23:31 For if they do these things in a {e} green tree, what shall be done in the dry?
(e) As if he said, If they do this to me who is always fruitful and flourishing, and who lives forever by reason of my Godhead, what will they do to you who are unfruitful and void of all active righteousness?
23:31 If they do these things, etc. A proverb, meaning here, If the rulers and the Romans crucify the Messiah of the nation, the Hope of Israel, what shall they do to the nation itself ? What they would do was seen in less than forty years.
23:31 If they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? - Our Lord makes use of a proverbial expression, frequent among the Jews, who compare a good man to a green tree, and a bad man to a dead one: as if he had said, If an innocent person suffer thus, what will become of the wicked? Of those who are as ready for destruction as dry wood for the fire?
23:26-31 We have here the blessed Jesus, the Lamb of God, led as a lamb to the slaughter, to the sacrifice. Though many reproached and reviled him, yet some pitied him. But the death of Christ was his victory and triumph over his enemies: it was our deliverance, the purchase of eternal life for us. Therefore weep not for him, but let us weep for our own sins, and the sins of our children, which caused his death; and weep for fear of the miseries we shall bring upon ourselves, if we slight his love, and reject his grace. If God delivered him up to such sufferings as these, because he was made a sacrifice for sin, what will he do with sinners themselves, who make themselves a dry tree, a corrupt and wicked generation, and good for nothing! The bitter sufferings of our Lord Jesus should make us stand in awe of the justice of God. The best saints, compared with Christ, are dry trees; if he suffer, why may not they expect to suffer? And what then shall the damnation of sinners be! Even the sufferings of Christ preach terror to obstinate transgressors.
