Chapter VIII.
In the second part, the Apostles are instructed specifically in the mystical doctrine of the Scriptures.
1. And it came to pass afterwards etc. Above was set forth the common instruction of the disciples in the doctrine of those things which are required for the salvation of all. But in this part there follows the special instruction in the mystical doctrine of the Scriptures. And since this doctrine is proposed to the crowds in parables, and opened to the disciples, and confirmed by miracles, therefore this part has three sections: in the first of which is set forth parabolic instruction in hidden mysteries; in the second, apostolic formation in open discourses, at the place: Now the parable is this: and in the third, its authoritative confirmation in manifest miracles, at the place: And it came to pass on one of the days etc.
First is set forth the parabolic instruction in hidden mysteries through three points.
Concerning the parabolic doctrine, which is proposed to every class of people in common for hearing and to the Apostles for understanding, three things are introduced. The first is the gathering of the multitude for hearing; the second is the proposal of the similitude for leading by the hand, and this at the place: A sower went out to sow etc.; the third is the arousing of solicitude for understanding, which is described at the place: Saying these things, he cried out etc.
As to the first point, it should be noted that there was a concourse of the multitude to the doctrine of Christ for a fourfold reason, as can be gathered from the text: for some accompanied Christ by reason of the office undertaken, as the Apostles; some, by reason of a benefit received, as the sick who had been healed; some, by reason of service to be rendered, as the honorable women; and some, by reason of hearing the divine word, as the multitude of the crowd. And these four classes the Evangelist enumerates as having come together for the doctrine of Christ.
2. (Vers. 1.). First, therefore, with regard to the Apostles accompanying Christ by reason of the office undertaken, it is prefaced: And it came to pass afterwards, and he was journeying through cities and towns, that is, through places where the lesser and the greater dwell, according to what is said in Wisdom 6: "He made the small and the great, and he has equal care of all," especially with regard to those things which pertain to salvation; on account of which it says: Preaching and evangelizing the kingdom of God, according to that passage of Isaiah 52: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who announces and preaches peace and announces salvation, who preaches good things." — And because the word is set forth in vain unless a hearer is present, therefore it is added: And the twelve with him, who, namely, were following him by reason of the office undertaken, to which he had chosen them: above in chapter six: "He chose twelve, whom he also named Apostles." Hence the Apostles themselves went about with him as he evangelized, so that they might collaborate with him in the Gospel, according to that to which the Apostle exhorts in Second Timothy 1: "But be a fellow laborer for the Gospel according to the power of God, who has delivered us and called us with his holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose"; because, in John 15, "you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and your fruit should remain."
3. (Vers. 2.). Second, with regard to the healed accompanying him by reason of the benefit received, it is added: And certain women, supply: were journeying with him, and this by reason of the benefit received; whence he adds: Who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Therefore they accompanied him as their savior and physician, according to the counsel of the Wise Man, Sirach 38: "Give place to the physician, and let him not depart from you, for his works are necessary"; whence above in chapter six: "And those who were troubled by unclean spirits were healed. And all the crowd sought to touch him, because power went forth from him and healed all."
- And note that although he healed both sexes, he nevertheless specifies more about the female sex, either because it is the weaker sex, according to that passage in First Peter 3: "Bestowing honor on the weaker feminine vessel"; or because she is more merciful than a man with respect to another's infirmity, according to that passage in Proverbs, the last chapter, concerning the good woman: "She opened her hand to the needy and stretched out her palms to the poor"; or because among the persons healed they were the more notable. - And therefore he names some of them individually, when he adds: Mary, who is called Magdalene, from Magdala, a town two miles from Tiberias; and she was notable by reason of the enormity of her sin; whence he also adds: From whom seven demons had gone out, that is, all vices. Gregory: "Mary had seven demons, because she was full of all vices." These demons went out when her sins were forgiven, according to what is said below in chapter eleven: "When the unclean spirit goes out from a man, it wanders through waterless places"; and they were forgiven her, above in chapter seven. For this is that sinful woman about whom he spoke above, as Bede says in the Gloss.
4. (Verse 3). There was also one notable by reason of the nobility of her husband; whence he adds: And Joanna, the wife of Chuza, the steward of Herod, who was a noble person. There was also one notable in herself, of whom it is added without a surname: And Susanna. He names these three, moreover, in order to commend chastity according to a threefold distinction in the company of Christ, namely widowed, conjugal, and virginal. Whence the first is said to have previously been a sinner, the second married, and of the third both are left unmentioned. Or, so that in this the healing from a threefold sickness may be shown, namely of the soul, of the flesh, and of both together; therefore he names three persons who were healed, namely Mary, Joanna, and Susanna.
5. Third, with respect to those accompanying for the purpose of rendering service or ministry, it is added: And many others, who ministered to him from their resources, just as that Shunammite woman did for Elisha, in Fourth Kings chapter four, to whom it is said: "Behold, you have ministered to us diligently in all things." So also the mother-in-law of Simon, of whom it is said in Matthew chapter eight that after she was healed, "she arose and ministered to them." - For this had anciently been the customary office of women, as Bede says in the Gloss: "It was anciently the custom of the Jews, nor was it reckoned a fault, for women to feed and clothe teachers from their own substance. But because this could cause scandal among the Gentiles, Paul recalls that he abstained from it, in First Corinthians chapter nine: Do we not have the right to take about with us a woman who is a sister, as the other Apostles do? And therefore that practice ought not now to be drawn as a precedent, on account of avoiding scandal and also on account of danger." -
In this, however, we are instructed that it is lawful for a preacher to receive a stipend for his labor: 1 Corinthians 9: "If we have sown spiritual things for you, it is no great thing if we reap your carnal things"; and Matthew 10: "The worker is worthy of his food"; and below in chapter 10: "For the worker is worthy of his wages." And again in this we are instructed that to preach and to labor is the act of men and of the perfect, but to minister is the act of the imperfect, such as women; whence Acts 6: "It is not fitting that we should leave the word of God and serve tables."
6. (Verse 4). Fourth, with respect to those assembling for the purpose of hearing the divine word, it is added: When a very great crowd was gathering, namely to hear the teaching, according to that passage in John 18: "I have always taught in the synagogues, where all the Jews assemble." And thus is fulfilled that passage of Isaiah 2: "All nations shall flow to him, and many peoples shall go." Whence they were gathering in great number and coming with eagerness; whence he also adds: And from the cities they were hastening to him, namely to hear him.
He spoke by a similitude, namely a parabolic one concerning familiar things to which they were accustomed; and therefore they were hastening with desire to hear him. Whence Chrysostom says: "Mingling parables, he attracted hearers with greater gentleness, drawing from the threshing floor, the vineyard, and the field." Whence all are invited to this parabolic teaching, according to that passage of the Psalm: "Hear these things, all nations; give ear, all you who inhabit the world"; and afterward it is added: "I will incline my ear to a parable; I will open my proposition on the psaltery"; and again elsewhere: "I will open my mouth in parables; I will speak propositions from the beginning." And thus the stirring up of the multitude was accomplished.
7. (Verse 5). The sower went out etc. After the gathering of the multitude, there is added here secondly the setting forth of the similitude. And because teaching ought to be according to the need of the hearers, therefore the proposed similitude has four distinct parts, corresponding to four classes of hearers. For some hear but do not retain, being forgetful; some hear and retain but do not act, being slothful; some hear, retain, and act, but do not bring it to completion, being preoccupied; but some hear, retain, act, and bring it to completion, and these are the zealous and virtuous.
These four kinds of men are like four types of soil, of which the first receives the seed but does not retain it; and with respect to that one it is said: The sower went out to sow his seed. He went out, namely from the house to the field, that is, from rest to labor: the Psalm says: "Man shall go forth to his work and to his labor until the evening." And this labor is either in the work of justice or of mercy, which is rightly signified by sowing, according to that passage of Ecclesiastes 11: "In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening let not your hand cease"; and Isaiah 32: "Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, sending forth the foot of the ox and the ass."
Or it is also in the word of doctrine: whence concerning Paul preaching it is said in Acts seventeen: "What does this sower of words wish to say?" And by this seed the Church was multiplied, according to that passage of First Peter one: "Born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of the living God who abides forever." And he understands here concerning this sowing; but this, although in itself it is always good and fruitful, nevertheless varies according to the difference of the soil that receives it.
8. For some soil receives but does not retain, and therefore with regard to that he adds: And while he sows, some, that is, another part of the seed, fell by the wayside, through which, namely, there is passing to and fro, and therefore there is in it no state of retention, but a passing of forgetfulness on account of the tumult of the crowd: which is signified below in chapter eighteen, where it is said that "the blind man sat by the wayside, begging"; and when he cried out to the Lord, the crowds "rebuked him, that he should be silent."
Whence this is not a place of fruitfulness, because there is no retention of seed in it. Therefore he adds: And it was trodden underfoot, namely by the feet of men, and the birds of the air devoured it: in which are understood the attacks of demons, according to that passage of Deuteronomy thirty-two: "They shall be consumed with hunger, and birds shall devour them with most bitter bite"; Matthew seven: "Do not give what is holy to dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet."
From which we gather that two things expel the divine seed from the heart of man, namely the evil suggestions of men and the temptations of demons. And therefore the Apostle says in Hebrews, the last chapter: "Do not be led away by various and strange doctrines. For it is best that the heart be established by grace, not by foods, which have not profited those who walked in them." And therefore it is necessary that our heart be removed far from such wanderings, "that we be not as little children, tossed about and carried about by every wind of doctrine"; Jeremiah two: "What do you want for yourself on the way of Egypt, to drink muddy water? And what do you want for yourself on the way of the Assyrians, to drink the water of the river?"
9. (Verse 6). The second difference of soil, however, is that which receives and in a certain way retains, but does not nourish: and with regard to this he adds: And some fell upon the rock, that is, upon a hard heart, of which Zechariah seven says: "They made their heart as adamant"; and Job forty-one: "His heart shall be hardened as a stone."
This soil, although it can retain the seed, nevertheless cannot nourish it, since moisture is lacking; and therefore he adds: And having sprung up, it withered away, because it had no moisture, namely, quickening and nourishing moisture: and in such soil it springs up at once and dies at once, because it has little nourishment, like the grass upon the housetops: concerning which it is said in the Psalm: "Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withered before it was plucked up"; and Isaiah 18: "Before the harvest it wholly blossomed, and its immature ripeness shall sprout forth." And this is on account of the lack of the moisture of grace, according to what is said in Isaiah 15: "The grass has withered, the shoot has failed, all greenness has perished"; and this happens on account of the multitude of rocks, which are not suited for receiving the seed of the divine word: on account of which it is said in Amos 6: "Can horses run upon rocks?" that is, preachers, and this on account of the lack of waters: Job 12: "If he withholds the waters, all things shall be dried up." On the contrary, Jeremiah 17: "It shall be as a tree that is transplanted by the waters, and it shall not fear when the heat comes. And its leaf shall be green, and in the time of drought it shall not be anxious."
10. (Verse 7). The third kind of soil is that which, although it in some way retains and nourishes, nevertheless does not bring to completion nor bear fruit: with regard to which he adds: And other fell among thorns, that is, among worldly cares, in which many willingly dwell: Job 30: "They counted it a delight to be under brambles." With these thorns the earth is filled, according to that passage in Isaiah 7: "Briers and thorns upon all the land." And this deservedly, on account of the first curse, according to that passage in Genesis 3: "Cursed is the earth in your work. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you."
And in this soil the seed, although it springs up, is nevertheless not brought to completion: whence he adds: And the thorns springing up together, namely with the seed, choked it, because carnal thoughts advance and grow more in hearts than spiritual ones and prevail over them: Isaiah 32: "Upon the ground of my people briers and thorns shall come up." And this is because they do not care for spiritual things: Proverbs 24: "I passed by the field of a slothful man and by the vineyard of a foolish man: and behold, thorns had covered its surface." Whence the thorns occupy everything, so that fruit cannot grow among them. And therefore Jeremiah 4: "Break up new ground for yourselves and do not sow upon thorns"; because, as it is said in Hebrews 6, "the earth that brings forth thorns and thistles is reprobate and near unto a curse, whose end is unto burning."
11. (Vers. 8.). The fourth difference of the soil is that which receives and retains, nurtures, and brings forth fruit; with regard to which he adds: And another fell on good soil, that is, a docile and benign mind; concerning which, Exodus 3: "I will lead the children of Israel into a good and spacious land." This is the good soil which has the four aforementioned conditions, according to Hebrews 6: "The earth that drinks in the rain that often comes upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those by whom it is cultivated receives blessing from God," according to that passage of the Psalm: "You have blessed, O Lord, your land." — This blessing is in the completion of the fruit; and therefore it is added: And having sprung up, it produced fruit a hundredfold, that is, perfect fruit. And thus is fulfilled that passage of the Psalm: "The Lord will give his goodness, and our land will yield its fruit," according to what is said in Genesis 26: "Isaac sowed and found in that same year a hundredfold." In Matthew 13 this is expressed more explicitly according to three degrees: "And it produced fruit a hundredfold, another sixtyfold, another thirtyfold"; and this according to three degrees of continence, or three degrees of justice; but blessed Luke touches upon the highest degree, including the others within it.