Chapter V.

Ambrose answers those who press the words of the Lord to the mother of Zebedee’s children, by saying that they were spoken out of kindness, because Christ was unwilling to cause her grief. Ample reason for such tenderness is brought forward. The Lord would rather leave the granting of that request to the Father, than declare it to be impossible. This answer of Christ’s, however, is not to His detriment, as is shown both by His very words, and also by comparing them with other passages.

54. “How,” they say, “can the Son of God be the only true God, like to the Father, when He Himself said to the sons of Zebedee: ‘Ye shall drink indeed of My cup; but to sit on My right hand or on My left, is not Mine to give to you, but to those for whom it has been prepared of My Father’?”922    S. Matt. xx. 23. This, then, is, as you desire, your proof of divine inequality; though in it you ought rather to reverence the Lord’s kindness and to adore His grace; if, that is, you could but perceive the deep secrets of the virtue and wisdom of God.

55. For think of her who, with and for her sons, makes this request. It is a mother, who in her anxiety for the honour of her sons, though somewhat unrestrained in the measure of her desires, may for all that yet find pardon. It is a mother, old in years, devout in her zeal, deprived of consolation; who at that time, when she might have been helped and supported by the aid of her able bodied offspring, suffered her children to leave her, and preferred the reward her sons should receive in following Christ to her own pleasure. For they when called by the Lord, at the first word, as we read, left their nets and their father and followed Him.923    S. Matt. iv. 22.

56. She then, somewhat yielding to the devotion of a mother’s zeal, besought the Saviour, saying: “Grant that these my two sons may sit the one on Thy right hand, the other on Thy left in Thy kingdom.”924    S. Matt. xx. 21. Although it was an error, it was an error of a mother’s affections; for a mother’s heart knows no patience. Though eager for the object of her desires, yet her longing was pardonable, for she was not greedy for money, but for grace. Not shameless was her request, for she thought not of herself, but of her children. Contemplate the mother, reflect upon her.

57. But it is nothing wonderful if the feelings of parents for their children seem nothing to you, who think the love of the Almighty Father for His only-begotten Son a trifling matter. The Lord of heaven and earth was ashamed (to speak as accords with the assumption of our flesh and the virtues of the soul)—He was ashamed, I say, and, to use His own word, disturbed, to refuse a share even in His own seat to a mother making request for her sons. You maintain sometimes that the proper Son of the eternal God stands to give service, at other times you would have His co-session to be as that of an attendant, that is, not because there is a oneness of majesty, but because it is the order of the Father; and you deny to the Son of God, Who is true God, that which He plainly was unwilling to refuse to men.

58. For He thought of the mother’s love, who solaced her old age with the thought of her sons’ reward, and, though harassed with a mother’s longings, endured the absence of those dearest pledges of her love.

59. Think also of the woman, that is, the weaker sex, whom the Lord had not yet strengthened by His own Passion. Think, I say, of a descendant of Eve, the first woman, sinking under the inheritance of unrestrained passion, which had been passed on to all; one, too, whom the Lord had not yet redeemed with His own Blood, and from whom He had not yet washed out in His Blood the desire implanted in the hearts of all for unbounded honour even beyond what is right. Thus the woman offended owing to an inherited tendency to wrong.

60. And what wonder if a mother should strive to win preference for her children (which is far better than if she had done it for herself), when even the Apostles themselves, as we read, strove amongst themselves, as to who should have the preference?925    S. Luke xxii. 24.

61. The physician, therefore, ought not to wound a mother who has been deprived of all, nor a suffering mind, with shameful reproaches, lest when the request had been made and had been proudly denied, she should grieve over the condemnation of her petition as being unreasonable.

62. Lastly, the Lord, Who knew that a mother’s affection is to be honoured, answered not the woman, but her sons, saying: “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of?” When they say: “We are able,” Jesus says to them: “Ye shall drink indeed of My cup; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give to you, but to those for whom it is prepared of My Father.”926    S. Matt. xx. 22, 23.

63. How patient and kind the Lord is; how deep is His wisdom and good His love! For wishing to show that the disciples asked for no slight thing, but one they could not obtain, He reserved His own peculiar rights for His Father’s honour, not fearing to detract aught from His own rights: “Who thought it not robbery to be equal with God;”927    Phil. ii. 6. and loving, too, His disciples (for “He loved them,” as it is written, “unto the end”),928    S. John xiii. 1. He was unwilling to seem to refuse to those whom He loved what they desired; He, I say, the good and holy Lord, Who would rather keep some of His own prerogative secret, than lay aside aught of His love. “For charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not, and seeketh not her own.”929    1 Cor. xiii. 4.

64. Lastly, that you may learn it was no sign of weakness, but rather of tenderness, that He said: “It is not Mine to give to you;” note that when the sons of Zebedee make the request without their mother, He said nothing about the Father; for thus it is written: “It is not Mine to give to you, but those for whom it has been prepared.”930    S. Mark x. 40. So the Evangelist Mark has stated it. But when the mother makes this request on her sons’ behalf, as we find it in Matthew, He says: “It is not Mine to give to you, but to those for whom it has been prepared of My Father.”931    S. Matt. xx. 23. Here He added: “of My Father,” for a mother’s feelings demanded greater tenderness.

65. But if they think that by saying, “For whom it hath been prepared of My Father,” He assigned greater power to His Father, or detracted aught from His own; let them say whether they think there is any detraction from the Father’s power, because the Son in the Gospel says of the Father: “The Father judgeth no man.”932    S. John v. 22.

66. But if we think it impious to believe that the Father has handed over all judgment to the Son in such wise that He has it not Himself,—for He has it, and cannot lose what the Divine Majesty has by its very nature,—we ought to consider it equally impious to suppose that the Son cannot give what either men can merit, or any creature can receive; especially as He Himself has said: “I go unto My Father, and whatsoever ye shall ask of Him in My name, that will I do.”933    S. John xiv. 12, 13. For if the Son cannot give what the Father can give, the Truth has lied, and cannot do what the Father has been asked for in His name. He therefore did not say: “For whom it has been prepared of My Father,” in order that requests should be made only of the Father. For all things which are asked of the Father, He has declared that He will give. Lastly, He did not say: “Whatsoever ye shall ask of Me, that will I do;” but: “Whatsoever ye shall ask of Him in My name, that will I do.”

CAPUT V.

Dominica ad Zebedaei filiorum matrem verba ingerentibus Ambrosius respondet, quod Christus moestitia illam afficere noluerit, clementiae fuisse. Affertur hujusce indulgentiae causa multiplex. Moluisse igitur Dominum petitionis illius concessionem ad Patrem remittere, quam eamdem impossibilem pronuntiare: nec tamen Christo incommodare suum responsum, tum ex ipsis ejusdem verbis, tum ex aliorum locorum comparatione ostenditur.

55. Quomodo, inquiunt, Filius Dei solus verus Deus potest esse similis Patri, cum ipse dixerit filiis Zebedaei: Calicem quidem meum bibetis, sedere autem ad dexteram meam vel ad sinistram non est meum 0660D dare vobis, sed quibus paratum est a Patre meo (Matth. XX, 23)? Hoc igitur vestrum divinae, ut vultis, inaequalitatis est argumentum; cum in eo magis venerari Domini clementiam, adorare gratiam deberetis: si tamen virtutis atque sapientiae Dei profunda secreta possetis advertere.

56. Considerate enim quae cum filiis et pro filiis petat. Mater est utique, cui pro filiorum honore 0661A sollicitae immoderatior quidem, sed tamen ignoscenda mensura votorum est. Atque mater aetate longaeva, studio religiosa, solatio destituta: quae tunc temporis quando vel juvanda vel alenda foret validae prolis auxilio, abesse sibi liberos patiebatur, et voluptati suae mercedem sequentium Christum praetulerat filiorum: qui prima voce vocati a Domino, ut legimus (Matth. IV, 22), relictis retibus et patre, secuti sunt eum.

57. Haec igitur studio maternae sedulitatis indulgentior, obsecrabat Salvatorem, dicens: Dic ut sedeant hi duo filii mei, unus ad dexteram tuam, et alter ad sinistram in regno tuo (Ibid. 20, 21). Etsi error, pietatis tamen error est; nesciunt enim materna viscera patientiam: etsi voti avara, tamen 0661B veniabilis cupiditas, quae non pecuniae est avida, sed gratiae: nec inverecunda petitio, quae non sibi, sed liberis consulebat. Matrem considerate, matrem cogitate.

58. Sed nihil mirum si vilis vobis videtur circa filios 562 affectus parentum, qui etiam omnipotentis Patris vilem putatis esse circa unigenitum Filium charitatem. Dominus coeli atque terrarum verecundabatur (ut secundum assumptionem carnis et virtutes animae loquar), verecundabatur, inquam, et ut ipsius verbo utar, confundebatur matri pro filiis postulanti etiam suae sedis consortium denegare: vos aeterni Dei Filium proprium interdum pro ministerio stare contenditis, interdum famulatorium, hoc est, non ex majestatis unitate, sed ex Patris praeceptione 0661C vultis ejus esse consessum; et negatis hoc Deo vero Dei Filio, quod ille hominibus aperte noluit denegare.

59. Considerabat enim matris dilectionem, quae filiorum mercede grandaevam solabatur senectam, et desideriis licet fessa maternis, charissimorum pignorum tolerabat absentiam.

60. Considerate etiam feminam, hoc est, sexum fragiliorem, quem Dominus propria nondum confirmaverat passione. Considerate, inquam, Evae illius primae mulieris haeredem transfusa in omnes immoderatae cupiditatis successione labentem, quam Dominus adhuc proprio sanguine non redemerat, nondum inolitam affectibus omnium immodici contra fas honoris appetentiam suo cruore diluerat. Haereditario 0661D igitur mulier delinquebat errore.

61. Et quid mirum si mater pro filiorum suorum, quod est tolerabilius quam pro se; quando etiam apostoli ipsi inter se, sicut legimus (Luc. XXII, 24), de sui praelatione certabant?

0662A 62. Non debuit igitur medicus omnium destitutam matrem, et aegram adhuc mentem pudoris convicio sauciare; ne postulato sibi superbius denegato, quasi immoderatae petitionis damnata moereret.

63. Denique Dominus qui honorandam sciret esse pietatem, non mulieri, sed filiis ejus respondit dicens: Potestis bibere calicem, quem ego bibiturus sum? Dicentibus autem illis: Possumus; ait illis Jesus: Calicem quidem meum bibetis; sedere autem ad dexteram meam vel ad sinistram non est meum dare vobis, sed quibus paratum est a Patre meo (Matth. XX, 22, 23).

64. Quam patiens et clemens Dominus, quam alta sapientia et bona charitas! Volens enim ostendere quia non perfunctoriam rem aliquam discipuli postularent, 0662B sed eam quam impetrare non possent, praerogativam ejus paternae honorificentiae reservavit: non metuens, ne quid juri proprio derogaret, qui non rapinam arbitratus est esse se aequalem Deo (Philip. II, 6); simul diligens discipulos, quia, sicut habes, usque in finem dilexit eos (Joan. XIII, 1), noluit iis quos diligeret, videri quod peterent denegasse: sanctus et bonus Dominus, qui mallet aliquid dissimulare de jure, quam de charitate deponere: Charitas enim patiens est, benigna est, non aemulatur, non inflatur, non quaerit quae sua sunt (I Cor. XIII, 4).

563 65. Denique ut agnoscatis non infirmitatis, sed indulgentiae esse, quia dixit: Non est meum dare vobis; ubi sine matre filii Zebedaei rogant, nihil de Patre dixit; sic enim habes: Non est meum dare 0662C vobis, sed quibus paratum est (Matth. X, 40). Ita Marcus evangelista posuit. Ubi vero mater pro filiis rogat, hoc est, secundum Matthaeum: Non est, inquit, meum dare vobis, sed quibus paratum est a Patre meo (Matth. XX, 23), hic addidit: A Patre meo; quia majorem indulgentiam maternus poscebat affectus.

66. Quod si putant, dicendo: Quibus paratum est a Patre meo, quia, aut, Patri plus tribuit, aut sibi aliquid derogavit; dicant utrum et illic putent Patri aliquid derogatum, quia dixit in Evangelio Filius de Patre: Pater non judicat quemquam (Joan. V, 22).

67. Quod si sacrilegum putamus credere quia Pater ita judicium detulit Filio, ut ipse non habeat; 0662D habet enim, nec potest amittere quod habet naturaliter divina majestas: sacrilegum utique aestimare debemus quia non potest Filius dare quidquid aut homines mereri possunt, aut quaevis accipere creatura; praesertim cum ipse dixerit: Ego ad Patrem 0663A vado, et quodcumque ab eo petieritis in nomine meo, hoc faciam (Joan. XIV, 12, 13). Si enim quod Pater dare potest, Filius non potest, mentita est ergo veritas, et non potest facere quidquid in nomine ejus Pater fuerit obsecratus. Nec enim ideo dixit: Quibus paratum est a Patre meo, ut tantummodo a Patre poscatur: nam omnia quaecumque a Patre fuerint postulata, se donare memoravit. Denique non dixit: Quodcumque a me petieritis, hoc faciam; sed: Quodcumque ab eo petieritis in nomine meo, hoc faciam.