Commentary on Matthew 15.22–15.29

But the one who despises the letter as unable to persuade a hearer of lofty mind—since other words of Scripture also have their dignity in the higher sense—will say something like this: that this very saying, “Behold, we have left everything and followed you,” when what was left was a little net, a poor house, and a toilsome life in poverty, is not at all spoken worthily of so great a disciple, to whom flesh and blood did not reveal that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, but his Father in heaven, and to whom it was said: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” But perhaps what was given in the explanation of “Go, sell your possessions,” and what follows, is useful for the matters before us. For Peter left everything in which he was a sinner, and on account of which he said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man”; and it is great praise of him that, having taken courage in no longer sinning, he says, “We have left everything”; and not only have we left the worse things, but also “we have followed you.” And “we have followed you” can be equivalent to: Since the Father revealed to us who you are, and that you are righteousness, we have followed you insofar as you are righteousness; and so also insofar as you are sanctification, and wisdom, and peace, and truth, and the way that leads to God, and true life. Therefore, as an athlete after the contest asks the president of the games, if he happens not to know the prizes of the contest, so Peter asks the Saviour, saying, after his bold speech about his brave deeds, “What then shall we have?” And if we too wish to receive what was said to Peter in answer to his question, let us leave everything in this way, no longer held fast by wickedness and the activity that goes with it, and let us follow the Word of God, so that he may say to us and to all who have followed him the words that follow: “And Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, that you who have followed me,” and so on. These words too have both a simpler sense, urging us to leave our possessions, and another, deeper than this. The one who interprets the Gospel passage according to the letter will say something like this: The word told all to follow Jesus; but it named those who were then apostles, and those like them who followed him constantly; and it indicated those who came later by the words, “And everyone who has left brothers or sisters,” and so on. Someone will refute him as having interpreted “following” in a forced way, saying that “following” is said of all in the words, “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me cannot be my disciple.” Those, then, who have followed the Saviour will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, and they will receive this authority in the resurrection of the dead. For this is the regeneration, which is a kind of new genesis, when a new heaven and a new earth are created for those who have renewed themselves, and a new covenant is delivered, and its cup.

The prelude to that regeneration is what Paul calls “the washing of regeneration”; and the prelude to that newness is what is added to the washing of regeneration in the words, “of renewal of the Spirit.” And perhaps according to birth “no one is clean from filth, not even if his life be but one day,” because of the mystery concerning birth, at which each of all who have come into birth might say what was said by David in the fiftieth Psalm: “For I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins my mother conceived me.” But according to the regeneration from the washing, everyone who has been born from above of water and Spirit is clean from filth—clean, if I may dare to say it, “through a mirror and in a riddle”; while according to the other regeneration, “when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory,” everyone who has reached that regeneration in Christ is most clean from filth, “face to face” …, himself reaching that regeneration through the washing of regeneration. And if you wish to understand that washing, understand how John, “who baptizes in water for repentance,” says of the Saviour: “He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.” In the regeneration through the washing, then, we were buried with Christ: “For we were buried with him,” according to the Apostle, “through baptism.” But in the regeneration of the washing through fire and Spirit, we become conformed to the body of the glory of Christ, who sits on the throne of his glory, and we ourselves sit on twelve thrones—if indeed, having left everything in either sense, but especially according to the washing, we have followed you. And then, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, the prophecy is fulfilled that says: “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet”; and: “He must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet,” until “the last enemy, death, is abolished.” When it is abolished, there will no longer be death before the face of those who are saved, but only life, which is then believed. For while death is before the face, life is disbelieved, because of death, by those held fast by it; but when death has been abolished, life is believed by all. In the law you will find: “I have set life and death before your face,” and: “Your life will be hanging before your eyes,” and: “You will not believe your life.” The Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory when no one dishonoured and inglorious in God is ruled by him; for then all who do not receive glory from men, nor act so as to be glorified by men, but seek the glory that comes from the only God, will be ruled by the one who sits on the throne of his glory. And then is granted what the Saviour asked in his prayer, when he said: “Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with you before the world was.”

If you are able to understand the Word as restored—after he became flesh, and became for those who are born what each of them needed him to become, so that he might gain all—restored so as to become such as he “was in the beginning with God,” being God and Word in his own glory, in the glory proper to such a Word, you will see him sitting on the throne of his glory, and the Son of Man, the man understood in Jesus, not other than he. For in this way he becomes one with the Word, far more than those who, by being joined to the Lord, become one spirit with him. And then, when these things take place in the restoration of the Saviour, those who left everything and followed him will also sit, as “conformed to the body” and to the throne “of the glory of Christ,” on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. For the whole life of the righteous will judge the twelve tribes of Israel that have not … And the apostles will judge, and those who have emulated and achieved the apostolic life, those who are well-born because they are Israelites, but have not done what is worthy of their good birth. And perhaps the words “by you the world is judged,” spoken to the Corinthians, are said to those from the Gentiles; and the words “You yourselves also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel,” to the apostles and to those who have emulated the apostolic life, who judge Israel, the most well-born of the whole world. But understand in these words, worthily of the greatness of mind of the Gospel, an Israel that is well-born and of a better nature, but has not believed. But to raise to a higher sense, after the word about Israel, the word about the twelve tribes as well, so as to speak of twelve general orders of souls, and more well-born ones, of which some, excelling, are in preeminence, while the rest, arranged in eleven portions, are in the second rank—this is beyond us, who do not see so far as to be able to show how the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel are twelve stars, as the prophetic dream, if I may so name it, of Joseph indicated; and how each of the Israelites who are judged will be judged, as it were, by some apostle bearing the name of a star, or like a star, and by one who has lived the apostolic life.

If, then, someone has left everything and followed Jesus, he will obtain what was said to Peter in answer to his question; but if he has left not everything, but the things mentioned next, such a one will receive many times as much and will inherit eternal life. What these are—not everything, but particular things that are named—must be understood from the words: “And everyone who has left brothers or sisters,” and so on. That this saying has a meaning not to be despised, even according to the simple interpretation, and urges us to despise all fleshly kinship and all possession, everyone whatever will agree. Whether it also admits a higher sense, one person will hesitate, while another declares that it does. And according to the letter it is clear that many who believed in our Saviour were hated by their relatives, and chose to leave them and every possession in order to inherit eternal life, persuaded that everyone who has left his brothers according to the flesh, and sisters related only by the body, and the parents of his body, and the children of the flesh, and fields in the cursed earth, and houses in it, and has left them for no other reason than for the sake of the name of Jesus, will receive many times as much. For spiritual things are many times—and, if one must so name it, infinitely—greater than bodily things; and having come to receive many times as much, not in a temporary life but in eternal life, he will inherit it. It is easy to explain how one receives many times as many brothers and sisters as he left for the sake of the word of God; for even in this world the brothers in faith are many times more numerous than those whom believers have left because of their faith. So also one receives as parents all the irreproachable bishops and blameless presbyters, in place of the two he has left; and likewise as children all who are of the age of children. But how one inherits many times as many fields or houses as he has left can no longer be explained in the same way, unless by forcing someone shows it in a few cases, which is not easy. But once one allegorizes the fields and houses, he will be compelled, by consistency, to explain what comes before them in the same way. There are, then, I think, among the holy and blessed powers, brothers—those who have attained “to a perfect man,” of those who have reached “the measure of the stature of Christ”; and sisters—all who have been presented as a pure virgin to Christ, not only, I think, from among men but also from the other powers. And parents would be such as those of whom it was said to Abraham: “But you shall go to your fathers in peace, nourished in a good old age.” And if these ever become fathers of others, in a way corresponding to those fathers, they too will receive many times as many children, like Abraham. And understand for me the fields and houses, many times as many as those left behind, in the rest of the divine paradise, and in the city of God, of which glorious things were spoken, “whose God is known in her towers, when he helps her,” so that those who inherit the houses there might say: “As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God”; of which it is also said: “Distribute her towers.” On such terms, then, it is blessed to inherit eternal life, having so many heirs, and so many trees cultivated by God, and houses of living stones, in which everyone will rest who has left brothers or sisters, and the rest.

After this comes: “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” This too has a meaning according to the simpler sense, which can urge those who are just coming to the divine word to hasten to rise, through what is commanded, above many of those thought to have grown old in the faith, to the life and teaching that is above them; since neither time hinders those who believe later, nor wicked parents those who have shown themselves contending blamelessly. And it is a contest also to put down the conceit of those who are proud because they were brought up in Christianity from their fathers’ time, especially when one happens to boast of fathers and ancestors who were thought worthy of presiding in the church on the bishop’s throne, or of the honour of the presbyterate, or of the diaconate for the people of God. For both of you, having been taught, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first,” be reminded neither to be proud in thinking yourselves first, nor to be dejected and humbled as having less than those before you, because you received the doctrines of Christianity later than they. But the saying has, I think, a meaning that can make us attend all at once to the many before us who were called first from Israel and who became last through their unbelief in Jesus and their betrayal, and to us, the last, who can take the first places if we remain in the faith, “not being high-minded, but associating with the lowly.” What then, if, sharing in the root of the patriarchs and in the fatness that comes from the word of the fathers, we grow together with the intent of the spiritual law and of the prophets understood in a manner corresponding to it? We, the last, shall be first; and they, the first, cut off from the good olive tree through unbelief, have become last. For through the coming of Christ, who came “for judgment into the world, that those who do not see might see”—the nations—“and those who see might become blind”—Israel, through unbelief—we, the proselyte people, have come to be higher and higher, and first; while Israel, which was before us and first, has become last, lower and lower. So also the saying can be understood: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be last of all”; as if he said: Since now those from the nations who believe in me, who are thought last in Israel’s eyes, take the first places, while the whole people of those in Israel who did not believe are judged last before God, even if they are thought first because of time, if anyone wishes to take up the true first place, let him be among those thought by present Israel to be last. For so long as he remains among those who think themselves first, he will fall away from the first places, which have passed to the nations, and will be numbered among the last; for those from the nations become the head through faith, and unbelieving Israel, through unbelief, the tail. According to this account, many, though not all, of the first will be last; and again many of the last will be first. Yet if someone has come last, wishing to be numbered among the believers from the nations, he will not for that reason be reckoned among the first; for there are some first of the first, like the apostles of Christ, who were Israelites and of the seed of Abraham; and there are some last of the last, those who live worse than many of those who bear the name of the church.

After this, consider whether you can say that the race of angels is first, as being honoured above that of men, who came into being last—for, as it is written in Job, “When the stars were made, all my angels praised God,” as being older and more honoured, not only than man but also than all the making of the world after them—and dare to declare that many of the angels, who were first compared with men, become last behind some men; and many men, who are by nature last compared with the angels, become, through their life and the word of God, first above some angels who were ranked among the first but for certain causes became last. And taking sayings for this from the First Letter of Peter and from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, you will be led on as though this were soundly said. For Peter says: “In whom, though now you do not see him”—clearly Jesus Christ—“yet believing, you rejoice,” and so on, up to “into which angels long to look”; and Paul: “Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more the things of this life?” Consider, then, whether these angels, so long as they “kept their own principality and did not leave their own dwelling,” did not excel many men and were first compared with them—men whose soul had been humbled to the dust, who were in the body of humiliation, and who barely at some point said, “Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?” And men, though last in comparison with angels, become first above the angels who did not “keep their own principality” but “left their own dwelling,” receiving a principality according to the words, “Have authority over ten cities,” “Have authority over five cities.” And some come into the dwelling that angels have left, when, the kingdom of heaven having been preached to them, they do the things that lead them up to it. For those on earth are last of the heavenly beings, and those in heaven first above those on earth; and many of the heavenly and first become last, “kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,” while many of the last, who had taken birth on earth, go up, so as to say with confidence, “But our citizenship is in heaven.” And he himself who fell like lightning from heaven was first when he walked blameless in all his ways, until iniquity was found in him; and he became last, going down to Hades, so that those who saw him wondered at him and said: “You too have been taken, as we were; you have been counted among us; your glory has gone down to Hades, your great gladness.” So also everyone was last who was “foolish and disobedient, serving desires and various pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another”; but he became first “when the kindness and love for man of God our Saviour appeared, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” and received the one who said, “Whoever receives me receives him who sent me.” According to these things, we have explained the first as those who will be saved, and the last as those not worthy of such a rank among the saved, but worthy of punishment and of being abandoned, either “until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in,” or until they have fulfilled what is due for their own sins. However, the parable that follows the words, “But many who are first will be last, and the last first,” declares that those in the parable are also saved who worked first but received their wage last, and who are therefore reckoned among the last though they were first. And it says that those who were sent to the work last differ from them, receiving their wage not only first but also equal to those who grumbled against the householder and said, “These last worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” And the last called to the work are said to be first, because they received their wage first. Having prayed to God, and called on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us set out the parable, and see what will be given us to examine and say about it, or to dictate. It runs thus. [On the hired labourers.]

“The kingdom of heaven is like a man, a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire labourers,” and so on, up to “For many are called, but few are chosen.” The whole parable may have been given so that we may learn how the last who came to the work received their wage first, as though they had been called first; and in what way those called first were placed by the householder in the last rank, which is why they also received their wage last. But one must know that, as a parable of Jesus, “in whom the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden,” it will be found, when examined, to hint at so many doctrines of the wisdom hidden in a mystery, for those able to find such things, that the Saviour might reasonably have said, especially of this parable: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter riddles from the beginning,” and: “I will utter things hidden from the foundation.” For the one who is to understand the parable must see the day indicated in it, and the hours in it, and that it is not by lot that the householder hands over the works of the vineyard to five orders of workers. The one who is able will examine the reason why he hired some workers into the vineyard early in the morning, and after that others, not about the second hour but about the third, and next to this not about the fourth or fifth but about the sixth, then after that about the eleventh. For there ought to be some explanation worthy of Jesus for the three equal intervals after the morning time—of the third, sixth, and ninth hours—and after it the smaller interval for those standing about the eleventh hour, smaller than the interval from early morning to the third hour. One must also attend, and not carelessly, to the fact that the householder agreed on a denarius each with those taken on at dawn, whom he sent into his vineyard; but to those called about the third hour he did not name a definite wage, but said, “Whatever is right I will give you”; and one must attend to the fact that he did likewise with those called about the sixth and ninth hours; and that to those about the eleventh hour, who excused their idleness through the whole day, he said, “You too go into the vineyard.” Further, as one who was outside the vineyard and found the workers there, he sends the first into the vineyard, while to the second he says, “You too go into the vineyard”; and likewise the same words to those called about the eleventh hour: “You too go into the vineyard.” Let the one who is able consider what the marketplace is in which the householder, going out, found the second group standing idle; and so let it be examined who those are who were found standing about the eleventh hour, to whom the householder says, “Why do you stand here all day idle?” Let him consider also the defence of those who stood idle all day and endured the toil of standing through the whole day, who said boldly that they had been eager to work but that no one had hired them, as though many were hiring.

Let one also consider, and not carelessly, that “when evening came, the lord of the vineyard says to his steward, Call the labourers and pay them the wage, beginning from the last up to the first.” For what moved the lord of the vineyard to order his steward to call the labourers and pay the wage beginning from the last, and so to go up to the first, so that those of the eleventh hour receive first, those of the ninth second, those of the sixth third, after them those of the third, and last those of early morning? For this is clearly shown by the words, “Pay the wage, beginning from the last up to the first.” And who, besides the lord of the vineyard, is the lord’s steward, who gives the wage according to the lord’s command? But if those called at the ninth hour did not bear the burden of the day and the scorching heat, clearly it was not these who grumbled against the householder, saying, “These last worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” Nor did those called at the sixth hour bear the burden of the day, but at most of half the day; and those called at the third hour did not bear the burden of the whole day, but, to name it precisely, of a half and a quarter of the day. Only those hired from dawn bore the burden of the day and the scorching heat: the whole of it, those hired from dawn; and the rest, compared with the last, in proportion to the time they worked in the vineyard.