So let us work and cultivate our field in this task of cultivation that we have been assigned; so that in that higher Jerusalem, where the true observance of the law is celebrated, we may have a likeness of our sheaves, which the blessed ones who are able to gather may bring in joy, carrying their sheaves (Psalm 126:6). These, therefore, are spiritual fruits, and the happy true yield of labor, which are not soaked with any useless rain: but the fruit of the flesh is subject to corruption; and therefore, whoever sows carnal things will also reap carnal things (2 Corinthians 9:6). But what should I say about the field, when it is evident in the work of the farmer whether it is praise or blame?
(Vers. 36)
(Verse 36) And they answered, saying: where, Lord?
54. The disciples spoke this: But the Lord, when he warned them both where to flee and where to stay, and what to avoid, encompassed the whole with a general definition, saying:
(Vers. 37)
(Verse 37) Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
Therefore, first let us consider what eagles are, so that we can define the body. For the souls of the just are compared to eagles, because they seek the heights, leave behind the lowly, and are said to live a long life. Hence, David says of his soul: Your youth will be renewed like the eagle's (Psalm 103:5). Therefore, if we understand eagles, we cannot doubt the body, especially if we remember that Joseph received the body from Pilate (John 19:38). Do not the eagles seem to you to be around the body of Mary Cleophae, and Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of the Lord, and the gathering of the apostles around the burial of the Lord? Do not the eagles seem to you to be around the body, when the Son of Man comes with intelligible clouds: And every eye shall see him, and those who pierced him (Apoc, I, 7)?
56. There is also (De Consecr., dist. 2, cap. In quibus, § Est etiam) a body of which it is said: my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink (John VI, 56). Concerning this body there are eagles, which fly around with spiritual wings. There are also around the body eagles that believe Jesus came in the flesh; because every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God (I John IV, 7). Where there is faith, there is sacrament, there is a place of holiness. The Church is also a body, in which we are renewed in spirit through the grace of baptism, and the old age of senility is restored to renewed youth.
(Chap. XVIII. — Vers. 16.)
(Chapter 18, Verse 16) Allow the children to come to me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.
57. However, this age is weak in strength, lacking in intelligence, immature in wisdom: therefore, it is not preferred over another age, otherwise it would hinder growth. What need is there for wishes to obtain maturity of life, if heavenly reward is going to take away the merit of the kingdom from me? Therefore, God has given the course of life to vices, not to the growth of virtue. And why did He choose the apostles not in their childhood, but in more advanced age? And why does He say that children are fit for the kingdom of heaven? Perhaps because they do not know wickedness, they do not know how to deceive, they dare not to report, they are ignorant of wealth, honor, and ambition. But virtue is not to ignore these things, but to despise them; praise for self-control is not where there is integrity of weakness. Therefore, it is not childhood, but the goodness of emulating childlike simplicity that is indicated. For it is not the virtue of not being able to sin, but of not wanting to, and thus holding steadfastness of will, so that the will imitates infancy, as use imitates nature. Finally, the Savior himself expressed this, saying: Unless you are converted and become like this child, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:8).
58. Who then is the boy to be imitated by the apostles of Christ, perhaps one of the little ones? Therefore, is this the virtue of the apostles? Who then is the boy? Perhaps he is the one of whom Isaiah says: 'For a child is born to us, a son is given to us' (Is. IX, 6)? For this boy himself said to you: 'Take up your cross and follow me' (Matt. XVI, 24). And so that you may recognize the boy: When he was cursed, he did not curse in return; when he was struck, he did not strike back (I Pet. II, 23); for this is perfect virtue. And so, in childhood there is a certain venerable old age of character, and in old age there is an innocent childhood. For old age is venerable, not because it is long-lasting or calculated by the number of years, but because the senses of a person are wise, and the life of old age is blameless. Therefore it is written: Praise the Lord, O children, praise the name of the Lord; for no one praises the Lord unless they are perfect. For no one can say 'Lord Jesus' except in the Holy Spirit.
59. It seems to be prophesying about the people of the Church, who surpassed the older people of the Jews in their zeal for virtue. And therefore it says: Behold, I and the children whom you have given me (Isaiah VIII, 18). These are the children who, following the Lord riding on the foal of a donkey with prophetic voices, said that the redemption of the nations had come (Matthew XXI, 15): these are the children or infants who drank from the breasts of Christ with a fuller draught of wine. From the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have established praise. (Psalm 8:3).
60. Therefore, it can seem harsh and unkind to some that the disciples were prohibiting the little children from approaching the Lord, unless you understand either the mystery or the affection; for they were not doing this out of a harshness of mind towards the children, but out of diligent obedience, they were offering services to the Lord so that he would not be overwhelmed by the crowds. Finally, it is written elsewhere: Master, the crowds are pressing in on you (Luke 7:45). Our usefulness must indeed be rejected when it is an injury to divinity. Therefore, let us flee pride and embrace childlike simplicity; for truth is the adversary of pride, while simplicity aligns with truth and is exalted in humility itself. For God does not dwell in a haughty heart, as the prophets have taught us: 'The throne of power is exalted' (Jerem. XVII, 12), namely, in one whose wisdom is elevated to the heights of truth. Let us not hide deceit in the guise of a brother, like Cain; rather, let us be a brother outwardly and inwardly. These things are in effect. However, in the mystery, because they were eager to save the Jewish people, from whom they were also born according to the flesh, they even pleaded for the Canaanite woman (Matt. XV, 23). Therefore, they knew the mystery, that the call would be given to both peoples, but perhaps they still did not know the order.
Now pay attention to the distance between the words. When He commands infants to approach so that He may bless them either by preaching or by the laying on of hands, He calls them children. When He instructs us not to cause them to stumble (Matt. XVIII, 6), He calls them little ones; for those who are touched by Christ are not caused to stumble, and those who draw near to Christ do not falter; but those who are little not in age but in virtue stumble. At the same time He also teaches that the weak should not be tested; lest their sins be turned against us, for though they themselves may be weak in virtue, they are raised up by the prayers of the angels. Therefore, let no one mock the poor, for it angers the one who created them: let no one test the weak, lest they harm the angels: let no one cause the helpless to fall, lest they undo the work of the Redeemer's grace. (Prov. XII, 5).
And therefore he said: Woe to this world because of scandals (Matthew XVIII, 7); because many judged the cross of the Lord as a scandal, when the humility of the Lord's passion is the sacrament of salvation; so that we may adore the function of virtue, let us take the example of humility. Therefore, woe to him who does not believe in the cross of the Lord, by which the weak are scandalized: It is expedient for him that a millstone be hanged about his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea (Matthew XVIII, 6).
63. In the divine Scriptures, we must examine not the order of words, but the weight of things; for it is more effective to restrain sins by a certain strange and deformed pomp of punishment. Nevertheless, lest also a scandal be generated for the weak from this, we consider the donkey mill placed alongside as not being placed there in vain, the neck of a man in the depths of the sea. For when the Gentile people have received the figure of a donkey, does it not seem to you that they continue to turn the donkey mill as long as they are twisted in the error of their ignorance, bound indeed by the chains of their nature, seeking the word, seeking God: but they are suffused with the blindness of a covered mind; they do not know how to raise the face of their soul towards God, and to open the eyes of their heart? And therefore, without any eagerness of speed, often returning to its own footprints, it reluctantly labors for the use of others. However, the one who turns the millstone, sometimes has an end to their work and carries the hope of removing blindness; but the millstone that is hung around the neck carries the stone of him who refused to bear the yoke of the Lord. Therefore, the donkey to the mill, the blind to the stone, the pagan to the rock, he worships him whom he does not see, nor recognize: for God does not dwell in things made by hand, nor is He known in stone, but in the spirit.
64. Therefore, both the people and the Gentile and Jewish nations are exposed to a certain parade of this discourse, but a more severe punishment is decreed against the Jews. For the memory of the Gentiles in this age will be overwhelmed by the waves, and they will be obliterated by the filth of this world, who wanted to exist among things that do not exist, and being alienated from the knowledge of God, they are as if drowned in the deep sea. But the Jews, who were chosen through the patriarchs, marked by circumcision, and educated through the Law, will not perish as unknown, but will be punished as sacrilegious. For truly, the unknown God to the Athenians, known but not accepted in Judea (Acts 17:23). And therefore, he who is ignorant will be ignored; he who transgresses will be condemned; and he who is unaware of his own author will not be freed from guilt, and he who does not receive the Lord will not be granted forgiveness. However, it is more tolerable to not offer faith to Christ than to bring harm upon him (Psalm 75:2).
(Vers. 18, 19.)
(Verse 18, 19.) Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.
65. A clever question and therefore a sharp response. For that chief tempter said that the good teacher should have said that God is good. For even though goodness is in the divinity, and divinity is in goodness (for no one is good except God alone, but every human being is a liar (Psalm 116:11), and whatever is a liar, is certainly not good), nevertheless by adding, 'Good teacher,' he said good in part, not in entirety; for God is good in entirety, but human beings only in part. Therefore the Lord says: What good do you say about me, whom you deny as God? What good do you say, when no one is good except God alone? Therefore he does not deny himself as good, but designates himself as God. For what is good, if not full of goodness? But when it is written: There is no one who does good, not even one (Psalm 14:2), it is certainly spoken of humans, not of God; for God is one, not one among many (Deuteronomy 6:4); so too the Son of God is taken as unique, not as one among many; he is the only begotten, not one among the begotten. And for this reason, no one who is good does harm to Christ; because no one judges Christ. For no one is called in common with us, but nothing is common to Christ with us.
66. And if anyone is moved because No one is good except one God, let him also be moved by this, that no one is good except God. And if the Son is not excluded from God, certainly Christ is not excluded from the good. But since in God the Son is another person, but one in power, for there is one God from whom are all things, and one Lord through whom are all things (1 Corinthians 8:6); and yet God and Lord are not two gods, but one God, for your Lord God is one Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4); certainly since according to majesty God is one in both persons, and one good in both. For how can one who is not good be born from the good? For a good tree produces good fruit (Matthew 7:17). How can one who is not good, when the substance of goodness assumed from the Father does not degenerate in the Son, which did not degenerate in the Spirit? And therefore, your good Spirit will lead me on the right path (Psalm 143:11). And if the good Spirit who received from the Son is good, surely the one who handed it over is also good. And since the Father is good, surely he is also good who has all that the Father has. But if you deny that the Son has goodness, you also deny the Father (John 17:10).
67. Clear reasoning does not need examples, yet you should also follow the authority of the Scriptures; for it is written: 'The Lord is the righteous judge of the house of Israel' (Isaiah 33:22). Does it speak of the Son or of the Father? But the Father judges no one; for He has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). Therefore, the Son is the righteous Lord. Consider another thing: those who come to baptism confess the Trinity; for they are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, they confess the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when it is said: Confess to the Lord, for he is good (Ps. 135:1), he is truly good Father, good Son, good Holy Spirit, but God is one; for the Lord is good to those who wait for him (Lam. 3:25). Is he not good who gives good things to the soul that seeks him? Is he not good, who satisfies your soul with good things (Ps. 103:5)? Is he not good, who says: I am the good shepherd (John 10:11)?
68. But do you think God is good for this reason, because he has no need to take revenge? (Above, no. 67). Although it has already been said that the judge is good for the house of Israel, elsewhere you have: How good God is to those with upright hearts! (Ps. LXXII, 1)! Therefore, about whom do you think this is said, about the Father or about the Son? If about the Father, then he is not good to everyone. Why then do you diminish the Son? If about the Son, then you confess that God and the Son are good; for he is the Blessed God of Israel, because he has visited and accomplished the redemption of his people. (Luke I, 68). He is the king and God of Israel, to whom it is said: Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel (John 1:49). Therefore, he says here: Since you cannot understand my goodness, which you test, why do you call me good? I am indeed good, but to the righteous in heart, to whom it is natural to be good, not through cunning. Therefore, the Son is good, for he is the brightness of eternal light, and the spotless mirror of God's majesty, and the image of His goodness (Wisdom 7:26). Therefore, how can someone be not good, who is an image of goodness? Just as God is the image of God, but one God, so too is the divine image of goodness, good, but one goodness. It is certainly useful for me to believe in the good God, whom I will have as the judge of my sins. Let those who do not want to believe in the good God see for themselves. Therefore, because this person who is testing is knowledgeable in the law, as is shown in another book, he rightly said: No one is good, except God (Mark 10:18), to remind us that it is written: You shall not test the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 6:16), but rather confess to the Lord, For he is good (Psalm 136:1).
69. (Verse 21.) Finally, he often criticizes him, for he boasts in the law that he has kept everything since his youth; in order to expose his empty boast, he shows him that he still lacks what the Law requires. And therefore, he is led to the command of mercy with sadness, so that a certain natural form of judgment is given against him.