violent lust: the one of sexual desire, the other of the desire of money.

You who are priests, because you know the commandments of Scripture and hold positions of leadership among the people, should have been the first to believe in Christ as an example to the people. Not only did you fail to believe in him, but even after you saw that the publicans and prostitutes believed in him, you were neither ashamed nor repentant. The publicans and prostitutes, whom no one expected to believe, did in fact believe, but you who appeared to be followers of every commandment persisted in your impudence, refusing to repent and believe or even to follow the example of those for whom you ought to have provided an example. Are we to believe that you did not believe in Christ because you were more sinless than those who did believe in him? Quite to the contrary, you did not believe because you were more contemptuous of God, more arrogant, lovers of vainglory, hard-hearted, wanting neither to lead them in faith nor to follow them. Truly great shame has come upon the priesthood and on the whole clergy when the laity can be found more faithful and more just than they are.^[1]

And with this there is also still another charge. The publicans were attentive and repented, but even after the publicans and harlots had believed, you did not believe. You should have repented long before they did. But you did not do it. So you are deprived of all excuses. How unspeakable was both the praise of the one and the charge against the other: He came to you, and you did not receive him. He did not come to them, and they received him! And you did not even learn from their example. Note in how many ways he shows that some are to be commended and others charged, but in surprising ways, reversing expectations. To you he came first, not to them. You did not believe. They were not offended. They believed. This did not profit you at all.

The Lord’s teaching can be paraphrased as follows: Even if John had not come to you ‘in the way of righteousness’ but had only preached a baptism of repentance, you should have believed him as priests and wise men who judge impartially and in accordance with the facts, for what relevance is the preacher’s way of life to his student? If he lives wickedly, he alone is damned, but if he teaches truthfully, the benefit redounds to everyone who hears him. Even so, however, John came to you in a ‘way of righteousness’ so clearly manifest that his exemplary conduct and angelic life pierced even the hearts of publicans and prostitutes and converted them with fear and trembling to the faith. Yet he did not affect your hearts at all. You can see then that publicans and prostitutes are rightly said to ‘precede you into the kingdom.’