And Jesus answered and spoke unto them again by parables, and said,
All Commentaries on Matthew 22:1 Go To Matthew 22
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And Jesus answered, &c, refuting the incredulity of the Scribes. The meaning is: it is the same in the kingdom of Heaven, i.e, in the Church militant here on earth, as if a king made a marriage for his Song of Solomon , &c. For in other respects the kingdom of Heaven is not directly and precisely like a king, but a kingdom. S. Gregory treats this parable at length (Hom38 , in Evang.).
The parable is similar to that which Luke records ( Luke 14:16). Maldonatus thinks it is the same with that, and that Matthew has not here observed the historical order. With more reason S. Augustine (l2 , de consens. Evang. c71), S. Thomas, Jansen, and others think that this is a different parable from that in Luke; or if the same, that they were uttered upon two occasions, and in different words. It is clear on comparison that they have numerous differences. For, not to speak of other things, Luke says that the parable was spoken in the house of a Pharisee. Matthew here asserts that it was spoken publicly in the temple. This is plain from ver23. Again, Luke calls this marriage feast a supper; Matthew , a dinner.
And sent his servants, &c. For marriage, the Syriac version has throughout feast, meaning marriage feast.
The whole parable may be expounded and applied as follows:—1The king is God the Father; the son of the king, the bridegroom is God"s Incarnate Song of Solomon , Jesus Christ, whose spouse is the Church, whose nuptials were begun in the Incarnation of Christ, for in it Christ espoused human nature to Himself, hypostatically, and the Church, that Isaiah , all faithful people, mystically, to be His Spouse by grace. But in Heaven these nuptials shall be consummated with glory. So Origen, SS. Hilary, Jerome, Gregory, and others. Wherefore, tropologically, "by marriage, understand," says Origen, "the union of Christ with the soul; and by offspring, good works."
2d. God the Father made a marriage feast for Christ, since in Judea, and in the whole world, He hath, through Christ, spread a table of evangelical doctrine and sacraments, especially the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
3d. To this nuptial feast the Jews were invited by God, through Moses and the prophets, as the servants of God, both before and after the incarnation of Christ, that they might believe first that it was about to take place, and then that it had taken place; that Song of Solomon , believing in Christ, repenting and seeking grace from Him, they might obtain justice and salvation.
4th Bulls and fatlings have only the general signification of rich provision for a banquet. They denote the grandeur of the doctrines of the Gospel, says S. Jerome, and of the Sacraments.
Moreover, fatlings (altilia, Vulg.) do not mean winged creatures, birds and fowls, but bulls and calves, and other creatures which are fed up. Altilia is derived from alo, to nourish. The Greek is σιτιστά, fatlings. Wherefore the Arabic translates, and my calves are now fed, and have been killed, Gr. τεθυμÎνα, i.e, have been immolated. For in olden time, as now, weddings were wont to be inaugurated by a sacrifice, and marriage feasts were kept with victims slain and offered in sacrifice. So also the marriage feast of Christ, which is here parabolically described, took its beginning from the sacrifice of the Cross. Symbolically, by bulls (Vulg.) S. Gregory understands the Fathers of the Old Covenant, who, by the permission of the Law, smote their enemies with the horn of corporeal strength. But the fatlings, saith Hebrews , are the Fathers of the New Testament, raised by contemplation from the things of earth to things above. But Chrysostom says, "fatlings are Prophets; bulls, those who were both Prophets and Priests." As bulls are leaders of the herd, so are Priests the princes of the people. S. Hilary says, the bulls are martyrs, who, like victims, have been immolated. The fatlings are spiritual persons, filled as it were with spiritual bread. Lastly, Origen says, the dinner is the word of God. Bulls signify the strong meat of the word; fatlings its sweeter portions.
5th. The field, the farm, whither those who were invited went away, despising the invitation, signify temporal good things, which drew away the Jews from the faith of Christ, and from heavenly good things; and which led them to slay the servants of God, yea, even Christ Himself. Wherefore, God sent Titus , who slew the Jews as being murderers, and burnt up their city, namely, their capital, Jerusalem.
Christ in this parable has an allusion to Isaiah 25:6, "And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined;" and Isaiah 30:23-24, "Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan."
Learn from hence that Christ always sets before us in the Church a rich spiritual banquet of holy doctrine and grace, abundantly seasoned with sacred lections, sermons, exhortations, and with innumerable examples in every kind of virtue, of Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, with frequent receiving of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, which is "the corn of the elect, and the wine that maketh virgins," as Zechariah saith ( Zechariah 19:17); with the Sacrifice of the Mass, with such great adornment of the sacred ministers, altars, and temples, and with the heavenly harmony of music and organs, and many other things which feed, delight, inebriate the souls of the faithful, so that Christianity is to the pious one continual banquet, according to the words in Isaiah 66:23, "The feast of the new moon shall be from one month to another, and from sabbath to sabbath."
Lastly, Christ Himself, Incarnate, is the perennial food and joy of the faithful. For Hebrews , through the Incarnation, really communicates to them not only all the gifts of His grace, but Himself, in all His fulness, and therefore His very Deity itself. And this He gives them to taste, to eat, to enjoy, as it is said in S. John 6:51, "I am the Living Bread, who came down from heaven. Whosoever shall eat of this Bread, shall live eternally." This is the reason why Isaiah , when declaring beforehand the delights and happiness which were to come to the new Church from Christ Incarnate, everywhere rejoices and exults, and invites all Christians evermore to rejoice and exult with him. See chaps2 , 7.; chaps30 ,35 ,60, 61,62, &c. Let Christians therefore, and especially Priests and Religions, take care to feed in these feasts in their souls; and serve Christ in righteousness and holiness, that thus they may begin that life of beatitude with Him now, which by and by will be perfected and consummated in Heaven.
