Chapter 11
Chapter XI.
The third part treats of the form of prayer in three ways.
1. And it came to pass, when he was in a certain place,
etc. After he delivered to the disciples the form of teaching and the form of living, in this part he bestows the form of prayer,
through which the grace of knowing and of living rightly is obtained. This part has three parts: in the first of which the example of prayer is set forth;
in the second, instruction is added,
at the place: And he said to them: When you pray,
etc.; in the third, an incentive to prayer is subjoined, at the place: And he said to them: Which of you,
etc.
Concerning the example of prayer,
two things are introduced: the first is the solicitude of the Lord for praying,
the second is the readiness of the disciples for imitating.
(Verse 1.). First, therefore, with regard to the solicitude of the Lord in praying,
it is said: And it came to pass, when
he was in a certain place praying: a certain place,
that is, solitary and secret, because such places are suited to prayer, according to that passage in Matthew 6: "But you, when you pray, enter into your chamber, and having shut the door, pray to your Father in secret." The Lord prays as a proof of his true humanity,
according to what is said below in chapter 22: "Being in agony, he prayed more at length." As an aid to our weakness,
according to that passage in Hebrews 5: "He was heard in all things for his reverence"; and Romans 8: "What we should pray for as we ought, we do not know; but the Spirit himself," namely of the Lord Jesus, "helps our weakness." As an example of perfect virtue:
whence it is said in Matthew 26: After he had prayed, he said to the disciples themselves: "Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation." For this reason also he was frequently
devoted to prayer, so that he might teach that one must always pray, according to that passage in 1 Thessalonians 5: "Pray without ceasing." And he also prayed at length,
as it is said above in chapter 6: "It came to pass"; "and he was spending the whole night in prayer." And therefore perhaps a certain place
is mentioned here, to show that those who pray must seek a secret place; but the time
is passed over in silence, to show that one must pray at every time without distinction, according to what is said below in chapter 18: "It is necessary to pray always and not to lose heart"; and Sirach 18: "Do not be hindered from praying always."
3. Second, as regards the readiness of the disciples in imitating, there is added: When he ceased, one of his disciples said to him: Lord, teach us to pray. Rightly did the disciples ask of the Lord how they themselves ought to pray, lest perchance they should ask something contrary to his will; whence Wisdom 9: "What man shall be able to know the counsel of God, or who shall be able to think what God wills? For the thoughts of mortal men are fearful, and our counsels uncertain." Therefore teach us to pray, since you are our Lord; whence Isaiah 48: "I am the Lord, teaching you profitable things." — And that he ought to be heard, he shows by a comparison, when he adds: As John also taught his disciples. For to know how to pray to God pertains to the doctrine of piety, since in prayer God is especially worshipped. Whence the Prophet said in the Psalm: "I will enter into your house, I will adore," etc.; and Chrysostom: "The soul offers prayer alone as a spiritual tribute from its inmost depths. Great indeed is the dignity of prayer. As soon as it proceeds from the mouth, the Angels receive it in their hands and offer it before God, as the Angel says in Tobit 12: I offered your prayer before God," etc. Therefore it is thus carefully taught and sought on account of its excellence; nor only on account of this, but also on account of its efficacy, according to Mark 11: "Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you shall receive it, and it shall come to you"; and James last chapter: "Pray for one another, that you may be saved; for the continual prayer of a just man avails much. Elijah was a man," etc.
Whence through this it is intimated to us that prayer is greatly to be loved, because through it is obtained the attainment of every good and the removal of every evil; whence Tobit 12: "Prayer is good with fasting and almsgiving, more than to lay up treasures. For almsgiving delivers from death, and it is that which purges sins and causes one to find mercy and eternal life."
4. (Verse 2). And he said to them: When you pray, etc. After the example of prayer he subjoins the instruction on prayer, in which first is handed down the form of invoking, and second, the form of petitioning, at the words: Hallowed be your name.
As regards the form of invoking, he says: And he said to them: When you pray, say: Father, that is, first invoke the Father. Say, I say, not with the voice only, but also with the heart, lest perchance that word of Isaiah 29 be said to you: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." Say not only with the heart, but also with the mouth, because vocal prayer is acceptable to God, according to the Psalm: "I will praise the Lord exceedingly with my mouth"; and this both because it avails for arousing the memory, for dispelling drowsiness, for kindling desire, for rendering homage, for expressing joy, and for showing an example.
Now we invoke the name of the Father.
For he himself is Father
by reason of the condition of nature,
according to that passage in Ephesians 3: "From whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named." Hence Malachi 2: "Have we not all one father?" He is also Father
by reason of the conferral of grace:
Romans 8: "You have received the spirit of adoption of sons, in which we cry: Abba, Father"; and Galatians 4: "Because you are sons of God, God sent the spirit of his Son crying: Abba, Father." He is also Father
by reason of the consummation of glory,
according to that passage in Jeremiah 3: "You shall call me Father and shall not cease to walk after me." Since therefore in the name of the Father
God is understood as the founder of nature, the bestower of grace, the consummator of glory, by this very fact it is given to understand that he is the one from whom alone we ought to ask.
5. But since Matthew describes the prayer as expounded to the Apostles,
to whom the Lord explained the other things, therefore he explicitly touches upon these three, saying: Father,
by reason of nature; our,
by reason of grace; who art in heaven,
by reason of glory. Luke however expresses it as handed down to lesser disciples,
and therefore transmits a more implicit form. Both however agree in the invocation of the name of the Father,
so that by this one name man may be stirred to reverence
and confidence,
without which two wings prayer has no efficacy. Now reverence
is had from the name of the Father:
hence Malachi 1: "If I am a father, where is my honor?"; and Sirach 3: "The glory of a man is from the honor of his father." Confidence
is also had, according to that passage in Isaiah 49: "Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb?" etc.; and below in the same passage: "If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children" etc. And Bernard: "The prayer which is sweetened by the paternal name gives me confidence in obtaining all my petitions."
6. Hallowed be thy name.
After the invocation he adds the petition.
Now he asks for three things principally in this prayer. And in this Matthew and Luke agree, but they differ in the explication, because for the reason previously assigned Matthew sets forth more explicit petitions; hence Matthew posits seven, Luke five, but in these five those seven are implicitly contained.
7. Now the distinction, order,
and sufficiency
of these is evident as follows. For three things are to be sought from God the Father: the first and principal is the consummation of glory,
the second is the conservation of grace,
the third is the granting of pardon.
And these three are ordered according to the degree and order of greater dignity.
Now two things concur toward the consummation of glory,
namely perfect knowledge
and perfect reverence,
and according to these are the first two petitions.
For the preservation
of grace,
the continual supply of heavenly nourishment suffices, and this is sought in the third petition.
For the granting of pardon,
two things concur, namely the remission of fault
and the removal of punishment,
and these are sought in the two last petitions.
But since the perfection of reverence
is considered not only in affection but also in effect, therefore to the first two petitions Matthew adds a third, namely "Thy will be done." Again, because the removal of punishment
is considered not only with respect to the repulsion of temptations but also with respect to the removal of afflictions and tribulations, therefore to the two last petitions Matthew adds a seventh: "But deliver us from evil." And thus the sufficiency
of the petitions according to both Evangelists is clear.
8. The nobility of this prayer is also evident.
Although it is most brief, it contains within itself every prayer and everything to be asked for, since one who petitions either seeks the removal of evil
or the bestowal of good.
If evil,
either the evil of fault
or the evil of punishment:
either the evil that we suffer
or the evil that we commit
; and thus there are two petitions. But the evil of punishment
can be subdivided, for a certain kind is an occasion of fault,
and thus is temptation;
a certain kind merely holds the character of punishment,
and thus is tribulation;
and so from
that petition the two last are derived. But if we seek good:
either eternal
or temporal.
If eternal,
either on the part of the intellect
or on the part of the affection,
and thus two petitions. But the affection
must be ordered with respect to majesty
and with respect to goodness:
and thus that petition is doubled by the first division but tripled by subdivision. But if a temporal good is sought,
either by reason of the mind
or by reason of the body.
But because bodily
good ought not to be desired except for the sake of the spiritual:
therefore according to both Luke and Matthew one petition is made concerning both.
And thus the sufficiency
of the divisions through opposite and immediate members is clear, and the concord
between the Evangelists is clear, and the fittingness of the diversity is clear.
9. There are therefore five petitions according to Luke, ordered
according to greater and lesser nobility. In the first is sought perfect knowledge
or wisdom in the intellect; in the second, perfect reverence
in the affection; in the third, sufficiency
in sustenance; in the fourth, pardon
in guilt; in the fifth, victory
in conflict.
And in these five are implied the seven petitions, and thereby the seven virtues, the seven gifts, the seven beatitudes, and all
petitions. Whence the Gloss says on that passage of Matthew chapter six: Deliver us from evil: "
Nothing is lacking that is not contained in these seven petitions, whether it pertains to the present or to the future life."
10. First therefore, as regards knowledge or wisdom in the intellect, he says: Hallowed be thy name, that is, may thy name appear holy, that is, thy knowledge: whence in the Psalm: "Known in Judea is God, in Israel great is his name." And this knowledge begins in grace but is consummated in glory: concerning which, Malachi 1: "From the rising of the sun even to its setting, my name is great among the nations: and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation." This, however, will be verified in glory, when, according to that passage of Jeremiah 31, "a man shall teach his neighbor no more, nor a man his brother, saying: Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least of them even to the greatest, says the Lord."
11. And note that by a threefold knowledge the name of God is hallowed in us, since in itself it is always holy. The first is the knowledge by which he is known through faith, according to that passage of Hebrews 11: "He who approaches must believe that he exists." — The second, by which he is known as to what he is not: concerning which Augustine says: "You comprehend much if you comprehend what God is not."
The third is that by which he is known as he is: concerning which 1 Corinthians 13: "Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I have been known."
The first knowledge liberates from foolishness, concerning which in the Psalm: "The fool has said in his heart: There is no God."
The second, from idolatry, by which what is not God is worshipped: concerning which 1 Corinthians 8: "Concerning those things that are sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are those who are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth — since indeed there are many gods and many lords — yet for us there is one God the Father, from whom are all things," etc.
The third liberates from all misery; and this will be in the homeland, when the gift of wisdom and peace will be fulfilled, through which we are called sons of God. And then the name of God will be holy in us: whence 1 John 3: "Beloved, now we are sons of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." Therefore perfect knowledge makes us like him, and perfect likeness makes us sons, and perfect filiation makes us worthy of the sanctification of the divine name. Whence Chrysostom: "The name of God is hallowed in us when, knowing him to be holy, we fear and watch with solicitude, lest perhaps we violate the sanctity of his name in us." This, however, will be when we are totally free for him, and our minds are impeded by no distraction: which will be in glory, according to that passage of the Psalm:
"In the sight of the Angels I will sing praise to you; I will worship toward your holy temple and will confess your name, for your mercy and your truth; for you have magnified your holy name above all things."
12. Second, as regards perfect reverence in affection
he adds: Thy kingdom come.
For then God perfectly reigns
in us, when we are entirely subject to him, which will be at the end, according to that passage in First Corinthians 15: "Then comes the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father." "For he must reign, until he puts his enemies under his feet"; and further: "When all things shall have been subjected to him, then the Son himself also shall be subject to him who subjected all things to himself, that God may be all in all." Moreover, this kingdom, by which God reigns in the Saints, also makes the Saints
themselves reign and be kings, according to that passage in Revelation 5: "Thou hast redeemed us to God in thy blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and hast made us unto our God a kingdom and priests, and we shall reign upon the earth." This is the kingdom to be sought and desired; concerning which in the Psalm: "Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages"; and Revelation 11: "There were great voices in heaven, saying: The kingdom of this world has become our Lord's and his Christ's, his Son's, and they shall reign forever and ever, Amen."
Through the coming of this kingdom, power does not increase for God, but perfect obedience increases in men. And therefore Matthew adds after this petition: "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth." For earthly beings do not perfectly obey God as heavenly beings do; and the Lord was intimating this in John 18: "My kingdom is not of this world"; and this is because the devil reigns in those who obey him, according to that passage in Ephesians 6: "The world-rulers of this darkness." But at the final judgment his power shall be taken away, when the whole world shall be subject to God, according to that passage in Daniel 7: "He gave him power and honor and a kingdom, and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve him."
13. (Verse 3). Third, as regards sufficiency in sustenance
he adds: Give us this day our daily bread:
where principally the bread of spiritual
nourishment is sought: whence Matthew 6:
, give us this day our supersubstantial bread. But because not only this is petitioned for, but everything that is necessary for the present life: therefore, when the Church regularly recites the Lord's Prayer according to this [version], she does not say supersubstantial
according to it, but adds daily
according to Luke, in order to show that she petitions for whatever is necessary for the sustenance of this life, which is understood by today
. Whence, as Jerome says, whether one says daily,
or supersubstantial,
both are consonant with the Hebrew truth. For in the Hebrew language one word, that is sogolla,
comprehends both meanings. So also among us daily
comprehends both breads, namely spiritual and corporal, because both are daily necessary for us and daily to be received from the Lord, and therefore daily to be petitioned for. And this is what Bede says in the Gloss: "Bread is called daily
because it is here necessary, inasmuch as it must be bestowed upon soul and flesh, whether it be taken spiritually, or corporally, or in both ways."
Whence note that a fivefold bread is petitioned for here. The first is the sustenance of the present life,
concerning which it is said in Ecclesiasticus twenty-nine: "The beginning of the life of man is water and bread and clothing."
The second is the understanding of Sacred Scripture,
concerning which Lamentations four: "The little ones asked for bread, and there was no one to break it for them."
The third bread is the Sacrament of the Eucharist,
concerning which Wisdom sixteen: "You provided them with prepared bread from heaven, having in itself every delight and every sweetness of flavor"; and John six: "The bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world." The fourth is the assistance of grace,
concerning which in the Psalm: "Man ate the bread of Angels"; and below in the fourteenth [chapter]: "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God."
The fifth is the service of obedience,
concerning which it is said in John four: "My food is to do the will of my Father, who is in heaven"; and concerning this, Third Kings nineteen: "Elijah looked, and behold, at his head a hearth-cake," in whose strength he walked and arrived "even to the mountain of God, Horeb." - With these breads the Lord refreshes us: which was signified in John six, where it is said that from five loaves he satisfied five thousand men. And therefore each of these is always to be petitioned for, according to that passage in the same place: "Lord, always give us this bread."
15. (Vers. 4.). Fourth, with respect to pardon from guilt,
he adds: And forgive us our sins,
and this with regard to the guilt of obligation:
whence in Matthew 6 they are called debts.
For sins make us debtors of those things which we cannot pay; whence in the Psalm: "The sinner shall borrow and shall not pay," etc. These are the debts,
by which the Shunammite woman was bound, in 4 Kings 4, who could not pay until Elisha multiplied the oil. Through the oil
of Christ's mercy our sins are paid and forgiven.
But because "judgment without mercy shall be done to him who has not shown mercy," according to what is said in James 2; therefore he adds a condition: Since we ourselves also forgive everyone indebted to us.
This condition is indeed necessary for obtaining pardon of sins; whence Sirach 28: "Forgive your neighbor who harms you, and then when you pray, your sins shall be loosed. Man preserves anger against man, and seeks remedy from God?" — as if to say: he seeks in vain. Whence Matthew 6: "If you forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your sins; but if you do not forgive, neither will your Father forgive you your sins." Whence also in Matthew 18 he proposes the parable of the wicked servant, at the end of which he adds: "So shall your heavenly Father do to you, if you do not each forgive your brother from your hearts." And this rightly, because whoever flees the law of clemency falls under the law of justice; concerning which above in chapter six: "Forgive, and you shall be forgiven"; "for with the same measure with which you have measured, it shall be measured back to you." The Lord added this condition here to show that what is said is true,
which is said in Judith 9: "The prayer of the humble and the meek has always been pleasing to you," but that of the proud and the slanderous, never. Whence Isaiah 1: "When you multiply prayer, I will not hear; for your hands are full of blood." Whence Chrysostom: "If he who has been injured prays in vain unless he has forgiven, how, do you think, does he pray who has not been injured, if he himself through injustice injures and burdens others? But he who does not pray as Christ taught is not a disciple; nor does the Father hear a prayer which the Son did not teach. For the Father knows the mind and words of his Son; he does not accept what human presumption has devised, but what the wisdom of Christ has set forth."
16. Fifth, with respect to victory in conflict,
he adds: And lead us not into temptation,
that is, do not permit us to be led in, that is, to be overcome; because, as is said in James 1, "God is no tempter of evils; but each one is tempted, drawn away and enticed by his own concupiscence."
And note that he does not ask not to be tempted,
because temptation proves a man, according to that saying of the Psalm: "Prove me, O Lord, and try me"; and Ecclesiasticus thirty-four: "He who has not been tempted knows little." But he asks not to be overcome
or conquered by temptation, but to conquer and triumph. This indeed must be asked on account of the faithfulness of divine aid,
concerning which First Corinthians ten: "God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will make also with the temptation an outcome, that you may be able to endure." It must also be asked on account of recognizing our own weakness,
according to that saying of Second Chronicles twenty: "In us indeed there is not so great a strength that we can resist this multitude which rushes upon us. But since we do not know what we ought to do, this alone remains to us, that we direct our eyes to you." Whence Chrysostom: "Let them recognize that they are weak, and the knowledge of weakness will extinguish the cause of glorying," because, according to what is said in First Maccabees three, "not in the multitude of an army is the victory of war, but from heaven is strength."
17. Since therefore tribulation is a temptation, according to that saying of James one: "Blessed is the man who endures temptation," etc.; therefore he who is delivered from every evil of temptation
is delivered consequently from the evil of tribulation:
and therefore it is not necessary to add further: Deliver us from evil,
as though it were an entirely different petition, but to be unfolded as though included within this one. And this is what Bede says in the Gloss: "Let each one know that he is delivered from evil in this, that he is not led into temptation."
Luke therefore ends the prayer at temptation,
in which there is doubt about standing or falling: and therefore he does not add Amen,
which is a sign of certainty that the prayer has been heard: Matthew however ends at deliverance from every evil
of punishment and thereby from death: concerning which First Corinthians fifteen: "But last of all, the enemy death shall be destroyed," and after these things there is certainty of salvation: therefore he ends by saying Amen,
which is a sign of certainty for that time.
But because, as long as we are here, we do not attain to this certainty; therefore it is said quietly and in a low voice by the priest, while the rest in the Mass is said in an elevated voice.
There are also other reasons of fittingness: but let this suffice for the present.
18. And he said to them: Which of you,
etc. After the example and instruction, he here subjoins thirdly an incitement to prayer,
by which we are invited to pray frequently and confidently. And this part has two sections: in the first is proposed an incitement to frequency of prayer;
in the second, to confidence in praying,
at the place: But which of you asks a father,
etc. For these are the two things which most greatly empty the fruit of prayer of its effect, namely negligence
and distrust.
Concerning the incitement to frequency,
two things are intimated. The first is the inciting similitude;
the second is the informative instruction,
at the place: And I say to you: Ask, and it shall be given to you.
As for the inciting similitude
to frequency of prayer, three things are introduced. The first is the petitioning opportunity;
the second is the refusing difficulty;
the third is the importunity that obtains,
so that from this it may be shown how great is the efficacy of importunate and continual prayer.
19. (Verse 8.). First, therefore, as regards the petitioning opportunity,
he says: Which of you shall have a friend,
etc. This is read interrogatively,
but the Gloss holds that it should be read permissively:
"Which,
that is, someone,
or if anyone.
" This, however, is said to show the preciousness of a true friend, according to that passage of Ecclesiasticus 6: "To a faithful friend there is no comparison, and no weighing of gold and silver is worthy against the goodness of his fidelity"; and again: "A faithful friend is the medicine of life and immortality, and he who fears the Lord shall find him." — To this friend, therefore, one has recourse with confidence, and so it is added: And he shall go to him at midnight,
because, as is said in Proverbs 17, "he who is a friend loves at all times, and a brother is proven in distress."
And to such a one the need is set forth with confidence; for which reason it is added: And he shall say to him: Friend, lend me three loaves;
and this he supports by the law of piety and charity,
concerning which it is said in Isaiah 58: "Break your bread for the hungry"; and Ecclesiastes 11: "Cast your bread upon the passing waters."
20. (Verse 6.). Also by the law of fidelity and special friendship;
for which reason he adds: Because my friend has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him;
and so by the fidelity of friendship I am bound to him, and through this, you also to me; whence Ecclesiasticus 22: "Keep faith with a friend in his poverty, that you may rejoice in his prosperity. In the time of his tribulation remain faithful to him, that in his inheritance you may be a co-heir."
21. (Vers. 7.). Second, regarding the refusing difficulty,
he adds: And he answering from within should say: Do not trouble me,
namely by disturbing one who is at rest and rousing him from sleep, as Abner said to David in 1 Kings 26: " Who are you who cry out and disturb the king "? - And that the trouble is great is shown from the adjoined difficulty: The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed
, that is, sons, who ought to be loved with tender affection; whence Isaiah 8: " Behold, I and my children, whom the Lord has given me ", that is, sons, whose love cannot be neglected, according to that passage in Isaiah 49: "Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb "? - Therefore he adds: I cannot rise and give to you.
And this does not entirely remove the power, but posits a difficulty, as if saying what Elijah said to Elisha in 4 Kings 2: " You have asked a difficult thing ". And therefore he says: I cannot,
that is, I cannot conveniently or easily, as the king of Israel answered the king of Syria in 3 Kings 20: " All the things for which you sent to your servant in the beginning, I will do; but this thing I cannot do ".
22. (Vers. 8.). Third, regarding compelling importunity,
he adds: And if he shall continue knocking,
with prayers, not overcome by shame nor wearied by tedium nor broken by despair, as a true friend, according to that passage in Ecclesiasticus 22: " If you have drawn a sword against a friend, do not despair; for there is a way back to a friend. And if you have opened a sorrowful mouth, do not fear ".
And because "relentless labor conquers all things," therefore he adds: I say to you, even if he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend,
that is, moved by the truth of affection, which at times grows lukewarm among friends. On account of which it is said in 1 John 3: " Little children, let us not love in word nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth ". If therefore he is not overcome by the abundance of charity, he is nonetheless overcome by the persistence of importunity.
On account of which he adds: Yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
An example of this is set forth below in chapter 18 concerning the judge and the widow, who harassed him; whence it is said there that " the judge was unwilling to hear her for a long time. But after these things he said within himself: Although I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because she is troublesome to me, I will avenge her, lest at last coming she wear me out." An example of this is also found in Judges 14 concerning Samson and his wife, from whom, when she was seeking what he had previously been unwilling to reveal, it is added that " she wept before him during the seven days of the feast, and at length on the seventh day, since she was troublesome to him, he explained it ".
23: But according to the spiritual
understanding,
by this friend
is understood Christ, of whom Ecclesiasticus six says: "A faithful friend is a strong protection: and he who finds him finds a treasure." Concerning this, John fifteen says: "I will no longer call you servants, but I have called you friends"; and again: "You are my friends," etc. To this friend one must go at night,
that is, in the silence of night,
as Nicodemus came, of whom it is said in John three that he "came to Jesus at night": first, because in the secret silence of night he is to be knocked upon through prayer, according to that passage of Isaiah twenty-six: "My soul has desired you in the night"; and Lamentations two: "Arise in the night, at the beginning of the watches: pour out your heart like water," etc. Or at night,
that is, in tribulation,
according to that passage of Hosea six: "In their tribulation they will rise early to me"; and in the Psalm: "Call upon me in the day of tribulation, and I will deliver you," etc.
" The friend,
however, who comes from a journey,
is our soul, according to what is said in the Gloss, who, as often as it wanders to seek temporal things, so often departs from us." Delight causes this friend to wander abroad, but tribulation brings him back, according to what is said of the prodigal son below in the fifteenth chapter, who departed on account of luxury but returned on account of hunger. Hence Hosea two: "I will hedge your way with thorns and wall it up with a barrier"; and afterward it adds: "And you will say: I will go and return to my first husband, because it was better for me then than now."
This one returns
when he runs back to interior things, according to that passage of Isaiah forty-six: "Return, transgressors, to the heart," but finds it empty of the consolation of spiritual refreshments. Hence of sinners it is said in Lamentations two: "They said to their mothers: Where is the grain and wine? when they fainted as the wounded in the streets of the city, when they breathed out their souls in the bosom of their mothers." "And the joy of our heart has ceased. Woe to us! for we have sinned."
24. For this hungry friend, therefore, three loaves are to be sought from the true friend, that is, according to what Bede and Augustine say, the understanding of the Trinity or the names of the three persons, so that in the knowledge of God alone he may find refreshment: whence Exodus 24: "They saw the Lord and ate and drank"; and Ecclesiasticus 15: "He will feed him with the bread of life and understanding and give him the water of saving wisdom to drink." Or the three loaves are faith, hope, and charity, by which the threefold virtue in the soul is restored, concerning which below at chapter 15: "How many hired servants in my father's house abound with bread," etc. Concerning these, 1 Kings 10: "When you come to the oak of Tabor, three men going up to the Lord in Bethel will meet you: one carrying three kids, another three cakes of bread, and another carrying a flask of wine"; so that in these may be understood the unity of grace and the trinity of virtues, through which the image of God is reformed in the soul. — But this petition is not immediately heard by Christ, but it is necessary to seek with much persistence: because for such great gifts the sinful soul is less fit, whence Matthew 15: "It is not good to take the bread of the children and give it to dogs"; but even if he is already a son, lest that bread become cheap, since it is always necessary for him to hunger, according to that passage of Ecclesiasticus 24: "Those who eat me will still hunger"; or so that by asking we may merit more and be disposed. Whence Augustine to Proba, On Praying to God: "He wills that our desire be exercised in prayers, by which we may be able to receive what he prepares to give."
25. (Vers. 9.). And I say to you. After the inciting similitude he adds informative instruction regarding the frequency of prayer, which he draws from the preceding similitude: where first he exhorts the disciples, and second, all people generally.
Therefore, as regards the exhortation with respect to the disciples, he says: And I say to you, I who assuredly do not lie, because, Numbers 23, "God is not as a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should change: has he said then, and will he not do it?" Whence the Gloss says: "He grants great hope who does not deceive by promising."
He therefore admonishes to persistence and frequency of prayer, when he says: Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.
A similar passage is found in Matthew 7; on which passage Augustine says: "I thought indeed that what these three differ among themselves should be laboriously distinguished, but far better are all things referred to the most urgent petition. This indeed he shows, where he concluded all things with the same word: How much more will your Father give the good spirit to those who ask him?" Whence the Lord wills to say that which is simply said in 1 Thessalonians 5: "Pray without ceasing"; and Colossians 4: "Be instant in prayer."
26. These can nevertheless be distinguished in multiple ways, so that to ask refers to the act of the mouth; to seek, to the act of the heart; to knock, to the act of works. Ask therefore with the mouth, and it shall be given to you: Isaiah 62: "You who are mindful of the Lord, do not be silent, until he establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth"; and Isaiah 30: "At the voice of your cry, as soon as he shall hear, he will answer you, and the Lord will give you bread," etc.; and 65: "And it shall be that before they call, I will hear; while they are yet speaking."
Seek also with the heart, and you shall find: whence Jeremiah 29: "You shall seek me and shall find me, when you shall seek me with your whole heart"; and Wisdom 1: "Seek him in simplicity of heart, for he is found by those who do not tempt him."
Knock, in works: for he who knocks touches with his hand and rouses; whence in the Psalm: "In the nights lift up your hands to the holy places"; and again: "In the day of my tribulation I sought God with my hands, and I was not deceived."
27. They can also be distinguished otherwise according to the nature of the thing sought. Ask, namely for pardon; seek grace; knock for glory, according to that passage in Zechariah 10: "Ask rain from the Lord in the latter time, and the Lord will produce snow and rain of showers, and will give to each of them grass in the field." He will give snow to extinguish evil growths through pardon; and rain of showers, to make the earth fruitful through grace; and he will give to each of them grass in the field, adorning and clothing them through glory. Otherwise, on the part of those who ask: Ask, you who are beginners, whose part it is to receive; seek, you who are progressing, whose part it is to find; knock, you who are perfect, whose part it is to enter. Whence to beginners it is said at Philippians 4: "Let your petitions be made known before God." To those progressing is said that verse of the Psalm: "Seek the Lord and be strengthened; seek his face always." To the perfect is said Isaiah 26: "Open the gates, and the just nation shall enter."
Or according to the modes of arriving at wisdom, as Augustine distinguishes: "One does not come to wisdom except, as the Lord teaches, by asking, seeking, and knocking, that is, by praying, reading, and lamenting." Ask therefore by praying: James 1: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, and it shall be given to him." Seek by reading in the book of Scripture and of creation: Song of Songs 3: "Through the streets and open places I will seek him whom my soul loves." Knock by lamenting, as John in Apocalypse 5, where he says: "I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book"; and it is added afterward that he saw the book opened by the slain Lamb.
Or, as the Gloss says, on the part of the modes of coming to glory: " Ask, by praying; seek, by living rightly; knock, by persevering."
Or, as the Gloss on Matthew 7 says, " we ask
by faith, going through it to Christ; we seek
by hope, by which we reach even to the interior things; we knock
by charity, while we sweat in labors, so that we may obtain what we ask and seek. First you ought to ask, so that you may have:
then to seek, so that you may find;
to guard what has been found, so that you may enter."
28. (Verse 10). Second, with respect to the exhortation regarding all,
he adds: For everyone who asks receives,
if he devoutly
asks. Whence the Lord intimates this in John 15: "If you shall ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you," that is, for your salvation; otherwise he does not give. Whence James 4: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask badly, that you may spend it on your concupiscences." Whence Chrysostom: "If you ask for temporal things, how does he grant those which, if you have them, he commanded you to despise?"
And he who seeks finds,
if however he seeks duly and diligently,
according to that passage of Deuteronomy 4: "When you shall seek the Lord your God, you shall find him, if however you seek him with your whole heart and with all the tribulation of your soul"; and 1 Chronicles 28: "If you shall seek God, you shall find him; but if you shall forsake him, he will cast you off forever." But some sometimes do not seek duly, and therefore do not find; whence Hosea 5: "With their flocks and with their herds they shall go to seek the Lord and shall not find him"; and this is because among the herds
they were seeking him. John 7: "You shall seek me and shall not find me," because they were seeking with evil intention, in order to destroy him. And to him who knocks it shall be opened,
if he knocks unceasingly unto the end,
according to that passage of Matthew 10: "He who shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved." To such a one the door of glory is opened, of which Revelation 11: "The temple of God was opened in heaven"; and Revelation 4: "Behold, a door was opened in heaven." This shall be opened when that word of Matthew 25 shall be said: "Come, you blessed, possess," etc.
29. But which of you
etc. After the incitement to frequency of prayer, he here adds an incitement to confidence in prayer,
and by showing this he displays the liberality
in God the Father who hears us. In this part, therefore, he first sets forth the liberality of a carnal father
with respect to his son; second, he concludes the liberality of the heavenly Father
with respect to us, at the words: If you then, being evil,
etc.
The liberality
of a carnal father,
moreover, he shows in the sharing of food with caution against the contrary, and this according to a threefold difference of nourishment: either of an earthy
nature, or watery,
or airy.
The first pertains to things that grow; the second, to things that swim; the third, to things that fly.
30. (Vers. 11. and 12.). As regards, therefore, the petition for the fruit of plants, he says: Which of you shall ask the father for bread, for nourishment; will he give him a stone? namely, for injury. For men are sustained by bread, according to that word of the Psalm: "Bread strengthens the heart of man"; but they are crushed by stones, according to that word of Matthew twenty-one: "Whosoever shall fall upon this stone shall be broken, but upon whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder."
As regards the petition for swimming creatures, he adds: Or a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Men are nourished by fish; whence below in the last chapter: "Have you here anything to eat? And they offered him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb"; but they are killed by serpents; whence Numbers twenty-one: "The Lord sent among the people fiery serpents," by whose bites, namely, they were dying.
As regards the petition for the fruit of fowls, it is added: Or if he shall ask for an egg, namely, for food: will he offer him a scorpion? for poison. For eggs sustain, but scorpions kill, as experience manifestly proves. These things indeed are plain according to the letter, and the similitude drawn from them.
31. But according to the spiritual understanding, it is given to understand here what is to be sought. Whence Augustine, in his letter to Proba on Praying to God, says that in the fish faith, in the egg hope, and in the bread charity is signified.
For rightly by the petition for bread is understood the petition for charity: whence Augustine says: "Charity is in the bread; for charity is the greatest of all goods, and among foods the usefulness of bread surpasses the rest." Or, because charity after the manner of bread nourishes and strengthens; whence Song of Songs, the last chapter: "Love is strong as death"; whence the Sacrament of charity is given under the species of bread. Or, because without bread every table is empty: so also every heart without charity; whence First Corinthians thirteen: "If I have not charity, I am nothing, and it profits me nothing." "To this, as Augustine says, is opposed the stone, because hard hearts reject charity." Whence in the stone hardness is signified, according to that word of Ezekiel thirty-six: "I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you," etc.; and Luke three: "God is able of these stones," etc.
32. Rightly also "by the fish is understood faith, as Augustine says, either on account of the water of baptism, because amid the waves of this world faith remains whole"; First John five: "This is the victory which overcomes the world, our faith"; and Hebrews eleven: "By faith they conquered kingdoms." Or, as Bede says, "because a fish is born, lives, and is nourished under the covering of the waters: so faith is drawn from the hidden things of the Scriptures and is from hidden things and is itself hidden"; whence Hebrews eleven: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
To this, as Augustine says, the serpent
is contrary, who, so that God would not be believed, "persuaded by venomous deceit"; whence Ecclesiastes 10: "He who breaks through a hedge," that is, the defense of Sacred Scripture, "a serpent shall bite him," that is, the infidelity of diabolical error.
33. Rightly also by the egg
is understood hope:
whence Augustine: "Hope
is in the egg,
because the life of the chick does not yet exist, but is to come, nor is it yet seen, but is still hoped for. For hope that is seen is not hope
," as is said in Romans 8; and because in the egg the chick exists imperfectly, and while it is being perfected, the shell of the egg is broken, so the perfection of beatitude succeeds hope; whence First Corinthians 13: "When that which is perfect has come, that which is in part shall be done away."
"To this, as Augustine says, the scorpion
is contrary," that is, despair,
which makes one look backward and harms from that direction. "For the scorpion must be guarded against from that part which it has venomous and armed with a sting behind"; whence he who strives to overturn one from the hope of life is a scorpion; whence Ezekiel 2: "Subverters are with you, and you dwell among scorpions." - The spiritual
sense
of the proposed word is therefore this: that if anyone asks for the bread of charity
of the Holy Spirit, the fish of faith,
and the egg of hope,
God will not give him, nay rather will remove from him, the stone of hardening,
the serpent of infidelity,
and the scorpion of despair:
which through divine assistance are kept far from holy men.
34. (Verse 13.). If you then, being evil,
etc. After he proposed liberality in the carnal father, he concludes from the lesser
regarding the spiritual Father.
For if the good is communicative, the greater good is more communicative, and the greatest good is most communicative. If therefore the carnal father communicates good to the son who asks, how much more strongly does the heavenly Father to the man who supplicates. And this is what he says: If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children.
Bede: "He calls evil
those who are lovers of the world
"; but these are evil in a twofold way by the malice of fault, because Sirach 11: "If you are rich, you will not be free from offense"; and Augustine: "Every rich man is either unjust, or the heir of an unjust man." Or, he calls the Apostles
themselves evil,
who in comparison with divine goodness are called evil;
whence Mark 10: "No one is good except God alone"; and Isaiah 64: "We have all become as one unclean, and our justices are as the rag of a menstruous woman"; and Job 25: "The stars are not clean in his sight, how much less man," etc. Whence Gregory: "Often our justice, when brought to the examination of divine justice, is injustice, and what shines in the eyes of the doer is sordid in the severity of the Judge."
Or, they were evil
on account of venial sins,
without which the present life is not lived: whence it is said in Ephesians five: "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil"; because, according to what is said in Genesis forty-seven, "the days of the pilgrimage of my life are few and evil"; because, according to what is said in First John one, "if we say that we have no sin, we are liars, and the truth is not in us." It seems less likely, therefore, that good comes from an evil person than that good comes from a good person.
35. And therefore he concludes: How much more will your Father from heaven give the good spirit to those who ask him."
Indeed he will certainly give, because James one: "Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above." This good spirit
is the Holy Spirit, in whom all gifts are given; of whom Wisdom seven: "I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me"; and afterwards: "All good things came to me together with her"; and First Corinthians twelve: "To another is given through the Spirit," etc.; and afterwards: "All these things one and the same Spirit works, distributing to each one as he wills." This Spirit is given to those who ask
and desire, according to that word of the Psalm: "I opened my mouth and drew in the spirit"; Jeremiah two: "The wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, in the desire of its soul, drew in the wind of its love." For toward this Spirit of the Lord the spirit of the Saints sighs: Romans eight: "It is the Spirit who intercedes," etc.
36. And Jesus was casting out a demon,
etc. As was stated at the beginning of the book, this book has four parts: of which the first concerns Christ's nature;
the second, Christ's teaching;
and this began above in the fourth chapter, and it has two parts according to the two works of the wise person, "of which the first is not to lie; the second, to be able to expose the one who lies." The first part, therefore, concerns the truth to be declared for the instruction of the disciples; the second, the falsehood to be refuted through the confutation of the opposing Jews.
Second, the falsehood of the opposing Jews is refuted in four ways.
The first part having been completed, here begins the second. This part is divided into four. In the first of these he refutes the deceitfulness
of the Jews; in the second, their impiety: There were drawing near,
below in the fifteenth chapter; in the third, their curiosity,
below in the seventeenth chapter: And being asked by the Pharisees,
etc.; in the fourth, their unbelief,
below in the nineteenth chapter: And it came to pass, when Jesus had drawn near,
etc.
The deceitfulness of the Jews who slander the miracles is refuted in two ways.
In refuting the deceitfulness of the Jews,
he first refutes the deceitfulness of those who slander the miracles on the part of the efficient
cause; in the second, on the part of time,
below in the thirteenth chapter: And he was teaching in their synagogues on the Sabbaths.
First the Jews who slander the miracles are refuted on the part of the efficient cause, then the disciples are instructed.
The first is divided into two parts. In the first of these he confutes the deceitfulness and fraud of the Jews;
in the second he instructs his disciples to avoid it,
below in the twelfth chapter: But when many crowds,
etc.
First, concerning the deceitfulness and threefold fraud of the Jews.
The first part, which contains the present chapter, is divided into three parts. In the first of these he confutes the fraud of the blasphemers;
in the second, the fraud of those testing
or disbelieving, below: But when the crowds were gathering;
in the third, the fraud of those dissembling,
at: No one lights a lamp.
The first of these is in word,
the second is in the mind, and the third consists in any outward sign.
The fraud of the blasphemers is confuted through three points.
For confuting the fraud of the blasphemers,
three things are introduced. For first there is the disclosure of the Jewish fraud;
second, the refutation of the disclosed fraud,
at: But he, when he saw their thoughts,
etc.; third, the commendation of the truth made manifest,
at: And it came to pass, while he was saying these things,
etc.
Concerning the disclosure of the Jewish fraud,
the Evangelist sets forth three things: the first is the matter of divine praise,
the second is the blasphemy of human fraud,
the third is the controversy of the ensuing dispute.
37. (Verse 14). First, therefore, as regards the matter of divine praise,
he says: And Jesus was casting out a demon, and it was mute;
in which two miracles are touched upon at once, or rather even three. Whence Bede in the Gloss: "Matthew says that this demoniac was also blind, in whom three miracles are worked by the Lord: because the blind man
sees, the mute
speaks, and the possessed
is freed from the demon." And in this there was matter for divine praise
both on the part of the one healed and of those standing by. On account of which he says: And when he had cast out the demon, the mute spoke, and the crowds marveled;
and thus was fulfilled that passage of Isaiah thirty-five: "Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped; then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the mute shall be loosed." Such great miracles were wrought together as a cause of wonder
and praise,
according to that passage of Ecclesiasticus forty-three: "The Lord is terrible and exceedingly great, and wondrous is his power"; and after: "Glorifying the Lord as much as you are able, he shall yet prevail beyond, and wondrous is his magnificence." Whence they could truly say that passage of Mark seven: "He has done all things well; he has made the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."
38. But according to the spiritual understanding, the demon is sin, which makes one deaf to hearing the truth, blind to seeing it, and mute to confessing it. Whence Chrysostom says: "O wickedness of the demon! He blocked each entrance through which man was going to believe: hearing and sight," and the third, that is, the tongue, lest he confess. Whence it is said in Isaiah 41: "There is none who announces, and there is none who preaches, nor any who hears my words"; and again in Isaiah 42: "Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see. Who is blind but my servant? And who is deaf, but he to whom I have sent my messengers?" Such a one is also mute for confessing; whence Sirach 15: "Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner."
39. And note that since speech has been given to man for three purposes, namely for praising God, for edifying one's neighbor, and for accusing oneself: this threefold speech is taken away by a threefold demon. The first is taken away by the spirit of lust, according to that passage in Isaiah 1: "When you multiply your prayers, I will not hear. For your hands are full of blood."
The second is taken away by the spirit of avarice, which makes one attend only to oneself, according to that passage in Matthew 25: "He who had received one talent went away and dug in the earth." The third is taken away by the spirit of pride, which does not permit man to accuse himself, according to that passage of the Psalm: "Because I kept silent, my bones grew old"; and Jeremiah 2: "Behold, I will contend with you in judgment, because you have said: I have not sinned." - Concerning this threefold demon it is said in Revelation 16: "I saw coming out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits in the form of frogs." - The first demon is cast out by fasting, according to that passage in Matthew 17: "This kind of demon is not cast out except by fasting." The second is cast out by the memory of the Lord's passion, according to that passage in Tobit 6: "If you place a piece of the fish's heart upon coals, its smoke drives out every kind of demon," etc. The third by prayer: 1 Kings 16: "David took the harp and struck it with his hand, and Saul was refreshed and felt better: for the evil spirit departed from him."
40. (Vers. 15.). Secondly, regarding the blasphemy of human fraud,
it is added: But some of them said: He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons.
And this was a great blasphemy, because what was done by the Holy Spirit they attributed to the evil spirit: whence in Matthew 12, immediately after this it is said: "Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven." They burst forth into this blasphemy out of envy: whence Chrysostom says: "
Not when he said great things, but when he brought about the salvation of men, then the Pharisees attacked." "For envy does not care what it says, but only that it speaks." "For there is no malice worse than jealousy. For the adulterer quickly completes his sin, but the jealous man never rests."
And because this blasphemy proceeded from malice and envy, for this reason this Gospel is read when the history of Joseph is sung on the third Sunday of Lent. For just as the brothers of Joseph out of envy called him an inventor of dreams,
so also these men called Christ an invoker of demons.
And they especially name Beelzebub,
both because that idol was famous: whence in 4 Kings 1 it is said that "Ochozias sent his messengers saying: Go and consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron"; and Bede in the Gloss says: "The Jews asserted that the prince of demons dwelt in this image. They said that Jesus cast out demons by his power"; and therefore in the text it is said: By the prince of demons:
or because the name of this idol was ridiculous; whence Beelzebub
means as much as man of flies:
by which name the Jews called him in mockery, as is said in the Gloss, "on account of the filth of the blood that was sacrificed in his temple." Thus they uttered blasphemy, just as in John 8, where it is said: "Do we not say well that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?"
41. (Vers. 16.). Thirdly, regarding the controversy of the adjoined dispute,
he adds: And others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven.
They did not seek such a sign in order to believe as faithful men, but as rebels in order to attack, according to that saying of the Savior in Matthew 22: "Why do you test me, hypocrites?" and in the Psalm: "Your fathers tested me," etc. And this is evil, as is said in 1 Corinthians 10: "Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted and perished by serpents." Moreover, they sought a sign from heaven,
such as thunder
in the time of Samuel, 1 Kings 12; or the sending down of fire
in the time of Elijah, 3 Kings 18 and 4 Kings 1; or such as the going back of the sun
in the time of Hezekiah, 4 Kings 20.
Now this was characteristic of the Jews, whether through habituation;
whence First Corinthians chapter one: "Jews demand signs, and Greeks seek wisdom"; and therefore Peter, powerful in signs, was the Apostle to the Jews, but Paul, in wisdom, to the Gentiles: or also on account of unbelief
and hardness,
according to what Stephen said in Acts chapter seven: "Stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in hearts and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit." Whence Chrysostom: "Always to learn
is a sign of never being able to advance: so always to seek testimony
is a sign of never being willing to believe." And this is indeed true; for when they had sufficient testimonies on earth, it was not necessary to seek signs from heaven: whence John chapter ten: "The works that I do in the name of my Father, these bear witness concerning me."
42. Spiritually,
however, the Lord gave signs on earth,
namely signs of humility and poverty,
according to that passage above in chapter two: "This shall be a sign to you: you shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes." But many do not believe this sign, such as the proud and the ambitious, who seek Christ not in the humility of the cross, but in the desire for honor and praise. And yet it is said in Matthew chapter twenty-four: "Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven," etc. But the proud contradict this, according to that passage above in chapter two: "He is set for a sign which shall be contradicted," because the state of humility does not please them, but rather that of dignity. Whence in the Psalm: "They have set up their own signs as signs," namely of pride and wantonness, according to that passage in Wisdom chapter two: "Let us leave everywhere signs of our joy," without which signs they are unwilling to follow: whence in the Psalm: "We have not seen our signs," etc.
43. But he, when he saw their thoughts, said to them.
After the expression of the Jewish fraud, there is here subjoined the refutation of the fraud expressed.
Now this part has three sections. In the first of which is set forth the refutation of falsehood;
in the second, the confirmation of the truth,
at the passage: When the strong man armed guards,
etc.; in the third, the condemnation of deceitfulness,
at the passage: When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man,
etc.
In refuting falsehood,
he proceeds in this order: first he leads to a manifest impossibility,
second he brings to an indefensible falsehood,
third he leads back to an infallible truth.
44. (Vers. 17. 18.). First, therefore, He leads them to a manifest impossibility, when He says: Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation: in which He intends to construct the following argument: every kingdom divided, by the very fact that it is divided against itself, is destroyed; but if one demon casts out another, Satan is divided against himself; therefore his kingdom does not stand. It follows, therefore, that Satan himself destroys his own kingdom and takes away from himself his power and dominion. But this is a manifest impossibility; and it follows from the statement of the Pharisees: therefore that statement was manifestly false. The major premise of this argument, then, He sets forth when He says: Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation, and house shall fall upon house. And this indeed is self-evident and true, because division is the cause of ruin; hence the cause of the predicate is contained in the subject. And this is what Jerome says: "By concord small things grow; by discord the greatest things fall apart." For unity is the cause of preservation, and division of destruction, according to Hosea 10: "Their heart is divided, now they shall perish"; and Proverbs 28: "Because of the sins of the land, many are its princes." An example of this is found in Genesis 11 concerning those building the tower, when they were "of one tongue," where it is added: "The Lord divided them from that place into all lands, and they ceased to build." Hence concerning the destruction of its unity in the final state of the world, it is said below in chapter 21: "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be great earthquakes," etc.
Then he adds the minor premise,
when he says: But if Satan is divided against himself,
that is, fights against himself: which he states conditionally,
because this follows from the words of the aforementioned scribes and Pharisees, yet in itself it is not true: for Satan agrees with Satan in evil. Whence Job 41: "His body is like molten shields and compacted with scales pressing upon one another: one is joined to another, and not even a breath passes between them; one cleaves to another, and holding together they shall in no way be separated"; whence in the Psalm: "The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord," etc. - After this he adds the conclusion,
when he subjoins: How shall his kingdom stand?
Which he says interrogatively,
as though it were impossible to maintain that Satan himself casts himself out of his kingdom. For the kingdom of Satan is among the wicked and sinners: Job 41: "He is king over all the children of pride"; and therefore the Apostle said in Romans 6: "Let not sin reign in your mortal body." Lastly he introduces the proof of the minor premise from their own words,
since this was the cause of the entire false inference. And therefore he adds: Because you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebub.
For if what you say is true, that Satan casts out Satan, then his empire is divided, and thereby tends toward destruction. And in this way the argument is formed in Matthew 12: "If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself: how then shall his kingdom stand"? - Thus it is clear how from their own words he deduces to a manifest impossibility.
45. (Verse 19.). Second, he leads to a false improbability,
when he adds: But if I cast out demons by Beelzebub:
in which he intends to form such an argument: if I cast out demons by the power of demons, and I gave your sons the power of casting out demons
—this he presupposes and leaves unstated—therefore they themselves cast out demons by the prince of demons. But this is false and improbable both according to their own opinion and according to the testimony of the Apostles themselves. Therefore what the Pharisees hold is false, and what the Apostles testify is true: therefore they themselves shall be their judges.
In this argument, however, the proposition is first set forth,
which they assert, when it is said: But if I cast out demons by Beelzebub,
that is, according to your assertion; above in the same chapter: "He casts out demons by Beelzebub."
There follows the conclusion,
which they do not concede, when it is said: Your sons, by whom do they cast out?
As if to say: it follows that they cast out by Beelzebub, which however they themselves do not concede. Whence Bede: "He calls the sons
of the Jews the Apostles, who among other gifts which they had received from the Lord, also drove out demons, which expulsion they attributed not to the devil but to God."
There is further implied the reproof
which they incur, when it is said: Therefore they shall be your judges:
because what you blaspheme as false, they themselves testify to be true, according to that passage of Isaiah forty-three: "Truly you are my witnesses, says the Lord." And not only witnesses
on account of their assertion of the truth, but also judges
on account of their perfection in the truth, according to that passage of Matthew nineteen: "You who have left all things and followed me shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." For they are those of whom Isaiah three says: "The Lord will come to judgment with the elders of his people." He calls elders
the more perfect, according to that passage of Wisdom four: "Venerable old age is not long-lived, nor reckoned by the number of years. For the gray hairs of a man are his understanding, and the age of old age is an unspotted life."
46. (Verse 20.) Thirdly, he leads back to the infallible truth,
when he adds: But if I cast out demons by the finger of God. But,
that is, certainly; if,
that is, because; by the finger of God,
that is, by the Holy Spirit: whence in Matthew twelve it is said: "If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God." For the Holy Spirit is called the finger of God,
as it is said in Exodus eight: "The finger of God is here." The reason for this is that the Son is called the arm
of the Father, according to that passage of Isaiah fifty-three: "The arm of the Lord, to whom has it been revealed?" He is also called the hand,
according to that passage of the Psalm: "Send forth your hand from on high." And the reason for this is that, just as one who works does so by arm and hand, so the Father does all things through the Son, as it is said in John one: "All things were made through him." But the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, as a finger from the body and the arm, and is connatural and consubstantial with him, and therefore is rightly called the finger
in the Scriptures. Or, because, just as there is one hand, and through the fingers distinction is made,
so through one Spirit the distinction of gifts is made, as it is said in First Corinthians twelve: "All these things one and the same Spirit works, distributing to each one as he wills."
Because therefore I cast out demons by this Spirit, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you,
that is, the royal power which protects us, the devil having been expelled, according to that passage of John twelve: "Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out."
And note that he says: the kingdom of God has come upon you,
because the kingdom of God comes upon us
through grace,
according to that passage below in the seventeenth chapter: "The kingdom of God is within you." But then we shall arrive
at it through glory,
when it will be said to us: "Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom," etc.
47. And note that this consequence is necessary; because, if there is no middle ground such that a man is not under the power either of God or of the devil, then if the power of the devil is expelled from a man, it follows that divine power is introduced.
Now the threefold wicked spirit, about which was discussed above, is expelled by the divine spirit given for three purposes, namely by the spirit of sanctity,
concerning which Wisdom chapter one says: "The holy spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful"; by the spirit of poverty,
concerning which Matthew chapter five says: "Blessed are the poor in spirit"; and by the spirit of humility,
concerning which the last chapter of Isaiah says: "To whom shall I have regard, if not to the poor and contrite in spirit"?
This threefold spirit the Prophet sought in the Psalm: "Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right
spirit, etc. And do not take your Holy
Spirit from me. And with a sovereign
spirit confirm me"; so that this threefold spirit is touched upon here: right,
that is, of poverty; holy,
that is, of purity; and sovereign,
that is, humble: which spirit whoever has, has justice toward himself
and neighbor
and God,
or has it within, without, and above,
and through this has peace and joy, and thus the kingdom of God within himself. For, according to that passage in Romans chapter fourteen, "the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
48. (Verse 21.). When the strong man armed guards his court.
After he disproved the falsehood, here secondly he confirms the truth;
in the confirmation of which he proceeds in this order: first he sets forth the preliminary truth, secondly he adds the intended truth, thirdly he subjoins the annexed truth.
First, therefore, setting forth the preliminary truth,
he says: When the strong man armed guards his court, in peace are all the things
, that he possesses.
This is manifest in itself. For quiet possession comes from the strength of the possessor, which does not permit it to be attacked by one less powerful. For strong
is this devil, of whom it is said in Job chapter forty-one: "There is no power upon earth that can be compared to him, who was made to fear no one"; and Habakkuk chapter one: "O Lord, you have appointed him for judgment, and established him as mighty for correction." He is armed,
according to what is said in Job chapter forty-one: "His body is like molten shields." And because he has such great power and armor, therefore violence cannot be done to him by a weak man; rather, in peace
he possesses,
since he does not fear to lose, according to that saying of Gregory: "He neglects to trouble those whom he perceives himself to possess by undisturbed right." And this is the peace of sinners,
concerning which the Psalm says: "I was envious of the wicked, seeing the peace of sinners"; and Matthew chapter ten: "I came not to send peace, but a sword." He wishes therefore to say in this that the strong man is not expelled by the less strong. If, then, no earthly power prevails over the power of the devil, but only heavenly power, therefore that which expels demons is not from earth but from heaven, not human but divine.
49. (Vers. 22.). Second, adding the intended truth
and now the persuasive argument,
he says: But if a stronger one coming upon him shall overcome him. Stronger
than the devil is the divine strength, namely our Christ: First Corinthians 1: " We preach Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God "; and again: " The weakness of God is stronger than men "; and therefore Job 9:"If strength is sought, he is most mighty ". And for this reason it is said in Isaiah 9: " He shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God, Mighty ". He came upon,
that is, he came from above, according to that saying in John 3: "He who comes from heaven is above all". He however overcame
the devil as one less strong, according to what is said in John 16: " Take courage, I have overcome the world "; whence although he seemed to be conquered, yet he conquered, because by dying he rose again. And this is signified in Jeremiah 46: " The strong one stumbled against the strong one, and both fell together "; because Christ fell corporally, temporally, and visibly, but the devil eternally, totally, and irrecoverably. Whence it is said in Revelation 5: " Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered to open the book ". " And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures a Lamb standing as though slain "; who therefore conquered because he was slain. Therefore that saying from First Corinthians 15 can be said to the devil: " O death, where is your victory? Thanks be to God, who has given us the victory through Jesus our Lord ".
50. And because he conquered him in the passion,
therefore he despoiled him in the resurrection;
hence he adds: He will take away all his armor in which he trusted.
And this he did when he broke down the gates of hell, according to that saying of the Psalm: "For he shattered the gates of bronze and broke the bars of iron "; and again in the Psalm: " He will shatter the bow and break the weapons and burn the shields with fire". The devil makes these weapons
for himself from men through their consent, according to that saying in Romans 6: " Do not present your members as weapons of iniquity to sin ".
Or the diabolical weapons are the various stratagems of tempters, by which they prevailed over men. And of these he was deprived
through Christ's victory in the resurrection, and despoiled
in the ascension. Hence he adds: And he will distribute his spoils.
And this indeed he did when from vessels of dishonor
he made vessels of mercy
; and this was done in the ascension,
according to that saying in Ephesians 4: "Ascending on high, he led captivity captive, he gave gifts to men ". Moreover, our Emmanuel did this: Isaiah 8: " Call his name: Make haste, strip the spoils, hasten to plunder ". He plundered
the devil mightily, according to that saying in Isaiah 49: "Shall the prey be taken from the strong one? Or can that which was captured by the mighty be saved? For thus says the Lord: Indeed, even the captivity shall be taken from the strong one "; and Hosea 13: " The Lord will plunder the treasure of every desirable vessel ".
A figure of this preceded in 1 Kings 30, in David, of whom it is said that, having returned from the slaughter of Amalek, after despoiling the Amalekites, he distributed the spoils and "sent gifts to the elders of Judah and to his neighbors."
And note that Christ is said to distribute the spoils of the devil,
because, although he himself freed all, nevertheless he also entrusts a part of this glory to various preachers, who are themselves despoilers of Egypt,
Exodus 12.
From this, therefore, it is apparent that the expulsion of demons was accomplished by Christ not by diabolical or human power, but through the Holy Spirit. And this is the intended truth.
51. (Verse 23). Thirdly, joining the adjoined truth,
he adds: He who is not
with me is against me:
and through this, the men whom the devil possesses resist Christ, and according to that passage of 2 Corinthians 6: "What accord has Christ with Belial?" And because no one can resist his strength, therefore he adds: He who does not gather with me scatters:
because, as it is said in Job 9, "who has resisted him and had peace?" For the office of Christ is to gather, according to that passage of John 11:
"He was about to die, that he might gather into one the children of God who were scattered"; and Isaiah 11: "He will gather the fugitives of Israel and will collect the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth"; Psalm: "He will gather the dispersed of Israel." But the office of the devil is to scatter, according to that passage of John 10: "The wolf snatches and scatters the sheep." Therefore it is best to enter the sheepfold of the Lord, who cannot be overcome by one stronger, as it is said in John 10: "The Father, what he has given me, is greater than all things," etc.
52. (Verse 24). When the unclean spirit,
etc. After the refutation of falsehood and the confirmation of truth, the Evangelist here adds the condemnation of deceitfulness,
whose origin is from the malign spirit, according to that passage of John 8 : "He is a liar and the father thereof," that is, of lying and pretense. The Savior therefore condemns the deceitfulness of the Pharisees, whose origin, progress,
and consummation
he shows to be accomplished in them through the malign spirit, and this with respect to the malign spirit's departure, return,
and entrance. He departs
indeed through the detestation of uncleanness, returns
through the simulation of justice, but enters
through the deepening of wickedness.
First, therefore, with respect to the departure
of the unclean spirit through the detestation of uncleanness,
he says: When the unclean spirit has gone out from a man,
namely through true repentance, according to that passage of Zechariah 13: "I will take away the false prophets and the unclean spirit from the land." For this, however, abstinence and persistence in prayer are necessary, through which we are cleansed within and without; and then the unclean spirit departs, according to that passage of Matthew 17: "This kind of demon is not cast out except through prayer and fasting."
And since the desire of the devil is always directed toward the seduction of the good, however much he may be expelled from others; therefore he adds: He walks through dry and waterless places, seeking rest.
Dry and waterless
places are places in which carnality and concupiscence do not flourish, according to that saying of
the Psalm: "In a desert and pathless and waterless land, so have I appeared to you in the sanctuary," as Jerome expounds. And therefore the Virgin Mary, because she had concupiscence entirely extinguished, is called the rock of the desert:
Isaiah sixteen : "Send forth the Lamb, O Lord, the ruler of the earth, from the rock of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion." Around these places walks
the devil seeking rest,
that is, wishing to fashion in them the shadow of negligence and the fountain of contumely, so that he might be able to rest there. In such a place, however, he rests,
according to that saying of Job forty: "He sleeps under the shadow, in the covert of the reed, in moist places"; and Ezekiel twenty-nine: "Behold, I am against you, O great dragon, who lies in the midst of the rivers." But the devil does not rest except in those in whom he finds the streams of concupiscences, which because he cannot find in holy men who are afflicted and mortified, therefore he does not rest in them but flees, according to that saying of James four: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
53. Second, however, as regards the return
through the simulation of justice,
he adds: And not finding,
namely rest, he says: I will return to my house, from which I went out. His own
he calls the house, because he had not yet been fully expelled from it: and to such a one the devil returns: in whose figure, Isaiah thirty-seven: "By the way by which Sennacherib came," that is, Satan, "by the same way he shall return." Rightly, moreover, he calls the sinner his own
house, because the sinner who has committed sin is the servant of sin", as is said in John eight; and through this he is not of his own right, but a servant of the devil. Therefore Proverbs five: "Give not your honor to strangers and your years to the cruel one, lest perhaps strangers be filled with your strength, and your labors be in the house of a stranger."
54. (Vers. 25.). To this house, however, the simulation of goodness and justice leads back the expelled devil; and therefore he adds: And when he comes, he finds it swept clean and adorned,
not within,
as the Prophet says in the Psalm: "I was exercised and I swept my spirit"; and again: "All the glory of the king's daughter is from within"; he does not find it swept and adorned
in this way, but outwardly,
as below in the same Gospel: "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish; but what is within is full of plunder and wickedness"; and Matthew twenty-three: "WOE to you! who are like whitewashed sepulchres," etc. Such cleanliness does not suffice for the Holy Spirit, who seeks to dwell not only in a clean body but in a holy soul; whence Wisdom chapter one: "Into a malevolent soul wisdom will not enter, nor will it dwell in a body subject to sins." And therefore we are invited to both; Isaiah chapter one: "Wash yourselves, be clean," etc. But that cleanliness which is only outward
leaves the house empty of the grace of the Holy Spirit, and thereby liable to be occupied by the presence of the devil. Whence, noting this, Matthew chapter twelve says: "He finds it empty,
swept clean and adorned," empty,
namely, of grace and virtue. Whence Chrysostom: "Those desolate of virtue will easily be liable to occupation by the actions of demons"; and therefore Jerome: "Always do something good, so that the devil may find you occupied."
55. (Vers. 26.). Third, indeed, as regards the entry
through the deepening of wickedness,
he adds: And then he goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and having entered, they dwell there.
These seven spirits
are seven simulations which feign and falsely claim to be virtues in appearance; they are therefore more wicked than open vices, because they possess a greater perversity of malice, as Augustine says: "Simulated justice is not justice, but double iniquity."
56. Hence note three
groups of seven spirits. The first is good,
which contains the seven gifts, concerning which Isaiah 11: "The spirit of wisdom and understanding shall rest upon him," etc. — The second is evil
and contains seven spirits of wickedness, that is, the seven capital vices, opposed to the seven gifts. For lust
is opposed to wisdom,
gluttony to understanding,
avarice to counsel, sloth to fortitude,
wrath to knowledge,
envy to piety,
pride to fear.
And concerning these it is said in Mark 16 that seven demons had been cast out from Mary Magdalene. — The third group of seven contains seven pretenses, which the Lord calls more wicked spirits,
because under the appearance of holiness they deceive the innocent; concerning which Proverbs 26: "Seven wickednesses are in his heart." Hypocrisy introduces all of these, for it is the counterfeiter of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. As a sign of this, the Lord in Matthew 23 makes seven exclamations against the hypocrites, threatening them with woe;
an eighth woe
is added, but hypocrites
is not placed there. Therefore these more wicked spirits
dwell securely, because the less malice appears, the less it is rebuked, and the more securely it rests: Isaiah 13: "Beasts shall rest there, and their houses shall be filled with dragons, and ostriches shall dwell there, and hairy creatures shall dance there," where the monstrosities of vices are touched upon.
57. And since the more securely the devil dwells in a man, the worse it is for the man, because he is more a slave, therefore it is added: And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first,
either on account of relapse,
because of which John 5: "Behold, you have been made well; sin no more, lest something worse befall you"; and 2 Peter 2: "It would have been better not to have known the way of truth," etc.; whence Chrysostom: "The punishment of later vices is more severe"; or on account of the doubling of iniquity,
which occurs through pretense, according to that passage in Sirach 7: "Do not sow iniquity in the furrows of injustice, and you shall not reap it sevenfold." From this it is evident that the Pharisees were not only convicted of falsehood,
but also reproved for deceitfulness.
These things can also be explained allegorically
concerning the Jewish and Gentile peoples, according to how Bede expounds quite well in the Gloss: He went out from Judea,
etc.
58. (Verse 27.) And it came to pass,
etc. After the expression of Jewish fraud and the reprobation of the expressed fraud, the Evangelist here adds the commendation of open truth.
And this indeed was fitting, so that, with the truth made manifest, Truth itself manifesting itself might be praised openly before the whole multitude. In the description of this commendation, three things are introduced: the first is the condition of the praising person,
the second is the expression of divine praise,
the third is the approbation of the expressed praise.
First, therefore, as regards the condition of the praising person,
he says: And it came to pass, as he spoke these things,
namely for the confutation of falsehood: a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him,
for the commendation of truth and the confutation of the Pharisees: in which a twofold condition is noted in the praising person, namely courage
and lowliness. Courage
is noted in this, that she lifted up her voice,
according to that passage of Isaiah 40: "Lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, fear not"; lowliness
in this, that a certain woman,
not named nor noble, but from the crowd, so that that word of the Psalm might be fulfilled: "The poor and needy shall praise your name." From which it is apparent that the praiser of the divine name ought not to be timid, so as not to dare to praise, nor puffed up, so as to blush at praising, but courageous and humble. Whence, while some were silent
from fear,
and some blasphemed
from pride and swelling:
this humble and courageous woman neither was silent
with the timid nor reviled
with the blasphemers: whence in the Gloss: "With great confidence among blasphemers she confesses the Son of God." Therefore that word of Matthew 15 could be said to her: "O woman, great is your faith," which namely has so greatly strengthened you, since it is said in the last chapter of Proverbs: "Who shall find a strong woman?" In you is verified that word of Ecclesiasticus 26: "Eternal foundations upon solid rock, and the commandments of God in the heart of a holy woman."
59. Second, as regards the expression of divine praise,
it is added: Blessed is the womb that bore you;
in which she praises Christ the Son of God, extolling the proclamation of his praise from the blessedness of the Mother: as if to say, blessed is the woman who bore so good a son. And rightly so, because it was fitting for the female sex to praise thus, and not only women, but indeed also men. For above in chapter one the Virgin said: "From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed."
60. And note that she declares blessed the womb of the Virgin, and this because she carried the Son of God for nine months and six days, which are reckoned as one month: Wisdom 7 : " In the womb of my mother I was made flesh in a time of ten months ". Whence in praise of the Virgin it is said in Song of Songs 7: " Your womb is like a heap of wheat", because Christ was a grain of wheat,
according to what is said in John 12: and with this wheat her womb was filled, and therefore blessed
on account of three privileges:
because, as Bernard says , "she was made fruitful without corruption, pregnant without heaviness, and a mother without pain "; Isaiah, the last chapter: " Who has ever heard such a thing? And who has seen the like of this "?- Or on account of three miracles.
The first is the conjunction of infinitely distant things. For there God was made man: the Creator, a creature: the immense, small: the Word, an infant: the Eternal, temporal, according to that saying in John 1 : " And the Word was made flesh"; and Jeremiah 31: " The Lord will create a new thing upon the earth: a woman shall encompass a man". The second miracle is that he who made the womb was made in the womb: whence in the Psalm : " Glorious things are said of you, O city of God "; and afterwards: " A man is born in her, and the Most High himself founded her". Concerning this can be expounded that passage from Sirach 43: " A wondrous vessel, the work of the Most High".
The third miracle , that he who contains all things is contained in this womb; he is held there, " whom the whole world cannot hold ". Whence the Church sings: " Because him whom the heavens could not contain, you bore in your lap "; whence Isaiah 45: " Truly you are a hidden God ".
61. Nor does she declare the Virgin blessed only on account of the carrying, but the breasts
on account of the nursing, when she adds: And the breasts which you sucked,
blessed, namely: from which it is given to understand that the most blessed one was nursed from the breasts of the Virgin alone. This was prefigured in Moses, who, as it is said, refused to be nursed by an Egyptian woman: and therefore a Hebrew woman was sought, namely his own mother, as is said in Exodus 2 . Now this prefigures the Virgin Mary, at whose breasts Christ nursed, according to that passage in Song of Songs 8: "Who will give you to me as my brother, nursing at the breasts of my mother " etc. Now she joined these two together so that it might be shown that the Virgin Mary was the true and perfect mother of Christ, because she not only bore him but also nourished him: and just as she truly nourished him, so she truly bore him: and in this is refuted, as is said in the Gloss , the impiety of the Manicheans and others who say that he brought with him an ethereal body. Whence Bede: "From the same source flows both milk for nourishing and seed for begetting children. Therefore from the seed of the Virgin, according to the physicians, he who could be nourished by her milk could also be conceived ".
62. (Vers. 28.). Third, indeed, as regards the approbation of the expressed praise,
he adds: But he said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God.
He does not say this by way of opposing, but rather by way of adding, as if he were saying: not only blessed
is the womb that bore me, the Word made flesh, but even more blessed
is the one who receives the word uttered by me. Whence Mary too was not only blessed
because she bore Christ in the flesh, but even more blessed,
because she most perfectly bore him in the mind, according to what Augustine says: "Mary was more blessed in conceiving the faith of Christ than the flesh of Christ." For blessed is everyone who hears and obeys, according to that text of John 13: "If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."
And therefore he adds: And keep it:
and therefore James 1: "Be doers of the word and not hearers only." By this word Christ did not wish merely carnal
kinship to be praised in itself: for thus it is said to the Jews above in the third chapter: "Do not presume to say: We have Abraham as our father," etc.; but spiritual
kinship, because the union of minds is holier than that of bodies. And therefore, when his mother and brethren sought him, he said in Matthew 12: "Whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, sister, and mother." And for this reason the Virgin Mary was praiseworthy in conceiving, because she conceived by faith:
and therefore Elizabeth said to her above in the first chapter: "Blessed is she who believed, for there shall be a fulfillment of those things which were told her by the Lord." — From which appears a wondrous commendation of truth, which makes all who adhere to it blessed, not only those adhering by carnal kinship,
as the Virgin Mary, but also by spiritual love,
as any holy soul. For as Augustine says: "Beatitude is joy in the truth"; to which joy shall come those who hear, love, and do the truth, according to that text of Ecclesiasticus 24: "Those who hear me shall not be confounded, and those who work in me shall not sin, and those who elucidate me shall have eternal life."
63. Spiritually,
however, it should be noted here that the woman from the crowd
bears the type of the Law, which commends carnal generation,
according to the promise made to Abraham, Genesis 15: "Look up at the heaven," etc.; and to David, whence in the Psalm: "Of the fruit," etc.; whence Romans 9: "Of whom is Christ according to the flesh," etc. But Christ
bears the type of grace and the spirit, who indeed commends spiritual generation,
according to that text of Matthew 12: "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?"
The conception of this spiritual generation first takes place in faith,
as it were in the unity of the Church: John 7: "He who believes in me, as the Scripture says," etc. As a sign of which thing also the Virgin Mary conceived through faith: Luke 1: "Blessed is she who believed."
Birth,
however, comes about through works:
Ecclesiasticus twenty-four: "I said, I will water the garden of plantings," etc. But those who believe and do not work are like those of whom Isaiah thirty-seven says: "The children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring forth."
Nursing
takes place in love and contemplation;
Song of Songs one: "Let him kiss me with a kiss, for your breasts are better than wine," etc.; and Proverbs five: "A most beloved hind and a most graceful fawn," etc.
And thus in these three are intimated the reception of grace, the exercise of the active life,
and the consolation of the contemplative life.
And this whole is enclosed in "faith, which works through love," which only those who possess will be blessed.
The fallacy of those who tempt or of unbelievers is refuted by a threefold way.
64. (Verse 29.). But as the crowds were gathering together,
etc. After the Savior refuted the fallacy of the blasphemers or detractors, here secondly he refutes the fallacy of the unbelievers,
who under the appearance of eagerness sought signs out of curiosity. This fallacy of the unbelief of the Jews is refuted, and this by a threefold way. For first that people is reproved because it was doubtful in believing;
second, because it was lukewarm in learning;
third, because it was cold in repenting.
First, therefore, the deceitful and unbelieving people is reproved because it was doubtful in believing,
when it is said: But as the crowds were gathering together, he began to say: This generation is a wicked generation.
For the crowds were gathering together,
that is, they were running to him from diverse causes: some to hear his teachings, some to see miracles, some for the sake of driving away hunger, some for the sake of recovering health, some to lay snares, others to serve him, according to the diverse kinds of persons which are expressed in the Gospel. But these, as the Gloss says, were running "to see the wonders which they heard were being done by him," which they wished to see not out of zeal for faith, but rather out of deceit and curiosity and fraud. And therefore he says: This generation is a wicked generation;
and in Matthew twelve it is said: "An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign"; for it is wicked
and adulterous
on account of unbelief and idolatry. Whence that passage of Proverbs thirty applies to it: "A generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother"; and that passage of Deuteronomy thirty-two: "It is a perverse generation, and unfaithful children." For their unbelief appears from the question of curiosity; on account of which he adds: It seeks a sign,
namely from heaven; the Gloss: "As if those things which they had seen
were not signs."
And because such people, on account of their unbelief, were not heavenly but earthly, not spiritual but rather animal: therefore heavenly signs are denied to them,
but earthly ones are granted;
therefore he says: And no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
He says this indeed, not because he did not give other signs — whence he raised Lazarus who had been dead four days, as is said in John 11; "and a voice from heaven came to him," John 12; "and he performed many other signs in the sight of all," concerning which it is said in John 20 that "they are not written in his book"; and again: "The sun was darkened" at his death, below in chapter 23 — but because all other signs avail nothing except for one who believes that God suffered and rose again on the third day, the figure of which preceded in Jonah the prophet; and therefore in John 2, when the Pharisees asked: "What sign do you show us, since you do these things?" he said: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." "But he was speaking of the temple of his body." — And the figure of this preceded in Jonah,
whom the fish vomited forth on the third day; and therefore he was believed by the Ninevites.
65. (Verse 30). On account of which he adds: For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so shall the Son of Man be to this generation.
For Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites not only by word, but also by the deed of a miracle, because, cast into the sea and swallowed by a fish, on the third day he returned to the heights above: by which he prefigured Christ suffering, dying, and rising again. Whence in Matthew 12 such a sign is applied: "For as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth." Whoever therefore does not believe this sign is harder than the Ninevites, nor do any other signs of the Lord profit him in anything.
66. (Verse 31). Second, the generation of the Jews is reproved because it was lukewarm in learning,
when it is added: The queen of the south shall rise in the judgment with the men of this generation.
From which it appears that the resurrection will be universal, not only of the good, but also of the wicked. But the resurrection will be unto judgment, according to that passage in John 5: "All who are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth," etc.
But because the wicked will be condemned by comparison with the better, therefore he adds: And she shall condemn them:
Bede: "Not by the power of judgment, but by the comparison of a better deed." — Which deed he shows in what he says: Because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom
of Solomon,
according to what is said in 2 Chronicles 9: "The Queen of Sheba, when she had heard the fame of Solomon, came to test him in Jerusalem"; something similar is said in 3 Kings 10. Whence in three respects she was praiseworthy:
and first, because she was moved by the fame
of Solomon; second, because she came from remote parts;
third, because she came to a man of equal condition. -
And on the contrary, this people was triply blameworthy:
which he notes when he adds: And behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
For in this, that he says behold,
he indicates that he is known
not only by hearing but also by sight, according to that passage of Baruch 3: "after this he was seen upon the earth" etc. In this, that he adds 'here,' he shows that he was not absent but present,
so that there could rightly be said to them that passage of Deuteronomy 30: "The commandment which I command you today is not situated far off" etc. But in this, that he says more than Solomon,
he shows that one must believe in him not merely as in a wise man, but as in the principle and font of all wisdom,
according to that passage of John 8: "I am the beginning, who also speak to you".
67. For Christ was greater than Solomon by reason of power,
by reason of knowledge,
and by reason of justice.
Whence that Psalm especially pertains to him: "O God, give your judgment to the king," which is believed by the Jews to have been composed in praise of Solomon, when it says there: "He shall rule from sea to sea"; and again: "Before the sun his name endures"; and again: "And in him all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed" etc. That Solomon was a peacemaker for a time,
but this one eternally;
Isaiah 9: "His empire shall be multiplied." That one was wise,
but this one is wisdom itself:
1 Corinthians 1: "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God"; and Colossians 2: "In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." That one was a doer of justice,
but this one is justice itself:
1 Corinthians 1: "Who was made for us justice from God" etc.
Therefore, according to seven preeminences, that queen by comparison with us shall judge the unbelieving Jews: a queen: of fragile sex, from remote lands, with difficulty, having left her kingdom, with gifts, to a mere man, known by fame alone,
she came, as is expressly gathered from 3 Kings 10. But the Jews: men, Christ present, freely offered, of their own race, beneficent, God and man, proven by miracles,
they scorn and despise.
68. (Vers. 32.). Thirdly, the generation of the Jews is reproved, because it was cold toward repenting,
when he adds: The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it:
and this on account of their repentance and the impenitence of the Jews. For by comparison with the better, the less good are reproved. -On account of which he adds: Because they repented at the preaching of Jonah:
Jonah 3: "The men of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and were clothed in sackcloth." And yet Jonah was unknown and preached for only a few days; he was also a mere man, and he worked no miracle.
But Christ showed greater things than these to the Jews: therefore he adds: And behold, something greater than Jonah is here:
because Christ was not only man, but also God, which he showed by the greatness of his miracles; he did not preach for only a few days, but also for three years. Therefore the hardness of unbelief in the Jews is the more condemned; whence Chrysostom: "The Ninevites within three days became the people of God, who nevertheless did not have the Prophets; the Jews within three days of the crucifixion became the people of the devil: the former escaped the impending vengeance, the latter endured the most atrocious."
69. Thus it is clear how the deceitfulness of the Jews, who sought signs in order to test, was convicted by examples, so that they might not remain in the hardness of unbelief. But just as the Jews, who heard the Law and the Prophets and saw Christ and did not believe, are reproved by comparison with the Queen of Sheba and the Ninevites: so clerics and the learned can be reproved by comparison with women and laypeople. For clerics recognize Christ in the Scriptures and handle him with their hands in the Sacraments, and yet they believe and venerate less than women and laypeople: whence now we can say that word of Matthew 21: "The publicans and harlots shall go before you," etc.; and again Augustine in the book of the Confessions: "The unlearned seize heaven, and we with our learning are plunged into hell."
All Christians can also be reproved by these examples, who are slow to hear the word of God and to do penance for their sins; who for their own excuse seek signs of miracles, when nevertheless they have before their eyes Christ crucified, so that there can be said to them that word of Galatians 3: "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Christ was openly set forth among you and crucified?" - Therefore, having and seeing the sign of the cross of Christ, we ought not with the Jews to be either doubtful
in believing or lukewarm
in hearing or cold
in repenting and working, in comparison with the Queen of the South and the Ninevites, lest we be condemned by the Lord.
The fallacy of those who dissemble is refuted by two things.
70. No one lights a lamp
etc. After the Savior refuted the fallacy of the blasphemers and the unbelieving or the tempters, in this part he refutes the fallacy of the dissemblers.
This part has two parts, in the first of which he commends the simplicity of right intention;
in the second he refutes the deceitfulness of malignant dissimulation,
at the passage: And as he was speaking, [a Pharisee] asked him
etc.
Therefore, to commend
the simplicity of right intention,
three things are first introduced, namely a rational similitude, an application of the similitude,
and a commendable instruction.
71. (Verse 33.). First, therefore, a rational similitude
is introduced, when it is said: No one lights a lamp and places it in a hidden place nor under a bushel. A lamp
is called a vehicle of light or a vessel containing light, which, whether it be material or spiritual, ought not to be hidden. For a material lamp, when hidden, gives no light but is utterly useless, and likewise neither does a spiritual one; whence Sirach 20: "Hidden wisdom and an unseen treasure, what profit is there in both? Better is the man who conceals his foolishness than the one who hides his wisdom." And therefore this lamp ought not to be hidden but made manifest. — Whence he adds: But upon a lampstand,
that is, he places it, so that those who enter
may see the light.
Moreover, the higher lamps are placed, the more brightly they shine; and therefore they ought to be placed upon a lampstand,
as upon a lofty place, according to the vision of Zechariah 4: "I looked, and behold, a golden lampstand and its seven lamps upon it."
72. (Verse 34). Second, there is added the application of the similitude, when it says: The lamp of your body is your eye. For of the material body, the bodily eye is the lamp, because it rules, directs, and illuminates the whole body; but of the spiritual body, that is, of the aggregate of good works, the lamp is the spiritual eye, that is, the intention. For the intention is called both an eye and a lamp: an eye, insofar as it is illuminated by God for the direction of the whole person; but a lamp, insofar as it directs every action, thought, and affection — as though it "directs" the steps of a person "into the way of peace," according to that passage above in the first chapter: "To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death," etc. — For it belongs to a lamp to illuminate, and therefore the word of God is called a lamp, according to that passage of the Psalm: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths," as regards things to be believed: Second Peter 1: "We have the more firm prophetic word, to which you do well to attend as to a lamp shining in a dark place"; and as regards things to be done through commandments: Proverbs 6: "The commandment is a lamp, and the law is light." Lamp is said of the preacher: John 5: "He was a burning and shining lamp"; and Philippians 2: "Among whom you shine as luminaries in the world." It is said of the gift of the Holy Spirit: Exodus 25: "You shall make also seven lamps and place them upon the lampstand," that is, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit upon Christ. It is also said of a work: below in the twelfth chapter: "Let your loins be girded and lamps burning in your hands." It is also said of the intention, which, if it is feigned, is extinguished, according to that passage of Job 18: "The light shall be darkened in his tabernacle, and the lamp that is over him shall be extinguished"; but if it is right, it illuminates the whole body of good works. — Hence lamp first properly belongs to the word of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit, and through this it properly belongs to the intention of the heart, and from there it descends into the work of true preaching and into the work of holy conduct; hence it is said of these according to a certain kind of analogy. Therefore the lamp of right intention is, as it were, a mean, receiving from what is above and overflowing into the whole aggregate of works.
73. For which reason he adds: If your eye be simple,
that is, your intention right, your whole body will be full of light.
For as Ambrose says: "Intention gives its name to your work"; from which it is clear that he understands this of the eye of the heart,
whose best disposition is simplicity,
according to that passage of 1 Chronicles, last chapter: "I know, O Lord, that you test hearts and love simplicity." Now the eye is called simple
which aims at the one and highest good, which is indivisible; and such alone is upright,
which tends toward that good. Hence it is said of Job, in chapter one, that "that man was simple and upright"; and such a one loves God, according to that passage of Song of Songs, chapter one: "The upright love you"; and Song of Songs, chapter four: "You have wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse, with one of your eyes and with one hair of your neck," that is, in the unity and simplicity of right intention, which alone is pleasing to God. And because such persons, whatever they do, do it from charity,
therefore the whole is right and good and luminous, according to that passage of Ephesians, chapter five: "Walk as children of light. For the fruit of light is in all goodness and justice and truth"; and since from a heart thus illuminated nothing proceeds except works of light,
just as "a good tree cannot bear bad fruit," nor a luminous one dark fruit, nor conversely a bad tree good fruit.
74. And therefore it is added: But if it be evil, your whole body also will be dark.
For the evil eye depraves the will and makes it wicked; and when that is depraved, the work also is depraved. Hence Sirach, chapter fourteen: "Evil is the eye of the envious, turning away his face," namely from God, "and despising his own soul"; and a little later: "The evil eye is toward evil things"; hence when intention is depraved,
it strays from the way of light and walks through darkness, according to that passage of Sirach, chapter eleven: "Error and darkness were created together with sinners." But when intention is darkened and deformed, the work also is darkened and deformed. Hence in the Gloss: "If a perverse intention preceded, a wicked work follows, even if it seems just." And therefore the body is called dark,
which indeed is called the work of sin, concerning which it is found in Romans, chapter thirteen: "Let us cast off the works of darkness." - In this, therefore, the similitude of the lamp is applied, so that, just as a lamp upon the lampstand is luminous, but under a bushel is dark — and therefore no one lighting it "places it under a bushel, but upon the lampstand" — so a simple intention directed upward is luminous, but directed downward it is bent, evil, and dark. Therefore no one ought to proceed in his works with duplicity and the pretense of hypocrisy, but rather with the light and simplicity of intention. For Proverbs, chapter eleven: "The justice of the simple shall direct his way, and the impious shall fall in his own impiety."
75. (Vers. 35.). Third, there is added a commendable instruction, when he says: See therefore that the light which is in you be not darkness, that is, lest the intention by which you ought to be light be obscured by the darkness of vices. He speaks, moreover, to those converted to himself, of whom the Apostle says in Ephesians 5: "You were once darkness, but now light in the Lord: walk as children of light," that you may be children of that light "which enlightens every man coming into this world," John 1: not children of man, of whom John 3 says: "The light came into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, for their works were evil." Since, therefore, a depraved intention corrupts the whole work, he teaches that it must above all be guarded against, when he says: See etc.
76. (Vers. 36.). But again, because intention cannot be lucid unless good operation is present, therefore he adds: If therefore your whole body be lightsome, having no part of darkness, so that namely there be no depravity in intention nor in thought nor in affection nor in speech nor in action, which are the parts of our totality and of meritorious or demeritorious operation.
If therefore in these there be no impurity from any part, then that which follows will be true: The whole shall be lightsome, and as a bright lamp shall enlighten you, that is, your conscience, according to the prophetic petition: "For you light my lamp, O Lord: my God, enlighten my darkness," as is found in the Psalm. It will also enlighten you for building up the Church of Christ, according to that command of the Lord in Matthew 5: "So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." It will also enlighten you for confuting the wickedness of others, according to that in Philippians 2: "That you may be sincere in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life." It will also enlighten you for having divine knowledge, according to that in Ecclesiasticus 2: "You who fear the Lord, love him, and your hearts shall be enlightened." It will also enlighten you for beholding the divine glory: Tobit 13: "You shall shine with a splendid light" etc.
77. And as he was speaking, one asked him etc. After the Evangelist commended the simplicity of right intention, in this part he confutes the deceitfulness of malignant dissimulation. This part has two sections. In the first of which there is set forth a rebuke of duplicity: in the second there is added a threatening of calamity, at: But woe to you, Pharisees etc.
Regarding the rebuke of duplicity, three things are introduced: the first is the malignity of Jewish dissimulation, the second is the severity of the rebuke, the third is the gentleness of charitable admonition.
78. (Vers. 37.). First, therefore, regarding the malignity of simulation on the part of the Pharisee, he says: And as he was speaking, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him. In which deed he outwardly displayed piety toward relieving Christ's poverty, of which he himself says in the Psalm: "But I am a beggar and poor"; to relieve which, Christ accepted alms, and not only accepted them but even begged, when he was still twelve years old, as Bernard says in a certain Sermon: "When Jesus had reached" etc., where he asks who fed him during those three days, and speaks thus: "So that you might conform yourself in all things to our poverty and take upon yourself all the calamities of lowly human life, like one of the crowd of paupers you begged alms from door to door. Who will grant that I might become a partaker of those begged morsels, or be nourished on the remnants of that divine food?" Whence the Gloss on that passage of Second Corinthians chapter eight: "He became poor for your sake" etc.: "Do not be ashamed to approach him in your begging, who was made poor for our sake." Whence, to relieve his need, he accepted alms not only from the good but also from the wicked; whence it is added: And entering, he reclined at table.
In which he gives us an example that hidden sinners are not to be shunned; and that alms may be licitly received from the wicked, so that they may become good, provided they do not give from others' property or from ill-gotten goods; and that sinners are to be drawn in through kindness; and that we ought to be benevolent toward our enemies and detractors, just as he who reclined at table with the one by whom he knew himself to be despised and judged in his heart.
79. (Vers. 38.). On account of which it is added: But the Pharisee began, pondering within himself, to say, that is, to seek the reason and cause, namely, why he had not been baptized, that is, washed according to the custom of the Jews, before the meal, and thereby to judge him as unclean and a despiser of the traditions of the fathers. Whence similarly the Pharisees are read to have objected to the Lord and his disciples in Matthew chapter fifteen: "Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat." Now this was of chief importance among the Jews; whence it is said in Mark chapter seven: "For the Pharisees and all the Jews wash their hands frequently when they eat, holding the tradition of the elders, and coming from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash." And the reason for this was that they placed the greatest emphasis on preserving bodily cleanliness. Whence a twofold simulation is shown from this in the Pharisee: first, because the one whom he outwardly refreshed with piety, he inwardly judged with impiety; second, because he was zealous for bodily cleanliness but paid no attention to spiritual cleanliness. And therefore he was a hypocrite both in the sight of men and of God, against that passage of Sirach chapter one: "Do not approach her with a double heart, and do not be a hypocrite in the sight of men."
80. (Vers. 39.). Second, as regards the severity of the rebuke on the part of the Master, he adds: And the Lord said to him: Now you Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish. The cup is a vessel for drinking, the dish for eating; and these vessels the Pharisees and Jews especially cleansed, because they thought themselves defiled by the uncleanness of vessels. Whence in Mark 7 it is said that "many things have been handed down to them to observe: the washings of cups and pitchers and bronze vessels." For indeed, as Ambrose says, "the cup is a glass vessel, and the dish an earthen vessel"; and because both are fragile, it rightly designates the fragility of the human body, about which the Pharisees were chiefly concerned, having neglected the cleanness of conscience; and this was reprehensible. For it is said in Isaiah 1: "Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your thoughts from before my eyes"; and in Jeremiah 4: "Wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved"; which the Pharisees did not observe.
On account of which he adds: But that which is within you is full of rapine and iniquity, and thereby unclean and abominable. Whence concerning them could be said that word of Micah 6: "Her rich men are full of iniquity, and her inhabitants spoke falsehood"; Ecclesiasticus 1: "You have come deceitfully to the Lord, and your heart is full of guile and deceit"; because he does not have within what he feigns without. And this was not only malice, but also foolishness, because, having neglected the better, they cared only for the worse.
81. (Vers. 40.). Whence it is added: Fools, did not He who made that which is without, namely the body, also make that which is within? namely the spirit. In which is simultaneously condemned the heresy of the Manicheans, who attribute the spirit to God as author and the body to the devil; although it is said in Genesis 2 that "the Lord God formed man from the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life." There is also refuted the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who strove to please God by the purification of the body alone, although the Lord made both and is especially the creator of the soul, according to that word of Ecclesiastes last chapter: "The spirit shall return to God, who gave it"; and the Lord especially calls Himself the God of souls: Ezekiel 18: "All souls are mine, says the Lord; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son." And on this account He especially wills the cleanness of souls; and to such a one He promises His presence, according to that word of Matthew 5: "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God"; and therefore the Pharisees, who did not care for this, were as fools. Whence Chrysostom: "God neither praises the cleanness of bodies nor condemns their filth. Suppose, however, that He hates the filth of vessels — how much more does He hate the filth of conscience?" Whence this must be especially attended to, because without cleanness of conscience nothing is clean; Titus 1: "All things are clean to the clean, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is clean, but their mind and conscience are defiled."
82. (Verse 41.). Third, as to the sweetness of the admonition,
on the part of the physician, he adds: But yet, that which remains, give alms; that which remains,
that is, the remedy which is left is that you may purge wickedness through alms.
"For the second plank that remains after shipwreck is penance."
And in this way almsgiving is understood here,
which is clear from what follows: And all things are clean to you.
It is impossible that all things be cleansed through the giving of exterior almsgiving
alone; but here the giving of alms is called any work of ordered mercy,
which first begins from oneself, according to that saying of Sirach chapter thirty: "Have pity on your own soul, pleasing God." One bestows this mercy on oneself when one purges oneself of vices through penance, for otherwise one is cruel to oneself, according to that saying of the Psalm: "He who loves iniquity hates his own soul."
Otherwise it can be explained as almsgiving properly so called,
so that the sense would be: That which remains, give as alms,
that is, from that which is left over, so that the form of almsgiving is touched upon,
according to that saying of Second Corinthians chapter eight: "Not that there should be ease for others and affliction for you." And after the form, the efficacy is added,
when he says: And all things are clean to you,
because almsgiving disposes one to grace, through which the whole soul is cleansed; and on account of this it is said in First Timothy chapter four: "Godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that now is and of the life to come."
83. Although almsgiving
is said to avail for three things
principally, nevertheless its efficacy is shown to be sevenfold
in Scripture. The first is that it cleanses the soul from guilt,
as is held here, and in Sirach chapter three: "The almsgiving of a father shall not be forgotten"; and shortly after: "And as ice melts in fair weather, so shall your sins be dissolved."
The second is that it delivers from eternal punishment:
Tobit chapter four: "Almsgiving delivers from all sin and from death and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness."
The third is that it defends from transitory punishment:
Daniel chapter four: "Redeem your sins with almsgiving," etc. — The fourth is that it mitigates the concupiscence of the flesh:
Sirach chapter three: "Water quenches a burning fire, and almsgiving resists sins."
The fifth is that it gives victory over the enemy;
Sirach chapter twenty-nine: "Enclose almsgiving in the heart of the poor, and it shall entreat for you"; and shortly after: "It shall fight for you against your enemy better than the shield of the mighty and the lance."
The sixth is that it preserves grace,
according to that saying of Sirach chapter seventeen: "The almsgiving of a man is as a purse with him, and it shall preserve the grace of a man as the apple of the eye."
The seventh is that it gives confidence of attaining glory:
Tobit chapter four: "Great confidence shall there be before the Most High God for those who give alms."
These seven effects belong to almsgiving itself, which is exercised both corporally
and spiritually.
84. The works of corporal mercy are designated by this verse:
I visit, I give drink, I feed, I ransom, I clothe, I shelter, I bury.
Concerning these, except the last, the dispute at the judgment is treated in Matthew twenty-five; concerning the last, however, it is spoken of in Tobit two. - Now for almsgiving to have these efficacies, there is needed first simplicity in the heart: whence Matthew six: "But when you give alms, let not your left hand know, etc."
Second, discretion in choosing, according to that saying of Ecclesiasticus twelve: "If you do good, know to whom you do good."
Third, compassion in affection: Isaiah fifty-eight: "When you pour out your soul to the hungry, then shall your light rise in the darkness"; and Job thirty: "I wept for him who was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor." - Fourth, sweetness in speech: Ecclesiasticus eighteen: "Does not the dew cool the heat? So a word is better than a gift."
- Fifth, cheerfulness in countenance: Ecclesiasticus thirty-five: "In every gift make your countenance cheerful"; the Psalm: "The man who shows mercy is joyful," etc.
Sixth, due measure in the gift: Tobit four: "As you are able, be merciful: if you have much," etc. - Seventh, swiftness in the work and its performance: Proverbs three: "Do not say to your friend: Go and come back," etc.
And then the almsgiving proceeds from the whole person, and thereby is acceptable and pleasing to God.
85. But woe to you, Pharisees, etc.
After the rebuke of duplicity, there is here subjoined against the double-minded and hypocrites a threatening of calamity: whence in Matthew twenty-three this determination is as it were added: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" And since these two classes of persons, namely the Pharisees and the scribes, especially feigned religiousness, therefore against these two classes he directs his invective — but in Matthew jointly, here however distinctly. Therefore this section has two parts. In the first he threatens woe upon the Pharisees themselves; in the second, upon the scribes or lawyers, at that place: And one of the lawyers answering, etc.
The threatening of eternal damnation is repeated three times against the Pharisees on account of a threefold cause, namely on account of negligence, on account of arrogance, and on account of fraudulence, so that negligence consists in the omission of good, arrogance in the commission of evil, and fraudulence in the concealment of evil and the display of good.
86. (Vers. 42.). First, therefore, he threatens the Pharisees
with eternal punishment on account of negligence,
by which, intent upon the least things, they omitted the greatest. And this, when he says: But woe to you Pharisees: who tithe mint and rue and every herb,
as though you were greatly intent upon the fulfillment of the divine commandments: whence below in the eighteenth chapter the Pharisee boasted: "I give tithes of all that I possess." But nevertheless they were not justified by this on account of their omission of the best things; whence he adds: And you pass over every judgment and the charity of God,
that is, justice and mercy. And this is what God most requires, according to that passage of Micah 6: "I will show you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: namely, to do judgment and to love mercy." And this he calls charity:
Zechariah 7: "Judge true judgment and show mercy and compassion, each one with his neighbor"; so that there is judgment
with respect to oneself, and charity or mercy with respect to one's neighbor.
Or, by judgment
may be understood the divine precept,
according to that passage of the Psalm: "The judgments of the Lord are true, justified in themselves" etc.; charity
however is called the end of the precept
and its fulfillment; First Timothy 1: "The end of the precept is charity" etc.
Or, by judgment may be understood the judicial precepts,
according to that passage of Exodus 21: "These are the judgments which you shall set before them: If you buy a servant" etc.; by charity, the moral precepts:
whence Romans 13: "He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law. For You shall not kill" etc. He reproves them, therefore, because on account of the ceremonial precepts
they were neglecting the judicial
and moral precepts,
which were to be observed with greater solicitude.
And therefore he adds: But these things it was necessary to do,
namely judgment and charity first and principally; whence Hosea 6: "I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offering." And not to omit those things,
because, Sirach 19, "he who despises small things shall fall little by little"; and Ecclesiastes 7: "He who fears God neglects nothing."
87. (Vers. 43.). Second, he repeats this threatening
on account of arrogance,
when he adds: Woe to you Pharisees: because
" you love the first seats in the synagogues,
with regard to the ambition for dignities.
Whence the Gloss: "He reproves arrogance, because they sought primacies." But this is not to be sought: whence Sirach 7: "Do not seek leadership from man nor the seat of honor from the king." For such a seat is not one of true excellence,
but rather of pestilence,
according to that passage of the Psalm: "Blessed is the man who has not sat in the seat of pestilence"; upon which nevertheless the scribes and Pharisees sat: yet as unworthy, because they had words but not fitting deeds. Whence it is said in Matthew 23: "The scribes and Pharisees have sat upon the seat of Moses; do what they say, but do not act according to their works."
And because the appetite for praise follows upon the ambition for dignity,
He therefore adds: And greetings in the marketplace,
that is, praises in the sight of many, so that they might appear more honorable than the rest: whence Matthew twenty-three: "They love greetings in the marketplace and to be called rabbi
by men." Whence here they are reproved, because they sought vain glory, on account of which they did not even dare to confess the truth they knew, according to that passage in John twelve: "Yet many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, lest they be cast out of the synagogue. For they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God."
From which it is clear that we ought entirely to despise praises and honors according to the divine pattern,
not to seek them after the manner of the Pharisees.
For he who loves these things, as Jerome says, is not a disciple of Christ, but a scribe and Pharisee. For Christ, when He was sought for kingship, "fled to the mountain," John six; when He was praised, He withdrew into the desert to pray, above in chapter five.
88. (Verse 44). Thirdly, He repeats this denunciation
on account of fraudulence,
when He adds: Woe to you!, who are as monuments that do not appear,
namely as to what they are within, because they are fetid and unclean within, but outwardly they are beautiful: whence He adds: And men walking over them know it not.
Such are hypocrites, who though they are evil within, outwardly appear perfect: whence they are rightly called sepulchres,
according to that passage of the Psalm: "Their throat is an open sepulchre, with their tongues" etc. And therefore they are not children of the Bridegroom,
nay rather entirely the opposite. For in Song of Songs one: "I am black, but beautiful"; these, however, are white, yet fetid: therefore they are rightly called monuments:
whence Matthew twenty-three: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you are like whitewashed sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful to men, but within are full of the bones of the dead and all uncleanness." Whence Chrysostom: "The bodies of the just are called temples,
but the bodies of sinners are called sepulchres,
because within is a dead soul: for that soul is not to be considered alive which has done nothing living, that is, nothing spiritual, in the body." And afterwards: "Tell me, hypocrite, if it is good to be good, why do you not wish to be
what you wish to appear?
Moreover, what is shameful to appear
is more shameful to be.
Therefore either be what you appear, or appear as what you are."
From these words of the Lord it can be gathered who those are who ought to be judged hypocrites,
namely those in whom negligence, arrogance, and fraudulence reign.
These moreover are those who prefer the least things to the greatest, the transitory to the eternal, appearances to realities. But to judge concerning these things belongs not to any man whatsoever, but to Christ, who looks upon the heart, according to that passage in First Corinthians four: "Judge not before the time, until the Lord comes, who will illuminate the hidden things of darkness" etc. For the Lord does not reprove goodness that is apparent and evident, but goodness that is sophistical and non-existent.
89. But a certain one of the lawyers answering
etc. After He threatened woe to the Pharisees, here secondly He threatens the lawyers,
and this for three reasons: first, on account of sloth
against the truth of life; second, on account of perfidy
against the truth of justice, at: Woe to you who build the monuments:
third, on account of deceit
against the truth of doctrine, at: Woe to you lawyers, who have taken away the key
etc. For this threefold truth ought especially to be found in doctors of the Law, but in the lawyers there was nothing but hypocrisy.
In threatening Gehenna, therefore, on account of sloth,
first there is set forth the display of authority,
second there is joined the threat of calamity.
90. (Verse 45.). First, therefore, as regards the display of authority
on the part of the lawyer, it is said: But a certain one of the lawyers answering,
who, namely, seemed to himself to be expert, according to that saying of Isaiah 5: "Woe to you who are wise in your own eyes and prudent before yourselves." And because such men seem to themselves learned and great, they therefore consider it an insult to be reproved by anyone. On account of which he adds: He said to him: Master, in saying these things you insult us also,
which he would not say unless from conscience he felt that he similarly transgressed, and from pride was unwilling to be reproved; whence it could be said to him, from Romans 2: "You are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light of those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants." "You therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself?" They consider sound doctrine an insult,
because, as is said in Proverbs 18, "the fool does not receive words of prudence, unless you say those things which revolve in his heart." And truly such a one was a fool, who reckoned himself learned, since Proverbs 26: "Have you seen a man who seems wise to himself? A fool will have more hope than he."
91. (Verse 46.). Secondly, as regards the threat of calamity
on account of sloth in doing good, it is said: But he said: And woe to you lawyers also!
namely, of eternal damnation. And the reason for this is that they said much and did little.
Therefore he adds: Because you load men with burdens which they cannot bear,
that is, with precepts and superstitious and useless traditions, so that rightly may be said that word of Acts 15: This is a burden "which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear." Whence Matthew 23: "They bind heavy and unbearable burdens and lay them on the shoulders of men"; to which, namely, no one is bound, yet they say that they are bound.
And because they imposed these burdens, they taught,
but did not bear
them by doing; he adds: And you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
92. Note pointedly that he says: With one finger you do not touch:
he does not say: you do not carry,
because there could be an excuse of inability. Frequently a teacher teaches what he cannot
do: nevertheless his teaching is not to be despised, if he wills
to do it, because the will is reckoned to him as the deed. Whence first Kings thirty: "Equal shall be the share of him who goes down to battle and of him who remains with the baggage, and they shall divide alike"; and this is said concerning the men who had stayed behind because they were weary: but he who does not wish to put a finger to the baggage, it is manifest that he wishes to endure no labor. And such a one, whether he imposes burdens in the manner of a master or in the manner of a prelate, is altogether reprehensible and is not an imitator of Christ, of whom it is said in Acts one: "Jesus began to do and to teach."
Whence against such men, Deuteronomy twenty-five: "You shall not have in your bag diverse weights"; and Proverbs twenty: "A weight and a weight, a measure and a measure: both are abominable before God." Now this happens when a man is merciful to himself and harsh to his neighbor or subject: when he carries nothing, but imposes everything on others to carry. Whence Chrysostom: "Do you wish to appear and to be holy? Regarding your own life, be austere; regarding the lives of others, be kind. Let men hear you commanding small things and doing great things."
93. (Verse 47.). WOE to you who build
etc. After he has threatened them with woe
for the fault of sloth arising from a defect of truth of life, here secondly he repeats the same for the fault of perfidy against the truth of justice,
which indeed consisted in the impious persecution of the just. Concerning which, first the fault itself is aggravated,
then the punishment is intensified.
First therefore, as to the aggravation of the fault,
he says: Woe to you who build the monuments of the Prophets,
displaying piety in deed, but bearing impiety in mind, just as their fathers also did. — On account of which he adds: But your fathers killed them,
namely as impious men killed the just. Whence in Acts seven blessed Stephen said: "Which of the Prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One." But these men also, although they pretended otherwise, were nevertheless imitators of them.
94. (Verse 48.). On account of which he says: But indeed you testify that you consent to the works of your fathers,
that is, you consent that these were the works of your fathers: whence Matthew twenty-three: "You are witnesses against yourselves that you are the sons of those who killed the Prophets."
Therefore he adds: For they indeed killed them, but you build their tombs:
and thus by sign and word they are witnesses that their fathers killed them. And indeed they pretended
to condemn this by word and sign: whence Matthew twenty-three: "You adorn the monuments of the just and say: If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been their partners"; but they approved
by similar deed and desire, because they themselves, like their fathers, were persecutors of the good: and from this they were witnesses that they consented to the works of their fathers. Whence Jerome: "You are witnesses against yourselves: for by deed you testify that you are imitators of your fathers, whose crimes you detest by word. Whence Acts seven: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you also".
95. (Verse 49.). And because the malice which they bore in their heart was, by God's permission, to be made manifest in deed, therefore he adds: Therefore also the wisdom of God said,
"that is, disposed from eternity," or Christ himself disposed or foresaw, who is "the power of God and the wisdom of God." Or said,
that is, foretold by prophetic voice. I will send to them Prophets and Apostles, and of them they will kill and persecute,
according to that passage of Jeremiah seven: "I sent to you all my servants the Prophets daily, rising early and sending them: they did not hear me, nor did they incline their ear, and they hardened their neck and wrought worse than their fathers." This was verified in these men, who not only killed the Prophets, but also slew their own Lord.
Whence in Acts three Peter says to them: "But you denied the Just and Holy One and asked that a murderer be granted to you: but the Author of life you killed." They also killed and persecuted all his witnesses.
For James was killed, and Peter was seized, Acts twelve. They also persecuted Paul and Barnabas, so that they crossed over to the Gentiles, Acts thirteen and fourteen: and all the disciples were also scourged, Acts five.
96. (Vers. 50.). Second, with regard to the aggravation of vengeance, he says: That the blood of all the Prophets may be required. It is required indeed through vengeance; whence in the Psalm: "For requiring their blood, he remembered," etc.; and Genesis nine: "From the hand of man and of his brother I will require the life of man. Whoever shall have shed human blood, his blood shall be shed." - Therefore it shall be required, the blood, that is, the vengeance for the shedding of blood; on account of which he adds: Which was shed from the foundation of the world, that is, from the beginning until the end. It shall be required, I say, of this generation, as if to say that the vengeance for all the blood of a holy man that was shed shall be upon the generation of the Jews, because they shed the blood of him who was the "Holy of Holies," namely Christ; Daniel nine and following: "Christ shall be killed, and the people who shall deny him shall not be his." Whence they themselves said, John nineteen: "We have no king but Caesar"; and Matthew twenty-seven: "His blood be upon us and upon our children."
Or this is said so that they themselves may be punished as an example for others, because, when they saw evil punished in others, they did not correct themselves. Whence Chrysostom: "Why does God avenge the sins of others upon these, if they alone suffered such things, when they had not sinned alone? Just as, when many servants sin, one is chastised for his own sin, and yet he alone, having been flogged for all, endured what was promised to all." The reason, moreover, why the punishment fell more upon these is given by the same John Chrysostom: "Because," he says, "you heard of the vengeance taken upon Cain and upon the other wicked, and if you were not corrected by their examples, you are held to a graver punishment, and the examples of those who came before shall come upon you."
97. (Vers. 51.). And for this reason he exemplifies according to written testimonies, when he adds: From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah. Abel was indeed the first just man killed by his brother, as is said in Genesis four . Zechariah however was the son of Jehoiada, who was killed by King Joash, who had received many good things from his father, as the history narrates in Second Chronicles twenty-four. Nevertheless, he was not the last to be killed, but rather he is joined with the first because "Abel was a shepherd of sheep and was slain in the field, while Zechariah was a priest and was slain in the court of the temple; and they designate two orders of Martyrs, namely the laity, and those who are devoted to the ministry of the altar."
Therefore he designates the entire place of his death, when he adds: Who perished between
the altar and the temple,
that is, he was slain between the temple and the altar of holocaust. "For there were two altars in the temple: one interior, namely the altar of incense, and another exterior, namely the altar of holocaust"; according to what is read in Exodus thirty-five. And between this altar and the temple, Zechariah was slain by the Jews, according to what is written in Second Chronicles twenty-four: "They gathered together against him and cast stones at him by the king's command in the court of the house of God." "Who, as he was dying, said: May the Lord see and require it." He said this, attending to the equity of divine justice, which leaves nothing unavenged.
98. To mark its infallibility, he repeats the future vengeance, when he adds: Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation;
so that by the pronoun a demonstration is made of the wicked generation. For the Gloss of Bede says: "All the wicked are one generation, one city, one body of the devil, just as all the good are one body, one generation of God." Whence concerning this wicked generation, that passage of Proverbs thirty can be understood: "A generation that has swords for teeth and devours with its molars, to destroy the needy from the earth and the poor from among men." This is the generation from which vengeance shall be required; but within this, especially from the Jewish people, because perfidy was consummated in them. Whence Chrysostom says: "Just as God promised to the good
through many generations that Christ would come, but bestowed him upon the last Saints, so through each generation he threatened the wicked,
but he will repay the last generation. For never was such grace
given to men as in Christ, nor did such destruction
come upon the impious as upon the Jews." Whence they can most fittingly say that passage of Genesis forty-two: "We rightly suffer these things, because we sinned against our brother. Behold, his blood is required."
99. (Verse 52.). Woe to you lawyers,
etc. Here he repeats woe
a third time on account of fraudulence against the truth of doctrine.
And because the wicked and deceivers advance to worse things, therefore first there is set forth the threat of Gehenna;
and second there is added the obstinacy of wickedness.
First, therefore, as regards the threat of punishment
on account of the deficiency of true doctrine, he says: Woe to you lawyers, who have taken away the key of knowledge,
namely as regards the office of dispensing doctrine. Now this key belongs principally to Christ as the supreme teacher: "For one is your master, Christ," according to what is said in Matthew twenty-three. And concerning this, Isaiah twenty-two says: "I will place the key of the house of David upon his shoulder, and he shall open," etc. The scribes had taken this key away, pretending that they taught rightly; but nevertheless they did not teach rightly, because they neglected themselves and hindered others.
100. On account of which he adds: You yourselves did not enter, and those who were entering, you hindered. For they themselves did not enter, because, although they had words, they did not have deeds; whence that passage from Romans 2 could be said to them: "You who teach others do not teach yourself; you who preach that one should not steal, steal." And because they had words alone, they could not enter: Matthew 7: "Not everyone who says to me: Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven," etc.; therefore they did not enter by words alone; and they also hindered others by evil examples; whence that passage from Jeremiah 50 was fulfilled: "My people have become a lost flock; their shepherds led them astray," namely from the right way, either by evil examples or by false doctrines, according to that passage from Lamentations 2: "Your prophets saw false and foolish things for you, nor did they lay open your iniquity to anyone, so as to provoke you to repentance; but they saw for you false assumptions and banishments"; because from false assumptions nearly all distorted consciences are formed, through which men are cast out from the kingdom of God and are prohibited from entering into it. Whence Chrysostom: "The Law and the Prophets openly proclaimed the coming of Christ, but they closed this door of understanding by perverse interpretations"; and therefore they prohibited entering, calling back from the way of truth by example and by word. Against which, Proverbs 3: "Do not prohibit him who can from doing good"; if you can, do good yourself also.
101. (Verse 53). Second, as regards the hardening of wickedness, it is added: But when he said these things to them, the Pharisees and the lawyers began to press him vehemently: in which they show that their heart was hardened and weighed down upon hearing the divine word, so that it might be shown that in them was fulfilled that passage from Isaiah 6: "Blind the heart of this people and close its eyes and weigh down its ears"; and Matthew 13: "The heart of this people has grown fat, and with their ears they have heard with difficulty."
Nor was there in them only hardening, but also an assault upon the truth: whence he adds: And to assail his mouth concerning many things, as if that most pure mouth had spoken evil or falsehood. Whence that passage from Amos 5 was fulfilled: "They hated the one who reproves in the gate, and they abominated the one who speaks perfectly"; and therefore Proverbs 9: "He who instructs a scoffer brings injury upon himself"; because the scoffer turns to abuse on account of the truth heard.
102. (Verse 54). And because it does not suffice for obstinate malice to revile the one it hates, but it also strives to contrive his destruction unto death, on this account he adds: Lying in wait for him and seeking to catch something from his mouth, that they might accuse him. For they did not dare to kill him openly on account of fear of the crowds, but they wished to kill him secretly on account of hatred of the truth they had heard. Whence John 8: "Why do you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you?" — which they sought cautiously and maliciously; whence Matthew 22: "The Pharisees, going away, took counsel together to ensnare Jesus in his speech."