20. Now he gave them wisdom for the purpose of instructing the universal Church; and therefore he adds: And he said to them: Trade, until I come: trade, namely by preaching and bearing fruit: 1 Corinthians 12: "To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for profit." Now there is a threefold trade: indifferent, worst, and best: indifferent, by which temporal things are exchanged for temporal things: Baruch 3: "The children of Hagar, who sought out" etc. — Another indeed is evil, by which spiritual things are exchanged for temporal things through simony: and this is displeasing to God, concerning which John 2: "He says to those selling doves: Take these things away from here, and do not make my Father's house a house of trade." — Another trade is the best, by which one gives spiritual things in order to gather spiritual things: and this is good and pleasing to God, according to that passage of Isaiah 23: "Her trades and her wages shall be sanctified to the Lord." And concerning this, the last chapter of Proverbs: "She tasted and saw that her trade is good"; because "the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant" etc. Whence the Gloss: "Offer to the peoples the words of the Law examined by mystical interpretation, and receive from them the confession of faith and uprightness of morals."
He therefore who preaches for temporal gain is an evil trader; but he who does so for the gain of souls is a spiritual trader, such as Paul was, who said in 2 Corinthians 12: "I do not seek your things, but you." If however he also reaps carnal things here, provided he does not place his end there, but rather the contrary, he does not depart from spiritual trade nor make the Gospel a thing for sale. For this is permitted to be done not as the principal intention, but as ordered to something else, because, as is said in 1 Corinthians 9, "if we have sown spiritual things for you, it is no great thing if we reap your carnal things."
21. (Verse 14). Third, with regard to the hardening of human perfidy in the rebellion of the Jewish people, it is added: But his citizens hated him. These citizens are said to be the Jews: whence the Gloss: " Citizens, that is, the Jews, from whom Christ is according to the flesh," according to that passage in Romans 9: "Whose is the adoption of sons and the glory and the covenant and the giving of the law and the worship and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom Christ is according to the flesh, who is over all things God blessed." These citizens hated him, according to that passage of John 15: "That the word which is written in their Law may be fulfilled: Because they hated me without cause," when rather they ought to have loved him: and John 1: "He came unto his own, and his own received him not."
And because the Jews not only hated Christ when present, but also when rising and ascending, therefore he adds: And they sent an embassy after him, saying: We do not want this man to reign over us. They are said to send an embassy after Christ when they not only persecuted him in himself, but also in his body; whence the Gloss: "They not only hated him while present even unto the death of the cross, but also after his resurrection they sent persecution upon the Apostles and spurned the preaching of the heavenly kingdom." Whence it is said in Acts 8: "There arose a great persecution against the Church which was at Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the regions"; and 1 Thessalonians 2: "You became imitators of all the Churches which are in Judea in Christ Jesus, because you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they also from the Jews, who both killed the Lord and persecuted us and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, so as to fill up their sins always." Whence they denied him: John 19: "We have no king but Caesar." But by refusing Christ to reign over them, they lost the kingdom; whence Daniel 9: "It shall not be his people, who shall deny him"; and by refusing him to reign, they ceased to be citizens, according to that passage of Isaiah 1: "How has the faithful city become a harlot," etc. But they refused the heavenly one to reign because they loved the carnal kingdom: John 3: "The light came into the world, and they loved darkness rather than light." And thus was verified that passage of Isaiah 1: "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have despised me."
22. (Verse 15.). And it came to pass, that he returned, etc. After he described the state of merit, he here describes the form and state of judgment, which indeed the Evangelist describes: first, generally with respect to all; second, with respect to the faithful servants, at the passage: And the first came saying; third, with respect to the negligent, at the passage: And the third came saying; fourth, with respect to the rebellious, at the passage: But those enemies of mine, etc.
Moreover, he describes the state of judgment in general in a threefold manner, namely with regard to the manifest appearance of the judge himself, his authoritative command, and his strict inquiry.
First, therefore, as regards the manifest appearance of the judge, he says: And it came to pass, that he returned, having received the kingdom. The Gloss: "This will be when he who appeared humble will come to judge in the most manifest glory": Apocalypse 1: "Behold, he comes with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and those who pierced him." For then that coming of his will be manifest : whence above in the seventeenth chapter: "As the lightning from heaven shines upon those things that are under heaven, so also shall be the coming of the Son of Man"; because, as is said in First Corinthians 4, "he will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of hearts." But what is said in Amos 5: "The day of the Lord is darkness and not light, gloom and not splendor," is understood with respect to the proud and impious, whom a dark whirlwind will envelop, and they will be taken away, lest they see the glory of the Lord.
23. Second, as regards the authoritative command, he adds: He commanded the servants to be called, to whom he had given the money. This command will be one of supreme power, because he will also raise the dead: First Thessalonians 4: "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a command and with the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead who are in Christ shall rise first." This command will also be in his own power, according to that passage in John 5: "The hour comes, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of God." It will also be through the angelic ministry: Second Thessalonians 1: "In the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven with the Angels of his power, in a flame of fire giving vengeance"; whence Matthew 13: "The Son of Man shall send his Angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all scandals and those who work iniquity." They also gather the good by the power and swiftness of their nature: the Psalm: "Bless the Lord, all his Angels, mighty in power, doing his word, to hear the voice of his words."
24. Third, as regards the strict inquiry, he adds: That he might know how much each one had gained by trading: the Gloss: "He will make it known: then the works and thoughts of all will be openly shown to all." Whence Daniel 7: "The judgment sat, and the books were opened"; this opening is the weighing of merits and demerits according to the comparison of deeds done to the norms of what ought to have been done. Whence Apocalypse 20: "I saw the dead, small and great, standing in the sight of the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from those things which were written in the books"; because, according to what is said in Second Corinthians 5, "we must all be made manifest before the tribunal of Christ, that each one may receive the things proper to his body, according as he has done, whether good or evil." Whence to each one will be said that which is said to the steward above in the sixteenth chapter: "Render an account of your stewardship."
25. But the first came etc. After he describes the form of judgment with respect to all, here he consequently describes it with respect to the faithful servants . And since there was a twofold order of preachers, joined according to the twofold wall of the Church through the cornerstone, namely some who converted the people of the Jews, and others who converted the people of the Gentiles: therefore he first describes the remunerative judgment of the faithful servant in the instruction of the Jews: secondly, in the conversion of the Gentile peoples, at the words: And another came saying etc.
Concerning the judgment of the faithful servants in the conversion of the Jews, three things are introduced, namely the multiplication of the entrusted talent, the approbation of the heavenly judgment, and the retribution of the accumulated reward.
26. (Verse 16). First, therefore, as regards the multiplication of the entrusted talent, he says: But the first came saying: Lord, your mina has gained ten minas. The first servant, however, is said to be the one to whom the office of preaching was first entrusted, as was Peter, to whom the synagogue of the Jews was entrusted to be converted; whence the Gloss: "The first servant is the order of doctors sent to the circumcision," who is therefore called first, because, as is said in Acts thirteen, "it was necessary to preach the kingdom of God to you first." For this servant is said to have received one mina on account of the unity of grace and doctrine; whence the Gloss: "He received one mina for trading, because he was commanded to preach one God, one faith, one baptism"; Ephesians four: "Being careful to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, as you were called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism." He is also said to have gained ten minas on account of the conversion of those who were under the Law; whence also the Gloss: "He gained ten minas, when by teaching he joined to himself the people established under the Law"; Acts five: "The multitude of men and women believing in the Lord was increasingly augmented, so that they cast the sick out into the streets, that when Peter came, they might be overshadowed and freed from infirmity." Therefore he offers this acquired people to the Lord as merit. As a figure of this, Genesis twenty-seven: "Arise, eat of my game, that your soul may bless me."
And note that he does not say: I gained, but: the mina, so as to say that word of Isaiah twenty-six: "All our works you have wrought in us, O Lord"; and that word of First Corinthians fifteen: "Yet not I, but the grace of God with me."
27. (Verse 17). Second, with regard to the acceptance of the heavenly judgment, he adds: And he said to him: Well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in a little. And note that well done is sometimes mocking, according to that passage of the Psalm: "They said: Well done, well done, our eyes have seen it." Sometimes it is flattering; the Psalm: "Let them be turned back immediately in shame who say to me: Well done, well done"; and again: "Let them bear their confusion at once who say to me: Well done, well done"; because flattery must be most swiftly repelled. Sometimes it is exhortatory, as here and in Matthew twenty-five: "Well done, good and faithful servant, I will set you over many things." Here, however, the servant is called good in performing service and faithful in keeping and dispensing what was entrusted to him: 1 Corinthians 4: "Here it is now required among stewards that one be found faithful"; and Proverbs 20: "Many men are called merciful, but who will find a faithful man?" He is therefore called faithful without qualification, because he preserved faithfulness in small things. For above in chapter sixteen: "He who is faithful in the least is faithful also in the greater." "But 'a little,' as the Gloss says, is whatever of gifts we receive in the present in comparison to future things. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, " as is said in 1 Corinthians 13. In these things, however, he is faithful who faithfully shares them, "not seeking the things that are his own, but the things of Jesus Christ." Bernard: "You are truly a faithful servant of the Lord if, of the great glory of your Lord—although not going out from you, yet passing through you—nothing has happened to cling to your hands." Such a servant was Paul, who said in 2 Corinthians 2: "I am not as the many who adulterate the word of God, but from sincerity, as from God, before God, in Christ we speak."
28. Third, with regard to the retribution of the accumulated reward, he adds: You shall have authority over ten cities. Note that these ten cities are understood to be beatified souls, just as by the ten minas gained are understood souls converted to Christ: which he calls minas in the state of the way on account of their changeability, but in the state of the fatherland cities on account of the immutability of glory. And on this the Gloss says: "The ten cities are souls arriving through the words of the Law at the grace of the Gospel, over whom he who has worthily commended to God the money of the word is then set as one to be glorified. Whence First Thessalonians 2: What is our hope, or joy, or crown of glory? Are not you before the Lord Jesus, " etc. They are said, however, to be set over them on account of a certain glorious excellence, not through authoritative command, because, First Corinthians 15, "when he shall have brought to nothing all principality and power and virtue," etc.; which is said with regard to the command of domination, not with regard to the degree of excellence and dignity, because great will be the dignity from the conversion of many; therefore it is said in First Timothy 3: "Those who minister well acquire for themselves a good degree"; and again in the fifth chapter: "Let the presbyters who rule well be held worthy of double honor," because both on account of themselves and on account of the people gained. Whence also Daniel 12: "Those who instruct many unto justice shall be as stars," etc. And therefore Ecclesiastes 7: "Wisdom has strengthened the wise man above ten princes of the city." Therefore, although the Jewish peoples were for the most part hardened, the Apostles nevertheless did not preach to them in vain. Whence Romans 11: "Has God cast away his people? God forbid; for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham. God has not cast away his people, whom he foreknew"; and afterward: "So therefore also at this time a remnant according to the election by grace has been saved," which indeed redound to the glory of the preachers, according to that word of Isaiah 49, "You shall be clothed with all these as with an ornament."
29. (Verse 18). And another came saying, etc. After he has set forth the form of judgment concerning the order of preachers who labored faithfully in the conversion of the Jews, here secondly he sets forth concerning the order of preachers who were faithful in the conversion of the gentile peoples. Concerning which order two things are introduced, namely the faithfulness of ministry and the sublimity of reward.
First, therefore, regarding the faithfulness of ministry, it says: And another came saying: Lord, your mina has made five minas. The Gloss: "One mina makes five, because it converts the Gentiles, previously enslaved to the five senses, to the grace of the evangelical faith." As a figure of this, it was said to that Samaritan woman, who bore the figure of the Gentiles: "You have had five husbands," John 4. But when these five senses are converted to the service of God, then the mina of grace is said to be multiplied fivefold, according to that passage of Isaiah 19: "In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing by the Lord of hosts. In that day there shall be an altar of the Lord of hosts in the midst of the land of Egypt and a pillar of the Lord near its border." Therefore the souls converted from the Gentiles are called five, not because they are fewer than those converted from the Jews, but because the latter were guided according to the law of the Decalogue, while the former were guided according to the laws of the senses and carnal pleasures. On account of which the Jews are also said to have been called from near, but the Gentiles from afar: Ephesians 2: "He preached peace to those who were near, and peace to those who were far off."
30. (Verse 19). Second, regarding the sublimity of the reward, he adds: And to this one he said: And you, be over five cities, that is, have glory from the whole company of the faithful who were converted. Whence the Gloss: "With respect to those souls which you have imbued with faith and good conduct, be great and exalted, and be honored not only for your own merits but also for the progress of your hearers." From these Gentiles, Paul, the most noble preacher, although he called and considered himself the least of the Apostles, led the greatest multitude to the Lord's sheepfold, since, according to that passage of Isaiah 60, "the least shall become a thousand, and the little one a most mighty nation." Whence he himself also said in Galatians 2: "He who worked in Peter for the apostolate of the circumcision, worked also in me among the Gentiles."
31. And it should be noted that although he said ten servants were called on account of the universality of preachers, he takes up only three—namely, two good and one bad—to intimate that every preaching of the good is bipartite according to the twofold people and the twofold wall, by reason of which there was also a twofold priesthood and a twofold testament; and a twofold order of good preachers is said to exist according to the twofold difference of sheep to be pastured. As a figure of this, Genesis thirty-two: "With my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I return with two companies"; and John ten: "I have other sheep that are not of this fold"; and Ephesians two: "That he might create the two in himself into one new man, making peace." In designation of this also, the Lord sent forth the two princes of the Apostles as two preeminent preachers and leaders of those who preach, namely Peter and Paul, giving to Peter the preeminent power of working miracles, but to Paul the most profound wisdom for understanding mysteries; because, as is said in First Corinthians one, "Jews demand signs, and Greeks seek wisdom." Whoever therefore are good preachers are imitators of these two and lead to the Lord's manger either the ox or the ass, that is, ten minas or five, according to this difference of peoples. - And from this the difference appears between the parable that Matthew proposes concerning talents and that which Luke sets forth here: because this one regards the difference of preachers with respect to hearers, but that one with respect to their own merits. Therefore here it is said that he gave the same amount to all; but there, that he gave more to one and less to another. Hence also that one was proposed in Jerusalem, but this one on the way; in both, however, the zealous diligence of faithful preachers is approved, and negligence is reproved; in this one especially the perfidy of the rebellious Jews is condemned, since at the end of the parable there is added the slaying of the enemies, that is, of the rebellious Jews.
32. (Verse 20.). And the third came saying etc. After he described the form of judgment with respect to all and with respect to the faithful, here he describes it with respect to the negligent, who are all designated in the person of this third servant. Concerning this, however, four things are introduced by the Evangelist, namely the lazy servant's concealment, wicked excuse, and just rebuke and just condemnation.
First, therefore, as regards the lazy concealment of the servant himself, he adds: And the third came saying: Lord, behold, your mina, which I kept laid away in a napkin; The Gloss: "The third servant represents those who, after the Jews and gentiles have been gathered, negligently exercise the office of preaching entrusted to them." Concerning whom it is said in Jeremiah 48: "Cursed is he who does the work of God negligently and who withholds his sword from blood." It is done negligently when the gift of wisdom is hidden and concealed; therefore he says it was laid away in a napkin; concerning which Bede says: "He lays away money in a napkin who, though fit for preaching, either refuses to undertake the office of preaching or does not carry it out well once undertaken; but hides the gifts received under idle torpor, saying: It suffices me to give an account of myself. Why should I preach to others, or be compelled to give an account of others?" Such a one deserves to be cursed, because, Proverbs 11, "he who hides grain shall be cursed among the peoples." For he is a wicked shepherd who, having food, allows the sheep to die of hunger. On account of which, Sirach 29: "Lose your money for the sake of a brother and friend, and do not hide it under a stone unto destruction." And if this is said concerning money, how much more so concerning knowledge; whence Sirach 41: "Hidden wisdom and an unseen treasure, what profit is there" in either? Whence Ezekiel 3: "If when I say to the wicked," etc.; there the Gloss says: "It is a great peril to conceal the words of God."
33. But this is understood not of the concealment that comes from prudence — for in Ecclesiastes 3 it is said: "A time to be silent and a time to speak"; and in the Psalm: "In my heart I have hidden your words, that I might not sin against you"; on account of which it is said in Proverbs 10: "The wise hide knowledge"; and Sirach 20: "There is one who is silent and is found wise, and there is one who is hateful who is forward in speaking" —
but it is understood of the concealment that comes from fear, or flattery, or avarice, or negligence; therefore he says significantly: it was laid away in a napkin. For in a napkin the dead are wrapped; and the mina is laid away in a napkin when a dead affection toward one's neighbor hides speech and teaching on account of a wicked life, like those of whom it is said in Romans 1, "Who hold the truth of God in unrighteousness"; or on account of sloth of heart, because he does not have fraternal charity; on account of which, Sirach 30: "Good things hidden in a closed mouth are like offerings of food placed around a tomb." And therefore, as a figure of this, the hidden manna rotted, Exodus 16. And the mina in a napkin is not multiplied, and grain in a granary does not increase but is eaten by moths; it only bears fruit when it is sown. So also the word of God, which is compared to a price and to seed; and therefore Proverbs 15: "The lips of the wise shall spread abroad knowledge; the heart of fools shall be otherwise."
34. (Vers. 21.). Secondly, as to the wicked excuse, he adds: For I feared you, because you are an austere man; in which he excuses himself as a sluggard through fear; Proverbs twenty-two: "The sluggard says: There is a lion in the way, a lioness in the paths, and I shall be killed in the midst of the streets." Whence also that word of the Psalm applies to such people: "They trembled with fear where there was no fear." - He excuses himself wickedly, because he imposes the blame for his own negligence upon the severity of the judging Lord, when on the contrary He Himself says in Matthew eleven: "Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart," and in Romans two: "Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"
He also excuses himself foolishly, because, when he ought to speak for himself, he speaks against himself, when he adds: You take up what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did not sow: The Gloss: "The Lord reaps where He did not sow, that is, He holds guilty of impiety those to whom He did not minister the word of the Law or of the Gospel." In this he alleges the severity of the divine judgment, because the Lord punishes even the ignorant; and therefore he ought to fear that He will much more severely punish the negligent; whence Ecclesiasticus two: "Those who fear the Lord will seek out what is well-pleasing to Him." Moreover, the Lord punishes even those to whom He did not give the Law, from whom He requires justice, because, even if they do not have the written law, they nevertheless have the law of nature impressed within them; on account of which it is said in Romans two: "Those who sinned without the Law will perish without the Law." Whence also in the same place: "For when the Gentiles, who do not have the Law, do by nature those things that are of the Law, such as these, not having the Law, are a law unto themselves, who show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them," "when God will judge the hidden things of men through Jesus Christ";