Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 65–69

“A man going abroad called his servants and handed over to them his goods,” and the rest. And first let us see why our Lord is likened to a man going abroad, he who is our one Lord, of whom the Apostle says: “But for us there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him”; if only we are ruled by him alone, and have neither mammon as lord nor any of those lords whom the Apostle himself shows to be many when he says: “As indeed there are many gods and many lords.” So first let us inquire about his going abroad, especially since what he himself promises his disciples about himself seems contrary to his going abroad, when he says: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst”; and again this: “Behold, I am with you all days, until the end of the age”; and what the Baptist says of him, showing that he is everywhere: “But in your midst stands one whom you do not know; he is the one who comes after me.” So someone will say: If he stands in the midst even of those who do not know him, if wherever two or three are gathered in his name he is found among them, if through all the days of the disciples' life he is with them until the end of the age, how is he presented in this parable as going abroad? In treating this we must also take up what Paul says of himself: “I, absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged, as if present, when you and my spirit are assembled with the power of the Lord Jesus, to hand over such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” For if the power of Jesus assembles with those who assemble in his name, he does not go abroad from his own but is always at hand for them. And if he is always present to all his own, how do his parables bring him in as going abroad? See whether we can resolve this question that is asked. He who says to his disciples, “Behold, I am with you until the end of the age,” and again, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I too am in their midst,” and so on, and who stands in the midst even of those who do not know him, is the Only-begotten of God, God the Word, and wisdom, and righteousness, and truth, who is not enclosed within a bodily boundary. According to this nature of his divinity he does not go abroad; but he goes abroad according to the dispensation of the body that he took up. According to this he was also troubled and became sorrowful, saying, “Now my soul is troubled,” and again, “My soul is sorrowful unto death.” But in saying this we do not separate the man of the body he took up, since it is written in John: “Every spirit that dissolves Jesus is not from God”; rather, we keep for each substance its own property. For if every faithful man who is joined to the Lord is one spirit, how much more is that man whom Christ took up according to the dispensation of the flesh not to be separated from him, nor to be called another than he? And see how he says, “as a man about to go abroad”: because he was not a man, but as a man; and he who was everywhere according to the nature of his divinity will go abroad as a man. Consider at the same time that the completion of the comparison does not appear to be written thus: “As a man going abroad, so also Jesus,” or thus: “so also the Son of Man”; because he himself is the one presented in the parable as going abroad as a man. For it is not a man who is wherever two or three are gathered in his name; nor is it a man who is with us all days until the end of the age; nor is it a man who is present to the faithful gathered everywhere, but the divine power that was in Jesus. We can also say this about this passage: there is nothing contradictory in Jesus himself being everywhere in one sense, and going abroad in another. For if, while we are in the body, we are abroad from the Lord (for we walk by faith, not by sight), then in all who are in the body and are abroad from the Lord, walking by faith and not by sight, the Lord too is abroad from them. But if, abroad from the body, we are with the Lord, then he too will be with us, in return for our having walked by faith, so that afterwards we may walk by sight as well. By “sight” we mean the form of the Word, and of wisdom, and of truth, and of righteousness, and of peace, and of all that the Only-begotten God is. You will understand the form of the Word and the form of wisdom when you have understood what the Apostle says: “My children, for whom I am again in labour until Christ is formed in you.” For when you understand Christ formed in someone, you will consequently see, in keeping with such formation, the form of Christ as well. This one, then, who went abroad as a man, called his servants and handed over to them his tested money, in pure words; for his words are pure words, silver tried by fire, tested, purified seven times.

“And to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his own ability; and he went away at once. He who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five other talents. Likewise he who had received two gained two others with them. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.” So if you ever see, among those who have received from Christ the stewardship of the words of God, some having more, more divinely and more abundantly, and others less, not understanding, so to speak, even half the matters in comparison with those who are much better, and others having still less, you will see the differences among those who received the words of God from Christ: that the ability of those to whom five talents were given was one thing, of those to whom two another, of those to whom one another, and that one could not hold the measure of the other. And he who received one talent received a gift not to be despised; for even one talent of such a master is much. Yet there are three servants belonging to him who went abroad as a man, just as there are also three kinds of those who bear fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. But there even the one who bore thirty is saved, while here the discourse rebukes the one who received one talent and hid it in the ground. And I ask whether those who received five talents can be understood as the more perfect, who received the more divine and sublime sense of Scripture; those who received two, as those who rose a little above the letter but could not rise to that greatness; and the third, as those who have nothing beyond the letter which they received at the beginning. So there is, concerning the numbers too in what we are discussing, an account wholly worthy of such a Lord and Saviour of ours: I mean of five, and two, and one. But we, being small and less able to explain such things, think that perhaps it is because all the things of Scripture that belong to the senses can be led up to the more divine senses which Solomon calls divine, and which Jeremiah calls the senses of the heart, and which Paul in Hebrews calls senses trained for discernment. Good too are those who, beyond the five talents, gained five others, working with them, training themselves through teaching, and raising themselves to greater knowledge. For by living in a saving way and teaching zealously they worked and gained another five; for no one easily receives an increase of another virtue than the one he has: for example, the wise man grows in wisdom, the faithful in faith. Or thus: he acquired another five because each one teaches another what he himself knows, and as much as he knows, so much he teaches another, and no more. Therefore whatever a man has in himself, this he acquires in another by teaching, making him have what he himself has. That is why he had five and is said to have acquired no more than the five he had; and he who had two, no more than the two he had. But if we must also speak of the two talents, we say of them too that those who did not remain in the letter, but sought to rise above it by their understanding, yet could not reach beyond the rank of the two just mentioned, these are the ones who received two talents from him who knew their ability, being taught bodily doctrine. For two seems to be the number of the flesh; and beyond these they gained two, that is, bodily instruction and another somewhat more sublime. But there was one of the servants who gathered a smaller ability for himself; because of it the householder gave him one talent, as to one less able. The servant took it, and having some ground, dug and put it in its depths, when he ought to have sent it up to the tables. And since the three servants are reported to belong to that householder, I ask whether they can be those who, after they believed and became his servants, as being able to trade, then received from the householder his money, so that one worked and gained, another gained, and another, from fear and not being faithful enough, buried and hid his master's money. And it appears from the very defence he makes that he feared the master, having the fear of God, as another has zeal for God, but fearing not according to knowledge, he hid his talent in the ground. Such are those who neither stir up nor examine what is said, nor give themselves to building up souls, but wish to keep hidden what they have received and been entrusted with. If then you ever see someone who has acquired and possesses some power of speaking and of building up souls in some measure, and hides this power, so that he hands on only the bare word with which he was entrusted and which he received, and its deposit to his master, and lives in obscurity, unknown to many, even to those who have great sins, and does not bring himself forward in the good he has received from God, though he has a certain piety of life that many would not find blameworthy, do not hesitate to say that he is like the one who received one talent and hid it in the ground. But if, because of what is written, that such a one is sent into the outer darkness, what is said displeases you, if a man is judged because he did not teach, as one who did not use the power given him to build up souls, remember the apostolic saying: “For woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” Not for any other blameworthy conduct of his, but for this alone, if he did not preach the gospel, he confesses that woe will be his. For it is plain that he expected to hear, “Wicked and lazy servant,” and the rest, unless he had preached the gospel, even if the rest of his life had been upright. These things, and others like them, those especially ought to keep in mind who put their hand, that is, their action, to the plough of teaching the teaching of Christ, so that, knowing for whom woe is laid up for no other reason than that they do not teach, they may not turn back after once putting their hand to the plough that ploughs the souls of men, so that afterwards these may also receive the seeds of the word. Now this one who, as a man going abroad, called his servants and handed over to them his goods, came after a long time, after he had sent off those fit to trade in the salvation of souls; and that is perhaps why it is not easily found that any of those who were fit for such work passed quickly from this life, as is plain from the fact that the apostles too grew old, of whom he says to Peter: “When you are old, you will stretch out your hand,” and the rest. And of Paul it is said to Philemon: “But now as Paul, an old man,” though he was a young man when Stephen was stoned for the testimony of Christ and he himself kept the garments of those who killed him. We have said this because he says: “After a long time the master of those servants came.” And observe in this passage that they are not brought to the master to be judged and receive what their deeds deserve, but the master comes to them when what was said is fulfilled, that the time has come. And when he comes he will settle accounts with them about all that they have done, weighing the gains of good works against the losses of sins, so that, settling accounts and carefully examining everything, he may deal with each as is fitting. We ought therefore, as those who have suffered loss by sinning but may gain by doing good, to guard our hearts with all vigilance, so that when our Lord comes and settles accounts with us, we may not be found to have suffered loss even for an idle word.

“And he who had received the five talents came forward and brought five others, saying: Lord, you gave me five talents; behold, I have gained five more besides. His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant; because you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many; enter into the joy of your master. And he who had received the two talents also came forward and said: Lord, you gave me two talents; behold, I have gained two others. His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant; because you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many; enter into the joy of your master.” So the first came forward as one who had confidence because he had worked and gained. For his very confidence made him bold to come first to the master and to speak boldly, saying: “Lord, you gave me five talents; behold, I have gained five other talents besides them.” To him the master spoke a word that all of us must long for, when our Lord settles accounts with us too, saying: “Well done, good and faithful servant”; the opposite of the word he spoke to the third: “Wicked and lazy servant.” Who would not wish, taking encouragement from this scripture, to hear from his Lord: “Faithful”? I think this is like what was said of Abraham, that Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness; so too with him who heard from his master: “Faithful servant.” Without doubt his faith was reckoned to him as righteousness, just as the faith of the one who was faithful in a little was reckoned as righteousness. And all the things of this life are little, so that the whole mystery of the resurrection and the administration of the heavenly goods may be entrusted to him. Let us see also where this good and faithful servant enters, who was faithful in the little of this life. “Enter,” he says, “into the joy of your master.” For there all is delightful and all is joy, when those who weep here will laugh there, and those who mourn in a praiseworthy way will receive a worthy consolation. And as for the words “coming forward,” whether of the one who had received five talents or of the one who had received two, I understand them of the going forward and passage from this world to that one. And see that the master uttered no other word to the second than he uttered to the first, saying: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over small things, I will set you over great.” Since the same things were said to both, I ask whether perhaps the one who had lesser ability, and exercised all that he had as he ought, will have nothing less with God than the one who was of greater ability, so that in them may be fulfilled what was said: “He who had much did not have too much, and he who had little did not have too little.” Something similar is shown also concerning the commandment of love toward God and toward one's neighbour, which says: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” For without doubt, when someone has loved God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, he has the same reward of love as one who had a greater heart, or who has a more eminent soul, or who received greater strength. For this alone is required: that whatever a man has from God, he use all of it for the glory of God.

“And he who had received the one talent also came forward and said: Lord, I know that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter; and being afraid I went away and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours. But his master answered and said to him: Wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not scatter. You ought therefore to have entrusted my money to the money-changers, so that at my coming I would have received it back with interest.” It seems to me that this man who received one talent was among the believers, but not among those who act boldly in the faith; rather among those who wish to stay hidden and do everything so as not to be recognized as Christians. Perhaps the rest of their conduct was not very blameworthy, and they do keep what they received, but they do not add to it, nor trade, nor act boldly with it; therefore the word does not advance in them to more, nor has it won others. Further, those who are of this kind seem to me to fear God and to think of him as someone austere and hard and implacable. For so the very words of the one who answers indicate: “I knew that you are hard,” as one who knew that he reaps where he did not sow and gathers where he did not scatter. Therefore his master, answering him and rebuking him as a wicked and lazy servant, did not confess that he was a hard man, as the servant supposed, but agreed with the rest of his words, saying: “And you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not scatter.” How then are we to understand that our Lord truly reaps where he did not sow and gathers where he did not scatter? It seems to me in this passage that the righteous man sows in the Spirit, from which he will also reap eternal life. All things that are sown by another, that is, by a righteous man, and are reaped for eternal life, God reaps; for the righteous man is God's possession, and God reaps where he did not himself sow, but that righteous man did. Consequently we will say this too: the righteous man has scattered, he has given to the poor; and the Lord in his time will gather all that the righteous man scattered and gave to the poor. Reaping what he did not sow and gathering what he did not scatter, he counts as his own, and considers conferred on himself, whatever has been sown or scattered on the faithful poor, saying to those who did good to their neighbours: “Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. For I was hungry and you gave me to eat,” and the rest. And because he wishes to reap where he did not sow and gather where he did not scatter, when he does not find it, he will say to those who did not let him reap and gather: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which my Father prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you did not give me to eat,” and the rest. For he is indeed hard, as Matthew says, and austere, as Luke says; but to those who abuse the mercy of God for their own negligence, not for their conversion, as the Apostle says: “See the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but kindness toward you, if you continue in kindness.” For whoever judges God to be good, believing that he will receive pardon if he turns to him, to him God is good. But whoever thinks him good in such a way that he does not care about the sins of sinners, to him God is not good but austere. For he is jealous over the sins of men who despise him. Yet, since Christ reaps what we did not sow and gathers what we did not scatter, let us sow in the Spirit, and scatter to the poor, and let us not hide God's talent in the ground. For such fear is not good, nor does such fear free us from that outer darkness when we have been condemned as wicked and lazy servants. Wicked, because we did not use that tested money of the Lord's words, with which we could have traded and examined the sayings of Christianity and acquired the higher mysteries of God's goodness. Lazy, because we did not work out salvation, our own or others', with the words of God, when we ought to have sent our Lord's money, that is, his words, to hearers who are money-changers, who test and prove all things, so as to hold fast the good and true doctrine and reject the counterfeit and false; so that when the Lord comes he may receive with interest the words which we entrusted, and with increase from those who received them from us. For every coin, that is, every word that bears in itself the royal form of God and the image of his Word, is lawful currency. So he commands that the word be entrusted to men who are money-changers, who can render its interest. And he renders the interest of the word who in turn hastens to save others with it, as he himself was saved: like Andrew, Peter, Philip, Nathanael, Matthew the tax collector. And this is what the Apostle says: “What you have heard from me through many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Likewise the Lord says: “No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light.”

“Take the talent from him, therefore, and give it to him who has ten talents.” You see that the talent is taken from the wicked and lazy servant and given to him who has ten talents. How something that had been given to someone is taken from him and given to another who does well, so that he has this too in addition to what he acquired, is not very easy to explain; yet it is possible. For God, who makes the understanding in someone capable in the doctrines of truth, can by his divinity take the capacity from one who used it rather lazily and give it to one who multiplied it. “For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” For example, to one who has the faith that comes from ourselves will be given the grace of faith that comes through the Spirit of faith, and he will have abundance; and whatever anyone has from his natural creation, when he exercises it, he receives toward that very thing from the grace of God as well, so that he abounds and is firmer in the very thing he has. For not of wisdom alone, but of every virtue, we must understand what Solomon says: “Even if one is perfect among the sons of men, if your wisdom is absent from him, he will be reckoned as nothing.” So too, one who is perfect in chastity, or in righteousness, or in truth, or in piety, but has not the chastity, or righteousness, or virtue, or piety that comes from the grace of God, such a man is reckoned as nothing. Therefore, if we wish a more perfect virtue to be given us and to abound in us, let us by every means acquire with diligence what is perfect among men; and after we have acquired it, understanding that these things are reckoned as nothing without the grace of God, let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and pray without anger or dispute, lifting up pure hands, that the perfection of all the good things in us may be given from God, and may make us perfect and acceptable to God as sons of God. And this man who had received one talent and hidden it in the ground is not only rebuked as wicked and lazy, but is also sent, as useless, into the outer darkness, where there is no light, perhaps not even bodily light, nor is God's regard there; but those who have sinned in this way, as unworthy of the contemplation of God, are condemned to what is called the outer darkness: perhaps until they come to understand, so that they may be converted and be made worthy to come out of it; perhaps also for another reason of which we are ignorant. For we have read someone before us expounding the darkness of the abyss and saying that the abyss and darkness are outside the world. Let us consider, then, whether his exposition can be true, so that we understand that outer darkness thus: that some, as unworthy of the whole world, are cast out into that abyss he expounded, in which there is darkness, with no one to light it, since it is outside the whole world.