107. (Vers. 49.) Therefore Wisdom sends apostles and prophets to them. Who is Wisdom if not Christ? Finally, in Matthew you have: Behold, I send you prophets and wise men (Matthew XXIII, 34).
108. (Verse 52.) They are still accused under the name of the Jews, and they are determined to be subject to future punishment; because while they claim for themselves the teaching of divine knowledge and hinder others, they themselves do not recognize what they profess.
(Chap. XII. — Vers. 6, 7.)
(Chapter 12, Verses 6-7.) Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid, you are of more value than many sparrows.
109. The Savior has woven the most beautiful place of holding simplicity and emulating faith, so that we do not fall into the same affection as the treacherous Jews, who pretend one thing with their voice and another with their heart; for in the last days, the secret of our thoughts, accusing or even defending, is revealed as if it were opening the hidden part of our mind. For what is a greater allure of simplicity than for everyone to know that the hiding place of deceit cannot exist?
110. But since there are two causes of treachery, which either arise from ingrained malice or from fear of an unexpected event; lest anyone, terrified by the fear of power, should attempt to deny the God whom he knows in his heart, it has elegantly added that punishment is only to be feared by the soul, not the body; for death is the end of nature, not a punishment; and therefore death is the failure of bodily punishment, but punishment of the soul is eternal; and therefore God alone is to be feared, whose power is not prescribed by nature, but nature itself submits; but death is not terrible, as immortality will repay with more interest.
111. The Lord had inspired the feeling of simplicity, had elevated the virtue of the mind, and only faith faltered; He had strengthened the worth of the lowly; for if God does not forget the sparrows, who among men can? But if the majesty of God is so great and eternal, that not even one of the sparrows, or the number of our hairs, is beyond His knowledge; how unworthy it is to think that the Lord either ignores or spurns the hearts of the faithful, He who knows even the most humble things!
Perhaps someone may say: How did the Apostle say, 'Is it for God that he is concerned about oxen' (I Cor. IX, 9); when surely an ox is more valuable than a sparrow? But care is one thing, and knowledge another. In fact, the number of hairs is not taken in terms of actual counting, but in terms of the ease of knowing; for God does not intend a watchful care in counting; but for Him who knows all things, all things are as if they were counted. However, they are indeed said to be counted properly; because, those things which we wish to keep, we count.
113. However, we can discuss some mystery of spiritual intelligence here, especially since it seems absurd for humans to be compared to birds rather than to other humans. These five birds appear to have five senses of the body: touch, smell, taste, sight, and hearing. But if these birds, now engaged in the filth of earthly impurities and seeking food from uncultivated and foul places, become entangled in the snares of their own sins, they cannot fly back to the fruits of higher works, on which their souls feast. For there is indeed a certain snare of pleasure, which fastens certain chains to the footsteps of our souls, so that if it dulls the fiery vigor and purity of nature, it establishes under a certain auction of vices, subject to the price of worldly indulgence.
114. There are also certain markets of our sins. Therefore, captivated by the various enticements of pleasures, we are either sold under sin or redeemed from sin. Christ redeems us, the adversary sells; the former is put up for auction to death, the latter redeems to salvation. Hence Matthew wisely placed two sparrows (Matt. X, 29), signifying both body and soul; because if the flesh also, in agreement with God's law, and casting off the law of sin, has passed into the nature of the soul, it is lifted up to heaven by spiritual wings. Therefore, we are taught that nature has given us the ability to fly, but pleasure has taken it away, which burdens the soul with the weight of evils, and inclines it towards the nature of corporeal mass.
115. And rightly he has stated that no one of them falls without the will of God (Ibid.); for what falls, tends toward the earth; and what flies, is elevated to the summit of immortality. And lest anyone should doubt what Matthew said, Luke clearly resolves it, because the will of man is known to God; for not everyone who falls, falls by the will of God; but whoever is crushed by the weight of his own sins, will not be able to escape the notice of God; for even Job is tested by the will of God (Job I, 12). He gave you an adversary, but he proposed a reward. Do not excuse your weakness, who have an image, you have received a fortification; therefore, this also contributes to salvation, so that you may know that the devil cannot harm without God's permission; do not fear the power of the devil more than the offense to divinity.
116. Now it is not doubtful that the soul is compared to a sparrow, as you read: Our soul has been snatched away like a sparrow from the snare of the hunter (Psalm 123:7). And elsewhere: How can you say to my soul, 'Flee to the mountain like a sparrow' (Psalm 10:2)? We also read that man himself is compared to a sparrow; for it is written: But I am like a lonely sparrow on a rooftop (Psalm 101:8); that is, formed from two sparrows into one sparrow, that is, the subtlety of spiritual substance, formed by the connecting structure of both wings. Therefore, a good sparrow is one to whom nature provides the ability to fly. There is also a bad sparrow, who has lost the skill of flying due to the fault of earthly vice: such are those sparrows that are sold for a small price.
117. Some are sold for a penny, others for two pennies (Matthew 10:29). How cheap are sins! For death is cheap, but virtue is precious. Indeed, the enemy assigns captured slaves a lower price of estimation, but the Lord, as the beautiful works that He made in His own image and likeness, redeemed us at a great price, as the holy Apostle said: For you were bought with a great price (1 Corinthians 6:20). And well great, not with silver or gold, but with blood; for Christ died for us, who freed us with his precious blood, as even Saint Peter mentions in his Epistle, writing to us: For you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your vain conversation according to the tradition of your fathers: But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled (1 Peter 1:18-19). And it is rightfully precious, because it is the blood of an undefiled body, because it is the blood of the Son of God; who not only redeemed us from the curse of the law, but also from the eternal death of impiety.
In summary, therefore, the meaning here is: if the Lord has looked upon lowly birds and unbelieving humans, either in the rising sun or in the earthly fertility; if He imparts the gift of His mercy to all, there is no doubt that contemplation will be a source of merit for the faithful in His eyes. He has skillfully woven together faith and virtue, and he has laid the foundations of virtue in faith itself; for just as faith is an incentive to courage, so is courage a support for faith.
(Vers. 9, 10.)
(Vers. 9, 10.) But whoever denies me before men, will be denied before the angels of God. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.
Certainly, we understand Christ to be the Son of man, who was begotten by the Holy Spirit in a virgin, and that his parent on earth is the Virgin alone. Therefore, is the Holy Spirit greater than Christ, so that those who sin against Christ may obtain forgiveness, but those who sin against the Holy Spirit do not deserve to receive forgiveness? But where there is unity of power, there is no question of comparison, nor any controversy about greatness, since the Lord is great, and the end of his greatness cannot be reached. Therefore, if, as we believe, there is a unity of the Trinity, then there is certainly an indivisible greatness, just as there is an indivisible operation; as is demonstrated in the following. For when it is said elsewhere, 'The Father will give you what to say,' here it is added, 'For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that hour what you should speak' (Matthew 10:19). Therefore, if the operation is one, the insult is one.
120. But let us return to the subject at hand. Here it seems to some that we understand Christ as both the Son of Man and the Holy Spirit, while maintaining a distinction of persons and unity of substance. For Christ is both God and man, the same Spirit, as it is written: 'The Spirit of the Lord Christ before our face' (Lamentations 4:20); the same holy Spirit; for just as God the Father and God the Son are both Lord, so too the Father is holy, the Son is holy, and the Spirit is holy. Finally, the Cherubim and Seraphim cry out with tireless voices: Holy, holy, holy (Isa. VI, 3); in order that the Trinity may be denoted by the repeated third appellation. Therefore, if Christ is both, what is the difference, except that we may know that it is not permissible to deny the divinity of Christ to us? Finally, in persecution, what is sought, except that God Christ be denied? Therefore, whoever does not confess in Christ the God, and from God, and in God the Christ, does not deserve forgiveness. But whoever does not confess that Christ has come in the flesh is not from God; whoever denies the human nature denies the divine nature, because Christ is both God in human form and a human in God.
Most people, however, hold that blasphemy is not forgivable if someone says that Christ casts out demons by Beelzebul, not by divine power.
(Vers. 13, 14.)
(Verse 13, 14.) And someone in the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.' But he said to him, 'Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?'
122. This whole place is prepared for undergoing the passion of the Lord either with contempt of death, or with hope of reward, or with the declaration of intention to endure punishment, to which no forgiveness will ever be granted. And because greed often tempts virtue, there is also a commandment and example given for the abolishment of this, as the Lord says: Who made me a judge or a divider among you? He who descended for the sake of divine things wisely avoids earthly affairs; nor does he deign to be a judge of disputes or an arbiter of possessions, having the judgment of the living and the dead and the decision of deeds. Therefore, it is not what you seek, but from whom you request that must be considered; and do not think that you must object to those who are greater with an attentive mind in the presence of those who are lesser. Hence, it is not without reason that this brother is refuted, who desired to occupy the stewardship of celestial things with corruptible things; for among brothers, it is not a judge who should divide the inheritance, but rather piety should separate it; although the inheritance of immortality, not of money, should be sought by humans; for he gathers wealth in vain who does not know how to use it: just like that person who, when the granaries were bursting with new harvests, was preparing receptacles for himself to collect the overflowing fruits, being ignorant of how to use them (Verses 27 and following). For everything that belongs to the world remains in the world, and whatever is gathered together by heirs passes away from us; for those things are not ours, which we cannot take away with us. Only virtue is the companion of the dead, only mercy follows us, which as a leading guide of heavenly dwelling acquires eternal tabernacles through the cheap usury of money for the deceased, as the Lord's commandments testify, saying to us: Make for yourselves friends with the unjust steward, who will receive you into his eternal tabernacles (Luke 16:9). Therefore, it is a good and wholesome precept, and suitable to animate even the greedy, that they should seek to exchange perishable earthly things for everlasting divine things. But since devotion is often weakened by a lack of faith, and people are held back from giving generously by considering their own livelihood, the Lord added, saying:
(Vers. 22, 23.)
(Vers. 22, 23) Do not be anxious about what you eat or what you wear. The soul is worth more than food, and the body is worth more than clothing.
123. For nothing is more worthy of belief than that all things can be bestowed by God upon those who believe, with regard to the making of faith, than that airy vital breath, the binding link of the soul, united to the dwelling of the body, perpetuates itself without our labor, and the beneficial use of sustenance does not fail unless the day of final death arrives. Therefore, since the soul is clothed in the garment of the body, and the body is animated by the energy of the soul, it is absurd for us to think that the supply of food will be lacking, who obtain the constant substance of living.