13. The third thing, however, that must be considered is the example of instruction, in which he sets forth a likeness concerning the ox and the donkey falling into a well, which are pulled out on the Sabbath. By the ox and the donkey is understood each people, namely the Gentile and the Jewish, according to that passage of Isaiah one: "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey the manger of its lord." For so Gregory expounds it.
Or by the ox and the donkey is understood the wise man and the foolish; whence the Gloss on that passage of Deuteronomy twenty-two: " You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together, that is, you shall not associate the foolish with the wise in preaching, so that they announce the word of God with equal authority." These therefore fall into the well of concupiscence through original sin, and then into the limbo of hell—and this universally before the coming of Christ. On account of which the Psalm says: "Let not the tempest of water drown me, nor let the deep swallow me up, nor let the pit shut its mouth upon me." Hence therefore Christ pulls them out on the Sabbath day, that is, on the seventh day, which is the day of Christ's burial, on which the rest of souls begins, according to that passage of Zechariah nine: "You also, by the blood of your covenant, have sent forth your prisoners from the pit in which there is no water."
Secondly, the guests are instructed regarding three things.
14. He spoke also to those who were invited, etc. After he confuted the observers, here secondly he instructs the guests. This part is divided into three according to a threefold instruction. For first he instructs those invited to the nuptial banquet. Second he instructs those inviting to the familiar banquet, there: He said also to him who had invited him. Third he instructs those to be imitated regarding the eternal banquet, there: A certain man made a great supper, etc. The first of these regards the banquet of grace; the second, of nature; and the third, of glory; the first, sacramental; the second, material; the third, eternal and spiritual.
Instructing therefore the guests at the wedding banquet, by which is understood the state of the present Church, he first censures vanity and arrogance:
second, he commends humility and reverence,
at the passage: But when you are invited. In censuring however arrogance, three things are introduced, namely the occasion introducing the parable, the persuasion rebuking pride, and the reason explaining the shame.
15. (Verse 7.). First, therefore, as regards the occasion introducing the parable, he says: And he spoke a parable to those who were invited: The Gloss: " A parable, signifying something else mystically." For since someone could refer that teaching of the Lord to these carnal weddings, therefore the Evangelist himself, directing the understanding of the expositor, wishes it to be understood parabolically. For this was the manner of the Lord and Savior in teaching, according to that passage of the Psalm: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter propositions from the beginning," etc. And because a parable has no force unless it is spoken at its proper time, according to that passage of Ecclesiasticus 20: "A parable from the mouth of a fool shall be rejected, for he does not speak it in its time"; and conversely, Proverbs 25: "Golden apples in beds of silver, he who speaks a word in its time"; therefore the opportuneness of place and time is added for the introduction of this parable about the wedding banquet, when it is added: Observing how they were choosing the first places, namely after the manner of the proud, which custom was indeed found among the Pharisees: Matthew 23: "They love the first places at feasts and the first seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplace"; and this as a sign of honor, according to that passage of Job 29: "If I wished to go to them, I sat in the first place." For the first and the highest are joined together; and just as pride and ambition is the disordered appetite for superiority, so also for priority. The proud seek things of this kind, who desire to be honored by others, after the example of Saul, 1 Kings 15: "Only honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel."
16. (Vers. 7. 8.). Second, with regard to the persuasion dissuading from pride, he adds: Saying to them: When you are invited to a wedding, do not recline in the first place. Although this could be understood of carnal weddings, nevertheless the following text itself and the expositors wish it to be understood of spiritual weddings: whence the Gloss: "When through the grace of faith, called by a preacher, you have joined yourself to the members of the Church: do not exalt yourself, boasting of your merits, as though you were higher than the rest." These nuptials, however, are not just any nuptials, but the nuptials of the Lamb, of which Apocalypse nineteen says: "The nuptials of the Lamb have come, and his wife has prepared herself." God the Father made these nuptials, according to what is said in Matthew twenty-two: "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who made a wedding for his son." These nuptials were celebrated in the bridal chamber of the virginal womb: the Psalm: "He set his tabernacle in the sun, and he himself as a bridegroom coming forth from his bridal chamber." There the marriage between the divine and human nature was consummated, and consequently between Christ and the Church, according to that passage in Ephesians five; the Apostle, speaking of marriage, says: "This sacrament is a great one, but I speak in Christ and in the Church." The banquet at these nuptials consists in the reception of the Sacraments of the Church and the teachings of Sacred Scripture: Proverbs nine: "Wisdom has built herself a house, she has hewn out seven pillars. She has slain her victims, mixed her wine, and set forth her table. And she has sent her handmaids to call to the citadel," etc. To this banquet are called all who are called to the faith through the preaching of truth; Matthew twenty-two: "He sent his servants to call those invited to the wedding."
Those thus invited recline and eat through the searching out and rumination of divine and mystical words. As a sign of this, that heavenly food was called manna in Exodus sixteen, which is interpreted: "What is this?" because it is necessary to understand what they receive. Whence also in Leviticus eleven it is said that the animal which "does not chew the cud is unclean."
In the first place reclines he who is preferred above others, whether in the office of dignity, or in the privileges of holiness, or in the magisterium of truth. And to this no one ought to ascend of himself, because it is said in Hebrews five: "Neither does anyone take the honor to himself, but he who is called by God, as Aaron was." And therefore Ecclesiasticus six: "Do not exalt yourself in the thought of your soul like a bull, lest perhaps your strength be dashed to pieces"; nor even before others: whence Ecclesiasticus eleven: "Never glory in your clothing, and in the day of your honor do not exalt yourself."
17. Third, however, as regards the reason explaining the shame he adds: Lest perhaps one more honored than you has been invited by him, worthy of greater honor on account of interior grace; the Gloss: " More pleasing to the one who invited, even if he is hidden from others "; whence 1 Kings 16: " Do not regard his countenance nor the height of his stature, for I have rejected him; nor do I judge according to the sight of man. For man sees those things which are apparent, but the Lord beholds the heart ".
18. (Vers. 9.). And then he who invited both you and him, coming, through the disposition of justice: Proverbs 16: " God is the weigher of spirits "; will say to you: Give this one your place, on account of the preeminence of dignity: 1 Kings 15: " The Lord has torn your kingdom from you and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you ".
And then you will begin with shame to hold the last place, through manifest abasement, according to that verse of the Psalm: " But having been exalted, I was humbled and troubled ". And therefore Sirach 13: " Take heed lest, being led astray in folly, you be humbled "; but that one is led astray by folly, who considers himself something great: Galatians 6: " If anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself ". And such a one is humbled by God in just judgment, according to that passage above in chapter one: " He has put down the mighty from their seat and has exalted the humble. " Concerning this kind of judgment it is said in Sirach 11: " Many tyrants have sat upon the throne, and one whom no one would suspect has worn the diadem. Many mighty ones have been greatly oppressed, and the glorious have been delivered into the hands of others ". And therefore it is said in Sirach 7: " Do not seek from man a position of leadership, nor from a king a seat of honor "; because, Proverbs 20, " an inheritance to which one hastens in the beginning, in the end will lack blessing ".
19. (Vers. 10.). But when you shall have been invited. After he has censured arrogance, here secondly he invites to reverence ; which indeed he does by persuading to perfect humility, by assigning the attendant benefit, by confirming through divine equity.
First, therefore, persuading to perfect humility, he says: But when you have been invited, to the wedding, go and recline in the last place, that is, placing yourself after all others, according to that passage of Matthew 20: " Whoever wishes to become greater among you, let him be your minister. And whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your servant: just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve ". Whence He Himself sat down in the last place; Isaiah 53: " We saw Him the last of men, a man of sorrows and knowing infirmity; therefore His face was hidden and despised ".
In commendation of this humility, the seats of more excellent persons are farther from the altar, and in processions those prior in dignity are last, in imitation of Christ himself, who indeed invited to this humility when he washed the feet of all the Apostles: John 13: "If I, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example," etc.: because "the disciple is not above the master," etc. And therefore the Apostle, First Corinthians 9: "Though I was free from all, I made myself the servant of all"; and again in the fifteenth chapter: "I am the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an Apostle"; and Ephesians 3: "To me, the least of all the Saints, this grace was given." And therefore the prince of the Apostles, Peter, said in First Peter 2: "Be subject to every human creature for God's sake." Recline therefore in the last place, esteeming yourself lower than all.
20. But you will say: How shall I truly reckon myself worse than all, when many are worse? To this Bernard responds in his homilies on the Canticles, homily thirty-seven: "For if we clearly knew in what state God holds each one of us, we ought to sit neither above nor below, acquiescing to truth in all things. But now, because this counsel has made darkness its hiding place, and the word is hidden from us, so that no one knows whether he is worthy of love or hatred: more justly and more safely indeed, according to the counsel of Truth itself, we choose the last place for ourselves, from which we may afterward be led up higher with honor, than presume a higher place, from which we must soon withdraw with shame. There is therefore no danger, however much you humble yourself, however much you reckon yourself less than you are, that is, than Truth holds you to be. But it is a great evil and a dreadful danger if you exalt yourself even slightly beyond the truth, and if in your thought you prefer yourself to one whom Truth perhaps judges your equal, or even your superior. Just as, if you pass through a doorway whose lintel, to speak for the sake of understanding, is exceedingly low, it does no harm however much you stoop; but if you stand even a finger's breadth taller than the measure of the door allows, you will strike and dash your head. So in the soul, no humiliation however great is to be feared; but even the least rashly presumed self-exaltation is to be dreaded and greatly feared. Wherefore do not compare yourself, O man, to those greater, nor to those lesser, nor to any, nor to one."
For what do you know, O man, whether that one person, whom you perhaps consider the most vile and most wretched of all, whose most wicked and singularly most foul life you abhor, and whom you therefore think should be despised not only in comparison with yourself—who perhaps already trust that you live soberly and justly and piously —but even in comparison with all other wicked persons as the most wicked of all: what do you know, I say, whether by the change of the right hand of the Most High he is not to become better than you and them in himself, and indeed already is so in God? And therefore He did not wish us to choose a middling place, nor even the next to last, nor even merely a place among the lowest: but sit down, He says, in the lowest place, so that you may sit as the lowest of all, and that you—I do not say set yourself before anyone—but not even presume to compare yourself to anyone."
21. Second, assigning the adjoined benefit, He adds: So that, when he who invited you comes, he may say to you: Friend, go up higher. He who invited us is Christ, who comes to us either through inspiration, according to that passage of John 14: "We will come to him and make our abode with him." Or He comes through death: above in chapter 12: "That when he comes and knocks at the door, they may open to him immediately." Or He comes through the final judgment: Revelation, last chapter: "Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to render to each one according to his works."
He, coming thus, calls the humble friends. For Christ is a true friend, according to that passage of Proverbs 17: "He who is a friend loves at all times." And He acknowledges the humble as friends, because such persons obey Him; John 15: "You are my friends, if you do what I command you." And then He calls them not by the name of servant, but of friend: John 15: "I will no longer call you servants, but friends, because all things whatsoever I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."
To such a one He says: Go up higher, that is, to a higher honor and dignity: Psalm: "Your friends are exceedingly honored, O God."
And therefore He adds: Then you shall have glory before those who sit at table together with you, that is, before all: whence Proverbs 29: "Humiliation follows the proud, and glory shall receive the humble in spirit"; Psalm: "I am with him in tribulation; I will deliver him and glorify him. With length of days I will fill him and show him my salvation." And on account of this, Job 22: "He who has been humbled shall be in glory, and he who has cast down his eyes, he himself shall be saved."
22. (Verse 11). Third, confirming through divine equity, He adds: For everyone who exalts himself, through proud self-elevation, according to that passage of Job 15: "Why does your heart elevate you, and why do you have astonished eyes, as though thinking great things?"
He shall be humbled, through judicial severity: Isaiah 2: "The lofty eyes of man shall be humbled." "For the day of the Lord shall be upon every proud and arrogant one, and he shall be humbled." "And all the loftiness of men shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled." An example of this was manifest in Lucifer; Isaiah 14: "How have you fallen, O Lucifer, who rose in the morning? Who said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven." And therefore he fell, because he exalted himself: whence Ezekiel 28: "Because your heart was lifted up like the heart of God, therefore behold, I will bring strangers upon you, and they shall defile your beauty and shall slay you and cast you down, and you shall die the death of the slain." On account of which it is said to every imitator of Lucifer, to any proud person, Obadiah 1: "The pride of your heart has lifted you up, you who dwell in the clefts of the rocks, who exalt your throne"; and afterward: "If you be exalted as the eagle, and if you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down." Therefore the Wise Man counsels in Ecclesiasticus 6: "Do not exalt yourself in your thought like a bull, lest perhaps your strength be crushed, and you be left like a dry tree in the wilderness."