52. And in the hearing of all the people, etc. After he had confuted the Pharisees, who erred from malice, and the Sadducees, who erred from ignorance, here thirdly he instructs the disciples in prudence. And since prudence consists in three things, namely in caution against evil, choice of the good, and foresight of the future: therefore this part has three parts. In the first of which he instructs the disciples in caution against evils; in the second he invites them to the choice of better things, at the passage: And looking up, he saw, etc.; and in the third, to foresight of future things, at the passage: And as some were speaking of the temple, etc.
Instruction for caution against four evils.
He therefore instructs the disciples in caution against evils that were in the scribes and Pharisees, lest by their example they should turn aside from the path of truth: and this indeed he does by calling the disciples back from the fourfold vice of the scribes, namely from adornment of clothing, ambition for honors, appetite for riches, and simulation of virtues. The first pertains to wantonness, the second to vainglory, the third to avarice, the fourth to fraudulence: to which four, as to the four wheels of Pharaoh's chariot, all evils can be reduced.
53. (Verses 45–46). First, therefore, as regards the adornment of clothing, which was the manifest vice of the scribes, he says: And in the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples: Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk in long robes. Now he said in the hearing of all the people because this was a manifest vice, and therefore to be rebuked openly, according to that passage in First Timothy 5: "Those who sin, rebuke before all, that the rest also may have fear"; and this he said in their presence, lest he act against that passage in Leviticus 19: "You shall not curse the deaf," etc. Now he speaks more about the scribes because they were more effective in doing harm, since they seemed to be men worthy of trust in word and to be imitated in example. Hence the Gloss: "For a twofold reason we are commanded to beware of those desirous of vainglory: lest we be deceived by their pretense, or lest we be inflamed by their example to the love of temporal things." One must therefore take heed lest anyone imitate them in the adornment of clothing, which is understood by the term long robes. For long robes are said to be the white and long garments that the scribes used: hence the Gloss on this: " They desire to walk in long robes, that is, to go forth in public clothed in finer garments: which is reproved in the rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen. " And therefore Augustine says in the Rule: "Do not seek to please by clothing, but by conduct"; and Sirach 11: "Never glory in clothing"; and First Timothy, the last chapter: "Having food and clothing, let us be content with these."
54. Second, as regards the ambition for honors, which was a vice of the scribes to be detested, he adds: And they love greetings in the marketplace, as regards glory in word, as if to say that they wish to be greeted in a public place first in time, with a louder voice, and with a bowed head: against which, above in the tenth chapter: "Salute no man by the way," etc.
And the chief seats in the synagogues, as regards glory in office: against which, Ecclesiasticus seven: "Seek not from a man leadership, nor from a king the seat of honor."
And the first places at feasts, as regards glory in sign: against which, above in the fourteenth chapter: "When you are invited to a wedding, recline in the last place." Now he reproves the scribes, not because to be greeted is evil, or to be placed upon a seat, or to be seated in the first place at a feast, but because such desire and such glorying deservedly ought to be reproved. Whence Bede: "He does not forbid being greeted in the marketplace or the first seats to those to whom they are owed by order of office, but to those who love them unduly. For he rebukes the disposition, not the rank." Therefore what is censured in the scribes is not the excellence of dignity, but the ambition for honor. For in these things truth has no place, according to that saying of John five: "How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that is from God alone"? And concerning this glory, Hosea four: "I will change their glory into shame." And such glory ought to be despised: Isaiah twenty-three: "The Lord of hosts has devised this, to bring down the pride of all glory, and to bring to shame all the renowned of the earth"; and First Maccabees two: "The glory of a sinful man is dung and worms: today he is exalted, and tomorrow he shall not be found."
55. (Vers. 47.). Third, with respect to the appetite for riches, he adds: Who devour the houses of widows, and this through cupidity, whose voracity is never satisfied, and especially when carnality is joined to it. Therefore he says: Who devour the houses of widows, simultaneously implying the voracity of cupidity toward the house and of carnality toward the sex; and concerning these two, Proverbs thirty: "The horseleech has two daughters, crying: Give, give"; and immediately he adds: "Three things are insatiable, and a fourth that never says: Enough. Hell, the mouth of the womb, and the earth, which is never satisfied with water; fire never says: Enough"; because, as is said in Ecclesiastes five, "the covetous man shall not be satisfied with money, and he who loves riches shall reap no fruit from them." The devouring, therefore, is reprehensible on account of avarice, but association with widows is reprehensible on account of evil suspicion. Whence Chrysostom: "While he confounds the Jewish priests, he admonishes Christians not to remain with widows more than with others, because, even if the will is not evil, the suspicion nevertheless is evil." And Jerome to Nepotian: "Let the feet of women rarely or never wear out your threshold. All the maidens and virgins of Christ either equally ignore or equally love. See that you do not remain under the same roof, nor trust in past chastity. You cannot be more holy than David, nor stronger than Samson, nor wiser than Solomon. Remember always that woman cast the settler of paradise out of his possession." The scribes, therefore, are not to be imitated, neither with respect to carnality nor with respect to cupidity, because concerning the imitators of these, Second Peter two: "These are like irrational beasts," "enticing unstable souls, having a heart exercised in avarice, children of malediction, forsaking the right way they have gone astray, following the way of Balaam of Bosor, who loved the wages of iniquity." Against such the Lord is indignant, according to that passage in Isaiah three: "You have devoured the vineyard, and the spoil of the poor is in your house."
56. Fourth, with respect to the simulation of virtues, he adds: Feigning long prayer; the Gloss: "So that they may appear more religious, they pray at greater length, in order that from any who are weak and troubled by the consciousness of their sins, they may receive praises and money as though they were patrons."
But is prolonged prayer evil? Certainly not, since it is said above in the eighteenth chapter: "One ought to pray always"; and First Thessalonians 5: "Pray without ceasing." But this is said on account of simulation, because, since simulation and fraud are reprehensible in all things, they are most especially reprehended in those acts which ought above all to be done in truth: and such is the act of prayer: John 4, "Those who adore him must adore in spirit and truth." Concerning him, therefore, who prays fraudulently and with simulation, it is said in the Psalm: "Let his prayer be turned into sin," because, Jeremiah 48: "Cursed is he who does the work of God negligently." - And therefore he adds: These shall receive greater damnation, because, as is said in Job 36, "dissemblers and the crafty provoke the wrath of God." Therefore Ecclesiasticus 1: "Be not a hypocrite in the sight of men," "lest God reveal your hidden things and cast you down in the midst of the synagogue." And therefore upon the scribes as hypocrites he pronounces woe seven times, Matthew 23: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" on account of their sevenfold simulation, on account of which they were worthy, together with their followers, to be cast down into eternal damnation, according to that passage of Apocalypse 19: "And the beast was apprehended, and with him the false prophet, who wrought signs before him, by which he seduced those who received the mark of the beast: and these two were cast alive into the pool of fire burning with sulphur. And all the birds were filled with their flesh."