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MATTHEW 21:20 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 21:19Matt 21:21
“And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!”
When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying: how did the fig tree wither at once? The disciples' amazement at the immediate withering is the occasion for the teaching on faith and prayer that follows. The how did it wither at once is the question that opens the space for Jesus' answer about mountain-moving faith.

Church Fathers on Matthew 21:20

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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