John Chrysostom, On Palm Sunday

grace working towards them: Do you blame us, Pharisees, and threaten us with punishment as if we were uttering blasphemy? Who is worthy of punishment? You who read the Scriptures and do not understand, or we who 61.717 hear and hold fast? Are we mistaken in offering palm branches to the Lord? Is He not the palm of righteousness? Did not the prophet cry out concerning Him, The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree? Did He not blossom the sight of the blind? Did He not grant to the lame an unhindered course? Did He not make the paralytic carry the bed that had carried him? Did He not raise Lazarus from death on the fourth day? Is it not for this reason you want to kill Lazarus again? Did you not roll away the stone, and yet are hardened like stones in your unbelief? Did He not permit you to loose the grave-clothes, so that you would not lie, as in the case of the man born blind, about another leaping out from another tomb? You always envy good things, O Pharisees, and oppose the believing crowd. For this reason you plotted again to murder Lazarus, so that you might cut off the faith of the crowd.

For if you murder Lazarus, what then? Can He not raise him again? Let us see who will grow weary, you in killing, or He in raising? You kill with deed and toil, He raises with a word. Who toils more? Is not the word of the one who acts lighter? Are we mistaken, O Pharisees, because we approached the Lord as a king? Seeing the colt, we were rather strengthened. Therefore we also recognize a mighty king, and we have the Scripture at our feet, so that you may learn with understanding that it is not we who are mistaken, but you who are deceived. You have the prophet Zechariah; unfold his words; fear his sickle of vengeance; for from many ages past, proclaiming the good news to Judea, he cried out, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; behold, your king comes to you, meek and gentle, sitting on a donkey's colt, the foal of a beast of burden. Are we not mistaken in reading the Scripture, and recognizing the king, and benefiting ourselves, and converting those who doubt? You possess the prophet, and you do not wish to understand the one prophesied? Stand back, therefore, O Pharisees. The more you press upon us, the more you stir up our desire and zeal. Therefore we are not deceived in crying out, Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

We know the name, O Pharisees; this name freed us from Egypt, and made the sea passable for us, and populated the wilderness, and settled us in a land flowing with milk and honey; it prepared the prophet to cry out; Let them know that your name is Lord; you alone are most high over all the earth. That the crowd was obedient, but the chief priests disobedient, hear the evangelist: And the chief priests took counsel that they might kill Lazarus also, because on account of him many were departing from the Jews and were believing in Jesus. Did you see the madness of the chief priests? In order to cut off the faith of the crowd, they sought to kill Lazarus also, saying to themselves that, If we kill only Jesus, but leave Lazarus alive, we gain nothing; for seeing this one, they believe in that one. Therefore, so that even after death he may not become a stumbling block for us, for some to believe in Jesus, let us kill Lazarus, that we may utterly blot out his memory. These and other things the chief priests said, as men of foolish mind, not understanding that the Lord, being about to accept a voluntary death for the sake of the world's immortality, was not about to leave to the world as a memory only Lazarus and his raising, but also the invincible cross; which they will be able neither to destroy nor to hide nor to nullify, showing the power of his working throughout the whole world.

πρὸς αὐτοὺς τῆς χάριτος ἐνεργούσης· Μέμφεσθε ἡμῖν, Φαρισαῖοι, καὶ κόλασιν ἡμῖν ἀπειλεῖτε ὡς βλασ φημίαν προϊεμένοις; τίνες κολάσεως ἄξιοι; ὑμεῖς οἱ τὰς Γραφὰς ἀναγινώσκοντες καὶ μὴ νοοῦντες, ἢ ἡμεῖς οἱ 61.717 ἀκούοντες καὶ κρατοῦντες; σφαλλόμεθα βαΐα τῶν φοινί κων τῷ Κυρίῳ προσφέροντες; οὐκ αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ τῆς δι καιοσύνης φοίνιξ; οὐ περὶ αὐτοῦ κέκραγεν ὁ προφήτης, ∆ίκαιος ὡς φοίνιξ ἀνθήσει; οὐκ αὐτὸς ἤνθησε τῶν τυ φλῶν τὴν ἀνάβλεψιν; οὐ χωλοῖς τὸν δρόμον ἀκώλυτον ἐχαρίσατο; οὐ τὸν παράλυτον τὴν βαστάσασαν κλίνην βαστάσαι ἐποίησεν; οὐ τὸν τεταρταῖον Λάζαρον ἐξήγειρεν ἐκ θανάτου; οὐ διὰ τοῦτο βούλεσθε τὸν Λάζαρον πάλιν ἀποκτεῖναι; οὐχ ὑμεῖς τὸν λίθον ἀπεκυλίσατε, καὶ τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ ὡς λίθοι σκληρύνεσθε; οὐχ ὑμῖν ἐπέτρεψε λῦσα τὰς κειρίας, ἵνα μὴ, ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐκ γενετῆς τυφλοῦ, ἄλλον ἐξ ἄλλου τάφου παραπηδήσαντα ψευδολογήσητε; Ἀεὶ ὑμεῖς τοῖς καλοῖς βασκαίνετε, ὦ Φαρισαῖοι, καὶ τῷ πλή θει πιστεύοντι ἐναντιοῦσθε. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πάλιν τὸν Λάζα ρον ἐβουλεύσασθε φονοκτονῆσαι, ἵνα τοῦ ὄχλου τὴν πίστιν ἐκκόψητε.

Εἰ γὰρ φονεύσητε τὸν Λάζαρον, τί; οὐ δύνα ται πάλιν αὐτὸν ἀναστῆσαι; Ἴδωμεν τίς κοπωθήσεται, ὑμεῖς φονεύοντες, ἢ ἐκεῖνος ἐγείρων; Ὑμεῖς ἔργῳ καὶ κόπῳ φονεύετε, αὐτὸς λόγῳ ἀνίστησι. Τίς μᾶλλον κοποῦ ται; οὐχ ὁ λόγος τοῦ ἐνεργοῦντος κουφότερος; σφαλλό μεθα, ὦ Φαρισαῖοι, ὅτι ὡς βασιλεῖ προσήλθομεν τῷ Κυ ρίῳ; Τὸν πῶλον θεωροῦντες μᾶλλον ἐνεδυναμώθημεν. ∆ιὸ καὶ βασιλέα κραταιὸν γνωρίζομεν, καὶ ἔχομεν τὴν Γραφὴν παρὰ πόδας, ἵνα μάθητε συνετῶς ὅτι οὐχ ἡμεῖς σφαλλόμεθα, ἀλλ' ὑμεῖς πλανᾶσθε. Ἔχετε τὸν προφήτην Ζαχαρίαν· τούτου τοὺς λόγους ἀναπτύξατε· φοβήθητε αὐτοῦ τὸ δρέπανον τῆς ἐκδικήσεως· ἐκ πολλῶν γὰρ τῶν χρόνων τὴν Ἰουδαίαν εὐαγγελιζόμενος ἐκέκραγε, Χαῖρε σφόδρα, θύγατερ Σιών· ἰδοὺ ὁ βασιλεύς σου ἔρχεταί σοι πραῢς καὶ ἡσύχιος, καθήμενος ἐπὶ πῶλον ὄνου, υἱὸν ὑποζυγίου. Μὴ σφαλλόμεθα τὴν Γραφὴν ἀναγινώ σκοντες, καὶ τὸν βασιλέα γνωρίζοντες, καὶ ἑαυτοὺς εὐ εργετοῦντες, καὶ τοὺς ἀμφιβάλλοντας ἐπιστρέφοντες; Τὸν προφήτην κατέχετε καὶ τὸν προφητευθέντα νοεῖν οὐ θέλετε; Ἀποστήσατε τοιγαροῦν, ὦ Φαρισαῖοι. Ὅσον ἡμῖν ἐπίκεισθε, τοσοῦτο μᾶλλον τὸν πόθον ἡμῶν διεγεί ρετε καὶ τὸν ζῆλον. ∆ιὸ οὐ πλανώμεθα βοῶντες, Ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις, εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνό ματι Κυρίου.

Γνωρίζομεν τὸ ὄνομα, ὦ Φαρισαῖοι· τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα τῆς Αἰγύπτου ἡμᾶς ἠλευθέρωσε, καὶ τὴν θά λασσαν ἡμῖν βατὴν πεποίηκε, καὶ τὴν ἔρημον ἐπόλισε, καὶ εἰς γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι ἐνῴκισε· τὸν προφή την βοᾷν παρεσκεύασε· Γνώτωσαν, ὅτι ὄνομά σοι Κύ ριος· σὺ μόνον ὕψιστος ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. Ὅτι μὲν ὁ ὄχλος εὐπειθὴς, οἱ δὲ ἀρχιερεῖς ἀπειθεῖς, ἄκουε τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ· Καὶ συνεβουλεύσαντο οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς, ἵνα καὶ τὸν Λάζαρον ἀποκτείνωσιν, ὅτι πολλοὶ δι' αὐτὸν ὑπῆγον ἀπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, καὶ ἐπίστευον εἰς τὸν Ἰησοῦν. Εἶδες τῶν ἀρχιερέων τὴν μανίαν; Ἵνα ἐκκόψωσι τὴν πίστιν τοῦ πλήθους, ἐζήτουν καὶ τὸν Λάζαρον ἀποκτεῖναι, λέγοντες πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς, ὅτι Ἐὰν τὸν Ἰησοῦν μόνον ἀποκτείνωμεν, καταλείψωμεν δὲ τὸν Λάζα ρον ζῶντα, οὐδὲν ὠφελοῦμεν· τοῦτον γὰρ ὁρῶντες εἰς ἐκεῖνον πιστεύουσιν. Ὅπως οὖν μὴ καὶ μετὰ θάνατον πρόσκομμα ἡμῖν γένηται, τοῦ πιστεύειν τινὰς εἰς τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ἀποκτείνωμεν τὸν Λάζαρον, ἵνα πάντῃ τὴν μνή μην αὐτοῦ ἐξαλείψωμεν. Ταῦτα δὲ καὶ ἕτερα ἔλεγον οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς, ὡς ἄνθρωποι ματαιόφρονες, μὴ συνιέντες ὅτι ὁ Κύριος μέλλων τὸν ἑκούσιον θάνατον καταδέχεσθαι ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου ἀθανασίας, οὐκ ἔμελλε τὸν Λάζαρον μόνον καὶ τὴν τούτου ἔγερσιν τῷ κόσμῳ εἰς μνήμην καταλιμπάνειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἀκαταμάχητον σταυρόν· ὃν οὔτε δυνήσονται οὔτε πορθῆσαι οὔτε κρύψαι οὔτε μα ταιῶσαι, διὰ πάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης δεικνύντα τῆς ἐνερ γείας αὐτοῦ τὴν δύναμιν.