Luke 11:49Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

To bring about repentance, He declared: Let all the righteous blood fall upon you (Matt. 23:35, Luke 11:48), for they took the life of the Avenger of the righteous. The retribution for their actions originates from their own hands. The individual who slays the judge is indeed an ally of the murderers, as by eliminating the judge, he prevents justice and paves the way for the transgressors. The Lord further stated, From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah (Luke 11:50), and not only up to that point, but extending to today. Though He remained in their midst, He refrained from avenging His own blood until after His own death, for fear they might claim it was predetermined.

The superficial devotion of the Jews is vividly illustrated here, as they construct elaborate tombs for the prophets while simultaneously condemning their ancestors. By replicating the misdeeds of their forebears, they bring judgment upon themselves. In building these grand memorials, they denounce the atrocities committed by murderers, yet through their actions, they reveal their identity as rightful heirs to their ancestors' wrongdoing. It is not merely the act of constructing tombs that warrants condemnation, but rather the engagement in sinful deeds that leads to guilt. Those who have perpetrated greater wrongs cannot escape the burden of inherited sin, and by nailing the Son of God to the cross, they have added to the weight of their forefathers' offenses.

He refers to His understanding, or He identifies Himself as the Wisdom of God. In the previously mentioned chapter, Matthew records His words: ‘Behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes,’ etc., where you will discover the full interpretation without any omissions.

The Lord acknowledged that the behaviors of the lawyers were as unjust as those of their followers. He criticized the harshness with which they imposed regulations without adhering to them themselves and the empty pride with which they embellished the graves of the prophets, who had come before them as teachers of the people. In truth, given their inner condition and the animosity they displayed towards Jesus and His disciples, it would be more accurate to see them as the heirs of the false prophets and wicked individuals who had previously slain the prophets.

In these acts of violence, there was a defiance against God's divine will, leading to the call for the blood of all the prophets, which has been spilled since the world's inception, from Abel's blood to that of Zechariah, who met his end between the altar and the temple, to be demanded of this generation. Some scholars propose that this Zechariah is the son of Jodi, stoned in the temple courtyard during Joash's reign (2 Chronicles 24:20-21). However, this interpretation may not hold, as many prophets were slain after Zechariah son of Jodi, and Christ identifies Zechariah son of Barachiah as the last prophet murdered.

Alas for them, for their insincere remorse with which they judged their ancestors for persecuting the prophets, while simultaneously harboring the same bloodthirsty spirit their forebears possessed. They even exceeded their predecessors in their wretchedness by committing even more despicable acts. Upon this generation would come the weight of all the righteous blood spilled upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to that of Zechariah, whom they murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. The storm of divine judgment was already forming above them, poised to unleash its dread upon their guilty heads.

The divine Wisdom declared, "I will send," which appears to reference an Old Testament passage that does not exist, making the mention of wisdom particularly notable in this context. When we compare it with Matthew 23:34, it is reasonable to assume that the Lord is identifying wisdom with Himself, as the incarnate and divine Wisdom of God, a representation found in the Old Testament (see Proverbs 8). The Son of God is referred to as wisdom because it is through Him that God disclosed His wisdom, both in the act of creation and in the plan of salvation (see Col. 1:13-18, 1 Cor. 1:30). - I will send to them: refer to the note in Matt. 23:34.

A certain lawyer, upon hearing the words of the Lord, felt offended. He was part of a group that, through their legal studies, could appear more righteous and pure than the Pharisees whom the Savior condemned. The lawyer remarked to Jesus, “Teacher, your statements irritate us. Yet the legal experts, who burden people with trivial and arbitrary human regulations—these hypocritical heirs who glorify the deeds of their ancestors, who construct monuments for the prophets that were once slain, while sharing the same mindset as the murderers—these are the very destroyers of their people. They seized the key of understanding ostensibly only to secure the door of salvation even more tightly. All of them will face the stern judgment of God's righteousness.