Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/514

 PARABLES

464

PARABLES

"Matt.", 70; Loisy, "Ev. syn.", Ill, 770-3.) It has been questioned whether in the leaven we should recognize a good influence, answering to the texts, "you are the salt of the earth, the light of the world" (Matt., V, 13-14), or the evil to be "purged out" ac- cording to St. Paul (I Cor., v, 6-8). Better to take it as the "good seed", with consequent appHcations, as St. Ignatius does (Ad Magnes., x), and St. Gregory Naz. (Orat., xxxvi, 90). By the "three measures" were understood in the Gnostic system the "earthly", "carnal", and "spiritual" cla.sses among Christians (Iren., I, viii). Trench admirably describes these two parables as setting before us the "mystery of regener- ation" in the world and the heart of man. For the "leaven of the Pharisees", consult authors on Matt., xvi, 6.

The hidden treasure (Matt., xiii, 44) ; the pearl of price (ibid., 45). With Origen we may term these "similitudes"; in one the object is found as if by acci- dent (Is., Ixv, 1; Rom., x, 20: "I was found by them that did not seek me"); in the other a man seeks and buys it deliberately. Under such figures would be sig- nified the calling of the Gentiles and the spiritual striv- ings of those who, with Simeon, waited "for the con- solation of Israel". There is surely an allusion to the joy of martyrdom in the first (Matt., x, 37). The con- cealed treasure is a widespread Ea.stern idea (Job, iii, 21 ; Prov., ii, 4) ; pearls or rubies, which may be repre- sented by the same Hebrew word (Job, x.x^■iii, 18; Prov., iii, 15, etc.) will mean the "jewel" of faith, our Lord Himself, or everlasting life; and Christians must make the great surrender if they would gain it. No keeping back is possible, so far as the spirit is con- cerned; a man must give the whole world for his "soul", which is worth more, hence he rejoices. Here, as elsewhere, the comparison does not imply any judg- ment on the morality of the persons taken by way of figures; the casuistry- of "treasure trove", the possi- ble overreaching in business, belong to the "rind" not the "marrow" of the story and yield no lesson. St. Jerome understands Holy Writ to be the treasure; St. Augustine, "the two Testaments of the Law", but Christ never identifies the "Kingdom" with Scrip- ture. A strange interpretation, not warranted by the context, looks on the Saviour as at once seeker and finder.

The draw net (Matt., xiii, 47-50) completes the sevenfold teaching in the first Gospel. The order was chosen by St. Matthew; and if we accept the mystic signification of the number "seven", i. e., "perfec- tion", we shall perceive in this parable not a repeti- tion, as Maldonatus held, of the tares, but its crown. In the tares separation of good and bad is put off; here it is accomplished. St. Augustine composed a kind of ballad for the people against the Donatist schismatics which expresses the doctrine clearly, "se- cuU finis est littus, tunc est tempus separare" (see Enarr. in Ps., Ixiv, 6). The net is a sweeping net, Lat. verriculum, or a seine, which of necessity captures all sorts, and requires to be hauled on shore and the divi- sion made. For the Jews, in particular, the clean must be taken and the unclean cast away. Since it is dis- tinctly stated that within the net are both good and bad, this implies a visible and a mixed congregation until the Lord comes with His angels to judgment (Matt., xiii, 41; Apoc, xiv, IS). The Evangelist, Loisy obser\'es, has understood this parable, like the others quoted, allegorically, and Christ is the Fisher of men. Clement of Alexandria perhaps wrote the well-known Oq)hie hymn which contains a similar ap- pellation. The "fiery furnace", the "tears and the gnashing of teeth", going beyond the figures in the story, belong to its meaning and to Christian dogma. In the conclusion "every scribe" (xiii, .52) points to the duty which Our Lord's Apostles will hand on to the Church of bringing forth to believers the hidden spirit- ual sense of tradition, "the new and the old ". Speci-

fically, this does not serve as a distinction of the Testa- ments; but we may compare, "1 came not to destroy but to fulfil", and "not one jot, or one tittle" (Matt., V, 17-18). Modernist critics atlrilnitc the whole idea of a Christian "scribe" to St. Malt Ik \v :ui<l not to our Lord. The expression "instructed " is literally, "hav- ing been made a disciple", iui.6r\TevBeU^ and is of rare occurrence (Matt in loco; xxvii, 57; xxviii, 19; Acts, xiv, 21). It answers to the Hebrew "Sons of the proph- ets" and is thoroughly Oriental (IV Kings, ii, 3, etc.)

The unmerciful servant, or "serve nequam" (Matt., xviii, 21-35), might be summed up in two words, "Forgiven, forgive". This chapter xviii re- sumes the parabolic teaching; Christ sets the little child in the midst of His disciples as an example of humility, and tells the story of the Good Shepherd (verses 11-13) which St. John's Gospel repeats in the first person. I'ndoubtedly, Christ said "I am the Good Shepherd", as He says here, "The Son of man is come to save that which was lost" (11). St. Peter's question, "How oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?" brings out the very spirit of Jew- ish legahsm, in which the Apostle was yet bound, while it provokes a statement of the Christian ideal. Contrast, frequentlj' employed to heighten the effect of our Lord's teaching, is here visible in the attitude taken up by Peter and corrected by His Master. "Un- til seventy times seven times", the perfection of the perfect, signifies of course not a number but a princi- ple, "Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good" (Rom., xii, 21). That is the "secret of Jesus" and constitutes His revelation. St. Jerome read a curious variant, plainly a gloss, in the "Gospel ac- cording to the Hebrews" (Loisy, II, 93). The prover- bial number is perhaps taken from Lamech's song of revenge (Gen., iv, 24); where however the A. V. reads "seventy and sevenfold". This parable is the first in which God appears and acts like a king, though of course the title is frequent in the Old Testament. As regards the persons, observe that Our Lord does not give them names, which makes the story-telling more difficult. The "wicked servant" may be a satrap, and his enormous debt would be the tribute of his Government. That he and his were sold into slavery would seem natural to an Eastern, then or later. "Ten thousand talents" may refer to the Ten Com- mandments. "A hundred pence" owed by his "fel- low servant" graphically depicts the situation as be- tween man and man compared with human offences towards God. The "prison" in which torture is to wring from the culprit all he possesses, represents what has ever taken place under the tyrannies of Asia, down to recent times (compare Burke's charges against Warren Hastings in reference to similar acts). "Till he paid" might .signify "never", according to a possi- ble sense of "donee", and was taken so by St. John Chrj-sostom. Later theologians con.strue it more mildly and adapt the words to a prison where spiritual debts may be redeemed, i. e., to purgatory (Matt., v, 25-26, closely corresponds). The moral has been hap- pily termed "Christ's law of retaliation", announced by Him aforetime in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt., V, 38-48), and the Lord's Prayer makes it a condition of our own forgiveness.

The labourers in the vineyard (Matt., xx, 1-16) has become celebrated in modern economical discus- sions by its pregnant phrase "To this last." Calde- ron, the Spanish poet, renders its meaning well, "To thy neighbour as to thee". But among parables it is one of the hardest to work out, and is variously ex- pounded. In the main it is an answer to all Pharisees and Pelagians who demand eternal life as a recom- pense due to their works, and who murmur when "sin- ners" or the less worthy are accepted, though coming late to the Divine call. It might seasonably introduce the Epistle to the Romans, which proceeds on iden- tical fines and teaches the same lesson. Yet no one