Sf. m. Marina († 269).Ap Rom 11,2-12; Ev Mt 11,20-26.

11:1-10 THE REMNANT OF ISRAEL
OVERVIEW: The present situation of the Jews is bleak, but that does not mean that God has rejected them. Paul himself was a Jew, and God would preserve a remnant among them for the future as he had already done in the past. The remnant of Israel will be saved by grace just as the Gentiles are now. Just when Elijah thought he was alone he learned that seven thousand had not bowed the knee to Baal. So there remains in Israel a remnant chosen by grace. God blinded the Israel of works and made it deaf because of its unbelief. This terrible fate had been predicted in the Old Testament.
11:11-24 THE OLIVE TREE AND THE BRANCHES
OVERVIEW: The Jews have stumbled, but they have not fallen away completely. Moreover, God has used their tragedy for good, in that because of it the gateway of salvation has been opened to the Gentiles. The Gentiles have been shown mercy because of the stumbling of the Jews, but they must be careful not to boast. The Jews belonged to the divine olive tree by nature, but because of their unbelief they have been broken off. The Gentiles have been grafted in from a wild olive tree, but it follows that if they turn away from Christ, they too will be cast off, and all the more readily because they did not belong in the first place. The Fathers recognized that Paul was humbling both Jews and Gentiles in their different ways, and warned against presumption on the goodness of God.
Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew 11,20-26
11:20-24 THE UNBELIEVING TOWNS
OVERVIEW: At Bethsaida and Capernaum the mute praised the Lord with their voices, the blind saw, the deaf heard, the lame ran about, the dead came alive, yet such great miracles did not produce any enduring disposition to faith (HILARY) or even repentance (JEROME). These cities were found to be not only as bad as other current cities but as bad as any that ever existed (CHRYSOSTOM). Because of those miracles Jesus said that Capernaum had been raised up to heaven, but because of their lack of faith their fall to hell was all the more dramatic. Similar miracles might have happened in Tyre and Sidon, or even in Sodom and Gomorrah, if they had come to repent (THEODORE OF HERACLEA). Jesus spoke harshly so as to use every possible means to reclaim them to repentance CHRYSOSTOM.
11:25 Things Hidden from the Wise
REVEALED TO THE GENTILES. ORIGEN: Jesus praises and glorifies the Father, who had foreseen the entire trajectory of the Word first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. Our Lord here gives thanks to his Father, the Lord of heaven and earth, for his mission in becoming incarnate in the form of a servant. He speaks about the Father’s good pleasure now to hide this mystery about himself from Israel, which might be expected to be wise, and to reveal it to the Gentiles, who were until now without understanding. It is thereby demonstrated that God did not forget to fulfill his purpose, nor did Christ’s coming fail in its appointed end. These things indeed have happened, God knowing them beforehand and having commanded beforehand the repentance of grace. The justice of God’s good pleasure is here passed over in silence, but elsewhere it is clearly displayed. God’s good will is not irrational. People do not fail to attain knowledge and wisdom about it for any reason other than their own deficiencies. FRAGMENT 239.1
LORD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. AUGUSTINE: Jesus says, “My Father, Lord of heaven and earth,” Father of him through whom all things were made. Surely all creation is embraced by these two nouns heaven and earth. Therefore the first book of God’s Scripture says, “In the beginning God made heaven and earth.”2 And “my help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”3 By the name of heaven is understood whatever is in heaven, and by the name of earth is understood whatever is on earth. Thus, by mentioning these two parts of creation no aspect of creation is overlooked, since the created object is either here or there. Moreover, when the Son speaks to his Father his confession, Jesus admonishes us that confession is owed to God not for our sins alone. For very often when it is heard in the Scriptures, “You shall confess to the Lord,” many who hear this beat their breasts in remorse. They do not recall that the term confession means anything else except their accustomed use when they show repentance, confessing their sins and awaiting their just deserts from God, not because they deserve to suffer but because God deems it worthy to act mercifully. But if there were not confession in the act of praise, Jesus would not say, “I confess to you, Father,” since he had no sin to confess. It is said in another book of the Scripture: “You shall confess to the Lord” and say in your confession that “all the works of the Lord are very good.” This is certainly a confession of praise and not of fault.

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I THANK YOU, FATHER. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: He employs the phrase “I confess you” in accordance with human custom. Instead of saying “I acknowledge you,” he brings in the phrase “I glorify you.”5 For it is customary in the divinely inspired Scripture for the word confession to be taken in some such a sense. It is written, “Let the people give thanks,” Lord, “to your great name, because it is formidable and holy.”6 And again, “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart.”7
But those who are perverted in mind say, “Look here, if he renders thanks to the Father, how then is he not less than the Father?” To this objection one who knows how to guard the doctrines of truth might say, “My good man, what prevents the consubstantial Son from accepting and praising his own Father, who through him saves what is under heaven? If you believe because of this confession that he is in a lesser position than the Father, look also at what comes next. Jesus acknowledges and calls his Father Lord of heaven and earth. For he confesses him as ‘Lord of heaven and earth’ and at the same time he calls upon him as ‘Father.’ But the Son of God who is ruler of all is in every way with him the Lord and Master of all, not as one worse or differing in substance, but as God from God. He is crowned with equal renown, having substantially with him equality in everything whatsoever.” FRAGMENT 145.8
GRACE REVEALED TO THOSE SIMPLE AT EVIL. THEODORE OF HERACLEA: Jesus called the Jews wise, either because they were entrusted with the oracles of God or because they were evil-doers and wise at doing evil, but he called the apostles children. He called the scribes and Pharisees wise, though they did not really possess wisdom but only what appeared to be wisdom because of their cleverness with words. He called the fishermen, who were unskilled in evil, children. In this way, the grace of God was clearly manifested as Jesus made himself known to simple men.… And even if it was Christ himself who, for the most part, did these things, nevertheless, by giving thanks for them as things done by the Father, he shows that they share a common will and gives thanks for God’s love for us in the things by which we have received benefit. FRAGMENT 80.9
REVEALED TO BABES. EPIPHANIUS THE LATIN: And he revealed these things to children. To which children? Not those who are children in age but to those who are children in respect to sin and wickedness. To them Jesus revealed how to seek the blessings of paradise and the things to come in the kingdom of heaven, because thus it was well pleasing before God that “they should come from the east and the west and that they should lie down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but that the sons of this worldly kingdom should be cast into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”10 INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 26.11

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11:26 The Father’s Gracious Will
PLEASING TO GOD. ANONYMOUS: He does not say why it was thus pleasing to him but only gives thanks to the Father, because it was thus pleasing to him. So also you should never discuss God’s designs, what he did in his works or why he did so. But in whatever way God so wished to arrange his own creation, let thanksgiving be sufficient for you as evidence in regard to the very nature of God. God does nothing without reason and justice. He created you not for his own examination but for his own honor. God did not want you to be a judge of his own actions but a servant of his commands. It is characteristic of a good master to foresee everything that concerns the benefit of the servant. Moreover, it is characteristic of a good servant to work faithfully and not to discuss the master’s actions. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 28.12