Luke 19:12

There were some who thought that our Savior’s kingdom would commence at His first coming, and they were expecting it shortly to appear when He was preparing to go up to Jerusalem; so astonished were they by the divine miracles which He did. He therefore informs them, that He should not receive the kingdom from His Father until He had left mankind to go to His Father.

The Lord points out the vanity of their imaginations, for the senses cannot embrace the kingdom of God; He also plainly shows to them, that as God He knew their thoughts, putting to them the following parable, A certain nobleman, &c.

This parable is intended to set before us the mysteries of Christ from the first to the last. For God was made man, who was the Word from the beginning; and though He became a servant, yet was He noble because of His unspeakable birth from the Father.

Noble, not only in respect of His Godhead, but of His manhood, being sprung from the seed of David according to the flesh. He went into a far country, separated not so much by distance of place as by actual condition. For God Himself is nigh to every one of us, when our good works bind us to Him. And He is afar off, as often as by cleaving to destruction, we remove ourselves away from Him. To this earthly country then He came at a distance from God, that He might receive the kingdom of the Gentiles, according to the Psalm, Ask of me, and I will give you the heathen for your inheritance.

Or the far country is the Gentile Church, extending to the uttermost parts of the earth. For He went that the fullness of the Gentiles might come in; He will return that all Israel may be saved.

Or by His setting out into a far country, He denotes His own ascension from earth to heaven. But when He adds, To receive for himself a kingdom, and to return; He points out His second appearance, when He shall come as a King and in great glory. He first of all calls Himself a man, because of His nativity in the flesh, then noble; not yet a King, because as yet at His first appearance He exercised no kingly power. It is also well said to obtain for Himself a kingdom, according to Daniel, Behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and a kingdom was given to him.

For ascending up to heaven, He sits on the right hand of the Majesty on high. But being ascended, He has dispensed to those that believe on Him different divine graces, as to the servants were committed their Lord’s goods, that gaining something they might bring him token of their service. As it follows, And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds.

Holy Scripture is accustomed to use the number ten as a sign of perfection, for if any one wishes to count beyond it, he has again to begin from unity, having in ten as it were arrived at a goal. And so in the giving of the talents, the one who reaches the goal of divine obedience is said to have received ten pounds.

Or by the ten pounds he signifies the law, because of the ten commandments, and by the ten servants, those to whom while under the law grace was preached. For so we must interpret the ten pounds given them for trading, seeing that they understood the law, when its veil was removed, to belong to the Gospel.

A pound which in the Greeks is equal in weight to a hundred drachmas, and every word of Scripture, as suggesting to us the perfection of the heavenly life, shines as it were with the greatness of the hundredth number.

By those then who receive the pounds, He means His disciples, giving a pound to each, since He entrusts to all an equal stewardship; He bade them put it out to use, as it follows, Occupy till I come. Now there was no other employment but to preach the doctrine of His kingdom to those who would hear it. But there is one and the same doctrine for all, one faith, one baptism. And therefore is one pound given to each.

But greatly indeed do these differ from those who denied the kingdom of God, of whom it is added, But his citizens hated him. And this it is for which Christ upbraided the Jews, when He said, But now have they both seen and hated me and my Father. But they rejected His kingdom, saying to Pilate, We have no king but Caesar.

By citizens He signifies the Jews, who were sprung from the same lineage according to the flesh, and with whom He joined in the customs of the law.

And they sent a message after Him, because after His resurrection also, they persecuted His Apostles, and refused the S preaching of the Gospel.

After our Savior had instructed them in the things belonging to His first coming, He proceeds to set forth His second coming with majesty and great glory, saying, And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom.

Holy Scripture notes two kingdoms: of God, one indeed by creation, since by right of creation He is King over all men; the other by justification, since He reigns’ over the just, of their own will made subject to Him. And this is the kingdom which He is here said to have received.

He also returns after having received His kingdom, because in all glory will He come who appeared lowly to them to whom He said, My kingdom is not of this world.

But when Christ returns, baying taken to Himself His kingdom, the ministers of the word will receive their deserved praises and delight in heavenly rewards, because they multiplied their talent by acquiring more talents, as it is added, Then came the first, saying, Lord, your pound has gained ten pounds.

The first servant is the order of teachers sent to the circumcision, who received one pound to put out to use, inasmuch as it was ordered to preach one faith. But this one pound gained ten pounds, because by its teaching it united to itself the people who were subject to the law. It follows, And he said to him, Well done, you good servant: because you have been faithful in a very little, &c. The servant is faithful in a very little who does not adulterate the word of God. For all the gifts we receive now are but small in comparison of what we shall have.

Because he receives the reward of his own good works, he is said to be set over ten cities. And some conceiving unworthily of these promises imagine that they themselves are preferred to magistracies and chief places in the earthly Jerusalem, which is built with precious stones, because they have had their conversation honest in Christ; so little do they purge their soul of all hankering after power and authority among men.

But the ten cities are the souls over whom he is rightly placed who has deposited in the minds of men his Lord’s money and the holy words, which are tried as silver is tried in the fire. For as Jerusalem is said to be built as a city, so are peace-making souls. And as angels have rule, so have they who have acquired the life of angels. It follows, And the second came, saying, Lord, your pound has gained five pounds.

That servant is the assembly of those who were sent to preach the Gospel to the uncircumcision, whose pound, that is the faith of the Gospel, gained five pounds, because it converted to the grace of Evangelical faith, the nations before enslaved to the five senses of the body. And he said likewise to him, Be you also over five cities; that is, be exalted to shine through the faith and conversation of those souls which you have enlightened.

Or perhaps differently; he who gained five pounds has all the moral virtues, for there are five senses of the body. He who gained ten has so much more, that is to say, the mysteries of the law as well as the moral virtues. The ten pounds may also here be taken to mean the ten words, that is, the teaching of the law; the five pounds, the ordering of discipline. But the scribe must be perfect in all things. And rightly, since He is speaking of the Jews, are there two only who bring their pounds multiplied, not indeed by a gainful interest of money, but a profitable stewardship of the Gospel. For there is one kind of usury in money lent on interest, another in heavenly teaching.

For in earthly wealth it does not belong to one man to be made rich without another being made poor, but in spiritual riches, without his making another rich also. For in earthly matters participation lessens, in spiritual it increases wealth.

Or else; That one of those who well employed their money gained ten pounds, another five, signifies that they acquired them for the flock of God, by whom the law was now understood through grace, either because of the ten commandments of the law, or because he, through whom the law was given, wrote five books; and to this belong the ten and five cities over which He appoints them to preside. For the manifold meanings or interpretations which spring up concerning some individual precept or book, when reduced and brought together in one, make as it were a city of living eternal reasons. Hence a city is not a multitude of living creatures, but of reasonable beings bound together by the fellowship of one law. The servants then who bring an account of that which they had received, and are praised for having gained more, represent those giving in their account who have well employed what they had received, to increase their Lord’s riches by those who believe on Him, while they who are unwilling to do this are signified by that servant who kept his pound laid up in a napkin; of whom it follows, And the third came, saying, Lord, behold, here is your pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin, &c. For there are some who flatter themselves with this delusion, saying, It is enough for each individual to answer concerning himself, what need then of others to preach and minister, in order that every one should be compelled also to give an account of himself, seeing that in the Lord’s sight even they are without excuse to whom tile law was not given, and who were not asleep at the time of the preaching of the Gospel, for they might have known the Creator through the creature; and then it follows, For I feared you, because you are an austere man, &c. For this is, as it were, to reap when he did not sow, that is, to hold those guilty of ungodliness to whom this word of the law or the Gospel was not preached, and avoiding as it were this peril of Judgment, with slothful toil they rest from the ministration of the word. And this it is to tie up in a napkin what they had received.

For with a napkin the face of the dead is covered; well then is this idler said to have wrapped up his pound in a napkin, because leaving it dead and unprofitable he neither touched nor increased it.

Or to tie up money in a napkin is to hide the gifts we have received under the indolence of a sluggish body. But that which he thought to have used as an excuse is turned to his own blame, as it follows, He says to him, Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant. He is called a wicked servant, as being slothful in business, and proud in questioning his Lord’s judgment. You knew that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: wherefore then gave you not my money into the bank? As though he said, If you knew me to be a hard man, and a seeker of what is not mine own, why did not the thought of this strike you with terror, that you might be sure that I would require mine own with strictness? But money or silver is the preaching of the Gospel and the word of God, for the words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in the fire. And this word of the Lord ought to be given to the bank, that is, put into hearts meet and ready to receive it.

Or the bank into which the money was to be given, we take to be the very profession of religion which is publicly put forth as a means necessary to salvation.

In the payment of earthly riches the debtors are obliged only to strictness. Whatever they receive, so much must they return, nothing more is required of them. But with regard to the words of God, we are not only bound diligently to keep, but we are commanded to increase; and hence it follows, that at my coming I might have required the same with usury.

For they who by faith receive the riches of the word from a teacher, must by their works pay it back; with usury, or be earnestly desirous to know something more than what they have as yet learnt from the mouth of their preachers.

It is the work of teachers to engraft in their hearers’ minds wholesome and profitable words, but of divine power to win the hearers to obedience, and render their understanding fruitful. Now this servant, so far from being commended or thought worthy of honor, was condemned as slothful, as it follows, And he said to them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give to him that has ten pounds.

Signifying thereby that both he will lose the gift of God, who having, has not, that is, uses it not, and that he will have it increased, who having, has, that is, rightly uses it.

The mystical meaning I suppose is this, that at the coming in of the Gentiles all Israel shall be saved, and that then the abundant grace of the Spirit will be poured out upon the teachers.

He says then to them that stood by, Take from him the pound, because it is not the part of a wise man to punish, but he needs some one else as the minister of the judge in executing punishment. For even God does not Himself inflict punishment, but through the ministry of His angels.

Nothing is said of the other servants, who like wasteful debtors lost all that they had received. By those two servants who gained by trading, are signified that small number, who in two companies were sent as dressers of the vineyard; by the remainder all the Jews. It follows, And they said to him, Lord, he has ten pounds. And lest this should seem unjust, it is added, For to every one that has, it shall be given.

For seeing that he gained ten, by multiplying his pound tenfold, it is plain that by having more to multiply, he would be an occasion of greater gain to his Lord. But of the slothful and idle, who stirs not himself to increase what he has received, shall be taken away even that which he possesses, that there may be no gap in the Lord’s account when it is given to others and multiplied. But this is not to be applied only to the words of God and teaching, but also to the moral virtues; for in respect of these also, God sends us His gracious gifts, endowing one man with fasting, another with prayer, another with mildness or humility; but all these so long as we watch strictly over ourselves we shall multiply, but if we grow cold we shall extinguish. He adds of His adversaries, But those mine enemies who would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither, and slay them before me.

Whereby He describes the ungodliness of the Jews who refused to be converted to Him.

Whom he will deliver to death, casting them into the outer fire. But even in this world they were most miserably slain by the Roman army.

These things are of force against the Marcionists. For Christ also says, Bring hither my enemies, and slay them before me. Whereas they say Christ indeed is good, but the God of the Old Testament evil. Now it is plain that both the Father and the Son do the same things. For the Father sends His army to the vineyard, and the Son causes His enemies to be slain before Him.

This parable as it is related in Luke is different from that given in Matthew concerning the talents. For in the former indeed out of one and the same principal there were different sums produced, seeing that from the profits of one pound received, one servant brought five, another ten pounds. But with Matthew it is very different. For he who received two pounds, thereto added two more. He who received five, gained as much again. So the rewards given are unlike also.

But it is fitting to examine at what time the man, the king, in the parable wished to make a reckoning with his own servants, and to what period we ought to refer the things that are said. For if it be after the consummation, or at it at the time of the expected judgment, how are we to maintain the things about him who owed a hundred pence, and was taken by the throat by the man who had been forgiven the many talents? But if, before the judgment, how can we explain the reckoning that was made before this by the king, with his own servants? But we ought to think in a general way about every parable, the interpretation of which has not been recorded by the evangelists, even though Jesus explained all things to His own disciples privately; and for this reason the writers of the Gospels have concealed the clear exposition of the parables, because the things signified by them were beyond the …

Only, I have said these things with the view of referring his return when he comes with his kingdom to the consummation, when he commanded the servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him that he might know what they had gained by trading, and from a desire to demonstrate from this, and from the parable of the Talents, that the passage “he who wished to make a reckoning with his own servants” is to be referred to the consummation when now he is king, receiving the kingdom, on account of which, according to another parable, he went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. Therefore, when he returned after receiving the kingdom, he wished to make a reckoning with his own servants. …

127. Matthew goes on with his narrative in the following terms: “And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her;” and so on, down to the words, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.” Mark also records this occurrence, and inserts it in the same order. Luke, on the other hand, tarries a space by Jericho, recounting certain matters which these others have omitted, namely, the story of Zacchæus, the chief of the publicans, and some sayings which are couched in parabolic form. After instancing these things, however, this evangelist again joins company with the others in the narrative relating to the ass on which Jesus sat. …

11. Brethen, return in thought to your own homes. I speak of carnal, I speak of earthly things; I speak after the manner of men, for the infirmity of your flesh. Many of you have, many of you wish to have, many, though you wish not to have, still have had wives; many who do not at all wish to have wives, are born of the wives of your fathers. This is a feeling that touches every heart. There is no man so alien from mankind in human affairs as not to feel what I say. …