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- A.D. 33.
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Isaias
5:1
I will sing to my beloved the canticle of my cousin concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a hill in a fruitful place.
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Jeremias
2:21
Yet, I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then art thou turned unto me into that which is good for nothing, O strange vineyard?
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Matthew
21:33
Hear ye another parable. There was a man, an householder, who planted a vineyard and made a hedge round about it and dug in it a press and built a tower and let it out to husbandmen and went into a strange country.
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Luke
20:9
And he began to speak to the people this parable: A certain man planted a vineyard and let it out to husbandmen: and he was abroad for a long time.
*H And he began to speak to them in parables: A certain man planted a vineyard and made a hedge about it and dug a place for the winefat and built a tower and let it to husbandmen: and went into a far country.
Ver. 1. Under these figurative modes of speech, or parables, Jesus Christ began to trace out for their reflection a true portraiture of their ingratitude, and of the divine vengeance. By this man we are to understand God the Father, whose vineyard was the house of Israel, which he guarded by angels; the place dug for the wine-vat is the law; the tower, the temple; and Moses, the prophets and the priests, whom the Jews afflicted and persecuted are the husbandmen or servants. S. Jerom. — This same parable was employed by Isaias, (v. 1.) where speaking of Christ, he says: My beloved had a vineyard, and he fenced it in. Tirinus. — He went into a far country, not by change of place, for he is every where, but by leaving the workmen the power of free-will, either to work or not to work; in the same manner as a man in a far country cannot oversee his husbandmen at home, but leaves them to themselves. Ven. Bede. -- This parable is thus morally explained: Jesus Christ planted a Church with his own blood, surrounded it with evangelical doctrine, as with a hedge; dug a place for the wine-vat, by the abundance of spiritual graces which he has prepared for his Church; built a tower, by appointing his angels to guard each individual Christian, who are the husbandmen to whom he has let it out. Nic. de Lyra.
*Lapide
. Planted a vineyard. Gr. ε̉φύτευσεν , Vulg. pastinavit. The verb pastinare is especially used of vines. It means to dig the soil of the vineyard, and prepare it for planting vines, So the word repastinare means to dig up vines when they are sterile. And dug a lake (Vulg.), a receptacle into which the must pressed from the grapes might flow. The Gr. is ύπολήνιον , i.e., beneath the winepress. For ληνός means winepress. Hence the Arabic translates, and dug a winepress in it. S. Matthew (xxi. 33) uses the same expression. For torcular , or winepress , means not only the actual press itself, but the vat or receptacle beneath the press in which the grape juice was received. This last was said to be dug , or, as in Isa 5:1 , to be cut out.*H And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant to receive of the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.
Ver. 2. The first servant whom the Almighty sent, was Moses; but they sent him away empty; for, says the Psalmist, they provoked him to anger in the camp. Ps. cv. The second servant sent was David, whom they used reproachfully, saying: What have we to do with David? 3 Kings xii. 16. The third was the school of the prophets; and which of the prophets did they not kill? Mat. xxiii. Ven. Bede.
*H But the husbandmen said one to another: This is the heir. Come let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours.
Ver. 7. From this it appears, that the chief priests and lawyers were not ignorant that Christ was the Messias promised in the law and the prophets, but their knowledge was afterwards blinded by their envy: for otherwise, had they known him to be true God, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory, says S. Paul. For a further explanation, see S. Mat. xxi. Ven. Bede.
*H And laying hold on him, they killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.
Ver. 8. They cast the heir, Jesus Christ, out of the vineyard, by leading him out of Jerusalem to be crucified. Theophy. — They had before cast him out by calling him a Samaritan and demoniac; (S. John, C. viii.) and again by refusing to receive him, and turning him over to the Gentiles. S. Jerom.
*H What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy those husbandmen and will give the vineyard to others.
Ver. 9. The vineyard is given to others; as it is said, they shall come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. S. Jerom.
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Psalms
117:22
The stone which the builders rejected; the same is become the head of the corner.
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Isaias
28:16
Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Sion, a tried stone, a corner stone, a precious stone, founded in the foundation. He that believeth, let him not hasten.
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Matthew
21:42
Jesus saith to them: Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? By the Lord this has been done; and it is wonderful in our eyes.
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Acts
4:11
This is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the head of the corner.
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Romans
9:33
As it is written: Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and a rock of scandal. And whosoever believeth in him shall not be confounded.
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1_Peter
2:7
To you therefore that believe, he is honour: but to them that believe not, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner:
*H And have you not read this scripture, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner:
Ver. 10. By this question, Christ shows that they were about to fulfil this prophecy, by casting him off, planning his death, and delivering him up to the Gentiles, by which he became the corner-stone, joining the two people of the Jews and Gentiles together, and forming out of them the one city and one temple of the faithful. Ven. Bede. — The Church is the corner, joining together Jews and Gentiles; the head of it is Christ. By the Lord hath this been done in our days, and it is wonderful in our eyes, seeing the prodigies which God has performed through him whom men reject as an impostor. Theophy. and V.
*H And they sought to lay hands on him: but they feared the people. For they knew that he spoke this parable to them. And leaving him, they went their way.
Ver. 12. The chief priests thus shew, that what our Saviour had just said was true, by thus seeking to lay their hands on him. Ven. Bede.
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Matthew
22:15
Then the Pharisees going, consulted among themselves how to insnare him in his speech.
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Luke
20:20
And being upon the watch, they sent spies, who should feign themselves just, that they might take hold of him in his words, that they might deliver him up to the authority and power of the governor.
*H Who coming, say to him: Master, we know that thou art a true speaker and carest not for any man; for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar? Or shall we not give it?
Ver. 14. The disciples of the Pharisees said this in order to induce our Saviour to answer them, "that they were not to pay tribute to Cæsar, being the people of God; an answer they confidently anticipated, and which the Herodians hearing, might immediately apprehend him, and thus remove the odium from themselves to Herod. Ven. Bede.
*H Who knowing their wiliness, saith to them: Why tempt you me? Bring me a penny that I may see it.
Ver. 15. Knowing their hypocrisy. [1] The Latin word commonly signifies, cunning, but by the Greek is here meant their dissimulation, or hypocrisy. Wi.
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Romans
13:7
Render therefore to all men their dues. Tribute, to whom tribute is due: custom, to whom custom: fear, to whom fear: honour, to whom honour.
*H And Jesus answering, said to them: Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.
Ver. 17. Although Christ clearly establishes here the strict obligation of paying to Cæsar what belongs to Cæsar, to the confusion of his very enemies, we shall still find them bringing forward against him the charge of disloyalty, as if he forbade tribute to be paid to Cæsar. Luke xxiii. 2. After the example of her divine Model, the Catholic Church has uniformly taught with S. Paul, the necessity of obeying the powers in being; and this not for fear of their wrath, but for conscience sake. Render to Cæsar the money on which his image is stamped, but render yourselves cheerfully to God; for the light of thy countenance, O Lord, is stamped upon us, (Ps. iv.) and not the image of Cæsar. S. Jerom. — With reason were they astonished at the wisdom of this answer, which eluded all their artifices, and taught them at the same time what they owed to their prince, and what they owed to God: and whoever hopes for the favour of heaven, must conscientiously observe this double duty to God and to the magistrate.
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Matthew
22:23
That day there came to him the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection; and asked him,
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Luke
20:27
And there came to him some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is any resurrection: and they asked him,
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Deuteronomy
25:5
When brethren dwell together, and one of them dieth without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry to another: but his brother shall take her, and raise up seed for his brother:
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Exodus
3:6
And he said: I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Moses hid his face: for he durst not look at God.
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Matthew
22:32
I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.
*H And as concerning the dead that they rise again have you not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spoke to him, saying: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?
Ver. 26. The doctrine of the resurrection from the dead is clearly given in the book of Moses, where mention is made of the burning bush, from the midst of which God appeared to Moses: have you not read, I say, what God there said to him? As God is the God of the living, you must be in an egregious error in imagining, that such as die in the eyes of the world not to return thither any more, die in the same manner in the eyes of God, to live no more. V.
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Matthew
22:35
And one of them, a doctor of the law, asked him, tempting him:
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Deuteronomy
6:4
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.
*H And Jesus answered him: The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one God.
Ver. 29. Literally the Lord our God is the only Lord: and this is the sense of the text in Deuteronomy vi. 4. The word in the original text, rendered by the term Lord, is the grand name JEHOVA, which signifies properly God, considered as the supreme Being, or the author of all existence.
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Leviticus
19:18
Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens. Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself. I am the Lord.
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Matthew
22:39
And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
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Romans
13:9
For: Thou shalt not commit adultery: Thou shalt not kill: Thou shalt not steal: Thou shalt not bear false witness: Thou shalt not covet. And if there be any other commandment, it is comprised in this word: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
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Galatians
5:14
For all the law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
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James
2:8
If then you fulfil the royal law, according to the scriptures: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; you do well.
*H And that he should be loved with the whole heart and with the whole understanding and with the whole soul and with the whole strength. And to love one's neighbour as one's self is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices.
Ver. 33. Venerable Bede gathers from this answer of the Scribes, that it had been long disputed among the Scribes and Pharisees, which was the greatest commandment in the law; some preferring the acts of faith and love, because many of the fathers, before the law was instituted, were pleasing to God on account of their faith and piety, and not on account of their sacrifices; yet none were agreeable to God who had not faith and charity. This Scribe seems to have been of the opinion of those who preferred the love of God. Ven. Bede. — This excellence of charity teacheth us that faith only is not sufficient. B.
*Lapide
. And to love one's neighbour as oneselg is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices. Holocausts were sacrifices in which the whole victim was burnt and sacrificed to God by fire. This is what God says, "I will mercy [prefer] and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than holocausts" ( Hos 6:6 ). This young man tacitly assents to the saying of Christ, and condemns the scribes, who preferred sacrifices, which yielded profit to themselves, to mercy and the love of our neighbour. And this was why they bade children say to their parents, when they were in need, corban , i.e., oblation (see on Mat 15:6 ).*H And Jesus seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him: Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
Ver. 34. Being now refuted in their discourse, they no longer interrogate him, but deliver him up to the Roman power. Thus envy may be vanquished, but with great difficulty silenced. Ven. Bede.
*Lapide
. Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. Thou art not far from the way of salvation, for the love of God and our neighbour is the pathway to heaven. Again it means, thou art not far from My Church , by which, militant here on earth, we go to the Church triumphant in heaven. "Still, as yet thou lackest faith to believe in Me as the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, and to obey My commands, so that thou mayest indeed become a Christian. And if thou wilt be perfect, leave all things and follow Me, as the Apostles have done." When, then, He says, thou art not far, "He shows," says Victor of Antioch, "that he was still at some distance, and that he ought to reach forward to that which was before, and seek diligently for the things that were yet wanting unto him."*H And Jesus answering, said, teaching in the temple: How do the scribes say that Christ is the son of David?
Ver. 35. According to S. Mat. it was principally to the Pharisees that Christ proposed this question. See Mat. 22, 41.
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Psalms
109:1
A psalm for David. The Lord said to my Lord: Sit thou at my right hand: Until I make thy enemies thy footstool.
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Matthew
22:44
The Lord said to my Lord: Sit on my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool?
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Luke
20:42
And David himself saith in the book of Psalms: The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand,
*H David therefore himself calleth him Lord. And whence is he then his son? And a great multitude heard him gladly.
Ver. 37. This interrogation of Jesus instructs us how to refute the adversaries of truth; for if any assert that Christ was but a simple and holy man, a mere descendant of the race of David, we will ask them, after the example of Jesus: If Christ be man only, and the Son of David, how does David, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, call him Lord? The Jews were not blamed for calling him the Son of David, but for denying him to be the Son of God. Ven. Bede.
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Matthew
23:6
And they love the first places at feasts and the first chairs in the synagogues,
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Luke
11:43
Woe to you, Pharisees, because you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues and salutations in the marketplace.
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Luke
20:46
Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk in long robes and love salutations in the market place and the first chairs in the synagogues and the chief rooms at feasts:
*Lapide
. Who love to walk in long robes, stolis (Vulg.). The stole was an elegant garment, flowing down to the heels. Wherefore the Scribes wore it for the sake of ostentation.*Lapide
. Who devour , Gr. οί κατεσθίοντες , i.e ., who altogether consume and lick up the houses of widows , both by reason of the sumptuous feasts which they ask of them, as well as by the gifts and money which they avariciously extort from them under the pretext of offering prayers for them. "When, therefore," says Bede, "the hand is stretched out to the poor, it is wont to help prayer; but those men passed whole nights in prayer that they might take from the poor." These shall receive greater judgment. A severer sentence of God, and a heavier condemnation shall press upon the Scribes in the day of judgment, because by a pretence of probity they are aiming at wrong-doing; and being clothed in the garments of God, they are fighting on the devil's side. "Simulated holiness," says S. Chrysostom, "is a double iniquity."* Footnotes
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Luke
21:1
And looking on, he saw the rich men cast their gifts into the treasury.
*Lapide
. How the people cast money : æs , brass (Vulg.), i.e ., all sorts of money, whether brass, silver, or gold. For the first money was made of brass , hence all money was afterwards called brass , even when made of silver or gold. Into the treasury ; gazophylacium (Vulg.). For gaza is a Persian word, meaning riches ; and φυλάττειν is to keep. This was a chest into which gifts were cast by the people, and kept for the service of the Temple, and for supporting the priests and the poor. Hence, also, the porch in which the chest was kept was called by the same name. Thus it is said in John viii. 20, "These words spake Jesus in the treasury ( gazophylacio ), teaching in the Temple." So Bede.*Lapide
. A certain poor widow cast in two mites , which make a farthing. Not as if one mite made a farthing, as Euthymius understands, relying on Mat 5:26 . But two mites were equivalent to one farthing, as is here clearly expressed. For a farthing was the fourth part of a little ass ; and ten small asses made a denarius . A mite was half a farthing.*H And calling his disciples together, he saith to them: Amen I say to you, this poor widow hath cast in more than all they who have cast into the treasury.
Ver. 43. God accepts alms, if they are corresponding to each one's abilities; and the more able a man is, the more must he bestow in charities. The widow's mite was very acceptable to God, and very meritorious to herself; because though small the offering considered in itself, it was great considering her extreme indigence.
*Lapide
. This poor widow hath cast in more than all. For although per se , and other things being equal, the greatest and best alms and oblations is that which is most, yet, per accidens , when other things are not equal, the greater alms is that which is offered with the greater devotion of charity and religion. For God does not so much regard the gift as the disposition of the giver. Again, the greater gift is not that which is of the greater value considered in itself, as that which is the greater and more difficult in respect of the giver. This widow, therefore, in giving a farthing, gave more than all, because she gave all that she had, although it was necessary for her life. And she would have given more if she had had more. For she trusted in God, that He in return would be more liberal to her, and provide for her necessity, according to the saying, "Give God an egg, and receive a sheep." Others truly gave of their abounding superfluities, as Christ here says. As Titus of Bostra says on Luke xxi. 3, "With such magnanimity and devotion did she offer two mites, that is, all that she had, as if she counted her own life as nothing." S. Paul gives the a priori reason ( 2Co 8:12 ), "If there be a ready mind, it is accepted according to what a man hath, not according to that which he hath not." As Victor of Antioch says on this passage, "For God does not so much consider the greatness of the gifts, as weigh the greatness and alacrity of the mind." And Bede, "He weighs not the substance, but the conscience of the offerers." For, as S. Thomas says, inasmuch as the widow gave according to her ability, therefore it was the greater affection of charity which was valued in her. S. Ambrose thought the same ( lib . 2, Offic. c. 30), "The two mites of that widow surpassed the offerings of the rich, because she gave all she had; but they offered only a small portion of their abundance." Whence he infers, "The disposition therefore makes the offering poor or valuable, and sets their true price upon things."* Summa
*S Part 4, Ques 79, Article 5
[III, Q. 79, Art. 5]
Whether the Entire Punishment Due to Sin Is Forgiven Through This Sacrament?
Objection 1: It seems that the entire punishment due to sin is forgiven through this sacrament. For through this sacrament man receives the effect of Christ's Passion within himself as stated above (AA. 1, 2), just as he does through Baptism. But through Baptism man receives forgiveness of all punishment, through the virtue of Christ's Passion, which satisfied sufficiently for all sins, as was explained above (Q. 69, A. 2). Therefore it seems the whole debt of punishment is forgiven through this sacrament.
Obj. 2: Further, Pope Alexander I says (Ep. ad omnes orth.): "No sacrifice can be greater than the body and the blood of Christ." But man satisfied for his sins by the sacrifices of the old Law: for it is written (Lev. 4, 5): "If a man shall sin, let him offer" (so and so) "for his sin, and it shall be forgiven him." Therefore this sacrament avails much more for the forgiveness of all punishment.
Obj. 3: Further, it is certain that some part of the debt of punishment is forgiven by this sacrament; for which reason it is sometimes enjoined upon a man, by way of satisfaction, to have masses said for himself. But if one part of the punishment is forgiven, for the same reason is the other forgiven: owing to Christ's infinite power contained in this sacrament. Consequently, it seems that the whole punishment can be taken away by this sacrament.
_On the contrary,_ In that case no other punishment would have to be enjoined; just as none is imposed upon the newly baptized.
_I answer that,_ This sacrament is both a sacrifice and a sacrament. it has the nature of a sacrifice inasmuch as it is offered up; and it has the nature of a sacrament inasmuch as it is received. And therefore it has the effect of a sacrament in the recipient, and the effect of a sacrifice in the offerer, or in them for whom it is offered.
If, then, it be considered as a sacrament, it produces its effect in two ways: first of all directly through the power of the sacrament; secondly as by a kind of concomitance, as was said above regarding what is contained in the sacrament (Q. 76, AA. 1, 2). Through the power of the sacrament it produces directly that effect for which it was instituted. Now it was instituted not for satisfaction, but for nourishing spiritually through union between Christ and His members, as nourishment is united with the person nourished. But because this union is the effect of charity, from the fervor of which man obtains forgiveness, not only of guilt but also of punishment, hence it is that as a consequence, and by concomitance with the chief effect, man obtains forgiveness of the punishment, not indeed of the entire punishment, but according to the measure of his devotion and fervor.
But in so far as it is a sacrifice, it has a satisfactory power. Yet in satisfaction, the affection of the offerer is weighed rather than the quantity of the offering. Hence our Lord says (Mk. 12:43: cf. Luke 21:4) of the widow who offered "two mites" that she "cast in more than all." Therefore, although this offering suffices of its own quantity to satisfy for all punishment, yet it becomes satisfactory for them for whom it is offered, or even for the offerers, according to the measure of their devotion, and not for the whole punishment.
Reply Obj. 1: The sacrament of Baptism is directly ordained for the remission of punishment and guilt: not so the Eucharist, because Baptism is given to man as dying with Christ, whereas the Eucharist is given as by way of nourishing and perfecting him through Christ. Consequently there is no parallel.
Reply Obj. 2: Those other sacrifices and oblations did not effect the forgiveness of the whole punishment, neither as to the quantity of the thing offered, as this sacrament does, nor as to personal devotion; from which it comes to pass that even here the whole punishment is not taken away.
Reply Obj. 3: If part of the punishment and not the whole be taken away by this sacrament, it is due to a defect not on the part of Christ's power, but on the part of man's devotion. _______________________
SIXTH
*H For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want cast in all she had, even her whole living.
Ver. 44. But she, of her want, [2] or indigence, out of what she wanted to subsist by, as appeareth by the Greek. Wi.