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| Exposition Continued: the King and the Servants.
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7. Exposition
Continued: the King and the Servants.
“The kingdom of heaven,” He says,
“is likened,”6078
etc. But
if it be likened to such a king, and one who has done such things, who
must we say that it is but the Son of God? For He is the King of
the heavens, and as He is absolute Wisdom and absolute Righteousness
and absolute Truth, is He not so also absolute Kingdom? But it is
not a kingdom of any of those below, nor of a part of those above, but
of all the things above, which were called heavens. But if you
enquire into the meaning of the words, “Theirs is the kingdom of
heaven,”6079
you may say that
Christ is theirs in so far as He is absolute Kingdom, reigning in every
thought of the man who is no longer under the reign of sin which reigns
in the mortal body of those who have subjected themselves to
it.6080
And if I say, reigning in every
thought, I mean something like this, reigning as Righteousness and
Wisdom and Truth and the rest of the virtues in him who has become a
heaven, because of bearing the image of the heavenly, and in every
power, whether angelic, or the rest that are named saints, not only in
this age, but also in that which is to come, and who are worthy of a
kingdom of such a kind. Accordingly this kingdom of heaven (when
it was made “in the likeness of sinful flesh,”6081
that for sin it might condemn sin, when God
made “Him who knew no sin to be sin on behalf of
us,”6082
who bear the body
of our sin), is likened to a certain king who is understood in relation
to Jesus being united to Him, if we may dare so to speak, having more
capacity towards being united and becoming entirely one with the
“First-born of all creation,”6083
than he, who, being joined to the Lord, becomes one spirit with
Him.6084
Now of this kingdom of the heavens
which is likened unto a certain king, according to the conception of
Jesus, and is united to Him, it is said by anticipation that he wished
to make a reckoning with his servants. But he is about to make a
reckoning with them in order that it may be manifested how each has
employed the tried money of the householder and his rational
coins. And the image in the parables was indeed taken from
masters who made a reckoning with their own servants; but we shall
understand more accurately what is signified by this part of the
parable, if we fix our thought on the things done by the slaves who had
administered their master’s goods, and who were asked to give a
reckoning concerning them. For each of them, receiving in
different measure from his master’s goods, has used them either
for that which was right so as to increase the goods of his master, or
consumed it riotously on things which he ought not, and spent profusely
without judgment and without discretion that which had been put into
his hands. But there are those who have wisely administered these
goods and goods so great, but have lost others, and whenever they give
the reckoning when the master makes a reckoning with them, there is
gathered together how much loss each has incurred, and there is
reckoned up how much gain each has brought, and according to the
worthiness of the way in which he has administered it, he is either
honoured or punished, or in some cases the debt is forgiven, but in
others the talents are taken away. Well, then, from what has been
said, let us first look at the
rational coins and the tried money of the householder, of which one
receives more and another less, for according to the ability of each,
to one are given five talents as he has the ability to administer so
many, but to another two as not being able to receive the amount of the
man before him, and to another one as being also inferior to the
second.6085
Are these,
then, the only differences, or are we to recognize these differences in
the case of certain persons of whom the Gospel goes on to speak while
there are also others besides these: In other parables also are
found certain persons, as the two debtors, the one who owed five
hundred pence, and the other fifty;6086
but whether
these had been entrusted with them and had administered them badly as
being inferior in ability to him who had been entrusted with a talent,
or had received them, we have not learned; but that they owed so much,
we seem to be taught from the parable. And there are found other
ten servants who were each entrusted with a pound separately.6087
And if any one understood the varied
character of the human soul and the wide differences from each other in
respect of natural aptitude, or want of aptitude for more or fewer of
the virtues, and for these virtues or for those, perhaps he would
comprehend how each soul has come with certain coins of the householder
which come to light with the full attainment of reason, and with the
attention which follows the full attainment of reason, and with
exercise in things that are right, or with diligence and exercise in
other things, whether they be useful as pursuits, or in part useful and
in part not useful, such as the opinions which are not wholly true nor
wholly false.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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