91. (Verse 46.). Secondly, as regards the threat of calamity on account of sloth in doing good, it is said: But he said: And woe to you lawyers also! namely, of eternal damnation. And the reason for this is that they said much and did little.
Therefore he adds: Because you load men with burdens which they cannot bear, that is, with precepts and superstitious and useless traditions, so that rightly may be said that word of Acts 15: This is a burden "which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear." Whence Matthew 23: "They bind heavy and unbearable burdens and lay them on the shoulders of men"; to which, namely, no one is bound, yet they say that they are bound.
And because they imposed these burdens, they taught, but did not bear them by doing; he adds: And you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
92. Note pointedly that he says: With one finger you do not touch: he does not say: you do not carry, because there could be an excuse of inability. Frequently a teacher teaches what he cannot do: nevertheless his teaching is not to be despised, if he wills to do it, because the will is reckoned to him as the deed. Whence first Kings thirty: "Equal shall be the share of him who goes down to battle and of him who remains with the baggage, and they shall divide alike"; and this is said concerning the men who had stayed behind because they were weary: but he who does not wish to put a finger to the baggage, it is manifest that he wishes to endure no labor. And such a one, whether he imposes burdens in the manner of a master or in the manner of a prelate, is altogether reprehensible and is not an imitator of Christ, of whom it is said in Acts one: "Jesus began to do and to teach."
Whence against such men, Deuteronomy twenty-five: "You shall not have in your bag diverse weights"; and Proverbs twenty: "A weight and a weight, a measure and a measure: both are abominable before God." Now this happens when a man is merciful to himself and harsh to his neighbor or subject: when he carries nothing, but imposes everything on others to carry. Whence Chrysostom: "Do you wish to appear and to be holy? Regarding your own life, be austere; regarding the lives of others, be kind. Let men hear you commanding small things and doing great things."
93. (Verse 47.). WOE to you who build etc. After he has threatened them with woe for the fault of sloth arising from a defect of truth of life, here secondly he repeats the same for the fault of perfidy against the truth of justice, which indeed consisted in the impious persecution of the just. Concerning which, first the fault itself is aggravated, then the punishment is intensified.
First therefore, as to the aggravation of the fault, he says: Woe to you who build the monuments of the Prophets, displaying piety in deed, but bearing impiety in mind, just as their fathers also did. — On account of which he adds: But your fathers killed them, namely as impious men killed the just. Whence in Acts seven blessed Stephen said: "Which of the Prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One." But these men also, although they pretended otherwise, were nevertheless imitators of them.
94. (Verse 48.). On account of which he says: But indeed you testify that you consent to the works of your fathers, that is, you consent that these were the works of your fathers: whence Matthew twenty-three: "You are witnesses against yourselves that you are the sons of those who killed the Prophets."
Therefore he adds: For they indeed killed them, but you build their tombs: and thus by sign and word they are witnesses that their fathers killed them. And indeed they pretended to condemn this by word and sign: whence Matthew twenty-three: "You adorn the monuments of the just and say: If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been their partners"; but they approved by similar deed and desire, because they themselves, like their fathers, were persecutors of the good: and from this they were witnesses that they consented to the works of their fathers. Whence Jerome: "You are witnesses against yourselves: for by deed you testify that you are imitators of your fathers, whose crimes you detest by word. Whence Acts seven: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you also".
95. (Verse 49.). And because the malice which they bore in their heart was, by God's permission, to be made manifest in deed, therefore he adds: Therefore also the wisdom of God said, "that is, disposed from eternity," or Christ himself disposed or foresaw, who is "the power of God and the wisdom of God." Or said, that is, foretold by prophetic voice. I will send to them Prophets and Apostles, and of them they will kill and persecute, according to that passage of Jeremiah seven: "I sent to you all my servants the Prophets daily, rising early and sending them: they did not hear me, nor did they incline their ear, and they hardened their neck and wrought worse than their fathers." This was verified in these men, who not only killed the Prophets, but also slew their own Lord. Whence in Acts three Peter says to them: "But you denied the Just and Holy One and asked that a murderer be granted to you: but the Author of life you killed." They also killed and persecuted all his witnesses. For James was killed, and Peter was seized, Acts twelve. They also persecuted Paul and Barnabas, so that they crossed over to the Gentiles, Acts thirteen and fourteen: and all the disciples were also scourged, Acts five.
96. (Vers. 50.). Second, with regard to the aggravation of vengeance, he says: That the blood of all the Prophets may be required. It is required indeed through vengeance; whence in the Psalm: "For requiring their blood, he remembered," etc.; and Genesis nine: "From the hand of man and of his brother I will require the life of man. Whoever shall have shed human blood, his blood shall be shed." - Therefore it shall be required, the blood, that is, the vengeance for the shedding of blood; on account of which he adds: Which was shed from the foundation of the world, that is, from the beginning until the end. It shall be required, I say, of this generation, as if to say that the vengeance for all the blood of a holy man that was shed shall be upon the generation of the Jews, because they shed the blood of him who was the "Holy of Holies," namely Christ; Daniel nine and following: "Christ shall be killed, and the people who shall deny him shall not be his." Whence they themselves said, John nineteen: "We have no king but Caesar"; and Matthew twenty-seven: "His blood be upon us and upon our children."
Or this is said so that they themselves may be punished as an example for others, because, when they saw evil punished in others, they did not correct themselves. Whence Chrysostom: "Why does God avenge the sins of others upon these, if they alone suffered such things, when they had not sinned alone? Just as, when many servants sin, one is chastised for his own sin, and yet he alone, having been flogged for all, endured what was promised to all." The reason, moreover, why the punishment fell more upon these is given by the same John Chrysostom: "Because," he says, "you heard of the vengeance taken upon Cain and upon the other wicked, and if you were not corrected by their examples, you are held to a graver punishment, and the examples of those who came before shall come upon you."
97. (Vers. 51.). And for this reason he exemplifies according to written testimonies, when he adds: From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah. Abel was indeed the first just man killed by his brother, as is said in Genesis four . Zechariah however was the son of Jehoiada, who was killed by King Joash, who had received many good things from his father, as the history narrates in Second Chronicles twenty-four. Nevertheless, he was not the last to be killed, but rather he is joined with the first because "Abel was a shepherd of sheep and was slain in the field, while Zechariah was a priest and was slain in the court of the temple; and they designate two orders of Martyrs, namely the laity, and those who are devoted to the ministry of the altar."
Therefore he designates the entire place of his death, when he adds: Who perished between
the altar and the temple, that is, he was slain between the temple and the altar of holocaust. "For there were two altars in the temple: one interior, namely the altar of incense, and another exterior, namely the altar of holocaust"; according to what is read in Exodus thirty-five. And between this altar and the temple, Zechariah was slain by the Jews, according to what is written in Second Chronicles twenty-four: "They gathered together against him and cast stones at him by the king's command in the court of the house of God." "Who, as he was dying, said: May the Lord see and require it." He said this, attending to the equity of divine justice, which leaves nothing unavenged.
98. To mark its infallibility, he repeats the future vengeance, when he adds: Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation; so that by the pronoun a demonstration is made of the wicked generation. For the Gloss of Bede says: "All the wicked are one generation, one city, one body of the devil, just as all the good are one body, one generation of God." Whence concerning this wicked generation, that passage of Proverbs thirty can be understood: "A generation that has swords for teeth and devours with its molars, to destroy the needy from the earth and the poor from among men." This is the generation from which vengeance shall be required; but within this, especially from the Jewish people, because perfidy was consummated in them. Whence Chrysostom says: "Just as God promised to the good through many generations that Christ would come, but bestowed him upon the last Saints, so through each generation he threatened the wicked, but he will repay the last generation. For never was such grace given to men as in Christ, nor did such destruction come upon the impious as upon the Jews." Whence they can most fittingly say that passage of Genesis forty-two: "We rightly suffer these things, because we sinned against our brother. Behold, his blood is required."
99. (Verse 52.). Woe to you lawyers, etc. Here he repeats woe a third time on account of fraudulence against the truth of doctrine. And because the wicked and deceivers advance to worse things, therefore first there is set forth the threat of Gehenna; and second there is added the obstinacy of wickedness.
First, therefore, as regards the threat of punishment on account of the deficiency of true doctrine, he says: Woe to you lawyers, who have taken away the key of knowledge, namely as regards the office of dispensing doctrine. Now this key belongs principally to Christ as the supreme teacher: "For one is your master, Christ," according to what is said in Matthew twenty-three. And concerning this, Isaiah twenty-two says: "I will place the key of the house of David upon his shoulder, and he shall open," etc. The scribes had taken this key away, pretending that they taught rightly; but nevertheless they did not teach rightly, because they neglected themselves and hindered others.
100. On account of which he adds: You yourselves did not enter, and those who were entering, you hindered. For they themselves did not enter, because, although they had words, they did not have deeds; whence that passage from Romans 2 could be said to them: "You who teach others do not teach yourself; you who preach that one should not steal, steal." And because they had words alone, they could not enter: Matthew 7: "Not everyone who says to me: Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven," etc.; therefore they did not enter by words alone; and they also hindered others by evil examples; whence that passage from Jeremiah 50 was fulfilled: "My people have become a lost flock; their shepherds led them astray," namely from the right way, either by evil examples or by false doctrines, according to that passage from Lamentations 2: "Your prophets saw false and foolish things for you, nor did they lay open your iniquity to anyone, so as to provoke you to repentance; but they saw for you false assumptions and banishments"; because from false assumptions nearly all distorted consciences are formed, through which men are cast out from the kingdom of God and are prohibited from entering into it. Whence Chrysostom: "The Law and the Prophets openly proclaimed the coming of Christ, but they closed this door of understanding by perverse interpretations"; and therefore they prohibited entering, calling back from the way of truth by example and by word. Against which, Proverbs 3: "Do not prohibit him who can from doing good"; if you can, do good yourself also.
101. (Verse 53). Second, as regards the hardening of wickedness, it is added: But when he said these things to them, the Pharisees and the lawyers began to press him vehemently: in which they show that their heart was hardened and weighed down upon hearing the divine word, so that it might be shown that in them was fulfilled that passage from Isaiah 6: "Blind the heart of this people and close its eyes and weigh down its ears"; and Matthew 13: "The heart of this people has grown fat, and with their ears they have heard with difficulty."
Nor was there in them only hardening, but also an assault upon the truth: whence he adds: And to assail his mouth concerning many things, as if that most pure mouth had spoken evil or falsehood. Whence that passage from Amos 5 was fulfilled: "They hated the one who reproves in the gate, and they abominated the one who speaks perfectly"; and therefore Proverbs 9: "He who instructs a scoffer brings injury upon himself"; because the scoffer turns to abuse on account of the truth heard.
102. (Verse 54). And because it does not suffice for obstinate malice to revile the one it hates, but it also strives to contrive his destruction unto death, on this account he adds: Lying in wait for him and seeking to catch something from his mouth, that they might accuse him. For they did not dare to kill him openly on account of fear of the crowds, but they wished to kill him secretly on account of hatred of the truth they had heard. Whence John 8: "Why do you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you?" — which they sought cautiously and maliciously; whence Matthew 22: "The Pharisees, going away, took counsel together to ensnare Jesus in his speech."