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Chapter 60SermC.1.60

Sermo 60

The Fig Tree's Unripe Fruit

The preacher establishes the literal sense: the fig tree has produced its unripe figs, signaling the season and urging the bride toward the vineyards.

The fig tree has produced its unripe figs. . The present passage depends on what's gone before. For he had said that the time for pruning had come, based as much on the flowers now appearing as on the heard voice of the turtledove, asserting this very point. He affirms this still more from the production of the unripe figs themselves, because evidence of the season is gathered not only from the flowers and the turtledove's call, but also from the fig tree. For the air is not more mild at other times than when the fig tree has brought forth its unripe figs. The fig tree has no blossoms, but in place of blossoms it sends out unripe figs, at the very time when other trees are in bloom. And just as blossoms appear and pass away, useless for nothing except as certain harbingers of the fruit to come, so it is with the unripe figs. They appear, but they drop off before they're ripe, and they give way to the ones that are ripening, since they're not fit to eat at all. So from this the bridegroom, as I said, gets proof of the season and evidence of what persuades him, so that the bride shouldn't be slow to press on toward the vineyards, because the work that comes at the right time isn't lost.1 And the literal sense runs this way.

A People Like a Fig Tree

The fig tree is interpreted as a people whose first fruits are earthbound and useless unless later penitence redeems them.

But what of the spirit? Clearly, then, in this passage we're not meant to look at the fig, but at the people: God's concern is, of course, for human beings, not for trees. Truly the fig tree is a people: fragile in flesh, small in understanding, lowly in spirit, whose first fruits — to allude to the name for a moment — are, to be sure, thick and earthbound. Nor is it their common tendency to seek first the kingdom of God and his justice; but, as the Apostle says, to think on the things of the world, how to please their wives, or those wives their husbands.✦ Such people will have tribulation of the flesh; but in the last things, we don't deny that they'll obtain the fruits of faith, if they've had a good final confession, and especially if they've redeemed the works of the flesh through almsgiving. Therefore the first fruits of the common people are not really fruits, no more than unripe figs are. Finally, if they later produce worthy fruits of penitence — for what is spiritual will not be said to them first, but what is merely human: What fruit did you have then in the things you now blush at?✦

The Stunted Israelite Fig

The fig tree is identified as the Jewish people, bearing coarse fruit from a holy root yet failing to rise to the height of their patriarchal origin.

But I don't think this passage is referring to just any group of people taken as a whole; one particular people is being singled out. For when he says 'they brought forth,' he isn't speaking about many peoples, but as if about one: 'The fig tree brought forth its fruit,' and — as I understand it — he means the Jewish people. How much does the Savior seem to be speaking about this people in parables throughout the Gospel? As in that passage: 'A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard,' and so on.✦ Likewise: 'Look at the fig tree and all the trees,' and what was said to Nathanael: 'When you were under the fig tree, I saw you.'✦ And again he curses the fig tree because he finds no fruit on it.✦ Well done, fig tree — good though you are, sprung from the fine root of the patriarchs. Yet you never pushed upward, never lifted yourself off the ground, never matched your root's worth with the height of your branches, the nobility of your blossoms, or the abundance of your fruit. You are a poor match for your own root, a stunted, twisted, gnarled little tree. For the root is holy. What worthy thing appears in its branches from it? The fig tree, he says, brought forth its unripe figs. You didn't draw these from a noble root, you worthless seed. Whatever is in it comes from the Holy Spirit, and so it is wholly subtle and sweet. Where do these unripe figs come from for you? And truly, what wasn't coarse in that nation? Not their deeds, not their affections, not their understanding, and not even their rites for worshipping God.

The Fulfillment of Wickedness

The nation's unripe figs reached their completion in the killing of Christ, after which the fig tree was condemned to eternal dryness and its last state became worse than the first.

For their whole activity was in wars, their whole affection in profits, their understanding in the grossness of the letter, and their worship in the blood of cattle and herds.2 But someone says: when that nation has ceased to produce such unripe figs at any time, therefore a time for pruning has never existed either, because one time is held to exist for each matter. That's not how it is. We say that women have begotten sons not when they are in labor, but when they have already given birth. And we say that trees have produced their flowers not when they have begun to bloom, but rather when they have ceased. So here too it is said that the fig tree brought forth its unripe figs not when it produced some, but when it produced all of them — that is, when the production reaches its end. You ask: at what time does such a fulfillment happen to that people? When they killed Christ, then their wickedness was completed, according to what he himself had foretold to them: "Fill up the measure of your fathers."✦ Hence, about to hand over his spirit on the cross, he says: "It is finished."✦ What a consummation this accursed fig tree gave to its coarse buds, and right away it was condemned to eternal dryness!✦3 Oh, how much worse the later things are than the earlier ones!✦ Starting from useless things, it reaches pernicious and even poisonous ones. What a coarse, viper-like disposition — to hate the one who heals people's bodies and saves their souls! What an even cruder, truly bovine understanding, that grasped neither God nor even the works of God!✦

The Bride's Timely Calling

With the old fruit completed, the bride is now called seasonably, since the unripe figs have given way and good, salutary fruit is near.

Perhaps the Jew will complain bitterly about the mockery directed at him — the Jew who, I say, has an understanding no better than an ox's. But let him read in Isaiah, and he'll hear something more than bovine. An ox, he says, has known its owner, and a donkey its master's manger; but Israel has not known me, and my people has not understood.✦ Do you see, Jew, how much gentler I am to you through your own prophet? I've compared you to beasts of burden — and he goes further. Although the prophet didn't say this in his own person, but in God's — God who cries out, through his own works, that he is God: 'Even if you don't believe me,' he says, 'believe the works; and if I don't do the works of my Father, don't believe. And yet for all that, they're not careful enough to understand.'✦ Not the flight of demons, not the obedience of the elements, not the life of the dead could drive away this dullness — this bestial, and more than bestial, stupidity — from them: a stupidity produced by a blindness no less wondrous than wretched, so that they rushed into a crime so horrible, so enormously gross as to hurl sacrilegious hands against the Lord of majesty himself. From then on, therefore, it could be said that the fig tree brought forth its unripe fruit — since clearly what was legitimate to that people had now reached its final end, as it were, at the very summit — so that when new things came, in accord with the ancient prophecy, the old things would be cast out. Just as unripe figs fall and give way to the good figs that are now coming in. As long as the fig tree kept producing its unripe figs, I didn't call you, O bride, knowing that the best fruits couldn't come forth together. But now that those earlier fruits have come forth, I no longer invite you at the wrong time, because the good and wholesome fruits are known to be near, ready to blot out the useless ones.

The Fragrance of Blooming Vineyards

The vineyards in bloom give their fragrance, which puts serpents to flight; this fragrance is the good works of believers, given freely and not sold.

"For the vineyards," he says, "in bloom have given their fragrance" — which is nonetheless a sign that the fruit is drawing near.✦ This fragrance puts serpents to flight. They say that to flourishing vineyards every venomous creature gives way, and that from no quarter does it bear the fragrance of new flowers. I want our novices to pay attention to this, and to act with confidence, considering what kind of spirit they received — the first fruits of which demons cannot endure. If this is the fervor of a novice, what will complete perfection be? Let the fruit be weighed from the flower, and let the strength of the flavor be judged from the force of the fragrance. The vineyards in bloom have given their fragrance.✦ And in the beginning, indeed, it was so. With the preaching of the new grace came a new way of life among those who had believed, who kept their conduct good among the nations. They were the good fragrance of Christ in every place. A good fragrance, a good testimony. This flows from a good work as fragrance flows from a flower. And because, with such a flower and such a fragrance, at the very beginnings of faith being born, faithful souls appeared like certain spiritual vineyards, filled with a good testimony and from those who were outside; not unfittingly, I think, do we understand the words as spoken of them, because the flourishing vineyards gave their fragrance. For what purpose? So that, stirred by it, even those who had not yet believed might, seeing their good works, glorify God themselves as well, and so the fragrance of life might begin among them, leading to life. For this reason, therefore, those who sought not their own glory but the salvation of others from their good reputation are rightly said to have given fragrance, not undeservedly. Otherwise they could have treated piety as a profit, in the manner of some people—for the sake of ostentation, for example, or reward.4 But that wouldn't be giving off a fragrance; it would be selling it. Now, indeed, because they did everything they did in love, they plainly didn't sell the fragrance—they gave it.5

The Fruit of the Vine

The fruit of the vineyard is martyrdom and the blood of the innocent, fulfilled in Christ's passion and the witness of his saints.

Now if the soul's vineyard has flowers, work is its fragrance, and opinion is its fruit — but what is the fruit? Martyrdom. And truly, the fruit of the vine is the blood of the martyr. When he has given, it says, sleep to his beloved, look — the heritage of the Lord is children, the reward is the fruit of the womb.✦ I would almost have said, the fruit of the vine. Why wouldn't I call the purest blood of the grape the blood of the innocent, the blood of the Just One? Why wouldn't I call the red, tested, precious new wine, clearly from the vineyard of Sorech, pressed out in the winepress of suffering? In the end, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. In light of what was just said, this means that the blooming vineyards gave their fragrance.

The Hidden Mystery Revealed

The prophets perceived Christ in advance but did not yet give out their fragrance until the fullness of time, when the mystery of godliness was manifested and spread throughout the earth.

So if we'd rather read this passage in light of the times of grace, or if it seems better to refer it to the Fathers — for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel — the sense will be that the prophets and patriarchs perceived in advance the Christ who was to be born in the flesh and to die, but they did not then give out their own fragrance, because they did not show in the flesh the one they had perceived in the spirit. They did not give out their own fragrance, nor did they make their own secret public, waiting for it to be revealed in its own time. Who in those days could truly grasp wisdom hidden in a mystery, not yet shown forth in a body? And so the vines did not then give out their own fragrance. But they gave it afterward, when through the successions of generations Christ was born from them according to the flesh, brought forth by a virgin birth into the ages of the world.✦ Then plainly, I say, those spiritual vines gave out their own fragrance, when the kindness and humanity of our Savior God appeared; and the world began to have present the one whom only a few had previously perceived while he was still absent.✦ That man, for instance, who touched Jacob and perceived Christ — 'See,' he said, 'the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a full field, which the Lord has blessed' — when he said this, he kept his delights to himself and shared them with no one.✦ But when the fullness of time came, in which God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those who were under the law — then at last the fragrance that was in him spread everywhere, so much so that from the ends of the earth, perceiving him, the Church would cry out: 'Your name is oil poured out,' and the young women would run at the fragrance of this oil.✦✦ So this vineyard gave its fragrance, and at that time the rest did too — those among whom this very fragrance of life had appeared. Why wouldn't they give it, those from whom Christ according to the flesh came? So it has been said that the vineyards gave their fragrance — whether because faithful souls spread a good reputation of themselves everywhere, or because the oracles and revelations of the Fathers have been made openly to the world, and their fragrance has gone out across the whole earth, as the Apostle says: Clearly great is the Sacrament of piety, which was manifested in flesh, justified in spirit, appeared to angels, preached to the nations, believed in the world, taken up in glory.✦67

The Fig and the Vine in the Soul

Within the community, the fig tree represents the gentle and charitable, while the vineyards represent the more fervent and zealous, with love alone enduring beyond all transient gifts.

It's remarkable that neither the fig tree nor those vineyards have anything that builds up good character. I consider this passage to be about morality. I say, then — by the grace of God that is at work in us — that we have both the fig tree and the vineyards. The fig tree, then, represents those who are gentler in character; the vineyards, those who are more fervent in spirit. Anyone who lives and acts among us in a communal and sociable way, who not only carries on among the brothers without complaining but also makes himself warmly available to everyone, devoting himself to every act of love — shouldn't I most aptly say that this person is playing the part of the fig tree? But whoever has first produced and then cast away his coarse fruits — the fear of judgment, which perfect love drives outward; and the bitterness of sins, which must give way to genuine confession, the outpouring of grace, and the frequent shedding of tears — along with all such things that go before the sweetness of fruit like coarse growth: these too you can reflect on by yourselves. But so that I can still add something along these lines that comes to mind, see to it that these things too—knowledge, prophecy, tongues, and the like—may not be classed among the coarse ones. For these very gifts, in the way of coarse people, tend to fail and give way to better things, as the Apostle says: knowledge will be destroyed, prophecies will be emptied out, and tongues will cease. Faith too, understanding itself will exclude from hope, and in place of hope, vision must necessarily succeed. For what someone already sees, what does he hope for? Love alone does not fall away (1 Cor. 13:8), but that love by which God is loved with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. Therefore I would least of all count this gift among coarse people—I wouldn't even say it belongs to the fig tree, but to the vineyards. Now those who are vineyards show themselves more severe to us than gentle, acting in a vehement spirit, zealous for discipline, rebuking vices most sharply, and fittingly adapting to themselves that voice: 'Was it not those who hated you, Lord, that I hated, and I wasted away over your enemies?'

Rest Under the Vine and Fig

The preacher longs to rest under the vine and fig tree where the love of God and neighbor overshadows him, holding both in Christ who is both neighbor and God.

. Again: 'The zeal for your house consumes me.'✦ And to me, at least, those who excel in love of neighbor and those who excel in love of God both seem to stand out. But I want to rest under this vine and under this fig tree, where the love of God and of neighbor overshadows me. I hold them both when I love you, Lord Jesus Christ, who are my neighbor because you are a human being, and you have shown me mercy; and yet you are above all things, God blessed forever.✦ Amen.

Read the original Latin

Ficus protulit grossos suos. . Ex superioribus pendet praesens locus. Dixerat enim tempus putationis venisse, tam ex floribus qui iam apparebant, quam ex audita turturis voce hoc asserens. Id ipsum adhuc ex grossorum productione affirmat; quia non solum ex floribus et voce turturis experimentum capitur temporis; capitur et ex ficu. Non enim non est aer indulgentior tunc, cum ficus grossos suos protulerit. Ficus flores non habet, sed pro floribus grossos mittit tempore quo caeterae arbores florent. Et quomodo flores apparent et transeunt, ad nihil utiles, nisi quod secuturi fructus quidam praenuntii sunt; ita et grossi.

Oriuntur, sed immature cadunt, et dant locum maturandis, ipsi minime habiles ad vescendum. Et hinc ergo, ut dixi, sumit sponsus experimentum temporis, et argumentum suasionis, ut non pigritetur pergere sponsa ad vineas, quia non perit opera, quae tempestiva venit. Et littera quidem sic

Quid vero spiritus? ut plane hoc loco non ficum intueamur, sed populum: nempe de hominibus cura est Deo, non de arboribus. Vere ficus est populus, fragilis carne, parvulus sensu, animo humilis, cuius primi fructus, ut interim nomini alludamus, grossi utique et terreni. Nec enim popularis est studii primum quaerere regnum Dei et iustitiam eius; sed, ut ait Apostolus, cogitare quae mundi sunt, quomodo placeant uxoribus, vel illae viris. Tribulationem carnis habebunt huiusmodi; sed in novissimis non negamus eos fructus fidei assecuturos, si bonam habuerint novissimam confessionem, maximeque si carnis opera eleemosynis redemerint. Ergo primi plebium fructus nec fructus sunt, non magis quam ficuum grossi. Denique si dignos postmodum fructus poenitentiae fecerint (non enim prius quod spirituale est, sed quod animale dicetur illis: Quem fructum habuistis tunc in quibus nunc erubescitis?

Ego tamen hoc loco non quemvis populum interpretari liberum puto: unus signanter exprimitur. Neque enim, Protulerunt, dixit, quasi de pluribus; sed quasi de una, protulit, inquit, ficus grossos suos; et, ut sentio ego, quae est plebs Iudaeorum. Quanta in hanc Salvator parabolice in Evangelio loqui videtur? ut est illud: Arborem fici habebat quidam plantatam in vinea sua etc. ; item: Videta ficulneam et omnes arbores : et Nathanaeli dictum est: Cum esses sub ficu, vidi te. Et rursum maledicit ficulneae, pro eo quod non invenit in ea fructum. Bene ficus, quae bona licet patriarcharum radice prodierit, nunquam tamen in altum proficere, nunquam se humo attollere voluit, nunquam respondere radici proceritate ramorum, generositate florum, fecunditate fructuum. Male prorsus tibi cum tua radice convenit, arbor pusilla, tortuosa, nodosa.

Radix enim sancta. Quid ea dignum tuis apparet in ramis? Ficus, inquit, protulit grossos suos. Non hos nobili a radice traxisti, semen nequam. Quod in ea est, de Spiritu sancto est; ac per hoc subtile totum ac suave. Tibi unde hi grossi? Et vere quid non grossum in gente illa? Nec actus profecto, nec affectus, nec intellectus, sed nec ritus, quem in colendo Deum habuit.

Nam actus in bellis, affectus in lucris totus erat, intellectus in crassitudine litterae, cultus in sanguine pecudum et armentrorum.

At dicit aliquis: cum istiusmodi grossos non aliquando proferre gens illa cessaverit, ergo non aliquando tempus putationis non exstitit, quia unum utrique rei tempus existere perhibetur. Non ita est. Dicimus mulieres filios procreasse, non cum parturiunt, sed cum iam pepererunt. Dicimus et arbores edidisse flores suos, non cum coeperint florere, sed potius cum desierint. Ita hic quoque dictum est, quia ficus protulit grossos suos, non cum aliquos edidit, sed cum totos, id est, cum ad finem pervenit editio. Quaeris quo tempore istiusmodi complementum illi populo accidit? Cum Christum occidit, tunc completa est malitia eius, iuxta quod ipse eis praedixerat: Implete mensuram patrum vestrorum. Unde in patibulo traditurus iam spiritum: Consummatum est, inquit.

O qualem consummationem dedit grossis suis ficus haec maledicta, et subinde aeterna ariditate damnata! O quam sunt novissimi peiores prioribus! Incipiens ab inutilibus, ad perniciosos pervenit et venenatos. O grossum vipereumque affectum, odire hominem, qui hominum et corpora sanat, et animas salvat! O nihilominus intellectum grossum et certe bovinum, qui Deum non intellexerunt nec in operibus Dei!

Nimium me fortasse queratur in sui suggillatione Iudaeus, qui intellectum illius dico bovinum. Sed legat in Isaia, et plus quam bovinum audiet. Cognovit, inquit, bos possessorem suum, et asinus praesepe domini sui: Israel non cognovit me; populus meus non intellexit. Vides me, Iudaec, mitiorem tibi propheta tuo. Ego te comparavi iumentis, ille subiicit. Quanquam in sua persona propheta non dixit hoc, sed in Dei, qui Deum se et ipsis operibus clamat: Etsi mihi, inquit, non creditis, operibus credite: etsi non facio opera Patris mei, nolite credere; nec sic tamen vigilant ad intelligendum. Non fuga daemonum, non obedientia elementorum, non vita mortuorum, bestialem hanc, et plus quam bestialem hebetudinem ab eis depellere quivit: de qua non minus mirabili quam miserabili caecitate factum est, ut in illud tam horrendum, tamque enormiter grossum facinus proruerint, Domino maiestatis iniicientes manus sacrilegas. Extunc itaque dici potuit, quia ficus protulit grossos suos, cum iam videlicet legitima illius populi esse coeperunt quasi in exitu super summum: ut novis, iuxta veterem prophetiam, supervenientibus, vetera proiicerentur.

Non aliter sane, quam quomodo grossi cadunt, et cedunt suborientibus ficubus bonis. Quandiu, inquit, non cessavit ficus producere grossos suos, non te vocavi, o sponsa, sciens non posse una prodire optimas licus. Nunc autem productis qui prius producendi erant, non iam intempestive te invito, cum boni ac salutares fructus in proximo esse noscantur, inutiles expuncturi.

Nam vineae, inquit, florentes odorem dederunt; quod nihilominus appropinquantis fructus indicium est. Hic odor serpentes fugat. Aiunt florescentibus vineis omne reptile venenatum cedere loco, nec ullatenus novorum ferre odorem florum. Quod volo attendant novitii nostri, et fiducialiter agant, cogitantes qualem spiritum acceperunt, cuius primitias daemones non sustinent. Si sic novitius fervor, quid erit absoluta perfectio? Perpendatur ex flore fructus, et saporis virtus ex vi aestimetur odoris. Vineae florentes odorem dederunt. Et in principio quidem sic fuit.

Ad praedicationem novae gratiae secuta est novitas vitae in his qui crediderant, qui conversationem suam inter gentes habentes bonam. Christi erant bonus odor in omni loco. Odor bonus, testimonium bonum. Hoc de bono opere tanquam de flore odor procedit. Et quoniam tali flore et tali odore inter primordia nascentis fidei fideles animae, veluti quaedam spirituales vineae, refertae apparuerunt, habentes testimonium bonum et ab his qui foris erant; non incongrue, ut opinor, de ipsis dictum sentimus, quia vineoe florentes odorem dederunt. Ad quid? ut eo sane provocati etiam qui necdum crediderant, ex bonis operibus illos considerantes, glorificarent et ipsi Deum, atque ita eis odor vitae ad vitam esse inciperet. Idcirco ergo dedisse odorem non immerito referuntur, qui non suam gloriam, sed aliorum de sua bona opinione quaesiere salutem.

Alioquin poterant more quorumdam quaestum aestimare pietatem, verbi gratia, ostentationis, mercedis. At istud esset non dare odorem, sed vendere. Nunc vero quia omnia sua in charitate faciebant, non plane vendiderunt odorem, sed dederunt.

Caeterum si vineae animae, flos opus, odor opinio est: fructus quid? Martyrium. Et vere fructus vitis, sanguis est martyris. Cum dederit, inquit, dilectis suis somnum, ecce haereditas Domini filii, merces fructus ventris. Propemodum dixissem, fructus vitis. Quidni sanguinem uvae dixerim meracissimum, sanguinem innocentis, sanguinem Iusti? Quidni mustum rubens, probatum, pretiosum, plane de vinea Sorech, torculari passionis expressum? Denique pretiosa in conspectu Domini mors sanctorum eius.

Haec pro eo quod dictum est, vineas florentes odorem dedisse.

Ita si ad tempora gratiae hunc locum respicere malimus, aut si placet magis referri ad Patres (nam vinea Domini sabaoth domus Israel est, erit sensus: Christum in carne nasciturum et moriturum odoraverunt prophetae et patriarchae, sed non dederunt tunc eumdem odorem suum, quia non exhibuerunt in carne, quem in spiritu praesenserunt. Non dederunt odorem suum, nec secretum suum publicaverunt, exspectantes ut revelaretur in suo tempore. Quis sane tunc caperet sapientiam in mysterio absconditam, in corpore non exhibitam? Ita vineae tunc quidem non dederunt odorem suum. Dederunt autem postea, cum per successiones generationum nascentem ex se Christum secundum carnem partu virgineo saeculis ediderunt. Tunc plane, inquam, spirituales illae vineae dederunt odorem suum, cum apparuit benignitas et humanitas Salvatoris nostri Dei; et coepit praesentem habere mundus, quem pauci adhuc absentem praesenserant. Vir ille, verbi causa, qui Iacob tangens, et Christum sentiens: Ecce, inquit, odor filii mei sicut odor agri pleni, cui benedixit Dominus; cum hoc dicebat, habebat delicias suas sibi, nec cuiquam illas communicabat. At ubi venit plenitudo temporis, in quo misit Deus Filium suum factum ex muliere, factum sub lege, ut eos qui sub lege erant redimeret; tunc prorsus odor, qui in illo erat, sese ubique sparsit, adeo ut a finibus terrae ipsum sentiens clamaret Ecclesia: Oleum effusum nomen tuum: currerentque adolescentulae in odore olei huius.

Ita ista vinea dedit odorem suum, et eo temporis dederunt et caeterae, in quibus hic ipse odor vitae exstiterat. Quidni dederunt, e quibus Christus secundum carnem? Dictum est itaque vineas dedisse odorem, sive quia fideles animae bonam de se ubique opinionem spargunt; sive quod palam facta sunt mundo oracula et revelationes Patrum, et in omnem terram exivit odoratus eorum, dicente Apostolo: Manifeste magnum est pietatis sacramentum, quod manifestatum est in carne, iustificatum est in spiritu, apparuit angelis, praedicatum est gentibus, creditum est mundo, assumptum est in gloria.

Mirum vero, si nec ficus, nec vineae istae aliquid habent quod mores aedificet. Ego hunc locum arbitror esse et moralem. Dico autem per gratiam Dei quae in nobis est, et ficus nos habere, et vineas. Ficus quidem, qui suaviores in moribus sunt; vineas vero, qui spiritu ferventiores. Omnis qui se inter nos communiter socialiterque agit, et non solum sine querela conversatur inter fratres, sed et multa cum suavitate fruendum se omnibus praebet in omni officio charitatis, quidni illum vicem agere ficus convenientissime dicam? Qui tamen grossos suos prius protulerit, proieceritque oportet, timorem utique iudicii, quem perfecta charitas foras mittit; et amaritudinem peccatorum, quae verae confessioni et infusioni gratiae, crebrarumque profusioni lacrymarum cedat necesse est, caeteraque talia, instar grossorum praeeuntia fructuum suavitatem: quae vos quoque per vosmetipsos cogitare potestis.

Ut tamen adhuc ego aliquid adiiciam de eiusmodi quod occurrit, videte ne forte etiam haec inter grossos deputari possint, scientia, prophetia, linguae, similiaque. Etenim ista more grossorum deficere habent, et cedere melioribus, dicente Apostolo, quia et scientia destruetur, et prophetiae evacuabuntur, et linguae cessabunt. Fidem quoque ipsam intellectus excludet, speique succedat visio necesse est. Quod enim videt quis, quid sperat? Sola non excidit charitas (Cor. XIII, 8), sed illa qua Deus toto corde, tota anima, tota virtute diligitur. Ideo hanc minime grossis annumeraverim, ne ad ficum quidem dixerim pertinere, sed ad vineas. Iam qui vineae sunt, severiores nobis, quam suaviores se exhibent, in spiritu vehementi agentes, zelantes pro disciplina, vitia acerrime corripientes, aptantes sibi congruentissime vocem illam: Nonne qui oderunt te, Domine, oderam, et super inimicos tuos tabescebam?

. Item: Zelus domus tuae comedit me. Et mihi quidem illi in dilectione proximi, isti in dilectione Dei eminere videntur. Sed libet pausare sub hac vite et sub hac ficu, ubi Dei proximique obumbrat dilectio. Utramque teneo cum te amo, Domine Iesu Christe, qui meus proximus es, quoniam homo es, et fecisti mecum misericordiam; et nihilominus es super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula. Amen

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Phil.3.19 — whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.
  2. ↩Rom.6.21 — What fruit, then, did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
  3. ↩Luke.13.6-Luke.13.9;Matt.21.18-Matt.21.22 — He also told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. Luke.13.7 — 'And he said to the vineyard worker, "Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and have found none. Cut it down. Why should it also waste the ground?"' This smooths tense sequence and avoids over-punctuating the command. Luke.13.8 — And he answered and said to him, 'Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure; Luke.13.9 — If it bears fruit next year, fine; if not, you can cut it down. Matt.21.18 — Early in the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry. Matt.21.19 — And seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again forever." And the fig tree withered at once. Matt.21.20 — And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, 'How did the fig tree wither so quickly?' Matt.21.21 — But Jesus answered them, 'Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, "Be taken up and thrown into the sea," it will happen.' Matt.21.22 — And whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.
  4. ↩John.1.48 — Nathanael said to him, 'How do you know me?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Before Philip called you, while you were under the fig tree, I saw you.'
  5. ↩Mark.11.12-Mark.11.14;Matt.21.18-Matt.21.22 — And on the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he was hungry. Mark.11.13 — And seeing a fig tree from a distance, having leaves, he went to see if perhaps he might find something on it; and coming to it, he found nothing except leaves, for it was not the season for figs. Mark.11.14 — And he said to it, "May no one ever again eat fruit from you forever." And his disciples heard it. Matt.21.18 — Early in the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry. Matt.21.19 — And seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again forever." And the fig tree withered at once. Matt.21.20 — And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, 'How did the fig tree wither so quickly?' Matt.21.21 — But Jesus answered them, 'Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, "Be taken up and thrown into the sea," it will happen.' Matt.21.22 — And whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.
  6. ↩Matt.23.32 — And you, fill up the measure of your fathers.
  7. ↩John.19.30 — When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished,' and bowing his head he gave up his spirit.
  8. ↩Song.2.13 — The fig tree has ripened its early figs, and the vines in blossom give off their fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
  9. ↩2Pet.2.20;Matt.12.45 — For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, their last state has become worse than the first. Matt.12.45 — Then it goes and takes with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and entering in, they dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So it will be also with this evil generation.
  10. ↩Isa.1.3 — An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master's manger; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.
  11. ↩Isa.1.3 — An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master's manger; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.
  12. ↩John.10.38 — But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.
  13. ↩Song.2.13 — The fig tree has ripened its early figs, and the vines in blossom give off their fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
  14. ↩Song.2.13 — The fig tree has ripened its early figs, and the vines in blossom give off their fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
  15. ↩Ps.128.2 — When you eat the fruit of your own labor, you are blessed, and it will go well with you.
  16. ↩Gal.4.4 — But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
  17. ↩Titus.3.4 — But when the kindness and the love for humankind of our Savior God appeared,
  18. ↩Gen.27.27 — So he came near and kissed him, and he smelled the fragrance of his garments and blessed him. And he said, "See, the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field that the LORD has blessed."
  19. ↩Gal.4.4-Gal.4.5 — But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, Gal.4.5 — in order to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
  20. ↩Song.1.3 — The fragrance of your oils is good; your name is poured oil; therefore young women love you.
  21. ↩1Tim.3.16 — And confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness: who was revealed in flesh, justified in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
  22. ↩Song.2.5 — Sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.
  23. ↩Rom.9.5 — whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩suasionis rendered 'what persuades him' rather than 'persuasion' to capture the sense of evidence that moves the bridegroom's confidence; opera tempestiva ('work that comes at the right time') carries moral-spiritual weight beyond mere literal timing.
  2. 2 ↩armentrorum is an unusual genitive plural form, possibly a variant of armentorum; translated as 'herds' following the candidate gloss.
  3. 3 ↩The fig tree's 'coarse buds' (grossis suis) continue the Song of Songs 2:13 motif from the preceding sections, symbolizing the people's fully formed malice.
  4. 4 ↩Translating 'pietatem' as 'piety' rather than 'religion' to maintain the interior devotional sense; 'quaestum aestimare' rendered idiomatically as 'treated as a profit' to capture the commercial metaphor contrasted with giving freely.
  5. 5 ↩Translating 'in charitate' as 'in love' per lexeme policy for 'charitas'; the theological virtue of charity/love is the driving motive that makes the action a free gift rather than a transaction.
  6. 6 ↩'Sacrament of piety' renders 'pietatis sacramentum'; the Latin quotes 1 Timothy 3:16 with notable variation from standard Vulgate wording. 'Clearly great' captures the intensifying adverb 'manifeste' rather than 'manifestly great' to preserve the Latin's unusual word order.
  7. 7 ↩The embedded quotation follows 1 Timothy 3:16 with significant textual variation; final resolution deferred to scripture-reference stage.

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