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MATTHEW 21:19 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 21:18Matt 21:20
“And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.”
And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it: may no fruit ever come from you again! And the fig tree withered at once. The fig tree with leaves but no fruit is the prophetic sign of Israel's religious establishment: outward appearance without the fruit of genuine faith and covenant faithfulness. The immediate withering is the enacted prophecy of judgment. Mark's Gospel has the cursing on one day and the disciples' discovery of the withered tree the next; Matthew compresses the timeline.

Church Fathers on Matthew 21:19

A bad man is better overcome by giving way to him than by replying to him; for wickedness is not instructed but stimulated by reproof. The Lord accordingly sought by withdrawing Himself to check those whom His words could not check; whence it is said, 'And He left them, and went out of the city into Bethany.'

Pseudo-Chrysostom · 5th century

Hence it is to be understood that the Lord was in so great poverty, and so far from having courted any one, that He had found in all that city neither entertainer, nor abode, but He made His home in a little village, in the house of Lazarus and his sisters; for their village was Bethany; and it follows, 'and He lodged there.'

Jerome · 4th century

For in permitting His flesh to suffer that which properly pertains to flesh, He foreshews His passion. Mark the earnest zeal of the active labourer, Who is said to have gone early into the city to preach, and to gain some to His Father.

Gloss (Glossa Ordinaria) · medieval compilation · ap. Anselm
Read all 29 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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