Therefore it is added: And lend, hoping for nothing thereby, namely of recompense: Deuteronomy 23: "You shall lend to your brother without usury what he needs, that the Lord may bless you," that is, do not seek recompense for this from man, as usurers do, who on account of the hope of usury lose the hope of eternal life: against whom the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 15 says: "If we are hoping only in this life, we are the most miserable of all men." Such are the rich who hope in riches: "the hope of such is empty and their labors without fruit," Wisdom 3. And therefore Sirach 31: "Blessed is the rich man who is found without blemish, and who has not gone after gold nor hoped in money and treasures. Who is this, and we shall praise him? For he has done wondrous things in his life."
83. Note that hope in lending can be for a similar service, or for profit. In the first way it is permitted; in the second way it can be twofold: either expressed through a pact, and this is simply prohibited, because it makes one a usurer; or tacit in the heart, and in this way twofold: either principally moving one to lend, and this is likewise prohibited, because it is against the divine commandment; or not principally moving, but as it were annexed, because, although one does not act principally for advantage or profit, he nevertheless believes that the recipient will not be ungrateful to him, and therefore he acts more willingly. But here such a hope of advantage is not against the divine commandment.
84. Second, he adds a motivating reason on the part of the reward, when he adds: And your reward shall be great: Sirach 12: "Do good to the just, and you shall find great recompense, and if not from him, certainly from the Lord." And the recompense is called abundant and great, because the eternal reward contains all goods in excellence, according to that verse of the Psalm: "How great is the multitude of your sweetness, O Lord, which you have hidden for those who fear you!" And truly great and abundant and hidden, but promised, because, 1 Corinthians 2 and Isaiah 64, "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love him."
85. Third, he adds a motivating reason from the side of example, when he adds: And you shall be sons of the Most High, namely through imitation, according to that passage in Ephesians 5: "Be imitators of God, as most beloved children." As sons we ought to imitate God, because we have received the grace of faith, concerning which John 1 says: "He gave them power to become sons of God, to those who believe in his name." We have also received from him the spirit of adoption of sons, according to that passage in Romans 8: "You have not received the spirit of servitude in fear, but the spirit of adoption of sons." And therefore we ought to imitate God, as a son imitates his father, according to that passage in John 8: "If you are sons of Abraham, do the works of Abraham."
And for this reason we ought to live according to his example: which he adds when he says: For he is kind toward the ungrateful and the wicked, according to that passage in Joel 2: "He is kind and merciful, patient and of great mercy and relenting over wickedness." And this kindness extends itself to the ungrateful and the wicked: Romans 2: "Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But you, according to your hardness and impenitent heart, treasure up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his works." And therefore it is said in 2 Timothy 3: "Evil men and seducers will advance to worse things"; Ecclesiastes 8: "For because sentence is not quickly pronounced against the wicked, the sons of men commit evils without any fear." From all these evils divine kindness frees and saves, surpassing our wickedness: Titus 3: "The kindness and humanity of God our Savior has appeared."
86. (Verse 36). Be therefore merciful, etc. After he has promulgated and proved the evangelical laws and also resumed them with a motivating reason, here at last he concludes with the consequent retribution, which he shows follows our works in the judicial sentence, in heavenly glory, and in infernal punishment: in judgment indeed with respect to all, in reward with respect to the good, and in punishment with respect to sinners.
He concludes therefore first that we ought to fulfill the aforementioned commandments according to the prescribed form, by proclaiming the judicial sentence, when he says: Be therefore merciful, namely in showing yourselves benevolent, peaceable, and beneficent toward your neighbors; in which he touches upon the substance of the aforementioned commandments.
As your Father also is merciful, in which he touches upon the form or circumstance, because He condescends not only to friends, but to adversaries. This indeed is necessary, according to that passage of Matthew 18: "You should have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I also had mercy on you." Whence He requires that mercy which He bestows; and according to that which we bestow, He repays in judgment, according to that passage of Sirach 4: "In judging, be merciful to orphans as a father, and as a husband to their mother; and you shall be as a son of the Most High, and He shall have mercy on you more than a mother"; James 2: "Judgment without mercy to him who has not shown mercy."
And therefore he adds the retribution of judgment corresponding to works of merit according to a fourfold difference of act, namely judging, condemning, forgiving, and giving: of which the first pertains to equity, the second to severity, the third to piety, and the fourth to liberality.
87. (Verse 37). The first is noted when he adds: Do not judge, and you shall not be judged: In Matthew 7 it is said: "With what judgment you judge, you shall be judged." - And because he does not mean any judgment whatsoever, but that which deviates from piety into cruelty, therefore he adds: Do not condemn, and you shall not be condemned: Romans 2: "In that you judge another, you condemn yourself," because, as is said in Proverbs 17, "both he who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the just are abominable before God." - Whence he recalls from the judgment of iniquity and exhorts to the benefit of piety, which consists in forgiving and giving: in forgiving injury and in giving indulgences, or in forgiving evils committed and in giving goods granted. - As to the forgiveness of evils, he adds: Forgive, and you shall be forgiven . Otherwise you do not pray profitably, Matthew 6: "Forgive us our debts," etc.; and afterward: "If you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your sins." Whence Sirach 28: "Forgive your neighbor who hurts you, and then when you pray, your sins shall be loosed."
88. (Verse 38). As to the bestowal of goods, it is added: Give, and it shall be given to you, namely in the judgment, in which that passage of the last chapter of Proverbs shall be spoken: "Give her of the fruit of her hands," etc., because, Matthew 25, "to him who has, it shall be given, and he shall abound." For a man has with him only those things which he gave for God's sake, according to that passage of Sirach 17: (The alms of a man is as a purse with him, and shall preserve the grace of a man as the apple of the eye; and afterward it shall rise up and repay." And therefore, attending to this, Zacchaeus said, below in chapter 19: "Behold, I give half of my goods to the poor."
In summary, note here that not every kind of judgment is prohibited here, namely the deliberate, orderly, and just kind, but rather the usurped, rash, and unjust. I call it usurped when there is neither office nor authority in the one judging; rash, when it concerns a matter that is not established but proceeds from suspicion alone; unjust, when it is against divinely approved law; and such judgment is prohibited here, not the first kind.
89. Second, by promising supercelestial glory according to a perfect measure, when he adds: A good measure, etc. And note that he sets forth here four conditions according to four parts of beatitude, of which the first is in interior joy in the beatitude of the soul; on account of which he says: A good measure, because, according to the Psalm, then "your desire will be filled with good things"; and you will say with Peter, Matthew 17: "Lord, it is good for us to be here," because the same will then be "the measure of a man, which is also that of an Angel," Revelation 21. — The second, from inferior joy in the glorification of the body; on account of which he says: Pressed together, from con and farcio, farcis: Job 5: "You shall enter the grave in abundance, as a heap of grain is brought in at its time." — The third, from exterior joy, namely from the company of the Saints and the renewal of all creatures; on account of which he adds: and shaken together: Job 22: "Your silver and gold will be heaped up for you," that is, the imperfect and the perfect in merit will all be gathered together into one joy.
The fourth, from superior joy in the vision of God; on account of which he says: and overflowing: Job 22: "Then you will abound with delights over the Almighty."
And concerning this fourfold joy in the eternal reward, that passage in Ephesians 3 can be explained: "Rooted and grounded in charity, that you may be able to comprehend what is the length" of interior joy, "the breadth" of exterior joy, "the height" of superior joy, and "the depth" of inferior joy.
This measure indeed they will give into your bosom, those, namely, to whom you show mercy in the present, according to what is said below in the sixteenth chapter: "Make yourselves friends from the mammon of iniquity," etc. And such are the poor, whom the Lord has made judges: Job 36: "He will grant judgment to the poor." This they will give into the bosom, that is, into the stable and intrinsic capacity of the soul: Job 19: "This hope of mine is stored up in my bosom"; which if you wish to have, follow the counsel of the Wise Man, Sirach 29: "Store up alms in the bosom of the poor, and it will intercede for you against all evil."
90. Third, by threatening infernal punishment according to its equivalence to guilt, when he adds: For with the same measure with which you have measured, namely by harming or doing evil or demeriting, it shall be measured back to you, according to that passage in Deuteronomy twenty-five: "According to the measure of the offense, so also shall be the measure of the stripes"; and Revelation eighteen: "As much as she glorified herself and lived in delicacies, so much give her torment and mourning"; and this is what the Lord threatens in Joel three: "Swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense upon your own head."
91. Now the Lord repays in equal measure, considering the guilt, but in greater measure, considering duration, because delight passes quickly, but punishment remains everlasting: Job seven: "As a cloud is consumed and passes away, so he who descends to hell shall not ascend, nor shall he return again to his own house." In lesser measure, however, considering the offense, because he who has sinned against every good ought to be deprived of every good, according to that passage in Lamentations three: "It is of the mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed, because his compassions have not failed." - Again, he who sins against a good that is infinite intensively and extensively ought to be punished infinitely in both ways: and because a creature cannot have infinity of intensity, it receives the other, namely infinity of duration with finitude of severity. Whence Augustine: "It is not the temporal act that causes mortal sin to be punished eternally, but the circumstance of him against whom the sin is committed"; who, since he is eternal, promises eternal goods to those who fulfill his commandments, but threatens eternal punishment to those who sin." And therefore Augustine: "He is worthy of eternal evil who destroys in himself the good that could have been eternal." And Gregory says this same thing: "Justly do those who wished to enjoy sin eternally find punishment eternally, and those whose pleasure had no end of sinning shall have no end of being tormented." - Therefore, although the punishment is greater than the pleasure and less than the offense, nevertheless it is necessarily equal to the guilt of obligation. Nor is it surprising that a perpetual guilt accompanies a temporal action, because in a contract the action is temporal, and yet it acquires a perpetual right for the buyer; a wounding, even though temporal, leads to perpetual death; and a day's war acquires perpetual servitude; and temporal sin, everlasting exile.
92. He spoke to them also a parable. After the proper and express precepts, the Evangelist here subjoins the Lord's teachings given by way of similitude and in figurative speech, in which the Lord instructs us in a fourfold manner. For first, he draws us back from the vanity of presiding. Second, he calls us back from the rashness of judging, at the passage: Why do you see the speck etc. Third, he instructs us in the prudence of discerning, at the passage: For there is no good tree etc. Fourth, he invites us to diligence in working, at the passage: Everyone who comes to me etc.
First, therefore, he draws back from the vanity of ruling by a threefold consideration, namely from the consideration of the peril to be avoided and the vice to be detested and the example to be imitated.
93. (Vers. 39.). For the peril of ruin must be avoided, which threatens the one who rules proudly; on account of which he says: Can the blind lead the blind? As if to say: surely he cannot, because of the peril of ruin, which he adds: Do not both fall into the pit? But the presumptuous man is blind, according to that passage in Revelation 3: "You say, I am rich and have grown wealthy and need nothing; and you do not know that you are wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked." Concerning such a one, Romans 2: "You are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light of those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish." "You therefore who teach others do not teach yourself"; as if to say: you are blind.
And therefore, he who seeks and presumes to be set over others, since he is blind, plunges both himself and others into ruin; whence Jeremiah 50: "My people have become a lost flock; their shepherds have led them astray." And the reason for this is given in Jeremiah 10: "The shepherds have acted foolishly and have not sought the Lord; therefore they have not understood, and their whole flock has been scattered." And therefore he adds: Both fall into the pit. And this is what Gregory says: "While the shepherd walks through the steep places of vices, it is necessary that the flock be dragged into ruin." And such men deserve the curse of the Lord, according to that passage in Deuteronomy 27: "Cursed is he who causes the blind to wander"; just as Lucifer, who wished to rule over others, and all who clung to him fell into the pit, according to that passage in Isaiah 14: "How have you fallen, O Lucifer, you who rose in the morning? You have fallen to the earth, you who wounded the nations."
94. (Vers. 40.). The vice of pride must also be detested, which clings to the one who wishes to rule; on account of which he adds: The disciple is not above the master, namely according to right order. He, therefore, who desires to rule while his Master remains subject, strives to surpass his Master. Whence Bernard: "As often as I desire to rule over men, so often do I strive to go before my God, and then I do not savor the things that are of God." And this is what the Lord says to the disciples in John 13: "Amen I say to you, the servant is not greater than his lord, nor is the apostle greater than he who sent him." He, therefore, who wishes to be exalted above others is ignorant of the teaching of Christ; Matthew 11: "Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart"; or if he once knew it, he falls into apostasy, according to what Gregory says: "As often as the shepherd delights in ruling over others, so often does he slip into the crime of apostasy." Moreover, he ceases to be a disciple when he wishes to lord it over others and to be called the master of others, against that passage in Matthew 23: "Neither be called masters, for your master is one, Christ."
95. The example of the perfect life is to be imitated, which consists in willing to be subject; on account of which he says: But everyone will be perfect, if he be as his master, namely Christ, who "came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a redemption for many," Matthew twenty. And therefore it is said below in chapter twenty-two: "He that is the greater among you, let him become as the lesser, and he that is the leader, as he that serves." And the reason is given: "But I am in the midst of you, as he that serves." And he himself showed them this by example, in John thirteen: "After he washed their feet," it is added: "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me master and lord: and you say well, for so I am. If then I have washed your feet" etc. And afterwards it is added: "For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you also should do." And to this perfect example the Apostle invites in Philippians two: "Let nothing," he says, "be done through contention nor through vainglory, but in humility let each esteem others as superior to themselves." "For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus," of whom he adds that "he humbled himself" etc.
96. (Vers. 41.). But why do you see the mote etc. Here he calls back from the rashness of judging, which indeed he does by showing that he who judges rashly is unjust in thought, indiscreet in speech, disordered in action.