The Sunday Sermons of St. Bonaventure

Sermon 46: Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

penTecoST and The SundayS afTer 487 sermon 46: nineTeenTh sunday afTer PenTeCosT [Sermon] 1. But when the king heard of it, he was angry ; and he sent his armies, and destroyed those murderers . Matthew 22:7. Since it attests to the goodness of the judge that he rushes with the zeal of justice to hear counsel , detests in the heart and, if the possibility appears, punishes with works; therefore, our Lord indicates in the commendation of divine equity these three things in order in the proposed verse: and the first is the arousal of justice; the second is the detesting of the fault; and the third is the infliction of punishment. Whence, divine justice was aroused in hearing, the fault was detested in the affections, and the penalty was inflicted in an effect. The first is noted, when it says: But when the king heard of it, the second, when it adds: he was angry; and the third, when it further adds: he destroyed those murders. 2. It says therefore: But when the king heard of it, where it notes the arousal of justice by hearing. Divine justice is aroused at that time, when it first hears the arrogance of detestable disobedience; second, the malevolence of impiety and fury; third, the pleasure of carnal gluttony. By reason of the first, God is scorned; by reason of the second, the neighbor is offended, and by reason of the third, the body is corrupted. 3. First, divine justice is aroused, when it hears the arrogance of detestable disobedience that scorns God. Whence Isaiah 37:4-5 states: May your Lord God hear the words of Rabsaces, whom the king of Assyria, his The Sunday SermonS of ST. BonavenTure 488 lord, sent to blaspheme the living God and reproach with words, which the Lord God heard. Through Rabsaces who was sent by the king of Assyria to blaspheme God, the evil Christian is understood who is sent by diabolical suggestion to sin, and for this reason God is blasphemed. Whence Bede says: “Moreover the one, who was struck down by the blows of the Jews, is now struck down by the blasphemies of false Christians,”811 and he who was spat upon with the spittle of the unfaithful, is now dishonored with the frenzied reproaches of sinners. Isaiah 16:6 says something similar to this: We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is exceedingly proud. His pride, arrogance, and his indignation are more than his fortitude.The Lord says this, aroused with the zeal of justice, to condemn his sin. 4. Second, God is aroused when he hears the malevolence of cruelty and fury that oppresses a neighbor. The gospel today speaks of this: The rest laid hold of his servants , treated them shamefully, and killed them.812 But when the king heard of it, he was angry; and he sent his armies, and destroyed those murderers. The rest then not only disdained coming to the faith, indeed they laid hold of his servants, the apostles, by seizure and incarceration, and treated them shamefully with innumerable tribulations , and bodily killed them. But when the king heard the voice calling out to him from the earth,813 he was angry , and according to the Gloss “blazed up in revenge,”814 and sent his armies “namely the Romans under Titus and 811 This citation is not from Bede, but from Rabanus Maurus. See Book IV, c. 26, 67 of his Commentary on Matthew in PL 92:119A. The citation is almost verbatim. 812 See Matt 22:6. 813 See Gen 4:10: “And God said to Cain: What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the earth.” 814 The critical edition states that this is from the Glossa Interlinearis . penTecoST and The SundayS afTer 489 Vespasian;” he destroyed those murderers, that is, the “Jews who were persecuting” the saints; and burnt their city, namely, “Jerusalem.” Whence “it appears that it was totally burned and destroyed, seeing that it is presently constructed beyond the gate where the Lord was crucified ,” since the place of Christ’s crucifixion is not beyond the gate, but rather in the middle of the city.815 5.Third God is aroused, when he hears the pleasure of carnal gluttony that corrupts the proper subject. Whence Psalm 77:18-21 says: They tempted God, by asking food for their desires, ... Therefore...