Chapter 22

Chapter 22. — On Those Invited to the Wedding Feast. On the Denarius. On the Sadducees. On the Matter of the Lawyer. On the Lord’s Questionings

¹ And Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying: The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man who was a king, who made a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding, and they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; come to the wedding. But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise; and the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. And when that king heard of it, he was angry, and sent his armies and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. This parable too signifies the disobedience of the Jews, just as the parable of the vineyard did. Except that the former indicates the death of Christ, while this one indicates a wedding joy, that is, the Resurrection. And this parable shows that these men sinned worse than those in the former parable. For those, when fruits were demanded of them, killed those who demanded them; but these, when invited to a wedding, displayed their bloodthirstiness. God, then, is likened to a man who is a king; for he does not appear as he is, but as he must appear toward us. Whenever, then, we die as men, being subject to human failings, God appears toward us as a man; but whenever we walk as gods, then God stands in the congregation of gods. And just as, whenever we live as wild beasts, he too becomes toward us, in their regard, a panther, and a bear, and a lion; so he makes a wedding for his Son, joining him to every soul that is beautiful. For Christ is the Bridegroom, and the bride is the Church and the soul. And the servants sent first are those around Moses, whom the Hebrews did not obey, but provoked God in the wilderness forty years, and would not receive the word of God and the spiritual joy. Then other servants were sent, the prophets. But of these too some they killed, as Isaiah; others they treated shamefully, as Jeremiah, casting him into a pit of mire. And others declined with milder feeling, the one going off to his own farm, that is, turning aside to a flesh-loving and luxurious life; for each man’s own farm is his body; and the other to his merchandise, that is, to the gain-loving life; for merchants are a most gain-loving race. The parable shows, then, that those who fail of the spiritual wedding, and of the union with Christ and of the banquet, fail for the most part through these two things: either through bodily pleasures, or through the passion of love of gain. And here he names it a dinner, although elsewhere he calls it a supper; and not without reason. He calls it a supper, because in the last times this wedding appeared in its fullness, and toward the evening, that is, the end of the ages; but a dinner, because in the former ages too the mystery was being revealed, though more dimly. And the oxen and the fatlings are the Old and the New Covenant. For the Old is shown through the oxen, for it had animal sacrifices; and the New through the fatlings, for now we offer loaves upon the altar, which might more truly be called fatlings, as being composed of wheat. God, then, calls us to eat both the good things of the Old Scripture and those of the New. But also, whenever you see someone interpreting the divine oracles clearly, know that such a one gives fatling foods; for he who teaches clearly, as it were, feeds and gives nourishment to the simpler. And you will inquire here how he says, Call those who are invited; if they were already invited, how was he about to call them again? Learn, then, that each of us is called by nature unto the good, being called by the word of the innate teacher. Nevertheless God sends also the outward teachers, that those who were called naturally by the word, these too may call outwardly. Then he says to his servants: The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy; go therefore to the partings of the highways, and as many as you find, call to the wedding. And those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good; and the wedding was filled with guests. Since the former servants, those around Moses and the prophets, did not persuade them, then he sends other servants, the apostles, who called those of the nations, who were not walking in the true way, but were scattered, each in a different direction, divided among many ways and doctrines. Or rather, they were beside the partings of the ways, that is, in much error and irregularity. For indeed they too were in faction among themselves, and were not in the ways, but beside the partings; and those partings are the wicked doctrines which they held. But perhaps it is better understood also thus: The way is each man’s life and conduct; and the partings off from the way are the doctrines. The Greeks, then, having wicked ways, that is, blameworthy lives, went out from their wicked lives unto the godless doctrines, setting up shameful gods as advocates for their passions. The apostles, then, going out from Jerusalem to the nations, gathered together all, both bad and good, that is, both those filled with all wickedness, and the good in comparison with those.

² And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who was not clothed in a wedding garment, and he says to him: Friend, how did you come in here, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants: Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into the outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth; for many are called, but few are chosen. The entrance into the wedding comes about by grace; for by grace alone were we all called, both good and bad. But the life thereafter of those who have entered will not be unexamined; rather, the king makes a very thorough examination of those who, after entering into the faith, are found defiled. Let us shudder, then, considering that, if a man does not have a pure life, faith alone profits him nothing; for not only is he cast out of the wedding, but he is also sent away into the fire. And who is the one wearing defiled garments? He who has not put on bowels of compassion, kindness, brotherly love. Many, then, deceiving themselves with empty hopes, suppose that they will attain the kingdom of heaven, and thrust themselves into the company of the guests, thinking great things concerning themselves. And the Lord, in justifying himself toward that unworthy man, shows us these two things: one, that he is loving toward mankind; and the other, that we too must not condemn anyone, even if they sin openly, unless those who have sinned are convicted. The Lord, then, says to the servants, the angels of punishment:

³ Bind him hand and foot, that is, the active powers of his soul. For in the present age it is possible to act and to work; but in the age to come all the active powers of the soul are bound. And it is not possible to do any good to counterbalance one’s sins; and the gnashing of teeth is the unprofitable repentance that will then come about. For many are called; for God calls many, or rather all; but few are chosen. Few are both saved and worthy to be chosen by God; so that to call belongs to God, but to become chosen, this is in our power. The parable was spoken against the Jews, who were indeed called,

⁴ Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his speech; and they send to him their disciples together with the Herodians. What was being done was a plot, and for this reason Luke too names such men as suborned spies, as having been sent secretly to plot against Christ. And the Herodians were either the soldiers of Herod, or those who supposed that Herod was the Christ; for since, when the rulers of Judah had failed, Herod reigned, they supposed that he was the Christ. The Pharisees, then, come with these to entrap him. And hear how they speak with him, saying:

⁵ Teacher, we know that you are true, and that you teach the way of God in truth, and that you care for no one, for you do not regard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? But Jesus, knowing their wickedness, said: Why do you tempt me, hypocrites? Show me the tribute coin. And they brought him a denarius. And he says to them: Whose image and inscription is this? They say to him: Caesar’s. Then he says to them: Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And when they heard it, they marveled, and left him, and went their way. Supposing that they would soften him and make him slack through their praises, they flatter him, that, made slack, he might say that one ought not to give the tribute, and from this they might seize him as a seditious man stirring up the people against Caesar. For this reason too they bring along the Herodians, as being of the king, that they might lay hold of him as a revolutionary. You do not regard the person, they say; that is, you would say nothing to gratify Pilate or Herod. Tell us, then, ought we to be subject to men also, and to bring them the tax, just as we bring the half-shekel to God; or should we pay it to God alone, and not also to Caesar? This they said so that, if he should say that one ought not to pay it to Caesar, they might lay hold of him and kill him, as they did those around Theudas and Judas, who said that one ought not to sacrifice on behalf of Caesar’s name. But Jesus, through Caesar’s being stamped upon the coin, persuades them that one ought to render to Caesar his own things, that is, the things bearing his image; and that in bodily and outward matters we are to be subject to the one who reigns, but in the inward and spiritual matters, to God. And it must also be understood thus: that each of us ought to render and cast back to Caesar the things of Caesar, that is, the things of the demon who rules over the things below. For example, you have wrath from Caesar; cast this upon him, be angry against him; for thus you will be able also to render to God the things of God. But moreover, since we too are twofold, for we are composed of soul and body, to the body, as to Caesar, we owe food and clothing, but to the diviner part within us, the things that befit it.

⁶ On that day there came to him Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, and they questioned him, saying: Teacher, Moses said: If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers; and the first, having married, died; and having no seed, he left his wife to his brother; likewise also the second, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven shall she be? For they all had her. When the Pharisees together with the Herodians had been silenced, again the Sadducees tempt him. And the heresy of these men was of this sort: they believed neither in a resurrection, nor in spirit, nor in angel, being disposed opposite to the Pharisees. So they put together a thing that never happened. For suppose that two took her, and died: how would the third not have taken it for a bad omen and refused the marriage, taught by those before him? They fabricate it, then, supposing that they would throw Christ into perplexity, that they might slander the resurrection; and they take Moses as an advocate for their fabrication. And they said the brothers were seven, that they might the more make a mockery of the mystery of the resurrection; and whose, they say, shall the woman be? One might say, then: O foul Sadducees, she shall be the wife of the one who first married her, if indeed we should grant that there is marriage even in the resurrection; for the others are men after the manner of remarriage, not lawful husbands.

⁷ But Jesus answered and said to them: You are in error, knowing neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken to you by God, saying: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And when the crowds heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. The Savior shows that there will indeed be a resurrection, and not such a fleshly one as they err in supposing, but a diviner and more spiritual one. For why, he says, are you in error, knowing neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For if you knew the Scriptures, you would understand that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living; and if you knew the power of God, you would know that all things are possible to God, so that he can even make men live as angels. And see the wisdom of the Lord: those men were eager to overthrow the doctrine of the resurrection from Moses, and he in turn persuades them from Moses. For I am, he says, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob; and what he means is this: God is not the God of those who are not, but of those who subsist and are; for he did not say, I was, but, I am. For even if they died, yet they live in the hope of the resurrection. But you ask, How then does he say elsewhere that he is Lord both of the dead and of the living? Learn, then, that there he calls dead those who have died, but who are about to live. But here the Lord, in standing against the heresy of the Sadducees, who held that the soul is not immortal but is utterly destroyed, says that God is not the God of the dead, that is, of those who, as it seems to you, are utterly destroyed, but of the living, that is, of those who have an immortal soul, and who will rise again, even if now they are dead.

⁸ But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they were gathered together to the same place, and one of them, a lawyer, questioned him, tempting him, and saying: Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And Jesus said to him: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; this is the first and great commandment; and the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Out of measureless envy the tempter approaches; for since they saw the Sadducees put to shame, and the Lord praised for his wisdom, they approach tempting him, to see whether he would add something to the first commandment, as though correcting the law, that they might find a handle against him. But the Lord, testifying against their wickedness, that they came not to learn, but out of having no love, and rather out of envy and jealousy, shows love to be supreme among the commandments. And he teaches that we must not love God partially, but give our whole selves to God. For we observe these three distinctions concerning the soul of man: the vegetative, the animal, and the rational. For in that whereby it grows and is nourished, and begets its like, it is likened to plants; and in that whereby it grows angry and desires, to the animals; and in that whereby it reasons, it is called rational. See, then, these three signified here:

⁹ You shall love your God with all your heart; this is the animal part of man; and with all your soul; this is the vegetative, for plants too are ensouled; and with all your mind; this is the rational. So that to love God with the whole soul is this: to attend to him through all the parts and powers of the soul. This is the first and great commandment, training us unto piety; and the second is like it, rousing us toward what is just in our dealings with men. For there are two things that lead unto destruction: wicked doctrines and a corrupted life. That we may not fall, then, into impious doctrines, we must love God; and that we may not have a corrupted life, we must love our neighbor; for he who loves his neighbor fulfills all the commandments, and he who fulfills the commandments loves God. So that these two commandments are knit together and established through one another, and they contain all the other commandments. For who that loves God and his neighbor will steal, or bear malice, or commit adultery, or murder, or fornicate? And this lawyer came at first tempting, but then, having been bettered by the answer of Christ, was praised, as Mark too says: that Jesus, looking upon him, welcomed him, and said to him: You are not far from the kingdom of God.

¹⁰ Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus questioned them, saying: What do you think concerning the Christ? Whose son is he? They say to him: David’s. He says to them: How then does David in spirit call him Lord, saying: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? If David, then, calls him Lord, how is he his son? And no one was able to answer him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day to question him any more. Since they supposed him to be a mere man, he overturns their opinion, and teaches the truth through the prophecy of David, that he is also Lord, proclaiming his own divinity. For when the Pharisees had said that the Christ is the son of David, that is, a mere man, he says: How then does David name him Lord? And not simply Lord, but in spirit, that is, having had him revealed through the grace of the Spirit? And he says this not denying that he is the son of David, but showing this: that he is not a mere man, descended only from the seed of David. And the Lord asks these things, so that either, saying, We do not know, they might ask and learn; or, saying the truth, they might believe; or, having nothing to say, they might be put to shame and withdraw, no longer daring to question him.