St. Thomas Aquinas,
Catena Aurea (Golden Chain),
Gospel of Matthew 9:9-13
(John Henry Parker, v. I, J.G.F. and J. Rivington:London, 1842)
CHAPTER 9
9. And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a
man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him,
“Follow me.” And he arose, and followed him.
10. And it came to pass, as Jesus sat
at meat in the house, behold, many Publicans and sinners came and sat down
with him and his disciples.
11. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with Publicans and
sinners?
12. But when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are
sick.
13. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice; for I am not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Chrys., Hom., xxx: Having wrought this
miracle, Christ would not abide in the same place, lest He should rouse the
envy of the Jews. Let us also do thus, not obstinately opposing those who
lay in wait for us. “And as Jesus departed thence,” (namely from the place
in which He had done this miracle,) “he saw a man sitting at the receipt of
custom, Matthew by name.”
Jerome: The other Evangelists from respect
to Matthew have not called him by his common name, but say here, Levi, for
he had both names. Matthew himself, according to that Solomon says, “The
righteous man accuses himself,” [Prov
18:17] calls himself both Matthew and Publican, to shew the readers that
none need despair of salvation who turn to better things, seeing he from a
Publican became an Apostle.
Gloss., ap Anselm: He says, “sitting at the
receipt of custom,” that is, in the place where the tolls were collected. He
was named Telonarius, from a Greek word signifying taxes.
Chrys.: Herein he shews the excellent power
of Him that called him; while engaged in this dangerous office He rescued
him from the midst of evil, as also Paul while he was yet mad against the
Church. “He saith unto him, Follow me.” As you have seen the power of Him
that calleth, so learn the obedience of him that is called; he neither
refuses, nor requests to go home and inform his friends.
Remig.: He esteems lightly human dangers
which might accrue to him from his masters for leaving his accounts in
disorder, but, “he arose, and followed him.” And because he relinquished
earthly gain, therefore of right was he made the dispenser of the Lord’s
talents.
Jerome: Prophyry and the Emperor Julian
insist from this account, that either the historian is to be charged with
falsehood, or those who so readily followed the Saviour with haste and
temerity; as if He called any without reason. They forget also the signs and
wonders which had preceded, and which no doubt the Apostles had seen before
they believed. Yea the brightness of effulgence of the hidden Godhead which
beamed from his human countenance might attract them at first view. For if
the loadstone can, as it is said, attract iron, how much more can the Lord
of all creation draw to Himself whom He will!
Chrys.: But why did He not call him at the
same time with Peter and John and the others? Because he was then still in a
hardened state, but after many miracles, and great fame of Christ, when He
who knows the inmost secrets of the heart, perceived him more disposed to
obedience, then He called him.
Aug., De Cons. Evan., ii, 26: Or, perhaps
it is more probable that Matthew here turns back to relate something that he
had omitted; and we may suppose Matthew to have been called before the
sermon on the mount; for on the mount, as Luke relates, the twelve, whom He
also name Apostles, were chosen.
Gloss., non occ.: Matthew places his called
among the miracles; for a great miracle it was, a Publican becoming an
Apostle.
Chrys.: Why is it then that nothing is said
of the rest of the Apostles how or when they were called, but only of Peter,
Andrew, James, John, and Matthew? Because these were in the most alien and
lowly stations, for nothing can be more disreputable than the office of
Publican, nothing more abject than that of fisherman.
Gloss., ap Anselm: As a meet return for the
heavenly mercy, Matthew prepared a great feast for Christ in his house,
bestowing his temporal goods on Him of whom he looked to receive everlasting
goods.
It follows, “And it came to pass as he sat
at meat in the house.”
Aug., De Cons. Evan., ii, 27: Matthew has
not said in whose house Jesus sat at meat (on this occasion), from which we
might suppose, that this was not told in its proper order, but that what
took place at some other time is inserted here as it happened to come into
his mind; did not Mark and Luke who relate the same shew that is was in
Levi’s, that is, in Matthew’s house.
Chrys.: Matthew being honoured by the
entrance of Jesus into his house, called together all that followed the same
calling with himself; “Behold many Publicans and sinners came and sat down
with Jesus, and with his disciples.”
Gloss., ap Anselm: The Publicans were they
who were engaged in public business, which seldom or never can be carried on
without sin. And a beautiful omen of the future, that he that was to be an
Apostle and doctor of the Gentiles, at his first conversion draws after him
a great multitude of sinners to salvation, already performing by his example
what he was shortly to perform by word.
Gloss. ord.: Tertullian says that these
must have been Gentiles, because Scripture says, “There shall be no payer of
tribute in Israel,” as if Matthew were not a Jew. But the Lord did not sit
down to meat with Gentiles, being more especially careful not to break the
Law, as also He gave commandment to His disciples below, “Go not into the
way of the Gentiles.”
Jerome: But they had seen the Publican
turning from sins to better things, and finding place of repentance, and on
this account they do not despair of salvation.
Chrys.: Thus they came near to our
Redeemer, and that not only to converse with Him, but to sit at meat with
Him; for so not only by disputing, or healing, or convincing His enemies,
but by eating with them, He oftentimes healed such as were ill-disposed, by
this teaching us, that all times, and all actions, may be made means to our
advantage. When the Pharisees saw this they were indignant; “And the
Pharisees beholding said to his disciples, Why eateth your Master with
Publicans and sinners?”
It should be observed, that when the
disciples seemed to be doing what was sinful, these same addressed Christ,
“Behold, thy disciples are doing what it is not allowed to do on the
Sabbath.” [Matt
12:2] Here they speak against Christ to His disciples, both being the
part of malicious persons, seeking to detach the hearts of the disciple from
the Master.
Rabanus: They are here in a twofold error;
first, they esteemed themselves righteous, though in their pride they had
departed far from righteousness; secondly, they charged with unrighteousness
those who by recovering themselves from sin were drawing near to
righteousness.
Aug.: Luke seems to have related this a
little differently; according to him the Pharisees say to the disciples,
“Why do ye eat and drink with Publicans and sinners?” [Luke
5:30] not unwilling that their Master should be understood to be
involved in the same charge; insinuating it at once against Himself and His
disciples. Therefore Matthew and Mark have related it as said to the
disciples, because so it was as much an objection against their Master whom
they followed and imitated. The sense therefore is one in all, and so much
the better conveyed, as the words are changed while the substance continues
the same.
Jerome: For they do not come to Jesus while
they remain in their original condition of sin, as the Pharisees and Scribes
complain, but in penitence, as what follows proves; “But Jesus hearing said,
They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.”
Rabanus: He calls Himself a physician,
because by a wonderful kind of medicine He was “wounded for our iniquities”
that He might heal the wound of our sin. By “the whole,” He means those who
“seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the true
righteousness of God.” [Rom
10:3] By “the sick,” He means those who, tied by the consciousness of
their frailty, and seeing that they are not justified by the Law, submit
themselves in penitence to the grace of God.
Chrys.: Having first spoken in accordance
with common opinion, He now addresses them out of Scripture, saying, “Go ye,
and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice.”
Jerome,
Hosea 6:5: This text from Osee is directed against the Scribes and
Pharisees, who, deeming themselves righteous, refused to keep company with
Publicans and sinners.
Chrys.: As much as to say; How do you
accuse me for reforming sinners? Therefore in this you accuse God the Father
also. For as He wills the amendment of sinners, even so also do I. And He
shews that this that they blamed was not only not forbidden, but was even by
the Law set above sacrifice; for He said not, I will have mercy as well as
sacrifice, but chooses the one and rejects the other.
Gloss., ap. Anselm: Yet does not God
contemn sacrifice, but sacrifice without mercy. But the Pharisees often
offered sacrifices in the temple that they might seem to men to be
righteous, but did not practise the deeds of mercy by which true
righteousness is proved.
Rabanus: He therefore warns them, that by
deeds of mercy they should seek for themselves the rewards of the mercy that
is above, and, not overlooking the necessities of the poor, trust to please
God by offering sacrifice. Wherefore, He says, “Go;” that is, from the
rashness of foolish fault-finding to a more careful meditation of Holy
Scripture, which highly commends mercy, and proposes to them as a guide His
own example of mercy, saying, “I came not to call the righteous but
sinners.”
Aug.: Luke adds “to repentance,” which
explains the sense; that none should suppose that sinners are loved by
Christ because they are sinners; and this comparison of the sick shews what
God means by calling sinners, as a physician does the sick to be saved from
their iniquity as from a sickness; which is done by penitence.
Hilary: Christ came for all; how is it then
that He says He came not for the righteous? Were there those for whom it
needed not that He should come? But no man is righteous by the law. He shews
how empty their boast of justification, sacrifices being inadequate to
salvation, mercy was necessary for all who were set under the Law.
Chrys.: Whence we may suppose that He is
speaking ironically, as when it is said, “Behold now Adam is become as one
of us.” [Gen
3:22] For that there is none righteous on earth Paul shews, “All have
sinned, and need glory of God.” [Rom
3:23] By this saying He also consoled those who were called; as though
He had said, So far am I from abhorring sinners, that for their sakes only
did I come.
Gloss., ap. Anselm: Or; Those who were
righteous, as Nathanael and John the Baptist, were not to be invited to
repentance. Or, “I came not to call the righteous,” that is, the feignedly
righteous, those who boasted of their righteousness as the Pharisees, but
those that owned themselves sinners.
Rabanus: In the call of Matthew and the
Publicans is figured the faith of the Gentiles who first gaped after the
gain of the world, and are now spiritually refreshed by the Lord; in the
pride of the Pharisees, the jealousy of the Jews at the salvation of the
Gentiles. Or, Matthew signifies the man intent on temporal gain; Jesus sees
him, when He looks on him with the eyes of mercy. For Matthew is interpreted
‘given,’ Levi ‘taken,’ the penitent is taken out of the mass of the
perishing, and by God’s grace given to the Church. “And Jesus saith unto
him, Follow me,” either by preaching, or by the admonition of Scripture, or
by internal illumination.
