Then came also tax collectors to be baptized, and said unto him, Teacher, what shall we do?
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?—to save our souls. Here is fulfilled the saying of Christ "Publicans and harlots shall be before you (0 Scribes) in the kingdom of God," Matthew 21:31. For the sinners, being called to account by John , felt deep compunction, acknowledged their fault, and sought for penance; but the proud Scribes, thinking themselves just and wise, despised it.
The Baptist exhorts world lings to abstain from every species of fraud, that by first restraining all desires of the goods of others, they may at length come to communicate some of their own to their neighbours. (Ven. Bede)
