The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. Luke
Ver. 46. — And shall cut him asunder. That is, shall separate him from Himself, and His household, the Church triumphant; from the society of the Blessed and from the Beatitude promised to the faithful servants. See St Jerome on Matt xxiv. : “ Shall cut him asunder, that is, shall separate him from the Communion of Saints.” St Hilary: " Shall separate him from the good promises;” Origen: “Shall cut him off from the gift of the Holy Spirit and from the society and guardianship of the Angels, for Christ will deprive him of all grace, all virtue, all help, and all hope of salvation.”
And appoint his position with the unfaithful. That is, shall punish him with the other servants who were unfaithful to him, although they pretended to be the contrary. Hence Matt xxiv. 51 has “with the hypocrites.” These unfaithful are perhaps the unbelieving — they who would not believe in Christ, and of whom it is said, “ He that believeth not hath been judged already.” S. John iii. 18.
Ver. 47. — And that servant which knew his lord’s will and made not ready . Did not prepare for the coming of his lord by distributing to his fellow-servants their portions of food in season, but by ill-treating them, and by debauchery, squandered the goods of his master, “ he shall be beaten with many stripes.”
Ver. 48. — But he that knew not , and did things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes. That is, with fewer than he who knew his lord's will, according to the measure as well of his ignorance as of his act and fault. There are four degrees of ignorance, the first invincible, which is without blame; the second vincible, but hardly so, which has some fault and is subject to punishment ; the third crass, which has more blame ; the fourth wilful, which has the most blame and the heaviest punishment. Of this the xxxvi. Psalm speaks, verse 4, “ He deviseth mischief upon his bed ; he setteth himself in a way that is not good, he abhorreth not evil.” “ This man,” says Euthymius, “ despised everything ; that one was slothful. But contempt is worse than sloth.” For the slothful man knew not when he might have known, and, as Titus says, he neglected to learn and despised, and derided contemptuously. Hence it is plain against Jovinian and modern heretics that there are degrees even of mortal sin, and some are worse than others, and will therefore meet with more heavy punishment in hell, but one of a milder, the other of a more severe punishment.
And to whomsoever much is given — a greater knowledge that is, and recognition of his master's will — of him shall much be required , by Christ the judge, and in the particular as well as general judgment. For, as S. Gregory (Hom. 9) says, “ When gifts are increased the responsibility is increased also,” and to whom they commit much (that is, the care and superintendence of souls), of him will they ask the more . “ Many things,” says Bede, “ are entrusted to him, to whom is committed, with his own salvation, the salvation also of the flock of God. From such will Christ, His assessors the Apostles, and the other judges, require the more, not only their own safety and salvation as far as lies in them, but those also of the faithful committed to them.” “ In the pastor,” says S. Bernard, “ is required the care of souls, not the cure (cura requiritur, non curatio). The latter may be impossible from the virulence or pertinacity either of the disease or of the patient.” “These things,” says Titus, “clearly show the judgment of the surgeons and pastors, whilst that of the rest is not less grave and perilous. Let them not therefore show pride because of their degree and office, but discharge their duties and feed their flocks with the greater humility, zeal, and diligence.” “Each one, therefore,” says S. Gregory,
“ ought to be the more humble and prompt to serve God, from the office given to him, as he knows himself to be under the greater obligation of giving account.”
Again, S. Bernard (Lib. iv. de Consid.), lays down forcibly, and points out, to Pope Eugenius III. what, and how much, God requires from Pontiffs, Bishops, and Prelates. “Consider thyself,” he says, “as the form of justice, the mirror of holiness — the exemplar of piety —the assertor of the truth, the defender of the faith, the doctor of the Gentiles, the leader of Christians, the friend of the bridegroom, the ordainer of the clergy, the pastor of the people, the governor of the unwise, the refuge of the oppressed, the advocate of the poor, the hope of the wretched, the tutor of the young, the judge of widows, the eyes of the blind, the tongue of the dumb, the staff of the aged, the avenger of crimes, the dread of the wicked, the glory of the good, the rod of the powerful, the hammer of tyrants, the father of kings, the judge of the laws, the dispenser of canonries, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the priest of the Most High, the Vicar of Christ. Who would not be struck with fear, and tremble, when he heard this, all of which is required of your see ? ” Thus S. Paul to the Heb. xiii. 17, on which, says S. Chrysostom, “I wonder if any guardian of souls can be saved,” Cardinal Bellarmine said the same of Pontiffs. Hence wise and holy men have avoided prelacies , and have only accepted them by compulsion. S. Cyprian, in his Epist. 2, lib. iv., wrote thus of Cornelius the Pontiff : “ He did not demand the popedom for himself, nor seize it by force, as others puffed up by their arrogance and pride have done, but quietly and modestly, and like others who have been divinely called to this office, he endured force lest he should be compelled to accept it.” In like manner, as far as they could, SS. Gregory, Chrysostom , Ambrose, Basil, Nazianzen, Nicholas, Athanasius, shunned the office of Bishops ; and in our own times Pius V., when chosen Pontiff, turned pale and almost fell into a faint. When asked the reason he frankly answered, “ When I was a Religious of the Order of Benedict, I had very good hope of my salvation ; when I was afterwards made a Bishop I began to have a dread about it : now that I am chosen Pontiff I almost despair of it, for how am I to give account to God for so many thousands of souls as are in this whole city, when I can scarcely answer for my own soul ? ” So it is in his life. Finally, the Council of Trent declares the burthen of a Bishop’s office to be one formidable to the shoulders of angels.
Ver. 49. — I came to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, if it is already kindled ? The Arabic has, “ What will I but that it be kindled?” So the Egyptian, Ethiopic, and Persian. It is uncertain whether Christ said this at the same time as the preceding. For S. Luke joins the words of Christ together, although spoken at different times. It may be connected with the preceding and following thus : Christ after much teaching of the Apostles and faithful, may, at last, have stated the primary duty that He was sent into the world by the Father to fulfil, namely, that He should send fire from heaven on the Apostles, that they, when inflamed by it, might kindle it in the rest of the other faithful ; for by this the Apostles would fully and efficaciously perform the work that had been given them by Christ of evangelising the whole world and converting it to Him, and the faithful would exactly carry on the instructions of the Apostles.
Symbolically , S. Ambrose, on Ps. cxix. (Serm. viii.) says : “ God is a light to lighten and a fire to burn up the chaff of men's vices.” “ He is light,” he says, “ to shine like a lantern for one who is walking in darkness, so that whoever seeks it in its brightness cannot err. He is fire to consume the straw and chaff of our works, as gold, the more it is refined, is better proved.” So Clement of Alexandria in his exhortations to the Gentiles : “ The Saviour has many voices and methods of man’s salvation. In threatening He admonishes; by prohibitions He converts; with tears He pities; (in songs) He speaks through the cloud ; (in songs) by fire He strikes terror. The flame is a mark at once of grace and of fear. If you be obedient it is a light — if disobedient, a consuming fire.”