“And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?”
And in the morning, it will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. The signs of the times — the healings, the exorcisms, the teaching, the feeding miracles — are the evidence of the kingdom's arrival. Those who can read the sky's colors to predict the weather cannot read the evidence of the kingdom's presence. The selective blindness is the judgment on those who interpret the visible world with skill but refuse to interpret the spiritual world.
Church Fathers on Matthew 16:3
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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