The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (39 page)

22:40 these two commandments:
The 613 commands of the Mosaic Law are distilled into two prescriptions: love God (Deut 6:5) and your neighbor (Lev 19:18). These summarize the spirit of the entire OT
(law and the prophets).
According also to Paul, love is the greatest theological virtue (1 Cor 13:13) and fulfills God's moral Law (Rom 13:8-10; CCC 182224). 
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22:45 calls him Lord:
Jesus' question concerns the meaning of Ps 110:1. The Pharisees (22:42) assume it mentions the Messiah, but their understanding of the verse is partial and inadequate. • Psalm 110 is an enthronement psalm that was probably used at coronation ceremonies for Davidic kings. In context, David addresses his son as "my Lord" (22:44), a title more appropriate for one's superior. This implies that the expected Messiah would be greater than David himself, a crucial point missed by the Pharisees (cf. Acts 2:34-36). As Messiah, Jesus is the son of David (1:1) and yet greater than David as the Son of God (3:17; 16:16; 17:5) (CCC 439, 447).
See note on Mt 1:17
. 
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23:1-36
Jesus warns the
crowds
and his
disciples
(23:1) that the
scribes and the Pharisees
(23:2) are dangerous and their false piety is unworthy of imitation. Jesus takes aim at Pharisaic attitudes (23:2-12) and announces seven "woes" indicting them as murderers (23:34-35). 
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23:2 Moses' seat:
This may be an actual "chair", like those used in later synagogues, or only a symbol of teaching authority. The Pharisees thus preach the Mosaic Law with authority, but their failure to practice its "weightier matters" (23:23) should not be followed by others. See topical essay:
Who Are the Pharisees?
at Mk 2. 
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23:5 their phylacteries:
Small leather boxes containing Scripture verses. These are tied to the forearm and forehead while praying (Deut 6:8; 11:18). Making them
broad,
the Pharisees sought to parade their piety for public recognition.
fringes:
See note on Mt 9:20
. 
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23:7 rabbi:
A Hebrew word meaning "my great one" and a title for revered Jewish teachers (Jn 1:38). 
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23:9 call no man your father:
Jesus uses hyperbole to post a warning that no one should pridefully desire honorific titles. His words are not meant literally. The NT writers elsewhere use
father
for natural fathers (Heb 12:7-11) and spiritual fathers in the Church (1 Cor 4:15; Philem 10). • The spiritual fatherhood of New Covenant priests is an extension of its application to Old Covenant priests (Judg 17:10; 18:19). 
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23:13 woe to you:
Recalls OT oracles of judgment (Is 5:8-23; Ezek 24:6, 9; Hab 2:6-20). This is the first of seven "woes" in Jesus' denunciation of the Pharisees (23:1516, 23, 25, 27, 29). He presents a covenant lawsuit against unfaithful Israel and pronounces "woes" as covenant curses upon the impenitent (cf. Deut 27:15-26). In Matthew, these seven "woes" stand opposite the New Covenant "blessings" in the Beatitudes (5:3-12; cf. Lk 6:24-26). • The OT background is likely Lev 26 and God's promise to exact "sevenfold" vengeance upon the Israelites if they violate his covenant (Lev 26:18, 21, 24, 28). 
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23:15 a single proselyte:
i.e, a convert to Pharisaic Judaism. 
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23:16-22
The Pharisees made false and hair-splitting distinctions between oaths, supposing the object invoked (Temple, gold, altar) determined the binding force of sworn statements. Their distinctions, which made some oaths less binding than others, abused and devalued the sacredness of the practice (CCC 2153).
See note on Mt 5:33
. 
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23:23 mint and dill and cummin:
Small seasoning herbs. According to the Law, a tenth part
(tithe)
of all produce must be offered to God (Lev 27:30; Deut 14:22-23). The Pharisees scrupulously adhered to this small command but neglected greater and more important principles; for
justice, mercy,
and
faith
are the foundations of the Mosaic Law and should inspire all obedience to God (cf. 9:13). 
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23:24 a gnat:
One of the smaller unclean animals, which Jews were forbidden to eat (Lev 11:41-43). The Pharisees dutifully poured beverages through a cloth to strain them out before drinking.
a camel:
One of the larger unclean animals (Lev 11:4). Jesus' contrast exposes the Pharisees for observing the minute laws of God at the expense of greater principles of the spiritual life. 
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23:27 whitewashed tombs:
Since contact with the dead makes Jews temporarily unclean, it was customary to whitewash grave sites to make them visible and help prevent inadvertent contact (Num 19:11-20). According to Jesus, the practice illustrates how the visible piety of many Pharisees only disguises their interior corruption and hypocrisy. 
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23:35 Abel to . . . Zechariah:
Some see this as a reference to the first (Gen 4:8) and last (2 Chron 24:20-22) murders in the OT. This is based on the Palestinian arrangement of the OT, where Genesis is the first book and 2 Chronicles is the last. This is difficult to maintain, because the Zechariah in 2 Chron 24:20 is the "son of Jehoiada", not the
son of Barachiah.
Zechariah the "son of Barachiah" is rather the OT prophet (Zech 1:1) whose death is nowhere recorded in the Bible. Jesus may instead be drawing from ancient tradition, just as Isaiah's martyrdom is never mentioned in the OT but alluded to in Heb 11:37 as the prophet "sawn in two". In fact, later rabbinic tradition maintains that Zechariah the son of Barachiah was killed in the Temple (e.g.,
Targum on Lamentations
2, 20). In any case, the cup of iniquity filled throughout history begins to overflow with the Pharisees' intent to murder Jesus (12:14). By rejecting God's Messiah, Jesus' generation calls down divine judgment stored up from the ages. 
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23:37 as a hen:
The Holy City persistently rejected God's messengers. Jesus too stands rejected, though he desired to protect and gather its faithful (CCC 558). • Jesus' language evokes Is 31:5 and the Lord's protection of Jerusalem. Other OT texts similarly portray God as a winged bird protecting Israel (Deut 32:10-12; Ps 91:4). •
Allegorically:
the hen is the Church, who constantly calls out to her young lest they go astray. Just as a hen takes care of her own, so the Church regenerates the faithful in Baptism, feeds them with her preaching, and loves them with maternal affection (
Auctor Imperfecti, Incomplete Commentary on Matthew
). 
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23:38 your house is forsaken:
The city and Temple of Jerusalem are abandoned by God to judgment (cf. Jer 12:7; Dan 9:17). Jesus, God-in-flesh, symbolically enacts this by exiting the Temple (Mt 24:1) and walking to the Mount of Olives (24:3). • Jesus' Temple exit recalls Ezekiel's vision in the OT. He witnessed God's glory leaving Solomon's Temple and resting on the Mount of Olives, east of the city (Ezek 10:18; 11:23). God's departure was soon followed by the Temple's first destruction in 586
B.C.
 
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24:1-25:46
The Olivet Discourse is the final sermon of Jesus featured in Matthew (see outline for Matthew). Its purpose is to reveal events of the near and distant future.
(1)
Prophetically:
Jesus foretells the Roman conquest of Jerusalem and the Temple that occurred in
A.D.
70. His predictions about this catastrophe and the tribulations leading up to it are expressed in the apocalyptic language of the OT prophets, which is often cryptic and symbolic. The effect is to show that Jerusalem's doom will be an event of world-shaking consequence in the divine plan of salvation.
(2)
Typologically:
the devastation of the Temple, which stood as an architectural symbol of creation, anticipates the fiery dissolution of heaven and earth. This will occur at the end of time when Jesus comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead (2 Pet 3:10-13; Rev 20:11-15; CCC 585-86). 
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