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MATTHEW 21:32 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 21:31Matt 21:33
“For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”
For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. The application of the two-sons parable to John's ministry: the chief priests and elders who received John's message did not believe it; the tax collectors and prostitutes who were not expected to believe it did. The even when you saw it — even when they witnessed the transformation in the lives of those who responded to John — they still did not change their minds. The sealed heart that refuses the evidence is the fully-hardened heart.

Church Fathers on Matthew 21:32

Thus much prefaced, the Lord brings forward a parable, to convict them of their irreligion, and shew them that the kingdom of God should be transferred to the Gentiles.

Jerome · 4th century

Those who are to be judged in this cause, He applies to as judges, that condemning themselves they might be shewn to be unworthy to be acquitted by any other. It is high confidence of the justness of a cause, that will entrust it to the decision of an adversary. But He veils the allusion to them in a parable, that they might not perceive that they were passing sentence upon themselves; 'A certain man had two sons.' Who is he but God, who created all men, who being by nature…

Pseudo-Chrysostom · 5th century

Whence we may gather, that in this parable the Lord spoke to such as promise little or nothing, but in their works shine forth; and against those who promise great things but do none of these things that they have promised.

Origen · 3rd century
Read all 16 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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Matthew 21:32 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy