The Priviledge of Discipleship

by FLL Editorial Team
2013-07-25

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
Matthew 13:16-17

If we had not read that invitation to His hearers to understand, when the Savior said, "He that has ears to hear let him hear" (Mt 13:9), we might here suppose that the eyes and ears which are now blessed are those of the body. But those eyes are blessed which can discern Christ in the sacraments, and those ears of which Isaiah speaks, "The Lord has given me an ear." (Is. 50:4)

This seems to contradict what is said Jn 8:56, "Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad." Also Isaiah and Micah, and many other Prophets, saw the glory of the Lord; and were then called 'seers.'

But Jesus did not say, 'The Prophets and the just men,' but many; for out of the whole number, it may be that some saw, and others did not. But this is a perilous interpretation, that we should seem to be making judgement between the holiness of the saints, at least as far as the degree of their holiness in Christ. Therefore we may suppose that Abraham saw in faith, and not in substance. But you have truly present with you, and hold, your Lord, questioning Him at your will, and eating with Him.

These things then which the Apostles saw and heard, such as Jesus' presence, His voice, and His teaching. And in this He sets them before not the evil only, but even before the good, pronouncing them more blessed than even the righteous men of old. For they saw not only what the Jews saw not, but also what the righteous men and Prophets desired to see, and had not seen. For they had beheld these things only by faith, but these by sight, and even yet more clearly. You see how He identifies the Old Testament with the New, for had the Prophets been the servants of any strange or hostile Deity, they would not have desired to see Christ.

Reference:
Catena Aurea (St. Thomas Aquinas)
Commentariorum In Evangelium Matthaei (St. Jerome)
Commentariorum In Matthaeum (St. Rabanus Maurus)
Homily 45 on Matthew (St. John Chrysostom)

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