Matthew 21:46 — Community Reflections

MATTHEW 21:46 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.”

And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet. The fear of the crowds prevents the arrest that the chief priests and Pharisees want: the political calculation that governs their every move is still governing. The crowds who hold Jesus to be a prophet (verse 11) are the same crowds who prevent the religious establishment from acting against him in the open. The public constraints will require the private conspiracy of chapter 26.

Church Fathers on Matthew 21:46

Hard as were the hearts of the Jews in unbelief, they yet perceived that the Lord’s sentence was directed against themselves.
Jerome · 4th century

Here is the difference between good and bad men. The good man when taken in a sin has sorrow because he has sinned, the bad man is grieved not because he has sinned, but because he is found out in his sin; and he not only does not repent, but is indignant with him that reproved him. Thus they being taken in their sins were stirred up to still greater wickedness; 'And they sought to lay hands on him, but feared the multitude, because they took him for a Prophet.'
Pseudo-Chrysostom · 5th century · in fin. Hom. xxxix

One thing they know which is true concerning Him; they esteemed Him a Prophet, though not understanding His greatness in respect of His being the Son of God. But the rulers feared the multitude who thought thus of Him, and were ready to fight for Him; for they could not attain to the understanding which the multitude had, seeing they thought nothing worthy concerning Him.
Origen · 3rd century

Read all 5 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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