He comes into the mind: concerning which Job nine: "If he comes to me, I shall not see him"; and this coming is to be welcomed on account of the exceeding love: John fourteen: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him"; and that passage from Wisdom seven: "All good things came to me together with her."
He comes to the final judgment, concerning which Revelation one: "Behold, he comes with the clouds," etc.; and this coming is to be awaited with the utmost discernment: Malachi three: "Behold, he comes, and who shall be able to contemplate the day of his coming," etc.; for above in chapter twelve: "Blessed is that servant whom, when the Lord comes, he shall find watching."
In each of these three comings, however, he who comes, namely Christ, is to be blessed: Psalm: "O Lord, save me; O Lord, grant good success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." And for this threefold coming the Church celebrates solemnly, recalling one, petitioning for another, and foreseeing the third as near at hand.
58. Second, with regard to the excellent efficacy of the advent, he adds: Peace in heaven and glory in the highest, in which is given to understand the twofold efficacy of the advent of Christ. The first is in the reconciliation of sinners through grace: and this he notes when he says peace in heaven: Colossians 1: "Making peace through the blood of his cross, both as to the things that are in the heavens and the things that are on earth. And you, when you were at one time alienated and enemies in evil works, are now reconciled in the body of his flesh." And he came to accomplish this: Ephesians 2: "He himself is our peace, who made both one." "And coming, he preached peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near," etc. - The second is the beatification of the just through glory: the Psalm: "All who love your name shall glory in you." And concerning this twofold effect, again in the Psalm: "For God loves mercy and truth; the Lord shall give grace and glory"; and this twofold effect is through Christ coming, according to that passage in Romans 5: "Justified by faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have access by faith into this grace, in which we both stand and glory in the hope of the glory of the children of God."
59. And on account of this noble twofold effect, Christ coming ought to be praised both at his nativity and at the approaching passion: whence, just as the Angels sang: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men," etc., above in chapter two, so conversely men now sing as the passion approaches. And therefore the Gloss says: "Just as, when the Lord of men and Angels was being born, the heavenly hosts sang: Glory to God in the highest, etc., so to the same one about to triumph, men sing together: Peace in heaven and glory in the highest ." But the other Evangelists say that they sang: "Hosanna to the Son of David, hosanna in the highest!" Matthew 21 and Mark 11: in which is contained both the meaning of glory and of many other things, and therefore it was not translated. Whence Chrysostom says: "Some interpret Hosanna as glory, some as redemption, others as save or save me ." But Augustine says that "Hosanna is the voice of one rejoicing or beseeching, as some Hebrews say, indicating an emotion rather than signifying any particular thing, just as racha is said to be an interjection of one who is indignant. Whence according to the sound, neither a Latin nor a Greek speaker could interpret this, but only according to the sense." And this is what blessed Luke wishes to say when he says: "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest." - Whence, because this praise was the praise of the sublime humility of Christ, therefore from it, together with the praise of the Seraphim, which is the praise of the Trinity, is constituted the praise immediately preceding the Canon of the Mass in the consecration of the Sacrament of the altar, in which is said: Holy, Holy, Holy, etc.
60. (Verse 39.). And some of the Pharisees etc. After the devotion of those praising and the sublimity of the praises, there is added the confutation of the envious, in describing which two things are introduced, namely the indignation of the envious and the approbation of those who praised.
First, therefore, regarding the indignation of the envious, he says: And some of the Pharisees from the crowds said to him: Master, rebuke your disciples. They said this out of indignation: whence Matthew twenty-one, "The chief priests and scribes, seeing the wonders that he did, and the boys crying out and saying: Hosanna to the son of David, were indignant." This indignation had its origin in envy, which cast them headlong into foolishness and madness. Whence the Gloss: "Wondrous is the madness of the envious: him whom they knew to be teaching true things, when they hear him called master, they judge that his disciples, as though they themselves were better instructed, ought to be rebuked—those whom he had instructed, who appears to be God through his miracles." Whence from the praise and glory of Christ the scribes and Pharisees were most greatly moved to anger, when rather they ought to have rejoiced: according to that of John twelve: "The Pharisees said among themselves: You see that we avail nothing. Behold, the whole world has gone after him." They were saddened, therefore, by that at which they ought to have rejoiced, and blinded by that from which they ought to have been illuminated; and this by the just judgment of God, who says in John nine: "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." Whence also on account of the illumination of the faithful and the confutation of the rebellious, the Lord accepted this honor, as the Gloss says: "Frequently he entered the city of Jerusalem, but not with these praises, not called king, which he had always fled, except now, when he ascended about to suffer: this was done so that he might further excite their envy against himself, because the time of the passion was now at hand"; not because the Lord wished their evil to be intensified, but because, by his just judgment doing what he ought, they took occasion to be more ardently inflamed to hatred, from which God would draw forth a great good. Whence Chrysostom: "He stirred them up, not so that they would do what they previously did not wish, but so that they could do what they previously wished. The opportunity was given, not the will changed." Whence that of Wisdom two was fulfilled in them: "He is grievous to us to behold, because his life is unlike that of others, and his ways are changed."
61. (Verse 40.). Second, regarding the approbation of those who praised, it is added: To whom he said: I tell you, that if these shall be silent, the stones will cry out, as if to say that it is the will of God that they should praise, according to that of Matthew twenty-one: "But he said: Have you never read, that out of the mouth of infants and sucklings you have perfected praise"? For this is written in the Psalm: which the Lord willed to do for the confusion of the Pharisees, whence it is immediately added: "Because of your enemies, that you might destroy the enemy and the avenger." Here, moreover, he says more, namely that it is the will of God, such that it cannot be impeded by the Pharisees.
62. Now the Lord willed that it happen thus, with the Passion approaching, both on account of the example and on account of the mystery: on account of the example, so that the ignominy of the subsequent Passion would be more grievous by reason of the magnitude of the preceding glory, according to that passage in Job 16: "I, who was once wealthy, have suddenly been crushed." In this it is also shown what the joy of this world is like, because it passes away most swiftly: Proverbs 14: "Laughter shall be mingled with sorrow, and mourning occupies the end of joy." And through this it is shown that worldly joy and the acclaim of praise and glory of this kind are to be despised; and that through good repute and ill repute must he pass who wishes to go to the heavenly Jerusalem, according to that passage in Second Corinthians 6: "By the armor of justice on the right hand and on the left, through glory and dishonor, through infamy and good repute, as deceivers yet truthful, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as having nothing yet possessing all things."
He also willed this on account of the mystery, because the praise of the little ones signifies His praise in the Church of the Gentiles. Therefore He says that the stones will cry out, that is, the Gentiles, who are called stones because they had hard and stony hearts. Therefore as a figure of this, above in chapter three: "I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham," namely by taking away the hardness of hearts, according to that passage in Ezekiel 36: "I will take away from you the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." But their hard heart was softened through the power of the Cross, which converts rock into water. As a figure of this it is said in Matthew 27 that at the death of Christ "the rocks were split, and the tombs were opened." Whence the Gloss: "If blindness has befallen Israel, so that it falls silent from the praise of God, the people of the Gentiles, their stony heart having been softened, will believe in and proclaim their Creator"; according to that passage in Romans 11: "Blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should enter in, and so all Israel should be saved." Whence as an express designation of this, it is said in John 12, immediately after the murmuring of the Pharisees: "Now there were certain Gentiles who had come up to the feast day. And they came to Philip, saying: Lord, we wish to see Jesus"; and it follows there that "Philip and Andrew said to Jesus"; "But Jesus said: Father, the hour has come: glorify Your Son."
From which it manifestly appears that these things were done to manifest the name of Christ and to prefigure the calling of the Christian people, the Jews having been blinded, concerning whose imminent overthrow He treats in what follows, lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem, the royal city.
That He possesses the promised pontifical compassion, He shows through four things.
63. (Vers. 41.). And when he drew near etc. After he described how the Lord showed himself to be the promised Christ with respect to royal power, here secondly he shows the same thing with regard to pontifical piety. For just as power and honor befit a king, so the sorrow of piety befits a high priest, according to that passage in Hebrews 4: " We have not a high priest who cannot have compassion on our infirmities, tempted in all things according to likeness, without sin ". Moreover, the great piety of Christ of this kind is shown, because on the day of his highest honor on earth he did not cease from tears through the affection of compassion. Therefore the piety of Christ is described as weeping and bewailing the priestly city's foolish joy, approaching destruction and antecedent sin.
First, therefore, with regard to the most pious weeping of Christ the high priest he says: And when he drew near, seeing the city, he wept over it. He drew near not only in bodily position, but also in the affection of the heart, according to that passage in James 4: "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you"; and Deuteronomy 4: " For what other nation is so great as to have gods drawing near to it "? He also saw the city not only with the eyes of the body, but also with the gaze of piety: Psalm: " For he looked down from his holy height: the Lord looked from heaven to earth, to hear the groans" etc: and Exodus 3: " I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt " etc. He wept over it through most pious affection and tender compassion.
64. And note that Christ is read to have wept three times for us: over Lazarus who was to be raised: John 11: " And Jesus wept"; over the city of Jerusalem, as here: and finally on the cross: Hebrews 5: " Offering with a strong cry and tears, he was heard because of his reverence": from which the piety of Christ toward us was most perfectly manifested. It is also believed that he wept in his infancy, when he entered into the misery of the present state, according to what the Church sings of him:
The infant cries, confined within the narrow manger.
In this fourfold weeping, however, he shows that there ought to be in us four kinds of tears and weeping: from compunction; the Psalm: "Every night I will wash my bed; with my tears I will water my couch"; and in Matthew twenty-six it is said of Peter that "going out, he wept bitterly." - From compassion: Job thirty: "I wept once over him who was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor"; and Jeremiah nine: "Who will give water to my head and a fountain of tears to my eyes"? For the sojourn of present misery: John sixteen: "You shall weep" etc.; and the Psalm: "Woe is me! for my sojourning is prolonged." - For the desire of eternal happiness: Matthew five: "Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be consoled." These tears we ought to seek so long as we are upon the little donkey of our mortality. For just as Christ wept upon the donkey, so also the soul, which sits upon the wretched body as upon a little donkey, ought to weep. As a figure of this, in Judges one it is said that "Achsah, the daughter of Caleb, sitting upon a donkey, sighed" etc.; and afterwards it is added that she said: "You have given me a dry land; give me also one watered with springs; and Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs." - By these modes of weeping, the paradise of conscience ought to be watered. As a sign of this, it is said in Genesis two that "a river went out from the place of pleasure to water paradise, which is divided into four heads"; by which it is understood that from the piety of our heart a fourfold river of tears ought to flow forth.
65. (Verse 42). Secondly, as to the foolish joy of the royal city, he adds: Saying: If you had known, even you, through foresight, you would have wept, supply: through penitence; whence the Gloss: " If you had known the ruin that threatens, you would have wept." And here there is an omission of a necessary expression, but the Lord speaks in a broken manner after the fashion of one who grieves, and supplies it from the very act of grieving and weeping, so that feeling supplies the thought, and the deed supplies the word: you would indeed have wept.
And if you ask: when? Indeed, that is, certainly, in this your day, the things that are for your peace, in which, namely, you exult; whence the Gloss: "You who now exult."
And if you ask the cause, why she exults and does not weep, it is lack of foresight. Whence he adds: But now they are hidden from your eyes; the Gloss: "In a time of gladness, future miseries are not foreseen"; therefore she had foolish joy on account of the consideration of the present day, concerning which day he says: In this your day; on account of the possession of present peace, concerning which he adds: The things that are for your peace; and on account of the concealment of calamity, concerning which he subjoins: But now they are hidden from your eyes. Whence the Gloss: "While you give your flesh to pleasures, not foreseeing future evils, you have present goods, which can be for your temporal peace. And why does he add this, namely that she does not foresee the evils that are to come? For if she had foreseen them, she would not have been joyful in present prosperity."
And hence it is that just men despise the present day, according to that passage of Jeremiah seventeen: "I have not desired the day of man, you know"; and Jeremiah twenty: "Cursed be the day in which I was born"; and of Job it is said in Job three: "Job cursed his day, saying: Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night in which it was said," etc. They despise present peace: Psalm: "I was envious of the wicked, seeing the peace of sinners"; and Ezekiel thirteen: "The prophets have deceived my people, saying: Peace, peace, and there was no peace." They behold and attend to future things, according to that passage of Ecclesiasticus thirty-eight: "Remember the last things and do not forget." — But on the contrary, wicked men do not think of judgment, and therefore they rejoice, according to that passage of Proverbs two: "They rejoice when they have done evil and exult in the worst things." And this is because they consider the present day, not the last: Job twenty-one: "They hold the timbrel and harp and rejoice at the sound of the organ. They spend their days in prosperity and in a moment descend to hell." Therefore it is said ironically in Ecclesiastes eleven: "Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth." "And know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment." From this, therefore, is evident what is said in Ecclesiastes seven: "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting," etc.
66. (Vers. 43.). Third, as to the approaching destruction of the royal city, he adds: Because the days shall come upon you, and your enemies shall surround you with a rampart, through siege, according to that passage of Ezekiel four: "Take to yourself a brick, and you shall draw upon it the city of Jerusalem. And you shall set a siege against it and build fortifications and cast up a mound and set camps against it round about and place siege works," etc.
Now this was fulfilled in the time of the Romans; whence the Gloss: " Enemies, namely the Roman leaders," who are said to have literally constructed three ramparts against Jerusalem for its capture.
And they shall surround you and hem you in on every side, through the continuation of the siege, according to that passage of Ezekiel four: "You shall set a pan as an iron wall between you and the city, and you shall set your face firmly against it, and it shall be under siege, and you shall besiege it: it is a sign to the house of Israel." And this came to pass because, as Josephus says, the siege was so exceedingly strict that a mother ate her daughter and an old woman devoured another. Whence was fulfilled that passage of Lamentations two: "They said to their mothers: Where is grain and wine? when they fainted like the wounded in the streets of the city, when they breathed out their souls in the bosom of their mothers"; and below in the same place: "Shall women then eat their own fruit, little ones the length of a palm?"
67. (Vers. 44.). And they shall dash you to the ground, and your children who are in you, through the destruction of the city; Lamentations 2: "The Lord purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion; he stretched out his line and did not turn away his hand from destruction. And the rampart mourned, and the wall was likewise destroyed." Nor was only the city itself destroyed, but also the entire nation was dispersed, according to that passage of Lamentations 2: "Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars; her kings and her princes are among the nations: there is no law, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord."