Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday in Lent

Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:1–2)

Tell me therefore, O Pharisee, why do you grumble, because Christ did not scorn to be with publicans and sinners, but purposely provided for them this means of salvation? To save men He yielded Himself to emptiness, and became in fashion like unto us, and clothed Himself in human poverty. And do you then blame the dispensation of the Only-begotten in the flesh? Do you find fault with His humbling Himself from above in heaven, Who transcends all? Nay, do you not leave the very Incarnation without censure? And yet the holy prophets wondered at the beautiful skill of the mystery. For the prophet David in the Psalms declares, “Sing with understanding: God has set a King over all the nations.” And the prophet Habakkuk says, “That he heard His hearing, and was afraid: and that he considered also His doings, and was astonished.” How therefore are you not ashamed of blaming those things which you ought to have admired? Would you have the Lord of all stern and inexorable, or good rather and kind to men? The family upon earth had gone astray: it had wandered from the hand of the chief shepherd: and therefore He Who feeds the flocks above in heaven, became like unto us, that He might make us also dwell in His folds:—that He might unite us to those who had never gone astray, and drive from us the beast of prey, and ward off like some impious band of robbers those impure demons, who had led astray all beneath the sky.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke 106

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Third Sunday in Lent

He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ” (Luke 13:6–9)

If you look closely, you will find that the laws of this species deviate from those of other trees. The others carry their flower before their fruit, and announce the fruits to come by the promise of the flower; only this one produces from the beginning fruits in place of flowers. In others the flower falls and fruits are born; in this one the fruits fall to give place to the fruits. Thus, these first trials of fruits grow as flowers; and to have, in their early birth, misunderstood the order of nature, they can not preserve the benefit of nature. Indeed, it is at the point where usually the bud grows from the middle of the bark that the small fruits of this species come to dawn. It is from them that we read, in the Song of Songs, "the fig tree grows its first fruits" (2:13). Thus, when the other trees are white in early spring, the only fig tree can not bleach by its flowers, perhaps because there is no maturity to expect from these kinds of fruits. For others arise, and these, as degenerates, are rejected; their weak stem dries up, and they give way to those for whom the sap will be more useful. There are, however, some, very rare, that do not fall, having had the good fortune to emerge on a short stem, between two palmettes: thus doubly covered and protected, as in mother nature, a more abundant sap fed them and developed them. These, helped by the clemency of the air and the temperature, having had more leisure to form, become, once stripped the natural wild of their primitive juice, preferable to the others by their beauty and the approval of their maturity. Now consider the manners and dispositions of the Jews: they are like the first fruits of the little fertile Synagogue; as the first fig falls, they have fallen, to make room for the fruits of our race that will remain forever. For the first people of the synagogue, weakly rooted in parched works, failed to draw the rich sap of natural wisdom: so it fell, like a useless fruit, so that on the same branches of the tree the fruit of ancient religion produced the new people of the Church. Thus he who was ceased to be, so that he who was not begin. Yet the best of Israel, those who wore a more vigorously conformed branch, in the shadow of the Law and the Cross, and within them, were stained with a double sap, and, as the first fig came to mature, these beautiful fruits outweigh all others. It is to them that it is said: "You shall sit on twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matt 19:28).

Ambrose Commentary on Luke 13

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday in Lent

On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, “Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You.” And He said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’ Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ” (Luke 13:31–35)

But He shows that Jerusalem is guilty of the blood of many saints, declaring, “that it is not possible for a prophet to perish out of her.” And what follows from this? That they were about to fall from being members of God’s spiritual family; that they were about to be rejected from the hope of the saints, and entirely deprived of the inheritance of those blessings which are in store for them who have been saved by faith. For that they were forgetful of God’s gifts, and intractable, and slothful unto everything that might have profited them, He showed, saying; “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones them that are sent unto her, how often would I have gathered your sons, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not: behold your house is abandoned unto you.” For He taught them by the most wise Moses, and ordained for them the law to direct them in their conduct, and be their ruler and guide in the life worthy of admiration, and which though it was but as yet in shadows, nevertheless possessed, the type of the true worship: He admonished them by the holy prophets: He would have had them under His wings, under the protection, that is, of His power: but they lost blessings thus valuable by being evil-disposed, ungrateful, and scornful.

“But,” He says, “you shall not see Me until you say, Blessed is he that comes in the Name of the Lord.” And what again is this? The Lord withdrew from Jerusalem, and left as unworthy of His presence those who said, “Depart and go hence.” And afterwards having traversed Judea, and saved many, and performed miracles which no words can adequately describe, He returned again to Jerusalem. And then it was, even then, that He sat upon a foal and an ass, while vast multitudes and young children, holding up branches of palm trees, went before Him, praising Him, and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is He That comes in the Name of the Lord.” Having left them therefore as being unworthy, He says that He will then barely be seen by them when the time of His passion has arrived. For then again He went up to Jerusalem, and entered amid praises, and at that very time endured His saving passion in our behalf, that by suffering He might save, and renew unto incorruption the inhabitants of the earth. For God the Father has saved us by Christ.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke 100

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the First Sunday in Lent

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. (Luke 4:1–13)

The devil led him onto the roof, to the highest point of the temple, and urged him to throw himself headlong from there. He proposed this dishonestly and, under the pretext of having Christ display His glory, strove for a different end. So the Savior stated, “Scripture says, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Consider, too, how the devil tempts. He does not dare to tempt with any means other than the Divine Books. He takes his text from the Psalms and says, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down. For Scripture says, ‘He gave his angels a command concerning you, that they should raise you up in their hands, lest perhaps you strike your foot against a stone.’” How can you, o devil, know that these words have been written? Have you read the prophets, or do you know the divine utterances? Even though you remain silent, I shall answer for you. You read, not to become better through reading the holy books, but to use the simple, literal sense for killing those who are the friends of the letter. You know that, if you wish to speak to him from other books, you will not deceive him, nor will your assertions have any authority.…

Therefore, let us see what the devil says to the Lord from the Scriptures: “Scripture says, ‘He gave his angels a command concerning you, that they should raise you up in their hands, lest perhaps you strike your foot against a stone.’” See how crafty he is, even in the texts he quotes. For, he wishes to diminish the Savior’s glory, as if the Savior needed the help of angels. It is as if he would strike his foot unless he were supported by their hands. The devil takes his verse from Scripture and applies it to Christ. Yet it is written not of Christ, but about the saints in general. Freely and in total confidence I contradict the devil. This passage cannot be applied to the person of Christ, for Christ does not need the help of angels. He is greater than the angels and obtained a better name than they by inheritance. For, God never said to any of the angels, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” He has spoken to none of them as to a son. “He makes his angels spirits, and his servants a burning fire.” But to his own Son he speaks properly, and says countless things about him in the prophets.

Origen, Homilies on Luke 51.2, 4