1 And there were present, at that very time, some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
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VERS. 1.-- *And there were present.* While the master of truth was instructing those present how they ought to prepare themselves for the coming of the judge, and how they that do not prepare themselves are to be condemned, tidings are brought him of the Galileans, who as it were justly sought this for the cause that they had not well prepared themselves: and the Lord answers both that they truly had been sinners and had justly perished, and that other sinners shall likewise perish, if they take no heed that they are sinners. *Bringing tidings.* As if they said: It appears that these men were sinners and to be condemned for ever, who by so wicked a death were slain by an impious governor in the midst of their own sacrifices. *Of the Galileans.* The Galileans pay the impious penalties of their own crimes by a wicked death; yet it was not that death itself that harmed them, so that they should be sent into the second death, but their wicked life. And they were punished for the correction of the living, that when the pestilent man is scourged the fool may become wiser, or for an example to those who will not be corrected, and who therefore shall perish most wretchedly.
2 And he answering, said to them: Think you that these Galileans were sinners above all the men of Galilee, because they suffered such things?
3 No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish.
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VERS. 3.-- *All,* etc. This was fulfilled after the Lord's passion, when the Romans so laid waste the impenitent Jews, beginning from Galilee, that not only the courts of the temple but even the inner parts of the house, whither the Galileans had no access, were defiled with human blood.
4 Or those eighteen upon whom the tower fell in Siloe and slew them: think you that they also were debtors above all the men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
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VERS. 4.-- *As those eighteen.* These men of Jerusalem, like the Galileans also, were not the only sinners, but were punished for the terror of the rest; and they, crushed by the fall of the tower, signify that the Jews who would not repent were to perish together with their own walls. Nor is it without purpose that they are eighteen, which number among the Greeks is expressed by iota and ita, that is, by the same letters with which the name Jesus begins. And it signifies that those Jews chiefly were to perish who would not receive the name of the Saviour. That tower signifies him who is the tower of strength, which is rightly in Siloe, because Siloe, which is interpreted *sent,* signifies him who, sent by the Father, came into the world, who shall crush all upon whom he shall fall.
5 No, I say to you: but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish.
6 He spoke also this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard: and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.
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VERS. 6.-- *A fig tree.* In the beginning of the human race Adam and Eve, when they had sinned, made themselves aprons of fig leaves. By the leaves of the fig tree, therefore, sins are understood. And they were under the fig tree as under the shadow of death, of whom it is said: *They that sat under the shadow of death, light is risen to them*.
7 And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down therefore. Why cumbereth it the ground?
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VERS. 7.-- *Seeking fruit. The vineyard of the Lord sabaoh is the house of Israel,* in which house the Synagogue was founded as a fig tree in a vineyard. But he who permitted the one sinning in the vineyard to be plundered by wayfarers commanded this fig tree also to be cut down. In it he seeks fruit, not as one who did not know that it was there, but he shows in a figure that in the Synagogue it ought by now to have fruit. Nor does he seek before the time, who comes through three years. He who through Moses established the Synagogue, himself appearing in the flesh teaches often in the Synagogue, seeks the fruit of faith, but finds it not in the Pharisees. *And he said to the dresser of the vineyard.* The dresser of the vineyard: these are the teachers and the apostles, by whose prayers and admonitions the unceasing care of God is supplied; to whom the Lord often complains of the unfruitful nation of the Jews, that through the three years of his visitation, that is, in the edicts of the law, in the testimonies of the prophets, in the grace of the Gospel, it has been negligent. *Why doth it also the ground,* etc. By the ground occupied by the barren fig tree may be signified the Jewish people, which is pressed by the harmful shadow of its rulers, that it may not see the light of truth, and is hindered by their examples, that it may not grow warm with the sun of love; whence: *Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees,* etc. He occupies the ground who does not work with good works the place that he holds, who by the example of his crookedness affords a hindrance to the rest.
8 But he answering, said to him: Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it and dung it.
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VERS. 8.-- *Until I dig,* etc. That is, until I make the root of the unfruitful mind humble, by striking into it the fear both of present afflictions and of eternal damnation. For a ditch is in the lowest place, and rebuke, while it shows the mind to itself, humbles it. He knows how to till the ground who knows how to reprove vices. He understood that the hardness and pride of the Jews was the cause of their barrenness. And so he promises that hard hearts are to be dug with apostolic mattocks, and proud hearts to be called back to humility. *And put on dung.* That is, I will bring back to their mind the abomination of the evils they have done, and will rouse up the grace of compunction, with the fruits of good work, as it were from the richness of the dung. For the sins of the flesh are called dung, which are laid to the root of the tree when the memory of the thought touches the conscience of its own crookedness; and while a man repents thereof, he returns, as it were by the touch of dung, to the fruitfulness of work.
9 And if happily it bear fruit: but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.
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VERS. 9.-- *And if indeed.* Although the order of repentance required that he should add "it shall be spared," or something of the kind, yet he subjoined nothing, but left the sentence hanging. *But if not.* That is, if it shall not bear fruit, he at once annexed the judgment of the damnation to come, because he saw men more prone to deny than to believe.
10 And he was teaching in their synagogue on their sabbath.
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VERS. 10.-- *And he was teaching.* This similitude of the fig tree the Lord is said to have taught in the synagogue, that it might be intimated that the parable belonged to the Synagogue itself. For that he seeks fruit in the fig tree and finds none signifies that he lends the word to the Synagogue and she does not receive it; yet understanding that she is not to be rooted out wholly, but that a remnant is to be saved through faith, straightway in the same place there follows the healing of the primitive Church under the figure of the bowed woman. For the fig tree spared signifies the same thing as the woman set upright. *On the sabbaths.* On the sabbaths he teaches and raises up her that was bowed, because through the word of preaching he leads those raised up from temporal things to eternal into the rest of the resurrection.
11 And behold there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years. And she was bowed together: neither could she look upwards at all.
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VERS. 11.-- *And behold a woman,* etc. This woman could not be raised up save after eighteen years, because human nature will not be able to lay aside this corruption and be raised up to put on the incorruption of eternal blessedness, unless it first fulfil the law which is contained in the ten precepts, and the grace in which the resurrection of Christ has been wrought and our own is awaited. *Years,* etc. The number six, in which the creature of the world was perfected, signifies the perfection of works, and multiplied by three it renders eighteen; and it signifies those who in the three times of the Lord's visitation, namely before the law, and under the law, and under grace, have perfection of works. In this time therefore Judea was bent away from the uprightness of her mind, she who had known earthly things rather than heavenly, works.
12 Whom when Jesus saw, he called her unto him and said to her: Woman, thou art delivered from thy infirmity.
13 And he laid his hands upon her: and immediately she was made straight and glorified God.
14 And the ruler of the synagogue being angry that Jesus had healed on the sabbath answering, said to the multitude: Six days there are wherein you ought to work. In them therefore come and be healed: and not on the sabbath day.
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VERS. 14.-- *Because on the sabbath.* God rested on the sabbath from the works of the world. Whence Moses also commanded that on the sabbath men should keep holiday from servile and harmful action, prefiguring the time in which our secular works, but not indeed the religious, that is, of praising God, shall cease. In sign of this thing the Lord heals on the sabbath also. But the ruler of the synagogue, not understanding this, is deceived and deceives, because the law forbade not to heal a man on the sabbath, but to do servile works, that is, to be weighed down with sins.
15 And the Lord answering him, said: Ye hypocrites, doth not every one of you, on the sabbath day, loose his ox or his ass from the manger and lead them to water?
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VERS. 15.-- *Hypocrites.* He rightly calls them hypocrites, that is, dissemblers, who, while they desire to be seen as masters of the people, are not ashamed to put the healing of a man after the care of a beast. *Doth he not loose his ox.* Mystically. The ox that knew its owner and the ass that knew its master's crib signify the Jewish and the Gentile people, each of which, loosed from the bonds of sin, laid aside the thirst and the heat of this world by a draught from the Lord's fountain. In these two animals, therefore, the Lord foretells the calling of the two peoples, the Jews withstanding it.
16 And ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
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VERS. 16.-- *And this woman,* etc. A daughter of Abraham: every faithful soul is a daughter of Abraham, the Church gathered to the faith out of both peoples, which, the time of the law and of the Lord's resurrection being fulfilled, broke the bonds of a long captivity through the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit: and so it is the same thing for the ox or the ass to be loosed from the manger and led to drink, as for the daughter of Abraham to be raised up from the bond of a harmful bowing down
17 And when he said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the things that were gloriously done by him.
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VERS. 17.-- *All were ashamed.* They who are ashamed of the sayings of the Saviour show themselves like to the barren fig tree. They therefore who rejoice at the miracles belong to the daughter of Abraham, that is, to the Church, glorifying God for her raising up. *The adversaries.* The Scribes and Pharisees, who can neither openly gainsay the truth nor, because of envy, are willing to believe. *All the people rejoiced.* The simple and the humble, who love the words of truth and the miracles; and these are a figure of the Gentiles, who, the Jews being blinded, are to be gathered to the faith through humility. Whence the Saviour also commends their faith under the comparison of the grain of mustard seed.
18 He said therefore: To what is the kingdom of God like, and whereunto shall I resemble it?
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VERS. 18.-- *He said therefore.* Since there were present those who rejoiced and glorified, he spoke to the commendation and the instruction of those who through humility and fervour of faith are to be exalted in the Church.
19 It is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and cast into his garden: and it grew and became a great tree, and the birds of the air lodged in the branches thereof.
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VERS. 19.-- *It is like,* etc. The grain of mustard seed is a cheap and simple thing, but if it be crushed it pours out its own strength. The kingdom of heaven, therefore, that is, the faith through which one comes to the kingdom, is compared to a grain of mustard seed: because at first it is humble and as it were abject and of bitter savour, because of the weakness of Christ and the scandal of the cross; but crushed by adversities it pours forth the grace of its own power and fills those standing about with its odour, since even after death it preached the glory of the resurrection and of the ascension through the whole world. Or the body of Christ is the grain of mustard seed, which Joseph took and buried in the garden, and which afterwards grew in the resurrection and the ascension. It spread out its branches, sending preachers through the whole world, in whose words and consolations the faithful take breath from the weariness of the world.
20 And again he said: Whereunto shall I esteem the kingdom of God to be like?
21 It is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
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VERS. 21.-- *Which being taken,* etc. The woman is the Church, whose meal we are, as many of us as are ground, by the exercise of fear and of hope, as by an upper and a nether millstone, that we many may be one bread in Christ. The Church therefore hides the leaven of love in three measures of meal, because she bids us love God with the whole heart, with the whole soul, with the whole strength.
22 And he went through the cities and towns teaching and making his journey to Jerusalem.
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VERS. 22.-- *And he went,* etc. Everywhere he preached without distinction, not discerning persons, but seeking salvation for them that believe.
23 And a certain man said to him: Lord, are they few that are saved? But he said to them:
24 Strive to enter by the narrow gate: for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter and shall not be able.
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VERS. 24.-- *Strive to enter,* etc. As if he said: Truly they are few, and those with great labours, because unless the intention of the mind be fervent, the wave of the world is not overcome, by which the soul is always called back to the depths.
25 But when the master of the house shall be gone in and shall shut the door, you shall begin to stand without; and knock at the door, saying: Lord, open to us. And he answering, shall say to you: I know you not, whence you are.
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VERS. 25.-- *But when,* etc. Christ the householder, though by his Godhead he is everywhere, is said to be already within to those whom, present in heaven, he gladdens by the sight of himself; but he is as it were without to those whom, hidden, he helps as they strive in this pilgrimage. He will enter therefore when he shall bring the whole Church to the contemplation of himself. He will shut the door when he shall take away from the reprobate the place of repentance, who, standing without, shall knock; that is, being separated from the just, they shall implore in vain the mercy which they despised. *You shall begin to stand without.* Strive now, in the time of mercy, because in the time of judgment the place of repentance is taken from the reprobate, which is now open to all that seek it dutifully. *I know you not.* The light knows not the darkness, that is, it does not look upon it, because if it looked upon it, there would be no darkness.
26 Then you shall begin to say: We have eaten and drunk in thy presence: and thou hast taught in our streets.
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VERS. 26.-- *We have eaten,* etc. The feasting of festivals does not profit, which the piety of faith does not commend. The knowledge of the Scriptures does not make him known to God whom the iniquity of his works shows to be unworthy. Or it is to be understood simply of the Jews, who, spurning the mysteries of the faith, think themselves acceptable to God because they feast before the Lord in the temple upon the victims offered, and give ear to the reading of the prophets. Or mystically: he eats and drinks before the Lord who eagerly receives the food of the word. *In the streets,* etc. Scripture in its more obscure places is food, because it is broken as it were by expounding and is swallowed by eating. For it is drink in the more open places, where it is drunk down just as it is found. Both the hidden things, therefore, and the open they testify that they have understood, who, when the judge reproves them, complain of what they have eaten.
27 And he shall say to you: I know you not, whence you are. Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth; when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God: and you yourselves thrust out.
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VERS. 28.-- *There shall be weeping,* etc. Weeping is wont to be stirred up by heat, the gnashing of teeth by cold, because there they shall pass from the waters of snow to excessive heat. Or the gnashing betrays the feeling of one indignant, that he repents too late of what he stubbornly did amiss. Or they shall gnash with their teeth who here shall rejoice in gluttony. Those eyes shall weep which here shall wander through concupiscences. And note, through the weeping which belongs to the eyes and the gnashing of the teeth, the true resurrection of the wicked.
29 And there shall come from the east and the west and the north and the south: and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.
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VERS. 29.-- *And they shall come.* Many who are fervent at first grow torpid afterwards. Many who are cold at first suddenly take fire. Many despised in this world are to be glorified in the world to come. Others glorious among men are to be condemned in the world to come. Or the Gentiles, who had long lived without faith, are to be called to the faith, and the Jews to be execrated.
30 And behold, they are last that shall be first: and they are first that shall be last.
31 The same day, there came some of the Pharisees, saying to him: Depart, and get thee hence, for Herod hath a mind to kill thee.
32 And he said to them: Go and tell that fox: Behold, I cast out devils and do cures, to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I am consummated.
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VERS. 32.-- *Say ye to the fox,* etc. The fox is a crafty animal, lurking in a hole for ambush, foul of smell, never going by straight paths. All these things suit the heretics, whose type Herod holds, who strive to quench Christ, that is, the humility of the Christian faith, in them that believe. *Behold I cast out demons,* etc. As if he said: Neither Herod nor the heretics, of whom he himself is the figure, shall be able to disturb what I purpose to do. And I purpose to cast out demons from the hearts of men, that, leaving vanities behind, they may believe in me; and to perfect healings, that they may live according to my precepts; afterwards I am consummated in my body, which is the Church, which, glorified on the day of the resurrection, I shall bring to the fellowship of the angels.
33 Nevertheless, I must walk to-day and to-morrow and the day following, because it cannot be that a prophet perish, out of Jerusalem.
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VERS. 33.-- *Nevertheless I must.* Herod shall not be able to disturb it but that I so act and am so consummated; nor shall he be able to work the death of my body, which must come to pass in Jerusalem, where not he but Pilate bears rule. *To-day and to-morrow,* etc. The first day is to renounce vanities through the grace of God. The second, to be in accord with the truth in manners and in life. The third is the final glorification.
34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets; and stonest them that are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered thy children as the bird doth her brood under her wings, and thou wouldest not?
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VERS. 34.-- *Jerusalem,* etc. Where my prophets are, there I, the head of the prophets, must be sacrificed; for which sin she herself shall justly be destroyed, and with that destruction of theirs I grieve as a devoted father. *How often would I have gathered.* As if he said: I would, and thou wouldest not: and as many as I have gathered by my will, which is always effectual, I did it while thou wast unwilling, because thou hast always been ungrateful. *Thy children.* In this, that he says: *How often would I have gathered thy children,* etc., he bears witness to all the prophets sent by him in time past. *Even as a bird,* etc. Beautifully does he who had called Herod a fox, while he was plotting his death, compare himself to a bird, because the deceitful fox always lays ambushes for birds.
35 Behold your house shall be left to you desolate. And I say to you that you shall not see me till the time come when you shall say: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
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VERS. 35.-- *Your house.* The temple or the city, because, the Lord being slain, the Romans, plundering as it were an empty nest, took away both the place and the nation. *You shall not see me,* etc. Unless you do penance and confess me to be the Son of the almighty Father, you shall not see my face at the second coming. *When you shall say,* etc. This indeed the crowds said when the Lord was coming into Jerusalem. But because Luke does not say that the Lord afterwards returned to the Galileans, so that this might be chanted to him by them, he compels it to be understood mystically of the coming of his brightness.