1 And he said to his disciples: It is impossible that scandals should not come. But woe to him through whom they come!
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VERS. 1.-- *And he said to the disciples.* It is to be known that when the Lord was speaking of mercy, the avaricious Pharisees persevered in mockery, wherein they made a scandal for weak hearers, that these might not attend. These therefore he rebukes while speaking to the apostles, namely for what they were doing by their own vice, so that scandals came about through them which were not able not to come about in a world most full of hardships and errors.
2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the sea, than that he should scandalize one of these little ones.
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VERS. 2.-- *If a millstone,* etc. According to the custom of the province where this punishment of crimes obtained, that with a stone bound to them they should be plunged into the deep. And truly it is more profitable for an innocent man to end his life by the heaviest punishment, than by harming a brother to earn perpetual death. *Of the little ones.* Not in age, but in faith and mind, who seek occasions how they may be scandalized; therefore you must take counsel for these, lest by occasion of you they fall away from faith and from salvation.
3 Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him: and if he do penance, forgive him.
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VERS. 3.-- *Take heed to yourselves.* He intimates by what order we may turn aside scandals and escape the everlasting woe. But if we take heed that we harm no one, if we rebuke the penitent with the zeal of justice, if from the heart we forgive him who repents, we are not commanded to forgive one who sins at random, but one who does penance. First therefore is it to rebuke him who sins, that afterwards we may be able to forgive him who repents. For he who sees a man sinning and is silent sins as much as he who does not pardon a penitent. *And if he do penance.* We are bidden to give pardon in one way to a penitent brother, in another to a persecuting enemy. To a brother we impart fellowship in charity with the remission granted; to a persecutor who wills evil to us, or who does it if he can, we will good things and do what we can.
4 And if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day be converted unto thee, saying: I repent: forgive him.
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VERS. 4.-- *Seven times.* Universality is wont to be designated by the number seven. It is commanded therefore that all sins be forgiven, or that it be always forgiven to one who repents.
5 And the apostles said to the Lord: Increase our faith.
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VERS. 5.-- *Increase.* Since he had said above: *He that is faithful in that which is least,* etc. The apostles, who in that which was another's and in that which was least, that is, in the contempt of earthly things, had been faithful, ask that faith be increased in what is their own and greater, that they who from faith already have the beginnings of virtue may advance in the same, until they come to perfection.
6 And the Lord said: If you had faith like to a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this mulberry tree: Be thou rooted up and be thou transplanted into the sea. And it would obey you.
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VERS. 6.-- *To the mulberry tree.* By the mulberry, of blood-red colour, whose fruit and twigs are ruddy, the Gospel of the cross is expressed, which by the faith of the apostles was uprooted out of the nation of the Jews (in which, as in the stock of the race, the word of preaching was held) and transplanted into the sea of the Gentiles; to which the parable subjoined concerning the ministers of the word also fits. The leaves of the mulberry laid under a serpent bring death, and the word of the cross, as it confers all wholesome things, takes away all noxious ones. The fruit of the mulberry is white in flower, when formed grows red, in ripeness turns black: so the devil, of one shining red with the flower of the angelic nature and with power, by prevaricating bristled up, a terror, in odour, who is shut out through faith.
7 But which of you, having a servant ploughing or feeding cattle, will say to him, when he is come from the field: Immediately go. Sit down to meat.
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VERS. 7.-- *But which of you,* etc. The servant ploughing or feeding is the doctor of the Church, of whom it is said: *No man putting his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom* of God. And the Lord says to Peter: *Feed my sheep*. Which servant returns from the field when, the work of preaching being intermitted, returning as it were to the court of conscience he goes over his own words or deeds; whom the Lord does not at once bid to pass out of this life and be cherished in eternal rest, but to prepare at home what he may sup on, that is, after the labour of open speech, to display the humility of his own manner of life, for in such a conscience God sups.
8 And will not rather say to him: Make ready my supper and gird thyself and serve me, whilst I eat and drink; and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink?
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VERS. 8.-- *And minister to me.* He ministers to his Maker who, considering his nature and greatly fearing his judgments, humbles himself from his own virtues. For a minister is so called from a lesser estate.
9 Doth he thank that servant for doing the things which he commanded him?
10 I think not. So you also, when you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which we ought to do.
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VERS. 10.-- *So you also.* After he has exhorted to the perfection of faith, through which wonderful works are done even against the nature of things, he warns that no one should glory of his own works, but that by how much faith is outwardly more excellent in virtues, by so much the conscience within should be more humble, because we owe obedience to the Lord by right. *Unprofitable servants.* If a man exacts from a man who is his servant not a uniform but a manifold ministry, and gives him no thanks, how much more ought you who without me can do nothing not to practise the use of one work or one labour only, but always to increase former things with new zeal, nor should you boast, because you serve well. *What we ought to do.* He who came to minister and not to be ministered unto has made us debtors to himself, that not trusting in our own works, but fearing his examination, when all things are fulfilled which have been commanded, we may recognize that we are unperfected, so long as we are pilgrims from God.
11 And it came to pass, as he was going to Jerusalem, he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
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VERS. 11.-- *And it came to pass.* After the parable by which he invites to kindness and to perseverance in the diverse offices of God, the ungrateful are reproved concerning benefits bestowed.
12 And as he entered into a certain town, there met him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off.
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VERS. 12.-- *There met him,* etc. The lepers are heretics, who, having as it were various colours in the same body, mingle various sects, now of falsehood, now of truth, in the same preaching. But because these are shunned and removed far from the Church, they must needs cry out with a great clamour. *Who stood,* etc. They who have sinned against the Decalogue, loving neither God (of whom they think ill) nor the neighbour, from whom they are divided, cry under the number ten to God and are healed, while in the fellowship of the Church they attain a whole and true teaching, and expound all things according to the rule of the Catholic faith, and are free of the variety of lies as of leprosy. But one gives thanks, that is, they who remain in the unity of the Church through humility; but they who, puffed up through pride, are ungrateful to him who cleansed them, are nine, because by one unit they fall short of the perfection of the number ten.
13 And lifted up their voice, saying: Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
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VERS. 13.-- *And they lifted up their voice.* Because they acknowledge that they have erred in the words of the Saviour, they call upon the master who is to save them, and through the knowledge of the master they return to the form of salvation.
14 Whom when he saw, he said: Go, shew yourselves to the priests. And it came to pass, as they went, they were made clean.
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VERS. 14.-- *Go,* etc. Whoever, cleansed by the grace of God, has been rid of heretical depravity, or of Gentile superstition, or of Jewish faithlessness, or of brotherly schism, must needs come to the Church, and show a true colour of faith like to that of others.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was made clean, went back, with a loud voice glorifying God.
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VERS. 15.-- *But one.* And the one who returned signifies the devout humility in Christ of the one Church, who, falling at his feet and giving thanks, because with the thoughts of presumption repressed he sees how weak he is, ascribes nothing of virtue to himself; the good things which he does he understands to be of mercy.
16 And he fell on his face before his feet, giving thanks. And this was a Samaritan.
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VERS. 16.-- *And he fell on his face.* He falls on his face who blushes for the evils he has committed. For a man falls there where he is put to confusion. He who falls on his face sees whither he falls; he who falls backward does not see. The good therefore fall on their face, because they humble themselves in these visible things, that they may be raised to the invisible; the evil fall backward, because they fall among invisible things, where they do not see what follows them.
17 And Jesus answering, said: Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine?
18 There is no one found to return and give glory to God, but this stranger.
19 And he said to him: Arise, go thy way; for thy faith hath made thee whole.
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VERS. 19.-- *Arise.* He who, acknowledging his own weakness, has lain humbly before God, is bidden by divine consolation to rise to stronger works, and to go on increasing as far as things more perfect. *Thy faith.* The faith which inclined him to give thanks; on the contrary, faithlessness condemns those who are ungrateful for benefits received. *Hath made thee whole.* In the parable above it is determined that faith ought to be increased through humility. In this one it is manifestly shown by the facts themselves, that it is not the acknowledged reason of faith only, but the executed working of faith, that makes the believer whole.
20 And being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answering them and said: The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.
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VERS. 20.-- *Being asked.* They ask for this reason, because, as Luke discloses further on, they thought that, when the Lord came to Jerusalem, his kingdom would forthwith be made manifest. *The kingdom of God cometh not,* etc. Because, when it shall come, it can be observed neither by angels nor by men, as the time of the Lord's incarnation was both foreappointed by the oracles of the prophets and made manifest by the proclamations of angels, so that he was declared conceived, born, baptized, preaching, dying, rising, ascending to the heavens, with the tokens either of angels, or of men, or certainly of miracles unceasingly accompanying him.
21 Neither shall they say: Behold here, or behold there. For lo, the kingdom of God is within you.
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VERS. 21.-- *For behold the kingdom.* It will not be able to be observed, because my kingdom is not bodily, as you think, but spiritual, which has already begun by faith. *The kingdom of God.* Or the Lord's answer can be taken thus: *The kingdom of God is within you,* who, one day to come as the Judge of all, even now reigns in the hearts of the faithful. But when heretics trouble the Church with depraved teachings, the faithful desire that the Lord, returning to the earth for one day, if it could be, would make known the truth of the faith. But they shall not see it, because that which has once been displayed by the brightness of the Gospel has no need to be confirmed by a bodily vision of the Lord.
22 And he said to his disciples: The days will come when you shall desire to see one day of the Son of man. And you shall not see it.
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VERS. 22.-- *The days shall come.* He would not say when he should come, but he said that he would come, that he might strike into all the terror of the imminent judgment, and not bring the security of a delay. *You shall desire.* After my ascension, when you, groaning in this exile of the world, shall desire to see me in my glory, which will is to be praised, yet not to be fulfilled in this world. *One day.* Well does he say one, because in that glory, of which the prophet says: *Better is one day in thy courts above thousands*, there is no interruption of darkness, no memory even of misery or of grief. It is good to desire the presence of this day, yet not by the greatness of desire to feign dreams for ourselves, as though the day of the Lord were at hand, which he foretells will be done by some.
23 And they will say to you: See here, and see there. Go ye not after, nor follow them.
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VERS. 23.-- *And they will say,* etc. There have been some who, reckoning the courses of the ages, said that they had found the certain year, day and hour of the consummation of the world.
24 For as the lightning that lighteneth from under heaven shineth unto the parts that are under heaven, so shall the Son of man be in his day.
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VERS. 24.-- *For as,* etc. Do not believe them, because the second coming will be sudden, and so manifest that none will be able to be ignorant of it from under heaven, because the crisis of the judgment is carried on under heaven, that is, in the midst of the air.
25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
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VERS. 25.-- *But first,* etc. Speaking of the glory of his coming, he inserts something also of the passion, so that when they saw dying him whom they had heard was to reign, they might soften the grief of the passion by the hope of the promised brightness.
26 And as it came to pass in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
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VERS. 26.-- *And as it came to pass.* He builds up the sudden day of his coming by many examples, and that which he had compared to lightning (which swiftly flies across all things) he makes equal to the days of Noe or of Loth, when a sudden destruction came upon mortals.
27 They did eat and drink, they married wives and were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.
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VERS. 27.-- *They did eat,* etc. It is not marriages or foods that are condemned, since in these are set the supports of succession, in those the supports of nature, but the immoderate use of things lawful is reproved. For because by giving themselves wholly to these they were despising the judgments of God, they perished by fire or by water. *Until the day.* Allegorically: Noe builds the ark, when the Lord gathers the *fideres* into the Church. And when it is finished he enters it, when on the day of judgment he lights it up with his presence. But while the ark is being built the wicked are wanton, and while it is being entered they are struck with eternal damnation.
28 Likewise as it came to pass in the days of Lot. They did eat and drink, they bought and sold, they planted and built.
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VERS. 28.-- *In like manner,* etc. Passing over the greatest crime of the Sodomites, he mentions those things alone which might be thought either light or nothing at all, that thou mayest understand with what punishment things unlawful are struck, if things lawful and those without which life is not led, when done more immoderately, shall be punished with fire and brimstone. *Loth.* Allegorically: Loth, who is interpreted *declining,* is the people of the elect, who while they dwell in Sodom, that is, among the reprobate as a stranger, decline their crimes as far as they can. When Loth goes out, Sodom perishes, because *in the consummation of the world the angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire*.
29 And in the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man shall be revealed.
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VERS. 30.-- *The Son of man.* He who, appearing in the meantime, sees all things, then appearing will judge all things, when he shall have beheld all men, forgetful of his judgments, made bondsmen to this world, so that they may deservedly be blotted out together with the very world they inhabit.
31 In that hour, he that shall be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away: and he that shall be in the field, in like manner, let him not return back.
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VERS. 31.-- *In that day.* Thus far concerning this, that the kingdom, that is, Christ, comes not with observation but unlooked for: now, by what sort of men that coming ought to be awaited. He is on the housetop who, going beyond carnal things, lives spiritually as it were in the open air. His vessels in the house are the carnal concupiscences which he had loved before, but, seeking things above, had left behind in the world, and which, with the judgment imminent, he must needs not seek again. *And he that shall be in the field.* What he had said, that he who is in the field ought not to turn back, lest it should seem to have been said only of those who are openly to return from the field, that is, who are to deny the Lord openly; he shows that there are many who, while they seem to keep their face toward the things before, yet look backward in mind.
32 Remember Lot's wife.
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VERS. 32.-- *Be mindful.* Loth's wife signifies those who look backward in tribulation, and turn themselves away from the hope of the divine promise, and therefore she was made a statue of salt, because by admonishing men not to do the like, she seasons their hearts that they be not foolish.
33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose it shall preserve it.
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VERS. 33.-- *Whosoever.* He who shall wish to save the carnal life (by denying Christ) in the world, shall lose it in the world to come; or he who seeks the eternal salvation of his soul, let him not hesitate to give it up unto the death of this present time.
34 I say to you: In that night there shall be two men in one bed. The one shall be taken and the other shall be left.
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VERS. 34.-- *In that night.* That is, in that tribulation so dark *that they may be led into error, if it be possible, even the elect*. *Two in a bed.* Those, namely, who choose leisure, occupied neither with secular nor with ecclesiastical business.
35 Two women shall be grinding together. The one shall be taken and the other shall be left. Two men shall be in the field. The one shall be taken and the other shall be left.
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VERS. 35.-- *The other shall be left.* He who, whether by human praise or by any corruption whatever, forsakes the state of life in which he was steeped. Of whom Jeremias says: *The enemies saw her, and mocked at her sabbaths*. *There shall be two,* etc. Two differences, of those who follow the round of moveable things. Which are designated by the feminine gender, because they are ruled by the counsel of their elders, as women by men; which nevertheless grind together in so far as out of their own business they serve the uses of the Church. But some only for the sake of things eternal, *who have as though not having,* some for the sake of things temporal, *who hope in the uncertainty of riches*.
36 They answering, say to him: Where, Lord?
37 Who said to them: Wheresoever the body shall be, thither will the eagles also be gathered together.
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VERS. 37.-- *Who said to them.* To those asking two things he answers one, namely that the saints are to be taken up with him; the other he intimates by subjoining, namely that the evil, driven back from him, are to be damned with the devil. *Wheresoever,* etc. Wheresoever the Lord shall be bodily, thither shall the elect be gathered, who by humbly imitating his passion are filled as it were from his flesh, whose youth shall be renewed as the eagle's through the resurrection.