And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.
All Commentaries on Matthew 11:1 Go To Matthew 11
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And it came to pass, &c. He passed from thence: That means, He separated Himself from His Apostles, whom He sent to preach the Gospel by themselves, both that they might prepare the way for Christ who was about to follow them, and that they might make trial of themselves and their courage in this Mission, being separated from their Master. What the Apostles did when thus sent forth by Christ, S. Matthew is silent upon, but S. Luke relates it ( Luke 9:6), and so does S. Mark (6:12).
That they should teach and preach in their cities: i.e, in the cities of the Jews and the Galilans, to whom He sent them. Note the Hebraism here. For the Heb. frequently leaves unexpressed the antecedent of the relative, or demonstrative pronoun, but leaves it to be understood from the circumstances of the case by the reader or hearer. There are similar instances to be found in Psalm 99:8, 2 Samuel 17:24, &c.
When John had heard in the prison, Vulg. in chains. When He had heard from his disciples, as Luke says ( Luke 9:18), from whence it is equally plain that there is here a hysterlogia, and that what S. Matthew here relates concerning John , from the2to the20th verse, happened before the Mission of the Apostles, to which he himself referred.
In chains, Syr. in the house of those who are bound, that is when Herod had shut him up because he reproved his adultery with Herodias.
John then, a little before his martyrdom, sent these disciples to Christ in the thirty-second year of Christ"s age, which was the second year of His preaching, when He was becoming famous by His doctrine and miracles, that they might learn from Himself that He was the very Messiah, or Christ, that when John was dead they might go to Him. For otherwise they might have made a schism from Christ, and preferred John as their master to Christ. For that they thought more highly of John than of Christ is plain from Matthew 9:14. As therefore the runners in the Stadium hand on the lamp to the runner who succeeds them in the course, so did John -when he had fulfilled his office and ministry, resign it to Christ. And, as the dayspring dies away into the rising sun, so did John pale before Christ. For John was the morning star of the sun of righteousness. Wherefore, not only did he not envy Christ His rising glory when his own was setting, but rejoiced at it. Yea, he desired to set, that Christ might arise, for he was ambitious not of his own glory, but of God"s and Christ"s glory. Wherefore he said, "It behoveth Him to increase, but me to decrease."
And saith, &c. He that should come, Gr.ÏŒ ε̉Ïχόμενος, the coming one, namely, that great Prophet, the Redeemer of Israel, the Saviour of the World, the Messias promised by all the Prophets, and most ardently longed for by the Fathers, who at this time, now that the prophecies concerning Hirn are fulfilled, is by all looked for as coming. He alludes to the prophecy of the Patriarch Jacob, "The sceptre shall not be taken away from Judah," &c. Genesis 49:10.
From these words of John , Tertullian (De Baptism, c10) and Justin (Quest38 ad Orthodox) think that John doubted concerning Jesus whether He were the Christ or not, but falsely, for John had already seen the Spirit descending upon Him in the form of a dove, and had heard the Father"s voice saying, This is my beloved Son. And John had already given the clearest testimony to Him, when he said, Behold the Lamb of God.
Others think that John did not doubt whether Jesus were the Christ, but only asked whether, after death, He would come into Limbus, and visit and deliver the Fathers who were detained there. So S. Jerome, "He did not say, Art Thou He who hast come, but art Thou He who wilt come? And the meaning Isaiah , Tell me, since I am about to descend into Hades, whether also I shall announce Thee to the shades below, as I have announced Thee in the upper world? Or, is it not fitting that the Son of God should taste of death, and wilt Thou send another for these mysteries?" Song of Solomon , too, S. Gregory. But this opinion is little apposite or probable.
I say, therefore, that John sends his disciples, and asks Jesus whether He be the Coming One, i.e, the Messias, not as doubting about Him, but because, being near death, he wished his hesitating disciples to be instructed concerning Him, that they might be led to Christ. So SS. Hil, Chrys, Cyril. Observe, too, the prudence of S. John. He in his own name asks Jesus if He be the Christ, because his disciples would not, of themselves, have dared to propose such a question. For he is the best physician who, to cure a sick Prayer of Manasseh , acts as though he were sick himself, and takes nauseous medicine. So S. Paul says, "Who is weak, and I am not weak?"
And Jesus answering, &c. These miracles which ye have seen Me perform are the marks of the true Messiah, given by Isaiah 35:5, and Isaiah 61:1. This is why S. Luke adds, In the selfsame hour He healed many of their diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and to many that were blind He gave sight. For neither Elijah, nor Elisha, nor any other prophet did so many and such great miracles as Christ. Wherefore S. Cyril (lib2Thesaur. c4) says, "Christ, both by the greatness and the multitude of His miracles, shewed Himself to be the Messiah." You may add, by His beneficence. For although Moses shewed many miracles in the ten plagues of Egypt, yet did he not heal the Egyptians, but afflicted and slew them. But "Christ went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil." Wherefore His hands are said to be "versatile" ( Song of Solomon 5:14, Vulg.), that Isaiah , active in doing good to all; and "full of hyacinths" (Vulg.), i.e, of heavenly works, miracles and kindnesses.
The blind see, &c. He alludes to Isaiah 34:4. "Our God Himself shall come and save us." (Vulg.): "then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, &c." Also to Is. lxi1.
The poor have the Gospel preached, &c. Theophylact and Euthym. take the verb ευ̉αχχελίξονται, actively, meaning, the poor Apostles preach the Gospel. But the verb is passive, and so the Syriac translates it. The meaning Isaiah , "I evangelize the poor, I preach the Gospel to them, and they receive it eagerly, though the rich reject it." He alludes to, indeed he quotes, Is. lxi1 , "He hath sent me to announce to the meek," where the LXX, instead of anavim, the meek, read aniim, the poor: and trans, he hath sent me to evangelize the poor, not the poor by necessity, but those who are poor in spirit, and consequently, meek and gentle. More simply, by the poor, you may understand such as the Apostles and the multitudes. For Christ preached to them that He might shew that the souls of the poor are equally precious before God with those of the rich; and therefore God made both equal in the Gospel. Dost thou then wish to imitate Christ? Teach the poor, guide, solace, help them.
And blessed is Hebrews , &c, i.e, who shall not be offended at my lowly conversation. The Syriac Isaiah , Blessed is he who shall not stumble at Me. For as S. Greg. says (Horn. vi.), "I do indeed marvellous things, but I do not disdain to suffer shameful things." There is a tacit reference to the disciples of John , who were offended at His lowliness; and He intimates that he beheld the secrets of their hearts. So S. Jerome says, "He aims not at John , but at his disciples." And S. Hilary says, "Because the cross was about to be a stumbling block to many, Christ pronounced them blessed to whom His cross, His death, His burial, would bring no trial of their faith."
And as they were going away. (Gr. and Vulg.) That the multitude might not think that Christ was flattering John , and aiming at His favour, as S. Chrys. says, if He had praised him in the presence of his disciples: therefore He permitted them to depart, and then He praised him.
Jesus began to say, &c. Shaken, Gr. σαλευόμενον, waving and fluctuating, like a wave of the sea. By a similar metaphor we speak of the corn waving, when impelled to and fro by the wind. Christ would remove any suspicion which might arise among the people from this message of John , that he had changed his opinion concerning Christ—that whereas he had formerly thought him to be the Messiah, he had now changed his opinion, and had sent his disciples to interrogate Him, because he was in doubt about him. So Jesus, as it were said, "Suppose not, 0 ye Jews, that John thinks any other of Me than he thought before. For John is not a reed to be shaken backwards and forwards by the wind, that he should lightly assert a thing, and afterwards retract it on account of what men say. John is like an oak, which stands unmoved in faith and stedfastness against every blast, whether of those who praise or those who blame. What he before testified of Me, when he was at liberty, he testifies with equal fortitude now that he has been shut up by Herod in prison: and he has sent his disciples to Me that they themselves may see by My miracles that his testimony concerning Me was true."
Tropologically, a reed, is a light Prayer of Manasseh , inconstant, tossed to and fro: at one time impelled by the words of flatterers, he asserts something: again being driven by detractors, he denies it, as a reed is blown in different directions by different winds2. A reed is one who is devoid of truth, virtue, and consistency, as a reed has no strength, or stamina3. A reed is he who has no fruit of good works to show, since a reed bears no fruit4. It is he who is delighted with, and feeds upon, the fluctuating pleasures of the world. For a reed is dry: yet it grows beside the waters. Whence it is called, "the river weed." On this S. Austin writes piously and elegantly on the words of Ps. cxxxvii1. "Above the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, when we remembered Sion." (Vulg.) "The rivers of Babylon," he says, "are all things which here are loved, and pass away. Sit above the rivers; sit not in the stream, nor under the stream. Behold in Babylon there are fair things to detain thee: let them not detain thee, let them not deceive thee."
Hear S. Greg. (Hom. vi. in Evang.) "What else but the carnal mind is signified by the reed? But such was not John , for favour could not flatter him, nor could the anger of any detraction make him harsh."
Hear also S. Ambrose (lib5 in c7 Luke 5:24): "The Lord denies that we must go forth into the desert—that Isaiah , into the world—lest we should think those are to be imitated by us who are of a carnal mind, whom, being obnoxious to the storms of this world, an unsettled life disquiets; who are rightly compared to a reed, in whom is no solid fruit of justice, men with their long hair, with forensic trappings, implicated in knotty points, sonorous with empty mouthings, with no benefit to themselves, but often with harm, follow after things inwardly worthless, outwardly specious. We are reeds when we are not rooted with any natural strength. If any light gale of prosperity blow upon us, we beat our neighbours with idle motion: we are useless to help, facile to injure. Reeds love rivers, as the fading and transitory things of the world delight us. If, however, anyone shall pluck up this reed from the earth, and strip off its useless parts—spoiling the old man with his deeds—and guide it by the hand of a scribe writing quickly, it begins to be no more a reed, but a pen, which impresses the precepts of the heavenly Scriptures on the hidden places of the mind, and writes them on the tables of the heart."
Afterwards S. Ambrose adds, that Christ is the good reed of whom Isaiah prophesied (c. xlii.)—"A shaken reed he will not break," (Vulg.)—because the flesh which sins had shaken He made firm by the power of the Resurrection. The good reed is the Flesh of Christ, which nailed the serpent"s head, and the enticements of worldly cupidity, to the gibbet of the Cross.
But what went ye out, &c. But John is not soft and delicate. He is not clothed in palatial garments, but in sackcloth of camels" hair. For pleasures are the mistresses of flattery and lies, but hardness is the teacher of truth and sanctity.
But what went ye out for to see? More than a prophet. Syriac, one more excellent than a prophet. You may object that John himself denied that he was a prophet ( John 1:21). I reply, He said that out of humility, but in a true sense. For a prophet Isaiah , strictly speaking, one who foretells future events. But John did not foretell of Christ as about to come, but pointed to Him as present. He was therefore, rather the finger-post, as it were, than the prophet of Christ, and therefore Christ said that he was more than a prophet. In the next place, Hebrews , through the Divine Spirit, illustrated Christ, and knew the economy of Christ in the Flesh more clearly, fully, and perfectly than any of the prophets3. John was the angel, that Isaiah , the ambassador and precursor of Christ Himself, and immediately sent by Him, and that in His presence and before His face, according to the words of Malachi: "Behold I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee." (Vulg.) 4. He himself was altogether greater than all the prophets, as Christ asserts, verse
For this is he of whom, &c. Christ cites the words of Malachi iii1. See what I have there said. I have there collected the reasons and analogies why John is called an angel. And many indeed thought that he was not really a Prayer of Manasseh , but an angel, as Eusebius shews (lib1 , De monst. c5). hence Auctor Imperfecti on this place says, "Marvellous was he who surpassed in human nature the sanctity of angels, and by the grace of God obtained what by nature he had not."
