But he answered and said,
Every plant, which my heavenly Father has not planted, shall be rooted up.
Read Chapter 15
Chromatius of Aquileia
AD 407
Since the scribes and Pharisees had burst forth in great arrogance and transgressed the divine law, they “planted” their own precepts but not God’s. They wanted these to be observed as divine law. So, not without good reason, did they too, with this planting of their own doctrine, deserve to be uprooted by the Lord. And so the Lord said, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.” Indeed, that plant was not of God but of people. Any iniquitous plant, not only of the scribes and Pharisees but also of all heretics, shall be uprooted by the Lord. Though it may extend its branches of infidelity in due season, it cannot be firmly rooted, for such a plant is not of God but of the devil. Furthermore, it must be uprooted and consigned to perpetual fire, since it yields no fruit of faith and wholesomeness.
Even what seems to be clear in the Scriptures presents many problems. Christ said, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.” Does this mean, therefore, that there will be uprooted also that plant which the apostle speaks of when Paul says, “I have planted, Apollos watered”? The problem is solved, however, from the words that follow: “But God has given the growth.” He also says, “You are God’s field, God’s building.” And in another place we read, “We are God’s coworkers”; therefore, if we are his coworkers, with Paul planting and Apollos watering, God plants and waters with his workers. .
Why therefore does Messiah say, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted”? Those who are diseased with the ideas of the Manichaeans say that this was said about the law. But what Jesus had said before this shuts their mouths. For if he were speaking about the law, why did he earlier make a defense on its behalf and fight for it when he said, “Why are you transgressing the commandment of God because of your tradition?” And why does he bring in the prophet [Isaiah] in front of everyone? Contrary to what the Manichaeans say, Jesus says these things about the Pharisees themselves and their traditions. For God said, “Honor your father and your mother.” This statement from God surely is a plant of God. The Gospel of Matthew, Homily
What then says Christ? He did not remove the offense in respect of them, but reproved them, saying, Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted, shall be rooted up. Matthew 15:13 For He is wont both to despise offenses, and not to despise them. Elsewhere, for example, He says, But lest we should offend them, cast an hook into the sea: Matthew 17:27 but here He says, Let them alone, they be blind leaders of the blind: and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
