A Bad Promise

Accessit unus scriba, et ait illi: Magister, sequar te quocumque ieris. Accessit autem non fide, ut centurio ille, de quo diximus; sed tantum labiis dicendo: Magister, sequar te. Sic itaque decicit qui promittit, aut incaut aut fice, se Deum ad omnia sequi posse. Displicet enim Dei infidelis et stulta promissio. Necdum sciebat miser, quinam vel quantus esset, quem sequi se promittbat quocunque iret; alioquin quomodo promitteret quod nemo mortalium in hac vita potest, licet post finem vitae dicatur de sanctis, qui empti sunt de terra ex omnibus primitiae Deo et Agno, quod sequantur eum quocunque ierit. Quorum profecto mox addidit causam, quod virgines sint, et empti de terra ex omnibus, ut primitiae Deo et Agno essent etiam sine macula. Sed iste nec suam perpendit mensuram, nec Christi considerat celsitudinem, ignorans quid vel quantum inter se et illum esset. Unde patet quod nihil eum amplius quam hominem putabat, unde et magistrum eum vocat. Credidit enim quod unus esset ex doctoribus legis, et ideo sic eum appellat. Vult ergo sequi, non ut imitetur, sed ut de miraculis et virtutibus lucrum, aut vanam quaerat gloriam. Sic itaque et Simon Magus sequi desiderat. Nam Petrus princeps apostolorum per mare sequitur, sed mergitur: ad passonem quoque, sed negat. Quod si tantus una cum caeteris deserit, nec sequi valet ad omnia; quid putas iste incautus promissor, si tunc adesset? Verumtmen sic dicit, quasi cum eo posset ferre crucis ignominiam, portas confringere inferorum, mortem quoque morte destruere, et vitam resurgendo restituere, ac caetera quae de Christo difficile est enumerare. Idcirco unicuique prius cogitandum quod possit, aut cui, vel quid voveat, quove animo, qua intentione. Sed quod iste dolose haec promiserit, pandit mox conspector omnium, qui corda inspicit singulorum. Sanctus Paschasius Radbertus Corbeiensis, Expositio In Evangelium Matthaei, Liber V, Caput VIII Source: Migne PL 120.356b -357a

One of the Scribes came to Him and said, 'Teacher, I will follow you wherever you shall go.' ' 1 He does not draw near in faith, like that centurion of whom we have spoken, but only with the lips does he say, 'Teacher, I will follow you.' Thus he who promises to be capable of following God in everything errs either by imprudence or deceit. A faithless man and a foolish promise is displeasing to God. That wretch did not know what it meant or how much it meant, when he promised to follow Him wherever He would go. Besides how shall he promise what no mortal in life is able to do, that is said to be possible only after the end of life for the saints, who have been redeemed from the earth, the first fruits to God and the Lamb, who shall follow Him wherever He shall go, 2 concerning which he soon gives the cause, that they are virgins, and redeemed from all on earth as first fruits to God and the Lamb, and they are without spot. But this man here he does not consider that measure, nor does he consider the heavenly nature of Christ, because He is ignorant of the great gulf between himself and Christ. Whence he openly shows that he does not think Him anything more than a man, and hence he calls Him teacher, for he believes he is one of the teachers of the Law, and therefore he names Him so. He wished, then, to follow, not that he imitate Him, but because he sought profit and vainglory from miracles and power. Simon Magus desired to follow in this way. 3 And Peter the prince of the Apostles followed on the sea but then sank, 4 and also at the Passion he denied Him, and if one as great as this were to desert Him along with the rest, being unable to follow in everything, what do you think would have happened had this imprudent man here who promised been present? Yet so he spoke, as if He was able to bear the disgrace of the cross, and to shatter the gates of hell, and destroy death with death, and rise to the restoration of life, and the other things of Christ which are difficult to enumerate. Therefore each of us should first think what he is able to do, and to whom, and what he shall promise, and how it sits in the soul, and with what intention. But that this man promises wrongly He who sees all things soon reveals, He who looks into the hearts of us all. Saint Paschasius Radbertus, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 5, Chapter 8 1 Mt 8.19 2 Apoc 14.4 3 Act 8.13 4 Mt 14.30