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.