Mateus 20
Pseudo-Chrysostom
Mateus 20:1-16
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] The Master of the household is Christ, whose house are the heavens and the earth; and the creatures of the heavens, and the earth, and beneath the earth, His family. His vineyard is righteousness, in which are set divers sorts of righteousness as vines, as meekness, chastity, patience, and the other virtues; all of which are called by one common name righteousness. Men are the cultivators of this vineyard, whence it is said, Who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. For God placed His righteousness in our senses, not for His own but for our benefit. Know then that we are the hired labourers. But as no man gives wages to a labourer, to the end he should do nothing save only to eat, so likewise we were not thereto called by Christ, that we should labour such things only as pertain to our own good, but to the glory of God. And like as the hired labourer looks first to his task, and after to his daily food, so ought we to mind first those things which concern the glory of God, then those which concern our own profit. Also as the hired labourer occupies the whole day in his Lord's work, and takes but a single hour for his own meal; so ought we to occupy our whole life in the glory of God, taking but a very small portion of it for the uses of this world. And as the hired labourer when he has done no work is ashamed that day to enter the house, and ask his food; how should not you be ashamed to enter the church, and stand before the face of God, when you have done nothing good in the sight of God? For in this world men live by buying and selling, and gain their support by defrauding each other. Or; The idle are not sinners, for they are called dead. But he is idle who works not the work of God. Do you desire to be not idle? Take not that which is another's; and give of that which is your own, and you have laboured in the Lord's vineyard, cultivating the vine of mercy. It follows, And he said unto them, Go ye also into my vineyard. Observe that it is with the first alone that He agrees upon the sum to be given, a denarius; the others are hired on no express stipulation, but What is right I will give you. For the Lord knowing that Adam would fall, and that all should hereafter perish in the deluge, made conditions for him, that he should never say that he therefore neglected righteousness, because he knew not what reward he should have. But with the rest He made no contract, seeing He was prepared to give more than the labourers could hope. These two hours are coupled together, because in the sixth and ninth it was that He called the generation of the Jews, and multiplied to publish His testaments among men, whereas the appointed time of salvation now drew nigh. For what is our hiring, and the wages of that hiring? The promise of eternal life; for the Gentiles knew neither God, nor God's promises. Consider, He gives the reward not the next morning, but in the evening. Thus the judgment shall take place while this world is still standing, and each man shall receive that which is due to him. This is on two accounts. First, because the happiness of the world to come is to be itself the reward of righteousness; so the award is made before, and not in that world. Secondly, that sinners may not behold the blessedness of that day, The Lord saith unto his steward, that is, the Son to the Holy Spirit. For we always give more willingly, where we give without return, seeing it is for our own honour that we give. Therefore God in giving reward to all the saints shows himself just; in giving to us, merciful; as the Apostle speaks, That the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; (Rom. 16:9.) and thence it is said, Beginning from the last even unto the first. Or surely that God may show His inestimable mercy, He first rewards the last and more unworthy, and afterwards the first; for of His great mercy He regarded not order of merit. And this not with injustice. For he who was born in the first period of the world, lived no longer than the determined time of his life, and what harm was it to him, though the world continued after his leaving it? And they that shall be born towards its close will not live less than the days that are numbered to them. And how does it cut then labour shorter, that the world is speedily ended, when they have accomplished their thread of life before? Moreover it is not of man to be born sooner or later, but of the power of God. Therefore he that is born first cannot claim to himself a higher place, nor ought he to be held in contempt that was born later. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, saying. But if this we have said be true, that both first and last have lived their own time, and neither more nor less; and that each man's death is his consummation, what means this that they say, We have borne the burden and heat of the day? Because to know that the end of the world is at hand is of great force to make us do righteousness. Wherefore Christ in His love to us said, The kingdom of heaven shall draw nigh. (Matt. 4:2.) Whereas it was a weakening of them to know that the duration of the world was to be yet long. So that though they did not indeed live through the whole of time, they seem in a manner to have borne its weight. Or, by the burden of the day is meant the burdensome precepts of the Law; and the heat may be that consuming temptation to error which evil spirits contrived for them, stirring them to imitate the Gentiles; from all which things the Gentiles were exempt, believing on Christ, and by compendiousness of grace being saved completely. Their complaint was not that they were defrauded of their rightful recompense, but that the others had received more than they deserved. For the envious have as much pain at others' success as at their own loss. From which it is clear, that envy flows from vain glory. A man is grieved to be second, because he wishes to be first. He removes this feeling of envy by saying, Didst thou not agree with me for a denarius? Or; He says the first shall be last, and the last first, not that the last are to be exalted before the first, but that they should be put on an equality, so that the difference of time should make no difference in their station. That He says, For many are called, but few chosen, is not to be taken of the elder saints, but of the Gentiles; for of the Gentiles who were called being many, but few were chosen. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 20:17
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] For the salvation of men entirely rests upon Christ's death; nor is there any thing for which we are more bound to render thanks to God, than for His death. He imparted the mystery of His death to His disciples for this reason, namely, because the more precious treasure is ever committed to the more worthy vessels. Had the rest heard of the passion of Christ, the men might have been troubled because of the weakness of their faith, and the women because of the tenderness of their nature, which such matters do commonly move to tears. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 20:18
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] That word Behold, is a word of stress, to bid them lay up in their hearts the memory of this present. He says, We go up; as much as to say, Ye see that I go of My free-will to death. "When then ye shall see Me hang upon the cross, deem not that I am no more than man; for though to be able to die is human; yet to be willing to die is more than human. For when sorrow comes at a time we are looking for it, it is found lighter than it would have been, had it taken us by surprise. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 20:20-21
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] This mother of the sons of Zebedee is Salome, as her name is given by another Evangelist (Mark 15:40; 16:1.), herself truly peaceful, and the mother of sons of peace. From this place we learn the eminent merit of this woman; not only had her sons left their father, but she had left her husband, and had followed Christ; for He could live without her, but she could not be saved without Christ. Except any will say that between the time of the Apostle's calling, and the suffering of Christ, Zebedee was dead, and that thus her sex helpless, her age advanced, she was following Christ's steps; for faith never grows old, and religion feels never weary. Her maternal affection made her bold to ask, whence it is said, She worshipped Him, and desired a certain thing of Him; i. e. she did Him reverence, requesting that what she should ask, should be granted her. It follows, He said unto her, What wouldest thou? He asks not because He knows not, but that by its very statement, the unreasonableness of her petition might be shown, She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit. Or otherwise. We affirm not that this woman's request was a lawful one; but this we affirm, that it was not earthly things, but heavenly things that she asked for her sons. For she felt not as ordinary mothers, whose affection is to the bodies of their children, while they neglect their minds; they desire that they should prosper in this world, not caring what they shall suffer in the next, thereby showing themselves to be mothers of their bodies only, but not of their souls. And I imagine that these brethren, having heard the Lord prophesying of His passion and resurrection, began to say among themselves, seeing they believed; Behold, the King of heaven is going down to the realms of Tartarus, that He may destroy the king of death. But when the victory shall be completed, what remains but that the glory of the kingdom shall follow? He that gave Himself to man, how shall He not give them the fellowship of His kingdom? The supineness of the petitioner is in fault, where the graciousness of the giver is undoubted. But if we ourselves ask our master, perchance we wound the hearts of the rest of our brethren, who though they can no longer be overcome by the flesh, seeing they are now spiritual, may yet be wounded as carnal. Let us therefore put forward our mother, that she may make her petition for us in her own person. For though she be to be blamed therein, yet she will readily obtain forgiveness, her sex pleading for her. For the Lord Himself, who has filled the souls of mothers with affection to their offspring, will more readily listen to their desires. Then the Lord, who knows secrets, makes answer not to the words of the mother's petition, but to the design of the sons who suggested it. Their wish was commendable, but their request inconsiderate; therefore, though it was not right that it should be granted to them, yet the simplicity of their petition did not deserve a harsh rebuke, forasmuch as it proceeded of love of the Lord. Wherefore it is their ignorance that the Lord finds fault with; Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 20:22
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] For ofttimes the Lord suffers His disciples either to do or to think somewhat amiss, that from their error He may take occasion to set forth a rule of piety; knowing that their fault harms not when the Master is present, while His doctrine edifies them not for the present only, but for the future. Or, Ye know not what ye ask; as much as to say, I have called you to My right hand away from My left, and now you wilfully desire to be on My left. Hence perhaps they did this through the mother. For the devil betook him to his well-known tool the woman, that as he made prey of Adam by his wife, so he should sever these by their mother. But now that the salvation of all had proceeded from a woman, destruction could no longer enter in among the saints by a woman. Or He says, Ye know not what ye ask, seeing we ought not only to consider the glory to which we may attain, but how we may escape the ruin of sin. For so in secular war, he who is ever thinking of the plunder, hardly wins the fight; they should have asked, Give us the aid of Thy grace, that we may overcome all evil. The Lord knew that they were able to follow His passion, but He puts the question to them that we may all hear, that no man can reign with Christ, unless he is conformed to Christ in His passion, for that which is precious is only to be purchased at a costly price. The Lord's passion we may call not only the persecution of the Gentiles, but all the hardships we go through in struggling against our sins. Or, they say this not so much out of reliance on their own fortitude, as out of ignorance; for to the inexperienced the trial of suffering and death appears slight. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 20:24
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] But as the two had asked carnally, so now the ten are grieved carnally. For as to seek to be above all is blame-worthy, so to have another above us is mortifying to our vanity. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 20:25-28
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] Indeed, to desire a good work is good, for it is within our will, and ours is the reward; but to desire a primacy of honour is vanity. For when we attain this we are judged of God, because we know not whether in our precedence of honour we deserve the reward of righteousness. For not even an Apostle will have praise with God, because he is an Apostle, but if he has well fulfilled the duties of his Apostleship; nor was an Apostle placed in honour as an Apostle, for any previous merit of his; but was judged meet for that ministry, on account of the disposition of his mind. For high place courts him who flies from it, and shuns him who courts it. A better life then, and not a more worthy degree, should be our object. The Lord therefore, willing to check the ambition of the two sons of Zebedee, and the indignation of the others, points out this distinction between the chief men of the world, and those of the Church, showing that the primacy in Christ is neither to be sought by him who has it not, nor envied by him who has it. For men become masters in this world that they may exercise domination over their inferiors, and reduce them to slavery, and rob them, and employ them even to death for their own profit and glory. But men become governors in the Church, that they may serve those who are under them, and minister to them whatever they have received of Christ, that they may postpone their own convenience, and mind that of others, and not refuse even to die for the sake of those beneath them. To seek therefore a command in the Church is neither righteous, nor profitable. No prudent man will voluntarily subject himself to slavery, nor to stand in such peril wherein he will have to render account for the whole Church; unless it be one perchance who fears not God's judgment, who abuses His ecclesiastical primacy to a secular end, so that He converts it into a secular primacy. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 20:29
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] As the proof of the husbandman's industry lies in the abundance of his crop, so the fulness of the Church is the evidence of an industrious teacher; so it is here said, And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. No one was deterred by the toilsomeness of the journey, for spiritual love feels no fatigue; no one was kept away by the thought of sufferings, for they were going into possession of the kingdom of heaven. For he who has in very deed tasted the reality of heavenly good, has nothing to attach him to earth. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 20:30
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] In good season these blind men come before Christ, that having their eyes opened, they may go up with Him to Jerusalem as witnesses to His power. They heard the sound of the passers by, but saw not their persons, and having nothing free about them but their voice, because they could not follow Him with their feet, they pursued Him with their voice; When they heard that Jesus passed by, they cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 20:30
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] Some interpret that the two blind men are the Gentiles; one sprung from Cham, the other from Japhet; they sat by the way-side, that is, they walked hard by the truth, but they could not find it out; or they were placed in reason, not having yet received knowledge of the Word. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 20:31
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] For they saw how mean their clothes, and considered not how pure their consciences. See the foolish wisdom of men! They think great men are hurt when they receive the homage of the poor. What poor man dare salute a rich man in public? They were rather encouraged than repelled by this rebuke. For so faith is quickened by being prohibited; and hence is secure in dangers, and in security is endangered; whence it follows, But they cried out the more, saying, Have mercy upon us, Son of David. They cried out at the first because they were blind, now they rather cried out because they were forbidden to come to the Light. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 20:32-34
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] Or; He asks them on account of their faith, that whereas they who were blind confess Christ to be the Son of God, those who had their sight might be put to shame for their esteeming Him only man. They had indeed called Christ Lord, and they had spoken true; but by calling Him the Son of David, they obliterated this their good confession. For indeed by a misuse of words men are called Lords, but none is truly Lord, but God only. When therefore they say, O Lord, thou Son of David, they thus misapply the term to Christ, as esteeming Him man; had they only called Him Lord, they would have confessed His Godhead. When then He asks them, What would ye? they no longer style Him Son of David, but only Lord; They say unto Him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. For the Son of David cannot open the eyes of the blind, but the Son of God can. So long then as they cried, O Lord, thou Son of David, their cure was delayed; as soon as they said, Lord, only, healing was shed upon them; for it follows, And Jesus had compassion upon them, and touched their eyes, and straightway they saw. He touched them carnally as man, He healed them as God. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 20:34
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] Accordingly Jesus touched the eyes of the Gentile mind, giving them the grace of the Holy Spirit, and when enlightened they followed Him with good works. — Catena Aurea by Aquinas
Mateus 20:34
[(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)] On being healed they rendered a high service to Christ; for it follows, And they followed him. For this the Lord requires of thee, according to the Prophet, that thou be careful to walk with the Lord thy God. (Mic. 6:8). — Catena Aurea by Aquinas