Moreover, those who love these temporal things are exposed to many darts of temptations: 1 Timothy, last chapter: "Those who wish to become rich fall into temptation and into the snare of the devil and into many useless and harmful desires, which plunge a man," etc.
Another reason is that those who are joined to these things by affection are not easily separated: whence also concerning such persons in the Psalm: "For our soul has been humbled in the dust, our belly has been glued to the earth." Whence Bernard: "The concupiscence of the world harms more than its substance. And this is the principal reason for fleeing riches: because they can scarcely or never be possessed without love. For the substance of this world is slimy and sticky, and the human heart easily clings to all things which it frequents." And therefore the Gloss: "Riches are despised with difficulty: therefore, of all courses, it is safer neither to have nor to love riches." In this he gives to understand four differences among men, which Bede explains, and which are found in the Gloss on the tenth chapter of Mark: "Many have and do not love; many do not have yet love; others have and love; but others rejoice in neither having nor loving, and these are the safest, because they can say with the Apostle: The world is crucified to me, and I to the world ," Galatians 6.
44. (Verse 25). Third, as to the obstacle of tenacity itself, he adds: For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, although this is against nature, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, because this is against divine justice. For it is less impossible that a great thing should pass through a small needle than that a covetous and avaricious soul should enter into heaven, where there is a sufficiency of goods; because, as Ecclesiastes 5 says, "the covetous man shall not be satisfied with money, and he who loves riches shall not reap fruit from them," but rather indeed eternal destruction, because the weight of riches drags one downward: Ecclesiastes 5: "Riches kept to the harm of their owner. They perish in the worst affliction." Whence, as far as heaven is distant from earth, so far is the heart of the avaricious man, which is turned toward earthly things, distant from the kingdom of God, which is in heaven. On account of which, Isaiah 55: "As the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts." And it should be noted that the comparison of the avaricious man to a camel is apt, because the camel with its huge limbs is an enormous, monstrous, and hump-backed animal: so the avaricious man, joined by love to his possessions, is like a monstrous animal. Moreover, the entrance to the heavenly kingdom is compared to the eye of a needle on account of its narrowness and spirituality: whence Matthew 7: "Narrow is the gate and strait is the way that leads to life, and few enter through it." Whence the impossibility of the avaricious man entering the kingdom of heaven is greater than that of a camel passing through the eye of a needle. On account of which Bernard says: "It is necessary that we strive to enter through the narrow gate. Why, O camel, do you bear the hump? Why, O man of wealth, do you carry the purses of Judas the traitor? Not so, O impious one, not so shall you enter: the eye of a needle does not admit such burdens. But some excuse themselves saying: Are not Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the other Saints read to have possessed earthly riches? That suffices for us: for we are not better than the fathers."
"What shall we respond to the new imitators of the ancient Saints? Let them place calves upon the altar of the Lord, let them slaughter rams, let them sacrifice goats, because Abraham also did this. But just as the divine dispensation accommodated itself to those sacrifices for the peoples of that time, so also to carnal riches; where indeed the heavenly promise has sounded, it is necessary that spiritual things be compared with spiritual things, and that the sacrifice be changed, since the hope has been changed."
45. (Vers. 26.). Fourth, regarding the remedy for this very tenacity through divine help, he adds: And those who heard said: And who can be saved? They say this seeking a remedy and dreading the danger. For since very few perfectly despise riches, it seems from this that almost no one can attain perpetual salvation. Hence Augustine: "Since the poor are more numerous than the rich, the Apostles would not have said this unless they understood in the number of the rich all those who desire to obtain riches"; but few are those who are not such, because, as is said in Philippians 2, "all seek the things that are their own, not the things that are of Jesus Christ." All, therefore, seem to be in danger of damnation. 46. (Vers. 27.). Therefore the Lord shows the remedy through the gift of his grace, when he adds: He said to them: The things that are impossible with men, through the power of their own strength, are possible with God, that is, are made possible through his help; which he says because, although it is difficult to despise these temporal things through the force of nature, it is nevertheless made easy through the gift of grace, according to that passage in Song of Songs, last chapter: "If a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he would despise it as nothing." Hence it is not to be understood that the Lord introduces a covetous man, remaining covetous, into heaven by his power, but that through the gift of grace he converts him from vice to virtue. Hence the Gloss: "God converts from the love of earthly things to the charity of eternal things, not that the proud and covetous enter." And this is of great power, that so great a change is made, that from the covetous one a charitable one is made, from the earthly one a heavenly one, from the rich a poor man, from the proud a humble one, from a son of perdition a son of the king, so that the words of the Psalm may be said: "This is the change of the right hand of the Most High"; because he it is who can give sufficiency of heart through grace, which cannot be given through money or any creature, according to that passage in 2 Corinthians 9: "God is able to make all grace abound in you, so that in all things always having all sufficiency," etc., because, as is said above in chapter one, "no word shall be impossible with God."
47. (Vers. 28.). But Peter said. After he commended poverty through its perfection in merit and through its imperfection in the contrary, here thirdly he shows it commendable on account of its consummation in reward. Concerning the description of this, the procedure follows this order. For here the loftiness of perfect poverty is introduced as authoritative through apostolic observance, as approved through divine judgment, as enriched through grace, as rewarding through glory.
First, therefore, as regards the authentication of poverty through apostolic observance, he says: But Peter said: Behold, we have left all things and have followed you. Peter says this as the prince of the Apostles, upon whom ecclesiastical perfection is built, according to that passage in Matthew sixteen: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church." He says this not for display, but to know the sublimity of the reward; whence in Matthew nineteen: "Behold, we have left all things and have followed you: what therefore shall be ours?" etc. Peter also says this to show that the counsel of poverty was fulfilled by the Apostles; whence Jerome: "Great confidence: Peter was a fisherman, he had not been rich, he sought food by hand and by skill; and yet he speaks confidently, saying: We have left all things." And Gregory gives the reason for this, saying thus: "For as much was left behind by those who followed as could have been desired by those who did not follow." Since, therefore, all things could be desired, when they left behind desire, they left behind all things. Peter also says this not boastfully for display, but wisely, so that he might invite others to imitation. Whence Bernard on this word, behold, we have left all things: "Well done, Peter, and not to your folly, because the world passes away and its desire, and it is more expedient to leave behind than to be left behind."
48. And note that he most fittingly joins two things here: we have left and we have followed you: because we cannot follow Christ as he runs unless we run after him, and we cannot run unless we are unburdened; whence in Hebrews twelve: "Laying aside every weight and the sin which surrounds us, let us run with patience the race set before us, looking" etc. And on this Bernard says: "Well done, he says, Peter, and not to your folly, because you could not follow him who runs while burdened; nor is it a useless exchange to have left all things for him who is above all things." Christ also, whom we follow, we cannot overtake unless we are unburdened; and we follow in vain unless we overtake him, according to that passage in Philippians three: "But I press on, if somehow I may lay hold of that for which I also have been laid hold of." And on this Bernard says: "It is clear that those are happy who have been unburdened and follow the Lord unencumbered; a most narrow opening awaits us, if we wish to overtake him whom we follow." And thus Paul was following, who said in Philippians three: "Forgetting those things which are behind, stretching forth myself to those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the heavenly calling." So also the other Apostles, of whom in Matthew four: "Having left their nets and their father, they followed the Lord," is said of James and John; and in Mark one it is said of Peter and Andrew: "Having left their nets and their boat, they followed him"; similarly of blessed Matthew it is said in Luke five that "having left all things, he followed the Lord."
49. (Vers. 29.). Secondly, as to the approval of such a poor man by the divine judgment, it is added: Who said to them: Amen I say to you: There is no one who has left home, as to the foundation of inheritance; Jeremiah 12: "I have left my house, I have abandoned my inheritance, I have given the beloved of my soul" etc.
Or parents, as to the origin of inheritance; the Psalm: "Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father's house." - Or brothers, as to the fellowship of inheritance, namely carnal brothers, concerning whom Job 6: "My brothers have passed me by like a torrent that rushes swiftly through the valleys." -
Or a wife, as to the joint ownership of inheritance, because wife and husband are one body; therefore it is said in Ephesians 5: "Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies"; nevertheless they can be left for the love of Christ, so that they are not taken in marriage, or if they have already been taken in marriage, with their consent, or on account of the sin of fornication. For Matthew 19: "Whoever divorces his wife, except for fornication, and marries another, commits adultery." On this the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 7: "But I say to the unmarried and to widows: it is good for them if they remain as I am." "To those who are joined in marriage I command, not I, but the Lord, that a wife is not to depart from her husband" etc. Therefore what is said about the leaving of a wife is to be understood in the manner stated above.
Or children, as to the succession of inheritance; Matthew 10: "He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."
Or fields, as to the expansion of inheritance: concerning which Isaiah 5: "Woe to you who join house to house and unite field to field even to the boundary of the place."
For the sake of the kingdom of God, that is, according to right intention, by which the kingdom of God is to be sought: Matthew 6: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you." The Lord accepts that renunciation in which cupidity and carnality are abandoned together. Therefore it is said to Abraham in Genesis 12: "Go out from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house, and come into the land that I will show you." For it is not sufficient that bodily possession be relinquished unless carnal affection is also relinquished: on account of which it is said in Deuteronomy 33: "They who said to their father and mother: I do not know you, and to their brothers: I do not recognize them, and they did not acknowledge their own children: these kept your word and preserved your covenant, O Jacob, and your law and your judgments, O Israel."
50. (Vers. 30.). Thirdly, as to the enrichment of poverty through grace, it is added: And not receive much more in this time: which is not to be understood of temporal things, so that he would have many more wives, or children, or carnal brothers, but it is understood of the spiritual charisms of graces,
by which poverty is incomparably enriched without loss to another: and this through the gift of charity, which makes all things common, according to that passage of 1 Corinthians 3: "All things are yours, whether present or future"; through the gift also of most abundant simplicity; whence 2 Corinthians 8: "Their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of simplicity"; and 2 Corinthians 6: "As needy, yet enriching many," etc. As a figure of this it is said in Genesis 26: "Isaac sowed in that land and found in that same year a hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him, and he was enriched." Whence it is said in Matthew 19: "He shall receive a hundredfold," etc.; on which passage Jerome says: "He who shall have left carnal things for the Lord shall receive spiritual things, which by comparison and by their merit shall be as though a hundredfold were compared to a small number." Whence lest it be understood of temporal enrichment, it is said in Mark 10: "There is no one who leaves," etc., "who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time, with persecutions." On which passage Bernard says: "Pointedly there is added with persecutions, for perhaps someone, when he had heard that a hundredfold is promised here, would conjecture that this is also bestowed in temporal things; but the added word persecution forestalls this understanding. For what is there of earthly consolation that persecution does not easily take away? What earthly thing did the holy Martyrs receive amid persecutions? Nevertheless, in the meantime, from whatever source they are to receive the hundredfold, provided it be a hundredfold, provided the hundredfold avail, provided it please a hundredfold, console, delight, and be loved: what madness is it that men hesitate to leave the single for the hundredfold?"
51. Fourth, as regards the remuneration of poverty through glory, there is subjoined: And in the age to come, life everlasting. And rightly is glory called by the name eternal life, because, just as separation from the font of life is death and eternal damnation, so union with Him is eternal life. On account of which it is pointedly said in the Psalm: "With the torrent of Your pleasure You shall give them drink; for with You is the fountain of life." And rightly is the eternity of life added, because eternity is nothing other than "the total, simultaneous, and perfect possession of unchangeable life." And such is what exceeds temporal things infinitely, so that it is truly said in Romans 8: "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory that shall be revealed in us"; because, 2 Corinthians 4, "that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation works above measure in the sublimity of eternal glory a weight in us." This immense weight we can purchase for the light weight of things, because the reward surpasses merit in every way: above in chapter six: "Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, shall they give into your bosom." And therefore it is said in Sirach 18: "Be not hindered from praying always, nor fear to be justified even unto death, for the reward of God endures forever."
52. Now Jesus took the twelve " etc. After he showed poverty to be commendable and desirable through the perfection of its merit, through the imperfection of its contrary, and through the consummation of its accumulated reward, here fourthly he shows it to be worthy of approval and worthy of choice by reason of the most perfect example, namely, of Christ crucified. And since that example could seem contemptible to some by reason of weakness, therefore in this part there is first set forth the example of Christ's condescension: secondly, for its confirmation there is added a miracle of power in the illumination of the poor blind man, at the passage: Now it came to pass , as he drew near to Jericho.
Concerning the example of condescension, which consists in the endurance of the cross, four things are introduced for its perfect description, namely: the kindness of the Master, the profundity of the mystery, the bitterness of the punishment, and the blindness of the human heart with respect to such an example.
53. (Verse 31). First, therefore, as regards the kindness of the Master, he sets forth: Now Jesus took the twelve, that is, he took them intimately to himself, and this was of wondrous condescension and kindness; Deuteronomy thirty-two: "He spread his wings and took them up and carried them on his shoulders." He took them, moreover, so that by teaching he might console them and by consoling he might teach them.
Whence he adds: And he said to them: Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, namely, as to the place of the passion. The Gloss: "Foreseeing that his disciples would be disturbed by his passion, he foretells the place and the pain of the passion and the glory of the resurrection, so that, when they beheld him dying, they would not doubt that he would rise again." He foretells, moreover, that this would take place in Jerusalem. For, as was said above in chapter thirteen, "it cannot be that a Prophet perish outside Jerusalem." The reason for this is that Jerusalem was the place in which was the seat of the kingdom, the priesthood, of teaching, and of judgment: and therefore there ought to suffer he who is king and priest, master, and judge, so that from Jerusalem might go forth and begin the kingdom of Christ, according to that verse of the Psalm: "The Lord shall send forth the rod of thy power out of Sion," etc.; might go forth salvation or remedy; Isaiah sixty-two: "For Sion's sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her just one goes forth as a splendor"; might also go forth law and judgment: Isaiah two: "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord"; and after: "For out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem." Therefore Christ went up to Jerusalem, so that, suffering on the cross, he might give to the nations the kingdom of power, the priesthood of holiness, and the law of judgment and truth. On account of which Jerusalem itself also bears the type of the Church, of the holy soul, and of the heavenly Jerusalem. Whence Isaiah four: "Everyone who shall be left in Sion and who shall remain in Jerusalem shall be called holy to the Lord, everyone who shall be written in the book of life in Jerusalem."
54. Second, as regards the profundity of the mystery, there is added: And all things shall be accomplished which were written by the Prophets concerning the Son of man. In this appears the wondrous profundity of the mystery of the Lord's passion, because in it is the consummation of all prophetic revelation. For all the Prophets had as their principal aim the foretelling of Christ according to His threefold dignity, namely of kingship, teaching, and priesthood; and according to His threefold perfection, namely of power, truth, and goodness, according to what is said of Christ in Isaiah thirty-three: "The Lord is our king, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our judge: He shall come and save us." Inasmuch as He is king, He governs us through precepts and judgments; inasmuch as He is teacher, He instructs through mysteries and examples; inasmuch as He is priest, He sanctifies through sacrifices and Sacraments. Since, therefore, these six things were consummated on the cross, it is said that all things which were spoken by the Prophets were consummated. For the precepts were consummated on account of the exceeding charity, because "the end of the commandment is charity," First Timothy one; concerning which in the Psalm: "I have seen the end of all perfection; Your commandment is exceedingly broad." The judgments were consummated on account of the exceeding severity which He exercised upon Himself; Isaiah ten: "The consummation that is decreed shall overflow with justice"; and again, twenty-eight: "I have heard a consummation and a cutting short from the Lord," etc. The mysteries were consummated; Apocalypse ten: "In the days of the voice of the seventh Angel, the mystery of God shall be consummated, as He declared by His servants the Prophets." The examples were consummated; Hebrews two: "It became Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, who had brought many sons into glory, to consummate the author of their salvation through suffering," etc. The sacrifices were consummated; whence Hebrews ten: "By one offering He has consummated forever those who are sanctified"; therefore Second Maccabees one: "The priests made prayer while the sacrifice was being consummated," etc. The Sacraments were consummated; Hebrews eight: "I will consummate upon the house of Israel and upon the house of Judah a new testament"; and this testament was consummated in the blood of Christ; Hebrews nine: "This is the blood of the testament which He has commanded," etc. And from this the old testament was fulfilled, and all things were consummated. And therefore as a figure of this, above in chapter thirteen: "Behold, I perform healings today and tomorrow, and the third day I am consummated"; and therefore John nineteen: "Jesus, knowing that all things were now consummated, said: I thirst." "When therefore Jesus had received the vinegar, He said: It is consummated. And bowing His head, He gave up the spirit." And thus was verified that saying of Ecclesiasticus thirty-four: "Without falsehood the word of the law shall be consummated, and wisdom shall be made plain in the mouth of the faithful."
55. (Vers. 32.). Third, as to the bitterness of the punishment, he adds: For he shall be delivered to the Gentiles, as a stranger, according to what is foretold by David in the Psalm: "I was delivered up and did not go forth." The figure of this preceded in Joseph, of whom it is said in Genesis thirty-seven, that "his brothers delivered him to the Ishmaelites," and in Samson, of whom it is said in Judges sixteen, that his wife delivered him to the Philistines.
And he shall be mocked, as a fool: the figure of this preceded in Job, of whom Job thirty: "Now those younger in age deride me, whose fathers I would not have deigned to set with the dogs of my flock" etc.; and Mark fifteen: "They clothe him in purple and place upon him a crown of thorns they had plaited, and they began to salute him, saying: Hail, King of the Jews: and they struck his head with a reed." And he shall be scourged, as the lowest: whence in the Psalm: "And I was scourged the whole day"; and Isaiah fifty: "I gave my body to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked them"; whence John nineteen: "Pilate took Jesus and scourged him."
And he shall be spat upon, as unclean, Isaiah fifty: "I did not turn my face from those who rebuked and spat upon me"; and Job thirty: "They have fled far from me and do not fear to spit in my face"; Matthew twenty-six: "They spat in his face and struck him with their fists."