“He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.”
He answered them: when it is evening, you say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. Jesus' response uses the weather-reading capacity of the sign-seekers against them: they can read the sky's signs but not the signs of the times. The irony is sharp: the people who are demanding a sign from heaven already know how to read signs from heaven when the stakes are merely meteorological.
Church Fathers on Matthew 16:2
As the Lord sent the multitudes away after the miracle of the five loaves, so also now, not on foot, but by boat, that the multitudes may not follow Him; 'And He sent away the multitude, and entered into a ship, and came into the coasts of Magedan.'
Mark says Dalmanutha; no doubt the same place under a different name; for many copies of the Gospel according to Mark have Magedan.
This Magedan is the country opposite Gerasa, and is interpreted 'fruits,' or 'a messenger.' It signifies a garden, of which it is said, 'A garden enclosed, a fountain sealed,' [Song of Songs 4:!2] wherein the fruits of virtues grow, and where the name of the Lord is announced.
Read all 16 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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