The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked [one];
Mat 13:38
The field is the world.
The moral dignity of the missionary enterprise
I. The grandeur of the object. Survey the field geographically. Estimate the miseries of the world. Consider these human beings as immortal, and candidates for an eternity of happiness or misery.
II. The missionary undertaking is arduous enough to call into action the noblest energies of man. This enterprise requires consummate wisdom, unwavering perseverance, undaunted courage, sublime faith.
III. The means by which this moral revolution is to be effected. By the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Contemplate the simplicity, benevolence, and efficacy of this means. (F. Wayland, D. D.)
The gospel sphere
I. Its geographical and statistical extent.
II. Its moral condition.
III. Its redeemed condition.
IV. Its glorious destination. A destiny of universal knowledge, righteousness, peace, felicity.
V. His commanding claims upon us. (J. Burns, D. D.)
I. The field is the world, because the commission of Christ does not restrict the publication of the gospel to any one class or nation.
II. The world is the field in which the Church is to sow the seed of the Word, because the world has been given to Christ her Head.
III. Because, however wide it may be, ample means exist for its cultivation.
IV. That the field to be cultivated by the Church is the world, is shown by the example of the inspired apostles.
V. Follows from the fact that the gospel is suited alike to all the nations of the world.
VI. The very nature of moral principle in the heart, of man requires that the Church regard the world as the field.
VII. The composition of the congregation assembled in heaven proves that the field is the world.
1. Send the gospel to all.
2. Value souls.
3. Cultivate a lively sympathy with the glory of Christ.
4. Lay the foundation of all usefulness in personal godliness. (J. Stewart.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
38. The tares are the children ofthe wicked oneAs this sowing could only be “while menslept,” no blame seems intended, and certainly none is chargedupon “the servants”; it is probably just the dress of theparable.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The field is the world,…. That which is represented by “the field”, in which the good seed is sown, is not only the land of Judea, where Christ preached in person, but the whole world, into which the apostles were afterwards sent; or the church of Christ, in the several parts of the world:
the good seed are the children of the kingdom: they which are designed by the good seed, are such, for whom the kingdom of heaven is prepared, to whom it is bequeathed, and who are appointed to it; who are possessed of the kingdom of grace here, and are heirs of the kingdom of glory; and have both a meetness for it, and a right unto it, being the children of God by adoption, and that appearing by regeneration:
but the tares are the children of the wicked one: the persons intended by “the tares”, are such professors of religion, as both by their principles and practices, manifestly show that they are of their father the devil; they resemble and imitate him, and do his works; and plainly declare, that they were never born of God, and are in no better state, though under a profession, than openly profane and immoral persons; and are more hurtful and scandalous to the interest of Christ, than such are.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The field is the world ( ). The article with both “field” and “world” in Greek means that subject and predicate are coextensive and so interchangeable. It is extremely important to understand that both the good seed and the darnel (tares) are sown in the world, not in the Kingdom, not in the church. The separation comes at the consummation of the age ( , 39), the harvest time. They all grow together in the field (the world).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “The field is the world;” (ho de agros estin ho kosmos) “Then the field (area or territory) of the sown seed-word is (exists as), the world,” territory of the church’s mandate, Joh 20:21; Luk 19:10; Joh 3:17; Mr 16:15; Act 1:8; Mat 28:18-20.
2) “The good seed are the children of the kingdom;” (to de’ sperma houtoi eisen hoi huioi tes basilelas) “Then the good or ideal seed (which I told you about), these are (exist as) the heirs of the kingdom,” (executive of the kingdom of heaven), or the church that Jesus established, Mat 3:2; Mat 5:1-3; Mat 5:10; Mat 5:13-14; Mat 5:19-20; Mat 13:11; Mat 16:18-19.
3) “But the tares are the children of the wicked one;” (ta de zizania eisin hoi huioi tou ponerou) “Then the tares are (exist as) the devil. These are anarchists and rebels against Jesus Christ and the vineyard or field work of His church, Joh 8:44; 1Jn 3:10.
The children or “heirs of the kingdom,” kingdom of heaven, have been given their charge, and field of service, to make, baptize, and teach disciples to the uttermost part of the world, Act 1:8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(38) The tares are the children of the wicked one.It was, perhaps, natural that theologians, who saw in heresy the greatest of all evils, should identify the tares with heretics. So far as heresy rises from the spirit of self-will, or antagonism to righteousness, we may admit that they are included in the class, but the true definition is that given in Mat. 13:41, all things that offend, and them which do iniquity.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“And the field is the world, and the good seed, these are the sons of the Kingly Rule, and the tares (darnel) are the sons of the evil one.”
The field represents the whole of mankind (not just the Jews or the church, there is no parochialism here), and the good seed are ‘the sons of the Kingly Rule’, in this case (contrast Mat 8:12) those who are responsive to God’s Kingly Rule. The pseudo seed are the sons of the evil one (which includes many who thought themselves sons of the Kingly Rule – Mat 7:22; Mat 8:12). Thus the Kingly Rule of Heaven does not at any stage include the pseudo seed. It includes only the true ‘sons of the Kingly Rule’ (compare Mat 5:9; Mat 5:45; Mat 5:48) who look forward to the final eternal Kingly Rule of their Father (Mat 13:43).
The world is here seen as divided into two. On the one hand are those who are sons of the Kingly Rule, who submit to the king and walk in His ways, continually obeying His commands (Mat 7:21; Mat 7:24-25). On the other hand are the remainder of mankind (Mat 13:41), whatever their profession, who are, (unknown in most cases to them), sons of the evil one, that is, they walk according to his instructions, deceived and in darkness, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them through the hardness of their hearts (Eph 4:18).
This theme of division into two, those who can see God truly as their Father and those who cannot, was emphasised in Mat 7:13-13; Mat 7:24-27; and continues on until Mat 25:46. It includes all men and is a constant theme of Jesus. Men must either come under the Kingly Rule of Heaven, or, whether Jew or Gentile, they will be lost. There is no other alternative.
Contrary to attempts to suggest the opposite there is no hint here of ‘the church’ or of pseudo-Christians. It is speaking of the whole of humanity. The lines are clearly drawn. The whole of humanity is represented by the good seed and the darnel. On the one side are those who are truly human (they are like ‘a son of man’ because they do the Father’s will – Dan 7:4 with Mat 4:25 b; Mat 7:13 with 21), on the other are the darnel (those who outwardly appear to be men but inwardly are like wild beasts – Dan 4:16; Dan 4:25 a; Mat 7:3). And the God of Heaven is setting up a Kingly Rule which will never be destroyed (Dan 2:44). That the picture in Daniel is in Jesus’ mind here comes out in the dual references to the Son of Man and in the sequel where the casting into the furnace of fire clearly reflects Dan 3:6.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 13:38. The children of the kingdom This is a Hebraism, signifying the heirs of the kingdom, ch. Mat 8:12 where the unbelieving Jews are named the children of the kingdom, in opposition to the Gentiles, because they were born within the Mosaic covenant. Here the children of the kingdom are the true believers, as the children of the wicked one are the unregenerate and disobedient. See Joh 8:41; Joh 8:44.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one ;
Ver. 38. The field is the world ] The Christian world, the Church, not the Roman Catholic Church only, the Pope’s territories, as he would have it. The Rogatian heretics would needs have made the world believe that they were the only Catholics. The Anabaptists have the same conceit of themselves. Munzer their chieftain, in his book written against Luther, and dedicated to Christ the most illustrious Prince (as he styleth him), inveigheth bitterly at him, as one that was merely carnal, and utterly void of the spirit of revelation. And Pareus upon this text tells us, that in a conference at Frankendale, the Anabaptists thus argued, The field is the world, therefore not the Church; that by the same reason they might deny, that tares breed in the Church. But tares are and will be in the visible Church, as our Saviour purposely teacheth by this parable.
The tares are the children of that wicked one ] So called partly in respect of their serpentine nature, those corrupt qualities whereby they resemble the devil; and partly because they creep into the Church by Satan’s subtlety, being his agents and emissaries. Agnosco te primogenitum diaboli, saith St John of that heretic Cerinthus. And hypocrites are his sons and heirs, the very freeholders of hell, and other sinners but their tenants, which have their part or lot with hypocrites, Mat 24:29 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
38. ] This verse has been variously interpreted, notwithstanding that its statements are so plain. The consideration of it will lead us into that of the general nature and place of the parable itself. The field is the world; if understood of the Church, then the Church only as commensurate with the world , ( Mar 16:15 ); THE CHURCH standing for THE WORLD, not, the world for the Church . (This latter view, Stier says, Augustine upholds against the Donatists: but I cannot find it in his Ep. contra Donatistas (vol. ix.), where he several times plainly asserts the field to be commensurate with the world, and the Church to be the ‘triticum inter zizania.’) And the parable has, like the former ones, its various references to various counter-workings of the Evil One against the grace of God. Its two principal references are, (1) to the whole history of the world from beginning to end; the coming of sin into the world by the malice of the devil, the mixed state of mankind, notwithstanding the development of God’s purposes by the dispensations of grace, and the final separation of the good and evil at the end. The very declaration ‘the harvest is the end of the world’ suggests the original sowing as the beginning of it. Yet this sowing is not in the fact, as in the parable, one only , but repeated again and again.
In the parable the Lord gathers as it were the whole human race into one lifetime , as they will be gathered in one harvest, and sets that forth as simultaneous, which has been scattered over the ages of time. But (2) as applying principally to the . . . which lay in the future and began with the Lord’s incarnation, the parable sets forth to us the universal sowing of GOOD SEED by the Gospel: it sows no bad seed: all this is done by the enemy, and further we may not enquire. Soon, even as soon as Act 5:1-42 in the history of the Church, did the tares begin to appear; and in remarkable coincidence with the wheat bringing forth fruit (see Act 4:32-37 ). Again, see Act 13:10 , where Paul calls Elymas by the very name . And ever since, the same has been the case; throughout the whole world, where the Son of Man sows good seed, the Enemy sows tares. And it is not the office , however much it may be the desire, of the servants of the householder, the labourers in His field, to collect or root up these tares, to put them out of the world literally, or of the Church spiritually (save in some few exceptional cases, such as that in Act 5:1-42 ); this is reserved for another time and for other hands , for the harvest , the end; for the reapers , the angels . (3) It is also most important to notice that, as the Lord here gathers up ages into one season of seed time and harvest, so He also gathers up the various changes of human character and shiftings of human will into two distinct classes . We are not to suppose that the wheat can never become tares, or the tares wheat: this would be to contradict the purpose of Him who willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; and this gracious purpose shines through the command let time be given (as above) for the leaven to work . As in the parable of the sower, the various classes were the concentrations of various dispositions , all of which are frequently found in one and the same individual, so here the line of demarcation between wheat and tares, so fixed and impassable at last , is, during the probation time , the time of , not yet determined by Him who will have all to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth . In the very first example, that of our first parents, the good seed degenerated, but their restoration and renewal was implied in the promises made to them, and indeed in their very punishment itself; and we their progeny are by nature the children of wrath, till renewed by the same grace. The parable is delivered by the Lord as knowing all things , and describing by the final result; and gives no countenance whatever to predestinarian error. (4) The parable has an historical importance, having been much in the mouths and writings of the Donatists, who, maintaining that the Church is a perfectly holy congregation, denied the applicability of this Scripture to convict them of error, seeing that it is spoken not of the Church but of the world: missing the deeper truth which would have led them to see that, after all, the world is the Church , only overrun by these very tares.
., strikingly sets forth again the identity of the seed, in its growth, with those who are the plants: see above on Mat 13:19 .
. . ] not in the same sense as in ch. Mat 8:12 , SONS there , by covenant and external privilege: here , by the effectual grace of adoption: the KINGDOM, there , in mere paradigm, on this imperfect earth: here , in its true accomplishment. in the new heavens and earth wherein dwelleth righteousness: but in their state among the tares, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 13:38 . , the wide world; universalism. , not the word this time, but the children of the kingdom. , the sons of the wicked one ( , the devil).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
are = these are: i.e. represent. Figure of speech Metaphor. App-6.
children = sons. App-108.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
38.] This verse has been variously interpreted, notwithstanding that its statements are so plain. The consideration of it will lead us into that of the general nature and place of the parable itself. The field is the world; if understood of the Church, then the Church only as commensurate with the world, (Mar 16:15); THE CHURCH standing for THE WORLD, not, the world for the Church. (This latter view, Stier says, Augustine upholds against the Donatists: but I cannot find it in his Ep. contra Donatistas (vol. ix.), where he several times plainly asserts the field to be commensurate with the world, and the Church to be the triticum inter zizania.) And the parable has, like the former ones, its various references to various counter-workings of the Evil One against the grace of God. Its two principal references are, (1) to the whole history of the world from beginning to end; the coming of sin into the world by the malice of the devil, the mixed state of mankind, notwithstanding the development of Gods purposes by the dispensations of grace,-and the final separation of the good and evil at the end. The very declaration the harvest is the end of the world suggests the original sowing as the beginning of it. Yet this sowing is not in the fact, as in the parable, one only, but repeated again and again.
In the parable the Lord gathers as it were the whole human race into one lifetime, as they will be gathered in one harvest, and sets that forth as simultaneous, which has been scattered over the ages of time. But (2) as applying principally to the . . . which lay in the future and began with the Lords incarnation, the parable sets forth to us the universal sowing of GOOD SEED by the Gospel: it sows no bad seed: all this is done by the enemy, and further we may not enquire. Soon, even as soon as Act 5:1-42 in the history of the Church, did the tares begin to appear; and in remarkable coincidence with the wheat bringing forth fruit (see Act 4:32-37). Again, see Act 13:10, where Paul calls Elymas by the very name . And ever since, the same has been the case; throughout the whole world, where the Son of Man sows good seed, the Enemy sows tares. And it is not the office, however much it may be the desire, of the servants of the householder, the labourers in His field, to collect or root up these tares, to put them out of the world literally, or of the Church spiritually (save in some few exceptional cases, such as that in Act 5:1-42); this is reserved for another time and for other hands,-for the harvest, the end; for the reapers, the angels. (3) It is also most important to notice that, as the Lord here gathers up ages into one season of seed time and harvest, so He also gathers up the various changes of human character and shiftings of human will into two distinct classes. We are not to suppose that the wheat can never become tares, or the tares wheat: this would be to contradict the purpose of Him who willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; and this gracious purpose shines through the command -let time be given (as above) for the leaven to work. As in the parable of the sower, the various classes were the concentrations of various dispositions, all of which are frequently found in one and the same individual, so here the line of demarcation between wheat and tares, so fixed and impassable at last, is, during the probation time, the time of , not yet determined by Him who will have all to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. In the very first example, that of our first parents, the good seed degenerated, but their restoration and renewal was implied in the promises made to them, and indeed in their very punishment itself; and we their progeny are by nature the children of wrath, till renewed by the same grace. The parable is delivered by the Lord as knowing all things, and describing by the final result; and gives no countenance whatever to predestinarian error. (4) The parable has an historical importance, having been much in the mouths and writings of the Donatists, who, maintaining that the Church is a perfectly holy congregation, denied the applicability of this Scripture to convict them of error, seeing that it is spoken not of the Church but of the world: missing the deeper truth which would have led them to see that, after all, the world is the Church, only overrun by these very tares.
., strikingly sets forth again the identity of the seed, in its growth, with those who are the plants: see above on Mat 13:19.
. .] not in the same sense as in ch. Mat 8:12,-SONS there, by covenant and external privilege: here,-by the effectual grace of adoption: the KINGDOM, there, in mere paradigm, on this imperfect earth: here, in its true accomplishment. in the new heavens and earth wherein dwelleth righteousness: but in their state among the tares, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 13:38. , these) Of whom most account is taken; or especially the disciples then present.- , of the wicked one) The word is in the masculine gender.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
world kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield “Mat 4:8”).
kingdom (See Scofield “Mat 3:2”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
field: Mat 24:14, Mat 28:18-20, Mar 16:15-20, Luk 24:47, Rom 10:18, Rom 16:26, Col 1:6, Rev 14:6
the good: Psa 22:30, Isa 53:10, Hos 2:23, Zec 10:8, Zec 10:9, Joh 1:12, Joh 1:13, Joh 12:24, Rom 8:17, Jam 1:18, Jam 2:5, 1Pe 1:23, 1Jo 3:2, 1Jo 3:9
the children of the wicked: Mat 13:19, Gen 3:15, Joh 8:44, Act 13:10, Phi 3:18, Phi 3:19, 1Jo 3:8, 1Jo 3:10
Reciprocal: Isa 57:4 – are ye Mat 13:25 – tares Mat 22:10 – both Mat 25:1 – the kingdom Mat 25:2 – General Mar 14:22 – this Luk 16:22 – was carried 1Co 10:4 – that Rock Eph 2:2 – the children 2Th 2:8 – that 1Jo 2:13 – the wicked 1Jo 3:12 – of
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3:38
The field is the world (mankind in general) and not the church as some people teach. Good seed are the children means the good seed (which is the divine truth) produces children for the kingdom of heaven. The tares are the children or product of evil teaching. These evil men are people of the world who would not accept the kingdom of heaven and the Lord’s teaching.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 13:38. The field is the world. His field (Mat 13:24), hence some would limit this to the Church. But in that case the parable would not differ from the last of the series. The phrase can only mean the Church, as the Church is seeking to occupy the whole world. The gospel is good seed to be scattered everywhere; the intertwining of the roots suggests that the tares are in the Church also, as indeed Mat 13:41 plainly implies.
The sons of the kingdomthe sons of the evil one. The reference is to persons, who represent and embody the two opposing influences and developments. In the world, and in the Church both as an organized body and as engaged in its missionary enterprises, there exist side by side two such classes; those made heirs of Christs kingdom by Divine sowing and those who are of the seed of the serpent.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
he field is the world, &c. The field is the world, not the Church; for by the tares of this field many understand heretics, who are not in the Church, especially when they are public and manifest.
Children of the kingdom: These are faithful, righteous, and persevering in justice, and therefore elected by God to be heirs of the kingdom of Heaven. Whence, in verse 43, they are called the righteous. These are the sons of the Heavenly Father, “which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (Joh 1:13).
Observe: the righteous are here called seed, because although the seed which Christ sows is the Word of God, spoken as well outwardly by the lips, as inwardly in the heart by grace; nevertheless, because the fruit of this seed is the conversion of the faithful, and their justification, therefore the righteous also are called seed, i.e., the fruit of the seed, and the harvest.
But the tares, &c. Gr. , i.e., the says of that wicked, namely the devil: thus the Syriac and Arabic. Therefore they themselves are evil, for the offspring follow their father. As the sons of God are good and divine, so are the sons of the devil wicked and diabolical.
Observe: by tares and children of the wicked one, some understand heretics, because they are the most injurious kind of tares, inasmuch as they choke and destroy the faithful and faith from their foundation. So S. Chrysostom, Euthymius, and S. Augustine (4 quest. in Matth. q. 11) who, however, retracts (l. 2 Retract. c. 27) and teaches from S. Cyprian, that tares denote all the wicked in the Church. SS. Gregory, Ambrose, and Theophylact teach the same. For all wicked persons, by their evil life, hurt the faithful and the Church, as tares injure wheat, and choke it. Falsely then from this passage (verse 29), where Christ forbids these tares to be plucked up, and subjoins, Let both grow together, the Innovators infer that heretics are not to be punished and extirpated. For by parity of reasoning they might conclude that murderers and thieves must not be punished; for they too are tares. And I say that Christ does not here absolutely forbid these tares to be plucked up, but says that no one must attempt to root them all up together; nor at a time when they came to be distinguished from the wheat; or when there is danger of pulling up the wheat at the same time with them. But all this does not apply when anyone is a manifest heretic, especially if he teaches and infects others with his heresy. For such a one does more harm to the Church than a murderer, for the one only kills the body, but the other the soul. See 1 Cor. v. 13, Gal. v. 12, where the Apostle commands impious persons, especially false teachers, to be taken away and extirpated. Thus Origen and S. Augustine-the latter indeed was at first of opinion that heretics ought not to be put to death, yea, that they ought not even to be compelled to resume the faith, which they have professed in baptism. But afterwards, which he had been taught by experience how perverse and obstinate heretics are, he changed his opinion and taught the contrary. He says, “I had not yet learnt either what great wickedness they would venture upon, if they could do it with impunity; or how much careful discipline could effect to make a change in them for the better.” (l. 2, cont. Parmen. c. 2, and 2 Retract. c. 5).
The harvest, &c. For then shall God by the angels reap the harvest of all men, bad as well as good; and shall sever them in the day of judgment, gathering the good into the heavenly barn, and delivering the evil to the fire of hell. Whence it follows that separation shall be effected by the ministry of the angels. Therefore it is said below, that the Son of Man shall come to judgment with the angels.
And shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend; Gr. scandals, stumbling-blocks. The wicked, whom Christ previously called tares, and children of the devil, He here calls scandals; because they are, by their wickednesses, a cause of offence and ruin both to themselves and others. S. Chrysostom observes, that the twofold punishment of the wicked is here signified-the pain of loss (in that it is said, they shall collect out of His kingdom), because they shall be shut out of Heaven; and of sense, in that it is said, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. S. Chrysostom adds: “See the unspeakable love of God to man! He is prompt to bless them, slow to punish. When He soweth, He soweth by Himself; but when He punishes, He punishes by others: for this latter work He sends His angels.” Christ adds, in verse 30, bind them together in bundles, which S. Gregory explains thus: “The angel-reapers bind the tares in bundles for burning, when they join like with like in similar torments-as the proud with the proud, the luxurious with the luxurious, liars with liars, unbelievers with unbelievers-that they may burn together.”
And shall cast them, &c. The furnace denotes that the damned shall be confined in hell as in a furnace, as wood and straw are confined in a furnace.
Then shall the righteous, &c. Then, because now, says Remigius the just shine for an example to others; but then they shall shine as the sun for the praise of God. He alludes to Daniel xii 3: “They that are learned (Heb. mascilim, i.e., wise and prudent-such, namely, as shall live wisely and prudently) shall shine as the splendour of the firmament; and they that shall instruct many to justice, as the stars for everlasting eternities.” See what I have there said. From this passage some heretics were of opinion, that in the resurrection our bodies will be transformed into globes, so as to be like the solar orb. The emperor Justinian ascribes this heresy to Origen, and condemns it. (See Baronius, tom. 7, A. C. 538, pp. 289 and 293.)
The kingdom of Heaven is like, &c. For he who knows that a treasure is lying hid in any place, and buys the place, becomes the master of the treasure, and is not bound to point it out to the former owner, but may use his knowledge for his own advantage by buying the field for as much as it is worth by common estimation; with which the hid treasure has nothing to do.
Which when a man has found. The Greek has the Aorist, .
Observe: Christ, in the preceding four parables (namely, of the Sower, of the Seed, of the Grain of Mustard, and of Leaven) has declared the nature, power, and efficacy of the Gospel; now, in the two following parables, of the Treasure, and of the Pearl, He declares its price, how great it is, that all things are deservedly counted as loss in comparison of it. So SS. Chrysostom, Hilary, and others. In a similar way, Wisdom is spoken of by Solomon in the Proverbs (viii. 11, 19): “For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it . . . My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.”
Literally. By this treasure S. Jerome understands Christ Himself; and S. Augustine, Holy Scripture. (Quest. in Matt. q. 13). “For when anyone has attained partly to the understanding of it, he feels great mysteries lie hid in it, and he sells all he has, and buys it; that is, by despising things temporal, he procures rest for himself, that he may be rich in the knowledge of God.”
Tropologically. S. Gregory, by the treasure, understands heavenly desire. He says: “The treasure being found is hid that it may be preserved, because it is not enough for a man to guard the zeal of his heavenly desire from the wicked spirits, who does not hide the same from the praise of men. In this present life we are, as it were, in a road, by which we are going to our country. Wicked spirits, like robbers, beset our path. He, therefore, who openly carries his treasure in the way desires to be robbed of it.”
Again the kingdom of Heaven, &c.-goodly; Syriac, the best; Arabic, a good gem. He means the faithful ought with as great zeal to provide themselves with the doctrine and life of the Gospel (which is the way and the price of the kingdom of Heaven) as a merchant seeks for pearls, and buys the one of them which is most precious: for otherwise the kingdom, or the Gospel itself, is properly compared to a pearl rather than to a merchant man.
And when he had found, &c. For as this pearl was beyond all price, so is the Gospel. See Pliny on the price of pearls (l. 9, 35), where he says, among other things, that pearls have greater affinity with the sky than with the sea. See what I have said on the Apocalypse xxi. 21 (Rev 21:21), where I have enumerated thirteen properties of pearls.
Symbolically. The precious pearl is Christ, also the Blessed Virgin, also the religious state, also charity: “for charity is a precious pearl, without which nothing can profit thee, whatsoever thou mayst have,” says S. Augustine. For charity is the necklace of Christ. Also a precious pearl is the contemplative life, concerning which Christ said of the Magdalene, “Mary hath chosen the good part.” A pearl is, also, the soul of every man. It is also eternal felicity, as our Salmeron appositely shows (tom. vii. tract. 11); for all these are principal parts of the kingdom of Heaven, i.e., of the doctrine of the Gospel. Such, likewise, is humility, even as our Thomas teaches, being taught of God himself (Imitat. Christi. l. 1, c. 2): “If thou wishest profitably to know and to learn anything, love to be unknown, and to be counted as nothing. This is the loftiest and most useful knowledge-truly to know and despise thy self.” This is the most precious Gospel pearl, but its worth is unknown to the proud children of Adam. Such also is the Cross of Christ, and to suffer for Christ. See Hab 3:4: “There were horns in His hands; there was His strength hid.” (Vulg.)
The chief and most precious pearl of all, from which all virtues and all the Saints, like pearls are sprung, and from which they derive their beauty and their value, is Christ Himself. For His Deity in His Humanity is as a pearl hid in a shell. It issued forth of the substance of the Virgin, and the dew of the Spirit, most white, through innocence of life. It was exceeding bright through wisdom; round through the possession of all perfection; having the weight of conscience, the smoothness of meekness, the price of blessedness. For says Pliny, “The value of pearls consists in whiteness, size, rotundity, smoothness and weight.” Hear what S. Augustine says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God: for the Word of the Lord shines with the brightness of truth, and is solid with the firmness of eternity, and is every where alike with the beauty of Divinity: when the shell of the flesh is pierced through, God may be perceived.” This pearl of Christ, says our Salmeron, is small by humility, but precious in value. Let us bear it on the head of our mind by way of ornament; on our forehead by confessing the faith; in our ears by obedience to the Law, obedience rendered to God in Himself, and our Superiors; on our necks and breasts by love; on our arms by the exercise of good works; in rings on our hands by the gift of discerning spirits; in our girdles by chastity; on our garments by modesty and holy devotion to eternal life; but we ourselves also may become precious pearls, and by this means may induce others to imitate the most holy life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Finally Christ is not only a very precious pearl, but He is also the gem of gems. He is a carbuncle, because He is the light of the world. He is an emerald because He delights the angels by the verdure of His grace. He is strong and invincible as a diamond. He produces joy as a sardius. He heals the leprosy of sin as a chrysoprasus. He assists the bringing forth of good works as a spiritual jasper; He sharpens the intellect as a beryl; He has celestial colour and life, as a sapphire; He resists sleep and drunkenness, as an amethyst; and all the infirmities of the mind, as a hyacinth; He sustained the worry of the passions, as a topaz: He is a sardonyx in brightness and splendour; He is a chrysolite in His golden charity. Whence the foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem are laid with these twelve precious stones, which signify the twelve Apostles of Christ.
Again the kingdom of Heaven is like to a drag-net, &c. The two preceding parables, those viz. of the Treasure and the Pearl denoted the value and dignity of the Gospel. This parable shows its capaciousness, viz. that it embraces all nations and people of the world, bad as well as good. Christ propounded the parable with this object, that the Apostles and Saints should not wonder, if among the faithful they beheld some living wickedly, just as in a great kingdom no one is surprised that murderers, thieves and adulterers are found. Again it was spoken in order that no one should flatter himself, simply on account of being a believing Christian since there are in the Church many who are wicked; but that he should give diligence to be just and holy in the Church.
A drag-net: Gr. , signifying the kind of net commonly called a drag or trawling-net, because of its sweeping the water or the sea in order to catch the fishes. Properly this sagene or drag-net is the bosom of the net. In like manner all the faithful are, as it were, received into the maternal bosom of the Church, and there are cherished, nourished and preserved.
Of every kind: for thus the Gospel is preached to all nations, and of them the Church is formed. The fishes are believers, the fisher-men are the Apostles, and the drag-net is the Church and the Gospel.
Which, when it was full, &c., cast the bad away. They cast them into the sea, or upon the shore. The Arabic is, They colleted the select fish in their vessels. The vessels denote the various mansions in the house of our Father, as Christ says, (Joh 14:2), or the various abodes of Heaven, which, in another place are called the eternal tabernacles. The bad, Gr. , i.e., putrid, decaying, noisome. From this passage S. Augustine rightly proves against the Donatists that in the Church there are not only good people, or as Calvin says, the elect, but bad and reprobate people.
So shall it be in the end of the world, &c. Arabic, in the end of this time, that is to say, in the day of judgment.
He saith unto them, therefore every Scribe, &c. It is as though He said, Forasmuch as ye, 0 ye Apostles, have understood by these My parables, how great a treasure the kingdom of Heaven is, ye ought to draw forth all things from this treasury, that ye may communicate them to others; yea, to the whole world. Again: because ye have understood my method of teaching the things of Heaven, and things which are new to men, by means of parables borrowed from things in common use; ye too ought to teach and preach the same things in the same manner, that from the old things, which they do understand, they may receive and learn those new things which ye preach.
A Scribe; Arabic, a Scribe, who teathes for the kingdom of heaven, i.e., an Evangelical doctor well instructed to announce the Gospel, and lead believers to the kingdom of Heaven; such as ye are, and shall be, 0 ye Apostles, who are fully taught by Me and the Holy Spirit. He opposes His own Scribes, i.e., Doctors and Preachers, His Apostles in fact, to the Scribes of the Jews, which last only preached the law of Moses, and the earthly advantages flowing from it.
Things new and old. This is a proverb, signifying every kind of food, substance, or goods necessary or useful for sustaining a family. Some of these things are best when new, others when old. Hence the proverb, “New honey, old wine;” i.e., honey is best when fresh, but the oldest wine is the best. Hence too the verse in Pindar’s ninth Olympic Hymn, “Praise old wine, but the flowers of new Hymns.” The meaning is-As the father of a family provides for his household things new and old, i.e., everything necessary and useful, so ought a Gospel teacher to bring forth, at suitable times, according to the capacity of his hearers, various discourses, knowledge of every kind; and especially to take care to teach them the new and unknown mysteries of the Gospel, by means of old examples, such as parables and similitudes, which his hearers can take in. Moreover, some of the ancients, as SS. Chrysostom, Augustine, Jerome, Hilary, and Bede apply old and new to the Old and New Testaments. For that is the best preaching when the New Testament is confirmed and illustrated from the Old, and proved to be in all points typically agreeable to it. For the Old Testament was the type of the New; the New Testament is the antetype of the Old.
Abul. objects that when Christ said this, the New Testament was not written. I reply that it was already spoken and taught by Christ, and was shortly about to be written by the four Evangelists; and that Christ knew this. Wherefore He bids the Apostles that they should preach themselves what they had heard, but that their successors should preach the same things as written by the Evangelists.
Jesus passed on from thence, i.e., from His house which He had at Capernaum.
And came unto his own country, &c. This country was not Bethlehem where He was born, but Nazareth, where he was brought up.
Is not this the son of the carpenter, &c. The Gr. is, the son of the workman, the Arab. adds, in wood. S. Mark (Mar 6:3.) Is not this she workman? “Nor is it to be wondered at,” says S. Augustine, “since both might be said, for they believed Him to be a workman, in that he was the son of a workman.” This was because they were accustomed to see Him working with Joseph. It seems therefore that Christ wrought with His father Joseph until He was thirty years of age, when He began to teach and to preach. SS. Hilary and Ambrose think that Christ was a blacksmith; Hugo, a mason, or a goldsmith. The general opinion is that Christ was a carpenter, as S. Thomas, teaches out of S. Chrysostom. S. Justin (Dial. c. Tryph.) says, “He was accustomed to make ploughs and yokes for oxen.” Hence Christ in His preaching often takes His similitudes from those objects, as, “Take my yoke upon you,” and, “No man putting his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Hence too when a Christian was asked in derision by Julian the Apostate, “what the Son of the Carpenter was doing;” answered wittily, “He is making a bier for Julian.” This was shortly before Julian was slain, (See Sozomen. l. 6. c. 2.) Some however say that Christ did not exercise a workman’s craft. But I have said more on this subject on S. Luk 2:51.
Mystically: “God is the workman who is the Father of Christ, who framed the works of the whole world, who built the ark of Noah, who set in order the Tabernacle of Moses, who instituted the ark of the Covenant. You might call Him a carpenter, who planes down a rigid mind, and cuts away proud thoughts.” (Serm. de Nat.) Moreover, says S. Chrysologus (Serm. 48.) “Christ was the son of a workman; but of Him, who made the frame of the universe, not by a hammer, but by His command; who disposed the composition of the elements, not by skill but by His command; who kindled the sun not by earthly fire, but by His supreme heat; who made all things out of nothing, and made them, 0 man, for thee, that thou mightest reflect upon the artificer by considering His work.”
And His brethren, James, &c. Brethren, i.e., cousins, as I have said Chap. xii. 45.
James: This is James the less, called the son of Alphus, an Apostle, and first Bishop of Jerusalem. I have spoken more at length concerning him in the preface to his Canonical Epistle.
And Joseph: The Greek and Syriac have Joses. He was one of the seventy disciples. See what I have said about him on Acts i. 23.
And Simon: Many think from Abdia, Sophronius, Isidore. and Bede, that this was Simon the Canaanite, the Apostle. As though this last had been the brother of James the less and Jude. But Simon the Apostle came from Cana of Galilee; but these brethren, that is, cousins of Christ, were sprung from Nazareth, together with Christ Himself. Wherefore the inhabitants of Nazareth wondered from whence there was in Jesus, their fellow citizen, such great wisdom, since they knew his brethren and relations to be simple and unlearned persons, as is plain from Mark vi. 1., &c. It seems therefore more probable that this Simon is the S. Simeon who succeeded S. James as Bishop of Jerusalem. For Simeon was the son of Cleophas and his wife Mary, as Hegesippus testifies (Eus. H.E. 3. 11.), whom SS. Chrysostom and Theophylact teach to have been the brother of S. James the less. Although Hegesippus and Epiphanius (Hres. 66.) are of opinion that he was not the brother, but the cousin of James. He was that Simeon, who was crucified in the tenth year of Trajan, when he was 120 years old, A.D. 109; and astonished everyone by his constancy and fortitude. From this it follows that those writers who thought him to be the same person as Simon the Canaanite are mistaken.
And Jude. He was a brother of James the less. I have spoken of him in the preface to his Epistle.
You will ask whether these four were brethren, strictly so called, born of the same father and mother? In the first place, it is plain that James and Joses were brothers. This appears from Matt. xxvii. 56. As to the other two, Simon and Jude, some think they were brothers of James and Joses, but on the mother’s side only. They say that their mother was the Mary who was first married to Alphus, to whom she bore James and Joses, and that therefore James is called of Alphus, that is, his son; and after Alphus was dead, she married Cleophas, to whom she bore Simon and Jude. Thus S. Thomas (c. 1, ad. Galat. Lect 5).
2. Baronius (apparat. Annal. c. 46) considers there were three sisters-i.e., cousins of the Blessed Virgin-of the name of Mary. The first, Mary, the wife of Alphus, and the mother of James and Jude (the Apostles), and Joses. 2. Mary, the wife of Cleophas, the mother of that S. Simeon who succeeded S. James in the Bishopric of Jerusalem. The third was Mary Salome, the wife of Zebedee and the mother of the Apostles James and John.
But it is clear that Mary, the wife of Alphus is the same as Mary the wife pf Cleophas, if we compare S. John xix. 25 with Matt. xxvii. 56, and Mar 15:40. For John says. “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.” But Matthew says: “Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.” And Mark: “There were also women looking on afar off; among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome.”
We see here plainly, that she who is called by John Mary of Cleophas is called by Matthew and Mark, Mary the mother of James and Joses; James, I say, who is called (Acts i. and Matt. x.) not the son of Zebedee, but of Alphus. Therefore, Mary of Cleophas and Mary of Alphus are one and the same person. Cleophas and Alphus are really one and the same Hebrew word, by a common interchange of letters. Unless you prefer to consider that one of them was the husband, the other the father, of this Mary.
Again, you may see, that she who is called Salome by Mark, is called by Matthew the mother of Zebedee’s children; this, therefore, was Salome. It seems, then, that the same Mary of Cleophas, or Alphus, was the mother of these four-viz., James, Joseph, Simon, and Jude. For Matthew and Mark (in the places already cited) call her the mother of James and Joses. But Jude was the brother of James, as he says himself in the beginning of his Epistle. Simon also, or Simeon, who succeeded his brother James at Jerusalem, was also a brother, for he was the son of Cleophas and Mary his wife. Moreover, Hegesippus, S. Chrysostom, and several other Fathers assert that this Mary was not the daughter, but the wife of Cleophas. And the same Hegesippus says this Cleophas was the brother of Joseph, the spouse of the Blessed Virgin. He is the same Cleophas to whom, with his companion, Christ made himself known on the way to Emmaus in the breaking of bread. He was slain by the Jews, in that very house of Emmaus, on account of His confession of Christ. He died a martyr, on the 25th of Sept., as the Roman Martyrology has it.
You will ask, why then do Matthew and Mark call this Mary the mother of James and Joses, but not of Simon and Jude? I reply, for the sake of brevity, and because the two first, viz., James and Joses were accounted at that time more celebrated than the other two. This Mary, the mother of so many saintly sons and daughters, died in sanctity, in Judea, on the 9th April.
And his sisters, &c. The sisters of James, Joses, &c., are called by Hippolytus (Ap. Niceph. l. 2. c. 3.), Esther, and Tama; but by S, Epiphanius (Hres 78.) and Theophylact they are called Mary, Salome who was the wife of Zebedee, and the mother of S. John and S. James the great, the Apostles, who were therefore nephews, through their sister, of James the less, Joses, &c. (See Christophor. a Castro de Deipaz. c. 1), where he shows that Salome was older than her brothers James and Jude. For she was the mother of John and James who were chosen by Christ, together with their uncles, James and Jude, to be Apostles. For John seems to have been only three years younger than Christ. Hence too, only James, Joses, Simon and Jude, the sons of Cleophas, are called brothers, i.e., cousins of Christ, on the father’s side. But John and James the sons of Zebedee, are not called brethren of Christ, because they were not first cousins of Christ, but children of His cousin Salome. Again Christophor. gathers from hence, that James the less, who was the brother of Salome, was senior to James the greater, the son of Salome and Zebedee, by nine or ten years at the least. James the less was the uncle of James the great. For they were not so called, in respect of age but of their vocation, by Christ. It is not doubtful that Christ had many other relations and connections, but these are specially mentioned, both because they were nearer in blood; and because they at length believed on Hirn, and became His Apostles.
They were offended, &c. This is, they were indignant that Christ, who was but a workman, should set himself up for a prophet and teacher; just as men would be offended and indignant now, if they saw any one jump out of a workshop into a Cathedral, and act the Doctor; and would accuse him of the utmost arrogance and folly. But the inhabitants of Nazareth were ignorant that Christ was the Son of God, who, out of His immense love, had not disdained to be born among workmen, and to act as one, that He might redeem us, and teach us humility by His example. Therefore this charity and humility of Christ, which ought to have made them admire and venerate Him, was a stumbling-block to them, because they would not believe that God would be willing to stoop so low.
But Jesus said unto them, &c. This is a common proverb, and generally, but not universally true; for John the Baptist, as well as Isaiah, Elias, Elisha, Daniel, Hosea, &c., were held in great honour by the Jews their countrymen.
Now the first cause why a prophet, that is a teacher, is frequently without honour among his own people, is what S. Jerome gives, “It is almost natural for citizens to have an invidious feeling towards their fellow citizens. For they do not consider a man’s present works, but call to mind his frail infancy, as though they themselves had not arrived by the same gradations of age at mature years.” Listen to S. Ambrose, (c. 4. Luc.). “No slight envy is that which betrays itself, which forgetful of the charity belonging to citizenship, turns the causes of love into bitter hatred. This is declared both by example and the oracle, that, in vain, do you look for the assistance of heavenly mercy, if you envy the progress of another’s virtue. For the Lord despises the envious, and turns away the miracles of His power from those who disparage the divine blessings in others.”
2. Because too great familiarity breeds contempt as S. Chrysostom says. And Theophylact says, “We are wont to despise those things which are very common, always paying greater regard to foreign and unaccustomed things. We admire what comes from abroad; we despise what we have at home-even when what we have at home is better. Thus, we turn up our nose at our own physicians, however learned they may be; and we purchase herbs and flowers brought from India, when we have the very same, or better, in our own woods. Of a truth ‘novelty is charming.'”
3. Because by daily conversation with people, their faults, or natural infirmities, are readily disclosed; and this is apt to lessen our veneration for them. But it is otherwise in conversing with God, because the greater converse we have with Him, the more does it conduce to reverence. The inhabitants of Nazareth seeing Christ eat, drink, sleep, work like other men, despised Him, especially when they beheld His relations mean and poor: Nor, indeed, could they believe that He was born of a Virgin Mother, and had God for His Father. Let, therefore, a teacher and preacher avoid familiarity with men, lest he be despised; for, as S. Cyril says. “Preaching is not able to bring forth fruit where the preacher is despised.”
And He did not many mighty works there, &c. (Arab.), on account of the paucity of their faith. This caused them to be unworthy of miracles. S. Jerome gives another reason, “That He might not condemn their unbelief by working many miracles.” For he who beholds many miracles, and does not believe, sins more gravely than he who has beheld but few, and will be, therefore, more heavily condemned, and punished in hell This was the cause why Christ wrought but few miracles among the Jews, says S. Jerome, “He works greater miracles among the Gentiles, day by day, by His apostles, not so much in healing men’s bodies as in saving their souls”