Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 60–64

Since we have once come to this passage, we must also give an account of the different watches. One man is found watching right from the evening itself, and continues his watches until midnight, and further until cockcrow, and further until morning. For one who, as soon as evil has begun, that is, as soon as the infant has begun to utter full speech (for from this begins the evil which is in the night), at once gives himself to become both a hearer and a doer of the law, if he remains in that purpose until the end, has watched from the evening and continued until midnight, and has given no sleep to his eyes either until cockcrow or until morning; such a man is counted among the blessed servants. But one who has been found, after the time when speech has been fully formed, to spend some part of the night in revelling, drunkenness, debauchery, and licentiousness, but afterwards began to watch, he too will have good hope if he remains until morning, beginning to watch from midnight, that is, from manhood. And if a man grown to maturity, in the summer of his body, hearing the divine teaching, has taken a lamp from it, as one wishing to live according to God's precept, he too, having a lamp from cockcrow, and watching, and remaining until morning, does not lose in a short time the reward of good service. And if it is possible even right around the end of the night, that is, after evil has used up almost the whole time of his life, that he should believe and light a lamp for himself and watch at least for the remaining time; and if the master of the house comes with his grace, with some he will stay from evening until morning, with others from midnight, enlightening them for the rest of the time, and with others from cockcrow, spending less time with them. But neither will he abandon those who light a lamp in the morning and watch in expectation of the Lord; but finding these too not sleeping at all, nor attending to debauchery and licentiousness, he will honour them with the honour of which he knows them worthy. The thief too, then, comes in some watch and hour of the night, and breaks into the house of the one whom he has not found watching or having a lamp lit. And upon some he comes in the evening, upon others at midnight, upon some at cockcrow, and there are also some upon whom he comes in the morning. And the Lord comes in some watch and hour of the night; and perhaps the Lord comes to that man to whom the thief, coming, could do nothing, being evidently not permitted to break into the house of the one who watched and had a lamp lit. But the Lord does not come to one whose house has been broken into, especially if someone has learned what is said, “Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men waiting for their master,” and, despising what is said, has given sleep to his eyes and slumber to his eyelids. To make plain the sense of this passage that occurs to us, let us use such an example. In time of temptations, or of calamities of whatever kind, the thief is especially wont to come, wishing to break into the house of the soul; but when the thief comes, one who bears what befalls him and endures everything for the love of God, suffering nothing from him, will at once see the Lord coming to him. But one whose house has been broken into by the thief in the time of his calamity, as unworthy of his Lord's coming to him, will not be worthy to see him.

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them food in due season?” That this parable concerns the apostles and the other bishops and teachers is plain, especially from the fact that in Luke Peter asks, saying: “Are you telling this parable for us, or for all?” Yet, though there are many stewards, it is hard to find one both faithful and wise. That is why the Apostle says: “So let a man regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Here it is required among stewards that one be found faithful.” Every bishop sins against God who ministers not as a servant to fellow servants but as a master; and often as a harsh master ruling by force, made like the Egyptians who afflicted the life of the sons of Israel with force. They ought, then, to remember the words of Christ, who says: “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If then I have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that as I have done, so you also should do.” And this: “The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be first among you shall be last; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” One must also hear Paul saying: “Though we could have been a burden as apostles of Christ, we became little children among you, like a nurse cherishing her own children. So, longing for you, we desired to share with you not only the Gospel but also our own souls.” And one must not strike fellow servants, but admonish the unruly, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, and be patient with all; since the servant of God must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, teaching with modesty those who resist. And Paul, as one who himself kept away from bad conduct towards fellow servants, blames those who were not such, who were subject to the proud but despised the gentle, saying thus: “You bear it if someone enslaves you, if someone devours you, if someone takes from you, if someone exalts himself, if someone strikes you in the face, as though we had been weak.” Consider in these words how he rebukes those who enslave and strike in the face because they rule more harshly, saying that he himself keeps away from them; not because he was weak and unable to do such things, but so as to do what he teaches. And he teaches to teach with modesty those who resist. That is why, defining what bishops ought to be, he says: “not quarrelsome, not strikers, but gentle, orderly,” and whatever is found among the faithful and wise servants and stewards whom the Lord has set over his household, as Luke says. From this one can know that the Lord has set over his house not only those who are faithful and wise, but also bad servants who say in their hearts, “My master is always delaying his coming”; and so they beat their fellow servants and eat and drink with the drunken or drunkards and get drunk. If, then, those who preside over the churches of Christ ever think that they are at a great height because the Lord has set them over his household, let them know that what saves them is not that they have been set by the Lord over his household, but that they give food in due season and keep themselves from beatings and from revelling and drinking with drunkards. But if they do not keep themselves from such things, and think highly of themselves because the Lord has set them over his household, let them know that their Lord will come on a day when they do not expect and at an hour they do not know, and will cut them in two, and put their portion with the hypocrites and unbelievers; and when they have been placed among the hypocrites and unbelievers, it will profit them nothing that they were set by the Lord over his household. And so that we may fear the saying, “He will cut him in two,” it is fitting to recall what was said by Daniel against the wicked presbyters, that the angel of the Lord, having a sword, will cut you in two. And cutting, he will divide. We have ventured to use the example of Daniel in this place, not unaware that it is not set down in the Hebrew, but because it is held in the churches. It belongs to another time to inquire about such matters. Attend also to his saying “faithful and wise servant,” hearing the word kindly and assenting to the will of Christ, who spoke it, and of Matthew, who wrote it down. We must listen carefully, then, about the faithful and wise servant: he is one who advances in faith; or, if he is not yet perfect in it, one who is himself also commonly called faithful, and who has natural quickness of mind and is called wise. So too the steward of iniquity acts prudently, not acting according to prudence as one of the virtues, but because he was quick of wit. And the sons of this age are wiser than the sons of light in their own generation, not because they are wise according to prudence as one of the virtues, or because the sons of light are in some other respect less than they in wisdom, or inferior in natural sharpness of mind; for the divine word knows that prudence too is one of the virtues, as it teaches in Proverbs, saying: “Say that wisdom is your sister, and make prudence your friend, that it may guard you from the strange woman.” But now we hear the saying in the common sense, “Who is the faithful and wise servant?”, as though some are faithful according to faith commonly understood, but are not wise or quick of wit; and again others are quick, and wise in the sense meant here, but not wholly faithful too. And if someone considers the multitude of those who wish to be Christians, he will find many faithful and practising the study of faith, but not also wise, so that the sons of this age are wiser than they in their own generation; let us know that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And again he will see others who are thought to have believed, quick indeed and wise, but of little faith; and if not unbelieving, yet less faithful, since they despise the foolish things of the world which God has chosen. But for faithful and wise to come together in one, so that according to both he gives his fellow servants food in due season, is very rare. For to give food in due season one needs prudence; and not to take away the food of the needy in due season requires faithfulness. And it is not out of place to give a warning, because of the sins that are often committed among men who seem to believe in Christ and among the stewards of the churches, since even according to the simple understanding many of us need to be both faithful and wise in administering the revenues of the Church: faithful, so that we do not devour what belongs to widows, and so that we remember the poor, and so that we do not, taking occasion from what is written, “The Lord has appointed that those who preach the Gospel should live by the Gospel,” seek more than simple food and necessary clothing, so as not to keep more for ourselves than we give to our hungry, thirsty, and naked brothers, and to those who suffer need in worldly cares; and wise, so that we provide for each according to the worth of each, remembering what is said: “Blessed is he who considers the needy and the poor.” For one must not give from the church's goods simply, observing only this one thing, that we do not devour what belongs to the poor or steal from it; but so that we understand prudently the causes of the needy, for which they are in need, and the worth of each, how he was brought up, how much he needs, and for what cause he is in need. One must not act in the same way, then, towards those who from infancy were brought up hardly and strictly, and towards those who were raised generously and delicately and afterwards fell. Nor are the same things to be given to men and to women, or to the very old and to the young, or to the young who are weak, so that they cannot obtain food for themselves, and to those who can at least in part obtain food for themselves and can partly help themselves. One must also inquire whether they have many children who are not negligent, but do everything and are not sufficient to help them. And, not to say more, one who wishes to administer the church's revenues well needs much wisdom, so that, being found a faithful and wise steward in these things too, he may be made blessed. And perhaps, because of the multitude of Christians who are not much concerned with inquiry into the word, and such men have been raised to authority, we have even more need to hear: “Who is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them food in due season?” So that they do not pour out the rational and spiritual food simply to any fellow servants whatever, and to those to whom they ought not, wishing to show themselves wise, when these have more need of the word that builds up their morals and orders their life than of that which leads them on to wisdom and illumines with the light of knowledge those whose mind can bear the brightness of such light; or so that, to those who can listen more acutely, they are not reluctant to set out higher things, lest, setting out cheap things, they be despised by the more gifted, who are gifted by nature or perhaps sharpened by training in worldly wisdom. It is hard, then, for both to be in one, that he be both wise and faithful, but not impossible; for he would not call blessed one who cannot exist, saying: “Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, finds so doing. Truly I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.”

“Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, finds so doing.” A great promise is proclaimed to faithful and wise stewards, together with those to whom he says, “Have authority over five cities,” or, “Have authority over ten cities.” For to be set over all the possessions of the householder, what else does it show but heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, reigning with Christ? To him the Father has handed over all that is his, as he himself says: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth”; and as the son of a good father, set over all his father's substance, he shares such dignity and glory with his faithful and wise stewards, so that they too may be over all creation and power, that they may be with Christ. And see the interpretation of his saying: “Truly I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.” Understand it with me, taking as an example some king who has a whole kingdom under him, with whom are many nations, and cities, and various places. Let him divide the fullness of his kingdom among the satraps and other princes who have done something illustrious: he will set them all over his whole kingdom, yet not each over all things, but each of them over some part of his kingdom; for example, this one over ten cities, another over five. And so all will be over all his possessions, while he alone holds all things as the sole king of all. And such is his saying: “He will set him over all his possessions.” And as we have heard of the blessedness to be given to faithful and wise servants, so let us hear also of the torments of bad servants. For the bad servant says in his heart, preferring present pleasure to future goods and despising his master, he says: “My master is delaying his coming.” He says this falsely, wishing to eat and drink with drunkards; and he always dreams that his master will come after a long time; and as though his master were delaying, he beats his fellow servants who bear it, and reduces them to slavery and strikes them in the face. And while beating them he eats and drinks with drunkards on the pretext of church service; and he does not receive the hungry, but feasts with drunkards and with many such persons to whom the care of the Church has been entrusted. To them the Lord will come, bringing about their consummation, on a day they do not know and at an hour they do not expect, and he will cut in two those who did not fear him who is able to destroy soul and body in Gehenna. And he cuts him in two when his spirit returns to God who gave it, while the soul with its body goes into Gehenna. But the righteous man is not divided; his soul goes with the spirit to the heavenly kingdoms. That is why it is written: “Bless the Lord, you spirits and souls of the righteous.” But for those who are divided and lay aside the spirit, which returns to him who gave it, and afterwards have in themselves no part that was from God, there is left their own part, which was theirs, that is, the soul, which with its body will be punished by the Lord when he comes, in torments with the unbelievers and hypocrites. See, then, the difference among the servants whom the Lord has set over his house: some, as faithful and wise stewards who gave their fellow servants food in due season, are set over all the possessions of the householder; but those who did the contrary, besides falling from so great a glory, will further be cut in two, and their portion will be placed with the hypocrites and unbelievers. There will be weeping for those who in this world laughed wickedly, as Scripture says: “Woe to you who laugh now, for you will weep and mourn.” And accordingly, because of the ease and slackness in which they took their rest and were relaxed, there will reasonably be gnashing of teeth for them. Perhaps this signifies that those who are punished, thinking that there will be an end of their pain and therefore wishing to bear it manfully, yet compelled by unbearable torments, gnash their teeth: those teeth, namely, with which they ate the bitterness of malice; and therefore they suffer a fitting gnashing of teeth.

“The kingdom of heaven is like ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. Five of them were foolish and five wise,” and the rest. In all who have learned the word of God the kingdom of heaven is likened to ten virgins. And if among them there are some who both believe and live rightly, they are therefore justly likened to the five wise; but those who profess faith in Jesus, yet do not prepare themselves for salvation by good works, are likened to the other five, the foolish virgins. We do not speak unreasonably when we say that the senses of all who have learned divine things, in whatever way they have received the word of the Lord, whether in pretence or in truth, are virgins, made virgins by the word of God which they have believed or wish to believe. For such is the word of God that it lends something of its own purity to all who through its teaching have withdrawn from the worship of idols, or from the worship of the elements of God's creation, and have come through Jesus Christ to the worship of God, even if works of piety have not followed, and they have not prepared themselves for blessedness. And just as, according to the word of truth, the virtues, whose substance is Christ, follow one another, so that whoever has one has all, and whoever lacks one has none (for Christ cannot be separated from himself), so also all the senses follow one another; and wherever one of the senses falls short of the right teaching of the Word, there all the senses entirely, as though defrauded of the word of wisdom, become foolish. By senses I mean both those commonly understood, sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and those which in Proverbs are called divine, where it says: “You will find a divine sense.” Again, since the word of God is the cause of the right use of the senses, and it is not possible for him, being in the senses, to work in some senses and diligently bestow what belongs to his prudence, but to neglect others, therefore, if he has made one of the senses wise, so that it is constituted a virgin, he must necessarily pour out his wisdom on the other senses too. That is why one cannot see among the five senses in anyone some foolish and some wise; necessarily either all five are wise or all are foolish. All these senses take their lamps, that is, their natural organs, whether they wish to use them according to the word of God or against the will of God; yet they take them when they receive the Word of God and Son of God as the bridegroom of the Church; and they go out from the world and from the errors of many gods, and come to meet the Saviour, who is always ready to come to those virgins, so as to go in together with the worthy among them to the blessed bride, the Church. But as long as, after the word has been received, the light of the faithful shines before men, so that seeing their good works they glorify their Father who is in heaven, these are wise, and they take oil, the nourishment of their own inner man, which is continually poured into good deeds, that is, the word of teaching; and they fill the vessels of their souls with this word from the teachers and transmitters who sell it, so that it may suffice them even if their departure is delayed and the Word, who comes for their consummation, tarries, so that, made perfect and brought out of the world, they may hasten there. But those who, after beginning their Christianity, took no care to receive as much teaching of the word as would suffice them to last to the end, neglecting to take in the teaching that strengthens faith and lights the light of good deeds (and what strengthens so much as moral discourse, which is called the oil of the light?), these are foolish: they took lamps that were lit at first, but for so long a journey, going out to meet the bridegroom, they took no oil. “And as the bridegroom delayed, all the virgins grew drowsy and slept.” So, while the bridegroom tarries and the Word does not come quickly for the consummation of their life, they suffer something, as it were, in their senses, and, as if spending their time in the night of the world, they grow drowsy. They slept, that is, they acted more slackly in their living sense; yet they did not lose their lamps, nor did those wise ones despair of keeping their oil.

“But at midnight there was a cry: Behold, the bridegroom is coming; rise to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise: Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying: Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut. Afterwards the other virgins came too, saying: Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said: Truly I say to you, I do not know you.” At midnight, that is, in the depth of slackness, in the middle time between the evening light already past and the daylight still hoped for, there was a cry from those who wish to rouse all, the angels, as I think, who are all ministering spirits, sent to serve for the sake of those who will inherit salvation, and who were anxious to rouse those who have senses to meet the bridegroom; and they say, crying within in the senses of all who are asleep: “Behold, the bridegroom is coming; rise to meet him.” And all heard the prompting that they ought to go to meet the bridegroom, the Word, and the spotless Church, and all rose; but not all put fitting adornment on their lamps, only those who had heard the prudence that adorns them. So, not at the opportune time, the foolish said to the wise: “Give us some of your oil,” as people who had not gathered prudence for themselves beforehand; so that they might understand that it is not for all who have oil to give some of it to others who want it, but only for those who have been appointed for this very purpose, to sell and to give and to receive the price of the oil sold, whose price is perseverance, and earnestness, and love of learning, and diligence, and the labour of those who long to learn. “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” For though they were foolish, they still understood this, that they had to go to meet the bridegroom with light, having all the lamps of the senses lit. And they saw this too, that because they had too little of the oil of reason, with the darkness already drawing near, their lamps were going to be darkened. But the wise send the foolish to the sellers of oil, seeing that they had not gathered so much oil, that is, the word of teaching, as to suffice both for themselves for life and to teach those others to trim their lamps. And if you consider someone who has gathered enough teaching of the word for himself to live well, but not so much that he could also become a teacher, you will see such a one answering those who wish to learn from him the things of God, and saying: “Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you. For I have teaching enough for myself to live well, but not so that I can supply teaching to you as well.” And they will answer those who wish to learn from them: “Go rather to the sellers and buy for yourselves,” that is, go to the teachers and receive from them. And the foolish, going to the teaching that would set them right not when they should, lose the time for going in with the bridegroom to the wedding. And one can see people who suffer such things: when they ought to have learned, they neglected to learn anything useful from those from whom they should have learned; but at the very end of their life, while they are arranging to learn, they are overtaken by death, and therefore they do not go in with the Word to the bride, the Church, nor with Christ to those who will be together in rest and will reign in blessedness. Afterwards the door is shut while the foolish virgins are still about to get oil, and they come later, in vain, saying: “Lord, Lord, open to us.” And so the bridegroom answers and says: “I do not know you.” And since the parable was spoken to all who were listening, he adds to his disciples: “Watch therefore, for you do not know the day or the hour.” Now they trim the lamps of the senses with uses that are right and in keeping with the gospel: so that the adornment of the eyes is the right use of seeing, that the eyes see the wonderful Maker, but are shut so as not to see iniquity. And the adornment of hearing is when one does not take in an empty report, but stops his ears so as not to hear the judgement of blood, but hears Jesus saying to him, “Be opened,” so that they are given only to words that save and are needful. So too one can speak of the adornment of taste, and of smell and touch, in line with what has been said. For those who misuse their senses have no adornment, whether in their eyes or ears or the other senses. But it must be observed that it is written that the foolish were sent to buy oil, yet they are not reported to have bought or received it; this is passed over in silence, and afterwards it is said that after this the other virgins also come, saying: “Lord, Lord, open to us.” Though he could have said, “Afterwards they came, having received or bought oil,” he fittingly kept silent, so as not to say to those who had oil, or who were trimming their lamps even at the last, “I do not know who you are.” For it is not written that they came having trimmed their lamps. So great is the end of this saying: that at every time we should prepare ourselves for our departure, so as not to give sleep to our eyes nor slumber to our eyelids, because we do not know the day and hour of our departure.