Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 23:29-31

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets." — Matthew 23:29-31 (ASV)

St. Jerome: With a most subtle argument, He proves they are the sons of murderers, while, to gain a good reputation among the people, they build the tombs of the prophets whom their fathers killed.

Origen of Alexandria: He seems to pronounce denunciations against those who build the tombs of the prophets without just cause. For what they did was, in itself, praiseworthy; how then do they deserve this "woe"?

St. John Chrysostom: He does not blame them for building the tombs, but exposes the motive with which they built them. Their purpose was not to honor the slain, but to erect for themselves a triumphal monument to the murder, fearing that, in time, the memory of their audacious wickedness would perish.¹

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Or, they said to themselves, "If we do good to the poor, not many see it, and then only for a moment. Wouldn't it be better to construct buildings that everyone can see, not only now but for all time to come?" O foolish man, what good is this posthumous memory if you are tortured where you are, and praised where you are not?

While He corrects the Jews, He also instructs Christians. If these things had been spoken to the Jews alone, they would have been spoken but not written; but as it is, they were spoken for their sake and written for ours. When a person, in addition to other good deeds, erects sacred buildings, it adds to his good works. But if he does so without any other good works, it is merely a passion for worldly renown.

The martyrs do not rejoice to be honored with money that has caused the poor to weep. The Jews, moreover, have always been admirers of saints from former times, yet despisers and even persecutors of the living ones. Because they could not endure the rebukes of their own prophets, they persecuted and killed them. A later generation, however, perceiving their fathers' error and grieving over the death of innocent prophets, built monuments to them. Yet they themselves, in the same way, persecuted and killed the prophets of their own time when they rebuked them for their sins. This is what is meant when you say, "If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in the blood of the prophets."

St. Jerome: Although they do not say this in words, they proclaim it by their actions when they build ambitious and magnificent structures to the prophets' memory.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: What they thought in their hearts, they spoke by their deeds. Here, Christ lays bare the natural habit of all wicked men: each one readily perceives another's fault, but not his own. This is because in another's case, a person's heart is unprejudiced, but in one's own case, it is distorted. Therefore, in the cause of others, we can all easily be righteous judges. Only the one who is able to judge himself is truly righteous and wise.

It follows, "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves, that you are the children of those who killed the prophets."

St. John Chrysostom: What kind of accusation is this, to call someone the son of a murderer if he does not share his father's disposition? Clearly, there is no guilt in that. Therefore, this must be said to prove their resemblance in wickedness.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: The character of the parents is a witness concerning the children. If the father is good and the mother bad, or the reverse, the children may sometimes follow one and sometimes the other. But when both parents are the same, it very rarely happens that bad children come from good parents, or good children from bad parents, though it does happen sometimes. This is like when a person is born outside the rule of nature, having six fingers or no eyes.

Origen of Alexandria: And in the prophetic writings, the historical sense is the body and the spiritual meaning is the soul; the tombs are the letter and the books of Scripture themselves. Those, then, who attend only to the historical meaning honor the bodies of the prophets, setting them in the letter as in a tomb. They are called Pharisees—that is, "separated"—as if they were cutting off the soul of the prophets from their body.

1. Hom. lxxiv