12:37 The common people heard him gladly. Mark adds to Matthew's account (Mt 22:41-46). Not the Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees or rulers, but the common people, of whom the Pharisees were wont to say, This people who know not the law and are cursed (Joh 7:49). We have many hints of the favor with which Christ was regarded by the people.
12:35-40 When we attend to what the Scriptures declare, as to the person and offices of Christ, we shall be led to confess him as our Lord and God; to obey him as our exalted Redeemer. If the common people hear these things gladly, while the learned and distinguished oppose, the former are happy, and the latter to be pitied. And as sin, disguised with a show of piety, is double iniquity, so its doom will be doubly heavy.
