SERMON CXXVIII

And as they hear these things, He added and spake a parable, because He was nigh unto Jerusalem, and they thought that the kingdom of God was about immediately to be manifested. He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And when he had called ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said unto them, Traffic until I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent an embassy after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass that when he had received the kingdom and returned, he commanded them to call unto him those servants, to whom he had given the money, that he might know what they had gained by trading. And the first came saying, Lord, thy mina hath gained ten minas more. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a little, thou shalt have authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, thy mina hath gained five minas. And he said also unto him, And thou shalt be over five cities. And the other came, saying, Lord, behold thy mina that I had, laid up in a napkin. For I was afraid of thee, because thou art a hard man; because thou takest up what thou layedst not down, and reapest what thou didst not sow. And he said unto him, Out of thy mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I am a hard man; that I take up what I layed not down, and reap what I did not sow. Why didst thou not give my money to the table [of the moneychanger], and I on my return should have exacted it with its usury. And he said unto those that stood before him, Take from him the mina, and give it to him that hath ten minas. And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten minas! For I say unto you, that unto every one that hath shall be given; but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him. But these my enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay before me.

APPROACH yet once again, that opening widely the eye of the mind, we may receive the light of the sacred doctrines, which Christ richly sheds on those who love Him. For He also is the true light, Who enlighteneth angels, and principalities, and thrones and dominions, and even the holy seraphim, and also shineth into the hearts of those that fear Him. Let us ask therefore the illumination which He bestows, that understanding exactly the force of the parable set before us, we may store up in our minds as a spiritual treasure the benefit which it offers us.

The scope therefore of the parable briefly represents the whole purport of the dispensation that was to usward, and of the mystery of Christ from the beginning even unto the end. For the Word being God became man: but even though He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, and on this account is also called a servant, yet He was and is free born, by His being ineffably begotten of the Father:—yea! and He is God also, transcending all in nature and in glory, and surpassing the things of our estate, or rather even the whole creation, by His incomparable fulness. The man therefore is freeborn, as being the Son of God: and not as we are called to this appellation by His goodness and love to mankind, but because it belongs to Him by nature, both to be of the Father by generation, and also to transcend every thing that is made. When then the Word, Who was in the likeness of, and equal with the Father, was made like unto us, “He became obedient unto death, and the death of the cross: and therefore, God also, it says, hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name that is above every name: that at the Name of Jesus Christ every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and of those under the earth; and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, Amen.” Did the Father therefore give the Name Which is above every name to the Son as one Who is not God by nature? And how then, if this be true, has there not been a new God manifested unto us? And yet the sacred Scripture cries aloud, “There shall no new God be in thee: neither shalt thou worship any strange God.” But He would be different and alien from God, were He not of Him by nature.

The Son therefore certainly is God by nature: and how then did the Father give Him that Name which is above every name! To this we say, that when He was flesh, that is, man like unto us, He took the name of a servant, and assumed our poverty and low estate: but when He had finished the mystery of the dispensation in the flesh, He was raised to the glory that belonged to Him by nature; not as to something unwonted and strange, and that accrued to Him from without, and was given Him from another, but rather as to that which was His own. For He spake unto God the Father in heaven, “Father, glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” For existing before the ages, and before the worlds, as one That was of God, and was God, He was clothed with the glory which belongs to the Godhead; and when He became a man, as I said, He endured neither mutation nor change, but continued rather in that state in which He had constantly existed, and such as the Father was Who begot Him, that is to say, like Him in every thing. For He is also “the image of His person,” Who by right of His nature possesses every thing that He is Who begat Him, by being, I mean, of the selfsame substance, and of an equality admitting of no variation, and of a similarity to Him in every thing. Being therefore by nature God, He is said to have received of the Father the Name which is above every name, when He had become man, that He might be believed in as God and the King of all, even in the flesh, that was united unto Him.

But when He had endured for our sakes the passion upon the cross, and by the resurrection of His body from the dead had abolished death, He ascended unto the Father, and became as a man journeying unto a far country: for heaven is a different country from earth,—and He ascended that He might receive for Himself a kingdom. Here again remember, I pray, the blessed Paul, who says, “That we must destroy reasonings, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and lead captive every thought to the obedience of Christ.” For how does He Who reigns over all with the Father ascend unto Him to receive a kingdom? I answer, that the Father gives this also to the Son in respect of His having become man. For when He ascended into heaven, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, henceforth expecting until His enemies are put under His feet. For it was said unto Him of the Father, “Sit Thou at My right hand, until I place Thy enemies as the footstool for Thy feet.”

“But his citizens, it says, hated him.” And similarly Christ reproaches the Jewish multitudes, saying, “If I had not done among them the works which no one else hath done, they had not had sin: but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father.” They would not have Him reign over them: and yet the holy prophets were constantly uttering predictions of Christ as of a King. For one of them even said, “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, for lo! thy King cometh unto thee, just, and a Saviour; He is meek, and riding upon an ass, and upon a new foal.” And the blessed Isaiah says of Him and of the holy apostles, “Behold a just king shall reign, and princes shall rule with judgment.” And again, Christ Himself has somewhere said by the voice of the Psalmist, “But I have been appointed King by Him upon Zion, His holy mount, and I will declare the commandment of the Lord.”

They then denied His kingdom: for when they drew near unto Pilate saying, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him,” he asked them, or rather said unto them in derision, “Shall I crucify your king?” And they answering with wicked words, said, “We have no king but Cæsar.” Having denied therefore the kingdom of Christ, they fell under the dominion of Satan, and brought upon themselves the yoke of sin, which cannot be thrown off. For they would not have their neck free, though Christ invited them thereunto, saying, that “Every one that doeth sin is the slave of sin: but the slave continueth not in the house for ever; the Son abideth for ever: if therefore the Son make you free, ye will become truly free.” And again, “If ye abide in My Word, ye are truly My disciples. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” But Israel in its madness was not open to instruction, and therefore it has continued in slavery, because it refused to know Christ, Who maketh free.

And thus far I will proceed on the present occasion, reserving for some other time the consideration of the rest of the parable; lest too long a discourse be found both fatiguing to him who speaks, and wearisome to those who hear. And may He Who is the Bestower and Giver of all good bless you all, even Christ: by Whom and with Whom to God the Father be praise and dominion, with the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever, Amen.