Bede

And you never gave me a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. Certainly, a sinner is usually signified by the name of the young goat, but far be it from me to understand the Antichrist. For it is quite absurd that it is said to him. You are always with me, having wished this from the father, that he would believe in the Antichrist. Nor is it at all proper to understand this son in the people of the Jews, who are going to believe in the Antichrist. But how would he feast from that goat if he himself is the Antichrist, who would not believe in him? Or if this is to feast from the slaughter of the goat, which is to rejoice at the destruction of the Antichrist, how does the son, whom the father receives, say that this was not granted to him, when all the sons of God are going to rejoice at the damnation of that adversary? Surely, therefore, he complains that the Lord Himself is denied to him for joining, while he considers Him a sinner. For when the goat is of that nation, that is, when he considers Him a violator of the Sabbath and a transgressor of the law, he did not deserve to rejoice in His feasts. So that what he says: You never gave me a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends, is as if he were saying, him who seemed a goat to me, you never gave me to feast upon, thus denying me him himself by that very thing by which he seemed a goat to me. But what he says, With my friends, either it is understood from the perspective of the leaders, with the people, or from the perspective of the people of Jerusalem, with the other peoples of Judea.

But he said to him: Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. When he says: And all that is mine is yours, it should not be thought that this implies that they are not also the brother’s, as if you were to suffer anxieties in an earthly inheritance. How could everything be the older’s if the younger also has his own share? For indeed, everything belongs to the perfect and fully purified and now immortal children in such a way that all things belong to each one, and each one to all. For just as desire holds nothing without anxiety, so charity holds nothing with anxiety. Therefore, when we attain that blessedness, the superior things will be ours to live by, the equal things ours for companionship, the inferior things ours to rule over. But if anyone is troubled as to how, in supplicating the Father, the truth says: And all mine are yours, and yours mine, which seems very similar to what is said to this son: And all that is mine is yours, let him know that all that belongs to the Father belongs to the only-begotten Son, because he is also God, and being born of the Father, he is equal to the Father. For even what he says concerning the Holy Spirit: All things that the Father has are mine, therefore I said that he will take of mine and declare it to you, he spoke of those things that pertain to the very divinity of the Father, in which he is equal to the Father, possessing all that the Father possesses. For the Holy Spirit was not to take something from the creature that is subject to the Father and the Son when he said: He will take of mine, but certainly from the Father from whom the Spirit proceeds and from whom the Son is born. Whether therefore these two sons should be referred to the two peoples, or as some prefer to any two individuals, namely the penitent and the just, or one who seems just to himself, let the older brother rejoice, for the younger brother was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.

He also said to his disciples: There was a rich man who had a steward, and this one was accused before him of wasting his goods. And he called him and said to him: What is this that I hear about you? Render an account of your stewardship, for you cannot be steward any longer. Then the steward said to himself: What shall I do? For my lord is taking away the stewardship from me. I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. In this steward whom the Lord cast out from his stewardship and praised him for having looked out for himself in the future, we ought not to take everything for imitation. For we should not in any way deceive our Lord, so as to make alms from this very deception, nor should we consider those, by whom we wish to be received into the eternal tabernacles, to be debtors of God and our Lord, since it is understood in this place that the just and the holy will introduce those into the everlasting tabernacles who have shared their earthly goods with their needs. Of these also He says that whoever gives a cup of cold water to one of them in the name of a disciple, will not lose his reward (Matthew X). But these parables are also contrary, so that we may understand if the one who committed fraud could be praised by the Lord, how much more will those who do works according to His command please the Lord God. Just as He also made a comparison with the unjust judge who was appealed to by the widow, to the Judge God, to whom in no way could the unjust judge be compared. By the term steward, we call those who have money, no longer masters of their own, but rather dispensers of another’s property. If they, following the example of this servant, foresee the time of the end of stewardship and the rendering of accounts diligently, easily stripped of all delight and love for earthly things, will take care to gather more friends for themselves in the future than riches in the present. He, anxiously pondering many things to himself, said: What shall I do? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. For once stewardship is taken away, we cannot dig, because, with this life ended, in which only we are permitted to work, we are no longer able to seek the fruit of good conversation, with the spade of devoted compunction. To beg is shameful. Namely, with that worst kind of begging, in which those foolish virgins were said to have begged, who, when the time of the weddings came, and the oil of virtues was lacking, said to the wise: Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out (Matthew XXV). And of which Solomon says: Because of the cold, the sluggard would not plough, therefore he shall beg during the harvest, and it shall not be given to him (Proverbs XX).

Having rebuked in three parables those who murmured because He received penitents, our Saviour shortly after subjoins a fourth and a fifth on almsgiving and frugality, because it is also the fittest order in preaching that almsgiving should be added after repentance. Hence it follows, And he said unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man.

(ex Hieron.) The bailiff is the manager of the farm, therefore he takes his name from the farm. But the steward, or director of the household, (villicus œconomus) is the overseer of money as well as fruits, and of every thing his master possesses.

A cadus in Greek is a vessel containing three urns. It follows, And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty, forgiving him the half. It follows, Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. A corus is made up of thirty bushels. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore, forgiving him a fifth part. It may be then simply taken as follows: whosoever relieves the want of a poor man, either by supplying half or a fifth part, will be blessed with the reward of his mercy.

Then, having called each one of his lord's debtors, he said to the first: How much do you owe my lord? And he said: A hundred measures of oil. And he said to him: Take your bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then he said to another: And you, how much do you owe? Who said: A hundred measures of wheat. And he said to him: Take your bill, and write eighty. A measure is a Greek amphora, containing three urns. A "corus" comprises thirty modii. Now, as to having the debtor write fifty out of a hundred measures of oil, and eighty out of a hundred measures of wheat, I think it means nothing else but that whatever a Jew did for priests and Levites should abound in righteousness in the Church of Christ beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees, so that whereas they gave tithes, these should give half, as Zacchaeus did not only from his fruits but from his very goods. Or certainly doubling the tithes, so that by giving two tithes, they exceed the expenses of the Jews. Unless perhaps someone thinks simply that every person who alleviates the indigence of any poor saint, either by half, or certainly by one-fifth, as twenty or fifty to a hundred, will be granted a sure reward of their mercy.

You cannot serve God and mammon. Let the greedy hear this, let him who is called by the name Christian hear that it is not possible to serve mammon, that is, riches, and Christ simultaneously. And yet he did not say: He who has riches, but he who serves riches. For he who is a servant of riches, keeps riches as a servant. But he who has cast off the yoke of servitude, distributes them as a master. But he who serves mammon, surely serves him who is rightfully set over these earthly things due to his own perversity, called the prince of this world by the Lord. Therefore, one will either hate the one and love the other, as it should happen. He will hate, of course, the devil, and love God. Or he will hold to the one and despise the other. He will cling, of course, to the devil when he pursues his temporal rewards. However, he will despise God—not that he will hate, but as those who usually put off His threats for their own desires, who flatter themselves with impunity because of His goodness. To whom it is said through Solomon: "My son, do not add sin upon sin, and say, 'The mercy of God is great'" (Eccl. V).

Christ had told the Pharisees not to boast of their own righteousness, but to receive penitent sinners, and to redeem their sins by almsgiving. But they derided the Preacher of mercy, humility, and frugality; as it is said, And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard these things; and derided him: it may be for two reasons, either because He commanded what was not sufficiently profitable, or cast blame upon their past superfluous actions.

They justify themselves before men who despise sinners as in a weak and hopeless condition, but fancy themselves to be perfect and not to need the remedy of almsgiving; but how justly the depth of deadly pride is to be condemned, He sees who will enlighten the hidden places of darkness. Hence it follows, But God knoweth your hearts.

Now the Pharisees derided our Saviour disputing against covetousness, as if He taught things contrary to the Law and the Prophets, in which many very rich men are said to have pleased God; but Moses also himself promised that the people whom he ruled, if they followed the Law, should abound in all earthly goods. (Deut. 28:11.) These the Lord answers by showing that between the Law and the Gospel, as in these promises so also in the commands, there is not the slightest difference. Hence He adds, The Law and the Prophets were until John.

But lest they should suppose that in His words, the Law and the Prophets were until John, He preached the destruction of the Law or the Prophets, He obviates such a notion, adding, And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law should fail. For it is written, the fashion of this world passeth away. (1 Cor. 7:31.) But of the Law, not even the very extreme point of one letter, that is, not even the least things are destitute of spiritual sacraments. And yet the Law and the Prophets were until John, because that could always be prophesied as about to come, which by the preaching of John it was clear had come. But that which He spoke beforehand concerning the perpetual inviolability of the Law, He confirms by one testimony taken therefrom for the sake of example, saying, Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband, committeth adultery; that from this one instance they should learn that He came not to destroy but to fulfil the commands of the Law.