Bede the Venerable, on Luke 7:29

“And all the people hearing, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with John’s baptism.”

“These words were spoken either in the person of the Evangelist, or, as some think, of the Saviour; but when he says, against themselves, he means that he who rejects the grace of God, does it against himself. Or, they are blamed as foolish and ungrateful for being unwilling to receive the counsel of God, sent to themselves. The counsel then is of God, because He ordained salvation by the passion and death of Christ, which the Pharisees and lawyers despised.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.