(Vers. 30.)
(Verse 30) Why does he eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?
18. That voice is deceitful. Finally, the serpent emitted this first voice, saying to Eve: What did God indeed say? You shall not eat from every tree (Gen. III. 1). Therefore, those who say: What indeed does it mean that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners? Thus, the poisons of her father are spreading, who say: By no means eat from every tree. From where the Lord, by eating with sinners, does not prohibit us from entering into a feast, even with the Gentiles, saying:
(Vers. 31.)
(Verse 31) Those who are healthy do not need a doctor; but those who are unwell do.
19. A new medicine a new master has brought. It did not sprout from the earth; for every creature of this creation is ignorant. Come, all who have fallen into the various passions of sins, to use this foreign medicine by which the poison of the serpent is expelled: which not only removes the scar of passions, but also cuts off the cause of the dire wound. This medicine does not induce hunger, but supplies food to the soul: For the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon' (Luke 7:34); and therefore our mind is not fasting: those who lack Christ and the abundance of good merits fast. But verily, the one whose virtue is sufficient for his will, who receives Christ into his home, offers a great feast, that is, a spiritual feast of good works, by which the rich people lack, and the poor are feasted. And therefore, he says, the children of the bridegroom cannot fast, as long as the bridegroom is with them.
(Vers. 35.)
(Verse 35) But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them.
20. Who are those days in which Christ is taken away from us, especially when he himself said: I will be with you until the end of the world (Matthew XXVIII, 20): he himself said: I will not leave you orphans (John XIV, 18)? For it is certain that if he leaves us, we cannot be saved. No one can take Christ away from you, unless you take yourself away from him. Let not your boasting take you away, let not your arrogance take you away, nor presume upon the Law; for he came not to call the righteous, but sinners.
21. So how then did the Lord love righteousness, and David did not see the righteous abandoned (Psal. 10:8)? Or what is this fairness of God if the just are abandoned and the sinner is included (Psal. 36:25), unless you understand that he calls those just who presume from the Law and do not seek the grace of the Gospel? But no one is justified by the Law, but is redeemed by grace. Therefore, there is righteousness in the Law, but righteousness is not through the Law; for the same Apostle says: A Hebrew of Hebrews, according to the Law a Pharisee, according to the righteousness which is in the Law, walking without blame (Philip. 3:5-6), who boasts of the Law: What was profit to me, he says, I considered these things loss on account of Christ (Philip. 9:7), that is, I have rejected the righteousness and glory of the Law; for the righteousness of the Law is empty without Christ, because Christ is the fulfillment of the Law. And therefore, though justice is in the Law, it is not by the Law: For if justice is by the Law, then Christ died in vain (Galatians 2:21); for Christ died, that he might fulfill justice. Finally, to John who said: I have need to be baptized by you, and you come to me, he answered: Allow it now; for thus it befits us to fulfill all justice (Matthew 3:14-15). Therefore, Christ did not die in vain: but he died for us; that the righteous might shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. But not the just Jews, of whom it is said: 'When you see the just entering into the kingdom of heaven' (Luke 13:28). These are the just who do not retaliate when struck and who love their enemy.
22. (Verse 32.) If we do not understand it thus, the opposite is found: I did not come to call the righteous. But he does not call those who claim to be righteous: For they are ignorant of God and seek to establish their own righteousness, they are not subject to the righteousness of God (Rom. 10:3). Therefore, usurpers of righteousness are not called to grace; for if grace comes from repentance, surely one who despises repentance rejects grace. Those who claim to be sanctified are thirsty, but the bridegroom will be taken away from them. However, Caiaphas did not take Christ away from us, nor did Pilate, and we cannot fast; for we have Christ, and we eat his flesh and drink his blood. For how can someone appear to fast, who is not hungry? For how can someone appear to fast, who is not thirsty? But how can someone be thirsty, who drinks Christ; since he himself said: Whoever drinks of the water that I will give, will never be thirsty (John 4:13)? Indeed, the following also declares with reference to the fasting of the soul.
(Vers. 36.)
(Verse 36) For he also spoke a parable to them: No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old garment.
23. He had said that the sons of the bridegroom, that is, the sons of the Word, who were received into the right of divine generation through the regeneration of baptism, cannot fast as long as the bridegroom is with them. Surely, not this fasting is referred to, by which the flesh is weakened, and carnal sensuality is chastised; for this fasting commends us. For, just as he forbade his disciples to fast here, when the Lord himself was fasting (Luke IV, 2); when finally he said that the most wicked spirits can only be vanquished by fasting and prayers (Matthew XVII, 21)? Finally, in this place the Apostle also called fasting an old garment, which he considered should be cast off, saying: Strip off the old man with his deeds; and put on him who is renewed in the sanctification of baptism (Colossians III, 9 and 10). Therefore, in the same manner, the order of precepts agrees, so that we do not mix the actions of the old and new man; when the former operates the external bodily works of the flesh, and the latter, who is reborn, should not have the multicolored appearance of past and new deeds, but should imitate Christ with a single-minded devotion, to whom he was reborn in the cleansing bath. Therefore, let the disguises of the mind, which displease the spouse, be absent; for they displease the one who does not have the bridal garment. But what can please the spouse, except peace of mind, purity of heart, and love of the mind?
24. The Lord Jesus, the good bridegroom, initiated a new nature through this birth. He is released from the corruptibility of the flesh that is betrothed to Him; He does not require mortal children, He does not take pleasure in the sorrows of Eve, He does not require a man subject to fault, He does not require the inheritance of a condemned father. For He saw the ulcers of the flesh, which He previously coveted; He realized that true beauty does not have the deformity of vices. And so, what do you need with such a bridegroom, woman? Search diligently, and in every body you will find a scar. Know another bridegroom, who is surrounded by light, whose appearance cannot perish. Take him in your mind, consecrate him in your temple, take him in your body, as it is written: 'Take the Lord in your body' (I Cor. VI, 20). Enter the chambers of this one, behold the strange beauty of this one, put on this one, see him at the right hand of the Father, and rejoice that you have such a bridegroom: he will clothe you with blessing, so that no harm may come from the tear of sin.
25. Therefore we guard the garment which the Lord vested us in, emerging from the sacred font. The garment is quickly torn if the deeds do not match; it is quickly worn away by the worms of the flesh, and stained by the error of the old man. Therefore, here we are commanded to join the new with the old; however, in the Apostle we are also forbidden to clothe the old with the new, but to cast off the old and put on the new; so that stripped, we may not be found naked (2 Cor. 5:2-4). For we are stripped in order to put on better things; we are laid bare, however, when the clothing is taken away from us through the deceit of others, not by our own will.
(Vers. 37.)
(Verse 37.) And no one puts new wine into old wineskins.
26. The fragility of the human condition is revealed when our bodies are compared to the remains of dead animals. And oh, that we could fulfill the use of both good wineskins, so that we may preserve the sacrament that we have received! Industry alleviates injury, if new wines are believed in with renewed wineskins. And therefore, we must always keep these wineskins full; for emptiness is quickly consumed by moth and rust, while grace preserves the full ones.
27. But these precepts suit well with this work: for it is the sixth work, by which a new light form is depicted (Luke 5:27). On the sixth day, however, man was made (Genesis 1:26): therefore, in the sixth work of Christ, the old is reformed into a new creature, and a certain foreign form. And therefore, as a new creature, it presents a feast to Christ; inasmuch as Christ would delight in it, and he himself would deserve to have a share of delight with Christ. Therefore, the Lord gave these instructions for teaching; for I now follow joyfully, eagerly, and exultantly, saying: I no longer bear the name Levin, I no longer carry Levin. I have shed Levin after putting on Christ. I hate my old way of life, I flee from my previous life; I follow only you, Lord Jesus, who heals my wounds. For who can separate me from the love of God, which is in you? Is it trouble, or distress, or hunger? I am bound by the key of faith and bound by the sweet chains of love. I will hold onto every commandment of yours like an engraved branding iron. And if the branding iron burns, it still consumes the putrefaction of the flesh, so that the infection does not spread to what is alive. And if it bites like a medicine, it still removes the defect of the wound. Therefore, Lord Jesus, with your powerful sword, remove from me the decay of my sins: while you have me bound with the chains of love, cut away whatever is faulty. Come quickly, cutting through hidden and latent things, and various passions: open the wound, so that the harmful humor does not spread. Cleanse everything that is foul with a foreign bath. Hear me, earthly men, who carry drunken thoughts of your sins. And I, Levis, was wounded by such passions. I found a doctor who dwells in heaven, and spreads remedies on earth. He alone can heal my wounds, who does not know his own: he can take away the pain of the heart, and the paleness of the soul, who knows hidden things.
(Chap. VI. — Vers. 1.)
(Chapter 6, Verse 1) Now it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.
28. And not only in the understanding of words, but also in the use itself and the appearance of gestures, the Lord Jesus begins to strip man of the old observation of the Law and clothe him in the new garment of grace. Therefore, He now leads him through the sown fields on the Sabbath, that is, He brings him close to fruitful things. What the Sabbath signifies, what the field signifies, what the ears of grain signify, is not a trivial mystery. For this whole world is a field: the field represents the fertility of the human race in the cultivation of saints; the ears of grain represent the fruits of the Church in the field, which the apostles nourished by exercising their works, and which nourish us by their progress.
29. Therefore, the fertile field of virtues was standing, with the sprouting ears, by which our fruits of merit are compared; for they wither either with rain, or are parched by the sun, or are moistened by showers, or are destroyed by storms, or are stored away by the reapers in the granaries of the fortunate. Therefore, the earth had already received the word of God, and had brought forth rich offspring from the heavenly seed. The disciples were hungry for the salvation of mankind, and like fruits from the buds of their minds, they revealed to the light of faith through the miracles of their glorious works. But the Jews thought that it was not allowed on the Sabbath, but Christ was designating the rest of the Law as the gift of new grace, the work of grace.
30. And I believe that this is not without mystery, since the sabbaths were purely observed by the Evangelist Matthew (Matt. 12:1) and Mark (Mark 2:23), because the sabbaths are perpetual feasts of eternal resurrection. Either in this world, therefore, we observe the feasts and abstain from the superstitions of the Jews, or in the future we celebrate perpetual feasts ourselves, when we will eat the good things of the earth, as it is written: They shall eat, but you shall hunger (Isaiah 63:13).