Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First, Christ entering the house of Zacchaeus brings him salvation. Second, verse 12, He gives the parable of a nobleman who distributed his minas among his servants and demanded the profit from them. Third, verse 29, on Palm Sunday He enters Jerusalem with triumph and the acclamation Hosanna, as the Messiah King, and foreseeing its destruction through Titus, weeps over it.
Vulgate Text: Luke 19:1-48
1. And He entered and was passing through Jericho. 2. And behold, a man named Zacchaeus, and he was the chief of the tax collectors, and he was rich; 3. and he sought to see Jesus, who He was, and could not because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. 4. And running ahead, he climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was about to pass that way. 5. And when He came to the place, Jesus looking up saw him and said to him: Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house. 6. And he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. 7. And when they all saw it, they murmured, saying that He had gone to lodge with a sinful man. 8. But Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. 9. Jesus said to him: Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. 11. As they heard these things, He proceeded to tell a parable, because He was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. 12. He said therefore: A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. 13. And calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas and said to them: Trade with these until I come. 14. But his citizens hated him and sent an embassy after him, saying: We do not want this man to reign over us. 15. And it came to pass that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he commanded the servants to be called to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much each one had gained by trading. 16. The first came, saying: Lord, your mina has earned ten minas. 17. And he said to him: Well done, good servant; because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities. 18. And the second came, saying: Lord, your mina has made five minas. 19. And he said to him: And you, be over five cities. 20. And another came, saying: Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief. 21. For I feared you, because you are a severe man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow. 22. He said to him: Out of your own mouth I will judge you, wicked servant. You knew that I am a severe man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow; 23. then why did you not put my money in the bank, so that on my return I might have collected it with interest? 24. And he said to those standing by: Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten minas. 25. And they said to him: Lord, he already has ten minas. 26. But I tell you, that to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 27. But as for those enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me. 28. And having said these things, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29. And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called Olivet, He sent two of His disciples, 30. saying: Go into the village opposite; on entering it you will find a colt of a donkey tied, on which no man has ever sat; untie it and bring it. 31. And if anyone asks you: Why are you untying it? you shall say to him: Because the Lord has need of its service. 32. And those who were sent went and found it, just as He had told them, the colt standing there. 33. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them: Why are you untying the colt? 34. And they said: Because the Lord has need of it. 35. And they brought it to Jesus. And throwing their garments on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36. And as He went, they spread their garments on the road. 37. And when He was now approaching the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, 38. saying: Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven and glory in the highest. 39. And some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Him: Teacher, rebuke Your disciples. 40. And He answered them: I tell you, if these keep silent, the stones will cry out. 41. And when He drew near, seeing the city, He wept over it, saying: 42. If you had known, even you, at least in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will surround you with a rampart, and encompass you, and press you in on every side, 44. and dash you to the ground, and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation. 45. And entering the temple, He began to cast out those who were selling in it and those who were buying, 46. saying to them: It is written: My house is a house of prayer. But you have made it a den of thieves. 47. And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him; 48. but they could not find what they might do, for all the people hung on His words, listening to Him.
Verse 1: He Entered and Was Passing Through Jericho
1. AND HE ENTERED AND WAS PASSING THROUGH JERICHO. — He alludes to and continues the narrative of Jesus's journey; for he said in the preceding chapter, verse 35: "Now it came to pass, as He drew near to Jericho," etc. For Christ near Jericho illuminated the blind man, and immediately in Jericho itself converted Zacchaeus: for no place, no journey, no moment of time was idle for Christ; but all were marked by heroic virtues, beneficences, and miracles, so that He might teach us to do the same.
Verse 2: A Man Named Zacchaeus
2. AND BEHOLD, A MAN NAMED ZACCHAEUS. — This name was as it were an omen of his future justification and purification. For Zacchaeus in Hebrew means the same as pure, clear, just.
CHIEF OF THE TAX COLLECTORS — who had under him many tax collectors, that is, collectors of the taxes which the Romans and Tiberius Caesar had imposed on the Jews against their will. Hence the tax collectors were hated and infamous among the Jews, and were called parisim (פרישים), that is, robbers. In Hebrew this chief was called Gabba (גבא, whence the name Gabbella) and the tax collectors were called Gabbaim, as Angelo Caninio attests in his Hebrew Names of the New Testament.
AND HE WAS RICH. — For the chiefs of the tax collectors are usually chosen only from among the wealthy, so that they can advance large sums of money to the prince when he is in need, and make up the shortfalls of the tax collectors under them in many matters. Luke adds this to better illustrate the grace of Christ and the virtue of Zacchaeus; namely that he abandoned the abundant wealth he possessed at the call and love of Christ, and distributed it to the poor.
Verse 3: He Sought to See Jesus, Who He Was
3. AND HE SOUGHT TO SEE (the Arabic: to understand) JESUS, WHO HE WAS. — That is to say, he labored and strove to know Jesus's person by face, whom he had heard was so famous by the report of His virtues and miracles. For we desire to see men who are famous by report, and to know them by face. But Zacchaeus, besides his natural desire, was also driven by a supernatural one, from the impulse of the Holy Spirit, desiring namely to see Jesus, so that he might be absolved from his sins by Him, justified, and sanctified. "He desires," says St. Chrysostom, Homily On Zacchaeus, "to know by sight the one he had perceived by sense; to see with his face the one he had seen with his mind; to contemplate as present the one he had never seen working; so that the love of Christ conceived in Zacchaeus's heart might also be nourished by the sight of his eyes."
AND HE COULD NOT BECAUSE OF THE CROWD, FOR HE WAS SMALL IN STATURE — but lofty in spirit. For small men, as Aristotle attests in his Physiognomics, tend to be great-souled, because the virtue of the soul, compressed in a small body, is concentrated and sharpened, whereas in a large body it is dispersed. Whence the saying:
Greater virtue reigned in a small body.
Whence many heroes and saints were small in stature, as I showed at Zechariah 4:10 and Ecclesiasticus 11:3, on those words: "The bee is small among flying creatures; yet her fruit has the beginning of sweetness." For in the smallest things the supreme majesty, power, and greatness of God shines forth most brightly.
BECAUSE OF THE CROWD. — The crowd, says St. Cyril, is the confusion of an ignorant multitude, which one must rise above if one wishes to behold Christ.
Verse 4: He Climbed Up Into a Sycamore Tree
Verse 4. AND RUNNING AHEAD HE CLIMBED UP INTO A SYCAMORE TREE, TO SEE HIM, FOR HE WAS ABOUT TO PASS THAT WAY. — You ask: what kind of tree is the sycamore, or, as some Greeks invert it, morosycus? In Hebrew it is called siema, and from that the Septuagint and Theodotion call it sycaminus at Amos 7:14. The answer is: it is common in Judea, as is clear from 3 Kings 10:27 and Amos 7, and it is the tree which Pliny, Book 13, chapter 7, calls the Egyptian fig; and which Aquila and Symmachus at Amos chapter 7, and Dioscorides in his book On Medicinal Materials, chapter 144, call in Greek sycomorus, that is, a foolish or tasteless fig; but Theophrastus, Book 4 On Plants, chapter 2, and others, call it sycomorus, as if "fig-mulberry"; because its fruit is similar to figs, but its leaves similar to the mulberry. Whence Luke here in Greek calls it συκομωρέαν: and μωρέα properly is the mulberry tree.
Hence it is clear, first, that the sycamore is a different tree from the wild fig (this is evident from Dioscorides, at the passage already cited); it is nevertheless similar to it. Whence Theophylact and Euthymius here read wild fig instead of sycamore. It is clear, second, that sycamore is written in Greek with either omicron or omega in the penultimate syllable, and therefore it has a common vowel, that is, both short and long; both because μῶρος, meaning foolish, is written with ω, and because the mulberry tree in Greek is written with both ω and ο, as is evident from the Lexicon of Hesychius and others, and from Luke here. Whence the Poet:
And cornel-berries and mulberries clinging in the rough brambles,
where the o in mora is treated as a long ω. And this is clear from the etymology. For the tree is called morus, not from the Latin mora (delay), as some would have it (for delay cannot be the etymology of the Greek μωρία), but from the Greek μῶρος, meaning foolish, by antiphrasis, as if "least foolish"; just as Thomas More, Chancellor of England, was the wisest of the English. For the mulberry is the most prudent of trees, as Pliny says, Book 16, chapter 25, because it does not allow itself to be harmed by cold, nor does it put forth buds until the cold is entirely past; but when it does begin, its budding bursts forth so much that it completes it in a single night, even with a rustling sound — although others think it is called morus because it produces black fruit; for μαῦρον means black, whence the Moors are called black. Hence also Horace, Book 2 of the Satires, Satire 4:
He will pass healthy
summers, who finishes his meals
with black mulberries.
Mystically: The sycamore is the cross of Christ and His doctrine, which to the Gentiles and worldly men seemed foolish and mere folly, but to Zacchaeus and the faithful appeared as the wisdom and power of God (1 Corinthians 2). Hence also the forbidden tree, from which Adam eating destroyed himself and his posterity, is thought by many to have been a fig, as I said at Genesis 2:9. It was indeed a fig, and a foolish one, because under a little honey and sweetness, it contained the gall and bitterness of sin, death, and hell, which therefore Christ had to expiate with the gall and bitterness of His cross and passion. Hence μῶρος in Greek signifies not only the mulberry tree, but also torment, death, and slaughter.
Tropologically: The sycamore teaches us to embrace those things which are foolish to the world, so that we may be wise before God. Hear St. Gregory, Book 27 of the Morals, at the end: "Let us abandon harmful wisdom, so that we may learn praiseworthy foolishness, etc. The small Zacchaeus climbed the sycamore and saw the Lord, because those who humbly choose the foolishness of the world are the ones who subtly contemplate the wisdom of God. For the crowd hinders our smallness from seeing the Lord, because the tumult of worldly cares presses upon the weakness of the human mind, lest it fix its gaze on the light of truth. But we wisely climb the sycamore if we providently hold in our mind that foolishness which is perceived from God." Then he explains it in detail: "For what in this world is more foolish than not to seek what is lost, to let go of possessions to those who seize them, to return no injury for injuries received, indeed to show patience even when more are added? For the Lord commands us, as it were, to climb the sycamore when He says: From him who takes away your goods, do not demand them back. And again: If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the other also. The Lord is seen passing through the sycamore, because through this wise foolishness — though not yet solidly as He is — nevertheless through the light of contemplation, the wisdom of God is seen, as it were, in passing."
But Theophylact says this: Above the sycamore, that is above the sweetness of pleasure, which is signified by the fig, we ascend, he says, through repentance; but we descend through humility.
Verse 5: Today I Must Stay at Your House
5. AND WHEN HE CAME TO THE PLACE (of the sycamore), JESUS LOOKING UP SAW HIM AND SAID TO HIM: ZACCHAEUS, MAKE HASTE AND COME DOWN, FOR TODAY I MUST STAY AT YOUR HOUSE. — Christ compensates the ardor of Zacchaeus's desire to see Him with His full display and presence. For He had inspired that ardor in Zacchaeus so that He might fulfill it by entering his house; indeed Christ was passing that way precisely to kindle this ardor, and on account of it to lodge with Zacchaeus, and to bless and save his whole household. For He had come as the Savior of the world precisely for this purpose: to sanctify sinners. "For, although Jesus had not heard the voice of one inviting Him," says St. Ambrose, "He had nevertheless seen his desire."
Therefore, to Zacchaeus seeking to see Christ, Christ offered Himself not only to be seen, but also to be enjoyed, and chose to stay at his house above all others.
Morally: learn here to desire Christ, and the interior conversation and grace of Christ: for soon Christ will offer Himself to you and will fulfill your desire; and the greater the desire, the greater will be His conversation with you; for, as Ecclesiasticus says, chapter 15, Wisdom (Christ) will come to meet the one who fears and desires God, "as an honored mother, will feed him with the bread of life and understanding, and will give him the water of saving wisdom to drink." And chapter 24: "Come to me, all you who desire me, and be filled with my fruits; for my spirit is sweeter than honey." And Christ Himself says: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water shall flow from his belly" (John chapter 7).
"He saw him therefore" with the eyes and lights of His body, and even more of His mind, by which He illuminated the soul of Zacchaeus, so that he might recognize Him to be the Savior, who remits sins to the penitent and confers upon them salvation, that is, justice, grace, and glory. The gaze of Jesus, therefore, is not barren and idle, but efficacious and productive; for by His gaze alone He draws men to love of Himself (much more than the lynx bird), converts them, changes them, and saves them. Hence, as St. Cyril says, Jesus saw the soul of Zacchaeus, most eagerly striving to live a holy life.
FOR TODAY I MUST (by My decree, generosity, and charity, with which I wish to attend to you and your household, and desire to save you) STAY AT YOUR HOUSE. — Zacchaeus, says Titus, desired only a vision of Jesus, but He who knows how to do more than we ask gave him beyond what he expected; for Christ by His munificence surpasses the prayers and wishes of His suppliants. "Christ promises," says Chrysostom, Homily On Zacchaeus, "to come to the house of the one whose desiring soul He had already possessed."
Verse 6: He Made Haste and Came Down
6. AND HE MADE HASTE AND CAME DOWN (behold the prompt obedience of Zacchaeus, which merited salvation), AND RECEIVED HIM JOYFULLY. — Because he received the Savior as his guest, and from Him received salvation; for where the Savior lodges, there is also salvation. "Rejoicing," says Euthymius, "not only because he had seen Him, as he had desired, but also because he had been called by Him, and because he had received Him; which he had never hoped for."
Verse 7: He Has Gone to Lodge With a Sinful Man
7. AND WHEN THEY ALL SAW IT (the Pharisees and the followers of the Jews, who hated the tax collectors as wicked men), THEY MURMURED, SAYING THAT HE HAD GONE TO LODGE WITH A SINFUL MAN. — For the tax collectors were considered by the Jews to be impious, unjust, wicked, and often they were such in reality. Some interpret "sinner" as a Gentile and idolater. For Tertullian, Cyprian, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Bede, and from them Maldonatus, considered Zacchaeus to have been such.
Whence Zacchaeus also mentions only the restitution of unjustly exacted goods, which is a matter of natural law, and says nothing about the precepts of the Mosaic Law. Hear St. Chrysostom, Sermon On Zacchaeus: "Zacchaeus was a son of Abraham by faith, not by race; by merit, not by offspring; by devotion, not by lineage." But the contrary is equally probable, and perhaps more probable, namely that Zacchaeus was a Jew, not a Gentile: first, because in verse 9 he is called "a son of Abraham"; second, because Christ associated only with Jews, for He had been sent to the lost sheep of Israel, whence Paul in Romans 15:8 calls Him "a minister of the circumcision," that is, of the circumcised, namely the Jews; third, because Zacchaeus is a Hebrew name; fourth, because the Pharisees would not have kept silent about this, but would have thrown it in Christ's face: How do you claim to be the Messiah, you who associate with impious Gentiles, when the Messiah was promised to the Jews alone? So Jansenius and others.
Verse 8: The Half of My Goods I Give to the Poor
8. BUT ZACCHAEUS STOOD AND SAID TO THE LORD: BEHOLD, LORD, THE HALF OF MY GOODS I GIVE TO THE POOR; AND IF I HAVE DEFRAUDED ANYONE OF ANYTHING, I RESTORE IT FOURFOLD. — There is no doubt that Christ, according to His custom, as soon as He entered the house of Zacchaeus, began to teach and exhort both Zacchaeus and his household to faith and repentance, and if they repented of their sins, to promise them grace, justice, and salvation; moreover, to exhort them to contempt of riches and the world, that by following Him they might embrace poverty and evangelical perfection, and distribute their goods to the poor, so as to receive treasure in heaven and a hundredfold in this life. Luke passes over these things in his love of brevity, and from what follows, and from what he has narrated many times — and especially shortly before, in chapter 18, verse 22 — about Christ's customary manner of teaching and preaching, he leaves them to be understood. For by these words of Christ, through the interior grace of Christ, Zacchaeus was completely converted to faith, repentance, poverty, and contempt of riches and the world, and said to Christ:
BEHOLD, LORD, THE HALF OF MY GOODS I GIVE TO THE POOR. — Therefore he reserves the other half not for himself, but so that he might restore to others what was unjustly taken. For he adds: "And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold." "I give, I restore" — that is, to give, to restore according to Your teaching and exhortation — from now on I firmly resolve, determine, and pledge. Whence on account of this efficacious resolution of the penitent Zacchaeus, Christ added as a reward: "Today salvation has come to this house." So St. Ambrose, Bede, Euthymius here; Tertullian, Book 4 Against Marcion; Fulgentius, Epistle to Galla. It is a Hebraism similar to that of Pharaoh, Exodus 5:10: "I will not give you straw," that is, I decree and command that straw shall no longer be given to you. And Matthew 26:18: "At your house I keep (that is, I will and intend to keep) the Passover." St. Cyprian, however, in his Treatise On Works and Almsgiving, explains "I give" and "I restore" as past tense, namely as "I have given, I have restored," as if Zacchaeus had already been converted before this, from other preaching of Christ that he had heard.
AND IF I HAVE DEFRAUDED ANYONE OF ANYTHING. — In Greek ἐσυκοφάντησα, that is, I extorted by false accusation, fraud, calumny, or a similar evil practice. Zacchaeus confesses the fault of fraud, but only a moderate one: for since he restores fourfold for the simple amount defrauded from the other half of his goods, it follows that he had acquired only an eighth part of his goods by fraud — so that if he had eight thousand gold pieces, only one thousand had been gotten by fraud; the remaining seven thousand had therefore been acquired by him either by inheritance or by honest means.
See here the sudden and wonderful conversion of Zacchaeus, through the powerful grace of Christ, by which he immediately not only repented, but also resolved to renounce all the goods to which he had previously been attached; for he assigned half to the poor, and half to restitution. Therefore he suddenly embraced the counsel of evangelical poverty, so that having left everything, he might follow the poor Christ as a poor man, and provide himself sustenance either by begging or by the labor of his hands. Whence St. Chrysostom, Homily On Zacchaeus: "Hear a wonderful thing," he says: "he has not yet learned, and already he obeys: for the Savior by the rays of justice put to flight the darkness of wickedness." And Bede: "Behold," he says, "the camel has set down its burden and passes through the eye of a needle, that is, having abandoned the love of riches, he receives the blessing of the Lord's reception. For this is that wise foolishness which the publican, as if gathering the fruit of life from the sycamore, had learned: to restore what was seized, to abandon what is one's own, to despise visible things." And Theophylact: "You see," he says, "his eagerness: he began to sow not sparingly, nor did he give a few things, but his whole life." Whence St. Bernard, Sermon 1 for the Feast of All Saints, addressing his religious: "Zacchaeus," he says, "whose praise is in the Gospel, gave half his goods to the poor; but I see many Zacchaeuses here, who have kept nothing for themselves out of all they had. Who will write for me this Gospel about these Zacchaeuses? Indeed, about these Peters? Who will speak with confidence: Lord, behold, we have left everything and followed You? But it is already written in the Gospel, eternal, written and sealed in the book of life. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
I RESTORE — that is, I resolve and firmly purpose to restore, and there is no doubt that he immediately carried out this efficacious resolution in deed. "For the other is not enough," says St. Ambrose, "nor does generosity have grace if the injury persists; because not spoils but gifts are sought." For, as St. Augustine says, Epistle 54, "Sin is not forgiven unless what was taken is restored."
FOURFOLD. — Not as if I were bound by natural or Mosaic law to restore fourfold, since both laws bind me only to restore the simple amount, but out of fervent charity and repentance I resolve to perform this heroic, great, and superabundant act of restitution and justice; because this fourfold restitution conforms to the law which, at Exodus 22:1, commands that a thief of a sheep be condemned by the judge to restore four sheep. Zacchaeus says this not out of boasting and ostentation, but partly from the fervor instilled in him by Christ and the Holy Spirit; partly to refute the calumny of the Scribes who objected to Christ that He had turned aside to a sinner: for he shows that he is now no longer a sinner, but a penitent, a just man, indeed more just than the just and holy.
Tropologically: St. Chrysostom, Homily 78 on Matthew, teaches that the house of the soul must be adorned with almsgiving and justice, as Zacchaeus adorned his, if we wish to receive Christ as a guest therein.
Verse 9: Today Salvation Has Come to This House
9. JESUS SAID TO HIM — responding to his words; yet in such a way that He directed His face and voice not so much to him as to the disciples and the surrounding crowd. A similar change of person occurs at Romans 10:2; Psalm 33 and elsewhere.
BECAUSE TODAY SALVATION HAS COME TO THIS HOUSE. — "The perdition that dwelt in it," says Euthymius, "having been cast out, on account of avarice and injustice"; the Arabic: today salvation has come to the inhabitants of this house, that is to say: Because Zacchaeus has shown such fervor and spirit of repentance, amendment, almsgiving, and restitution — instilled in him by Me teaching externally and internally moving his mind — hence he obtains salvation, that is, eminent grace and justice; so that, if he perseveres in it, he may attain eternal salvation and glory, which from now, today, I assign and promise to him.
TO THIS HOUSE. — Hence it is clear that, when Zacchaeus believed and was converted to Christ, all his household, by the example and imitation of their master, believed in Christ, repented, and were justified and sanctified.
Furthermore, Zacchaeus, converted by Christ, after His death and ascension, was a follower of St. Peter and was ordained by him as Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine.
Furthermore, the Church fittingly reads this Gospel of Zacchaeus at the dedication of churches. First, because Christ says in it: "Today salvation has come to this house," which rightly applies to churches when they are dedicated; for dedication is, as it were, the salvation of the church, because through it the church is dedicated to the salvation of the many who in it, through preaching, prayer, contrition, confession, and absolution, are to be sanctified.
Second, Christ says: "Today I must stay at your house." For in a similar way Christ remains in a dedicated church, through the venerable sacrifice and Sacrament of the Eucharist. For through dedication, the church becomes the house of God and the dwelling-place of Christ. Third, because the material church is a type of the spiritual church, namely of the faithful soul, in which Christ desires to dwell even more, just as here He desired to stay more in the soul than in the house of Zacchaeus, according to that saying: "Your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you," 1 Corinthians 6:19. And then: "Glorify and bear God in your body."
Verse 10: To Seek and to Save What Was Lost
10. FOR THE SON OF MAN CAME TO SEEK AND TO SAVE WHAT WAS LOST. — That is to say: It is not surprising that Christ approached, converted, and saved Zacchaeus, the tax collectors, and sinners, because for this He was sent by the Father and for this He Himself had come into the world. Just as the skill and virtue of an excellent physician is shown if he cures chronic, incurable, and desperate diseases, so the supreme virtue of Christ the chief physician shone forth in healing the diseases of the soul, which are incurable by nature, such as avarice in tax collectors. Hence He led Zacchaeus the tax collector not only to contempt of avarice, but also to contempt of all wealth, and to embracing Evangelical poverty. Hence He also called Matthew the tax collector and made him an Apostle. Similar was the conversion and transformation of Peter the tax collector, or toll-gatherer, as Leontius narrates in the Life of St. John the Almsgiver. For this Peter was so avaricious that the poor competed among themselves as to who could wrest an alms from him. One presented himself, who by showing Peter his destitution, wrested a loaf of bread from him. For Peter, indignant that the man had been brought before him, threw the bread at his head. The following night, Peter saw in a vision that he was seized by black Ethiopians and brought before the tribunal of Christ, and that his merits and demerits were weighed in a balance. And when the demerits of the left pan outweighed the merits, he saw in the right pan the bread that he had thrown at the poor man, placed there and nearly equal in weight to the left pan, and heard it said to him: "Go, work, and add more to this bread and to this pan." Immediately waking up and recognizing the power of almsgiving, he distributed all his possessions to the poor, and finally had himself sold by his servant in Jerusalem for thirty coins, and the price given to the poor, so that, like Christ, he might humble himself to the utmost and through charity spend everything on the poor. Therefore Christ, appearing to him once and again, testified that He had received all this money. Finally, when this great man was recognized by pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem while serving his master and the guests at a banquet according to custom, he immediately fled, and he restored the use of ears and tongue to a deaf and mute doorkeeper, when he asked and obtained from him that the door be opened for his escape.
BECAUSE HE TOO IS A SON OF ABRAHAM. — Because, that is, he imitated the faith, justice, and holiness of Abraham; for by dividing his goods, says Bede, he left them to the poor, as Abraham left his land and his father's house. He says "he too," signifying that not only the righteous, but also those who repent from injustice, belong to the children of the promise. So also Tertullian, Book 4 Against Marcion; Cyprian and the others cited above. Hear St. Chrysostom, Homily On Zacchaeus, which is the last of volume II: "Zacchaeus offered everything he had, who reserved a part of his patrimony for repaying his frauds; but Abraham offered his son to the Lord, Zacchaeus offered his substance. The former gave his heir, the latter his inheritance; the former presented for sacrifice the only pledge he had, the latter sacrificed the substance of his patrimony to the Lord. Hence Zacchaeus is rightly called a son of Abraham, since he follows the pattern of his father's glory."
Again, Zacchaeus was "a son of Abraham" because he was a Jew and descended from Abraham, as if Christ were responding to the murmuring Pharisees, who complained that He had turned aside to Zacchaeus the tax collector, saying: There is no reason for you to murmur, because Zacchaeus is an Israelite, and in Abraham the patriarch and his father he has the nearest right to the Messiah and to salvation. Therefore he ought not to have been neglected by Me the Messiah because he was a tax collector, but because he was penitent, he should be received and blessed.
Allegorically and tropologically, Bede applies each part of this story to any faithful and holy person as follows: Zacchaeus, that is, "pure" and "justified," signifies the believing people from among the Gentiles, who were weighed down and diminished by preoccupation with temporal things; he wished to see Christ entering Jericho, that is, to share in the faith that Christ brought to the world; the crowd is the habit of vices, which he overcame by leaving earthly things behind and ascending the tree of the cross. The sycamore is a tall tree, whence it is also called "lofty," and is called a "foolish fig"; for the cross is indeed mocked by unbelievers as foolish, but it nourishes believers like a fig tree. The small man climbed up, as any humble person cries out: "Far be it from me to glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." The Lord came there, that is, through preachers to the people of the nations; "He saw," that is, He chose by grace; He remains in the house of little Zacchaeus, that is, He rests in the heart of humble nations; this one descended from the sycamore: for even if we knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him no longer; and even if He died from weakness, yet He lives by the power of God.
Verse 11: They Thought the Kingdom of God Would Immediately Be Made Manifest
11. AS THEY WERE HEARING THESE THINGS, HE ADDED AND SPOKE A PARABLE, BECAUSE HE WAS NEAR JERUSALEM; AND BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD WOULD IMMEDIATELY BE MADE MANIFEST. — For Christ had often mentioned His kingdom and had promised it to His followers; hence the Apostles hoped it would come now, because He was heading to Jerusalem, which was the capital of Judea and had been the royal city of David, Solomon, and the other kings. They therefore thought that Christ would in like manner begin His kingdom in Jerusalem, and that they, as Christ's intimates, would be its participants and would reign with Him among the first. Their hope was increased by the fame and glory of Christ, shining brightly with so many recent miracles, and especially by the astounding conversion of Zacchaeus. From this hope and expectation, shortly after when Jesus was entering Jerusalem, the Apostles placed Him on a donkey, and the crowds acclaimed Him as if He were the Messiah King now being inaugurated in Jerusalem: "Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes: Blessed is He who comes as king in the name of the Lord," below verse 38. Christ therefore, to remove this opinion from them, introduces the following parable, by which He signifies that He must first be killed by the Jews, and then rise again and reign gloriously through faith throughout the whole world.
Verse 12: A Certain Nobleman Went Into a Far Country
Verse 12. A CERTAIN NOBLEMAN (Syriac: a son of great lineage) WENT INTO A FAR COUNTRY TO RECEIVE A KINGDOM FOR HIMSELF, AND TO RETURN. — This "nobleman" is Christ as man. For, as St. Basil says in the Catena: "Christ is noble, not only according to His divinity, but also according to His human descent, having sprung from the seed of David according to the flesh," in accordance with what Daniel saw and heard concerning the Son of Man, chapter 7:14: "And He gave Him power, and honor, and a kingdom." Eusebius adds in the same place: "He does not yet call Himself king, because in His first appearance He was not yet exercising royal power." For although this kingdom was owed to Christ from the beginning of His incarnation by reason of the hypostatic union with the Word, nevertheless He willed to merit it through His passion and death on the cross, and not to enter into possession of it except after the resurrection, according to that passage in chapter 24:26: "Was it not necessary for Christ to suffer these things, and so enter into His glory?"
Christ therefore went "into a far country" when on the fortieth day after His death and resurrection He went into heaven, where He entered into possession of His kingdom, so that He might be King of the whole world, and reign on earth as well as in heaven. So say Theophylact, Titus, Euthymius, and others. From heaven Christ will return to earth on the day of judgment: both to visibly display this kingdom to all people; and to carry out the last judgment as king of all, both of the elect and of the reprobate, of those unfaithful and disobedient to Him; and to lead His elect into the heavenly kingdom and make them sharers of His glory, according to what the angels told the Apostles at Christ's ascension, Acts 1:11: "This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him going into heaven." Then therefore Christ will return, to join the kingdom of earth with the kingdom of heaven, and to show that He rules over both earth and heaven, and to transfer His faithful ones from earth into the heavenly kingdom.
Verse 13: Trade Until I Come
13. AND HAVING CALLED HIS SERVANTS, HE GAVE THEM TEN MINAS, AND SAID TO THEM: TRADE UNTIL I COME, — so that you may increase My profit as well as your own. "Ten," that is, to all his servants; for he gave one mina to each, as is clear from what follows. He therefore gave ten minas to as many servants. For the number ten, says Euthymius, is the symbol of multitude and totality; for after ten one returns to unity and the other numbers, from which, when joined to ten, the composition, order, and number of all subsequent numbers is formed.
MINAS. — In Hebrew and Greek mna, it is the same as mina, from the root mana (מנה), that is, "he counted," whence "mene, tekel, peres," Daniel 5. Now there were two kinds of mina: the Attic, which contained one hundred drachmas — a drachma is a Roman julius, or a Spanish real; for a drachma is the eighth part of an ounce: twelve make a common pound, sixteen a larger one, therefore the Attic mina of silver contains one hundred julii, that is, ten Roman gold coins; a mina of gold contains one hundred gold crowns, as Budaeus attests in his book De Asse. The Hebrew mina, however, was twice as large: for the Attic contained one pound, but the Hebrew two and a half pounds. Ezekiel 45:12 says that a mina contains 60 shekels, that is, 240 drachmas; for a shekel was a tetradrachm, containing four drachmas. The Hebrew mina of gold therefore contained 240 gold coins, and of silver 240 julii, or reals. St. Matthew, chapter 25, narrating the same parable, has "talent" in place of "mina," which among the Hebrews contained 60 Hebrew minas. Christ could have used both terms, especially if He repeated the parable with some variation (as was His custom).
TRADE UNTIL I COME. — Christ wills that we continually trade with His minas, that is, with the talents, gifts, and graces that He Himself has given us, so that we may constantly increase the profit of our works and merits. He therefore forbids us to be idle: wherefore our entire life ought to be not leisure, but a continuous business of spiritual profit. "We truly carry on this business," says St. Gregory, Book 1, Epistle 39 to Dominicus, "if by living and speaking we gain the souls of our neighbors; if we strengthen the weak by preaching the joys of the heavenly kingdom and kindling heavenly love in them; if we bend the insolent and proud by terrifyingly thundering the punishments of hell; if we spare no one against the truth; if, devoted to heavenly friendships, we do not fear human enmities." Shortly after he adds: "But at this I tremble under the weight of my weakness, and that the master of the house, having received the kingdom, will return to settle accounts with us, I look — but with what mind do I endure Him, to whom, having undertaken this business, I bring back either no profit of souls, or almost none?" Thus he speaks — the humbler, the greater.
Verse 14: We Do Not Want This Man to Reign Over Us
Verse 14. BUT HIS CITIZENS HATED HIM ("CITIZENS": Syriac, the sons of his city, namely the Scribes and Jews hated Jesus because He rebuked their vices), AND THEY SENT AN EMBASSY (ambassadors) AFTER HIM, SAYING (through their ambassadors): We do not want this man (Jesus, poor, lowly, and the son of a carpenter) to reign over us. — This was fulfilled after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ into heaven; when they sent Saul to Damascus to seize all who believed in Christ, and to destroy the faith, name, and kingdom of Christ. Likewise when they imprisoned and scourged St. Peter and the Apostles, stoned St. Stephen, killed St. James, and persecuted the other Christians, as is clear from the Acts of the Apostles, and they persecute them even now.
Verse 15: He Returned, Having Received the Kingdom
Verse 15. AND IT CAME TO PASS THAT HE RETURNED, HAVING RECEIVED THE KINGDOM. — Syriac and Arabic: and when he had received the kingdom, and had returned. "This passage speaks of the second coming," says Euthymius, "when He will return with great power and glory, and will sit upon the throne of His glory: for then, settling accounts, He will render to each one according to his works." So also St. Augustine, Theophylact, Bede, and the rest. I explained the rest at Matthew 25:19.
Verse 16: Your Mina Has Gained Ten Minas
Verse 16. YOUR MINA HAS GAINED TEN MINAS. — Greek προσειργάσατο, that is, "it has worked," just as a single grain of wheat sown in a field, by its own power drawing sap from the earth and converting it into itself, produces in the harvest ten, indeed thirty and sixty seeds and grains of wheat. Hence the Arabic version translates: your mina has become ten. He does not say: "I gained," but: "Your mina gained"; because even though the freedom and cooperation of our will concurs in a good work, nevertheless the whole force and power of divine operation comes from grace, not from free will: for from free will the work has only the fact that it is free; but from grace it has the fact that it is supernatural, pleasing to God, and meritorious. Hence Paul says: "By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace in me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God with me," 1 Corinthians 15:10.
Verse 17: You Shall Have Authority Over Ten Cities
Verse 17. AND HE SAID TO HIM: WELL DONE, GOOD SERVANT, BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN FAITHFUL IN A LITTLE (in spending one mina), YOU SHALL HAVE AUTHORITY OVER TEN CITIES. — That is, for one mina you will receive a hundred, and thus a thousand and more, indeed the governance of one province or decapolis, that is, of ten cities and more. In other words: For a small labor and care on earth, you will reap great, indeed the greatest and ineffable rewards in heaven, and especially you will preside over those upon whom you spent the gifts of God on earth, and whom you converted to Christ, or advanced in faith and virtue. St. Ambrose gives the reason: "For just as angels preside, so also do those who have merited the life of angels." And more precisely Bede says: "Be," he says, "having authority over ten cities, that is, a more abundant happiness and honor you will obtain in heaven, and for all and by all for whom you were a cooperator of salvation, you will be glorified in the heights. For even after the judgment there will remain among the blessed an order of dignity and of fitting mutual honor. Hence the Apostle says: What is our hope and joy, or crown of glory? Is it not you, before our Lord Jesus Christ, at His coming?" 1 Thessalonians 2:19.
Verse 18: Your Mina Has Made Five Minas
18. AND ANOTHER CAME, SAYING: LORD, YOUR MINA HAS MADE FIVE MINAS. — Here the use of free will is evident, and how much its vigorous cooperation with grace accomplishes. For the first servant, vigorously trading and cooperating with one mina, gained ten minas, verse 16; but this one, cooperating more slowly and loosely, gained only five minas from one mina.
Verse 19: And You, Be Over Five Cities
19. AND TO THIS ONE HE SAID: AND YOU, BE OVER FIVE CITIES. — "In proportion to the measure of each one's effort," says Euthymius, "both honor and reward are measured."
Verse 20: Behold Your Mina, Kept Wrapped in a Cloth
AND ANOTHER CAME, SAYING: LORD, BEHOLD YOUR MINA, WHICH I HAVE KEPT WRAPPED IN A CLOTH. — I return it to you intact, but without profit, and not increased or multiplied. To tie money in a cloth is to hide received gifts under the idleness of sluggish torpor, says Bede.
Verse 27: Bring Them Here and Slay Them Before Me
27. BUT AS FOR THOSE ENEMIES OF MINE (the Jews, my fellow citizens), WHO DID NOT WANT ME TO REIGN OVER THEM, BRING THEM HERE (to my tribunal, over the valley of Jehoshaphat and Jerusalem), AND SLAY THEM BEFORE ME. — Greek: slaughter them in my sight. He alludes to victorious kings who butcher and slaughter their conquered rebels. By this slaughter He signifies the final judgment and condemnation of the Jews and other enemies of Christ to eternal death in hell — but a living and vital death, so that they may be perpetually tormented by deadly punishments and fires and never die. He alludes to Titus, who slaughtered the defeated Jews. But by this He literally means precisely the condemnation and damnation of the Jews; for He will inflict this upon them when He returns from heaven for the judgment, to judge and condemn the Jews and the reprobate.
Verse 28: He Went on Ahead, Going Up to Jerusalem
28. AND HAVING SAID THESE THINGS, HE WENT ON AHEAD (from Jericho and the house of Zacchaeus) GOING UP TO JERUSALEM, — so that there He might begin to fulfill in deed and in reality what He had said about His passion, cross, death, and thence resurrection, kingdom, glory, and judgment. He went ahead of the Apostles, who were reluctant about this journey, like a commander and standard-bearer, to show that He was going cheerfully and bravely to death, indeed as if challenging death to a duel; for through death He was about to go to a far country, namely to heaven, to take possession of the heavenly and eternal kingdom.
Verse 37: To Praise God for All the Mighty Works
37. TO PRAISE GOD, etc. (saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David"; see the comments on Matthew 21:9) FOR ALL THE MIGHTY WORKS THAT THEY HAD SEEN. — Greek δυνάμεων, that is, powerful deeds, especially on account of the recent raising of Lazarus from the dead; for it was on account of this that the crowd came to meet Him, as John says, 12:18. So says Bede.
Verse 38: Blessed Is He Who Comes as King in the Name of the Lord
38. SAYING: BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES AS KING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, — namely our king, the Messiah, or Christ, sent by God to save and bless us.
PEACE IN HEAVEN (supply: let there be, so that through Christ peace may be made between us and God, and the angels who were offended by our sins, and therefore), GLORY (be to God, IN THE HIGHEST — dwelling in the heavens). Hear Bede: "He is called king, not to exact tribute, or to arm an army with steel, or to visibly conquer enemies; but because He rules minds and leads believers into the kingdom of heaven." Bede adds the reason: "Because Christ, the propitiation of the whole world, has shone forth in the flesh, beautifully the heavenly beings, that is, the angels who sang at His birth, and the earthly beings, that is, people who praise Him when He was about to return to heaven, sing to one another in His praises." And Theophylact: "It is signified," he says, "that the ancient war by which we were opposed to God has vanished, and that God is praised by the angels in such a reconciliation; and indeed the very fact that God walks in our territory signifies that He has concord with us."
Verse 41: He Wept Over the City
41. AND WHEN HE DREW NEAR, SEEING THE CITY (Jerusalem), HE WEPT OVER IT. — To show the depths of His charity toward it, namely how dear to His heart and how much a concern to Him was the salvation of the Jews; for to this end He had been sent by the Father to the Jews, as the Messiah and Savior. He "wept" therefore amid the joys of the triumph and amid the favorable acclamations of those congratulating Him and shouting Hosanna; so that He might temper these joys by casting in, as it were, a drop of gall. He wept over the blindness, obstinacy, and ingratitude of the people of Jerusalem, because they refused to receive Him as the Messiah and Savior; and over God's vengeance upon them and the destruction of their nation by Titus; and because He saw that the labors and sufferings He had undertaken for them would be frustrated and fall fruitless. For these three things wrung tears from Christ by the vehemence of His grief. So say St. Cyril, Bede, Theophylact, and others.
Tropologically, Origen says: Christ confirmed all the beatitudes by His example; He had said: Blessed are those who weep; and so He weeps.
Verse 42: If You Had Known the Things That Make for Your Peace
42. SAYING: IF YOU HAD KNOWN (were to know) YOU ALSO (as I know, says St. Gregory, Homily 39; Bede and others), EVEN IN THIS YOUR DAY (in which I am coming to you, as the Messiah your king for your salvation, that I might save and bless you forever, according to the oracle of Zechariah, chapter 9), THE THINGS THAT MAKE FOR YOUR PEACE. — Refer this to "had you known," that is to say: If you had known the things (for the Greek has τά) that make for your peace, that is, for your good, salvation, and happiness, namely repentance and faith in Me, which I preached to you for three years; hear: surely you would weep, as I weep, over your crimes, and your past blindness and obstinacy. Euthymius supplies: You would by no means perish; others: You would conduct yourself differently, you would listen to Me and believe in Me. Hence the Syriac translates: namely, if you knew the things that pertain to your peace or salvation on this your day; the Arabic: if you too had known, even on this day, how much peace is in it for you. "Peace" among the Hebrews signifies prosperity, salvation, happiness, and every good of both body and soul.
It is an aposiopesis, signifying Christ's vehement passion of grief as well as indignation; for Christ reproaches the ungrateful city for its faithlessness, obstinacy, and ingratitude. This passion in Christ was so great that it choked His voice, and therefore through aposiopesis compelled Him to fall silent about what I have described. "For it is customary," says Euthymius, "for those who are weeping to break off their words because of the vehemence of their emotion." Again, there is great pathos in the words "you also": You, O daughter of Zion, so loved, honored, enriched, and taught by Me — how do you not recognize Me? Indeed, you reject Me as a false Messiah, persecute Me, condemn Me, kill Me, crucify Me! For I descended from heaven to earth for your sake; for your sake I was born in Bethlehem near Jerusalem; for your sake I lived thirty-four years in continual labor, sorrow, and poverty. For a full three years I went about your towns and villages preaching and teaching; I healed your lepers, sick, and demoniacs; I restored your dead to life. You then, O daughter of Jerusalem, daughter so beloved by Me, why do you not love Me back, who love you so much, but spurn and destroy Me as an enemy? It will come, and soon it will come, that great day of God, on which you will belatedly recognize your treachery and futilely bewail your blindness. This is your day, in which you vainly exult in your wealth, pleasures, and pomp. Soon My day will come — indeed, the day of God — on which He will chastise you most harshly and utterly destroy you, on which you will shed inconsolable and unending tears of the bitterest grief.
A similar pathos is found in Christ's words to Judas the traitor: "But you, my companion, my guide, and my acquaintance, etc." So too Julius Caesar, when he was being killed by 23 senators in the senate house, seeing among them even his Brutus, said: "You too, my son, rush to my murder" — my murder, he says, I who was like a father to you? So Suetonius in his Life, chapter 82.
Maldonatus for τά, that is "the things which," reads τά, that is "these things," namely hostile things, that is, of the day; as if to say: If you knew on this day, on which you enjoy every peace, prosperity, and abundance of things, that enemies will surround you with a siege, capture you, and destroy you — supply: surely you would weep most bitterly with Me.
Tropologically, St. Gregory, Homily 39, says: "The perverse soul has its own day here, which rejoices in transitory time. For it, the things present make for peace; because while it delights in temporal things, while it exults in pleasures, while it is dissolved in pleasure, while it is frightened by no dread of future punishment, it has peace in its own day; but in another's day it will have a grave scandal of damnation: for there it is to be afflicted where the just will rejoice, and all the things that now make for its peace will then be turned into the bitterness of strife; because it will begin to quarrel with itself as to why it did not dread the damnation it suffers, why it closed the eyes of its mind against foreseeing the evils to follow."
BUT NOW THEY ARE HIDDEN FROM YOUR EYES, — "because you deliberately refused to know," says Titus, and Eusebius in the Catena. "He indicates," he says, "that His coming was made for the peace of the whole world, which, because they refused to receive it, is said to have been hidden from them." Therefore hidden from the Jews were Christ's incarnation, preaching, passion, and resurrection, as well as their own perfidy, blindness, and ingratitude, and consequently their punishment and destruction by Titus; as if to say, says St. Gregory, Homily 39: "If you could see the evils threatening you, you would not be happy in your present prosperity."
Tropologically, in the same place St. Gregory says: "The perverse soul, when it abandons itself to the pleasures of the present life, what else does it do but walk with closed eyes into the fire? Hence it is well written: In the day of good things, be not unmindful of evil things. And hence Paul says: Let those who rejoice be as though not rejoicing; because even if there is any joy of the present time, it should be experienced in such a way that the bitterness of the coming judgment never departs from memory, so that while the fearful mind is pierced by dread of the final retribution, the present joy may be tempered by the wrath that will follow."
Verse 43: Your Enemies Will Surround You With a Rampart
Verse 43. FOR DAYS SHALL COME UPON YOU (to you), AND YOUR ENEMIES SHALL SURROUND YOU WITH A RAMPART, AND SHALL ENCOMPASS YOU. — Greek: your enemies shall cast up a rampart around you, and shall encircle you on every side, so that no place of escape may remain for you; Arabic: surely days shall come (in which) your enemies shall cast down your standards and shall surround you. A rampart is a fortification of a camp, which is made of stakes (valli), that is, pales, with earth, turf, and stones heaped together; hence it is also called an earthwork (agger). How truly Christ foretold this is attested by Josephus, who in Book 6, chapters 7 and 13 of The Jewish War, narrates that Titus and the Romans erected three earthworks around Jerusalem, and then in the space of only three days surrounded the entire city with a wall: for they built a wall of 39 stadia around the circuit of the city, so that no exit or passage was open to anyone.
Christ alludes to that passage of Isaiah, chapter 29:1 and following: "Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city that David conquered, etc. And I shall besiege Ariel, and it shall be sorrowful and mourning, and it shall be to me like Ariel." See the comments there. For Jerusalem, which was formerly strong and unconquered, was like Ariel, that is, the lion of God; but now, abandoned by Me and handed over to the Romans for destruction, it will be like Ariel, that is, a ram sacrificed to divine justice and vengeance. So say Eusebius, Cyril, and Theodoret on Isaiah chapter 29:1.
AND THEY SHALL STRAITEN YOU. — They shall reduce you to such dire straits of famine and affliction that even mothers will devour their own children: see Josephus, Book 6 of The Jewish War, chapter 14 and following.
Verse 44: You Did Not Know the Time of Your Visitation
44. AND THEY SHALL DASH YOU TO THE GROUND (Greek ἐδαφιοῦσιν, that is, they shall level you with the ground), AND YOUR CHILDREN WHO ARE IN YOU, AND THEY SHALL NOT LEAVE IN YOU A STONE UPON A STONE. — That is, they shall utterly destroy you. This is a hyperbole; for the Romans were not so meticulous, or so idle, as to leave not a single stone upon another. "This also," says St. Gregory, Homily 39, "the very relocation of that city now attests, because since it is now built in the place where the Lord had been crucified outside the gate, the former Jerusalem was razed to its foundations"; for the hill of Calvary is now situated in the middle of the new Jerusalem.
BECAUSE YOU DID NOT KNOW THE TIME OF YOUR VISITATION. — "The time of visitation," says Titus, "He calls the time when He Himself came down from heaven and visited it and delivered many divine teachings during His visit, and finally performed very many astonishing miracles in it." And Theophylact says: "Of your visitation, that is, of My coming, when I came to visit you and save you." And Euthymius: "Because you did not recognize the time of your care; for the time of My sojourning was the time of care for your salvation."
Tropologically: All these things, says St. Gregory, Homily 39, happen at death to the soul that has served the pleasures of the flesh. For then demons surround it on all sides, tempt it, press it hard, and drag it to the underworld. Then all that structure of stones, that is, of its own thoughts, is scattered, because it did not recognize the time of its visitation, when God warned it through preachers, confessors, teachers, and through internal inspirations to amend its life and attend to its salvation. St. Gregory recounts the dreadful examples of Chrysaorius, Theodore, King Theodoric, and others in Book 4 of the Dialogues, chapters 30, 38, 46, 52, and following.