Luke 3:1
_Pilate being governor of Judea, literally, procurator; i.e. with a subordination to the president of Syria. (Witham) --- This was Herod Antipas, son of Herod the great, mentioned in Chap. i, ver. 5._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pilate being governor of Judea, literally, procurator; i.e. with a subordination to the president of Syria. (Witham) --- This was Herod Antipas, son of Herod the great, mentioned in Chap. i, ver. 5._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Under the high priests, Annas and Caiphas. There was properly but one high priest at a time; and Caiphas had this office and title all the ten years that Pilate governed Judea. See Josephus, lib. xviii. Antiq. chap. iii. --- In these short notes I shall not pretend to examine the chronological diff... [ Continue Reading ]
To all who read, it is plain, that St. John [the Baptist] not only preached baptism, but likewise conferred it upon many; yet, he could not give baptism to the remission of sins. (St. Gregory, hom. xx.) --- When the victim was not yet immolated, how could they obtain remission of sins? How could St.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Every valley, &c. If these words, in one sense, were a prediction of the deliverance of the Israelites from their captivity, (Isaias xl. 3.) and an admonition to level the roads for those that were to return, they also signified the redemption of mankind from the slavery of sin; and that all obstac... [ Continue Reading ]
This text is given according to the Septuagint.... [ Continue Reading ]
This saint of the desert, seeing all the inhabitants of Palestine surrounding and admiring him, was not elated with the honour, but openly and severely rebuked them. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. xi. on S. Matt) --- According to St. Matthew, the Baptist addressed these words principally to the Pharisee... [ Continue Reading ]
It is one thing to bring forth fruits of penance, and another to bring forth worthy fruits. We should know that the man who has committed nothing unlawful, may have a right to use the lawful things of the world, and can perform works of piety, without forsaking innocent enjoyments, unless he pleases... [ Continue Reading ]
By this example is meant that anger of God, which the Jews raised against themselves by their impiety towards their Messias. The axe is laid to the root of the tree, for the branches are already lopt off; but the tree was not rooted up, _for a remnant of Israel shall be saved. (St. Cyril, lib. 3. on... [ Continue Reading ]
_He that hath two coats, &c. St. John exhorts them to works of charity towards the poor, by giving what is superfluous. (Witham) --- Here we are taught that whatever we have more than our own wants require, must be bestowed on those who are in need; for the love of that God, of whom we have received... [ Continue Reading ]
The Baptist exhorts worldlings 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)... [ Continue Reading ]
_Do nothing more. You who are military men, exact no more of the people than what is allowed and appointed you. (Witham)_... [ Continue Reading ]
The Baptist knew that such as engage in war, are not murderers, but ministers of the law; not avengers of injuries, but defenders of the public weal. Had he thought otherwise, he would have said: "cast away your arms, abandon the service, never strike, maim, or destroy any one:" these are not the th... [ Continue Reading ]
Many reasons might have induced the people to think that John was the Christ: 1. The wonders that took place at his birth and conception, his mother being very old, and without any prospect of offspring: 2. the excellence of his preaching, his mortified life, and the novelty of his baptism; and thir... [ Continue Reading ]
See Matthew iii. 11. That baptism cannot be valid, in which the name of the Holy Ghost _only is invoked. For, the tradition concerning life-giving grace, must be preserved entire. To add or to omit any thing, may exclude from life everlasting. For, as we believe, so also are we baptized, in the name... [ Continue Reading ]
By the barn-floor is here prefigured the Church of Christ, in which many are called, but few are chosen. This _perfect cleansing of the floor, as it is in the Greek, is performed both here when the wicked, on account of their open crimes, are excluded from the communion of the faithful by the Church... [ Continue Reading ]
See in St. Mark vi. 17. _The wife of his brother (Philip.) The Greek adds the name, and he is also named in St. Mark; but he is a different person from the tetrarch, mentioned in chap. iii. ver. 1. (Bible de Vence) --- It was not at this time that John [the Baptist] was cast into prison; but, as St.... [ Continue Reading ]
The motive of his baptism, as he himself informs us, was, that he himself might fulfil all justice. What is here meant by justice, but that obligation of doing first ourselves what we wish others to do? --- Let not one then refuse the laver of grace, since Christ did not refuse the laver of penance.... [ Continue Reading ]
The reason why the Holy Ghost shewed himself in the shape of a dove, was because he could not be seen in the substance of his divinity. But why a dove? To express that simplicity acquired in the sacrament of baptism. _Be ye simple as doves; to signify that peace bestowed by baptism, and prefigured b... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who was of Cainan. Notwithstanding the veneration due to the Latin Vulgate, which is to be esteemed authentic, Corn. a Lapide calls it a chronological problem, whether the word Cainan be the true reading, or whether it hath slipt into the text. It is true Cainan is found in the Septuagint Genesis x... [ Continue Reading ]
What could be more beautiful, than that this holy race should begin from the Son of God, and be continued up to the Son of God; that the creature might go before in figure, and the Son of God might follow after in reality; that he who was made after the image of God, might first appear, that the tru... [ Continue Reading ]