36. (Verse 19.). First, therefore, with regard to the concupiscence of the eyes, he says: There was a certain rich man. This man is called rich not only on account of his possession of riches, but on account of his love for them, by reason of which, First Timothy, last chapter, "those who wish to become rich fall into temptation and into the snare of the devil," etc.; because by reason of love for earthly things the spirit is fattened and weighed down, so that it cannot attain to the sublime kingdoms of heaven. On account of which, Matthew nineteen: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." Explaining this, he says in Mark ten: "Little children, how difficult it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel," etc. Concerning such a rich man it is said in Sirach thirteen: "As the wolf will associate with the lamb, so the sinner with the just. What fellowship has a holy man with a dog? Or what good portion has the rich man with the poor? The hunting of the lion is the wild donkey in the desert; so also the poor are the pastures of the rich. And as humility is an abomination to the proud, so also the poor man is an execration to the rich."
37. Second, with regard to the pride of life, he adds: And he was clothed in purple and fine linen. Bede: "Purple is the color of royal attire, produced from sea shells cut around with iron; fine linen is a kind of white and very soft flax." But this man had beautiful and costly garments for vainglory; whence Gregory: "No one seeks costly garments except for glory, so that he may be held more honorable than others." And this indeed is reprehensible and sinful, on account of which Sirach eleven: "Never glory in clothing, and do not exalt yourself in the day of your honor."
38. But one sins in clothing in four ways: first, on account of costliness; whence Bede: "If the cultivation of costly garments were not a fault, the word of God would not so carefully express that the rich man clothed in purple and fine linen was irremediably tormented in hell." For it is greatly absurd that a putrid corpse should be adorned with costly garments, from which many poor could be sustained. But this is excused by reason of the dignity of the person, by reason of signification, and by reason of caution.
Second, on account of superabundance; James 5: "Your garments are moth-eaten. You have stored up wrath for yourselves in the last days"; and this on account of injury to the poor; whence Job 24: "They send men away naked, taking away their garments, who have no covering," etc. Jerome: "He is convicted of seizing what belongs to others who is found to retain temporal goods beyond necessity." Third, on account of curiosity; Matthew 6: "Why are you anxious about clothing?" And again: "Consider the lilies of the field: they neither labor nor spin. But I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these."
Fourth, on account of indecency, because it is not fitting for a cleric to dress like a woman or like an actor; Zephaniah 1: "I will visit upon all men clothed in foreign garments"; and Deuteronomy 22: "A man shall not put on a woman's garment."
But in all these ways men are accustomed to exceed in clothing, and by exceeding to glory, and by glorying to sin, and this glorying is vain and similar to the glorying of the jackdaw. For the sheep should glory in its wool and the worm in its silk; for "man is rottenness and the son of man a worm." 39. Third, with respect to the concupiscence of the flesh, he adds: And he feasted every day splendidly. The Gloss: "Behold, gluttony," which for the most part has lust joined to it; James 5: "You have feasted upon the earth and have nourished your hearts in luxuries." And note that there is splendor in spiritual feasting, which wisdom produces, and this is to be praised, just as also that feasting of which above in the fifteenth chapter: "Let us eat and feast, because the son," etc. This feasting is splendid, because it has nothing of filth, but comes from the fountain of eternal light: the Psalm: "They shall be inebriated with abundance"; and after: "For with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we shall see light"; and again: "For I shall pass into the place of the wondrous tabernacle; in the voice of exultation and confession, the sound of one feasting." — Likewise there is splendor in bodily feasting, which mercy produces, and this also is to be praised, concerning which 2 Corinthians 9: "Not from sadness or from necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver." And this splendor consists in cheerfulness of countenance and generosity of almsgiving. Concerning this it is said in Sirach 31: "The lips of many shall bless him who is generous with bread, and the testimony of his truthfulness is faithful." — There is also splendor in carnal feasting, which wantonness produces; Zechariah 7: "Did you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?" And this splendor extends not only to dishes skillfully prepared, but also to silver vessels, to white table linens, to multiplied lights. Concerning this, Lucan:
O ambitious hunger for foods sought by land and sea, and the glory of the sumptuous table.
On this Bernard says: "Moreover, the pleasure of the throat, which today is so highly esteemed, scarcely occupies the space of two fingers. With how great a solicitude is so small a delight of so small a part prepared! How great a trouble it ultimately produces!" Now this abundance of feasting produces a poverty of wisdom and virtues, and frequently even of temporal goods; whence Proverbs twenty-one: "He who loves feasting shall be in want; he who loves wine and rich foods shall not grow wealthy."
40. (Verse 20.). And there was a certain beggar etc. After the cause of mercilessness, the Evangelist here introduces the guilt of mercilessness, which he shows to be reprehensible from a threefold circumstance, namely on the part of the poor man, which rendered him worthy of mercy and consequently rendered that rich man merciless and impious. For he is shown to be merciless with respect to a poor man who was sick, with respect to a poor man who was abandoned, with respect to a poor man dear to God and just.
First, therefore, as regards the destitution of the sick poor man, he says: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus. And note here that while the rich man is designated by a common name, the poor man is named by a proper name, so that what is said in the Psalm may be shown: "He shall spare the poor and needy" etc.; and afterward: "And their name shall be honorable in his sight." Whence the Gloss says: "The humble poor man is known by approval through his name." Whence the Lord says to Moses, Exodus thirty-three: "You have found grace before me, and I have known you by name," and this indeed is a great thing. Whence although it is said of the rich in the Psalm: "They called their names upon their lands," to the poor it is said above in the tenth chapter: "Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."
41. And note that the mercilessness of the rich man is aggravated by the fact that that poor man was alone: whence a certain Psalm says: "Look upon me and have mercy on me, for I am alone and poor."
Because he was a beggar: whence he adds beggar, as if knocking at the door through the petition of alms; Sirach four: "Do not reject the petition of the afflicted, and do not turn your face from the needy."
Because he was visible: whence he adds: Who lay at his gate, so that he could no longer be excused on the grounds of ignorance; on account of which First John three: "He who shall see his brother in need and shall close his heart" etc. O how unlike this man was to Job! of whom it is said in the thirty-first chapter: "The stranger did not remain outside; my door was open to the traveler"; how unlike also to Abraham, who sat "at the door of his tent," so as to receive strangers at once, Genesis eighteen.
It is aggravated also because he was sick, and therefore he adds: Covered with sores; Sirach seven: "Do not be reluctant to visit the sick; for by these things you shall be strengthened in love"; whence he could say here: "I am poor and sorrowful" etc.
42. (Verse 21). Again it is aggravated, because he was famished; whence he adds: Desiring to be filled: Isaiah fifty-eight: "Break your bread for the hungry and bring the needy and wandering into your house," etc.; and Ecclesiasticus four: "Do not despise the hungry soul, and do not provoke the poor man in his want." - Again it is aggravated, because he was content with crumbs, whence it follows: With the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table:
Job twenty-two: "You did not give water to the weary and you withheld bread from the hungry"; and Ambrose: "The rich, as though thirsting beyond nature, take from the miseries of the poor the incentives of their own pleasures." - From these six things, moreover, the destitution of this poor man is clearly shown, which made him worthy of mercy and showed the rich man to be reprehensible for his hardness of heart.
43. Second, regarding the abandonment of the poor man, he adds: And no one gave to him: whence Lazarus could say that word of Isaiah sixty-three: "I looked about, and there was no helper; I sought, and there was none to aid"; and Ecclesiastes nine: "No one thereafter remembered that poor man"; because, as is said in Proverbs nineteen, "the brothers of the poor man hate him; moreover, even his friends have withdrawn from him." Whence this poor man was truly abandoned, according to that word of the Psalm: "To you the poor man has been left"; because no one relieved his destitution, no one even tended his infirmity. — Whence it is also added: But even the dogs came and licked his sores. The Gloss: "He could not even drive these away from himself, nor was there a visitor who would drive them away"; from which it appears that the rich man was inexcusable, who saw the poor man thus abandoned. From this also the remarkable cruelty of this rich man can be perceived, because he was more generous to the dogs than to the poor man, and the dogs were gentler to the poor man himself than the rich man. Whence Peter of Ravenna: "The dogs tend the poor man's sores by the teaching of nature; the rich man neglects the poor man, while nature accuses him"; and this is against what is said in Job five: "Visiting your beauty, you shall not sin." Whence the same Peter of Ravenna: "Wretched rich man, if you did not give a crumb to the poor man, at least why did you neglect to drive away the dogs? But your dogs were gentler than you, nay rather you were more cruel than them, and you were gentler to your dogs than to the poor man; your dogs at times received rich food, but the poor man never received even a crumb from your table." From the greatness, therefore, of the poor man's misery, the mercilessness of the rich man is aggravated, and from the abundance of the rich man, the patience of the poor beggar is increased. Whence Gregory: "In one matter two judgments of God are fulfilled: both from the sight of the poor man a heap of damnation is brought upon the rich man who shows no mercy, and again also from the sight of the rich man the poor man, daily tempted, is proved"; Proverbs twenty-two: "The poor man and the rich man met one another; the Lord is the maker of both." 44. (Vers. 22.). Third, regarding the sanctity of the poor man, he adds: Now it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the Angels into the bosom of Abraham: from which it appears that this beggar was holy and good, because dying he is received by the Angels and carried to a place of peace: Wisdom three: "In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die"; and it follows: "But they are in peace." Such are carried by angelic ministry: whence Peter of Ravenna: "The Angels do not disdain to carry him whom they previously ministered to here; Hebrews one: All are ministering spirits " etc.; and after: "Deservedly angelic offices are assigned to the poor man, to whom the services of humanity were so cruelly denied." Moreover, the Angels bear this beggar into the bosom of Abraham, that is, into a place of rest: which place indeed, before the opening of the gate, was in limbo and is called the bosom of Abraham, because Abraham himself was received there as into a bosom by the merit of faith, by which he was called father of many nations: and those who are received there are said to be received into his bosom. Whence also to him first was the promise made concerning the incarnation of Christ. Moreover, it is called a bosom, because, just as in a bosom a thing is hidden, cherished, and guarded as in a familiar place, so also the holy Fathers were preserved in that place; Isaiah four: "Over all the glory shall be a protection. And a tabernacle shall be for a shade by day from the heat, and for a hiding place from the storm and from rain"; and in the Psalm: "For he hid me in his tabernacle; in the day of evils he protected me in the secret of his tabernacle." In this bosom Lazarus was placed and freed from all evils by his death, according to that word of Job five: "In six tribulations he shall deliver you, and in the seventh evil shall not touch you. In famine he shall rescue you from death, and in war from the hand of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and you shall not fear calamity when it comes." "And you shall know that your tabernacle has peace."
45. And note that there is a bosom that is culpable, praiseworthy, and desirable.
The culpable bosom is threefold, namely of carnality: Proverbs 5: "Why are you seduced, my son, by a strange woman and cherished in the bosom of another?" and 6: "Can a man hide fire in his bosom so that his garments do not burn?" etc. "So he who goes in to the wife of his neighbor shall not be clean when he has touched her." Of cupidity: Proverbs 17: "The wicked man receives gifts from the bosom, to pervert the paths of judgment" etc. Of cruelty; 3 Kings 3: "She took my son from my side, while your handmaid was sleeping, and placed him in her bosom; but her own son, who was dead, she placed in my bosom"; and Job 31: "If I have hidden my sin as a man."
There is also a praiseworthy bosom, namely of humility in hiding: Exodus 4: "Draw back your hand into your bosom. He drew it back and brought it out, and it was like the rest of his flesh" etc. The bosom also of benignity in nurturing; Proverbs 21: "A hidden gift extinguishes wrath, and a present in the bosom, the greatest indignation." The bosom also of longanimity in preserving: Job 19: "This hope of mine is stored in my bosom"; and Ezekiel 43: "In its bosom was a cubit, and its border reached to the rim," namely the cubit of perfect reward.
There is thirdly a desirable bosom, and concerning this it says here: "It came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the Angels into the bosom of Abraham," by which bosom is understood the rest of the blessed souls; Matthew 8: "Many shall come from the east and the west and shall recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven."
46. But the rich man also died, etc. After the cause and guilt of mercilessness, he here subjoins the punishment of mercilessness, which he describes in two ways: first, with respect to the misery inflicted; second, with respect to the mercy entreated, at the words: And Abraham said to him, etc.
The misery inflicted on account of the guilt of mercilessness is described in three ways, namely: with respect to the casting down into the place of miseries, with respect to the removal far from the place of the just, and with respect to the multitude of manifold calamities.
47. First, therefore, as to the casting down into the place of miseries, he says: The rich man also died, through the abandonment of temporal joys. And note that he uses the past tense to intimate that this wretched rich man died, not by one death only, but by a threefold death. The first is the death of fault, by which the soul is separated from God: by this death he had been dead even while he lived; First Timothy five: "The widow who lives in pleasures is dead while she lives": the widow is the soul separated from God. - The second is the death of nature, by which the soul is separated from the body: Ecclesiasticus forty-one: "O death, how bitter is your memory to an unjust man who has peace in his possessions"!
The third is the death of gehenna, by which the soul is separated from the blessed life: concerning this, Revelation twenty: "And hell and death were cast into the pool of fire." In designation of this threefold death, Revelation eight says: "Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth," etc.