For I say unto you, you shall not see me again, till you shall say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
All Commentaries on Matthew 23:39 Go To Matthew 23
John Chrysostom
AD 407
For he who having seen many sinning yet remains uncorrected, but rather does the same or worse, is obnoxious to heavier punishment.
The Lord next turns to address the city, desiring to instruct His bearers thereby. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem:” this repetition of the name is a mark of compassion and intense love.
Foreseeing the destruction of the city, and the blow it would receive from the Romans, He called to mind the blood of the saints which had been, and should yet be, shed in it. Thou killedst Esaias who was sent unto thee, and stonedstmy servant Jeremias; thou dashedst out the brains of Ezechiel by dragging him over stones; how shalt thou be saved, which wilt not suffer a physician to come nigh thee?And He said not, Didst kill and stone; but,“Killest,” and “Stonest;” that is, This is a common and natural practice withthee to kill and stone the saints. She did to the Apostles the same things which she had once done to the Prophets.
Then He threatens the punishment of which they were ever in fear, to wit, the overthrow of the city and temple, saying, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”.
As the body, when the spirit departs, first becomes cold, and then decays and decomposes; so also your temple, when God’s Spirit shall have withdrawn, shall be first filled with strife and anarchy, and after shall come to ruin.
