1. Call the workers and give them their wages. Matthew
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SERMON 12: THE THIRD SUNDAY BEFORE LENT
1. Call the workers and give them their wages. Matthew 20:8.
[Protheme] You who are seated above the Cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
These words proposed for the second passage, which are read in Psalm 79:2, clearly explain how the great sublimity of the one seated on high appears not to just anyone, but to those living in the abundance of charity, designated by Ephraim which is interpreted as fruitful;'" in the understanding of truth, designated by Benjamin, of whom
Psalm 67:28 says: Benjamin is a youth of ecstatic mind; in the justice of holiness, designated by Manasseh, which is interpreted as necessity,'*' because the necessity of salvation demands from everyone the justice of holiness.
Let us pray, therefore, that the one who dwells on high,'" who appears as one coming to us from the highest heaven with the beauty of knowledge, might grant to all of us abundant charity with Ephraim, understanding of truth with Benjamin, and justice of holiness with Manasseh, so that in the affection of abundant charity, the conviction of the clearest truth, and the practice of the most just holiness, we might contribute something worthwhile to the praise and glory, etc.
199 See CCSL Ixxii, 161: "Ephraim means fruitful or abundance."
191 See CCSL Ixxii, 69: "Manasseh means forgetful or necessity."
192 See Sir 24:7: "I dwelt in the highest places...."
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[Sermon] 2. Call the workers and give them their wages. In accordance with the graciousness of the divine will, the Lord Jesus, free from all sin, wished to be judged as if guilty by sinners; therefore, God constituted him as judge of the living and the dead." To carry out this duty from God the Father proposed words are stated, namely:
Call the workers, etc. And because no one will be crowned except the one who will have struggled legitimately,' and no one is able to fight meritoriously, unless divine mercy calls them to spiritual warfare; consequently one proceeds forward in a most elegant and ordered manner in the proposed text. Now, in the proposed passage the divine condescension of the solicitous calling is noted first; second, the human fatigue of meritorious works; and third, the perfect remuneration of the divine vision.
First, the divine condescension of the solicitous calling is noted when it says: Call; second, the human fatigue of meritorious works, when it adds: workers; third, the perfect remuneration of the divine vision, when it includes: and give them their wages; these wages are nothing other than the divine vision, which is restored, but not gifted, to the workers, since the Apostle says in Romans 4:4: To him who works, the reward is not credited as a favor but as something due, although this remuneration is unworthy of comparison; this reward is restored in the evening and not the morning, because it is obtained at the end of work and not at the beginning.
3. First, in the proposed passage the divine condescension of the solicitous calling is noted, when it says: Cail.
God indeed calls three types of people to whom all others can be reduced. First, God calls those who have turned
193 See Acts 10:42.
14 See 2 Tim 2:5: "And again, one who enters a contest is not crowned unless he has competed according to the rules."
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away to the bitterness of penance through the necessary detestation of vice. Second, he calls the converted to the rectitude of justice through the obligatory implementation of the commandments. Third, he calls the perfect to the perfection of life in the voluntary and extraordinary following of the counsels.
4. First, then the Lord calls those who have turned away to the bitterness of penance through the necessary detestation of vice. Whence Isaiah 22:12 says: The Lord will call on that day to weeping, mourning, baldness, and putting on sackcloth. The Lord in fact calls sinners to the weeping and mourning, of tearful contrition; to the baldness, of cleansing confession; and to putting on, of a limit to luxury; and so we deplore the ruin of sin through contrition, shave the hairs of corporal vices through confession, and limit corporal luxury through the belt of continence. But because we come forth from interior to exterior things, descended from superior to inferior things, and loved the created instead of the Creator, he wished not only to call us through the holy prophets, but came to call us personally from interior to exterior things, so as to call us back to interior things. He descended from above to what is below, so as to attract or elevate us to what is above. And later, this Creator assumed the created so as to draw us from the love of creatures and encourage the love of God. Whence the Lord himself says in Luke
5:32: I did not come to call the just, but sinners to penance.
Therefore, dear ones, let us not be careless or ungrateful and if we do not want to fear his justice, let us at least reciprocate in kind to his love and accompany him to the palace of the celestial homeland, from which he descends for us.
5. Second, he calls the converted to the rectitude of justice through the obligatory implementation of the com-
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mandments. Whence Isaiah 42:6 says: I the Lord called you in justice, and I have taken your hand and preserved you. God calls a person to justice, when he prescribes precepts to be observed; but, because human misery is so great, all human works are like the rag of a menstruating woman unless divine mercy precedes them with inspiration and accompanies them with assistance; therefore it follows: I have taken your hand and preserved you, as if to say, I the Lord called you, prescribing precepts to be observed; and I have taken your hand, with the works of justice you initiated, which are understood with the name hand, preceding them with inspiration; and preserved you, by fulfilling my precepts. For this reason Job
14:15 rightly says: You will call me, and I will respond to you, to the work of your hands you will reach out your right hand. You will call me, by prescribing for me precepts to observe; and I will respond to you, by fulfilling these works; and to the work of your hands you will reach out your right hand, by helping me to persevere. Whence
Augustine states: "Give what you command and order what you wish."!% 6. Third, he calls the perfect to the perfection of life in the voluntary and extraordinary following of the counsels.
Whence Matthew 4:21 says: He saw two brothers. James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John in a boat with their father Zebedee mending their nets, and he called them. And they together left their nets and father, and followed him. Our Lord Jesus Christ called them, so they might despise earthly matters and even put aside carnal affection. Those who wish to follow Christ to the apex of * See Isa 64:6: "And we have all become as one unclean, and all our justices like the rag of a menstruating woman...."
6 See Book X c. 29 n. 40 of Sancti Augustini Confessionum Libri XIII, edited by Martin Skutella and Lucas Verheijen. CCSL xxvii
(Turnhout: Brepols, 1981), 176: Da quod iubes et iube quod uis.
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evangelical perfection by necessity must denounce the destructive concupiscence of earthly things and carnal caresses of blood relationships. And this is what is said in the previously mentioned verse: they left their nets and father, and followed him. The way we ought to follow Christ completely is stated by Chrysostom, when he comments on Matthew's verse: "Generally there are three things which the person who comes to Christ ought to relinquish. The nets are understood as carnal actions, the boat as worldly property, and the father as parents and blood relatives."!%"
7. It follows with: workers, where human fatigue in meritorious works is noted. That human work is meritorious first in the acquisition of the celestial grace that embellishes the subject proper; second, in the multiplication of the enriching justice that acquires the highest good; third, in the promulgation of the divine law that educates ignorant neighbors.
8. First, that work is meritorious which, in the acquisition of the celestial grace, embellishes the subject proper.
Whence Proverbs 12:11 says: He that tills his land will be satisfied with bread, he that pursues idleness is very foolish. He that tills his land, namely, of his own conscience, tearing from it the thorns of sin through the practice of confession, will be satisfied with the bread of sevenfold grace of God, possessing all that is delicious, and the sweetness of every taste.'** He that pursues idleness, by allowing the earth of conscience to grow sterile with evil roots of vices, is very foolish. To taste at least how sweet
197 Bonaventure adapts John Chrysostom, Homily 7 n. 22 (Opus imperfectum). See PG 56:676.
198 See Wis 16:20.
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the fruit of the sevenfold grace of God is, each person must cultivate and till the earth of one's conscience often.
9. Second, that work is meritorious which, in the multiplication of enriching justice, acquires the highest good.
Whence 2 Corinthians 9:8 says: And God is able to make all grace abound in you, so that, having ample means in everything you may abound in every good work. The beginning growth of justice pertains to divine mercy, but its cooperation to human effort; for the goodness of human justice begins and grows due to divine grace while the activity of free will assists, because we are God's helpers.1 For that reason the Apostle, urging all Christians to progress in the way of justice, says: And God is able to make all grace abound in you, thereby explaining that the increase of grace and justice is from God; ample means in everything, pertaining to salvation; having, you may abound in every good work, with the cooperation of divine grace. This is why Sirach 14:21 states: Every chosen work will be justified, and the one who did it will be honored by it. The work will be chosen according to the activity of free will; but it will be justified, according to the acceptance of the divine will; consequently, the one who does such a work will be honored with the reception of divine intimacy.
10. Third, that work is meritorious which, in the promulgation of the divine law, educates ignorant neighbors.
Whence 2 Timothy 4:5 says: You, however, remain vigilant, labor in all things, do the work of an evangelist. Since life persuades better than language, and an example better than a word, whoever wishes to teach someone else needs to refute the subtleties of the devil, offer up carnal concupiscence, and condemn worldly avarice, according to the 199 See 1 Cor 3:9.
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statement of the apostle: You, however, remain vigilant, against the lies of the devil; Jabor in all things, against the depravity of the flesh; and do the work of the evangelist, against the avarice of the world; so that what you preach with the mouth, you complete with work; for the gospel proclaims that all things must be left behind. We persevere, therefore, in this work of proclaiming the law in accord with the example of blessed Paul in Acts 26: 20:
I went about declaring that they repent and turn to God, doing worthy works. Not only must we persevere in the work of proclaiming the law, but also of recognizing the truth, because it is of greater merit than bodily labor, especially if one studies so as to illuminate others. Whence
Ambrose observes: "The one who studies the word of God is not lazy, nor is the one who works outside of greater merit than the one who practices the work of knowing divine truth."
11. Third, the perfect remuneration of the divine vision is noted in the proposed passage, when it says: give them, etc. This is nothing other than the divine vision, which is given to each according to their works.*' Now first, those called to the bitterness of penance, who toiled in the acquisition of celestial grace, will receive delicious wages to enjoy due to abounding sweetness. Second, those called to the rectitude of justice, who toiled in the multiplication of enriching justice, will receive plentiful wages to enrich and honor due to distinguished excellence.
Third, those called to the perfection of life, who labored in the promulgation of the divine law, will receive splendid wages to behold due to lustrous beauty. And so, such
200 Bonaventure adapts Sermon 11 n. 11 of Ambrose, Expositio in Psalmum David CXVIII. See PL 15:1423C.
201 See Rom 2:6: God "who will render to every person according to their works."
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wages are perfect and not otherwise, since they perfectly sweeten taste, perfectly enrich and honor the proper subject, and perfectly delight vision.
12. First, those wages will be delicious due to abounding sweetness. Whence Psalm 126:2 says: When he will give sleep to his beloved: behold, children are the inheritance of the Lord, the reward, the fruit of the womb. Christ is the fruit of the virgin womb, given as a perpetual inheritance and delicious wages for the children of God after this life. Those wages satiate the appetite of the soul, because they intimately permeate the essence of the soul, they delight in harmony, because pleasure is the union of the harmonious with what is harmonious,"" and nothing is more harmonious to the soul than to be joined with him in whose image and similitude it was made."
13. Second, those wages will be plentiful to enrich and honor in accord with distinguished excellence. Whence
Matthew 5:12 says: Rejoice and exult, because your reward is great in heaven. Rejoice, I say, interiorly within the soul; and exult exteriorly in word and deed, so that there is no place for ingratitude and fear, because your reward is great in heaven. Those wages are spoken of as plentiful, because they fill the entire soul with what it needs and exceed the capacity of the soul due to infinity and abundance. In fact the attainment of these wages removes all fear; therefore Genesis 15:1 says in regard to Abraham: Do not fear Abraham, I will be a truly great reward for you.
*° See Book VIII, c. 7 of Avicennae Metaphysica, 269: "There is no delight unless there is apprehension of the suitable, according to what is suitable."
203 See Gen 2:6.
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14. Third, those wages are splendid to behold due to lustrous beauty. Whence Wisdom 5:16 says: But the just will live forever, and their reward is with the Lord. The Almighty will be mindful of them. They will receive, therefore, a kingdom of beauty and a generous diadem from the hand of the Lord. Indeed eternal wisdom proposes to the just, who reign forever in his kingdom, to contemplate the eternal reasons of all things as in a mirror of many splendors. And this contemplation or vision "is the entire reward," which seizes the souls of the blessed with so great a desire for it, that the Almighty will always be mindful of them as they, since in continual praise and glorification, they return to the first principle whatever good they possess. Consequently, all they continually receive is returned to the one, who alone is able to glorify, because the nearer the soul is to those wages, the more it attributes what it receives to its principle. Let us ask, etc.
204 See Augustine, Sermon 2 n. 13 on Psalm 90 in Sancti Avrelit Augovstini Enarrationes in Psalmos LI-C, eds. Eligius Dekkers and Johannes Fraipont, CCSL xxxix (Turnhout: Brepols, 1956), 1277: "I do not know how great what we are going to see will be when our entire reward is our vision...."