St Matthew Chapter VIII : Verses 14-22
Contents
- Matt. viii. 14-22 Douay-Rheims text & Latin text (Vulgate).
- Notes on the text
Matt. viii. 14-22
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| Cure of St Peter's Mother-in-law. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
Et cum venisset Jesus in domum Petri, vidit socrum ejus jacentem, et febricitantem :
15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and ministered to them.
et tetigit manum ejus, et dimisit eam febris, et surrexit, et ministrabat eis.
16 And when evening was come, they brought to him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word: and all that were sick he healed:
Vespere autem facto, obtulerunt ei multos dæmonia habentes : et ejiciebat spiritus verbo, et omnes male habentes curavit :
17 That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet Isaias, saying: He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases.
ut adimpleretur quod dictum est per Isaiam prophetam, dicentem : Ipse infirmitates nostras accepit : et ægrotationes nostras portavit.
18 And Jesus seeing great multitudes about him, gave orders to pass over the water.
Videns autem Jesus turbas multas circum se, jussit ire trans fretum.
19 And a certain scribe came and said to him: Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou shalt go.
Et accedens unus scriba, ait illi : Magister, sequar te, quocumque ieris.
20 And Jesus saith to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Et dicit ei Jesus : Vulpes foveas habent, et volucres cæli nidos; Filius autem hominis non habet ubi caput reclinet.
21 And another of his disciples said to him: Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Alius autem de discipulis ejus ait illi : Domine, permitte me primum ire, et sepelire patream meum.
22 But Jesus said to him: Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.
Jesus autem ait illi : Sequere me, et dimitte mortuos sepelire mortuos suos.
Notes
14. Peter's house. Here St Mark has the house of Simon and Andrew. Possibly the paternal home. Jesus went there with James and John, and most likely Simon and Andrew (St Mark i. 29). They went there for hospitality, direct from the synagogue on a Sabbath-day.
Cf. And Jesus rising up out of the synagogue, went into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever, and they besought him for her (St Luke iv. 38).
his wife's mother. Hence St Peter was married, as were most of the apostles (see 1 Cor. ix. 5).
sick of a fever. She was suffering from a great fever. The ancients divided fevers into two classes, “great” and “little.” St Luke always uses the correct technical term. St Matthew omits to mention two details given by the other Synoptists : —
(a) Forthwith they tell him of her (St Mark).
(b) They besought him for her (St Luke).
15. And he touched her hand. Combining the accounts, we note our Lord’s condescension, which St Mark gives more graphically than the other Synoptists : —
(а) Jesus went to the bedside of the sufferer.
(b) lie bent over her.
(c) He took her by the hand.
(d) He lifted her up.
(e) He rebuked the fever and healed her.
the fever left her. She was completely and instantaneously cured. As a proof of this, she rose immediately and ministered to them, — i.e. to Christ and His disciples.
to them. The best MSS. read not “ to them ” (αὐτοῖς), but “ to him ” (αὐτῷ).
16. when evening was come. This detail is given by all the Synoptists.
The people came in the evening because —
1. It was less trying for the sick, who could not support the great heat.
2. The Sabbath was not over till after sunset, and to carry a sick person was a breach of the Sabbath,
3. The news of the cure of Simon’s mother-in-law was not instantly spread abroad.
many that were, etc. The crowd was so great that all the city was gathered together at the door (i.e. of St Peter’s home) (St Mark).
possessed with devils. The Evangelist distinguishes between the sick and those possessed by devils.
he cast out the spirits with his word. St Luke’s account is fuller : And devils went out from many, crying out and saying: Thou art the Son of God. And rebuking them, he suffered them not to speak, for they knew that he was Christ (iv. 41). Jesus would not receive homage from them.
Possibly the devils’ homage was actuated by evil motives, i.e. to induce people to believe that Christ was in collusion with them. This is the second time that day that Jesus silenced them (see St Mark i. 25).
Though the devils knew that he was Christ — i.e. the Messias — these words do not prove that they knew Him to be God.
all that were sick he healed. In the midst of the sufferers, Jesus our Emmanuel passed: laying his hands on every one of them, he healed them (St Luke). He had words of tenderness and miraculous powers for all. Not one was passed over as too unworthy. This fact proves that these sufferers had faith.
We can picture out the scene— the eager, anxious bearers, the wan faces of the sick, the scarred visages of the lepers, the various conditions of the patients, the earnest cries that resounded on all sides. St Matthew gives another account of numbers being healed at one time. Cf. And his fame went throughout all Syria, and they presented to him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and such as were possessed by devils, and lunatics, and those that had the palsy, and he cured them (iv. 24).
17. That it might be, etc. This is one of St Matthew’s numerous references to the fulfilment of prophecy, and he applies the prediction to the miracles which Jesus wrought on the Sabbath-day in Capharnaum. St Matthew gives a free rendering of the prophet’s words, which run thus : He hath horne our infirmities and carried our sorrows (Is. liii. 4). These words, in their primary signification, manifestly refer to the Passion of our Lord, as the context clearly proves. Cf. And his look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not. St Peter also interprets the passage in the same sense : Who his own self bore our sins in his body upon the tree, that we being dead to sins, should live to justice, by whose stripes you were healed (1 Peter ii. 24). This apparent discrepancy is generally explained as follows : — All physical and moral evils are the pernicious results of sin ; consequently, by atoning for our sin, our Lord also removed the consequences, though the complete exemption from pain and death can only be accomplished in heaven, where the elect shall enjoy eternal felicity, for God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and death shall be no more (Apoc. xxi. 4).
18. seeing great multitudes. “ His fame being spread abroad, great crowds collected, and they were no doubt filled with the expectation of the temporal kingdom, which in the popular mind was at that time associated with the idea of the Messias’ appearance. This idea our Lord constantly opposed, and He systematically avoided keeping a crowd long together, lest He should be .suspected of favouring the sedition to which such an error might give occasion” (Ryan, Gospels of the Sundays, vol. i. p. 168).
pass over the water. To the eastern side of the lake. Jesus, during His Galilean mission, had a boat in waiting. Cf. And he spoke to his disciples that a small ship should wait on him, because of the multitude, lest they should throng him (St Mark iii. 9).
Note. — St Luke gives these two incidents in another context — before the mission of the Seventy-two, and after our Lord’s visit to the country of the Gerasens.
19. a certain scribe came. He met our Lord in the way.
I will follow thee, etc. Like the sons of Zebedee, this man evidently did not know for what he was offering himself. He had not reckoned the charges. In the same spirit, St Peter promised to follow Christ to prison and to death, A similar disposition is found in the rich young man who said : Good Master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting ? {infra, xix. 16).
20. Jesus saith to him, etc. Evidently the scribe expected riches and honours in the Messianic kingdom. Jesus disillusions him, and states the exact conditions of discipleship. Poverty and humiliation await the follower of Christ.
foxes have holes, etc. Lit. “ shelters,” or “ places for camping.” These words give us a graphic picture of our Lord’s life of privation. The brute creation at least had a shelter, the Son of man had none. He lived in utter dependence on God.
22. let the dead, etc. “Explanations: — 1. Dead is taken both times in the same sense ; the meaning is, ‘ Let the dead bury themselves.’ When the grace of God calls us to something else, as Jesus called this disciple, even such an important work as burying the dead must be neglected. 2. The dead are taken for the spiritually dead the first time, and for the bodily dead the second. Then it means : let those who are spiritually dead, for whom the grave means the last end of man, attend to the burial of the dead bodies. Or it implies that the relatives of the man were spiritually dead ; they would attend to the burial” (Maas, Life of Christ, p. 248).
St Luke here adds a third offer : And another said : I will follow thee, Lord, hut let me first take my leave of them that are at my house. Jesus said to him : No man 'putting his hand to the plough, and looking hack, is fit for the kingdom of heaven (ix. 61, 62).
Some interpreters find in these three persons representatives of the sanguine, the melancholic, and the phlegmatic temperaments, while the two apostles, James and John, illustrate the choleric temperament. “Others, again, find in the three half-hearted followers the three great obstacles represented, namely, earthly desire and ambition, earthly sorrow, and carnal affection.”
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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