The healing of the leper

St Luke Chapter V : Verses 12-16

Contents

• Luke v. 12-16.  Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text & Latin text (Vulgate).
• Annotations (from the Catena Aurea)
• Douay-Rheims 1582 text

Luke v. 12-16.

Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

12 And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy, who seeing Jesus, and falling on his face, besought him, saying: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

Et factum est, cum esset in una civitatum, et ecce vir plenus lepra, et videns Jesum, et procidens in faciem, rogavit eum, dicens : Domine, si vis, potes me mundare.

13 And stretching forth his hand, he touched him, saying: I will. Be thou cleansed. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.

Et extendens manum, tetigit eum dicens : Volo : mundare. Et confestim lepra discessit ab illo.

14 And he charged him that he should tell no man, but, Go, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.

Et ipse præcepit illi ut nemini diceret : sed, Vade, ostende te sacerdoti, et offer pro emundatione tua, sicut præcepit Moyses, in testimonium illis.

15 But the fame of him went abroad the more, and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.

Perambulabat autem magis sermo de illo : et conveniebant turbæ multæ ut audirent, et curarentur ab infirmitatibus suis.

16 And he retired into the desert, and prayed.

Ipse autem secedebat in desertum, et orabat.

Annotations

[Ed. Taken from the Catena Aurea of St Thomas Aquinas]

    12.  And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, etc. Rightly no definite place is mentioned where the leprous man was healed, to signify that not one people of any particular city, but all nations were healed. The fourth miracle after Jesus came to Capernaum was the healing of a leprous man. But since He illumined the fourth day with the sun, and made it more glorious than the rest, we ought to think this work more glorious than those that went before. AMBROSE. 

    Lord, if thou wilt.  Now the leper worshipped the Lord God in His bodily form, and thought not the Word of God to be a creature because of His flesh, nor because He was the Word did he think lightly of the flesh which He put on... 

and falling on his face, besought him, ... nay rather in a created temple he adored the Creator of all things, falling down on his face, as it follows, And when he saw Jesus he fell on his face, and besought him. ATHANASIUS. (Ep. ad Adelph. 3.)

    In falling on his face he marked his humility and modesty, for every one should blush at the stains of his life, but his reverence kept not back his confession, he shews his wound, and asks for a remedy, saying, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Of the will of the Lord he doubted, not from distrust of His mercy, but checked by the consciousness of his own unworthiness. But the confession is one full of devotion and faith, placing all power in the will of the Lord. AMBROSE. 

     For he knew that leprosy yields not to the skill of physicians, but he saw the devils cast out by the Divine authority, and multitudes cured of divers diseases, all which he conceived was the work of the Divine arm. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA.

    Let us learn from the words of the leper not to go about seeking the cure of our bodily infirmities, but to commit the whole to the will of God, Who knows what is best for us, and disposes all things as He will. TITUS BOSTRENSIS.

    13. And stretching forth his hand, he touched him.  He heals in the same manner in which He had been entreated to heal, as it follows, And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him. The law forbids to touch the leprous man, but He who is the Lord of the law submits not to the law, but makes the law; He did not touch because without touching He was unable to make him clean, but to shew that he was neither subject to the law, nor feared the contagion as man; for He could not be contaminated Who delivered others from the pollution. On the other hand, He touched also, that the leprosy might be expelled by the touch of the Lord, which was wont to contaminate him that touched. AMBROSE.

    I will. Be thou cleansed. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.  In the words which follow, I will, be thou clean, you have the will, you have also the result of His mercy. AMBROSE.

     And because the Deity is united with each portion of man, i.e. both soul and body, in each are evident the signs of a heavenly nature. For the body declared the Deity hidden in it, when by touching it afforded a remedy, but the soul, by the mighty power of its will, marked the Divine strength. For as the sense of touch is the property of the body, so the motion of the will of the soul. The soul wills, the body touches. GREGORY OF NYSSA. (Orat. 1. in Resur. Christ.)

    14. And he charged him that he should tell no man, that in truth he might teach us that our good deeds are not to be made public, but to be rather concealed, that we should abstain not only from gaining money, but even favour. Or perhaps the cause of His commanding silence was that He thought those to be preferred, who had rather believed of their own accord than from the hope of benefit. AMBROSE.

    but, Go, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.  And since frequently men, when they are sick, remember God, but when they recover, wax dull, He bids him to always keep God before his eyes, giving glory to God. Hence it follows ... that the leprous man being cleansed might submit himself to the inspection of the Priest, and so by his sanction be counted as healed. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 26. in Matt.)

    for a testimony to them.   Because this deed makes manifest that Christ in His incomparable excellence is far above Moses. For when Moses could not rid his sister of the leprosy, he prayed the Lord to deliver her. But the Saviour, in His divine power, declared, I will, be thou clean. (Numb. xii.13.) CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA.

    15. But the fame of him went abroad. And although the Lord in giving out remedies advised telling them to no one, instructing us to avoid pride; yet His fame flew about every where, instilling the miracle into the ears of every one. CHRYSOSTOM. (ubi sup.)

    and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. Now the perfect healing of one brings many multitudes to the Lord. For the leprous man that he might shew both his outward and inward cure, even though forbidden, ceases not, (as Mark says) to tell of the benefit he had received. BEDE.

    16. And he retired into the desert, and prayed.   Our Redeemer performs His miracles by day, and passes the night in prayer.... hinting, as it were, to perfect preachers, that as neither they should entirely desert the active life from love of contemplation, so neither should they despise the joys of contemplation from an excess of activity, but in silent thought imbibe that which they might afterwards give back in words to their neighbours. GREGORY. (Mor. xxviii. c. 13.)

    And His works He indeed performed among the people, but He prayed for the most part in the wilderness, sanctioning the liberty of resting a while from labour to hold converse with God with a pure heart. For He needed no change or retirement, since there was nothing which could be relaxed in Him, nor any place in which He might confine Himself, for He was God, but it was that we might clearly know that there is a time for action, a time for each higher occupation. GREGORY NAZIANZEN. (26.) 

   How typically the leprous man represents the whole race of man, languishing with sins full of leprosy, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; (Rom. iii. 23.) that so by the hand put forth, i.e. the word of God partaking of human nature, they might be cleansed from the vanity of their old errors, and offer for cleansing their bodies as a living sacrifice.  BEDE. 

    But if the word is the healing of leprosy, the contempt of the word is the leprosy of the mind. AMBROSE.

Douay-Rheims : 1582 text

12. And it came to paſſe, when he was in one of the cities, & behold a man ful of leproſie, and ſeeing IESVS, and falling on his face, beſought him ſaying: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canſt make me cleane.

13. And ſtretching forth the hand he touched him, ſaying: I wil. Be thou made cleane. And immediatly the leproſie departed from him.

14. And he commanded him that he ſhould tel no body, but, Goe, shew thy self to the Prieſt, and offer for thy cleanſing as Moyſes commanded, for a teſtimonie to them.

15. But the bruit of him went abrode the more, and great multitudes came togeather to heare, and to be cured of their infirmities.

16. And he retired into the deſert, and praied.

 

+       +        +

The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Christ teaches from a boat : a miraculous draught of fishes

St Luke Chapter V : Verses 1-11

Contents

• Luke v. 1-11.  Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text & Latin text (Vulgate).
• Annotations
  
• Further Notes (from the Catena Aurea)
• Douay-Rheims 1582 text

Luke v. 1-11.

They filled both the boats, so that they were almost sinking.
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

1 And it came to pass, that when the multitudes pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Genesareth,

Factum est autem, cum turbae irruerunt in eum ut audirent verbum Dei, et ipse stabat secus stagnum Genesareth.

2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.

Et vidit duas naves stantes secus stagnum : piscatores autem descenderant, et lavabant retia.

3 And going into one of the ships that was Simon's, he desired him to draw back a little from the land. And sitting he taught the multitudes out of the ship.

Ascendens autem in unam navim, quæ erat Simonis, rogavit eum a terra reducere pusillum. Et sedens docebat de navicula turbas.

4 Now when he had ceased to speak, he said to Simon: Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.

Ut cessavit autem loqui, dixit ad Simonem : Duc in altum, et laxate retia vestra in capturam.

5 And Simon answering said to him: Master, we have labored all the night, and have taken nothing: but at thy word I will let down the net.

Et respondens Simon, dixit illi : Præceptor, per totam noctem laborantes nihil cepimus : in verbo autem tuo laxabo rete.

6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a very great multitude of fishes, and their net broke.

Et cum hoc fecissent, concluserunt piscium multitudinem copiosam : rumpebatur autem rete eorum.

7 And they beckoned to their partners that were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they were almost sinking.

Et annuerunt sociis, qui erant in alia navi, ut venirent, et adjuvarent eos. Et venerunt, et impleverunt ambas naviculas, ita ut pene mergerentur.

8 Which when Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

Quod cum vidisset Simon Petrus, procidit ad genua Jesu, dicens : Exi a me, quia homo peccator sum, Domine.

9 For he was wholly astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken.

Stupor enim circumdederat eum, et omnes qui cum illo erant, in captura piscium, quam ceperant :

10 And so were also James and John the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's partners. And Jesus saith to Simon: Fear not: from henceforth thou shalt catch men.

similiter autem Jacobum et Joannem, filios Zebedæi, qui erunt socii Simonis. Et ait ad Simonem Jesus : Noli timere : ex hoc jam homines eris capiens.

11 And having brought their ships to land, leaving all things, they followed him.

Et subductis ad terram navibus, relictis omnibus, secuti sunt eum.

Annotations

 

   6. they enclosed a very great multitude of fishes—for Peter had said, “At Thy word I will let down the net.” Behold here the fruit and reward of obedience. Jesus did this—

    1. In order that by providing them with food, He might prepare them for their vocation and ministry. I have chosen you to be My disciples, make not excuse that ye must work for your livelihood as fishermen. Behold this miraculous draft of fishes, and believe that I am able to provide you with all things necessary for life more easily and more abundantly than ye are able to provide them yourselves.         2. To teach from this miracle, that they were soon to become successful fishers of men.

    7. And they beckoned to their partners that were in the other ship,—because from joy and wondering astonishment they were unable to speak.

    10. Fear not (be not lost in astonishment, from henceforth you are to be fishermen in a higher sense of the word), from henceforth thou shalt catch men. ζωγρῶν from ζωγρέω, which means—

    First, to hunt or catch some living thing, hence the Arabic translates it, from henceforth thou shalt be a fisherman, for thou shalt fish for and take men. Thou, Peter, shalt catch men, not by wounding and disabling them, as wild animals are taken; but as fish which are unhurt by the net, so thou shalt catch men not by violence or force, but through the power and operation of the spirit.

    Secondly (if we derive the word from ζῶν and ἐγρομαι or ἐγείρω), to quicken, or recall to life. Hence S. Ambrose (Hexam., lib. v. cap. vi.) “Thou shalt be a life-giver to men;” and the Syriac, “Thou shalt be a fisher of men, to recall them to life.” Fishermen, indeed, catch fish to provide themselves with food, but thou, O Peter, art to become a fisher of men, not to destroy them, but to give them life by raising them from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness, for like as fish taken from the water die, so men caught by thee become dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, and, in a sense, as fish are assimilated by those who feed on them, so do those who are inclosed in the Gospel net, become in very truth members of Christ. Figuratively, the ship of Peter is the Church, the [visible] head of which is Peter and his successors. The Pope is therefore the chief fisherman to whom the words of Christ apply, “Thou shalt catch men.” It is the duty, therefore, of the Roman Pontiff directly and by means of others to convert the heathen, as the early occupants of the see of Rome converted the Roman people and sent apostolic men to preach the word of life to heathen lands.

    Thus S. Gregory sent Augustine to convert the English people.

    S. Ambrose observes, that some men, e.g., the martyrs, like fish, are taken by the hook; others, i.e., the body of the faithful, by the net, and adds, “Nets are the means whereby the Apostles catch men, for nets do not destroy but preserve what they take, and bring to the surface that which is floating below.”

    Nets are called in Latin “retia,” because they are retentive “retinentia,” of that which they have taken.—Gloss.

Additional Notes from the Catena Aurea of St Thomas Aquinas

    1. BEDE. The lake of Gennesaret is said to be the same as the sea of Galilee or the sea of Tiberias; but it is called the sea of Galilee from the adjacent province, the sea of Tiberias from a neighbouring city. Gennesaret however, is the name given it from the nature of the lake itself, (which is thought from its crossing waves to raise a breeze upon itself,) being the Greek expression for “making a breeze to itself.” (quasi a γιννάω et ἀὴρ.) For the water is not steady like that of a lake, but constantly agitated by the breezes blowing over it. It is sweet to the taste, and wholesome to drink. In the Hebrew tongue, any extent of water, whether it be sweet or salt, is called a sea.

    2. And saw two ships standing by the lake: BEDE. Now mystically, the two ships represent circumcision and uncircumcision. The Lord sees these, because in each people He knows who are His, and by seeing, i.e. by a merciful visitation, He brings them nearer the tranquillity of the life to come. The fishermen are the doctors of the Church, because by the net of faith they catch us, and bring us as it were ashore to the land of the living.

    6. and their net broke. AUGUSTINE. (ut sup.) Now the circumstance of the nets breaking, and the ships being filled with the multitude of fishes so that they began to sink, signifies that there will be in the Church so great a multitude of carnal men, that unity will be broken up, and it will be split into heresies and schisms.

    BEDE. The net is broken, but the fish escape not, for the Lord preserves His own amid the violence of persecutors.

    7. and they came. AMBROSE. But the other ship is Judæa, out of which James and John are chosen. These then came from the synagogue to the ship of Peter in the Church, that they might fill both ships. For at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, whether Jew or Greek.

    BEDE. Or the other ship is the Church of the Gentiles, which itself also (one ship being not sufficient) is filled with chosen fishes. For the Lord knows who are His, and with Him the number of His elect is sure. And when He finds not in Judæa so many believers as He knows are destined to eternal life, He seeks as it were another ship to receive His fishes, and fills the hearts of the Gentiles also with the grace of faith.

     BEDE. But the filling of these ships goes on until the end of the world. But the fact that the ships, when filled, begin to sink, i.e. become weighed low down in the water; (for they are not sunk, but are in great danger,) the Apostle explains when he says, In the last days perilous times shall come; men shall be lovers of their own selves, &c. (2 Tim. iii. 1, 2.) For the sinking of the ships is when men, by vicious habits, fall back into that world from which they have been elected by faith.

    8.  he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. For calling back to his consciousness the crimes he had committed, he is alarmed and trembles, and as being unclean, he believes it impossible he can receive Him who is clean.

Douay-Rheims : 1582 text

1. AND it came to paſſe, when the multitudes preſſed vpon him to heare the word of God, and him ſelf ſtood beſide the lake of Geneſareth.

2. And he ſaw two ſhips ſtanding by the lake: and the fiſhers were gone downe, and waſhed their nets.

3. And he going vp into one ſhip that was Simons, deſired him to bring it back a litle from the land. And ſitting, he taught the multitudes out of the ſhip.

4. And as he ceaſed to ſpeake, he ſaid to Simon: Launch forth into the deep, and let looſe your nets to make a draught.

5. And Simon anſwering,ſaid to him: Maiſter, labouring al the night, we haue taken nothing; but in thy word I wil let looſe the net.

6. And when they had done this, they incloſed a very great multitude of fiſhes, and their net was broken.

7. And they beckned to their fellowes that were in the other ſhip, that they ſhould come and help them. And they came and filled both ſhips, ſo that they did ſinke.

8. Which when Simon Peter did ſee, he fel downe at IESVS knees ſaying: Goe forth from me, because I am a ſinful man, O Lord.

9. For he was wholy aſtonished and al that were with him, at the draught of fiſhes which they had taken.

10. In like manner also Iames and Iohn the ſonnes of Zebedee, who were Simons fellowes. And IESVS said to Simon: Feare not; from this time now, thou ſhalt be taking men.

11. And hauing brought their ſhips to land, leauing al things they folowed him.

 

+       +        +

The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Healing Simon's mother-in-law & many people with diseases

St Luke Chapter IV : Verses 38-44

Contents

• Luke iv. 38-44.  Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text & Latin text (Vulgate).
• Annotations
  
• Douay-Rheims 1582 text

Luke iv. 38-44.

Healing Simon's mother-in-law.

38 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.

Surgens autem Jesus de synagoga, introivit in domum Simonis. Socrus autem Simonis tenebatur magnis febribus : et rogaverunt illum pro ea.

39 And standing over her, he commanded the fever, and it left her. And immediately rising, she ministered to them.

Et stans super illam imperavit febri : et dimisit illam. Et continuo surgens, ministrabat illis.

Healing the sick and casting out devils.
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

40 And when the sun was down, all they that had any sick with divers diseases, brought them to him. But he laying his hands on every one of them, healed them.

Cum autem sol occidisset, omnes qui habebant infirmos variis languoribus, ducebant illos ad eum. At ille singulis manus imponens, curabat eos.

41 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.

Exibant autem dæmonia a multis clamantia, et dicentia : Quia tu es Filius Dei : et increpans non sinebat ea loqui : quia sciebant ipsum esse Christum.

42 And when it was day, going out he went into a desert place, and the multitudes sought him, and came unto him: and they stayed him that he should not depart from them.

Facta autem die egressus ibat in desertum locum, et turbæ requirebant eum, et venerunt usque ad ipsum : et detinebant illum ne discederet ab eis.

43 To whom he said: To other cities also I must preach the kingdom of God: for therefore am I sent.

Quibus ille ait : Quia et aliis civitatibus oportet me evangelizare regnum Dei : quia ideo missus sum.

44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

Et erat prædicans in synagogis Galilææ.

Annotations

[Ed. Cornelius A Lapide has no notes for these verses. Below, I have included the Notes I appended to the parallel incidents recorded by St Mark in Chapter I, verses 29-34.]

    38. And Jesus rising up out of the synagogue, went into Simon's house. it seems Our Lord was accompanied by Peter and Andrew, together with James and John. It was on the Sabbath that this miracle was wrought. Probably Jesus went to the Apostle’s house to take food.

    Simon's wife's mother : hence St Peter was a married man. 

    of a fever. St Luke tells us it was a great fever.

    39.  And standing over her, he commanded the fever,  Notice our Lord’s condescension so graphically related by St Mark.

    (a) Jesus went to the sufferer.

    (b) He took her by the hand.

    (c) He lifted her up.

    (d) He rebuked the fever and healed her.

     and it left her. She was completely cured, and as a proof she ministered unto them.

    40.  And when the sun was down. All the Synoptic writers give this detail. The people waited, probably because it was then cooler than in the afternoon, and because they wished to respect the rest of the Sabbath, which finished at sunset. This latter precaution was not necessary, since it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath, as our Lord teaches. Note also that the news of the healing of St Peter’s mother-in-law would not have been known in the city until the evening.

    all they that had any sick with divers diseases, Those suffering from sicknesses. St Matthew (viii. 17) points out how our Lord, by healing the afflicted, fulfilled the prophecy, He took our infirmities and bore our diseases (Isaias liii. 4).

    41. And devils went out from many. The Evangelist distinguishes between the sick and those possessed by the devil.

Douay-Rheims : 1582 text

38. And IESVS riſing vp out of the Synagogue, entred into Simons houſe. And Simons wiues mother was holden with a great feuer; and they beſought him for her.

39. And ſtanding ouer her, he commanded the feuer, and it left her. And incontinent riſing, she miniſtred to them.

40. And when the ſunne was downe, al that had diseased of ſundrie maladies, brought them to him. But he impoſing hands vpon euery one, cured them.

41. And Diuels went out from many, crying and ſaying: That thou art the Sonne of God. And rebuking them he ſuffred them not to ſpeake, that they knew he was Chriſt.

42. And when it was day, going forth he went into a deſert place; & the multitudes ſought him, and came euen vnto him; and they held him that he ſhould not depart from them.

43. To whom he ſaid: That to other cities alſo muſt I euangelize the Kingdom of God; becauſe therfore I was ſent.

44. And he was preaching in the Synagogues of Galilee.

+       +        +

The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Casting out a devil in the synagogue at Capharnaum

St Luke Chapter IV : Verses 31-37

Contents

• Luke iv. 31-37.  Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text & Latin text (Vulgate).
• Annotations
  
• Douay-Rheims 1582 text

Luke iv. 31-37.

Hold thy peace, and go out of him. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

31 And he went down into Capharnaum, a city of Galilee, and there he taught them on the sabbath days.

Et descendit in Capharnaum civitatem Galilææ, ibique docebat illos sabbatis.

32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his speech was with power.

Et stupebant in doctrina ejus, quia in potestate erat sermo ipsius.

33 And in the synagogue there was a man who had an unclean devil, and he cried out with a loud voice,

Et in synagoga erat homo habens dæmonium immundum, et exclamavit voce magna,

34 Saying: Let us alone, what have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God.

dicens : Sine, quid nobis et tibi, Jesu Nazarene? venisti perdere nos? scio te quis sis, Sanctus Dei.

35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying: Hold thy peace, and go out of him. And when the devil had thrown him into the midst, he went out of him, and hurt him not at all.

Et increpavit illum Jesus, dicens : Obmutesce, et exi ab eo. Et cum projecisset illum dæmonium in medium, exiit ab illo, nihilque illum nocuit.

36 And there came fear upon all, and they talked among themselves, saying: What word is this, for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they go out?

Et factus est pavor in omnibus, et colloquebantur ad invicem, dicentes : Quod est hoc verbum, quia in potestate et virtute imperat immundis spiritibus, et exeunt?

37 And the fame of him was published into every place of the country.

Et divulgabatur fama de illo in omnem locum regionis.

Annotations

[Ed. Cornelius A Lapide directs readers to his notes on verses 23-37 of St Mark's Gospel. The notes below are based on these but with references to the verses of St Luke's Gospel]

    33. And in the synagogue there was a man who had an unclean devil (cf Mark: Ver. 23. And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit), i.e., a man having an unclean spirit, that is to say, possessed by a devil. The Greek has, in an unclean spirit, and it is a Hebraism. For the Hebrew uses ב, beth, i.e., in, when one noun governs another in the genitive.

    and he cried out with a loud voice, i.e., the spirit, by the mouth of the man possessed, “as though he were suffering torment,” says the, Scholiast in S. Chrysostom, “as though in pain, as though not able to bear his strokes.” “For,” as Bede says, “the presence of the Saviour is the torment of the devils.” Christ desired that by this public testimony of the demon concerning Him, in the synagogue of Capernaum , the Jews who were gathered there might acknowledge Him to be Messias. There is nothing about this demoniac in Matthew, but there is in Luke iv. 33.

    34. Saying,  Let us alone. The Gr. subjoins ἔα, which the translator of Luke iv. 34 renders by let alone, as if the imperative of the verb ἐάω, i.e., suffer, permit; as Euthymius says, dismiss us. Others take ἔα as an adverb of grieving, wondering, beseeching. As it were, “Ah!, alas! Lord, in what have I injured Thee?”

    what have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God. “What is there between us and Thee, O Jesus? We have not attacked Thee, O Christ, who art holy; but sinners, who are, as it were, our own. We have no contention with Thee; do not Thou, then, contend with and destroy us.”

    come to destroy us. Some MSS. add, before the time. But the words are not found in the Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Arabic received texts. They seem to have been transferred hither from S. Matt. ix. 25. With respect to the meaning, in the first place, Bede says that the demons, beholding the Lord upon earth, supposed that they were to be immediately judged. It was as though they said, “Do not Thou, O Jesus, by Thine advent bring on so quickly the day of judgment, and banish us to the bottomless pit without any hope of coming forth.” Second, the Scholiast in S. Chrysostom says, “Thou givest us no place among men when Thou teachest divine things.” But this is mystical. Third, and correctly, “Hast Thou come to destroy us, to cast us out from men, and send us to hell?” Whence Theophylact says, “He calls going out of men his destruction.” For the highest pleasure of the devils is to possess and vex men.

    I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God. O Holy One; the Gr. ὁ ἅγιος, emphatically, the Holy One. “Thou who art so holy that Thou communicatest Thy holiness to others, since Thou art, as it were, the Fountain and the Sun of holiness, who sanctifiest all the saints, the Messiah and the Son of God, for whom all are eagerly waiting so many thousand years!” There is an allusion to Dan. ix. 24, “until the Holy of Holies, i.e., Messiah, be anointed.”

    I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God. i.e., I suspect, I think. For, as the Scholiast in Chrysostom says, the devil had no firm and certain knowledge of the coming of God. Because, as S. Austin says (lib. 9, de Civ. c. 21), He only made known to them as much as He wished; and He only wished as much as was expedient.

    35.  And Jesus rebuked him, Gr. ἐπετίμησεν, i.e., rebuked, chided him with threats. That He would punish him unless he were silent.

    Saying, Hold thy peace, and go out of him.  Wherefore? I answer, First, Because it was not fitting that Christ should be commanded by the devil.

    Second, That He might not appear to be a friend of the devil, and to hold intercourse with him. For afterwards it was objected to Christ that He cast out devils by the aid of Beelzebub. By acting as He did, Christ has taught us to shun all dealings with the devil; for he is the sworn enemy of God, and is wholly bent upon injuring and destroying us, even when he promises or brings us any corporal aid. Wherefore, as the Scholiast in Chrysostom saith, “Be silent; let thy silence be My praise. Let not thy voice, but thy torments praise Me. I am not pleased that thou shouldst praise Me, but that thou shouldst go forth.”

Third, To show that we should resist flattery, that it may not stir up any desire of vainglory in our breast.

    Fourth, Euthymius says, “He has taught us never to believe the demons, even when they say what is true. For since they love falsehood, and are most hostile to us, they never speak the truth except to deceive. They make use of the truth as it were a kind of bait.” For, liars that they are, they conceal their lies by a colouring of truth. They say certain things that are true at the first, and afterwards interweave with them what is false, that those who have believed the first may believe also the last. For this cause Paul drove out the spirit of Python, who praised him, Acts xvi.18.

    Fifth, Because the demon in an unseasonable manner, and too speedily, disclosed that Christ was Messiah. For this might have injured Him, and turned the people away from Him. For so mighty a secret should be disclosed gradually, and the people be persuaded of its truth by many miracles; for otherwise they would not at first receive it and believe it. This was why (viii. 30) Christ forbids the Apostles also to say that He was Christ. So Maldonatus and others.

    Symbolically: Bede, “The devil, because he had deceived Eve with his tongue, is punished by the tongue, that he might not speak.”

35. And when the devil had thrown him into the midst. Cf. Mark's tearing (Vulg. discerpens), not by lacerating or mutilating the man who was possessed by him, for Luke says (iv. 35) that he did no harm to him, but by contorting and twisting his limbs this way and that, as if he wished to tear him piecemeal. For the Greek σπαράττω signifies to pull or tear in pieces. The devil did this through rage and madness, that being compelled by Christ to go out of the man, he might injure him as much as he could. But the nearer and the more powerful the grace of Christ is, the more impotently does the devil rage. For, observe, the devil only raised a dreadful tempest, but one that was vain and ineffectual. For he cannot hurt when Christ forbids. Christ permitted it for three reasons. 1. That it might be plain that this man was really possessed by the devil. 2. That the malice and wrath of the demon might be made apparent. 3. That it might be clear that the demon went forth, not of his own will, but because he was compelled to do so by Christ.

    Tropologically: S. Gregory teaches (Hom. 12, in Ezek.) that the devil wonderfully tempts and vexes sinners when they are converted. “As soon,” he says, “as the mind begins to love heavenly things, as soon as it collects itself for the vision of inward peace with its whole intention, that ancient adversary, who fell from heaven, is envious, and begins to lie in wait more insidiously, and brings to bear sharper temptations than he was wont, so as, for the most part, to try the soul which resists in a way that he had never tried her when he possessed her. Wherefore it is written, My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, stand fast in justice and fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation.”

    36. What word is this, for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they go out? (cf. Mark: Ver. 27. What new doctrine is this, &c.) “What is this heavenly and divine doctrine, which indeed God confirms from heaven by so many and such mighty miracles? For Christ, the Teacher of this doctrine, not by prayers, but of His mere power, and by His command only, orders the devils to go out, and they obey Him. Wherefore this must be the Messias, the Son of God, and the true God; for He alone commands the devils by His power.”

Douay-Rheims : 1582 text

31. And he went down into Capharnaum a citie of Galilee; and there he taught them on the Sabboths.

32. And they were aſtoniſhed at his doctrine; becauſe his talke was in power.

33. And in the Synagogue there was a man hauing an vncleane Diuel, and he cried out with a loud voice.

34. Saying: Let be, what to vs and thee IESVS of Nazareth? art thou come to deſtroy vs? I know thee who thou art, the Sainct of God.

35. And IESVS rebuked him, ſaying: Hold thy peace, & goe out of him. And when the Diuel had throwen him into the middes, he went out of him, and hurt him nothing.

36. And there came feare vpon al, and they talked togeather one with another, ſaying: What word is this, that in power and vertue he commandeth the vncleane Spirits, and they goe out?

37. And the fame of him was published into euery place of the countrie.

+       +        +

The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

The Nazarenes try to kill Christ

St Luke Chapter IV : Verses 21-30

Contents

• Luke iv. 21-30.  Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text & Latin text (Vulgate).
• Annotations
  
• Douay-Rheims 1582 text

Luke iv. 21-30.

They brought him to the brow of the hill ...
that they might cast him down headlong.
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

21 And he began to say to them: This day is fulfilled this scripture in your ears.

Cœpit autem dicere ad illos : Quia hodie impleta est hæc scriptura in auribus vestris.

22 And all gave testimony to him: and they wondered at the words of grace that proceeded from his mouth, and they said: Is not this the son of Joseph?

Et omnes testimonium illi dabant : et mirabantur in verbis gratiæ, quae procedebant de ore ipsius, et dicebant : Nonne hic est filius Joseph?

23 And he said to them: Doubtless you will say to me this similitude: Physician, heal thyself: as great things as we have heard done in Capharnaum, do also here in thy own country.

Et ait illis : Utique dicetis mihi hanc similitudinem : Medice cura teipsum : quanta audivimus facta in Capharnaum, fac et hic in patria tua.

24 And he said: Amen I say to you, that no prophet is accepted in his own country.

Ait autem : Amen dico vobis, quia nemo propheta acceptus est in patria sua.

25 In truth I say to you, there were many widows in the days of Elias in Israel, when heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there was a great famine throughout all the earth.

In veritate dico vobis, multae viduae erant in diebus Eliae in Israel, quando clausum est caelum annis tribus et mensibus sex, cum facta esset fames magna in omni terra :

26 And to none of them was Elias sent, but to Sarepta of Sidon, to a widow woman.

et ad nullam illarum missus est Elias, nisi in Sarepta Sidoniae, ad mulierem viduam.

27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet: and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian.

Et multi leprosi erant in Israel sub Elisæo propheta : et nemo eorum mundatus est nisi Naaman Syrus.

28 And all they in the synagogue, hearing these things, were filled with anger.

Et repleti sunt omnes in synagoga ira, hæc audientes.

29 And they rose up and thrust him out of the city; and they brought him to the brow of the hill, whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

Et surrexerunt, et ejecerunt illum extra civitatem : et duxerunt illum usque ad supercilium montis, super quem civitas illorum erat ædificata, ut præcipitarent eum.

30 But he passing through the midst of them, went his way.

Ipse autem transiens per medium illorum, ibat.

Annotations

    21. And he began to say to them: This day is fulfilled this scripture in your ears. (“which has sounded,” says Euthymius, and the Syriac version). This day is fulfilled in your hearing this prophecy of Isaiah, while you hear me preaching to you and to the rest of the poor of Galilee the year of full remission, and I am prepared to do, nay, I have already done in Capernaum, all that Isaiah has here foretold. I am the Messiah of whom Isaiah there prophesies, whom you, in accordance with the predictions of Jacob and Daniel, are already eagerly expecting every moment. For, though Jesus does not clearly say that He is the Messiah, yet He tacitly implies it.

    22. And all gave testimony to him: and they wondered at the words of grace that proceeded from his mouth; and they said: Is not this the son of Joseph? “Words of grace,” he calls them (1) gracious, beautiful, suave, and pleasant; (2) full of grace and the Holy Spirit; (3) efficacious to move and persuade; (4) full of wisdom and eloquence, so as to convince those that heard them. For Christ spoke with a tongue that was more than human. “For he was teaching them as one having power, and not as the scribes and Pharisees.,” Matt. vii. 29.

    And all gave testimony to him—that He spoke well, not that He was the Messiah. Hence they call Him “the son of Joseph;” and, a little after, when they were rebuked by Him, they despised Him and wished to cast Him down headlong. So, nowadays, many people praise a preacher so long as he says to them what is pleasing and elegant, but when he attacks their vices they abuse and persecute him. Such is the way of the fickle multitude, who love themselves and their own desires. However, Bede takes this as meaning that they bore witness that He was the Messiah of whom Isaiah had prophesied these things; and he adds:—“How great their blindness, when, only on account of their knowledge of His origin, and because they had seen Him nourished, and that He had developed, through the stages of life among themselves, they set Him at nought whom, by his words and works, they knew to be Christ.”

    23. And he said to them: Doubtless you will say to me this similitude (in the Greek παραβολὴν—parable, proverb, or adage, in common use): Physician, heal thyself:  —that is, cure Thine own people and Thine own country, which should be as dear to Thee as Thyself; cure Thy fellow-Nazarenes as Thou hast cured or art said to have cured the Capernaites. Thus it was that Christ presently explains it, He, by His Divine Spirit, seeing the hidden thoughts of the Nazarenes, and that they were wishing in their hearts for that which He now said. Anticipating their secret thought, He meets and answers it. “It was common among the Jews,” says Titus, “to taunt physicians who had caught any disease with this impudent and ironical saying, Physician, heal thyself.” For the common sense of mankind holds, and reason favours the opinion, that he who can not cure himself, or neglects to do so, cannot cure others or should not attempt it. In point of fact, however, experience not seldom shows that the physician who cures others is unable to effect his own cure, but hands himself over to other physicians to be treated, because appetite often blinds the reason, and diseases obscure one’s scientific knowledge. Hence we judge better and more safely about the diseases of others than about our own. Self-love often perverts our judgment, so that Solomon warns us with the words, “Lean not unto thine own understanding,” Prov. iii. 5.

    Tropologically, S. Anthony thus expounded the saying, “Physician, heal thyself;” He that will cure the faults of others let him first cure his own. For they that will help others before they cure themselves shall relapse into their own faults. Indeed experience teaches us that they who remedy any fault in themselves easily cure it in others.

    as great things as we have heard done in Capharnaum, do also here in thy own country. Hence it is plain that these events took place in Nazareth after Jesus had preached and worked many miracles in the city of Capernaum, as has been said at v. 16, and S. Augustine (De Consensu, bk. ii. cap. 42) observes. The Gloss interprets, “We do not believe what a vague rumour has published, seeing that among us, on whom favours of the kind would have been more fittingly conferred, Thou hast done no such work.” Here in Nazareth, Thy fatherland which conceived Thee, nourished Thee, and brought Thee unto manhood, Thou hast brethren, sisters, kinsfolk, and neighbours, some rich, others poor, some sick, others suffering in other respects. Why then dost Thou not miraculously succour these Thine own people, to whom Thou art bound by blood, by love of home, and by natural affection?

    24. And he said: Amen I say to you, that no prophet is accepted in his own country. Ye, O Nazarenes, despise Me as your fellow-townsman, and the son of a carpenter; wherefore you are unworthy that I should confer benefits upon you. Therefore (says the Interlinear), I work not among you, not because I hate my own country, but because you are incredulous. S. Cyril adds that a citizen, being always near to his fellow-citizens, is deprived of the reverence which is his due at the hands of those who know him.

    Thirdly, S. Chrysostom says, “Christ had abstained from miracles among the Nazarenes that He might not provoke them to envy.” For, as S. Ambrose says, God is a despiser of the envious; and the Gloss remarks that it is almost natural for fellow-citizens to envy one another; nor do they take account of merit, but call to mind a man’s frail childhood.

    Chrysologus (Semi. 48, at the end,) remarks, “To be powerful is, among one’s own people, a biting and a burning; to be eminent among one’s fellow-citizens and neighbours burns up one’s neighbours’ glory; and if neighbours owe honour to a neighbour they count it slavery.” There is an amusing apologue of a parrot, which touches this subject. A parrot, brought from the East to the West, where birds of this kind are not common, wondered that he was held in greater esteem and honour than he had been accustomed to in his own country. He occupied an ivory cage plaited with silver wire, and fed on the daintiest viands, such as did not fall to the share of the others, which were only western birds, but inferior to himself neither in beauty nor in the power of imitating the human voice. Then says a turtle-dove, shut up in the same cage with him, “There is nothing wonderful in this, for no one receives in his own country the honour which is his due.”

    Tropologically, Christ here teaches the faithful, particularly men devoted to the Apostolic calling, that they ought to curb or to divert themselves of all excessive affection for their own country and kinsfolk, that they may be useful to all men—

    “The fishes’ native country is the boundless sea;

    Let the wide earth the brave man’s country be.”

    S. Gregory Nazianzen (Oral, xviii.) says very well, “For great and noble men there is one country—that Jerusalem which is perceived by the mind, not those countries which we see here, now inhabited by one race of men, now by another.” And again (Orat. xxv.) “These earthly fatherlands, these differences of race, are the scenes, the illusions, of this our short fleeting life. For whatsoever country each one has previously got possession of, whether by injustice or by misfortune, that is called his country, while we are all alike strangers and sojourners, however much we may play upon the meaning of words.” Such was S. Basil, of whom S. Gregory of Nyssa, in his life, writes, “Basil the Great was free from the fear of exile, because he held that the only fatherland or men was Paradise, and regarded all the earth as nature’s common place of exile.”

    25.-26. In truth I say to you, there were many widows in the days of Elias in Israel, when heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there was a great famine throughout all the earth. And to none of them was Elias sent, but to Sarepta of Sidon, to a widow woman. Three years and six months—This does not appear in the Old Testament, but Jesus, as God, knew it, and revealed it to S. James, Ep. v. 17, for as to what is said in 1 Kings xviii.1, “The word of the Lord came to Elias, in the third year, saying, Go and show thyself to Ahab that I may give rain upon the face of the earth.” This third year is not to be taken from the beginning of the drought, but as from the sojourn of Elias in Sarepta.

    throughout all the earth.—Israel and the neighbouring region, such as Sidon, and Sarepta, where this widow was.

    The sense is that, as Elias, in the time of the famine, procured food for no Israelite, but only for the widow of Sarepta, a Sidonian, a Gentile, and a foreigner, because, valuing the prophet very highly, and believing him that God would provide for her hunger according to his word, she gave him the little oil and meal which she had, postponing her own and her children’s wants to his; so Christ, in like manner, puts the Capernaites before the Nazarenes, His own fellow-citizens, because the former hear Him as a Teacher sent from Heaven, honour Him and pay Him respect, but the latter despise Him as a carpenter, and their own fellow-townsman; and so He imparts to the former the spiritual bread of heavenly doctrine and miracles, but leaves the latter in their spiritual want. For Elias was the type and precursor of Christ, and the widow of Sarepta the type and first-fruits of the Gentiles whom Christ preferred before the Jews, His fellow-countrymen. Bede says that “Sidon” in Hebrew signifies “useless hunting;” “Sarepta,” “conflagration” or “neediness”—namely, of bread; that is, the Gentile world given up to the pursuit of worldly things, and suffering from the conflagration of their carnal passions and the want of spiritual bread. Elias is the prophetic word, which, being received, feeds the hearts of them that believe.

    27. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet: and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian. As Elisha, following his master Elias, did not prophecy to the Jews, his own people, but to foreigners, and did not therefore heal the lepers that were in Judæa, but Naaman the Gentile, by reason of his faith and their incredulity; so I preach and work miracles among these Capernaite strangers, on account of their faith, reverence, and goodwill towards Me, but I leave you Nazarenes alone for your infidelity, your irreverence, and your contempt of Me. For Elisha, like Elias, was a type and forerunner of Christ; and Naaman the Gentile, a type of the Gentiles to whom Christ, leaving the Jews, would, by the apostles, transfer His faith, His church, and His grace. So Bede, Titus, Theophylact. Euthymius, Jansenius, Toletus, and others.

    28. And all they in the synagogue, hearing these things, were filled with anger.—because they knew that they were touched by these two examples of the widow and Naaman, as being incredulous, and that a slur was cast upon them as being unworthy of the miracles of Jesus; and again because they were indignant that Jesus, their fellow-townsman and equal, should compare Himself with, and place Himself before, Elias and Elisha, nay, make Himself out the Messiah, from the prophecy of Isaiah and, lastly, because Christ hinted that He would transfer His gifts from the Jews to the Gentiles. So S. Thomas, Toletus, Francis Lucas, and others.

    29. And they rose up and thrust him out of the city; and they brought him to the brow of the hill, whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.—“brought him”—dragged Him, as it seemed to them, by violence, but, in reality, Christ of His own accord allowed Himself to be led and dragged.

    that they might cast him down headlong—from the top of the hill to the bottom, and so kill Him, as one who had defamed his own native place, and inflicted injury and insult upon it; and therefore they brought Him forth outside of the city, as being unworthy of it, that they might cast Him from the top of the mountain, dash Him down upon the rocks, and break His whole body to pieces. This was a grievous piece of violence on the part of the Nazarenes against Christ, their fellow-citizen, and thus, as Euthymius observes, they confirmed in act, what He had spoken in words, namely, that a prophet is not held in honour in his own country, but dishonoured, nay, slain; and that therefore the Nazarenes were unworthy of the preaching and miracles of Christ.

    S. Bonaventure, Toletus, and others add, that they took Christ out of the city to the top of the hill that they might slay Him as a blasphemer, because He had made Himself the Messiah. For though, by the law, the blasphemer was to be stoned, still they wished to cast Christ headlong upon the rocks and stones, because this is the same as if they had stoned Him. Whether the stones are cast at the man, or the man hurled headlong upon the stones, is all one; indeed, the latter is more cruel and terrible. So it was that they cast S. Stephen out of Jerusalem as a blasphemer, and stoned him; and S. James, the first Bishop of Jerusalem, was hurled down from a pinnacle of the Temple as a blasphemer, because He taught that Christ was the Messiah.

    S. Ambrose points out that these men were worse than the devil, who did but set Christ upon a pinnacle of the Temple, and say to Him, “Cast thyself down,” while these did their best to hurl Him down by force. “The heritage of the disciples,” he says, “is worse than that of the master—he tempts the Lord by word, they attempt His life by their act—he says, ‘Cast thyself down,’ they do Him violence in order to cast Him down.”

    30. But he passing through the midst of them, went his way. Maldonatus thinks that Christ here made Himself invisible, S. Ambrose and Bede that He changed their wills, so that they consented to let Him go. Others hold the better opinion that Christ turned away their imagination or their eyes, or suspended their consciousness and held their hands and feet, so that, like men bereft of their senses, though they saw Him they could not or dared not lay hold of Him. Wherefore Christ here manifested His Godhead. S. Ambrose says, “Behold! the minds of these furious men, being suddenly changed, or stupefied, He goes down through the midst of them.” And he adds the reason, “For when He wills He is taken; when He wills He slips away; when He wills He is slain; because His hour had not yet come,” John vii. 30. For as yet He must preach, and at last be crucified at Jerusalem by the Father’s decree, but not cast down headlong in Nazareth. So Bede, S. Chrysostom, Euthymius, and others. Brocardus, in his “Description of the Holy Land,” gives the tradition that Christ glided away from out of the hands of the Jews, and suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the mountain, and that therefore the place is called “the Leap of the Lord.” N. de Lyra adds that the rock on which Christ stood yielded, and received like wax the impress of His feet, just as, when ascending into heaven from Mount Olivet, He left the marks of His feet there. This is what Adrichomius says, in his “Description of the Holy Land,” on the word “the Leap of the Lord:” “The tradition is that Christ fled to a high mountain, which is called from that circumstance ‘the Leap of the Lord,’ and that, at the touch of His garment, the rock flowed, and being melted and loosened like wax, made a kind of hollow for the Lord’s body to be received in and protected, a hollow of a capacity equal to the quantity of the Lord’s body. And in this, even at the present day, the lineaments and folds of the garment on the Lord’s back, and the marks of His feet, are preserved, marked out as though by the hand of a sculptor.” This, however, lacks confirmation.

Douay-Rheims : 1582 text

21. And he began to ſay vnto them: That this day is fulfilled this ſcripture in your eares.

22. And al gaue teſtimonie to him; and they marueled in the words of grace that proceeded from his mouth, and they ſaid: Is nit this Ioſephs ſonne?

23. And he ſaid to them: Certes you wil ſay to me this ſimilitude, Phyſicion, cure thy ſelf: as great things as we haue heard done in Capharnaum, doe alſo here in thy countrie.

24. And he ſaid: Amen I ſay to you, that no Prophet is accepted in his owne countrie.

25. In truth I say to you, there were many widowes in the daies of Elias in Iſrael, when the Heauen was ſhut three yeares and ſix moneths, when there was a great famine made in the whole earth:

26. And to none of them was Elias ſent, but into Sarepta of Sidon, to a widow woman.

27. And there were many lepers in Iſrael under Eliſæus the Prophet; and none of them was made cleane but Naaman the Syrian.

28. And al in the Synagogue were filled with anger, hearing theſe things.

29. And they roſe, and caſt him out of the citie: and they brought him to the edge of the hil, where vpon their citie was built, that they might throw him downe headlong.

30. But he paſſing through the middes of them, went his way.

23. Done in Capharnaum.) God maketh choiſe of perſons and places where he worketh miracles or doeth benefits, though he might doe the ſame elswhere, if it liked his wiſedom.  So doth he in doing miracles by Saints, not in al places , nor towards al perſons, but as it pleaſeth him. Aug. ep. 137.

+       +        +

The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

Preaching in the synagogue at Nazareth

St Luke Chapter IV : Verses 14-20

Contents

• Luke iv. 14-20.  Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text & Latin text (Vulgate).
• Annotations
  
• Douay-Rheims 1582 text

Luke iv. 14-20.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the spirit, into Galilee, and the fame of him went out through the whole country.

Et regressus est Jesus in virtute Spiritus in Galilæam, et fama exiit per universam regionem de illo.

15 And he taught in their synagogues, and was magnified by all.

Et ipse docebat in synagogis eorum, et magnificabatur ab omnibus.

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he was brought up: and he went into the synagogue, according to his custom, on the sabbath day; and he rose up to read.

Et venit Nazareth, ubi erat nutritus, et intravit secundum consuetudinem suam die sabbati in synagogam, et surrexit legere.

17 And the book of Isaias the prophet was delivered unto him. And as he unfolded the book, he found the place where it was written:

Et traditus est illi liber Isaiæ prophetæ. Et ut revolvit librum, invenit locum ubi scriptum erat :

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Wherefore he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart,

Spiritus Domini super me : propter quod unxit me, evangelizare pauperibus misit me, sanare contritos corde,

19 To preach deliverance to the captives, and sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of reward.

prædicare captivis remissionem, et cæcis visum, dimittere confractos in remissionem, praedicare annum Domini acceptum et diem retributioni.

20 And when he had folded the book, he restored it to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

Et cum plicuisset librum, reddit ministro, et sedit. Et omnium in synagoga oculi erant intendentes in eum.

Annotations

    14. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. In the Greek ἐν δυνάμει, in the power, strength, or force of the Spirit. Under a strong impulse of the Spirit, Jesus returned to Galilee. For the Holy Ghost was moving Him, and powerfully impelling Him to put forth at this time that spiritual power which He had received from the beginning of His conception, but which He had hitherto shut up and hidden within Himself, and to begin in Galilee with immense ardour and zeal, His ministry of preaching, and confirm it by His admirable holiness of life and His stupendous miracles. Hence Theophylact renders it ἐνθουσιῶν, driven and urged on by the enthusiasm and Divine afflatus of the Holy Ghost.

    16. And He came to Nazareth. Note here that while Christ is said, in v. 14, to have gone into Galilee, He is not said to have entered Nazareth which is situated there, as S. Matthew (ch. iv.13) has it, but Capernaum, and there to have done the things which S. Matthew relates in chaps, iv to xiii, all of which S. Luke passes over here, and then He is said to have come to Nazareth. S. Luke wished at the very outset to state the reason why Christ would not teach in Nazareth, namely, that He was despised by His fellow-townsmen as being the son of a carpenter. And though this only happened subsequently, yet Christ foresaw that it would be the case, and therefore turned aside from Nazareth and went to Capernaum, which He made the seat of His ministry, as S. Matthew relates in iv.13.

    And stood up for to read. It was (and still is) the custom among the Jews that each one should read the Hebrew books of Holy Scripture in the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, both that he might learn the law of God from it, and also that he might be stirred up to the worship, love, and service of God. Moreover, it was the part of the Rabbin and the teachers, such as Jesus was, to read the Holy Scripture publicly, to interpret it, to preach, and to teach.

    17. And the book of Isaias the prophet was delivered unto him (by the attendant). This was done by the counsel and direction of God, that Jesus might show from Isaiah that He was the Messiah described by that prophet.

    And as he unfolded the book, he found the place where it was written: (Isa. lxi.1). Christ seems so to have opened the book that, without looking for it, He lighted upon this passage of Isaiah by the will and guidance of God. The Vulgate, “as He unrolled the book,” is better; and Vatablus, “when He had unfolded;” others, “when He had spread out,” for this is the meaning of the Greek ἀναπτύξας. For the books of the Hebrews were not divided into leaves, but consisted of one long piece of parchment which was rolled round a cylinder from beginning to end, as maps are nowadays. In order to read this parchment it was therefore necessary to unroll it, and spread it out.

    18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Wherefore he hath anointed me The Holy Spirit, who was in Me from the beginning, descending upon Me here in the baptism which I have now received from John the Baptist, descending visibly in the form of a dove, while the voice of God the Father spoke forth in thunder, “This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him,” has by this sign, as by a visible anointing, publicly declared, authorised, and, as it were, consecrated Me as the Teacher. Prophet, Saviour, and Lawgiver of the world, and especially of the Jews to whom I was promised, Wherefore—

    he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, for the rich Scribes and Pharisees despise My lowliness and My poverty.

Observe the words “hath anointed me;” for in Hebrew “Messiah,” and in Greek Χριστὸς mean “anointed.” This anointing of Christ was accomplished secretly in the Incarnation—

    (1.) By the grace of the hypostatic union, which made Him in the highest degree holy and divine—nay, made Him God.

    (2.) By the plenitude of graces which flowed from this union. For other saints are said to be anointed with the grace and the gifts of the Holy Ghost, but Christ was anointed with the Holy Ghost Himself, as though with the very fountain and plenitude of all graces, that the Man Christ might become a superabundant fountain pouring forth its grace into all the apostles, martyrs, virgins, and confessors, so says Basil (de Spiritu Sancto, ch. xxvi.). 

    Christ was, as I have said, publicly anointed in His baptism, to to heal the contrite of heart,—to heal and console those who, by reason of their sins, and the burden of the law of Moses, as well as their ignorance of the things of God, are afflicted in spirit, and pant for the knowledge of God, His pardon, His grace, and His salvation, and who, therefore, look for the Messiah. Hence Symmachus and Theodotus render it; so S. Jerome tells us in his Commentary on Isa. lxi, “to bind up the wounds of sinners.”

    To preach deliverance to the captives,—that I may preach, announce, and bring freedom, through penance and My grace, to those who are held captive by sin and the devil.

    and sight to the blind. The Hebrew and Chaldee versions of Isaiah give “opening to those bound.” i.e., as Symmachus has it, “loosening to those bound.” But the Septuagint. and S. Luke following them, render it in the Greek ἄνάβλεψιν, “looking again,” that they may see again. For the Hebrews call those that are blind bound, or shut, like the Latin idiom, “Moles seized in their eyes,” and consequently they call the illumination by which the eyes of the blind are opened “opening.” The meaning, therefore, is, Christ shall both restore sight to those who are physically, and illumine those who are spiritually blind, and are ignorant of God and of the way of salvation. He shall teach them the knowledge of God and the way to save their souls. This was what Isaiah (xlii.7) clearly foretold that the Messiah should do: “I will give Thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind.” And hence it is plain that Isaiah in ch. xlii, is not speaking literally of the deliverance from the Babylonian captivity wrought by Cyrus, as Toletus would have it, but of the deliverance from the captivity of sin and of the devil wrought by Christ; for Cyrus restored sight to no one, but Christ to many. I confess, however, that there is an allusion to Cyrus, he being a type of Christ. To the Hebrews in Babylon who were “bound” he gave “opening and loosening,” as the Hebrew version has it, when he freed them from captivity and sent them back into Judæa.

    to set at liberty them that are bruised,—into liberty and health. The Arabic has “to send thee bound into remission.” Pagninus, “that I may send forth the broken by remission.” So also Vatablus. These words are not in Isaiah lxi. 1 in the Hebrew; they have been added paraphrastically by S. Luke or his interpreter, and seem to form another explanation of “to heal them that are broken-hearted.” So Forerius on Isaiah lxi, and Francis Lucas on this passage. Origen omits “to heal them that are broken-hearted,” and reads instead, “to send forth the broken into liberty;” and he adds, “What was so broken or shattered as the man who, when sent away by Jesus, was healed?”

    For “broken” the Greek has τετραυσμένους, which Vatablus and others translate “broken.”

    19. to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, —the pleasing year—in Hebrew טנת רצון, scenat ratson; in the Septuagint ἐνιαυτὸι ἐυδοκίας, that is, as S. Jerome renders it, “the placable year,” cf. as others with propriety, “the year of the good pleasure,” of divine benevolence and liberality, such as was the year of the jubilee to which he here alludes. For the year of the jubilee was the type and figure of this evangelical year which Christ brought. So the whole time of the preaching of Christ, and thenceforward all the time of Christianity, is a year of jubilee to those who obey Christ and accept His liberty—a year of grace, mercy, peace, remission, liberality, and salvation, in which, after God’s long anger against us, we are restored to His grace, His favour, His heirship, His glory, and all the former blessings which we had in Paradise in the state of innocence. This is what S. Paul says in 2 Cor. vi. 2, “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

    The Vulgate adds, and the day of reward, of vengeance. The year of the jubilee, that is, the time of Christianity, shall be to the enemies of Christ a time of vengeance, when God shall avenge the human race on its enemies and oppressors, the demons that oppress it; for Christ shall deliver men from the devils, and shall cast them down, according to Isaiah xxxv. 4, “Say unto the timid, Be comforted, and fear not; behold, your God shall bring the vengeance of retribution. God Himself shall come and shall save you.” Vulgate. And Christ says, in John xii. 31, “Now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.”

    20. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. “That they might hear,” says Euthymius, “how He interpreted what He had read.” For already the fame of what He had said and done at Capernaum had been noised abroad everywhere, so that many held Him to be the Messiah; and they especially desired to hear this from Christ. For they knew that the passage of Isaiah read by Him was a prophecy of the Messiah, and so they listened with eagerness to Him while He explained it.

Douay-Rheims : 1582 text

14. And IESVS returned in the force of the ſpirit into Galilee, and the ſame went forth through the whole countrie of him.

15. And he taught in their Synagogues, and was magnified of al.

16. And he came to Nazareth where he was brought vp: and he entred according to his cuſtom on the Sabboth day into the Synagogue; and he roſe vp to read.

17. And the booke of Eſay the Prophet was deliuered vnto him. And as he vnfolded the booke, he found the place where it was written:

18. The Spirit of the Lord vpon me, for which he anointed me, to euangelize vnto the poore he ſent me, to heale the contrite of hart,

19. to preach to the captiues remiſſion, and ſight to the blind, to dimiſſe the bruiſed vnto the remiſſion, to preach the acceptable yeare of the Lord, and the day of retribution.

20. And when he had folded the booke, he rendred it to the miniſter, and ſate downe. And the eyes of al in the Synagogue were bent vpon him.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.