25. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because You have hid these things from the wise and
prudent, and have revealed them to babes.
26. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in your sight.
GLOSS: Because the Lord knew that many would doubt respecting the
foregoing matter, namely, that the Jews would not receive Christ whom
the Gentile world has so willingly received, He here makes answer to
their thoughts; And Jesus answered and said, I confess to you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth.
GLOSS: That is, Who makes heaven, or leaves in earthliness, whom you
will. Or literally,
AUG; If Christ, from whom all sin is far, said, I confess, confession is
not proper for the sinner only, but sometimes also for him that gives
thanks. We may confess either by praising God, or by accusing ourselves.
When He said, I confess to you, it is, I praise you, not I accuse
Myself.
JEROME; Let those hear who falsely argue, that the Savior was not born
but created, how He calls His Father Lord of heaven and earth. For if He
be a creature, and the creature can call its Maker Father, it was surely
foolish here to address Him as Lord of heaven and earth, and not of Him
(Christ) likewise. He gives thanks that His coming has opened to the
Apostles sacraments, which the Scribes are Pharisees knew not, who
seemed to themselves wise, and understanding in their own eyes; That you
have hid these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed
them to babes.
AUG; That the wise and understanding are to be taken as the proud,
Himself opens to us when He says, and have revealed them to babes; for
who are babes but the humble?
GREG; He says not 'to the foolish', but to babes, showing that He
condemns pride, not understanding.
CHRYS; Or when He says, The wise, He does not speak of true wisdom, but
of that which the Scribes and Pharisees seemed to have by their speech.
Wherefore He said not, 'And have revealed them to the foolish', but, to
babes, that is, uneducated, or simple; teaching us in all things to keep
ourselves from pride, and to seek humility.
HILARY; The hidden things of heavenly words and their power are hid from
the wise, and revealed to the babes; babes, that is, in malice, not in
understanding; hid from the wise because of their presumption of their
own wisdom, not because of their wisdom.
CHRYS; That it is revealed to the one is matter of joy, that it is hid
from the other not of joy, but of sorrow; He does not therefore joy on
this account but He joys that these have known what the wise have nor
known.
HILARY; The justice of this the Lord confirms by the sentence of the
Father's will, that they who disdain to be made babes in God, should
become fools in their own wisdom; and therefore He adds, Even so,
Father: for so it seemed good before you.
GREG; In which words we have a lesson of humility, that we should not
rashly presume to discuss the counsels of heaven concerning the calling
of home and the rejection of others; showing that that cannot be
unrighteous which is willed by Him that is righteous.
JEROME; In these words moreover He speaks to the Father with the desire
of one petitioning, that His mercy begun in the Apostles might be
completed in them.
CHRYS; These things which the Lord spoke to His disciples, made them
more zealous. As afterwards they thought great things of themselves,
because they cast out demons, therefore He here reproves them; for what
they had, was by revelation, not by their own efforts. The Scribes who
esteemed themselves wise and understanding were excluded because of
their pride, and therefore He says, Since on this account the mysteries
of God were hid from them, fear you, and abide as babes, for this it is
that has made you partakers in the revelation. But as when Paul says,
God gave them over to a reprobate mind, he does not mean that God did
this, but they who gave Him cause, so here, You have hid these things
from the wise and understanding. And wherefore were they hid from them?
Hear Paul speaking, Seeking to set up their own righteousness, they were
not subject to the righteousness of God.
27. All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knows the
Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and
he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
CHRYS; Because He had said, I confess to you, Father, because you have
hid these things from the wise, that you should not suppose that He thus
thanks the Father as though He Himself was excluded from this power, He
adds, All things are committed to me by my Father. Hearing the words are
committed, do not admit suspicion of any thing human, for He uses this
word that you may not think there be two gods unbegotten. For at the
time that He was begotten He was Lord of all.
JEROME; For if we conceive of this thing according to our weakness, when
he who received begins to have, he who gives begins to be without. Or
when He says, All things are committed to him, He may mean not the
heaven and earth and the elements, and the rest of the things which He
created and made, but those who through the Son have access to the
Father.
HILARY; (that we may not think that there is any thing less in Him than
in God, therefore He says this.
AUG; For if He has anything less in His power than the Father has, then
all that the Father has, are not His; for by begetting Him Father gave
power to the Son, as by begetting Him He gave all things which He has in
His substance to Him whom He begot of His substance.
HILARY; And also in the mutual knowledge between the Father and the Son,
He teaches us that there is nothing in the Son beyond what was in the
Father; for it follows, And none knows the Son but the Father, nor does
any man know the Father, but the Son.
CHRYS; By this that He only knows the Father, He show covertly that He
is of one substance with the Father. As though He had said, What wonder
if I be Lord of all, when I have somewhat hat yet greater, namely to
know the Father and to be of the same substance with Him?
HILARY; For this mutual knowledge proclaims that they are of one
substance since He that should know the Son, should know the Father also
in the Son, since all things were delivered to Him by the Father.
CHRYS; When He says, Neither does any know the Father but the Son, He
does not mean that all men are altogether ignorant of Him; but that none
knows Him with that knowledge wherewith He knows Him; which may also be
said of the Son. For it is not said of some unknown God as Marcion
declares.
AUG; And because their substance is inseparable, it is enough sometimes
to name the Father, sometimes the Son; nor is it possible to separate
from either His Spirit who is especially called the Spirit of truth.
JEROME; Let the heretic Eunomius therefore blush here at who claims to
himself such a knowledge of the Father and the Son, as they have one of
another. But if he argues from what follows, and props up his madness by
that, And he to whom the Son will reveal him, it is one thing to know
what you know by equality with God, another to know it by His
vouchsafing to reveal it.
AUG; The Father; is revealed by the Son, that is, by His Word. For if
the temporal and transitory word which we utter both shows itself, and
what we wish to convey, how much more the Word of God by which all
things were made, which so shows the Father as He is Father, because
itself is the same and in the same manner as the Father.
ID; When if He said, None knows the Son but the Father. He did not add,
and he to whom the Father will reveal the Son. But when He said, None
knows the Father but the Son, He added, And, he to whom the Son will
reveal him. But this must not be so understood as though the Son could
be known by none but by the Father only; while the Father may be known
not only by the Son, but also by those to whom the Son shall reveal Him.
But it is rather expressed thus, that we may understand that both the
Father and the Son Himself are revealed by the Son, inasmuch as He is
the light of our mind; and what is afterwards added, And he to whom the
Son will reveal, is to be understood as spoken of the Son as well as the
Father, and to refer to the whole of what had been said. For the Father
declares Himself by His Word, but the Word declares not only that which
is intended to be declared by it, but in declaring this declares itself.
CHRYS; If then He reveals the Father, He reveals Himself also. But the
one he omits as a thing manifest, but mentions the other because there
might be a doubt concerning it. Herein also He instructs us that He is
so one with the Father, that it is not possible for any to come to the
Father, but through the Son. For this had above all things given
offense, that He seemed to be against God, and therefore He strove by
all means to overthrow this notion.
28. Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest.
29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in
heart: and you shall find rest to your souls.
30. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
CHRYS; By what He had said, He brought His disciples to have a desire
towards Him, showing them His unspeakable excellence; and now He invites
them to Him, saying, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy
laden.
AUG; Whence do we all thus labor, but that we are mortal men, bearing
vessels of clay which cause us much difficulty. But if the vessels of
flesh are straitened, the regions of love will be enlarged. To what end
then does He say, Come to me, all you who labor, but that you should not
labor?
HILARY; He calls to Him those that were laboring under the hardships of
the Law, and those who are burdened with the sins of this world.
JEROME; That the burden of sin is heavy, the Prophet Zachariah bears
witness, saying, that wickedness sits upon a talent of lead. And the
Psalmist fills it up, your iniquities are grown heavy upon me.
GREG; For a cruel yoke and hard weight of servitude it is to be subject
to the things of time, to be ambitious of the things of earth, to cling
to falling things, to seek to stand in things that stand not, to desire
things that pass away, but to be unwilling to pass away with them. For
while all things fly away against our wish, those things which had first
harassed the mind in desire of gaining them, now oppress it with fear of
losing them.
CHRYS; He said not, Come you, this man and that man, but all whosoever
are in trouble, in sorrow, or in sin, not that I may exact punishment of
you, but that I may remit your sins. Come you, not that I have need of
your glory, but that I seek your salvation. And I will refresh you. Not,
I will save you, only; but that is much greater, I will then refresh
you, that is, I will set you in all quietness.
RABAN; I will not only take from you your burden, but will satisfy you
with inward refreshment.
REMIG; Come, He says not with the feet, but with the life, not in the
body, but in faith. For that is a spiritual approach by which any man
approaches God; and therefore it follows, Take my yoke upon you.
RABAN; The yoke of Christ is Christ's Gospel which joins and yokes
together Jews and Gentiles in the unity of the faith. This we are
commanded to take upon us that is, to have in honor; lest perchance
setting it beneath us, that is wrongly despising it, we should trample
upon it with the miry feet of unholiness; wherefore He adds, learn of
me.
AUG; Not to create a world, or to do miracles in that world; but that I
am meek and lowly in heart. Would you be great? Begin with the least.
Would you build up a mighty fabric of greatness? First think of the
foundation of humility; for the mightier building any seek to raise, the
deeper let him dig for his foundation. Whither is the summit of our
building to rise? To the sight of God.
RABAN; We must learn then from our Savior to be meek in temper, and
lowly in mind; let us hurt none, let us despise none, and the virtues
which we have strewn in deed let us retain in our heart.
CHRYS; And therefore in beginning the Divine Law He begins with
humility, and sets before us a great reward, saying, And you shall find
rest for your souls. This is the highest reward, you shall not only be
made useful to others, but shall make yourself to have peace; and He
gives you the promise of it before it comes, but when it is come, you
shall rejoice in perpetual rest. And that they might not be afraid
because He had spoken of a burden, therefore He adds, For my yoke is
pleasant, and my burden light.
HILARY; He holds forth the inducements of a pleasant yoke, and a light
burden, that to them that believe He may afford the knowledge of that
good which He alone knows in the Father.
GREG; What burden is it to put upon the neck of our mind that He bids us
shun all desire that disturbs, and turn from the toilsome paths of this
world?
HILARY; And what is more pleasant than that yoke, what lighter than that
burden? To be made better, to abstain from wickedness, to choose the
good, and refuse the evil, to love all men, to hate none, to gain
eternal things, not to be taken with things present, to be unwilling to
do that to another which yourself would be pained to suffer.
RABAN; But how is Christ's yoke pleasant, seeing it was said man above,
Narrow is the way which leads to life? That which yoke is entered upon
by a narrow entrance is in process of time made broad by the unspeakable
sweetness of love.
AUG; So then the they who with an unfearing neck have submitted to the
yoke of the Lord endure such hardships and dangers, that they seem
beneath to be called not from labor to rest, but from rest to labor. But
the Holy Spirit was there who, as the outward man decayed, renewed the
inward man day by day, and giving a foretaste of spiritual rest in the
rich pleasures of God in the hope of blessedness to come, smoothed all
that seemed rough, lightened all that was heavy. Men suffer amputations
and burning, that at the price of sharper pain they may be delivered
from torments less but more lasting, as boils or swellings. What storms
and dangers will not merchants undergo that they may acquire perishing
riches? Even those who love not riches endure the same hardships; but
those that love them endure the same, but to them they are not
hardships. For love makes right easy, and almost nothing all things
however dreadful and monstrous. How much more easily then does love do
that for true happiness, which avarice does for misery as far as it can?
JEROME; And how is the Gospel lighter than the Law, seeing in the Law
murder and adultery, but under the Gospel anger and concupiscence also,
are punished? Because by the Law many things are commanded which the
Apostle fully teaches us cannot be fulfilled; by the Law works are
required, by the Gospel the will is sought for, which even if it goes
not into act, yet does not lose its reward. The Gospel commands what we
can do, as that we lust not; this is in our own power; the Law punishes
not the will but the act, as adultery Suppose a virgin to have been
violated in time of persecution, as here was not the will she is held as
a virgin under the Gospel; under the Law she is cast out as defiled.
