Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Matthew 26:18

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

And for what possible reason doth He send them to an unknown person? To show by this also that He might have avoided suffering. For He who prevailed over this man's mind, so that he received them, and that by words; what would He not have done with them that crucified Him, if it had been His will not to suffer? And what He did about the ass, this He did here also. …

Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 81 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

He sends them to a man whom they did not know and who did not know them, just as He had done before entering Jerusalem when He sent them to find the ass, showing them that He is able by His words alone to persuade even those who do not know Him at all to accept Him. He wanted to keep the Pascha, lest He appear opposed to the law. He calls His slaying His "time," so that we may learn that He was not slain unknowingly or unwillingly. …

Commentary on Matthew ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

Go into the city to such a man, Him whom Mark and Luke call the good-man of the house, or the master of the house. And when Matthew says, to such a man, he is to be understood to say this as from himself for brevity's sake; for every one knows that no man speaks thus, Go ye to such a man. And Matthew adds these words, to such a man, not that the Lord used the very expression, but to convey to us that the disciples were not sent to any one in the city, but to some certain person.

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗

Jerome

And Jesus said: Go into the city to a certain person, and say to him: The teacher says: My time is near; I will celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house. The new Scripture preserves the custom of the old Testament. Often we read: He said to him, and in that place and that place; which in Hebrew is called Pheloni Elmoni (), and yet the names of persons and places are not mentioned. And you will find there a certain person carrying a jar of water. …

Commentary on Matthew ↗

Hilary of Poitiers

Or, Matthew does not name the man in whose house Christ would celebrate the Passover, because the Christian name was not yet held in honour by the believers.

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗