Those Who Resisted the Divine Fellowship of God + + + In the previous chapter, the Lord of glory Jesus came forth to Jerusalem to offer His life a price for our fellowship to Him. This fellowship cost Him all this price, only to be accepted by the simple ones, who responded to it. But as for the leaders who were reportedly wise these have rejected the Lord in every possible way. At times they resisted Him when He taught and doubted His authority. At other times, they accused Him as provoking the people against the authorities, and motivating them not to pay the taxes...etc. This resistance, in fact, was to hide their shepherding of themselves instead of shepherding the people, and taking care of their perso9nal good instead of the general good. The prophet Ezekiel has previously declared as the mouthpiece of the Lord (Ez.34) “Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel... Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals.... I will demand My sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. I Myself will search for My sheep, and will seek them out.... I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness... I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.” In this way the Lord reveals to the shepherds their absolute failure in shepherding His good sheep, so He takes over shepherding His people. He thus declared His practical love that was shed on the cross. This line is clearly manifested in the four gospels in the period between the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem until His crucifixion, and in the readings of the Passion Week, where God’s spirit reveals the failure of the Jewish denying shepherding and its failure; so that the Lord Himself takes over the shepherding of His people by means of the cross. 1- The Resistance of His Teaching by Denying His Authority 1- 8 2- The Resistance of the Vine dresser (The parable of the wicked tenants) 9- 19 3- A Question Concerning the Taxes 20- 26 4- A Question Concerning the Resurrection 27- 40 5- David’s Son and his Lord 41- 44 6- A Warning against the false Scribes 45- 47 + + + 1- The Resistance of His Teaching by Denying His Authority: We have said that the Lord Jesus came to offer His friendship to humanity not through the mere emotions, but by means of uplifting man to His image, and being blessed by his life in Him. This is why He cast out the sellers and purified the temple, then He stood up to teach. He started to attract people to Him in true love, in a sanctified life. Before all of this, stood those who resisted Him, such as the chief priests, the scribes and the elders, in great amazement. He has attracted the multitudes in authority even though He was not of Aaron’s lineage, and He had no official role in the temple. Then they began to question Him about the mystery behind His authority, not as an interrogation, but rather because of their envy and their fear for their positions. The evangelist said the following: (Luke20: 1-8) “One day, as He was teaching the people in the temple, and telling the good news, the chief priests and the scribes came with the elders and said to Him, ‘Tell us by what authority are You doing these things? Who is it who gave You this authority?’ He answered them, ‘I will also ask you a question, and you tell Me; Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ They discussed it with one another, saying if we say ‘from heaven’ He will say, ‘Why then, did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘of human origin’ all the people will stone us, for they are convinced that John was a prophet. So they answered that they did not know where it came from, then Jesus said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things’.” We have previously spoken of this discussion between the Jewish leaders and the Lord Jesus in the interpretations of St. Matthew’s gospel (21: 23-27) and St. Mark’s gospel (11: 27-33). I find it enough at this point to mention the following: Firstly: St. Augustine says the evangelist St. Luke did not mention the going of Christ to Bethany after His purifying the temple and His return, and also His dealing with the barren fig tree, and His words to His disciples who were amazed on seeing the fig tree wither. The evangelist speaks of the discussion between the Lord Jesus and those leaders. Secondly: The chief priests and the scribes with the elders posed two questions, not for the sake of information, but rather for provocation so they have their wish in wrecking Him. They said ‘Tell us by what authority You do these things?’ By saying so they meant He was not of the Levi lineage, nor any other leadership that had the right of teaching; then, how could He dare teach in this way in the temple? The lord could have answered them from the exact books of the covenant that they assumed He was breaking them by His teachings, and that He was of the lineage of Judah and not that of Levi, and also from the books of the prophets. In the five books of the law and the covenant, He made clear that Levi, of the lineage of his father Abraham, knelt down to Melchizadec, who is only a symbol of the Lord Jesus, and offered Melchizadec the tithes. Is it not appropriate by these sepubols that refer to Him, to teach Abraham’s children? The Lord could have mentioned to than countless prophecies about the truth of His mission, and could have assured them He is the Mesaiah. If those leaders had come to inquire about the truth, the Lord would not have hesitated to reveal Himself according to their books. But the Lord knew they had come for stupid useless arguments, so they divert Him away from the essential ministry. This is why He did not answer their questions unless by another question that frustrated them. The servant who embodies his Lord’s Spirit does not begin silly arguments that corrupt his mind, and takes up his time away from the main serious job for the salvation of his brothers. This servant should behave as Nehemiah did when the enemies came up to him asking him for discussion, and so he answered them that day was a day for work (Neh.6: 3,7). The second question is, “Who gave You this authority?” They had previously accused Him He was casting out devils by Beelzebub. They wished to make the people doubt Him, that in His teaching He does not have this authority form God, but rather from Satan. At this point, too, He confused them by asking them about John’s baptism; because John had declared by baptizing Him the mystery of the Lord’s authority, when the Father openly witnessed the Messaiah at the baptism moments in the Jordan. 2- The Resistance of the Vine dresser (The parable of the wicked tenants). In their argument they wished to accuse the Lord Jesus of His teaching, that it was not based on the lawful covenant, since He was neither a priest nor an official teacher, and that the source of His authority was to be doubted. Therefore the Lord asked them about John’s baptism so as to defeat their cunningness. Now that He recounted to them the parable of the wicked tenants who wished to steal the vineyard from its owner, He put those teachers to shame in a symbolic way. Thus they wanted to kill Him, had it not been for their fear of the multitudes. He showed them it was not He who trespassed on the divine authority, but that He was the Son, the Heir who was resisted by those tenants that the Lord appointed in His vineyard to work, and how they wished to usurp the vineyard for their own personal account. We have previously studied this parable in or interpretation of St. Matthew’s gospel (21: 33... etc.) St. Mark’s gospel (12: 1...etc.) I therefore find it enough at this point to speak of the following: Firstly: The Lord Jesus showed His honoring man in two major aspects: the first one is that He compared God, the owner of the vineyard, to man, therby honoring us by this comparison. As for the other aspect, it is His words about giving the vineyard to tenants, and traveling to a distant country. God did not leave His vineyard and went to a distant place geographically, because He is present in every place; so how much more so in His own vineyard? Neither does He quit His shepherding, for His care is there continuously. But His words saying that He left to a distant country, this is an expression of His sanctifying human freedom. He has given the vineyard to the tenants, giving them the absolute freedom to act, as if He has left them and went far away, not that He would not support them, but so as to oblige them to act in a certain way in their shepherding. He does not pressure the shepherds to conduct themselves involuntarily in their shepherding job. Secondly: What is the first the owner of the vineyard ask for from His tenants? Father Theophlactius answers, “What will God gain from us except it be His knowledge, which is for our own good?” Thirdly: Who are those three slaves who went ahead of the Heir, whom the tenants persecuted instead of offering them the fruits for the owner of the vineyard’s account? The first slave the Lord sent to collect for His account is the natural law that God has granted to humanity, even before the law of Moses. Man broke this natural law, a matter made very clear in the killing of Abel. Cain presented the scent of envy stained by innocent blood instead of the brotherly love. The men of faith, before the law, lived through many hardships due to malicious people. The second slave the Lord sent is the Mosaic law at the hands of Moses. Despite this, Moses suffered a great deal from the Jews, due to their constant grumbling. Moreover, the law of Moses remained scorned at by all the Jewish leaders, by transforming it from the spiritual to the fatal literacy. The Jewish leaders appeared as zealous for the law and keeping it protected, whereas in the brilliant outer appearance of their life and conduct, they have killed the law, and ruined its purpose and its message by their literal teaching of the law of Moses. The third slave offered by the owner of the vineyard is the prophecy; for there has been sent a group of prophets, urging the people to repent, and they also proclaimed the Mesaiah, the Savior’s coming. But these prophets were faced with ordeals, persecution and killing. We can say that the Lord Jesus, when speaking particularly to the Jewish rulers, these listeners who were present were responsible for the killing of those three slaves. The present leaders in the time of the Lord Jesus, they themselves were working against the natural law, as well as against the law of Moses and also against the prophecy. Concerning their life and their conduct, they did not even regard the natural law itself. Concerning their education, they have killed the law of Moses by applying it literally and in a hard way; for they held on the shadow and the symbol without any concern for the Truth and who those symbols referred to. Regarding the prophecies, they wrecked them because even though they referred to the Lord Jesus yet they rejected the Savior, the aim of the law and the subject of the prophecies. Fourthly: Some may find it hard to call the Lord Jesus Himself the Heir; for has the Father died so the Son inherits Him? God forbid! He has offered Himself the Heir not to take the money from His Father; for what is the Father’s is the Son’s. but He called Himself the Heir for He has left His glory voluntarily, and He denied Himself so He may represent us and be our delegate, so that when the Lord Jesus died in the body, He rose and obtained in our name what He has as our inheritance by our partnership with Him in glory. The Lord Jesus has carried this title ‘Heir’ for the sake of His being the head of the church, so the church may inherit in the name of its Head, and with Him and in Him, what is actually His. This is why St. Ambrosios says “Christ is the Heir and at the same time the Sponsor.” Fifthly: We can understand from the following words (luke20: 14) “But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours’”. The Lord Jesus wished to show them clearly that what they were doing against Him, is not because they do not know, but rather out of envy. They know, through the law and the prophets that He is the Messaiah, but He was not according to their fancy, and this is why they killed Him purposefully on the cross. Sixthly: It is understood from the words (Luke20: 15) “So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him”, form the literal aspect that He was crucified in Golgotha, out of Jerusalem. It could also mean that the Jews, who are the tenants of the vineyard, have handed over the Heir to Pilate and the Roman soldiers so they kill Him. They gave Him to be killed out of the vineyard! We can also understand that His going out of the vineyard to be killed, could only mean His rejection. The ungrateful wicked ones cast Him out of their hearts, the Lord’s inward vineyard, and they offered Him the suffering instead of love! In this way we are able to understand the words of St. Paul the apostle (Heb.13: 13) “Let us then go to Him outside the camp and bear the abuse He endured.” This means that if we have become the followers of the Crucified, we too, are rejected by the world. Thus we will have no place in the hearts, and are expelled out of their hearts, and we are handed to their hatred, enduring all of their scorn and humiliation towards us. In other words, the believer does not expect, even though he offers all the love to the world, that the world rewards him with love for love. Rather, the world repays his love by casting him outside, so he carries the cross with his Redeemer and accepts His shame. Seventhly: The Lord Jesus asked them (Luke20: 15) “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?” The Lord did not wait for the answer to justify what destruction would befall them. And the shepherding work would be taken away from them. The answer was absolutely clear, with no need for any discussion (Luke20: 16) “He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” St. Basilious the great said He wanted to rebuke them so they reconsider their deeds, and thus repent. It is as if the Lord Jesus till the last moments before His crucifixion, wished the Jewish authorities to reconsider their spiritual accounts. The Lord was eager for everyone’s repentance, and their return to the Truth. His words “He will come” refer here all the more to the coming of the Holy Spirit on the church; when He comes on the church, He forms it anew under the leadership of the Lord’s disciples and His apostles instead of the old vine dressers. It is as if this parable offers a brief symbolism for God’s work of salvation, His provision and incessant care for man. he therefore spoke of the natural law gift, the law of Moses, and the prophets, who are the three slaves the owner of the vineyard has sent, He also spoke of the divine incarnation which is the Heir’s coming, and His crucifixion out of the city, as well as His casting out the old vinedressers, and appointing new vinedressers in whom the Holy Spirit works. Eighthly: When the Lord spoke of the Heir’s rejection, and their killing Him out of the city, He declared He is the rejected stone even though He is the corner stone. He therefore says (Luke20: 17, 18) “The stone that the builders rejected has become the corner stone. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” We notice the following in this analogy: (a)This is taken from the Old Testament (Ps.118: 22) and it has been fulfilled now; what these wicked leaders do, who were supposed to establish the spiritual structure on the Messaiah, the cornerstone, was only seen by the psalmist and was proclaimed. It is as if the Lord Jesus is telling them ‘What you are doing now, has been previously declared by your prophets in al grief and bitterness. (b) The Lord Jesus was called ‘the cornerstone’ as a sign of His divine incarnation, and His self-denial, for He has accepted our nature of dust. He did not come as a great King, but He rather came as a man, denying Himself, and thus He has become a rejected stone by the builders. This stone has been previously proclaimed by Daniel the prophet (Dan.2: 34) that this stone is not hewn by hands, it is a small stone that becomes a mountain that fills the entire universe. (c) This rejected stone, thrown away out of the city, has come to be the cornerstone on which the church is founded, that embraces Jewish members as well as Gentile ones. They assemble together, and unite as if on a cornerstone. Ninthly: St. Augustine thinks those who fall on it and are shattered are the ones who rejected Him when He came down, denying Himself as if He were the last of all; thus those denying Him will fall on this modest stone as if on the ground. But those the cornerstone will fall on, these will be crushed, and they refer to those who died in their sins, with no repentance. Thus the Lord of glory will come, as on the clouds from above and fall on them, for he says, “They themselves fall on Him, for He has come down in modesty, but because He is the One above He will fall on them and crush them when He comes in His glory. Those are the ones He has shattered before in His lowliness. 3- Questioning Him Concerning the Taxes: The Leaders attempted to make the multitudes doubt the authority of the Lord Jesus. The Lord therefore asked them about John the Baptist’s baptism, if it were from heaven or from the earth. Thus they became bewildered, lest they appear before the people they did not know the truth. There also came the parable of the vinedressers, urging them to repent so the vineyard would not be taken away from them. But instead of repentance, they wished to lay their hands on Him at this hour, but they feared the people (Luke20: 19). Now they began to observe Him so they catch Him for one word. In deceit they asked Him concerning paying the taxes, not to know His opinion, but that if He says to pay the taxes, He would be regarded in the eyes of the people as paying favours to the occupying Roman authorities, and as a result the people would lose their trust in Him as a Savior to save them from the Roman rule. And if He says not to pay the taxes, they would report Him to the Roman authorities for provoking the people to rebel. The evangelist says (Luke20: 23-26) “But He perceived their craftiness and said to them, ‘Show Me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?’ They said, ‘The emperor’s’. He said to them, ‘Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s! And they were not able in the presence of the people to trap Him by what He said; and being amazed by His answer, they, became silent.” When speaking of the fathers’ comments about this excerpt in the gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, we said that the Lord Jesus here offers man an important civilian principle: to make God glorified in Him, it is important to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. He has to give to the country what her dues are, and he also has to give all whom he deals with, their monetary, emotional or social rights. Our worship to the Lord should not be on others’ account, rather, our love and submission, and giving to others is part and parcel of our spiritual life, made perfect with our worship to God. We give others not because we fear them or pay favour to them, but as a true witness we inwardly bear for our honesty and our love to the Lord Himself. Let us also give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. This means to give the body what we should towards ourselves, and to the spirit what is the Spirit’s. Our spiritual life is not a destruction of our body, that is, Caesar, it is rather a sanctification to the body. Some fathers, such as the scholar Oreganus, think Caesar here means the world, or the adversary. If we leave in the heart the love of this world, then the world will find its right to pull us to its side. Likewise if Satan has a place in us, he will invade us. It is therefore appropriate for us that Caesar of the world finds nothing that is his in us, and so does not pull our hearts to him. Let us remember the example of our Lord Jesus who said the ruler of this world is coming, and has nothing of him in it! Let the ruler of this world come, and let the evil adversary work with all his might against us, for he will find nothing inside us for his account, and so will run away in defeat, being overcome by us. The great day of the Lord will come, and God will come to take those that are His own, and the adversary will also come to take those that are his own. Let us be to God, and not to Satan, and God will possess us as children for His kingdom. As many fathers put it, we are ‘God’s coin’ or ‘ His denarius’ on which His image is engraved. If His picture has been lost in us, we have to be washed with the baptismal water so His image would appear all anew. Let us keep this divine image in us by means of constant repentance, so that whenever the Lord comes, we find His denarius with His image on. Here are some of the father’s words concerning this issue: In every condition, we are more ready than other people in paying the taxes imposed on us, whether they be the regular annual taxes or the exceptional urgent ones. We pay back the worship to God. As for the other matters, we offer them gladly. We serve you and come to know you as kings and rulers over the people. We also pray for your royal authority so your judgment will be just. St. Justin the martyr + Therefore return Caesar’s image that is on the coin to Caesar, and God’s image that is on man, (Gen.1: 26, 27; 9: 6; 1Cor. 11: 7) has to be returned to God. In this rightful way, the money is given back to Caesar, but as for your souls, they are God’s. The scholar Tritilian + Let us follow the Savior’s words, not as literary meaning in its grammar and synthesis ‘Give what is Caesar’s to Caesar, and what is God’s to God”, that is, pay the taxes you are supposed to pay. But who of us opposes to pay the taxes that concern Caesar? Thus, this statement implies a hidden secretive meaning. Man has two pictures; the one he has received from God at the creation time as mentioned in the book of Genesis (Gen.1: 27) “So God created humankind in His image”. The second picture is man’s image of earthly dust (1Cor.15: 49) which man took by means of his disobedience. And his sin when he was expelled out of paradise, when he was tempted by the ruler of this world (John12: 31). Just as the coin bears the image of the ruler of this world likewise is the one who fulfils the deeds of the king of darkness (Eph.6: 12) he, also, bears his image on it. Jesus commands us to give back this picture and to pull it off, so we may bear the original one that God has created us in, and so we be similar to God. In this way, we give back what is Caesar’s to Caesar, and what is God’s to God. In the very same meaning St. Paul says (1Cor.15: 49) “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.” The words therefore ‘Give to Caesar what, belongs to Caesar’ only means ‘Leave the earthly image of man’. throw away the earthly image so you obtain the heavenly image, and thus you give to God what is God’s. The scholar Oreganus Moreover, St. Sveris the Antiochian offewred us an elaborate article, wonderful indeed, having the title ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s? the deacon Youssef Habib translated and published it; I wish you to refer to it. The saint pointed out the group that came up to the Lord Jesus had tw ? ? ? +? ? ? À @ @ ì? „? ? ð„? ? ? ¢ ð ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ³? ðB? ? ? ? ? CÀ? …? ? ? ? ‹? ? ? ? ¿? the second was represented by the Herodians (Matt.22: 16). The came to ask Him if they were to pay the taxes to the Roman governor or not to pay. ? St. Sveris the Antiochian says the Pharisees used to urge the people not to pay the taxes, believing they had no other king except God alone, and that he who paid the taxes would be resisting the old law, and exchanging God for Caesar who is an alien. They relied on the literal interpretation of some of the written phrases, such as: (Deut.32: 9) “the Lord’s own portion was His people, Jacob His allotted share.” (Deut.17: 15) “You may indeed set over you a king whom the Lord your God will choose. One of your own community you may set as king over you; you are not permitted to put a foreigner over you, who is not of your own community.” (is.33: 22) “For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Ruler, the Lord is our King; He will save us.” The book of Acts also mentions (Acts.5: 37) That ‘Judas the Galilean’ gathered a lot of people who followed him, and he led them to revolt against Caesar, and they refused to pay Caesar the taxes... and this Judas was a Pharisee. On the other hand the Herodians advised their Jewish brethren to stay in submission to the Romans, and to pay their due taxes so they enjoy peace and serenity. 4- Questioning Him Concerning the Resurrection: ? In the parable of the vinedressers, the Lord Jesus spoke of them (Luke20: 14) “They discussed it among themselves.” Even though those vinedressers are evil and are divided among themselves, yet they unite together in the resistance spirit against the Lord Jesus, and conspire against Him. Now, the chief priests and the scribes failed in their conspiracy against the Lord, when they tried to disfigure His authority in His teaching (Luke20: 1-8). Also some of the Pharisees, and probably some Herodians as well (Matt.22: 15, 16) asked Him about the taxes, and yet they failed. Some Sadduccees wanted to test the Lord concerning the resurrection from the dead. These ones did not believe in the physical resurrection, and they assumed the soul dies with the physical and so it does not rise. They told Him the story of a woman who got married, but she was childless. After the death of her husband, she married a second one, and a third one till the seventh one. They all died and she was still childless (Luke20: 33) “In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.” (Luke 20: 34- 38) “Jesus said to them, ‘Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to Him all of them are alive.’” We have previously given an interpretation of the fathers to these phrases in the interpretation of (St. Matt.22: 23-33; St. Mark12: 18-27) I think it enough to mention the following remarks: Firstly: The Saduccas misunderstood the concept of eternal life, for they assumed it was something materialistic: each one had his wife, his children, his physical and material life. Thus the Lord corrected their concepts, declaring that in eternity we live on the level of angels. Our bodies do not need material satisfaction in any way, for they have a new nature appropriate for heaven. They do not eat or drink or have and matrimonial relations. The Lord of glory revealed, too, one of the aspects for the purpose of matrimony, which is that of bearing children. In this world, there is the need for marriage for the sake of maintaining the human race. But in heaven, because there is no death, there is no need of having any issue. Secondly: St. Ambrosios thinks the woman who has married seven men, and was childless till her death- she stands for the Jewish assembly that has blended with the covenant, the prophecies, and has been offered every possibility for bearing fruits, and yet they bore none, due to their literal understanding of God’s Word. Thus they obtained the divine gifts, but they made no use of them, and they rather fell under the power of death. We can also understand the woman who married the seven men and was still childless until her death, that she refers to the person who clings to temporal things, or to the love of the world, which is symbolized by the number 7, pointing to the seven days of the week. For the husband’s offspring could not be fruitful and live unless he overpasses the seven men, and accepts the eighth that refers to ‘eternity’, or what is above the time, by baptism we accept the spiritual circumcision which was practiced physically on the eighth day. Then, we are buried with Christ, and rise with Him in real life (Rom.6: 4). This is the eighth man: to be bonded to the Messaiah, the Resurrected from the dead, at the beginning of the week, or on the eighth day of the previous week. By means of His life we are blessed with the risen life, and bear the fruits of His Holy Spirit in us. Thus death does not destroy us, and neither does the tomb grasp us, rather, we praise vehemently with St. Paul the apostle (1Cor.15: 54, 55) “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where O death, is your victory? Where O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin.” Thirdly: The Lord of glory compares the children of this age, and the life of the age to come. He declares that in this age we are tied to temporary physical deeds such as matrimony. But in the age to come, these physical deeds are non-existent, for we practice a life of an angelic level. This comparison kindled the hearts of many so they train themselves as a first step to eternal life through the Holy Spirit, when they are still in the body, such as chastity, and the monastic life in correct spiritual thinking. When rejecting marriage, for instance, or their frugal life in eating, they do not regard these things as defiled or as being forbidden, but they look upon them as temporal matters that will end, and thus it is appropriate for us that we keep them under control as much as we can. +I wish unbelievers would not be surprised that God will take away the deeds of our physical members in the age to come. They are absolute and non-functional even at this age. The martyr JustinX+ In his words to the chaste virgins: You have actually begun what you will be in! You have actually come to possess in this world the glory of the resurrection! You have crossed this world... continue to be chaste and virgins, for you have become on equal level with God’s angels. The martyr Kaprianos + Believe that even though you die, if you do not believe on Him, even if you are alive, yet you are dead. St. Augustine? Fourthly: When we think of the resurrection, we have to hope in the splendid heavenly life, in which we shall be blessed with the company of the heavenlies, and be blessed with seeing God face to face as they do. +When we become equal to God’s angels, we shall see Him face to face as they do. We shall have wonderful peace towards them, as they have towards us. We shall love them just as they love us. + We Look forward hopefully to what He has promised us. We shall become equal to God’s angels, and assemble with them, and be blessed with seeing the Holy Trinity. But as for now, we live in the faith. St. Augustine? + When comforting Ostochium for her mother Paula’s death: Do not grieve over our losing her. Rather, we thank God she was ours, and she still is. Because everyone is alive to God, and those who return to the Lord, are still counted members of His family. We have lost her, this is true, but the heavenly dwelling has won her. (2Cor.5: 6) When she was in the body, she was far away from her Lord. She complained in tears (Ps120: 5, 6) “Woe is me, that I am an alien in Meshech, that I must live among the tents in Kedar, too long have I had my dwelling.” St. Jerome? The scholar Tritilian thinks the Lord’s words here about the no-matrimony in the age to come that it does not mean man loses his being as a man, or his losing his body. Just as the angels are allowed to appear as humans, without their losing their nature as angels, we too become as God’s angels without losing our human bodies. But these bodies will have no temporal requirements, and they will rather bear a new nature befitting the heavenly life. This is also what St. Augustine confirmed when he said, “All believers who are appointed to rule with Christ, will rise in the same body in a way in which they are counted worthy to be changed to the incorruptible and the angelic. For they will become equal to God’s angels as the Lord Himself has promised, and so they could praise Him without any slothfulness or worry. They will live in the Lord and with Him eternally, and will be blessed with joy and blessings which no man could possibly express or realise.” 5- David’s Son and his Lord: ? The different sects of the Jewish leaders resisted squarely the Lord of glory’s fellowship in some way or other. The Lord answered them, not to argue with them, or to defend Himself, but because He was eager to correct their concepts. He hoped to find some of them who would accept His fellowship and respond to His love. Now, that He has entered Jerusalem, and the time of passion and crucifixion was drawing close, their confusion about understanding the Messaiah the Savior was even greater. They have been hindered in understanding Him when He was making wonderful miracles, and endless ones, so how will feel about Him when they see Him undergoing the pain and the suffering, being hung on the cross? All of this urged Him to declare His divinity through the words of the Psalmist, for they might realise the situation, and understand His mystery. (Luke 20: 41-44) “And He said to them, ‘How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David? Now David himself said in the book of Psalms; ‘the Lord said to my Lord’ Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool’. Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord’; how is He then His Son?’” + He humbly declared His godliness, in no pride or arrogance. He posed the question to them, and when they were confused, He left them to find the answer. He has shown clearly He does not oppose the Father, but that He rather agrees with Him, for the Father resists the Son’s enemies. Father Theophlactius +Indeed, David was the father and the slave concerning Christ, for he is His father according to the body, and His slave in the Spirit. St. John Chrysostom + The sitting here does not mean in a certain position of physical members, as if the Father is sitting on the left, and the Son of the right. The ‘right’ is explained in the sense that the authority He has by the Father, and so He comes to judge after He has come to be judged. St. AugustineP+ The Lord commands us to have faith in Him, for He is Christ the Lord our God who sits on the Father’s right side. This should not be understood physically, for He is present everywhere, and He is in the Father. He is one with Him in power and ability.
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