Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Matthew 22:4

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

For since on seeing the Son, they were wroth and slew Him, He bids them again by His servants. And unto what doth He bid them? Unto labors, and toils, and sweat? Nay but unto pleasure. For, "My oxen," He saith, "and my fatlings are killed." See how complete His banquet? how great His munificence. And not even this shamed them, but the more long-suffering He showed, so much the more were they hardened. For not for press of business, but from "making light of it" they did not come.

Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 69 ↗

Western Saints

Jerome

He sent other servants again, saying: Tell those who are invited: Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and fatted cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready: come to the wedding feast. But they disregarded him. The servants who were sent the second time are better understood as prophets than apostles, if the word 'servant' is written above. But if you read 'servants' in the same place, then the second servants should be understood as apostles. …

Commentary on Matthew ↗

Gregory the Dialogist

But because these who were first invited would not come to the feast, the second summons says, Behold, I have prepared my dinner. (ubi sup.) By the oxen are signified the Fathers of the Old Testament; who by sufferance of the Law gored their enemies with the horn of bodily strength. …

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗

Hilary of Poitiers

Or otherwise; The oxen are the glorious army of Martyrs, offered, like choice victims, for the confession of God; the fatlings are spiritual men, as birds fed for flight upon heavenly food, that they may fill others with the abundance of the food they have eaten.

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗