First Reading — Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15
Philo of Alexandria
On 3:1
X. These, then, are the occupations of shepherds who prefer those things which are useful, though mixed with unpleasantness, to those which are pleasant but pernicious. Thus, at all events, the occupation of a shepherd has come to be considered a respectable and profitable employment, so that the race of poets has been accustomed to call kings the shepherds of the people ; but the law giver gives this title to the wise, who are the only real kings, for he represents them as rulers of all men of irrational passions, as of a flock of sheep. On this account he has attributed to Jacob, the man who was made perfect by practice, a skill in the science of a shepherd, saying : " For he is the shepherd of Laban's sheep." That is, of the sheep of the foolish soul, which thinks only those things good which are the objects of the outward senses and apparent to them, being Genesis xxx. 3-j. deceived and enslaved by colours and shadows ; for the name Laban, being interpreted, means "whitening." He also attributes the same skill to the all-wise Moses, for he also is represented as the shepherd of the mind which embraces pride in preference to truth, and which receives appearance rather than reality ; for the interpretation of the name Jethro is " superfluous," and superfluity is pride adopted for the purpose of introducing error into correct life ; which is the cause why different things are looked upon as right in different cities, and not those principles which ought to be looked upon as just everywhere, inasmuch as it never sees, not even in a dream, the common and immovable principles of the justice of nature. For, it is said, that " Moses was the shepherd of the sheep of Jethro, the priest of Midian." And this man himself prays that the flock may not be left without a shepherd, meaning by the flock the whole multitude of the parts of the soul ; but that they may meet with a good shepherd, who will lead them away from the nets of folly, and injustice, and all wickedness, and conduct them to the doctrines of learning and all other virtue ; for, says Moses, " Let the Lord the God of spirits and of all flesh look down upon man and upon this assembly."f And then, a little further on, he adds, " And the assembly of the Lord shall not be like sheep who have no shepherd." XL But is it not well worth praying for, that the flock which is akin to each individual of us, and of so much value, may not be left without any superintendent or governor, so that we may not, through being filled with a love of the worst of all constitutions, an ochlocracy, which is a base copy of the best form, democracy, pass our lives for ever amid tumults, and disorders, and intestine seditions '? Certainly it is not anarchy alone that is an evil, through being the parent of ochlocracy, but also the insurrection of any lawless and violent force against authority ; for the tyrant who, by his own nature is hostile, is, in the case of cities, a man, but in the case of the body and the soul, and all transactions having reference to either, he is a mind resembling the brute beasts, besieging the citadel of each individual ; but not only are these dominations unprofitable, but so also are the governments and authority of other persons, who are very gentle, for gentleness is a line of conduct very Exodus iii. 1 . f Numbers xxvii. 16. C C 2 388 likely to be despised, and injurious to both parties, both to the rulers and the subjects. To the one from the disregard with which their subjects treat them, so that they are unable to manage any matter, whether of public or of their own private business successfully, are sometimes even compelled to abdicate their authority ; and to the others, because of their continual disrespect to their governors, disregarding all persuasion, so that they contract a habit of self-willed insolence, a possession of great evil. We must then think that one of these classes of governors differs in no respect from keepers of sheep, while the others resemble the sheep themselves, for the governors persuade the governed to be luxurious, through the extravagance of the supplies with which they provide them ; and the governed being unable to bear their satiety become insolent ; but what is really desirable is, that our mind should govern all our conduct, like a goatherd, or a cowherd, or a shepherd, or, in short, like any herdsman of any kind ; choosing in preference to what is pleasant that which is for the advantage both of himself and of his flock.
Responsorial Psalm — Psalm 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11
Gregory of Nyssa
On 102:8
God is not an expression, and he does not have his essence in voice or utterance. God is of himself what also he is believed to be. He is named by those who call on him, not what he is essentially (for the nature of him who alone is unspeakable), but he receives his names from what are believed to be his works in regard to our life. To take an instance ready at hand, when we speak of him as God, we so name him from his overlooking and surveying all things and seeing through the things that are hidden. But if his essence is prior to his works, and if we understand his works by our senses and express them in words as we are best able, why should we be afraid of calling things by words of later origin than themselves? For if we stop interpreting any of the attributes of God until we understand them, and if we understand them only by what his works teach us, and if his power precedes its exercise and depends on the will of God, while his will resides in the spontaneity of the divine nature, are we not clearly taught that the words that represent things are of later origin than the things themselves and that the words that are framed to express the operations of things are reflections of the things themselves? And that this is so, we are clearly taught by holy Scripture, by the mouth of great David, when, as by certain peculiar and appropriate names, derived from his contemplation of the works of God, he thus speaks of the divine nature: "The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, long-suffering, and of great goodness." Now what do these words tell us? Do they indicate his operations or his nature? No one will say that they indicate anything but his operations. At what time, then, after showing mercy and pity, did God acquire his name from the display of his works? Was it before a person's life began? But who was there to be the object of pity? Was it, then, after sin entered into the world? But sin entered after humankind. The exercise, therefore, of pity, and the name itself, came after humanity. What then? Will our adversary [Eunomius], wise as he is above the prophets, convict David of error in applying names to God derived from his opportunities of knowing him? Or, in contending with him, will he use against him the pretense in his stately passage as out of a tragedy, saying that "he glories in the most blessed life of God with names drawn from human imagination, whereas it gloried in itself alone, long before people were born to imagine them"? The psalmist's advocate will readily admit that the divine nature gloried in itself alone even before the existence of human imagination but will contend that the human mind can speak only so much in respect of God as its capacity, instructed by his works, will allow. "For," as says the Wisdom of Solomon, "by the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the Maker of them is seen."
Second Reading — 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12
Ignatius of Antioch
On 10:4
The priests indeed, and the ministers of the word, are good; but the High Priest is better, to whom the holy of holies has been committed, and who alone has been entrusted with the secrets of God. The ministering powers of God are good. The Comforter is holy, and the Word is holy, the Son of the Father, by whom He made all things, and exercises a providence over them all. This is the Way which leads to the Father, the Rock, the Defence, the Key, the Shepherd, the Sacrifice, the Door of knowledge, through which have entered Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, Moses and all the company of the prophets, and these pillars of the world, the apostles, and the spouse of Christ, on whose account He poured out His own blood, as her marriage portion, that He might redeem her. All these things tend towards the unity of the one and only true God.
Gospel — Luke 13:1-9
Titus of Bostra
On 13:1
And He here plainly shews, that whatever judgments are passed for the punishment of the guilty, happen not only by the authority of the judges, but the will of God. Whether therefore the judge punishes upon the strict grounds of conscience, or has some other object in his condemnation, we must ascribe the work to the Divine appointment.
On 13:5
Now one tower is compared to the whole city, that the destruction of a part may alarm the whole. Hence it is added, But, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish; as if He said, The whole city shall shortly be smitten if the inhabitants continue in impenitence.
On 13:6
The Jews were boasting, that while the eighteen had perished, they all remained unhurt. He therefore sets before them the parable of the fig tree, for it follows, He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard.