Catena Aurea on Matthew
Hilary Or otherwise; The oxen are the glorious army of Martyrs, offered, like choice victims, for the confession of God; the fatlings are spiritual men, as birds fed for flight upon heavenly food, that they may fill others with the abundance of the food they have eaten.
Greg. It is to be observed, that in the first invitation nothing was said of the oxen or fatlings, but in the second it is announced that they are already killed, because Almighty God when we will not hear His words gives examples, that what we suppose impossible may become easy to us to surmount, when we hear that others have passed through it before us.
Origen Or; The dinner which is prepared is the oracle of God; and so the more mighty of the oracles of God are the oxen; the sweet and pleasant are the fatlings. For if any one bring forward feeble words, without power, and not having strong force of reason, these are the lean things; the fatlings are when to the establishment of each proposition many examples are brought forward backed by reasonable proofs. For example, supposing one holding discourse of chastity, it might well be represented by the turtle-dove; but should he bring forward the same holy discourse full of reasonable proof out of Scripture, so as to delight and strengthen the mind of his hearer, then he brings the dove fatted.
Pseudo-Chrys. That He says, “And all things are now ready,” means, that all that is required to salvation is already filled up in the Scriptures; there the ignorant may find instruction; the self-willed may read of terrors; he who is in difficulty may there find promises to rouse him to activity.
Gloss., interlin. Or, “All things are now ready,” i.e., The entrance into the kingdom, which had been hitherto closed, is now ready through faith in My incarnation.
Pseudo-Chrys., non occ. sed vid. Gloss. ord. Or He says, “All things are now ready” which belong to the mystery of the Lord’s Passion, and our redemption. He says, “Come to the marriage,” not with your feet, but with faith, and good conduct. “But they made light of it;” why they did so He shows when He adds, “And they went their way, one to his farm, another to his merchandize.”
Chrys. These occupations seem to be entirely reasonable; but we learn hence, that however necessary the things that take up our time, we ought to prefer spiritual things to every thing beside. But it seems to me that they only pretended these engagements as a cloak for their disregard of the invitation.
Hilary For men are taken up with worldly ambition as with a farm; and many through covetousness are engrossed with trafficking.
Pseudo-Chrys. Or otherwise; When we work with the labor of our hands, for example, cultivating our field or our vineyard, or any manufacture of wood or iron, we seem to be occupied with our “farm;” any other mode of getting money unattended with manual labor is here called “merchandize.” O most miserable world! and miserable ye that follow it! The pursuits of this world have ever shut men out of life.
Greg. Whosoever then intent upon earthly business, or devoted to the actions of this world, feigns to be meditating upon the mystery of the Lord’s Passion, and to be living accordingly, is he that refuses to come to the King’s wedding on pretext of going to his farm or his merchandize. Nay often, which is worse, some who are called not only reject the grace, but become persecutors, “And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them despitefully and slew them.”
Pseudo-Chrys. Or, by the business of a farm, He denotes the Jewish populace, whom the delights of this world separated from Christ; by the excuse of merchandize, the Priests and other ministers of the Temple, who, coming to the service of the Law and the Temple through greediness of gain, have been shut out of the faith by covetousness. Of these He said not ‘They were filled with envy,’ but “They made light of it.” For they who through hate and spite crucified Christ, are they who were filled with envy; but they who being entangled in business did not believe on Him, are not said to have been filled with envy, but to have made light of it. The Lord is silent respecting His own death, because He had spoken of it in the foregoing parable, but He shows forth the death of His disciples, whom after His ascension the Jews put to death, stoning Stephen and executing James the son of Alphaeus, for which things Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. And it is to be observed, that anger is attributed to God figuratively and not properly; He is then said to be angry when He punishes.
Jerome When He was doing works of mercy, and bidding to His marriage-feast, He was called a man; now when He comes to vengeance, the man is dropped, and He is called only a King.
Origen Let those who sin against the God of the Law, and the Prophets, and the whole creation, declare whether He who is here called man, and is said to be angry, is indeed the Father Himself. If they allow this, they will be forced to own that many things are said of Him applicable to the passible nature of man; not for that He has passions, but because He is represented to us after the manner of passible human nature. In this way we take God’s anger, repentance, and the other things of the like sort in the Prophets.
Jerome By “His armies” we understand the Romans under Vespasian and Titus, who having slaughtered the inhabitants of Judaea, laid in ashes the faithless city.
Pseudo-Chrys. The Roman army is called God’s army; because “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof;” (Ps 24:1) nor would the Romans have come to Jerusalem, had not the Lord stirred them thither.
Greg. Or, The armies of our King are the legions of His Angels. He is said therefore to have sent His armies, and to have destroyed those murderers, because all judgment is executed upon men by the Angels. He destroys those murderers, when He cuts off persecutors; and burns up their city, because not only their souls, but the body of flesh they had tenanted, is tormented in the everlasting fire of hell.
Origen Or, the city of those wicked men is in each doctrine the assembly of those who meet in the wisdom of the rulers of this world; which the King sets fire to and destroys, as consisting of evil buildings.
Greg. But when He sees that His invitation is spurned at, He will not have His Son’s marriage-feast empty; the word of God will find where it may stay itself.
Origen “He saith to His servants,” that is, to the Apostles; or to the Angels, who were set over the calling of the Gentiles, “The wedding is ready.”
Remig. That is, the whole sacrament of the human dispensation is completed and closed. “But they which were bidden,” that is the Jews, “were not worthy,” because, “ignorant of the righteousness of God, and going about to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.” (Rom 10:3) The Jewish nation then being rejected, the Gentile people were taken in to the marriage-feast; whence it follows, “Go ye out into the crossings of the streets, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the wedding.”
Jerome For the Gentile nation was not in the streets, but in the crossings of the streets.
Remig. These are the errors of the gentiles.
Pseudo-Chrys. Or; The streets are all the professions of this world, as philosophy, soldiery, and the like. And therefore He says, “Go out into the crossings of the streets,” that they may call to the faith men of every condition. Moreover, as chastity is the way that leads to God, so fornication is the way that leads to the Devil; and so it is in the other virtues and vices. Thus He bids them invite to the faith men of every profession or condition.
Hilary By the street also is to be understood the time of this world, and they are therefore bid to go to the crossings of the streets, because the past is remitted to all.
Greg. Or otherwise; In holy Scripture, way is taken to mean actions; so that the crossings of the ways we understand as failure in action, for they usually come to God readily, who have had little prosperity in worldly actions.