Luke § 76

(ubi sup.) Or else, the Man is the Mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus; He sent that they who were bidden might come, i. e. those who were called by the prophets whom He had sent; who in the former times invited to the supper of Christ, were often sent to the people of Israel, often bade them to come at supper time. They received the inviters, refused the supper. They received the prophets and killed Christ, and thus ignorantly prepared for us the supper. The supper being now ready, i. e. Christ being sacrificed, the Apostles were sent to those, to whom prophets had been sent before.

But he said to him: A certain man made a great supper, and called many. Who is this man, but he of whom it is said by the prophet: "And he is a man, and who knows him?" He made a great supper, for he has prepared for us the fullness of internal sweetness. Because he calls many, but few come, because sometimes those who are subject to him through faith contradict his everlasting feast by living badly.

But he said to him: A certain man etc. After he instructed those invited to the nuptial banquet and those inviting to the familiar banquet, here he instructs those to be invited to the eternal banquet through the introduction of a parable. In this parable, however, three things are introduced, of which the first is the invitation of the many; the second is the excuse of those invited, concerning which, at the passage: And they all began at once to make excuse; the third is the rejection of the despisers, at the passage: And the servant returned etc.

Concerning the invitation of the many, three things are introduced by the Evangelist, namely the preparation of the eternal refreshment, the calling of the multitude to faith, the arousing of the same to devotion.

First, therefore, as regards the preparation of the eternal refreshment, he says: A certain man made a great supper, that is, Christ prepared the eternal refreshment. For Christ is called a certain man uniquely, conceived without the seed of man, born without pain to his Mother, free from all sin, and dead for the sin of men: concerning which man, in the Psalm: "A man is born in her, and the Most High himself founded her." He made a supper, because he prepared the supreme and final refreshment; whence the Gloss: "This banquet is called not a dinner, but a supper, because after the dinner, of which Matthew treats, the supper remains, and after the supper no banquet remains." Concerning this supper, Apocalypse nineteen: "Blessed are they who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." This supper is called great, because it is beyond estimation: whence Genesis fifteen: "I am your reward exceeding great"; because it is without end: Baruch three: "O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the place of his possession! Great and having no end, lofty and immeasurable." It cannot be estimated, moreover, because both the food and he who serves are God and the supreme good: below, in chapter twenty-two: "I dispose to you, as my Father has disposed to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom"; concerning which, in the Psalm: "They shall be inebriated with the plenty of your house, and you shall give them to drink of the torrent of your pleasure."

Second, with regard to the calling of the multitude to faith, he adds: And he called many, to the faith, because from every station and nation and age, according to that passage of Joel 2: "Sanctify a fast, call an assembly, gather the people, sanctify the church, bring together the elders and gather the little ones and those sucking the breast." Those who are thus called are consequently called to the eternal banquet; whence 1 Peter 5: "But the God of grace, who has called us into eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will himself perfect," etc. He calls many in order to show his supreme liberality and benignity; but he chooses few in order to show the severity of judgment; on account of which, Matthew 20: "Many are called, but few are chosen." Whence this calling of the multitude is compared to the casting of a net, which catches from every kind of fish; Matthew 13: "The kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea and gathering from every kind of fish," etc.

We understand the man to be God the Father. For similes represent the truth but are not the truth itself. The Creator of the universe and the Father of glory made a great supper, a festival for the whole world, in honor of Christ. In the last times of the world and at our world's setting, the Son rose for us. At this time, he suffered death for our sakes and gave us to eat his flesh, the bread from heaven that gives life to the world. Toward evening and by the light of torches, the lamb was also sacrificed according to the law of Moses. With good reason, the invitation that is by Christ is called a supper.

This man represents God the Father just as images are formed to give the resemblance of power. For as often as God wishes to declare His avenging power, He is called by the names of bear, leopard, lion, and others of the same kind; but when He wishes to express mercy, by the name of man. The Maker of all things, therefore, and Father of Glory, or the Lord, prepared the great supper which was finished in Christ. For in these latter times, and as it were the setting of our world, the Son of God has shone upon us, and enduring death for our sakes, has given us His own body to eat. Hence also the lamb was sacrificed in the evening according to the Mosaic law. Rightly then was the banquet which was prepared in Christ called a supper.

This is the distinction, dearest brothers, that usually exists between the delights of the body and those of the heart: bodily delights, when they are not possessed, kindle in themselves a serious desire, but when possessed and consumed, they immediately turn the one eating them into disgust through satiety. Spiritual delights, on the contrary, when not possessed are treated with disgust, but when possessed they are desired; and the more they are hungered for by the one eating, the more they are also consumed by the one hungering. In the former, the appetite pleases but the experience displeases; in the latter, the appetite is of little account, but the experience pleases more. In the former, appetite generates satiety, and satiety generates disgust; but in the latter, appetite generates satiety, and satiety generates appetite. For spiritual delights increase desire in the mind while they satisfy, because the more their flavor is perceived, the more one recognizes what should be loved more eagerly. And therefore, when not possessed, they cannot be loved, because their flavor is unknown. For who is able to love what he does not know? Hence the Psalmist admonishes us, saying: "Taste and see that the Lord is sweet." As if he were saying openly: You do not know his sweetness if you do not taste it at all. But touch the food of life with the palate of your heart, so that by proving its sweetness you may be able to love it. Man lost these delights when he sinned in paradise; he went outside when he closed his mouth to the food of eternal sweetness. Hence we also, born into the hardship of this pilgrimage, have come here already full of disgust, nor do we know what we ought to desire; and the disease of our disgust increases all the more as the soul distances itself further from eating that sweetness; and it no longer desires internal delights precisely because it has long since lost the habit of consuming them. Therefore we waste away in our disgust, and we are wearied by the long plague of fasting. And because we are unwilling to taste inwardly the sweetness prepared for us, we wretches love our hunger outside. But the heavenly mercy does not abandon those who abandon it.

For he recalls those despised delights to the eyes of our memory, and sets them before us; in his promise he shakes off our torpor, and invites us to repel our disgust. For he says: "A certain man made a great supper, and invited many." Who is this man, except he of whom it is said through the Prophet: "And he is a man, and who has known him?" He made a great supper, because he prepared for us the fullness of inward sweetness. He invited many, but few come, because sometimes those very ones who are subject to him through faith contradict his eternal banquet by living wickedly.

But first it must be asked whether this reading in Matthew is the same one that is described in Luke under the name of a supper. And indeed there are some things that seem to be discordant with each other, because here a dinner is mentioned, there a supper; here the one who entered the wedding feast without proper garments was rejected, there no one who is said to have entered is reported to have been rejected. From this matter it is rightly concluded that both here the present Church is signified by the wedding feast, and there the eternal and final banquet is signified by the supper, because some enter this one who are going to depart, and whoever has once entered that one will no longer go out. But if perhaps anyone contends that this is the same reading, I think it better, with faith preserved, to yield to another's understanding than to serve contentions, since it can perhaps also be suitably understood that Matthew said what Luke was silent about concerning the casting out of him who had not come with a wedding garment. But that it is called a supper by the one and a dinner by the other does not at all oppose our understanding, because since among the ancients dinner was daily at the ninth hour, that same dinner was also called supper.

(Hom. 36. in Evan.) Or he made a great supper, as having prepared for us the full enjoyment of eternal sweetness. He bade many, but few came, because sometimes they who themselves are subject to him by faith, by their lives oppose his eternal banquet. And this is generally the difference between the delights of the body and the soul, that fleshly delights when not possessed provoke a longing desire for them, but when possessed and devoured, the eater soon turns from satiety to loathing; spiritual delights, on the other hand, when not possessed are loathed, when possessed the more desired. But heavenly mercy recalls those despised delights to the eyes of our memory, and in order that we should drive away our disgust, bids us to the feast. Hence it follows, And he sent his servant, &c.

Consider also to which deity is better suited the parable of him who issued invitations: "A certain man made a great supper, and bade many." The preparation for the supper is no doubt a figure of the abundant provision of eternal life.

Since the one reclining with the Lord said: "blessed is he who shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God," the Lord teaches him at considerable length how we ought to understand the feast of God, and delivers the present parable, calling His man-loving Father a man. For in Scripture, when an allusion is made to the punishing power of God, God is called a lion and a bear (in Church Slavonic — a panther, a leopard) (Hos. 13:7–8); but when the intention is to indicate some act of His love for mankind, then God is presented in the person of a man (Luke 15:11–24), just as in the present passage. Since the parable speaks of the most philanthropic economy which God accomplished in us, having made us partakers of the Flesh of His Son, He is called a man. This economy is called a "great supper." It is called a "supper" because the Lord came in the last times and, as it were, at the "supper" of the age, and a "great supper" because the mystery of our salvation is undeniably great (1 Tim. 3:16).

And he sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited that they should come, for everything is now ready. What is the supper time if not the end of the world? In which we indeed are, as Paul long ago bears witness, saying: We are those upon whom the ends of the ages have come (I Cor. X). If, therefore, it is now the supper time when we are called, we ought much less to excuse ourselves from the banquet of God as we see the end of the age now approaching. That this banquet of God is called not a lunch but a supper, is because after lunch supper remains; but after supper no banquet remains. And because the eternal banquet of God will be prepared for us at the end, it was fitting that it should be called not lunch, but supper. But who is denoted by this servant who is sent by the householder to invite, if not the order of preachers? To repel our disdain, everything is now ready, because to cleanse the tepidity of our minds, the unique lamb who takes away the sins of the world was slain for us in the supper of God.

Third, with regard to the stirring up of this same multitude to devotion, he adds: And he sent his servant at the hour of the supper to tell those invited to come. "This servant, as the Gloss says, is the order of preachers," who, although they are many, are nevertheless understood under the name of one servant on account of the unity of office; concerning which sending, Proverbs 9: "She sent her maidens to call to the citadel and to the walls of the city." Concerning this servant, Isaiah 49: "And now the Lord says this, who formed me from the womb as a servant to himself: It is a small thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to convert the dregs of Israel. I have given you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation even to the end of the earth."

The hour of the supper is the end of the age, that is, the time of the sixth age, according to that passage of 1 Corinthians 10: "We are those upon whom the ends of the ages have come"; and 1 John 2: "You have heard that it is the last hour." These servants tell the invited to come to the supper; let them come, I say, through interior desire and devotion, according to that passage of the Psalm: "My soul has thirsted for God, the living fountain; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?" Those servants of God ought to preach, according to that passage of Isaiah 2: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of God and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us," etc., because, according to that passage of the last chapter of Revelation, "and let him who hears say: Come."

And because nothing so greatly excites the desire to come to God as the consideration of those rewards, he therefore adds: For all things are now prepared. For the dwellings are prepared; John fourteen: "In my Father's house there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again and will take you to myself." Likewise, the joys are prepared: First Corinthians two: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love him"; which is taken from Isaiah sixty-four: "Eye has not seen, O God, apart from you, what things you have prepared for those who await you."

Likewise, the table is prepared: Psalm: "You have prepared a table before me against those who trouble me," etc.

Likewise, the bride is prepared with those who are predestined to life; Revelation nineteen: "The marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has prepared herself," because, as is said in Matthew twenty-five, "those who were prepared entered with him to the marriage, and the door was shut."

And next, who is he that was sent, and who it also says was a slave? Perchance Christ Himself: for though God the Word is by nature God, and the very Son of God the Father, from Whom He was manifested, yet He emptied Himself, to take the form of a slave. As being therefore God of God He is Lord of all; but one may justly apply the appellation of a slave to the limits of His humanity. Yet though He had taken, as I said, the form of a slave, He was even so Lord as being God.

And when was He sent? At supper time, it says. For it was not at the commencement of this world that the only-begotten Word of the Father descended from heaven, and was in form like unto us; but rather when the Omnipotent Himself willed it, even in these latter times, as also we have already said.

And what was the nature of the invitation? "Come: for lo! all things are ready." For God the Father has prepared in Christ for the inhabitants of earth those gifts which are bestowed upon the world through Him, even the forgiveness of sins, the cleansing away of all defilement, the communion of the Holy Spirit, the glorious adoption as sons, and the kingdom of heaven. Unto these blessings Christ invited by the commandments of the gospel Israel before all others. For somewhere He has even said by the voice of the Psalmist; "But I have been set as a king by Him; that is, by God the Father; upon Zion His holy mount, to preach the commandment of the Lord." And again, "I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

That servant who was sent is Christ Himself, who being by nature God and the true Son of God, emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant. But He was sent at supper time. For not in the beginning did the Word take upon Him our nature, but in the last time; and he adds, For all things are ready. For the Father prepared in Christ the good things bestowed upon the world through Him, the removal of sins, the participation of the Holy Spirit, the glory of adoption. To these Christ bade men by the teaching of the Gospel.

"And he sent his servant at the hour of supper to tell those who were invited to come." What is the hour of supper, except the end of the world? In which we certainly are, as Paul long ago testifies, saying: "We are those upon whom the ends of the ages have come." If therefore it is already the hour of supper when we are called, the less should we excuse ourselves from the banquet of God, the more we perceive that the end of the age has drawn near. For the more we consider that nothing remains, the more we ought to fear lest the time of grace that is at hand be lost. Moreover, this banquet of God is called not a dinner but a supper, because after dinner a supper remains, but after supper no banquet remains. And because the eternal banquet of God will be prepared for us at the end, it was right that this should be called not a dinner but a supper.

But who is designated by this servant, who is sent by the householder to invite, except the order of preachers? Of which order, although we are still unworthy, although we are burdened by the weight of our sins, nevertheless we too are in these days, and when I speak something to you concerning your edification, this is what I do, for I am a servant of the supreme householder. When I admonish you to contempt of the world, I come to invite you to the supper of God. Let no one despise me in this place on my own account. And if I appear in no way worthy to invite, yet great are the delights which I promise. Often, my brothers, what I say tends to happen, that a powerful person has a despised servant; and when through him he sends some message to his own people or to strangers, the person of the speaking servant is not despised, because reverence for the sending master is preserved in the heart. Nor do those who hear consider through whom, but what or from whom they hear. So therefore, brothers, so conduct yourselves, and if perhaps you rightly despise us, yet preserve in your mind reverence for the Lord who calls. Willingly obey to become guests of the supreme householder. Examine your hearts, and drive out from them deadly disgust. For to repel your disgust, all things are now prepared. But if you are still carnal, perhaps you seek carnal feasts. Behold, those very carnal feasts have been converted into spiritual nourishment for you. For to wipe away the disgust of your mind, that singular lamb has been slain for you at the supper of the Lord.

By this servant then who is sent by the master of the family to bid to supper, the order of preachers is signified. But it is often the case that a powerful person has a despised servant, and when his Lord orders any thing through him, the servant speaking is not despised, because respect for the master who sends him is still kept up in the heart. Our Lord then offers what he ought to be asked for, not ask others to receive. He wishes to give what could scarcely be hoped for; yet all begin at once to make excuse, for it follows, And they all began with one consent to make excuse. Behold a rich man invites, and the poor hasten to come. We are invited to the banquet of God, and we make excuse.

Who is this servant? The Son of God, who took the form of a servant, having become Man (Phil. 2:7), and of whom as Man it is said that He was sent. Pay attention to the fact that it does not simply say "a servant," but "that" servant, who in the proper sense pleased God according to His humanity and served well. For not only as the Son and God who is well-pleasing to the Father, but also as the Man who alone and by Himself sinlessly submitted to all the decrees and commandments of the Father and "fulfilled all righteousness" (Matt. 3:15), is it said of Him that He served God and the Father. Which is why He alone can properly be called the servant of God. He was sent "when the time of supper came," that is, at a definite and fitting time. For no other time was more fitting for our salvation than the time of the reign of Augustus Caesar, when evil had reached its very peak and needed to fall. Just as physicians leave a festering and foul disease alone until it has drained all the bad fluid, and only then apply remedies, so it was necessary for sin to manifest all the forms proper to it, and then for the great Physician to apply the remedy. Therefore the Lord allowed the devil to fill up the measure of evil, and then, having become incarnate, healed every form of evil through His perfectly holy life. He sent "at the hour," that is, at the present and fitting time, as David also says: "Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, and Your beauty" (Ps. 45:3). The sword, without doubt, is the Word of God. The thigh signifies the birth in the flesh, which was accomplished at the ripeness of the fruit, that is, at the proper time. He was sent "to tell those who were bidden." Who are these bidden ones? Perhaps all people, since God called everyone to the knowledge of Himself, whether through the good ordering of visible things or through the natural law; or perhaps especially the Israelites, who were called through the Law and the prophets. To them, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, the Lord was especially sent (Matt. 15:24). Go, for all is already prepared. For the Lord proclaimed to all: The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matt. 4:17), and it is within you (Luke 17:21).

Thus it is that the worn out soldier is appointed to serve degraded offices, as he who intent upon things below buys for himself earthly possessions, can not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Our Lord says, Sell all that thou hast, and follow me.

Or let us suppose that three classes of men are excluded from partaking of that supper, Gentiles, Jews, Heretics. The Jews by their fleshly service impose upon themselves the yoke of the law, for the five yoke are the yoke of the Ten Commandments, of which it is said, And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. (Deut. 4:13.) That is, the commands of the Decalogue. Or the five yoke are the five books of the old law. But heresy indeed, like Eve with a woman's obstinacy, tries the affection of faith. And the Apostle says that we must flee from covetousness, lest entangled in the customs of the Gentiles we be unable to come to the kingdom of Christ. (Eph. 5:3, Col. 3:5, Heb. 13:5, 1 Tim. 6:11.) Therefore both he who has bought a farm is a stranger to the kingdom, and he who has chosen the yoke of the law rather than the gift of grace, and he also who excuses himself because he has married a wife.

(ubi sup.) Now there were three excuses, of which it is added, The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. The bought piece of ground denotes government. Therefore pride is the first vice reproved. For the first man wished to rule, not willing to have a master.

And they all began to make excuses together. God offers what should have been asked for, without being asked He wants to give what could scarcely have been hoped for. Because He would deign to lavish when asked, He is despised when ready, He announces the delights of eternal refreshment, and yet all at once they make excuses. But some say: We do not want to excuse ourselves; for we indeed rejoice to be called and to arrive at that supper of heavenly refreshment. They truly say this, if they do not love earthly things more than heavenly ones, if they are not more occupied with bodily matters than with spiritual ones. From here also the very cause of those making excuses is added when it is immediately said:

The first said to him: I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you, have me excused. What is meant by the field if not earthly wealth? Therefore, he goes out to see the field, who thinks only externally because of wealth.

And they all began together. After the invitation of many, there follows here the excuse of those called, because many come to faith who nevertheless do not wish to arrive at charity on account of their proneness to vices, which they take up as a veil of excuse. And they all began together to make excuse: The Gloss: "Everyone makes excuse who loves earthly things more than heavenly things, even if he says he is striving toward heavenly things." Since, therefore, there is a threefold root of all sin which draws us back from the charity of Christ, he therefore here introduces three kinds of men rejecting this summons, according to a threefold excuse. The first of these comes from the ambition of pride; the second, from the anxiety of avarice; and the third, from the lust of licentiousness.

First, therefore, regarding the first excuse, which comes from the ambition of pride, he says: The first said to him: I have bought a farm. This first one is the proud man, who always wishes to obtain the primacy: Sirach ten: "The beginning of man's pride is to apostatize from God, for his heart has departed from him who made him, because the beginning of all sin is pride." It is his nature to buy a farm, because he seeks nothing other than to dominate and to be in charge. Hence Augustine: "In the purchased farm, domination and pride are noted. For to have a farm, to subject men to oneself, first denotes the vice of pride." The proud man makes this purchase by giving his soul into servitude to the devil, because, Job forty-one, "he beholds every high thing, and he himself is king over all the children of pride." Hence while he wishes to be lord of men, he is made a servant of vices, and this is a very bad bargain.

Hence such a person confesses himself a servant, when he adds: And I must needs go out and see it. This necessity is induced by pride, which makes a person become vain and in a certain way go outside himself; Nahum 1: "From you shall go forth one devising evil against the Lord, pondering transgression in his mind."

And because vice conceals itself under the mantle of virtue, since the proud person wishes to appear humble, therefore he adds: I pray you, have me excused; the Gloss: "Pray for me, because I am a sinful man"; he humbles himself in voice, while he is proud in heart. Hence Gregory: "When he says: I pray you, have me excused, humility sounds in his voice; but when he refuses to come, pride is in his action." Such persons are signified by those of whom it is said in Matthew 27: "Bending the knee before him, they mocked him"; and of such it is said in Sirach 19: "There is one who wickedly humbles himself, and his interior is full of deceit." And of such the Prophet says in the Psalm: "Incline not my heart to words of malice, to make excuses for excuses in sins." And therefore, conversely, it is said of the just man in Proverbs 18: "The just man is the first accuser of himself."

"They began," it says, "all of them at once to make excuse," that is, as with one purpose, without any delay, they made excuse.… By senselessly giving themselves up to these earthly matters, they cannot see things spiritual. Conquered by the love of the flesh, they are far from holiness. They are covetous and greedy after wealth. They seek things that are below but make no account in the slightest degree of the hopes that are stored up with God. It would be far better to gain the joys of paradise instead of earthly fields and temporary furrows.

But whom can we suppose these to be who refused to come for the reason just mentioned, but the rulers of the Jews, whom throughout the sacred history we find to have been often reproved for these things?

But what are we to do, we who see that what follows still happens among many? "And they all began at once to make excuse." God offers what ought to have been asked for; He wishes to give unasked what could scarcely have been hoped for even if He had deigned to grant it when asked, yet He is despised; He announces that the delights of eternal refreshment are prepared, and yet all together make excuse. Let us place before the eyes of our mind the least things, that we may be able to worthily weigh the greater. If some powerful man were to send to invite any poor person, what, brothers, I ask, what would that poor man do, except rejoice at that very invitation of his, give a humble response, change his garment, hasten to go as quickly as possible, lest another arrive at the banquet of the powerful man before him? Therefore a rich man invites, and a poor man hastens to come; we are invited to God's banquet, and we make excuses. But behold, amid these things I can estimate what your hearts answer to themselves. For perhaps in secret thoughts they say to themselves: We do not wish to make excuse, for we rejoice both to be called and to arrive at that banquet of heavenly refreshment.

Those who speak such things to you, their minds speak truth, if they do not love earthly things more than heavenly, if they are not occupied more with bodily matters than with spiritual. Hence here also the very cause of those making excuses is added, when it is immediately brought in: The first said: I have bought a farm, and I must go out and see it; I pray you, have me excused. What is designated by the farm except earthly substance? He went out therefore to see the farm who thinks only of external things on account of his substance.

(ubi sup.) Or by the piece of ground is meant worldly substance. Therefore he goes out to see it who thinks only of outward things for the sake of his living.

(in Hom. 36. in Ev.) By the bodily senses also because they cannot comprehend things within, but take cognizance only of what is without, curiosity is rightly represented, which while it seeks to shake off a life which is strange to it, not knowing its own secret life, desires to dwell upon things without. But we must observe, that the one who for his farm, and the other who to prove his five yoke of oxen, excuse themselves from the supper of their Inviter, mix up with their excuse the words of humility. For when they say, I pray thee, and then disdain to come, the word sounds of humility, but the action is pride. It follows, And this said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

They who have bought a piece of ground and reject or refuse the supper, are they who have taken other doctrines of divinity, but have despised the word which they possessed.

It certainly is not the feast of him who never sent a messenger to warn-who never did a thing before towards issuing an invitation, but came down himself on a sudden-only then beginning to be known, when already giving his invitation; only then inviting, when already compelling to his banquet; appointing one and the same hour both for the supper and the invitation. But when invited, they excuse themselves. And fairly enough, if the invitation came from the other god, because it was so sudden; if, however, the excuse was not a fair one, then the invitation was not a sudden one.

"I have bought a field-and I have bought some oxen-and I have married a wife." And still He urges them: "I have sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early even before day-light.

And they "all began... to make excuses," that is, as if by common agreement. For all the leaders of the Jews refused to have Jesus as King, and therefore were not deemed worthy to taste of the supper — some out of love for wealth, others out of love for pleasures. For by those of whom one bought a field and another five yoke of oxen, one may understand those attached to wealth, and by the one who married, the lover of pleasure. If you wish, understand by the one who bought the field the person who, on account of worldly wisdom, does not accept the mystery of salvation. For the field is this world and nature in general, and whoever looks only at nature does not accept the supernatural. Thus, the Pharisee, having perhaps fixed his gaze on the earth, that is, observing only the laws of nature, did not accept that the Virgin gave birth to God, since this is above nature. And all who boast of external wisdom, on account of this earth, that is, out of attachment to nature, did not acknowledge Jesus, who renewed nature. By the one who bought five yoke of oxen and is testing them, one may also understand the person attached to matter, who has yoked the five senses of the soul to the bodily senses and made the soul into flesh. Therefore, as one occupied with earthly things, he does not wish to participate in the spiritual supper. For the wise man also says: "How can he become wise who handles the plow?" (Sirach 38:25). And by the one who falls away on account of a wife, one may understand the person attached to pleasures, who, having cleaved to the flesh — the ally of the soul — and being one with it, as one joined to it, cannot please God. You may also understand all of this literally, for we fall away from God both on account of a yoke of oxen and on account of marriage, when we become attached to them, spend our whole life on them, toil over them even to the point of blood, yet do not think upon or investigate anything Divine — neither a thought nor a saying.

(Serm. 112.) The five yoke of oxen are taken to be the five senses of the flesh; in the eyes sight, in the ears hearing, in the nostrils smelling, in the mouth taste, in all the members touch. But the yoke is more easily apparent in the three first senses; two eyes, two ears, two nostrils. Here are three yoke. And in the mouth is the sense of taste which is found to be a kind of double, in that nothing is sensible to the taste, which is not touched both by the tongue and palate. The pleasure of the flesh which belongs to the touch is secretly doubled. It is both outward and inward. But they are called yoke of oxen, because through those senses of the flesh earthly things are pursued. For the oxen till the ground, but men at a distance from faith, given up to earthly things, refuse to believe in any thing, but what they arrive at by means of the five-fold sense of the body. "I believe nothing but what I see." If such were our thoughts, we should be hindered from the supper by those five yoke of oxen. But that you may understand that it is not the delight of the five senses which charms and conveys pleasure, but that a certain curiosity is denoted, he says not, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and go to feed them, but go to prove them.

And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray thee, have me excused. What do we understand by the five yokes of oxen, if not the five senses of the body? Which are rightly also called yokes, because they are doubled in both sexes. These bodily senses, namely, since they are unable to comprehend what is internal but only know externals, and forsaking inner things touch only what is outside, rightly signify curiosity through them. For curiosity is indeed a serious vice, which, while leading anyone's mind to investigate the outward life of another, always hides its own inner things from him. For this reason, it is also said of these same five yokes of oxen: I go to prove them, because indeed sometimes examination pertains to curiosity. But it should be noted that both he who excuses himself from the supper of his inviter on account of the farm, and he who excuses himself on account of proving the yokes of oxen, mixes words of humility, saying: I pray thee, have me excused. For while he says "I pray," and yet scorns to come, humility sounds in his voice, pride in his action. And behold, the wicked each judge this when they hear it, yet do not cease to do the things they judge. For when we say to anyone acting perversely: Turn, follow God, leave the world, where do we call them if not to the Lord's supper? But when they respond: Pray for me, for I am a sinner, I cannot do this, what else do they do but request and excuse themselves? For saying, "I am a sinner," indicates humility, but adding, "I cannot turn," demonstrates pride.

Second, as regards the second excuse, which comes from the solicitude of avarice, he adds: And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen. For the solicitude of avarice causes one to seek nothing but to deal with earthly things; therefore it is compared to the labor of oxen, whose task is to furrow and work the earth. And they are called five yoke of oxen on account of the five senses turned toward these earthly things. Hence the Gloss: "These are called yoke of oxen, because through them earthly things are managed; for oxen turn the earth." They can also be called yokes, because they bind the neck and tame the nape and press the whole person down to the earth and sell the soul for earth; Sirach 10: "Nothing is more wicked than to love money; for such a one has his soul for sale, because in his life he has cast away his inmost parts." For since, as is said in Matthew 6, "where your treasure is, there is your heart also"; and the treasure of the avaricious person is outside himself, namely in the earth: therefore the inmost parts of the avaricious person are cast forth into the earth. Hence it is necessary that he be oppressed by the yoke of servitude, because he has sold himself; hence Sirach 27: "In the midst of buying and selling he shall be afflicted with sins."

For avarice renders one anxious and inquisitive, therefore he adds: And I go to prove them, because he has continual care for superfluous things. Hence the Gloss: "Rightly is curiosity signified by the five senses, which, while it outwardly investigates the life of one's neighbor, does not know its own inmost parts; and the mind of the curious person, the more skilled it becomes in what belongs to another, the more ignorant it becomes of itself."

And note that charity has but one yoke, because it reduces every concern to one thing, according to that passage above in the tenth chapter: "One thing is necessary"; and Micah 6: "To walk solicitously with your God," etc.; and Matthew 11: "My yoke is sweet," etc.; and Lamentations 3: "It is a gift for a man when he has borne the yoke of the Lord from his youth." But curiosity has five, with respect to the universality of sensible things, around which it revolves; whence Ecclesiastes 7: "God made man upright, and he has entangled himself in infinite questions." And since the vice of covetousness and avarice cloaks itself under the appearance of providence, therefore he adds: I ask you, hold me excused. But to such people can be said that passage from Jeremiah 2: "Why do you strive to show your ways as good for seeking love, you who moreover have taught your wickednesses to be your most manifold ways, and in your wings was found the blood of the souls of the poor and the innocent"?

Another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to test them; I pray you, have me excused. What do we understand by the five yoke of oxen except the five senses of the body? These are also rightly called yokes, because they are doubled in each sex. These bodily senses, indeed, because they do not know how to comprehend internal things, but know only external ones, and, abandoning what is innermost, touch those things which are outside, rightly through them curiosity is designated. For while it seeks to examine the life of another, always ignorant of its own inner depths, it strives to think about external things. For the vice of curiosity is grievous, which while it leads anyone's mind outwardly to investigate the life of a neighbor, always hides from him his own inner depths, so that knowing the affairs of others, he does not know himself, and the mind of the curious person, the more skilled it becomes in another's merit, the more ignorant it becomes of its own. For this reason also it is said concerning these same five yoke of oxen: I go to test them; I pray you, have me excused. For the very words of the one making excuse do not differ from the signification of his vice when he says: I go to test them, because indeed testing sometimes tends to pertain to curiosity.

But it should be noted that both he who makes excuse from his inviter's supper on account of the farm and he who does so on account of testing the yoke of oxen mixes in words of humility, saying: I pray you, have me excused. For when he says I pray you, and yet disdains to come, humility sounds in the voice, pride in the action. And behold, every wicked person judges these things when he hears them, yet does not cease to do the things he judges. For when we say to anyone acting perversely: Be converted, follow God, abandon the world, where do we call him except to the Lord's supper? But when he responds: Pray for me, because I am a sinner, I cannot do this, what else does he do except both ask and make excuse? For saying: I am a sinner, he insinuates humility; but adding: I cannot be converted, he demonstrates pride. Therefore he makes excuse by asking, who both puts on humility in his voice and exercises pride in his action.

He who has bought five yoke of oxen is he who neglects his intellectual nature, and follows the things of sense, therefore he cannot comprehend a spiritual nature.

Or marriage is not blamed; but purity is held up to greater honour, since the unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and spirit, but she that is married careth for the things of the world. (1 Cor. 7:34.)

(ubi sup.) That is, the delight of the flesh which hinders many, I wish it were outward and not inward. For he who said, I have married a wife, taking pleasure in the delights of the flesh, excuses himself from the supper; let such a one take heed lest he die from inward hunger.

(ubi sup.) Now John when he said, all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, (1 John 2:16.) began from the point where the Gospel ended. The lust of the flesh, I have married a wife; the lust of the eyes, I have bought fire yoke of oxen; the pride of life, I have bought a farm. But proceeding from a part to the whole, the five senses have been spoken of under the eyes alone, which hold the chief place among the five senses. Because though properly the sight belongs to the eyes, we are in the habit of ascribing the act of seeing to all the five senses.

But he says, I cannot come, because that the human mind when it is degenerating to worldly pleasures, is feeble in attending to the things of God.

And another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. What is understood by a wife, except carnal pleasure? For although marriage is good and instituted by Divine Providence for the propagation of offspring, some nevertheless seek in it not the fruitfulness of offspring, but the desires of pleasure. And therefore, through a just matter, an unjust matter can not incongruously be signified. Therefore, the highest Master of the house invites us to the banquet of the eternal feast, but while this one is occupied with earthly care, another is devoured by the keen thought of another's actions, and even the mind of another is polluted by carnal pleasure, each fastidious one does not hasten to the feasts of eternal life.

Thirdly, as to the third excuse, which comes from the desire of wantonness, he adds: And another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. This wife is the concupiscence of the flesh, of which Ecclesiastes 7: "I have found a woman more bitter than death, who is the snare of hunters, and her heart is a net." She is called a wife on account of the vehement clinging of desire; 1 Corinthians 6: "Do you not know that he who cleaves to a harlot is made one body? For they shall be, he says, two in one flesh." — And therefore he adds: And therefore I cannot come. Nor does he add: Have me excused, because the sin of the flesh alone is that which least cloaks itself under the appearance of virtue and is least excused; and yet according to truth it is more excusable on account of the greater proneness of concupiscence, according to that passage in Romans 7: "I find another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the servitude of sin." And for this reason he says: I cannot come, because, as Bernard says, "just as fire and water cannot exist together, so spiritual delights and carnal delights are not compatible in the same person." Yet this man lies, because such a one, even if he is a slave of concupiscence, can do that by the doing of which he may have grace, through which he may have the power of subduing concupiscence. Whence Romans 7: "Unhappy man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" And he answers immediately: "The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord," because, Philippians 2, "It is God who works in you both to will and to accomplish according to his good will." — And note here that although a wife is lawfully had, yet on account of abuse and on account of the vice joined to it, through a good thing an evil is understood. On account of which the Apostle also says in 1 Corinthians 7: "It remains that those who have wives be as though not having them"; as also the Gloss says, that "many marry wives not for the sake of fecundity, but for the desires of the flesh. Therefore by this thing carnal pleasure is designated"; whence it is not unfitting that a wife by reason of the sacramental bond designates the Church, the spouse of Christ, and by reason of desire can designate the concupiscence of carnal pleasure.

Another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. What is understood by a wife except the pleasure of the flesh? For although marriage is good, and established by divine providence for the propagation of offspring, nevertheless some seek through it not the fruitfulness of children, but the desires of pleasure, and therefore through a just thing an unjust thing can not inappropriately be signified. Therefore the supreme father of the household invites you to the supper of the eternal banquet; but while one is given to avarice, another to curiosity, another to the pleasure of the flesh, indeed all the reprobate together make excuses. While earthly care occupies this one, shrewd thinking about another's affairs devastates that one, carnal pleasure also defiles the mind of yet another, and each fastidious person does not hasten to the feast of eternal life.

(Hom. 36.) But although marriage is good, and appointed by Divine Providence for the propagation of children, some seek therein not fruitfulness of offspring, but the lust of pleasure. And so by means of a righteous thing may not unfitly an unrighteous thing be represented.

He who has married a wife is he who is joined to the flesh, a lover of pleasure rather than of God. (1 Tim. 3:4.)

He turned to the Gentiles from the careless scorn of the rich. He invites both good and evil to enter in order to strengthen the good and change the disposition of the wicked for the better. The saying that was read today is fulfilled, "Then wolves and lambs will feed together." He summons the poor, the maimed and the blind. By this, he shows us either that handicaps do not exclude us from the kingdom of heaven and whoever lacks the enticements of sinning rarely offends, or that the Lord's mercy forgives the weakness of sinners. Whoever glories in the Lord glories as one redeemed from reproach not by works but by faith.He sends them into the highways, because wisdom sings aloud in passages. He sends them to the streets, because he sent them to sinners, so that they should come from the broad paths to the narrow way that leads to life. He sends them to the highways and hedges. They, who are not busied with any desires for present things, hurry to the future on the path of good will. Like a hedge that separates the wild from the cultivated and wards off the attacks of wild beasts, they can distinguish between good and evil and extend a rampart of faith against the temptations of spiritual wickedness.

He invites the poor, the weak, and the blind, to show that weakness of body shuts out no one from the kingdom of heaven, and that he is guilty of fewer sins who lacks the incitement to sin; or that the infirmities of sin are forgiven through the mercy of God. Therefore he sends to the streets, that from the broader ways they may come to the narrow way.

Because then the proud refuse to come, the poor (Greg. Hom. 36.) are chosen, since they are called weak and poor who are weak in their own judgment of themselves, for there are poor, and yet as it were strong, who though lying in poverty are proud; the blind are they who have no brightness of understanding; the lame are they who have walked not uprightly in their works. But since the faults of these are expressed in the weakness of their members, as those were sinners who when bidden refused to come, so also are these who are invited and come; but the proud sinners are rejected, the humble are chosen. God then chooses those whom the world despises, because for the most part the very act of contempt recals a man to himself. And men so much the sooner hear the voice of God, as they have nothing in this world to take pleasure in. When then the Lord calls certain from the streets and lanes to supper, He denotes that people who had learnt to observe in the city the constant practice of the law. But the multitude who believed of the people of Israel did not fill the places of the upper feast room. Hence it follows, And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. For already had great numbers of the Jews entered, but yet there was room in the kingdom for the abundance of the Gentiles to be received. Therefore it is added, And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. When He commanded His guests to be collected from the wayside and the hedges, He sought for a rural people, that is, the Gentiles.

(in Gen. ad lit. c. 19.) Not for the sake of knowing inferior beings does God require messengers, as though He gained aught from them, for He knows all things stedfastly and unchangeably. But he has messengers for oursakes and their own, because to be present with God, and stand before Him so as to consult Him about His subjects, and obey His heavenly commandments, is good for them in the order of their own nature.

And the servant returned and reported these things to his master. Then the head of the household, being angry, said to his servant: Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, and the crippled, and the blind, and the lame. Behold, whoever clings to earthly substance more than justly refuses to come to the Lord's supper; whoever strives in the labor of curiosity despises the prepared nourishment of life; whoever clings to carnal desires rejects the spiritual banquet of the feast. Therefore, since the proud refuse to come, the poor are chosen. Why is this? Because, according to Paul's word, God chooses the weak of the world to confound the strong (1 Cor. 1). But the poor and weak are said to be those who consider themselves weak in their own judgement. For there are also the poor and seemingly strong, who, even positioned in poverty, are proud. The blind, however, are those who have no light of understanding. And the lame are those who do not have upright steps in action. But as the vices of morals are designated in the weakness of members, it is clear that just as those who were invited and refused to come were sinners, so too those invited and who come are sinners; but proud sinners are rejected, and humble sinners are chosen. Therefore, He chooses those whom the world despises, because often that very contempt brings a man back to himself. The poor and weak, the blind and lame are called and come, because the weak and despised in this world often hear God's voice all the more quickly, since they do not have where they find delight in this world. But, having brought the poor to the supper, let us hear what the boy adds:

And the servant returned, etc. After the invitation of the many and the excuse of those invited, there follows here thirdly the rejection of the contemptuous. Concerning which three things are introduced by the Evangelist, namely the calling of the needy, the compelling of the negligent, and the rejection of the contemptuous.

First, as regards the calling of the needy, which arose from the contempt of others, he says: And the servant returned and reported these things to his master, namely the hardness and rebellion of those who were called. The servant reports this when the order of preachers does not seek its own advantage but the divine honor, so that, just as he was sent by God through the commission of authority, so he may return through the intention of purity. And of such it is said in Ezekiel 1: "The living creatures went and returned in the likeness of flashing lightning"; whence Job 38: "Will you send forth lightnings, and will they go, and returning will they say to you, 'We are here'"? There the Gloss says: "The lightnings go forth when preachers flash with miracles; returning they say, 'We are here,' when they attribute not to themselves but to God whatever they recognize themselves to have done powerfully." Or, they return to God through thanksgiving, according to that passage in Ecclesiastes 1: "To the place from which they go forth, the rivers return, that they may flow again." And because they cannot give thanks for the rebellion of their hearers, but rather groan from detestation of the fault, therefore they are said to report to the Lord: just as it is also said of the Apostles in Acts 4 that, when they suffered harassment from the Jews, "they lifted up their voice with one accord to God and said: 'You, Lord, who made all things, who said through the mouth of our father David: Why did the nations rage,' etc., 'now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness'"; and it follows that "when they had prayed, the place was shaken"; in which is understood the stirring of God's wrath against the rebellion of the hearers.

On account of which he also adds: Then the angry master of the house said to his servant: Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, that is, to public preaching, according to that passage in Proverbs 1: "Wisdom preaches abroad and raises her voice in the streets; at the head of the crowds she cries out; at the entrances of the city gates she utters her words." This going out is for the exercise of preaching, according to that passage in Matthew 13: "The sower went out to sow his seed."

And because, when the proud are rejected, the humble are accepted, therefore he adds: And bring in here the poor and the feeble and the blind and the lame: which according to the Glosses is to be expounded in three ways. In one way, so that these refer to natural defects, so that the poor are those who lack possessions; the feeble, those who lack strength; the blind, those who have a defect in sight; the lame, those who have a defect in walking, because even such persons are literally admitted to the kingdom of heaven: 1 Corinthians 1: "Consider your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many are powerful, not many are noble, but God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God chose the weak things of the world to confound the strong; and God chose the ignoble and contemptible things of the world, and the things that are not, to destroy the things that are, so that no flesh should glory in his sight."

In another way it is read, so that they refer to vicious defects, so that the poor are those lacking grace; the weak, those lacking virtue; the blind, those lacking prudence; and the lame, those lacking good will. And yet God chooses and calls these, because, Matthew 9, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance"; whence also in Matthew 21 it was said to the Pharisees: "The publicans and harlots shall go before you into the kingdom of God."

In a third way it is read, so that they refer to virtuous defects, so that the poor and weak are so called with regard to their own self-estimation; and indeed we understand those as poor who do not trust in excessive wealth; of whom Proverbs 13: "There is one who makes himself poor, though he has in great riches"; and those as weak who do not trust in their own strength: 1 Corinthians 1: "The weakness of God is stronger than men"; the blind, who do not trust in their own knowledge, that is, who consider themselves blind; whence John 9: "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now because you say, We see: your sin remains"; the lame, who do not trust in their own uprightness: whence Jacob, after he saw the Lord, is said to have limped, Genesis 32. Such persons the Lord brings in, namely the poor through contempt of earthly wealth: Psalm: "He shall spare the poor and needy," etc.; the weak through contempt of self-confidence: Isaiah 40: "They that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength"; the blind through contempt of their own industry: John 9: "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see," etc.; the lame through contempt of their own righteousness: Isaiah 35: "Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute shall be opened."

And concerning all these it is said above in chapter 7: "The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them"; because they themselves are brought into life and are called.

And this last interpretation seems more consonant with what precedes, because "God resists the proud."

It says that when the house owner heard their refusal, he was angry and commanded "to gather from the streets and marketplaces of the city the poor, the maimed, the blind, and the lame." Who are they who refused to come because of lands, farming and the physical procreation of children? It must be those who stood at the head of the Jewish synagogue. They were people with wealth, the slaves of covetousness with their mind set on profit on which they lavished all their seriousness.

The leaders of the Israelites remained aloof from the supper, as being obstinate, proud and disobedient. They scorned a surpassing invitation, because they had turned aside to earthly things and focused their mind on the vain distractions of this world. The common crowd was invited, and immediately after them the Gentiles.

But with the rulers of the Jews who refused their call, as they themselves confessed, Have any of the rulers believed on him? (John 7:48.) the Master of the household was wroth, as with them that deserved His indignation and anger; whence it follows, Then the master of the house being angry, &c.

Thus it was that the master of the house is said to have been enraged with the chiefs of the Jews, and in their stead were called men taken from out of the Jewish multitude, and of weak and impotent minds. For at Peter's preaching, first indeed three thousand, then five thousand believed, and afterwards much people; whence it follows, He said unto his servant, Go out straightway into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. (Acts 2:41, 44.

There follows: The servant returned and reported these things to his master. Then the angry master of the house said to his servant: Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the feeble, and the blind and the lame. Behold, he who clings to earthly substance more than is right refuses to come to the Lord's supper; he who sweats at the labor of curiosity disdains the prepared nourishments of life; he who serves carnal desires rejects the feasts of the spiritual banquet. Therefore, because the proud refuse to come, the poor are chosen. Why is this? Because, according to Paul's words, God chooses the weak things of the world to confound the strong. But it must be noted how those who are called to the supper and come are described: the poor and the feeble. They are called poor and feeble who in their own judgment are weak in their own eyes. For there are poor who are as if strong, who even when placed in poverty are proud. The blind, indeed, are those who have no light of understanding. The lame also are those who do not have right steps in their conduct. But since vices of character are signified in the weakness of the limbs, it is certainly clear that just as those were sinners who when called refused to come, so also these are sinners who are invited and come. But proud sinners are rejected, so that humble sinners may be chosen.

Therefore God chose these whom the world despises, because very often that contempt itself calls a person back to himself. For he who left his father and squandered prodigally the portion of substance he had received, after he began to hunger, returned to himself and said: "How many hired servants in my father's house have bread in abundance?" Indeed he had departed far from himself when he was sinning. And if he had not hungered, he would never have returned to himself, because only after he lacked earthly things did he begin to consider what he had lost of spiritual things. Therefore the poor and the weak, the blind and the lame are called, and they come, because all who are infirm and despised in this world very often hear the voice of God more quickly, precisely because they have nothing in this world in which to take delight.

This is well represented by that Egyptian boy of the Amalekites, who, when the Amalekites were plundering and advancing, remained sick on the road, and wasted away from hunger and thirst. Yet David found him and provided him food and drink; and he, immediately recovering, became David's guide. He found the Amalekites feasting, and with great strength he overthrew those who had abandoned him in his weakness. For the Amalekite people are called "the licking ones." And what is designated by the licking people except the minds of worldly persons? They lick, as it were, all earthly things by grasping at them, since they delight only in temporal matters. For like a licking people taking plunder, those who love earthly gains heap them up from the losses of others. But the Egyptian boy is left sick on the road, because whenever any sinner begins to weaken from his standing in this world, he soon becomes an object of contempt to worldly minds. Yet David finds him and offers him food and drink, because the Lord, strong of hand, does not despise those cast off by the world, and very often he converts to the grace of his love those who, being unable to follow the world, remain as it were on the road, and he extends to them the food and drink of his word; and he chooses them as guides for himself on the way, as it were, when he makes them his preachers as well. For when they bring Christ into the hearts of sinners, they lead David, as it were, against his enemies. They strike the feasting Amalekites as if with David's sword, because by the Lord's power they overthrow all the proud who had despised them in the world. Therefore the Egyptian boy who had remained on the road kills the Amalekites, because very often those same ones overcome the minds of worldly persons by preaching, who previously were unable to run with the worldly in this world.

(app. Hom. in Ps. 37.) Not that the passion of anger belongs to the Divine substance, but an operation such as in us is caused by anger, is called the anger and indignation of God.

Then He was moved (He did well to be moved; for, as Marcion denies emotion to his god, He must be therefore my God), and commanded them to invite out of "the streets and lanes of the city." Let us see whether this is not the same in purport as His words by Jeremiah: "Have I been a wilderness to the house of Israel, or a land left uncultivated? " That is to say: "Then have I none whom I may call to me; have I no place whence I may bring them? ""Since my people have said, We will come no more unto thee.

The rulers of the Jews were rejected, and none of them believed in Christ, as they themselves even boasted of their malice. "Has any of the rulers believed in Him?" they said (John 7:48). So these lawyers and scribes, as the prophet said, having become foolish fell away from grace, while the simple-hearted among the Jews, who are likened to the lame and blind and maimed, "the base things of the world and the despised" (1 Cor. 1:27–28), were called. For the people "wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of the mouth" of Jesus (Luke 4:22), and rejoiced at His teaching.

Lord, it has been done as you commanded, and still there is room Many such were gathered from Judea to the Lord's supper, but the multitude from the Israelite people did not fill the place of the heavenly feast. The crowd of Jews has already entered, but still there is room in the kingdom, where the multitude of the Gentiles ought to be received. Hence, it is also said to the same servant:

Secondly, regarding the compulsion of the negligent, which follows the calling of the humble, he adds: And the servant said: Lord, it has been done as you commanded, and there is still room: because there are not as many humble as there are predestined to life, nor are there as many willing for eternal life as there are predestined by God.

But let us hear what the servant adds after the poor have been brought to the supper: Lord, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room. Many such were gathered from Judea to the Lord's supper, but the multitude that believed from the people of Israel did not fill the place of the heavenly banquet. The throng of Jews has already entered, but there is still room vacant in the kingdom where the multitude of the Gentiles must be received.

But after the Israelites entered, that is, the chosen ones among them, whom God predestined to His glory (Rom. 8:29–30), such as Peter, the sons of Zebedee, and the rest of the multitude who believed — after that, the grace of God was poured out also upon the Gentiles. For by those found on the "roads" and "lanes" one can understand the Gentiles. The Israelites were inside the city, since they received the law and inherited a civic way of life. But the Gentiles, being strangers to the covenants and alienated from the legislation of Christ, and not being fellow citizens with the saints (Col. 1:21, 12; Eph. 2:12, 3), led their lives not on one road, but on many "roads" of lawlessness and ignorance, and in "hedges," that is, in sins; for sin is a great hedge and partition wall, separating us from God (Isa. 59:2). By the word "on the roads" is hinted the brutish life of the Gentiles, divided into many opinions, and by the word "in the lanes" is indicated their life in sins. He does not simply command to call those (who are along the roads and by the hedges), but to compel them, even though faith is a matter of each person's free will. He said "compel" so that we might understand that the conversion of the Gentiles, who were in deep ignorance, is a sign of the great power of God. For if the power of the One being preached were small and the truth of the teaching were not great, how could people who served idols and performed shameful deeds have been persuaded, suddenly coming to know the true God and to lead a spiritual life? Wishing to point out the wondrousness of this conversion, he called it compulsion. As if someone were to say: the Gentiles did not even wish to leave their idols and sensual pleasures, yet by the truth of the preaching they were compelled to leave them. Or alternatively: the power of signs constituted a great compulsion to turn to faith in Christ.

Or, He sends to the highways and about the hedges, because they are fit for the kingdom of God, who, not absorbed in the desire for present goods, are hastening on to the future, set in a certain fixed path of good will. And who like a hedge which separates the cultivated ground from the uncultivated, and keeps off the incursion of the cattle, know how to distinguish good and evil, and to hold up the shield of faith against the temptations of spiritual wickedness.

(Serm. 112.) The Gentiles came from the streets and lanes, the heretics come from the hedges. For they who make a hedge seek for a division; let them be drawn away from the hedges, plucked asunder from the thorns. But they are unwilling to be compelled. By our own will, say they, will we enter. Compel them to enter, He says. Let necessity be used from without, thence arises a will.

Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. When the Lord invites from the streets and alleys to the feast, He evidently designates those people who knew how to hold the law in urban life. But when He commands His guests to be collected from the highways and hedges, He clearly seeks to gather the rural people, that is, the Gentiles. It is notable in this third invitation, that it is not said, Invite, but Compel to enter. For there are some who understand the good that must be done, but cease to do it. As we said above, it often happens to them that they are struck by the adversity of this world in their carnal desires. For often they waste away with long illness, or fall afflicted by injuries, or are struck by heavier losses, criticizing themselves in their desires, and turn their hearts to the Lord. Therefore, when they are broken by the adversities of this world and return to the love of God, and are corrected from the desires of present life, what are they but compelled to enter? But the very sentence which immediately follows is terrifying. For He says:

Therefore he adds: And the lord said to the servant: Go out into the highways and hedges. By highways and hedges, which are outside the city, are understood sinners who are outside the ecclesiastical unity, and especially the gentiles.

Hence Gregory: "When he calls from the lanes and streets, he signifies the Jews, who knew how to keep the Law under an urban manner of life; but when he calls from the highways and hedges, he signifies the rustic people of the Gentiles." And by this same reasoning, other sinners can be understood, and especially the slothful, who are drawn to the good unwillingly. Hence he adds: And compel them to enter, namely by the threat of eternal punishments and the showing forth of present ones; because, as Gregory says, "the evils that press upon us here compel us to go to God"; on account of which it is said in the Psalm: "When he slew them, they sought him." Hence the servant of God compels these when he terrifies them with the threat of the severity of judgment, according to that passage in Second Timothy chapter four: "Preach the word, be urgent in season, out of season, reprove, entreat, rebuke," etc.

And the reason for this is the completion of the number of the elect; hence he adds: That my house may be filled. The Gloss: "With the number of the predestined faithful, which number will not remain unfilled," concerning which number, Apocalypse chapter six: "Wait yet a little while, until the number of your brethren be fulfilled." This house, therefore, is filled when the universality of the elect is saved, concerning whom, Apocalypse chapter seven: "After these things I saw a great multitude, which no one could number"; and Apocalypse chapter fourteen: "I saw upon Mount Sion the Lamb standing, and with him," etc.; and in the Canticle of Deuteronomy chapter thirty-two: "He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel"; where Gregory says that "as many men will be saved as Angels stood firm." Whatever may be said about this, however, it is certain that the number of the elect will be perfect; as a figure of which it is said in Deuteronomy chapter thirty-three: "He appeared from Mount Pharan, and with him thousands of Saints."

You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape? The words compelle intrare, compel them to come in, have been so abused by wicked men that we shudder at them; but, properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.

Hence it is said to the same servant: Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. When the Lord invites certain ones from villages and streets to the supper, He clearly designates that people who had known how to keep the law under civilized society; but when He commands His guests to be gathered from highways and hedges, He doubtless seeks to gather a rustic people, that is, the Gentiles, of whose signification it is said through the Psalmist: Then shall all the trees of the forest rejoice before the face of the Lord, because He comes. For the trees of the forest are called the Gentiles, because in their unbelief they were always twisted and unfruitful. Those therefore who were converted from that rustic way of life came to the Lord's supper as if from hedges.

It should be noted that in this third invitation it does not say "Invite," but "Compel them to enter." For some are called and disdain to come; others are called and come; but of others it is by no means said that they are called, but that they are compelled to enter. Those who are called and disdain to come are those who receive the gift of understanding, but do not follow that understanding with works; those who are called and come are those who perfect the grace of understanding they have received by acting upon it; but some are called in such a way that they are also compelled. For there are some who understand the good things they ought to do, but cease from doing them; they see what they ought to do, but do not follow it out of desire. To these, as we said above, it often happens that the adversity of this world strikes them in their carnal desires; they try to grasp temporal glory and cannot; and while they propose to sail through the deep waters, as it were, toward the greater concerns of this age, they are always driven back by contrary winds to the shores of their own dejection. And when they see themselves broken in their desires, with the world opposing them, they are reminded what they owe to their Creator, so that they return to Him with shame, whom they had abandoned in their pride for love of the world.

For often some who wish to advance toward temporal glory either waste away in prolonged illness, or fall crushed by injuries, or are afflicted when struck by heavy losses, and in the sorrow of the world they see that they should have placed no confidence in its pleasures, and reproaching themselves for their own desires, they turn their hearts to God. Of these indeed the Lord says through the prophet: "Behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will wall it in with a barrier, and she shall not find her paths; and she shall follow after her lovers, and shall not overtake them; she shall seek them, and shall not find them, and she shall say: I will go and return to my first husband, because it was better with me then than now." The husband of every faithful soul is God, because she is joined to Him through faith. But that soul which had been joined to God follows after her lovers, when the mind which has already believed through faith still subjects itself in action to unclean spirits, seeks the glory of the world, feeds on carnal delight, and is nourished by exquisite pleasures. But often almighty God mercifully looks upon such a soul and mingles bitterness with her pleasures. Hence He says: "Behold, I will hedge up your ways with thorns." For our ways are hedged with thorns when in what we wrongly desire we find the pricks of pain. "And I will wall them in with a barrier, and she shall not find her paths." Our ways are walled in with a barrier when hard obstacles in this world resist our desires. And we cannot find our paths, because we are prevented from obtaining what we wrongly seek. "And she shall follow after her lovers, and shall not overtake them; she shall seek them, and shall not find them"; because the soul does not at all attain the fulfillment of her desires from the malign spirits to whom she had subjected herself in her desires. But what great benefit arises from this salutary adversity He adds when it follows: "And she shall say: I will go and return to my first husband, because it was better with me then than now." Therefore, after she finds her ways hedged with thorns, after she cannot overtake her lovers, she returns to the love of her first husband, because often after we cannot obtain what we want in this world, after we grow weary in earthly desires from their impossibility, then we bring God back to mind, then He who displeased us begins to please; and He whose precepts had been bitter to us suddenly becomes sweet in memory; and the sinful soul who had tried to be an adulteress, yet could not through open act, resolves to be a faithful wife. Those therefore who, broken by the adversities of this world, return to the love of God and are corrected from the desires of the present life—what are they, my brothers, but compelled to enter?

(in Hom. 36.) They then who, broken down by the calamities of this world, return to the love of God, are compelled to enter.

Therefore He sent out to call others, but from the same city. My third remark is this, that although the place abounded with people, He yet commanded that they gather men from the highways and the hedges.

"But I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet." Behold, He calls through Himself, He calls through angels, He calls through the Fathers, He calls through shepherds, He often calls through miracles, He often calls through scourges, sometimes He calls through the prosperity of this world, sometimes through adversity. Let no one disdain, lest while they excuse being called, when they wish to enter they may not be able to.

Third, with regard to the rejection of the contemptuous, he adds: But I say to you, that none of those men who were invited and excused themselves shall taste my supper; because no one attains to that supper except the humble: Matthew chapter eighteen: "Unless you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven"; hence also it is said in the Psalm: "How great is the multitude of your sweetness, O Lord, which you have hidden for those who fear you"! For the Lord reserves it for those who fear him, but repels the proud. "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but with the chains of hell," etc., as is said in Second Peter chapter two; and afterward: "The Lord knows how to deliver the godly from temptation, but reserves the wicked to be tormented"; and on account of this, Romans chapter eleven: "Be not high-minded, but fear. For if God spared not the natural branches, lest perhaps he spare not you either." And therefore he says in Hebrews chapter two: "Therefore we ought more diligently to observe, lest perhaps we drift away. For if the word spoken through Angels was made firm, how shall we escape, if we have neglected so great a salvation"?

But the sentence that is immediately added is greatly to be feared. Receive this with attentive ear of heart, my brothers and lords: insofar as you are sinners, my brothers; insofar as you are righteous, my lords. Receive this with attentive ear, so that you may feel it less at the judgment, the more fearfully you now hear it in preaching. For he says: "But I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper." Behold, he calls through himself, he calls through angels, he calls through the fathers, he calls through the prophets, he calls through the apostles, he calls through pastors, he calls also through us, he often calls through miracles, he often calls through scourges, he sometimes calls through the prosperity of this world, he sometimes calls through adversity. Let no one despise, lest while the one called makes excuses, when he wishes to enter he may not be able. Hear what Wisdom says through Solomon: "Then they shall call upon me, and I will not hear; they shall rise early, and shall not find me." Hence it is that the foolish virgins coming late cry out, saying: "Lord, Lord, open to us." But to those seeking entrance it is then said: "Amen, amen, I say to you, I know you not." What amid these things, dearest brothers, except that we ought to abandon all things, postpone the cares of the world, and yearn for eternal desires alone? But these things have been given to few.

I want to admonish you to leave all things behind, but I do not presume to do so. If therefore you cannot abandon all things of the world, hold onto the things of this world in such a way that you are not held by them in the world; so that earthly things may be possessed and not possess you; so that what you have may be under the dominion of your mind, lest if your mind is conquered by love of earthly things, it itself be rather possessed by its own possessions. Therefore let temporal things be for use, eternal things for desire; let temporal things be for the journey, let eternal things be longed for at the arrival. Let whatever is done in this world be regarded as if from the side. But let the eyes of the mind reach forward before us, while with complete attention they gaze upon those things to which we are coming. Let vices be thoroughly uprooted, torn out not only from the act of deeds, but also from the thought of the heart. Let not the pleasure of the flesh, nor the anxiety of curiosity, nor the fever of ambition hinder us from the Lord's supper, but even those things which we do honorably in the world, let us touch them as if from a certain side of the mind, so that earthly things which please us may serve our body in such a way that they by no means obstruct our heart. Therefore, brothers, we do not dare to tell you to leave all things behind; but nevertheless, if you wish, you leave all things behind even while retaining them, if you so manage temporal things that you still strive with your whole mind toward eternal things.

(in Hom. 36.) But very terrible is the sentence which comes next. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. Let no one then despise the call, lest if when bidden he make excuse, when he wishes to enter he shall not be able.

This supper is prepared daily, and we are all called to the Kingdom which God prepared for people even before the creation of the world (Matt. 25:34). But we are not deemed worthy of it—some because of curiosity for wisdom, others because of love for material things, and still others because of love for the flesh. And the love of God for mankind grants this Kingdom to other sinners who are blind in their rational eyes, who do not understand what the will of God is, or even if they understand, are lame and immobile toward fulfilling it, and poor, as having been deprived of heavenly glory, and maimed, as not manifesting in themselves a blameless life. To these sinners, wandering along the wide and broad paths of sin, the Heavenly Father sends an invitation to the supper through His Son, who became a servant in the flesh, who came to call not the righteous but sinners (Matt. 9:13), and He abundantly feasts them in place of those who are wise and wealthy and who indulge the flesh. Upon many He sends diseases and calamities, and through this involuntarily compels them to renounce such a life, by judgments that He alone knows, and brings them to His supper, turning the infliction of calamities into a motivation for them. There are many examples of this. In a simpler sense, the parable teaches us to give to the poor and maimed rather than to the rich. What the Lord was urging a little earlier, to that very thing, it seems, He also spoke this parable, affirming all the more that one ought to feast the poor. We are taught by this parable yet another thing as well, namely: that we ought to be so zealous and generous in receiving the brethren (the least), that we should persuade them to partake of our goods even when they do not wish to. In this there is a powerful admonition for teachers, that they should instruct their disciples in what is proper even when they do not wish it.