ACC ~ Matthew 25 v24 - 25

YOU REAPED WHERE YOU DID NOT SOW

ORIGEN: They exemplify the very words of the servant who answers and says, “I knew you to be a hard man” and one who was able to reap “where you did not sow and gather where you did not winnow.”

The master answered him and reproached him as a wicked and lazy servant. Note that he did not call himself a hard man. But he agreed with the servant when he went on to say, “You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not winnow.”

How are we to understand the phrase that our Lord truly reaps where he did not sow and gathers where he did not winnow? In this way, it seems to me: The righteous man “sows in the Spirit,” from which he will also “reap eternal life.” [1] Everything that is sown and reaped for eternal life by the righteous man, God reaps. The righteous man belongs to God, who reaps where not he but the righteous man has sown. So we may say that the righteous man has “scattered and given to the poor.” [2] The Lord, however, gathers to himself whatever the righteous man has “scattered and given to the poor.” Reaping what he has not sown and gathering where he has not winnowed, he counts as having been done to himself whatever the faithful have sown or winnowed for the poor. He says to those who have done good to their neighbors: “Come you, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom which was prepared for you. I was hungry and you gave me to eat …” [3]

And since he wishes to reap where he did not sow and to gather where he did not winnow, when he does not find anything, he says to those who failed to reap and gather: “Depart from me, you wicked, into everlasting fire, which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you did not give me to eat.” [4] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 68. [5]

[1] Gal 6:8.

[2] 2 Cor 9:9.

[3] Mt 25:34-35.

[4] Mt 25:41.

[5] GCS 38.2:159-60.

ONE TALENT

ORIGEN: Then there was another servant who showed less ability. Because of it, the master of the household gave him “one talent” as though to the servant less capable. “Receiving” it, the servant went away and “hid the talent in the earth.” Instead he should have entrusted the money to the bankers. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 66. [1]

[1] GCS 38.2:155.

I WAS AFRAID

CHRYSOSTOM: But not so that other one, but how? “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow. I was afraid. I hid your talent. Here it is. It belongs to you.” THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 78.2. [1]

[1] PG 58:714; NPNF 1 10:472.

I HID YOUR TALENT

GREGORY THE GREAT: But the third servant was unwilling to work with his talent. He returned to his master with words of excuse: “Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, gathering where you have not scattered; being afraid, I went away and hid your talent in the earth. Here it is; see, you have what is yours.” The useless servant called his master hard, and yet he neglected to serve him for profit. He said that he was afraid to invest the talent for interest, when he should have been afraid only of bringing it back to his master without interest. For many people in the church resemble that servant. They are afraid to attempt a better way of life but not of resting in idleness. When they advert to the fact that they are sinners, the prospect of grasping the ways of holiness alarms them, but they feel no fear at remaining in their wickedness.

Peter is a good example. When he was still weak, he saw the miracle of the fishes and said, “Depart from me, O Lord, because I am a sinful man.” [1] If you regard yourself as a sinner, it is only right that you not drive God away from you! But those who see that they are weak and are for this reason unwilling to improve their habits or way of life are like people admitting that they are sinners and at the same time banishing God. They flee him whom they ought to hallow in themselves; even in the agony of death they do not know where to turn and cling to life. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 9.3. [2]

[1] Lk 5:8.

[2] PL 76:1107; CS 123:129* (Homily 18).