Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First, Christ is transfigured on the mountain, and teaches that Elijah has in part come and is in part yet to come. Secondly, at verse 14, He heals the lunatic, and says that for this work prayer and fasting are necessary. Thirdly, at verse 21, He foretells that His passion and death are at hand. Fourthly, at verse 24, He pays the didrachma for Himself and for Peter, although He shows that He is not bound to do so.
Vulgate Text: Matthew 17:1-27
1. And after six days Jesus takes Peter, and James, and John his brother, and leads them into a high mountain apart; 2. and He was transfigured before them. And His face shone as the sun; and His garments became white as snow. 3. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with Him. 4. And Peter answering, said to Jesus: Lord, it is good for us to be here: if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 5. And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. And lo, a voice out of the cloud, saying: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him. 6. And the disciples hearing, fell upon their face, and were very much afraid. 7. And Jesus came and touched them, and said to them: Arise, and fear not. 8. And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, but only Jesus. 9. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of Man be risen from the dead. 10. And His disciples asked Him, saying: Why then do the Scribes say that Elias must come first? 11. But He answering, said to them: Elias indeed shall come, and restore all things. 12. But I say to you that Elias is already come, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they would. So also the Son of Man shall suffer from them. 13. Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them of John the Baptist. 14. And when He was come to the multitude, there came to Him a man falling down on his knees before Him, saying: Lord, have pity on my son, for he is a lunatic, and suffers much: for he falls often into the fire, and often into the water; 15. and I brought him to Thy disciples, and they could not cure him. 16. Jesus answered and said: O unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? Bring him hither to Me. 17. And Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour. 18. Then came the disciples to Jesus secretly, and said: Why could not we cast him out? 19. Jesus said to them: Because of your unbelief. Amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: Remove from hence thither, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you. 20. But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting. 21. And when they abode together in Galilee, Jesus said to them: The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men; 22. and they shall kill Him, and the third day He shall rise again. And they were troubled exceedingly. 23. And when they were come to Capharnaum, they that received the didrachmas came to Peter, and said to him: Doth not your Master pay the didrachmas? 24. He said: Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying: What is thy opinion, Simon? The kings of the earth, of whom do they receive tribute or custom? of their own children, or of strangers? 25. And he said: Of strangers. Jesus said to him: Then the children are free. 26. But that we may not scandalize them, go to the sea, and cast in a hook; and that fish which shall first come up, take; and when thou hast opened its mouth, thou shalt find a stater; take that, and give it to them for Me and thee.
Verse 1: And After Six Days Jesus Taketh Peter and James and John His Brother
1. And After Six Days Jesus Taketh Unto Him Peter and James and John His Brother, and Bringeth Them Up Into a High Mountain Apart. — of Christ: for in that event the three Apostles, namely Peter, James, and John, saw as through a lattice the glorious kingdom of Christ, and had a foretaste of it. And that this is so is plain from what follows: for all the Evangelists who mention this matter, namely Matthew, Mark, and Luke, immediately after this promise of Christ, add that it was fulfilled, namely on the sixth day after. So say St. Hilary, St. Chrysostom, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, Theophylact, Euthymius, and others commonly. Whence St. Leo, in his sermon On the Transfiguration, says: "In the kingdom, that is, in royal splendor." For in the Transfiguration Christ gave the Apostles a specimen of the glory, brightness, magnificence, joy, and happiness which the Saints shall obtain in the heavenly kingdom, so that through it they might be animated to evangelical labors and sufferings, to the cross and martyrdom, and might animate others to the same. Thus through it St. Jerome in like manner animates Eustochium, in Epistle 18 On the Custody of Virginity, at the end: "Come forth," he says, "for a little while from your prison, and paint before the eyes of your present labor the reward which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man. What a day will that be, when Mary, mother of the Lord, shall run to meet you, accompanied by choirs of virgins! When after the Red Sea, with Pharaoh and his army drowned, holding her timbrel, she shall lead those about to respond: Let us sing to the Lord, for He is gloriously honored: horse and rider He has cast into the sea. Then Thecla shall fly joyfully into your embraces, then even the Bridegroom Himself shall come forth and say: Arise, come, My near one, My beautiful one; for behold, the winter is past, the rain has gone away from you. Then the Angels shall wonder and say: Who is this that looks forth as the dawn, beautiful as the moon, chosen as the sun." And after some intervening words: "Then the little ones, etc., lifting up palms of victory, shall sing with one voice: Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Then one hundred forty-four thousand in sight of the throne and in sight of the elders shall hold harps, and shall sing a new song."
There seems here to be a discrepancy with Luke, who, IX:28, says: "And it came to pass about eight days after these words." Saint Jerome answers: "The solution is easy, because here [Matthew and Mark] the intermediate days are counted, whereas there [Luke] the first and the last are added in." Matthew and Mark therefore do not count the first day, on which Christ spoke these things we have heard and promised His transfiguration, because it was incomplete, nor the last and eighth day, because on that day early in the morning Christ was transfigured, but only the six days in between; whereas Luke counts them all, the complete and the incomplete alike, and therefore says "about." Thus Saint Chrysostom, Euthymius, Theophylact, and Saint Augustine, book I On the Agreement of the Evangelists, chapter LVI.
Christ deferred His promised transfiguration for six days: "That the remaining disciples," says Chrysostom, "might suffer nothing human, that is, any motion of envy; or that those who were to be taken up [the mountain], being filled during the space of these days with a more vehement longing, might come with a solicitous mind."
The second cause of the delay was that Christ wanted to be transfigured on Mount Tabor, which is twenty leagues or hours' journey from Caesarea Philippi. Christ therefore traversed this distance by gradually advancing, and, after His custom, by preaching through villages, towns, and castles, completing it in six days.
A third, analogical, cause is given by Rabanus: that it might be signified that after the six ages of the world there would be the resurrection, of which the Transfiguration was to be the type and specimen.
A fourth, symbolic, cause is given by Origen: that it might be signified that only he who transcends all the things of the world (for the world was made in six days, Genesis I) can ascend the high mountain and behold the glory of the Word of God.
A fifth, chronological, cause is given by Saint Hilary: "After six days," he says, "the honor of the heavenly kingdom is prefigured at the Lord's glory, when the period of six thousand years shall have rolled by." For it is the opinion of many Fathers and Doctors that the world will last for six thousand years, and that then the judgment will take place, as I have said in [my commentary on] the Apocalypse.
Peter, James, and John. — "He took these three," says Chrysostom, "because they were the foremost among the others;" for it was not fitting to reveal so great a mystery right at the beginning, and to show it to all the Apostles, but only to the more select. He therefore chose these three as the chief of the Apostles and showed them His glory, because to the same ones He wanted to show His weakness and agony of passion in the garden, lest they be scandalized by it, but rather, through that glory, might know that Christ was making a step toward the glory shown them. Thus Saint Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius, Remigius, and others, on chapter XXVI of Matthew. For from this glory, and from the voice of the Father, "This is My Son," they could know with certainty that Christ was truly God, but that He was veiling His deity with the covering of the flesh, and therefore that although on the cross He suffered and died, yet His deity did not suffer nor die. Hence that He undertook death and the cross not compelled by weakness or necessity, but freely, out of condescension and love, to redeem mankind. For He who here communicated such glory to His body could certainly also have exempted it from death, had He willed. Hear Damascene, oration On the Transfiguration: "He takes Peter, willing to show him that the testimony which he had borne [i.e. the confession of Peter at Caesarea] was confirmed by the Father's testimony, and as him who was to preside over the whole Church; but He took James as one who would die for Christ; and John as the purest instrument of theology, so that, seeing the glory of the Son of God which is not subject to time, he might sound forth: In the beginning was the Word."
Symbolically Hilary says: "In the three taken up, there is shown the future election of God's people from the three origins, Shem, Ham, and Japheth." Anagogically Rabanus says: "He leads only three disciples with Him, because many are called but few are chosen. Or because those who now keep the faith of the Holy Trinity with uncorrupted mind, will then rejoice in His eternal vision."
James and John His Brother. — This therefore was James the Greater, who fell as the first martyr of the Apostles, Acts XII. Saint Augustine therefore seems to have slipped in memory in his [commentary] on chapter II to the Galatians, when he thinks that this James is the "brother of the Lord": for the latter was James the Less, and the first bishop of Jerusalem, and the author of the canonical Epistle.
Mystically: these three indicate that there are three orders of those whom God deigns to honor above others with His vision and glory. Peter indicates those who are fervent in charity, for he himself burned with it. John the virgin indicates virgins. James, the first martyr from among the Apostles, indicates the patient and the martyrs. Again, Peter indicates those who are rocks, that is, strong and constant in faith and virtue. John indicates the chaste. James, that is, "supplanter," indicates those who trample down and supplant vices. For these are worthy of the vision of God. So Saint Anselm. Do you then wish to see God? Be Peter, that is, firm in virtue; be John through chastity; be James through the mortification of vices. Hence again some think that in Peter is indicated firm faith, in James lofty hope, in John ardent charity, for by these as by earthly wings we are borne up to God.
Into a High Mountain Apart. — The Syriac: "alone," namely that this mountain might by its height represent the height of the empyrean heaven and of the heavenly glory, and tropologically might teach, as Remigius says, "that it is necessary for all who desire to contemplate God not to lie in base pleasures, but by love of things above to be always raised to heavenly things; and that He may show to His disciples how they are not to seek the glory of the divine brightness in the depths of this world, but in the kingdom of heavenly beatitude. They are led aside apart, because holy men are with their whole mind and intent of faith separated from the evil, and shall be utterly separated in the life to come; or because many are called, but few are chosen." For, as Bede says, those who await the fruit of the resurrection ought in mind to dwell on high and to apply themselves to continual prayers.
You will ask, which was the mountain? It is commonly thought to have been Mount Tabor. Franciscus Lucas disputes this: "Because," he says, "Tabor is in Galilee, but Christ does not seem to have been transfigured in Galilee, since Mark, IX:30, says that after the Transfiguration Christ passed beyond Galilee with the Apostles: wherefore Christ seems to have been transfigured on Lebanon, a most pleasant mountain, because Caesarea Philippi, where Christ promised this in the preceding chapter, verse 13, lies near Lebanon." But this reasoning does not compel us to depart from so common an opinion, rather it favors and confirms it: for Mark means that Christ was transfigured on Mount Tabor, which is in Galilee, and coming down from there He went about and passed through the neighboring cities and villages of Galilee, preaching and healing after His custom, so as to come to His own city, namely Capharnaum, where He had fixed the seat of His preaching, as Matthew relates immediately after, verse 23. Hence Matthew, explaining Mark here, at verse 21 says: "And when they abode together in Galilee, Jesus said to them." Therefore they were already in Galilee; therefore Christ was transfigured in Galilee: for Galilee was the place of Christ's preaching, miracles, and mysteries. And Galilee means in Hebrew "transmigration," namely from sin to grace, from earth to heaven, from tribulation to glory.
This is the opinion of the Fathers and of the faithful, so that it appears to be the tradition of the Church; and therefore Mount Tabor has become holy to Christians and famous as a place of pilgrimage, as Saint Jerome testifies in epistle 27. For all who make pilgrimage to the Holy Land visit Tabor as much as Bethlehem, the Mount of Calvary, and the Mount of Olives. So, twelve hundred years ago, Saint Paula, visiting the holy places, visited Tabor; for, as Saint Jerome expressly says in her Epitaph: "She climbed Mount Tabor, on which Christ was transfigured." That Christ was thus transfigured on Tabor is expressly taught by Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis 12, and by Damascene, in his sermon On the Transfiguration, by Bede and Euthymius, Abulensis, Maldonatus, Jansenius, Barradius, Toletus, Brochardus, Adrichomius, in his Description of the Holy Land, and by many others.
Damascene confirms this from Psalm LXXXVIII: "Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in Thy name." For Hermon rejoiced when at Christ's baptism it heard the Father's voice from heaven; and Tabor, when it saw Him transfigured upon itself; and then, says Damascene, Tabor vied with the empyrean heaven, being its image and, as it were, a theater of heavenly glory. For as the Blessed see the glory of God in heaven, so the Apostles saw the glory of Christ on Tabor.
Bede adds, in his treatise On the Holy Places, chapter XVII, that in memory of the Transfiguration of Christ in the presence of Elijah and Moses, three churches were built on Mount Tabor, according to the wish of Peter who said: "Let us make here three tabernacles: one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Nicephorus adds, in book VIII, chapter XXX, and from him Adrichomius, that Saint Helena built on Tabor, in memory of the Transfiguration, a most beautiful church, and endowed it with ample revenues for the maintenance of its ministers. Two monasteries were afterward added to this church, one of the Greeks consecrated to Elijah, the other dedicated to Moses.
Further, Christ chose Tabor, that on it He might display His glory: First, because Tabor is near Nazareth, in which He Himself was conceived and "the Word made flesh," and also near Capharnaum, where Christ lived and preached; for He confirmed His preaching in the glory of the Transfiguration.
Secondly, because Mount Tabor is near Sharon, of which Isaiah sang, chapter XXXV:2: "The glory of Lebanon is given to it; the beauty of Carmel and Sharon: they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty of our God."
Thirdly, because Tabor is a very high mountain: for, as Josephus says in book IV On the [Jewish] War, chapter II, its height is thirty stadia, that is, about four Italian miles; for a stadium is one eighth of a mile; for it contains 125 paces, whereas a mile contains a thousand. Fourthly, because, as Bede says in the place cited, Mount Tabor stands in the middle of the plain of Galilee, three thousand paces to the north of Gennesareth, round on all sides and rising uniformly, grassy, flowery, and very pleasant, so that it has the appearance of paradise and heaven.
Adrichomius adds, from Brochardus and Bredenbachius: Tabor is most healthful in its climate; it is planted all over on every side with vineyards, olive trees, and various shrubs and fruit trees; always fresh with perpetual dew, always green with the foliage of its trees and with many-colored herbs, and most fragrant with the sweet scent of flowers of every kind. Hence there is here a great abundance of wild animals, and especially of birds, by whose delightful singing it is most pleasant, and it is famous for its hunting. Finally, Tabor is a mountain most apt for the building of fortifications to defend the Holy Land: whence, in Judges IV, Barak came down from Tabor with his men and defeated Sisera. Moreover, in the very place of the Lord's Transfiguration there is now a garden planted with trees and watered by springs, which is enclosed by a wall: and those who dwell at the foot of the mountain, out of religion and reverence for the place, allow no one to approach it. So far Adrichomius. Whence also by Saint Peter, Epistle II, chapter I:18, Tabor is called the holy mount, because consecrated by the Transfiguration of Christ, by the conversation of Elijah and Moses with Him, and by the testimony of the Father concerning Him.
Symbolically: Tabor in Hebrew is the same as "chamber of purity and light;" for טא is a chamber, אור is light, and the middle ב (beth) means "in," as if to say: a chamber in light, that is, of light; or, as Saint Jerome says on Hosea chapter V, "Tabor" is the same as "coming light," because on Tabor Christ set up the chamber of His glory and splendor. Again, Tabor can be rendered תא ta, that is, chamber, בור bor, that is, of the cistern and sepulcher, as Pagninus says in his Hebrew Names, because on Tabor Moses and Elias spoke of His departure, that is, of the death and burial of Christ, Luke IX:31. For this was the way by which Christ had to go to glory and to heaven, and the same way we too must go.
Luke adds, chapter IX:28, that Christ went up into the mountain to pray, and was transfigured while praying: "He went up," he says, "into the mountain to pray, and as He prayed, the shape of His countenance was altered;" that He might teach us the fruit of prayer, namely that in prayer we are bathed with heavenly light and as it were transfigured, so that from earthly we become heavenly and divine, and from men, Angels. As a type of this, when Moses was about to receive the tablets of the Law and was conversing with God on Mount Sinai, the glory of the Lord appeared to him, and fastened "horns," that is, rays of His light, upon him, Exodus XXXIII and XXXIV. So says Hilary. But in Moses this splendor came from without, namely from the address of God; in Christ, however, from within, that is, from the deity and from the interior glory of His soul. So Saint Anthony, Saint Ignatius, and other Saints, from continual converse with God in prayer, received a shining face, and beams of light darting forth.
Verse 2: And He Was Transfigured Before Them, and His Face Did Shine as the Sun
2. And He Was Transfigured Before Them, and His Face Did Shine as the Sun; and His Garments Became White as Snow. — In Greek μεταμορφώθη, that is, "He was transformed;" so the Syriac. Whence Ovid and the [other] poets call the transformations of men into animals "metamorphoses." The Arabic: "He showed His glory before them."
You will ask first: by what manner and mode was Christ transfigured? I take it as certain that here there was no phantasm, nor any phantastical thing, nor imaginary illusion, such as that by which the devil transfigures witches and magicians into wolves, pigs, birds, and cats, and so sometimes appears to witches, so that they imagine and say they are conversing, singing, and rejoicing with Angels. There could be nothing of the kind in Christ.
I say first: Christ did not so transfigure Himself before the three Apostles as to show them His divinity, as He shows it to the Saints in heaven and so beatifies them. For this cannot by any power be seen with bodily eyes: so the Fathers everywhere. Wherefore Tertullian, Saint Chrysostom, Saint Leo, and Damascene, who speak otherwise, mean only that Christ showed the Apostles the external glory of the body, which was an index of His divinity, so that through it as through a crack, yet still veiled by the body, they might in some way behold the glory and majesty of the Deity.
I say secondly: Christ in the Transfiguration did not change the essence or form of His face, nor even its figure, color, or other qualities; but, as Euthymius rightly says, He took on an immense splendor as it were divine, so that He shone like the sun; indeed, so as to be more august and brighter than the sun. Hence Matthew, explaining "He was transfigured," immediately adds: "And His face did shine as the sun;" for this is what it means. And Luke: "The form of His countenance," he says, "was altered," that is, made luminous and shining. So the Fathers and interpreters. See Saint Thomas, III part, Question XLV. It is therefore called Transfiguration because in it Christ transformed the figure, that is, the form and external appearance of His face, by taking on splendor, into a brighter and more august one. For here Christ did not assume the other endowments of a glorified body, namely impassibility, agility, and subtlety, but only that of brightness; for this alone was visible to the Apostles.
Here note first that this splendor really adhered not to the air, nor even to the eyes of the Apostles, but to the face of Christ, and indeed to His hands and to the whole body, as Saint Jerome expressly teaches in epistle 61 to Pammachius, against the errors of John of Jerusalem, and as others everywhere teach. For although Abulensis here, in Question XLVII, and Salmeron and Toletus on Luke IX, think that only the face of Christ shone brightly, since this alone is named by Matthew and Mark; nevertheless others everywhere rightly think that Christ's whole body shone, because Christ's Transfiguration was full and perfect: whence it emanated from the body into the garments. Under "the face," then, as being the more conspicuous, Matthew and Mark understand also the other members.
So Saint Ephrem, in his sermon On the Transfiguration: "His garments," he says, "became white. For the Evangelist shows that from His whole body His glory gushed forth, and from His whole flesh His face shone, and from all His members the rays shone forth," etc. Likewise: "Christ with His whole body, as the sun with its rays, shone forth with the glory of His divinity." Saint Augustine (or whoever the author is), book III On the Wonders of Holy Scripture, chapter X: "As through the flesh the divinity shone forth outwardly, so also the flesh, illuminated by the divinity, shone through the garments." The same is held by Saint Ambrose, on the Creed, chapter XXII; Saint Jerome already cited; Saint Augustine, book XXII On the City [of God], IX; Origen, on chapter IX of Leviticus (who also adds that at that time Moses too was glorified not only in face but in the whole body); Saint Thomas, Barradius, Suarez, and others, of whom some think that this splendor penetrated Christ's whole body, and made it transparent and translucent; others, better, with Suarez, tome II, disputation XLII, section 2, hold that the splendor remained on the outer surface of the body, and this is what the word "transfiguration" signifies, namely a change of figure, which is on the outer surface.
Moreover, this splendor was heavenly, nay more than heavenly, that is to say divine and beatific, such as is the light of glorified bodies: whence it was like the sun, golden, magnificent, graceful, and most refreshing to the eyes; and although it was most intense, yet it did not take away from the Apostles the sight of Christ's native features: it is otherwise with our light, for example the sun's, which as much as it refreshes the sight, also dulls it.
Note secondly that this new splendor was the endowment of brightness, which, like the other endowments of the blessed body (namely, agility, subtlety, and impassibility), was due to Christ's body and soul, as being blessed and united to God, and that through the whole time of His life from the first instant of His conception in the Virgin's womb; but nevertheless, so that Christ could suffer and converse with men, this brightness and the other endowments already mentioned were through the rest of His life repressed in Christ's blessed soul, lest by physical, or rather moral, emanation (for the light of the soul is spiritual, whereas the light of the body is far different and corporeal) it should pour itself out upon the body: for otherwise it would have shone through the body as light through a lantern. That repression, then, was a miracle; whereas here the cessation from this repression, and the accustomed emanation of the interior splendor into the body, was the cessation of the miracle: yet to men it appeared as a miracle, because it was new and because they were ignorant of its cause.
Wherefore Christ obtained this glory of His body, although due to Him by a double title, namely by the hypostatic union and by the beatitude of His soul, by a third title also, that of merit: for through so many sufferings and labors He merited this glory of the body, and received it perpetual in the Resurrection, as the theologians everywhere teach. Nor does Damascene mean otherwise, in his sermon On the Transfiguration, where he says that Christ's body always had glory, though hidden from the Apostles, but that in the Transfiguration He showed it; for by "glory" he understands the hypostatic union, which was the source and origin of all glory and brightness. I say the same of Saint Epiphanius, heresy 69, and of Saint Gregory Nazianzen, oration 49, and of Saint Anselm in the Elucidarium. Wherefore, as to what some have thought, that Christ always had these endowments and this splendor in His body, but that it was not seen by men because of the weakness of human sight; just as some say that the brightness in the glorified body of the Blessed will be invisible to mortal eyes unless some new power of seeing be added to them: this, I say, is improbable, since that light of the glorified body is corporeal and supreme, and therefore supremely visible to any eye.
Finally, the Transfiguration of Christ took place on the sixth day of August, on which the Church celebrates it every year. So Wandelbertus, who lived in the year of Christ 850, in his Martyrology; although Petrus Canisius in his Martyrology says that it took place on the 27th of July. Moreover Ammonius, Baronius, Jansenius, Adrichomius, Suarez, and others agree that it occurred in the 33rd year of Christ's age, which was the third and last year of His preaching: for in the following year, on the 25th of March at the turn of Pasch, He was crucified. See the Chronology, which I have set at the head of the Commentary.
You will ask secondly, why was Christ transfigured? I answer: First, that through this brightness and glory, and through the testimony of Elijah and Moses, He might prove His divinity to the Apostles, and might show it, hidden and veiled under His humanity. Secondly, that He might fortify the disciples beforehand, lest they lose heart when they were to see Him fastened to the cross on Mount Calvary.
Thirdly, that in this form He might indicate and as it were represent Himself as the Judge about to come with great power and majesty. So Saint Ephrem, Cyril, and Damascene, On the Transfiguration; Saint Basil, on Psalm XLIV, and others. Hence Elijah also appeared, who will be the forerunner of Christ coming to judgment; and some think the same of Moses.
Fourthly, that He might stir up and sharpen the faith, hope, courage, and zeal of the Apostles and of the rest of the faithful, for bravely undergoing whatever struggles and crosses for the Gospel, by the hope of obtaining a similar glory in the Resurrection. So Saint Leo, sermon On the Transfiguration: "The Lord was transfigured," he says, "that He might take away the scandal of the cross from the hearts of the disciples, and lest the humiliation of His voluntary passion should disturb the faith of those to whom the dignity of His hidden excellence had been revealed." And Saint Chrysostom here, who adds that the least blessed in heaven has greater brightness and glory than Christ here; because Christ here tempered it to the weak eyes and capacity of the Apostles, who were still mortal. Wherefore those upon whom this truth of heavenly glory sheds its light, to them all the vanity of the world and of worldly pomp becomes cheap. Hence Saint Francis used often to say: "So great is the glory that I await, that every pain delights me."
In it she receives consolation in place of desolation; from weak she becomes strong, from sluggish fervent, from perplexed understanding, from sad joyful, from faint-hearted spirited.
Thirdly, in it she is lifted above herself and raised up to God in heaven, where she learns — indeed sees — that all earthly things are vile, slight, and fragile, and so she despises and holds them in contempt as childish, as though from on high. For she perceives that true honors, true riches, and true delights are nowhere except in heaven.
Fourthly, there she hears and equally sees that all the crosses of the world are small and slight — all poverty, all sickness, all hunger, all persecution. Wherefore she resolves to endure them all bravely and to count them as little, and says with Paul: "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which shall be revealed in us," etc. Therefore:
"Though the shattered world should fall upon him, / The ruins will strike him undismayed." [Horace, Odes III.3.7-8]
Fifthly, in it she unites herself to God: "But he who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit," 1 Corinthians 6:17. Hence Saint Francis, when praying, was caught up on high, and at times even to the height of beech trees, indeed up to the clouds as though about to ascend to God; nor did he say, think, or love anything other than: "My God and my all. Grant me, Lord, to die for love of Thy love, Thou Who didst deign to die for love of my love." This is what Paul says: "But we all, beholding with open face the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from clarity to clarity, as by the Spirit of the Lord," 2 Corinthians 3:18.
Finally, Mark hints that Christ was transfigured neither reclining nor kneeling, but standing, saying: "When they awoke, they saw His majesty, and two men standing with Him," that is, likewise standing. From which it follows that Christ was transfigured not lifted up into the air, as some painters depict, but on the ground, standing with His feet upon it. So Thyraeus, chapter 9 On the Transfiguration, at the end.
Symbolically: this transfiguration represented the wondrous and varied transformations of the Incarnate Word, as though of a divine Proteus, which took place four times. For Christ was transfigured four times: first, in the Incarnation, when, the Word being made flesh, He shone forth in it as light in a lantern; secondly, on the Cross, in which He was so disfigured by scourges, nails, spittings, etc., that Isaiah said of Him, chapter 53: "There is no comeliness in Him nor beauty, and we have seen Him, and there was no sightliness"; thirdly, in the Resurrection, when He was crowned with glory and honor; fourthly, in the Eucharist, where, lying hidden under the species of bread and wine, He seems as if transfigured into them — for transubstantiation is as it were the transfiguration of accidents.
Anagogically: Christ here willed to give an image of our resurrection and glory, in which He Himself will reform our body, conformed to the body of His own brightness.
Tropologically: Christ willed here in the first place to give a type of the transfiguration of the soul, blackened by sins, into the light of grace, by which we are conformed to Christ. For our transfiguration consists in conformity with Christ, that we may be conformed to Christ in all humility, charity, obedience, religion, etc.; that we may be living images of the life and holiness of Christ, as of our exemplar; that we may think, speak, and act with that piety, gravity, and zeal with which Christ did; that whoever sees us may suppose that he beholds Christ in us. Again, Christ here gives an idea of the transfiguration by which the soul passes from lesser to greater holiness: for Christ, already holy, was transfigured, and this transfiguration is often more difficult and rarer than the former. For the Saints often flatter themselves concerning their holiness, and in it, as though secure, they rest, nor do they aspire to greater, as sinners and penitents aspire to righteousness. It is rarer, says that Father, that one should be transfigured from lesser holiness to greater, than from sin to holiness. Saint Bernard, Saint Bonaventure, and others assert the same; yet this sometimes happens on the mountain and in retreat with Christ, namely in frequent and fervent prayer and meditation. For in it the mind is illumined by God, and through it, as through a funnel, it draws heavenly light, by which, being illumined, it conceives new ardors for the reforming of its behavior — indeed, that it may transform itself into Christ, so as to say with Paul: "The world is crucified to me. I live, now not I; but Christ lives in me." And with Saint Ignatius, Epistle to the Romans: "My love is crucified." And with Saint Francis, may it impress and imprint deep within, if not upon his body, at least upon his soul, the five wounds of the body of Christ.
Prayer, therefore, is the transfiguration of the soul. Firstly, because in it the soul receives light from God, that it may more clearly know and survey Him, as well as itself and all its own affairs.
Secondly, in it she seeks and obtains grace from God for washing away and reforming the stains and vices by which she is disfigured, and for overcoming any temptations whatsoever — so that, if they were previously dark in themselves, they became white; but if they were previously white, as Abulensis thinks, they became whiter; and once the transfiguration was completed, they returned to their former color and state. Saint Luke supports this, when Mark says: "His garments became shining and exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller upon earth can make white." Therefore Christ's garments had two qualities, namely, a snowy whiteness as of a fuller, and a brightness infused by God — both supernatural: for this brightness could not emanate from the flesh of Christ through the garments, since these were opaque. So these authors. Others commonly hold that the whiteness was the same as the brightness: for brightness is white, but it adds radiance to whiteness, and as God was acting, it emanated from the flesh of Christ into the garments, as happens in glorified bodies, and therefore this brightness overwhelmed and as it were absorbed the native color of the garments, if they had any other, so that it should not appear for an instant. Hence this brightness in the face and body of Christ was golden and tawny, as it is in the sun; but transfused into the garments it became white, as the moon appears white when illuminated by the rays of the sun, and as the sun itself shining through clouds appears white. For a great brightness, if perceived through a dark body such as garments, appears not so much a gleaming radiance as a whitening splendor, because the rays are broken and as it were weakened by the interposition of an intermediate body. So Tertullian, Book 4 Against Marcion, chapter 22; Saint Ephrem and the Author On the Marvels of Scripture already cited; Euthymius here; Alensis, Part 3, Question 21; Albertus on Mark 9 and Luke; Lyranus, the Gloss, Cajetanus, Franciscus Lucas, Suarez, Lorinus on 2 Peter 1:16; so also Petrus Thyraeus On the Appearances of Christ, Book 1 On the Transfiguration, number 48, understands by "white" "bright"; just as the Evangelists elsewhere call "bright" things "white." Mark supports this when he says: "Shining and exceeding white as snow." Therefore by "brightness" he understands a whiteness shining like snow, for otherwise he would have said "white and shining." The sense will be full and adequate to everything if you join both opinions and say that both took place, namely that the garments of Christ were made white as snow by a snowy whiteness as of a fuller newly imparted to them by God, and at the same time bright with a brightness diffused into them from the face and flesh of Christ shining upon them. For this is what Luke signifies, saying: "And His raiment was white and dazzling," in Greek ἐξαστράπτων, that is flashing forth, that is, darting rays like lightning. From which it is clear that there was in them not only a snowy whiteness but also a lightning-like splendor. For whiteness is the most perfect color and light, or the brightness that is the noblest of all sensible qualities, and lightning is fiery and the most effective of all things. So Barradius and Toletus.
Tropologically: the garments of Christ are the Saints: for these adorn Him like garments, and they are white and cold as snow, because chaste and shining with purity. So Saint Gregory, Book 32 of the Morals, chapter 7.
Verse 3: And Behold, There Appeared to Them Moses and Elijah Talking With Him
3. And Behold, There Appeared to Them Moses and Elijah Talking With Him. — You will ask: why did these two appear in preference to the other Prophets? Maldonatus answers that these two will precede Christ's second coming to judgment, which will be with great majesty, and of which accordingly Christ gave a type and figure in this His transfiguration. Of Elijah this is true, but false concerning Moses, as I showed on Revelation 11:3 and 4, where I proved that Enoch will come with Elijah against Antichrist, not Moses.
I say therefore that the cause was that Moses was the legislator of the Old Law, and Elijah was the chief of prophecy and the Prophets: wherefore he himself represented the whole choir of Prophets. These two therefore appeared in order to show that Christ was truly the Messiah, the Savior of the world promised by Himself in the Law and the Prophets. Through Moses therefore the Law is shown, and through Elijah prophecy, to converge upon Christ, and both, having now fulfilled their office, are at an end and yield place to Christ, the new legislator and Prophet sent from God and promised through all the Prophets and especially through Moses, Deuteronomy 18:18: "I will raise up, He said, a Prophet to them from among their brethren, like unto thee, and I will put My words into His mouth." So Saint Jerome, Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Euthymius. Saint Jerome adds, in Book 2 Against Jovinian, that Moses and Elijah merited this vision because, like Christ, they fasted for forty days on a mountain. Hence Tertullian, Origen, Nazianzen and others think that this vision of Christ's humanity was represented in the Transfiguration (just as it was represented to Elijah in the whisper of a gentle breeze, in which God showed Himself to him, 1 Kings 19, as Abulensis says), and that it was promised to Moses by God when, as Moses desired and asked to see the face of God, God answered and said: "Thou shalt see My back parts, but My face thou canst not see," Exodus 33:23. Which cannot be true in the literal sense, but only in the symbolic, as I showed in that same place. For in the literal sense Moses there saw the back of God in a luminous and glorious body assumed by an Angel as God's vicar: which vision, as Saint Hilary attests, was a type of the Transfiguration of Christ, in which Moses saw the glory of the humanity of Christ.
Saint Thomas, Part 3, Question 45, article 3, reply to 2, gives six other reasons, which hear: The first is this, that because the crowds were saying He was Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the Prophets, He brings with Him the chiefs of the Prophets, that from this at least the difference between servants and the Lord might appear. The second reason is that Moses gave the Law, and Elijah was zealous for the glory of the Lord: hence, by the fact that they appear together with Christ, the calumny of the Jews is excluded who accused Christ as a transgressor of the law and a blasphemer, usurping to Himself the glory of God. The third reason is that He might show Himself to have power of death and life, and to be the Judge of the dead and the living, in that He brings with Him Moses, who was already dead, and Elijah, who was still alive. The fourth reason is that, as Luke says: "They spoke with Him of the decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem," that is, of His Passion and death; and therefore, in order to strengthen the minds of His disciples concerning this, He brings into their midst those who had exposed themselves to death for God. For Moses offered himself to Pharaoh at the peril of death, and Elijah to King Ahab.
The fifth reason is that He willed His disciples to emulate the meekness of Moses and the zeal of Elijah.
Hilary adds a sixth reason, namely, that He might show that He had been preached through the Law, which Moses gave, and through the Prophets, among whom Elijah was the chief. Finally, Elijah is equal to Moses in affection, though not in effect: for Moses performed more things than Elijah. Hear Saint Ambrose, Book 1 On Jacob and the Blessed Life, chapter 8: "Works, he says, are commended by good affection. For Elijah is no less blessed than Moses; since the one, needing food, with a cheap sheepskin, without children, without resources, without companion, and the other, leader of the people, rejoicing in offspring, girt with power, founded by different kinds of merit an equal reward, when they shone forth together with the Lord in the glory of the resurrection. For He appears to have given an equal reward to these, as to equal witnesses of His glory."
You will ask: in what manner and mode did Moses and Elijah appear here? Concerning Elijah all agree that he appeared in his own body; for Elijah was caught up in a fiery chariot into heaven, and is still alive, that he may come and contend for Christ against Antichrist. From paradise, therefore, or the place to which he was translated by God, Elijah was suddenly brought by an Angel to Mount Tabor, and there, at the Transfiguration of Christ, stood as an interlocutor and witness. Concerning Moses there are various opinions, which I reviewed on Deuteronomy, last chapter, verse 5. It is certain, as I showed there, that Moses died, and has not yet risen again. Wherefore some thought that here it was not the true Moses who appeared, but an Angel in the likeness and form of Moses. But this is false — indeed erroneous, says Suarez — because Moses is here brought in as a witness of Christ; and a witness ought to give testimony in his own person. Hence there is no interpreter who says it was not Moses but an Angel, except the Gloss on Luke chapter 9, verse 30, which Saint Thomas thinks was taken from the author On the Marvels of Sacred Scripture, Book 3, chapters 10 and 13. But this author has nothing of the sort; on the contrary, he asserts that it is the opinion of all that it was the true Moses. More probably, therefore, Jansenius opines that this Gloss was drawn from Saint Augustine, in his book On the Care for the Dead, where Augustine doubts whether the apparitions of the dead are made by themselves, or by Angels, or by both; yet he does not doubt concerning our Moses here. Indeed even Calvin, although he says it is probable it was the ghost of Moses, yet adds that it is more probable it was the true soul of Moses. Therefore the soul of Moses was brought by an Angel from limbo to the earth, and having come forth from it, came to Christ on Mount Tabor; and assumed a body, either airy — the Angel forming it — as Lyranus, Salmeron, Abulensis and Saint Thomas, Part 3, Question 45, article 3, reply to 2, will have it; or else it took up its own body and rose again, so that the soul of Moses was brought by an Angel from limbo to his sepulchre, and there, the ashes of Moses having been gathered by the Angel, God inserted and united Moses' soul to them, so that he was the true and living Moses, whom the same Angel transferred from the sepulchre to Tabor. For it was fitting that in this testimony of Christ all things should be true and solid; and so Christ here, by raising Moses, showed Himself to be the Judge and Lord of both the living and the dead. So think Tertullian, Origen, Irenaeus and others, whom Suarez cites and follows, Part 3, Question 45, disputation 22, section 2; and Petrus Thyraeus, On the Apparitions of Christ, Book On the Transfiguration, chapter 3, § 36, both of whom confirm this same thing by many probable reasons. If you follow this, and judge that Moses rose again, it is necessary to say that he died again, and again rose with others after the resurrection of Christ; for Christ was the first of those who rose to immortal life.
Note: Christ breathed upon and communicated His splendor and glory to Moses and Elijah, just as to His garments. Hence Luke says, 9:31: "And Moses and Elijah were seen in majesty," in Greek ἐν δόξῃ, that is, "in glory." So Tertullian, Origen, Damascene, Saint Thomas, Abulensis and others commonly. For it was fitting that the Apostles should see the glory of their fellow servants, that they might be strengthened in their labors. Finally, for this reason, says Bede in On the Holy Places, two monasteries were built on Tabor, one in honor of Moses, the other in honor of Elijah.
Talking With Him. — Luke adds: "And they spoke of His decease, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem." For "excessum" ("decease") the Greek is not ἔκστασις ("ecstasy"), as though signifying here the ecstatic love of Christ which drove Him to His Passion and Cross, as some pious people here imagine; but it is ἔξοδος, that is, a "going out," namely from Jerusalem, and from this life through the death of the Cross on Mount Calvary — which Moses and Elijah here, in the hearing of the Apostles, foretold to Christ, in order to take away the scandal and horror of the Cross of Christ, both from them and from us. Whence some, with Chrysostom, in place of ἔξοδον, read δόξαν, that is, "glory"; for on the Cross most of all Christ showed His power and glory: hence then the sun was darkened, the rocks were split, the earth trembled, etc. Further, their conversation with Christ was familiar concerning known matters, not disciplinary, not doctrinal; but nevertheless the witnesses could have learned something, and Christ could have come to know something unusual from them. What then? They spoke of the time of His Passion; and here He showed them the sign of His grateful heart, and besides this the desire with which they asked that the work of human redemption might be accomplished. This also is probable, that they gave thanks to the Lord as the distinguished Redeemer of the human race; and, the exceptional fruits being set forth, they encouraged the Lord to take up the chalice of the Passion, just as in the garden the Angel encouraged Him. So Thyraeus.
Verse 4: Lord, It Is Good for Us to Be Here; Let Us Make Here Three Tabernacles
4. And Peter Answering, Said to Jesus: Lord, It Is Good (pleasant, sweet, and blessed) for Us to Be Here. If Thou Wilt, Let Us Make Here Three Tabernacles: One for Thee, One for Moses, and One for Elijah. — Peter here, exulting in the glory and as it were drunk with it, wished to cling to it and remain in it, that he might continually enjoy it; whence the Arabic renders: "It is good for us to remain here." This wish of Peter later generations fulfilled, building three churches on Tabor, according to Bede. Wisely says Damascene: "It is not good for thee, O Peter, that Christ should tarry there; for thou wouldst not obtain the keys of the kingdom, nor would the death of the tyrant be abolished; seek not prosperity before the time, as Adam sought deification."
Tropologically: playing on these words in his usual manner, Saint Bernard, Sermon 6 On the Ascension: "How, he says, is it already good for us to be here? On the contrary, it is troublesome, grievous, dangerous. Surely where there is much malice, little wisdom — if even a little is found — where all things are sticky, all things slippery, covered with darkness, beset with the snares of sinners, where souls are in peril, where spirits are afflicted under the sun, where there is only vanity and affliction of spirit." Again Theophylact: Do not say, he says, with Peter, "It is good for us to be here"; for one must always make progress, and not remain in one degree of virtue and contemplation, but pass on to others.
You will ask: how did Peter recognize that these two speaking with Jesus were Moses and Elijah? I answer: First, he could have recognized them from their conversation with Christ. For Moses seems to have said to Christ: Hail, Messiah our Savior. Thou art He whose Passion I prefigured by so many sacrifices, and especially by the slaying of the lamb and the celebration of the Passover. And Elijah: Thou art He whose resurrection I prefigured in the son of the widow whom I called back to life; and whose ascension I represented when I was caught up in a fiery chariot into heaven, etc. Perhaps also Christ called them by name, or they called one another by their own names.
Secondly, Peter could have recognized them from the form and habit in which their images were depicted — or (if this painting of images, because of the fear of idolatry, was not in use among the Jews) certainly as they were described in Holy Scripture and in the Tradition of the Elders; for example, Elijah could be recognized by the leather girdle and sheepskin with which he used to be clothed, 2 Kings 1; Moses by his horned face — indeed, if we believe Druthmar here and Origen, who assert this, Moses appeared with the tablets of the Law, and Elijah with the fiery chariot.
Thirdly, and most of all, Peter recognized them by divine inspiration. So Tertullian and others cited above.
You will ask: why did Peter ask for these three tabernacles to be made, since the Blessed have no need of tabernacles? I answer: Peter said this toward the end of the Transfiguration, when Moses and Elijah were already preparing to depart, in order to hold them back, lest they should go away. For Luke says: "And it came to pass, as they departed from Him," namely, as Moses and Elijah departed from Jesus, "Peter said to Jesus: It is good for us to be here; let us make," etc. As if he said: Oh, how sweet and delightful it is to remain in this vision! Wherefore, O Christ, do not allow Moses and Elijah to depart; and, in order that we may retain them, let us make for them a dwelling and a tabernacle for each, in which they may abide. He does not mention his own tabernacle, or that of James and John, because, as I said, he wished to retain Moses and Elijah who were leaving: whence he was concerned about them, not about himself and his companions. Abulensis, Question 64, adds that Peter thought that they would be received into the same tabernacle as Christ, as being His disciples; or, as Lyranus has it, Peter intended for himself the tabernacle of Christ, for James the tabernacle of Moses, for John the tabernacle of Elijah.
Mark adds: "For he knew not what he said"; and Luke: "Not knowing what he said"; as if he said: Peter, drunk with the sweetness of this vision, so as to prolong it, spoke incongruous things as though bereft of reason, wandered in mind and was as though delirious. And this, first, because he thought that the glorified Christ, as well as Moses and Elijah, needed tabernacles — and these three, as though one were not enough for three. Again, he was making Moses and Elijah equal to Christ.
Secondly, because Christ would have had to remain on Tabor and not return to the disciples, so that he wished to shut up Christ, who is the good of the universe, on this mountain. Again, he was seeking happiness on earth, which is a place of exile and hardships, whereas it is to be sought in heaven; for this is our homeland and paradise.
Thirdly, because he was calling Christ away from preaching, from the Passion and Cross, and consequently from the redemption of the world, putting his own pleasure before the salvation of all people and the will of God.
Fourthly, because, still being mortal and passible, he wished alone with James and John to enjoy the beatitude to which nevertheless God through Christ had destined to bring innumerable people after this life.
Fifthly, because he wanted glory before labor, the crown before the contest, the prize before merit, joy before Passion and Cross; whereas first it was necessary for Christ and Christians to suffer and so to enter into His glory, Luke 24. For the Cross is the way and ladder to happiness, and "He has not deserved sweet things who has not tasted bitter ones." Hence Christ through the supreme disgrace of the Cross obtained supreme glory. Hence also the Poet calls glory the daughter of labor, and in turn Saint Gregory, on Job chapter 7, verse 2, calls labors the pledges of glory.
Sixthly, because he was placing happiness in the vision of the glorified humanity of Christ, and not in the vision of the Divinity. If then Peter had beheld the glory of the Divinity, and the abyss of all joys and good things, what would he have said? For this vision and pleasure of Peter was sensible and corporeal, and was only a crumb, a drop, and a droplet compared with the pleasure and joy which the Blessed perceive in seeing and enjoying God — when in Him, as in a sea of delights, they are immersed and absorbed, according to that of Psalm 35: "They shall be inebriated with the plenty of Thy house, and Thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of Thy pleasure." Moreover, this vision of the glory of Christ, of Moses and of Elijah, stirred up in the disciples not only great pleasure, but also wonder and reverence, and a certain holy dread. Whence Mark says: "For he knew not what he said: for they were struck with fear."
Verse 5: While He Was Yet Speaking, Behold a Bright Cloud Overshadowed Them
5. While He Was Yet Speaking, Behold a Bright Cloud Overshadowed Them. — "Overshadowed," that is, surrounded and encompassed them in its embrace — namely Christ, Moses, Elijah and the three Apostles, says Abulensis — so that they could not be seen; for the cloud was ample, and very dense, as well as gleaming and coruscating.
Note: Luke 9:34 has it thus: "And as he (Peter) was saying these things, there came a cloud and overshadowed them; and they were afraid as they entered into the cloud," which Toletus thus explains from Damascene, as if to say: While Peter says "Let us make here three tabernacles," the cloud, contradicting him, interposed itself in the middle between Christ, Moses and Elijah on one side, and the disciples on the other; and so it "overshadowed them," that is, the disciples, in order that the brightness of Christ, which was dazzling the eyes of the disciples, might be tempered by this intervening shadow of the cloud, and so might be more easily beheld by the disciples. "And they were afraid as they entered into the cloud," that is, the disciples were afraid when they saw the cloud enfolding Christ, Moses and Elijah, while they themselves were shut out from them by the cloud; "they were afraid," I say, because they saw themselves outside the cloud, left as overshadowed and alone, so that if any evil should befall them, they would have no one to come to their aid. Or else "they were afraid" lest Christ should go away with Moses and Elijah elsewhere, or be caught up into heaven, as Elijah had once been caught up in a fiery chariot. With Toletus, Petrus Thyraeus agrees, Book On the Apparitions of Christ, Tract On the Transfiguration, chapter 4, number 16. And this opinion is probable.
Secondly, Barradius judges that the cloud came after the departure of Moses and Elijah; for, before verse 33, Luke had said of them: "And it came to pass, as they departed from Him." Then therefore "the cloud overshadowed them," namely, Christ with the disciples, who alone remained behind, and therefore "they were afraid," because they saw themselves entering the cloud and being encompassed on every side by it, not knowing what would happen to them from it.
Thirdly, Franciscus Lucas best judges that this cloud overshadowed, that is, with its shadow surrounded and enclosed, both Christ, Moses and Elijah, and the three disciples, as being close to Christ; but in such a way that, condensing itself around Moses and Elijah and embracing them as they entered into it, it withdrew and led them away from the eyes of the disciples, as Euthymius judges, and the Syriac, which, instead of "as they were entering into the cloud," renders: When they saw Moses and Elijah, who were entering the cloud, and therefore they were afraid, as I shall explain on verse 6. So also the cloud, receiving Christ as He ascended into heaven, withdrew Him from the eyes of the Apostles, Acts 1. What Luke said a little before — "And it came to pass, as they departed from Him" — is to be understood thus: "as they departed," that is, as they were preparing to depart, as they were giving the sign of leaving, as they were bidding Jesus farewell, as being about to leave immediately. For immediately the cloud came on, which, embracing them, led them aside and took them away. Whence the Arabic renders: "And when they wished to depart from Him."
You will ask: whence and why this cloud? It is answered: It was made by God through an Angel from the condensation of air and vapors, in order that through it He might correct Peter's wish concerning the three tabernacles to be built, by showing that Christ had no need of them, being One whose throne is a bright and glorious cloud. Wherefore it is likely that Peter, James and John were within this cloud, not outside of it: first, because they were close to Christ, as I said, and were of His house and family; secondly, because this cloud, if it had embraced Christ alone, would have had to be very small and low; whereas it was great and lofty, so that it might be a symbol of the magnitude, loftiness and magnificence of God; thirdly, because for this very reason these three Apostles had been led by Christ to Tabor, that they might be certain witnesses to the other apostles and to the faithful of those things which were done in the cloud around Christ, and especially of the voice of God the Father: "This is My Son." Therefore they had to see and hear these things face to face and clearly, without veil or cloud, that they might be eye- and ear-witnesses beyond all exception.
Moreover, the cloud is a symbol, as well as a veil, of the glory of God. Hence of old in a cloud, because it is itself heavenly and impervious to sight, God used to show His incomprehensible majesty to the Hebrews, as though veiled from afar and as through a shadow, as is clear from Exodus 19:9; 24:15; and 34:5. Whence the cloud is called the ascent, or chariot of God, Psalm 103:3; likewise the tabernacle, throne, and seat, not only of the majesty, but also of the omnipotence and supreme efficacy of God; for from the clouds are hurled against His enemies hail, whirlwinds, thunders, lightnings, Psalm 17:12 and following; Psalm 67:35; Psalm 88:7; hence also Christ, when He comes in majesty to judge the world, will come in the clouds of heaven, Matthew chapter 24:30. This cloud therefore was as it were an instrument for the voice of God the Father; for Christ, an ornament and adornment; for Moses and Elijah, a vehicle; for the Apostles, a canopy.
Abulensis, Question 75, adds — and Thyraeus from him — that Christ willed to be covered by this cloud, so that He might be covered by it while He was putting off the splendor of His Transfiguration, lest the Apostles should see this, just as they had not seen its beginning, when He first took it on, because they were sleeping.
Saint Ambrose, on Luke chapter 9, thirdly adds that this cloud moderated and tempered the splendor of the body of Christ, which otherwise the weak eyes of the Apostles could not have borne.
Further, from this cloud Toletus, on Luke chapter 9 verse 34, opines that Christ was transfigured at night, in the time of sleep: hence Luke says that the eyes of the Apostles were heavy, and therefore the Transfiguration of Christ appeared the more wondrous to the Apostles. For so great a splendor is more wondrous by night than by day. Others also probably think that Christ was transfigured in the morning at dawn — both lest these things should be thought to be phantasms and nocturnal visions, and because Christ came to the works of light; moreover the eyes of the Apostles were heavy from fatigue, as I shall say below at verse 8. Finally, the dawn is the boundary between light and darkness, and it is pleasant, and therefore a symbol of glory.
It was bright, firstly, because it was an index of the glory of Christ: whence Cajetan judges that light was breathed upon this cloud from the light and splendor of the body of Christ, or rather, that through it was represented the majesty and glory of the Father speaking. Whence Peter, 2nd Epistle chapter 1, verse 17, calls this cloud the "magnificent glory" of the Father speaking from it, who nevertheless through the same was adorning and increasing the glory of the Transfiguration of Christ: this cloud therefore was full of majesty and glory.
Secondly, that the difference between the Old Law and the New might be signified. For in the Old Law, God appeared to the Hebrews in a dark cloud, because that law was full of shadows and terrors: but in the New He appears in a bright cloud, because the New Law brings truth, clarity and love. So Saint Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Damascene, On the Transfiguration.
And Behold a Voice (of God the Father to Christ) Out of the Cloud, Saying: This Is My Beloved Son, in Whom I Am Well Pleased; Hear Ye Him. — Note first, with Saint Chrysostom, Ambrose, Toletus, Jansenius and others, it is clear from Luke 9:33 and following that this voice sounded forth from a cloud raised higher above the earth (whence Saint Peter, 2 Peter chapter 1, says "from heaven") after the departure of Elijah and Moses — and this for the purpose that it might be most clear and most certain to the Apostles that this voice was directed to Christ alone, and not to Moses or Elijah, as being now absent. This voice, since it was a work "ad extra" as the Theologians speak, was formed by the whole Holy Trinity through an Angel (for God uses these as ministers, as it were, for outward works, Hebrews 1, last verse), in order to represent God the Father: for in His person an Angel formed this voice, just as also that one: "I am the Lord thy God," Exodus 20.
Note secondly that here, just as at the Baptism of Christ, the Holy Trinity was symbolically represented. For the Holy Spirit appeared in the cloud, the Father in the voice, the Son in divine splendor and glory, in which likewise the Incarnation of the Word appeared. For Christ was seen as man, and through the splendor and voice of the Father it was signified that He was the same God and Son of God. The Holy Spirit was figured by the cloud, because, like a bright cloud, He illuminates man, covers, overshadows, and makes him fruitful for every good work. So Saint Ambrose, Origen, Bede and Saint Thomas. Add that the same makes him blessed and glorifies him. Hence at the Baptism of Christ the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove, because in Baptism He gives innocence: but at the Transfiguration, which is a type of the Resurrection, He appeared in the form of a cloud, because then He gave — and will give — security from all evils. A little differently Bede: "Here, he says, the Holy Spirit in a dove, here in a cloud, because he who keeps the faith with a simple heart will afterward clearly see that which he believed."
This Is My Son. — "Two pleasing words, says Blessed Cyprian, in the Sermon On Baptism — 'Son' and 'Beloved' — with God Himself dictating, are impressed upon our senses, so that the communion of names may join us to the fellowship of gifts, and the names of such great sweetness may soften our spirit and kindle the affection of devotion." Further, "(God the Father) did not say 'In this is My Son,' lest one should be understood as placed apart from the other by Himself — that is, divided — but so that according to the dispensatory union He should be simply received as one and the same: 'This,' He says, 'is My Son,'" says the Council of Ephesus, from the Prosphonetikos of Cyril to the Emperor.
Beloved (the Syriac: "most beloved." It alludes to that of Psalm 28:4: "The voice of the Lord in magnificence, etc., and the beloved, as the son of unicorns," which I have expounded concerning Christ through many analogies of the unicorn and Christ, on 2 Peter 1:17), in Whom I Am Well Pleased. — In whom I have all and supreme complacency, who alone pleases Me infinitely, on account of whom all who please Me are pleasing. See what was said on Matthew 3:17.
Hear Ye Him. — Not Moses, who has now departed, but Christ Himself, as it were the new Lawgiver of the new law. "Hear Him," and believe and obey Him and His commands in all things. It alludes to Deuteronomy 18:15, where Moses says of Christ: "A Prophet from thy nation, and from among thy brethren, like unto me, the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee: Him shalt thou hear." At the Baptism of Christ it was not said "Hear ye Him," because then Christ was first shown to the world; but here He was set forth as Teacher and Lawgiver. Therefore, according to the testimony of Tertullian, Saint Leo, Damascene and others cited above, there is here signified the abrogation of the Old Law and the institution of the New. Likewise the Passion of Christ is signified in the "decease" of which Moses and Elijah were speaking concerning Him; and His Resurrection, Ascension and glory are represented in the Transfiguration itself; while hell and limbo are signified in Moses, who comes forth from limbo to Tabor.
Verse 6: And the Disciples Hearing, Fell Upon Their Face, and Were Very Much Afraid
6. And the Disciples Hearing, Fell Upon Their Face, and Were Very Much Afraid. — First, because this cloud seemed to them to be bringing forth something new, great and divine. Secondly, because, as the Syriac has it, they saw Moses and Elijah departing and entering the cloud, and through it vanishing from their sight. For they feared that Moses might hurl forth lightnings and thunders from the cloud, as he once had done when he received and gave the law to the people on Sinai, Exodus 19:16; and that Elijah might hurl fires from the cloud, as he once had done, 2 Kings 1:10. Thirdly, "hearing, they were afraid," because the voice from the cloud, says Abulensis, like thunder, sounding forth strongly but sweetly and resounding, terrified and struck them. So Saint Ephrem, Oration On the Transfiguration: "At this voice, he says, the Apostles fell prone to the ground, for it was a terrible thunder — terrible. Wherefore at His voice the earth trembled, and they fell to the ground." Thus he. "Human frailty, says St. Jerome, cannot bear the sight of greater glory, and trembling with all its soul and body, falls to the ground." Origen, Chrysostom, and Euthymius add that they, struck with fear, fell on their faces to adore God and to beseech Him, lest a thunderbolt or thunder should strike them, or some other evil fall upon them.
Verse 7: And Jesus Came and Touched Them, and Said to Them: Arise, and Fear Not
7. And Jesus Came and Touched Them, and Said to Them: Arise, and Fear Not. — The three Apostles, whom the voice and majesty of the thundering God had laid low, Christ's humanity raises up, to set them upright again before God. For He had come for this very purpose, who is the Mediator of God and men.
Verse 8: And Lifting Up Their Eyes, They Saw No One but Jesus Alone
8. And Lifting Up Their Eyes, They Saw No One but Jesus Alone. — The cloud with Elijah and Moses had therefore disappeared; Jesus also, the transfiguration being now over, had returned to the former shape and form of His countenance.
Symbolically: it was signified that the Law and the Prophets had disappeared, and the shadows of the old Law in the presence of Christ, and had yielded their place to Him, and that He alone remained, who brings men the true light of the Gospel law. Hence Origen: "Moses, that is, the Law, and Elijah, that is, the Prophets, became one," he says, "both converted into the Gospel of Christ; and they did not remain three as they had been before, but the three became one;" who passed over into Christ, as the Law and the Prophets passed into the Gospel.
Again, this glory and delight of the Transfiguration passed quickly away, so that Christ might show that all things in this world, even the exalted and divine, are brief, but that in heaven they will be eternal, so that we may pant after that; for on earth all things are measured by time (which is fleeting and brief), but in heaven by stable eternity.
Note: St. Matthew, Mark, and Luke narrate the story of the Transfiguration in different ways; but this was the sequence and order of the event, which reconciles all the Evangelists among themselves. First, Christ prayed; meanwhile, the disciples, heavy with sleep and sleeping from the labor of climbing the mountain and from the length of Christ's prayer, Christ was transfigured. Second, Moses and Elijah drew near, speaking with Christ about His departure (the death of the cross) which He was to accomplish in Jerusalem. Third, the Apostles, awakened from sleep by this brightness and conversation, saw the glory of Christ, and with Him Moses and Elijah speaking. Fourth, when this conversation ended and they were giving signs of departure, St. Peter, as if drunk with this delight and grieved that they were preparing to depart, asked that three tabernacles be made: one for Christ, the second for Moses, the third for Elijah. Fifth, a cloud came over, taking away Moses and Elijah, with a voice to Christ: "This is My beloved Son," etc., at which, terrified, SS. Peter, James, and John fell to the ground, but soon strengthened and raised up by Christ, lifting up their eyes, they saw Jesus alone; meanwhile, Moses was led back to Limbo, Elijah to his own place by an Angel, just as he had been brought.
Verse 9: Tell the Vision to No One, Until the Son of Man Be Risen From the Dead
9. And as They Were Coming Down From the Mountain, Jesus Commanded Them, Saying: Tell the Vision to No One, Until the Son of Man Be Risen From the Dead. — "To no one," not only to a commoner, as St. Jerome holds, but also to an Apostle, lest He give cause of sorrow and envy to any of them, sorrowing namely that with Peter, James, and John he had not been present at the Transfiguration. So Damascene, who says: "Lest the rage of envy drive the traitor into fury." Hence Mark, chapter 9, says they did so: "And they kept the word to themselves." Luke asserts the same thing.
The reason why Christ enjoined silence on them until the resurrection was because that would then be the opportune time for revealing this mystery, and then the Apostles would understand and believe it, when after His Passion and death — in which they would be scandalized and disturbed — was finished, they would see Him rise again in glory, of which this Transfiguration was a type. Hence St. Jerome: "He does not wish," he says, "this, namely the Transfiguration, to be preached among the people, lest it be incredible on account of the greatness of the thing, and lest after such glory the following cross cause a scandal to rude minds." So too St. Chrysostom, Bede and others. For from Christ's resurrection they would know for certain that Christ had not been forced, but willingly out of exceeding love undertook the cross and death for us, and already endowed with glory, would come again as Judge at the end of the world, and with the same glory would crown those who by His example and precept have denied themselves, taken up the cross, and following Him, have lost their souls for love of Him.
Tropologically: Christ, making public the reproach of His cross but hiding the glory of His Transfiguration, teaches us to conceal the gifts and favors of God bestowed upon us until death, just as Paul concealed his revelations, 2 Corinthians 12:6, lest being praised on their account we swell with pride, and through pride be deprived of them. Hence Ecclesiasticus 11:30: "Praise no man before his death." I have given the reasons there.
Verse 10: Why Then Do the Scribes Say That Elijah Must First Come?
10. And His Disciples Asked Him, Saying: Why Then Do the Scribes Say That Elijah Must First Come? — The occasion of this question was that these three Apostles had seen Elijah in the Transfiguration, and had seen him departing. They wonder why he departed, when he ought to have remained to go before Christ and the kingdom and glory of Christ, according to the prophecy of Malachi 4:6, which the Scribes were citing and teaching; but they were erring in confusion of times: for they did not distinguish Christ's first coming in the flesh from His second glorious coming for judgment. For Elijah will go before this second coming, just as John the Baptist went before the first. The Apostles, although they distinguished Christ's first coming from the second — for they had seen the first but had not yet seen the second — nevertheless hoped that the second would also come soon: for since they had heard from Christ making mention of His imminent resurrection, and having seen the type of it in the Transfiguration, they were thinking (though falsely) that immediately after it Christ would reign gloriously, and would straightway enter upon the kingdom of His glory, which will take place at His second coming; and therefore they wonder and ask why Elijah departed and did not remain to precede Him and go before Him. So St. Jerome, Maldonatus, Jansenius.
Verse 11: Elijah Indeed Shall Come, and Shall Restore All Things
11. But He Answering, Said to Them: Elijah Indeed Shall Come, and Shall Restore All Things, — that is, he will convert the Jews to Christ as the Messiah promised to them and their fathers, which Malachi, chapter 4:6, says: "And He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers." See what is said there. For there the Septuagint, whom Matthew here follows according to his custom, translate for "shall turn" ἀποκαταστήσει, that is "shall restore." Hence the Arabic translates: He shall teach you all things.
Verse 12: But I Say to You, That Elijah Has Already Come, and They Did Not Know Him
12. But I Say to You, That Elijah Has Already Come, and They Did Not Know Him, but Did Unto Him Whatever They Willed. So Also Shall the Son of Man Suffer From Them. — Christ leaps from the literal Elijah to the mystical one, that is, John the Baptist, according to Canon 23; for concerning the Baptist the Angel Gabriel had foretold to his father Zechariah, Luke 1:17: "He shall go before Him (Christ) in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the unbelieving to the wisdom of the just, to prepare for the Lord a perfect people."
Wrongly then do the Calvinists refer all these things to Christ's first coming, and take the Elijah in both places (verses 11 and 12) as the same person, namely John the Baptist. For they hold that the Elijah whom Malachi, chapter 4:5, foretold would come, is John the Baptist the forerunner of Christ, and that no other is to come who with Enoch shall go before Christ's second coming for judgment, whom I have refuted at length in Malachi 4:5.
For Christ wanted only to explain here that saying of the Scribes taken from Malachi: "Elijah shall come and show Christ to you," which Malachi had said about Christ's second coming, showing that it could also mystically be applied to His first coming. For the Scribes did not distinguish the first coming from the second, as even now the Jews do not distinguish them, and therefore deny that Christ has come, and wait for Him to come, because Elijah has not yet appeared to point Him out; so that Christ might fully and clearly condescend to the Scribes and satisfy them, He concedes that some Elijah shall precede both of Christ's comings, but that in the first he would be typical, and in the second the literal and true Elijah. For He means to say, not that Jews are prevented from believing in Him as Messiah because Elijah has not yet come, but because they are perverse and obstinate in their malice; for that Elijah who had been promised before the first coming of the Messiah, that is, John the Baptist, had already come and pointed out the Messiah to the Scribes with his finger; but they had refused to believe John; hence Christ adds: "And they did not know him," they refused to acknowledge him as the forerunner.
Verse 15: For He Often Falls Into the Fire and Frequently Into the Water
Gaping and gnashings. Epileptics indeed are more agitated from phlegm and from raw and undigested humors as the moon wanes, and especially at the new moon, because then the moon has the least light and heat; but phlegm and phlegmatic humors increase most from cold, especially immoderate cold. See Francisco Valesius, Sacred Philosophy, chapter 71. See also what I said in chapter 4:24. I will give the tropological meaning of the lunatic at the end of verse 21.
For He Often Falls Into the Fire and Frequently Into the Water. — For the demon drives him "into fire" that he may burn him, "into water" that he may drown and suffocate him.
Verse 16: And I Brought Him to Thy Disciples, and They Could Not Cure Him
16. And I Brought Him to Your Disciples, and They Could Not Cure Him. — He transfers his own fault, namely the defect of his faith, to the Apostles, after the manner of men. Christ gives the reason why they could not, in verses 20 and 21.
Verse 17: O Unbelieving and Perverse Generation, How Long Shall I Be With You?
17. And Jesus Answering Said: O Unbelieving (Arabic, unfaithful) and Perverse Generation, How Long Shall I Be With You? How Long Shall I Endure You? Bring Him Hither to Me. — Origen thinks these words are said to the nine Apostles, who, while three ascended with Christ onto Tabor, remained in the valley with the crowd: for these alone had attempted to heal this lunatic at the time when the other three had withdrawn with Christ onto the mountain to be transfigured. For in these nine the faith of Christ seems to have been sufficiently weakened, both because in His presence they gave no signs or miracles, but only when they were away from Him on mission; and because, while Christ was on the mountain with the three, the remaining nine being as it were left behind with the crowd, a certain torpor of faith had crept over them, says St. Hilary; and because they had heard from the lunatic's father, and even perceived with their own eyes, the greatness of the evil, and the force and fury of the demon raging in the lunatic. But better do St. Jerome, Hilary, Chrysostom, and Theophylact hold that these words were addressed to the father of the lunatic, and to the Jews and Scribes: for upon them more than upon the disciples is the unbelief, and consequently the blame for not casting out the demon, to be charged, as is sufficiently gathered from Mark 9:22, 23, where the father, asked by Christ whether he believed in Him, says: "I believe, Lord; help my unbelief;" although Christ also privately reproves the Apostles for having less faith than so great a matter required, in verse 20. Therefore Christ says to the Jews and Scribes: "O unbelieving and perverse generation," that is, distorted, not knowing how to walk in straight paths, says St. Cyril, as if to say: O hard and rebellious Jews, sons of hard and rebellious fathers of old, who have received as it were an innate hardness implanted in you by your fathers, who although you see Me work so many and such great miracles, nevertheless do not believe in Me, but rather belittle them as though done through Beelzebub, as the Scribes persuade you; what do I have to do with you in these things? How long shall I endure your wicked ways, your misdeeds and calumnies? How long shall I pour out and waste My benefits and miracles upon you who are unbelieving and ungrateful? The reason why My disciples could not heal your son, O Jew, is not any impotence in Me or in them, for I gave them the power of casting out demons; but the cause is your unbelief and that of your fellow Jews, which places an obstacle to the grace of God; because you do not believe, but hesitate and doubt whether I and they can cure him. Thus St. Cyprian. These are the words of Christ indignant at the obstinacy, hardness, and blindness of the Scribes and Jews; but He soon restrains this emotion, and takes up and puts forth the bowels of mercy customary to Him, and heals the lunatic: just as a physician, says St. Jerome, "if he sees the sick man acting against his instructions, should say: How long shall I come to your house? How long shall I lose the efforts of my art, while I command one thing and you do another? But He was not so angry with the man as with the fault, and through one man He reproaches the Jews with unbelief, so that immediately He added: Bring him to Me."
Bring Him Hither to Me. — Mark adds, telling the matter more fully, chapter 9:19: "And they brought him. And when He had seen him, immediately the spirit (the evil one, namely the demon possessing the lunatic) troubled (agitated) him, and being thrown upon the ground, he rolled about foaming." The demon, after he felt the Lord, convulses the boy, says Titus of Bostra on chapter 9 of Luke; for irritated by the presence of Jesus, and fearing that he might be cast out by Him, he began to rage and to torment and torture the lunatic horribly. Mark continues: "And (Christ) asked his father: How long is it since this has happened to him? And he said: From infancy; and he often cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him; but if You can do anything (behold the unbelief which Christ rebuked; for he doubts about Christ's power), help us, having compassion on us. And Jesus said to him: If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes," as if to say: By believing you can obtain from Me your son's healing. Christ fittingly required faith in Himself; for it was not fitting that He should cure those who did not believe or who doubted Him, or thrust His benefits upon unworthy persons turned away from Him. Mark continues: "And immediately the father of the boy crying out, with tears said: I believe, Lord; help my unbelief," as if to say: I believe, but I am weak and feeble in faith; do You therefore increase and strengthen it, so that through it whatever unbelief or hesitation is in me may be taken away, and so I may be worthy to obtain from You this benefit of healing. There is no doubt that Christ heard such humble and fervent prayers, and took away all unbelief from him: for soon after, He healed his son, who now undoubtedly believed.
Verse 18: And Jesus Rebuked Him, and the Demon Went Out of Him
18. And Jesus Rebuked Him, and the Demon Went Out of Him, and the Child Was Cured From That Hour. — Mark adds: "And when Jesus saw the crowd running together (so that by this miracle He might lead them to believe in Him as the Messiah), He threatened the unclean spirit, saying to him: Deaf and dumb spirit (who have made this man deaf and dumb), I command you, go out of him, and enter no more into him; and crying out and greatly tearing him, he went out of him, and he became as one dead, so that many said, 'He is dead.' But Jesus, taking his hand, lifted him up, and he arose." Hence it is plain that this demon was very powerful and malignant, who dared to resist and oppose Christ so greatly that he almost drove the lunatic to death. Wherefore it is likely that he was not of the lowest order of Angels, but of some higher one; for such do invade and possess men: hence demons in the possessed, when adjured by exorcisms, confess from what order they are, and sometimes name a higher one. For this reason Christ's disciples could not cast him out, but this casting out was reserved for Christ, who expelled him with great force, command, and exertion. For this is the Greek ἐπετίμησε, that is, "rebuked," and by rebuking and threatening He commanded the demon, saying: "I command you, go out of him," which if you do not do, I shall sharply punish you, and drive you out of the man against your will. Hence also Christ said to the Apostles when they asked why they could not cast him out: "This kind cannot go out by anything except by prayer and fasting," as Luke has it.
19. Then Came the Disciples to Jesus Secretly and Said: Why Could We Not Cast Him Out?
Verse 20: If You Have Faith as a Grain of Mustard Seed, Nothing Shall Be Impossible to You
20. Jesus Said to Them: Because of Your Unbelief. — Arabic: Because of the smallness of your faith. The Apostles had faith; but to cast out so powerful and fierce a demon, a greater faith was required, which the Apostles lacked: hence the Syriac translates the following verse thus: If there had been in you faith like a grain of mustard, you would say to this mountain: Depart, and it would depart.
For Amen I Say to You, If You Have Faith as a Grain of Mustard Seed, You Shall Say to This Mountain (Tabor, from which I am descending: so Abulensis): Remove Hence Hither, and It Shall Remove, and Nothing Shall Be Impossible to You. — This is the faith of miracles, which is not different from justifying faith, as the heretics hold, but the same: for there is only one faith, Ephesians 4:5. Yet this faith is joined with a certain confidence in divine aid toward the miracle that is attempted to be performed; which confidence arises: First, from the freedom of a holy and familiar conscience with God, which uses God as it were familiarly, and penetrates to the treasures of His grace so as to enjoy them, according to that saying of 1 John 3:21: "If our heart does not reprove us, we have confidence toward God, and whatever we ask, we shall receive from Him." Thus St. Dominic obtained from God whatever he asked. Second, from the interior instinct of God as it were inspiring and stirring men to this prodigious work, and tacitly promising His help in bringing it to pass. See Francisco Suarez, treatise De Fide, disputation 8, section 1, where he teaches that the faith of miracles as to substance and essence is an act of Catholic faith, by which we believe that God is omnipotent and faithful in His promises, so elicited and applied to this particular fact that it can generate that confidence necessary for the performing of a miracle: whence gather that, just as this faith and confidence are in our will and power with the grace of God (which He Himself is accustomed to give), so also the faculty of working miracles is in some way in our power, and the more anyone grows in faith and confidence, the more he grows in this faculty: for the more familiar anyone is with God, the more he obtains from Him, and this is what Christ signifies here, and the same is plain from the lives and practice of the Saints. Thus St. Bernard teaches that we can obtain the gift of prophecy, so as to know the secrets of God, namely if we insinuate ourselves into the intimate friendship of God; for Christ says of this, John 15:15: "But I have called you friends, because all things whatsoever I have heard from My Father I have made known to you." Yet this faith can exist without charity. Hence Paul: "If I have," he says, "all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing," 1 Corinthians 13:2. See what is said there. How the working of miracles is to be attributed to faith, St. Thomas teaches in De Potentia, question 9, article 9.
Faith Like a Grain of Mustard Seed, — that is, faith small in appearance but notable in virtue and efficacy, namely a humble faith that does not boast of itself, and therefore small in men's judgment, but in itself living, sharp, vehement, perfect, burning like a grain of mustard: for not only from its smallness, as He did in chapter 13:31, but also from its sharpness does He compare this faith to a grain of mustard: for this faith joined to humility removes every shadow of unbelief, this is the wonder-working faith and moves mountains; conversely, the performing of miracles is equally hindered by proud presumption and by unbelieving distrust. Thus Origen and Bede. This faith shone forth in St. Gregory, Bishop of Neocaesarea, who by praying with this faith moved to another place a mountain that was blocking the construction of a temple, as Nyssenus testifies in his Life, and Eusebius in Historia Ecclesiastica, book 7, chapter 25, and he performed many other miracles: whence he received the surname of Thaumaturgus, that is, worker of miracles. By a similar faith Christians moved a similar mountain in Tartary, when a tyrant demanded this of the Christians on account of this promise of Christ, as the African Epistles and Marco Polo the Venetian in Tartary relate. A similar example is related by St. Jerome of St. Hilarion in his Life. For when the sea, overflowing through an earthquake, was bringing masses of waves and mountains of whirlpools upon the shores, and so was threatening destruction to the city of Epidaurus, Hilarion was placed by the citizens on the shores as a barrier to the sea, "and when he had traced three signs of the cross in the sand, and stretched out his hands against it, it is incredible to say to what height the sea swelling up stood before him, and roaring for a long time and as though indignant at the obstacle, gradually returned into itself. But that which was said to the Apostles: If you shall have faith, you shall say to this mountain: Pass into the sea, and it shall be done, can also be fulfilled according to the letter. For what difference is there whether the mountain descends into the sea, or whether immense mountains of waves suddenly stiffen, and before the feet of an old man as though stony, softly flowed away on the other side." Thus far St. Jerome.
Mystically: the mountain is a grave temptation, especially of ambition and pride, as St. Jerome teaches, which is best conquered by faith and hope, namely by praying, distrusting oneself and trusting in God: whence St. Francis, being shaken by a great and troublesome temptation of the spirit, and devoting himself to prayer with tears, heard a voice from heaven: "Francis, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, and say to the mountain to move, it shall move." Being ignorant of the meaning of the oracle, he cried out and added: "Lord, what manner of mountain is this?" To whom the reply came: "The mountain is temptation." And Francis with a great flood of tears added: "Be it done to me, Lord, as You have said:" and at once, with every temptation removed, he obtained perfect tranquility of spirit. So Wadding in the Annals of the Minorites, year of Christ 1218, number 2.
Verse 21: But This Kind Is Not Cast Out Except by Prayer and Fasting
21. But This Kind Is Not Cast Out Except by Prayer and Fasting. — This is the second reason why the disciples could not cast out this demon: for the first was on account of the unbelief of those asking and the small faith of the Apostles.
Note first, "this kind" does not signify every kind of demon, as St. Chrysostom and Euthymius hold, but a certain kind, namely of a higher order, most powerful, most perverse, most obstinate, most malicious, such as was this one possessing the man, making him a lunatic and epileptic, wondrously contorting and agitating him, and throwing him now into fire, now into water, and seeking to destroy him, and that from infancy. So Salmeron, Jansenius, Maldonatus, and others. Abulensis adds, question 172, that among the Jews a deaf and dumb demon, such as this was, was considered the worst, and he gathers this from the fact that the Jews marvelled when a deaf and dumb demon was cast out by Christ, and said: "Never has it appeared thus in Israel," as is plain from Matthew 9:33, and chapter 12:22 and 23. The reason is that you do not know what you should do with a deaf and dumb one, or by what means help him: for since he is deaf, he understands none of the things you ask him; and since he is dumb, he gives no reply. So Thyraeus in De Daemoniacis, part 4, chapter 51, who also adds that those demons are more difficult to expel to whom God has given greater power over the human body, as was given to this lunatic's demon. For there are other demons less strong and less stubborn and rebellious, and not so malicious, such as those sportive Lares and Lemures, who dwell in houses in the appearance of little ones, and at night carry out their jests, empty noises and tumults, and similar playful frights. Concerning these, see Delrio in his work on Magicians, and Peter Thyraeus, book On Nocturnal Frights.
Note secondly, this kind of demons is not cast out except by prayer and fasting: both because these two lift man from the flesh to God, and make him spiritual, even like an Angel, superior to flesh and demon; and because prayer asks for, and fasting merits, this expulsion, and of itself drives off the demon by tormenting him. Thus St. Chrysostom: "Fasting," he says, "is the singular work of a higher philosophy; and it establishes man as it were an Angel, and assails incorporeal powers." And Eusebius of Emesa, homily On the Beginning of Lent: "Man," he says, "by abstinence can conquer Angelic nature," as did St. Anthony, St. Hilarion, St. Macarius, and others.
Finally, prayer seasoned with fasting and affliction of the flesh obtains great things from God. So Abulensis, question 173. I have read the lives of many saints, and have found that almost none became famous for miracles except those who were abstinent and of austere life. Hear St. Chrysostom here: "He who fasts while praying possesses two wings, by which he flies past the very winds: for he does not yawn, nor stretch out, nor grow numb while praying, which many suffer, but is more burning than fire and higher than earth; wherefore he becomes a terrible enemy to demons. For nothing is more powerful than a good man praying."
Note thirdly, Christ requires prayer and fasting not in both, namely in the one who performs the miracle, and in the one who receives its fruit, as St. Chrysostom and Theophylact hold; but only in the one who performs it, as Origen noted, although there is no doubt but that the prayer and fasting of the one receiving also greatly aid the matter, as the same Origen, Jansenius, Maldonatus, and others observe.
You will say: Christ, in casting out this demon, is not said to have prayed and fasted. I reply: He had prayed and fasted a little before, when He was transfigured on Tabor, because He healed this lunatic on the descent from the mountain. Add: prayer and fasting are required in mere men, not in Christ, who was God, and as God could by a word alone put to flight all demons, nay even annihilate them. So Abulensis here, question 170. Further, Christ here sows the seeds of fasting in His disciples, says St. Chrysostom.
Tropologically the Gloss: This kind, he says, of demon of lunatics, that is, this changeableness of carnal pleasures, is not conquered unless the spirit is strengthened by prayer, and the flesh is subdued by fasting. For the moon on account of its constant changes is a symbol of folly and inconstancy, according to that passage of Ecclesiasticus 27:12: "A holy man continues in wisdom like the sun; but a fool changes like the moon." See what is said there. See also Ambrose, sermon 82. Hear Bede: "Matthew describes this demoniac as a lunatic, Mark as deaf and dumb: signified therefore are those who change like the moon, and neither hear the word of faith nor confess the faith; and the boy is struck down as he approaches the Lord, for generally those who turn to the Lord are more severely assailed by demons, either to inspire hatred of virtue, or to avenge the injury of their expulsion; the Lord rebukes the demon, for he who desires to amend a sinner should drive out the vice by reproving and hating it, but cherish the man by love, until, being amended, he may be returned to the prayers of the Church. And they foam, when they waste away with folly. For it belongs to fools to let spittle foam out of their mouth. They gnash their teeth, when they blaze with the fury of wrath. They dry up, when they languish with sluggish idleness, and strengthened by no exercise of virtue, live enervated lives."
Verse 22: The Son of Man Shall Be Betrayed Into the Hands of Men
22. And While They Were Abiding Together in Galilee, Jesus Said to Them: The Son of Man Shall Be Betrayed Into the Hands of Men. — Christ repeats His prophecy of the passion and cross, first uttered by Him at Caesarea Philippi, chapter 16:22, so that when it was present His disciples might not be terrified nor scandalized, nor fall away from faith in Him, as though He were not the Messiah, having died by so infamous a death: for the cross was a stumbling block to the Apostles, so much so that they all fled, leaving Him; therefore the cross had to be preached and inculcated to them again and again, so that they might know that Christ, not unwilling nor compelled, but of His own accord, in order to obey the Father's will and redeem men, was willing to be crucified and to die, and therefore so often foretold it. Moreover, He repeated this preaching "in Galilee," namely when He was returning from His transfiguration made on Mount Tabor, after He had healed the lunatic, and therefore the Galileans had given Him great praise and applause, as is plain from Mark and Luke, both in order to throw cold water on this warmth of those praising Him, and to temper it with the mention of the passion and cross, lest He should break forth into the vain glory of His disciples; and also because from Galilee He was going on into Judea, as is plain from Mark 9:30, where shortly after He was to be crucified.
Verse 23: And They Shall Kill Him, and the Third Day He Shall Rise Again
23. And They Shall Kill Him, and the Third Day He Shall Rise Again. And They Were Grieved Exceedingly, — on account of the mention of killing and death, because they did not want Christ to die and through death to be torn away from Him; that Christ might soothe this grief of theirs, He adds: "And the third day He shall rise again." But they did not understand these words and promises of Christ, nor could they grasp them. Hence for a long time they doubted His resurrection; and therefore Christ had to prove to them by many appearances and signs that He had truly risen, in order to remove this doubt from their minds.
Verse 24: Does Not Your Master Pay the Didrachma?
24. And When They Had Come to Capernaum, They Came, Who Received the Didrachmas (Syriac adds: by head, that is from individual heads) (Arabic: the tributaries, that is the publican collectors of tribute), to Peter, and Said to Him: Does Not Your Master Pay the Didrachma? — Arabic: Does he not pay the debt? They do not assert, but ask, because these tax collectors were new, or certainly had new servants, who did not know or did not remember that Christ in the previous year, when He had dwelt in Capernaum, had paid the didrachma like the rest.
Didrachma. — The didrachma was half a shekel, that is, two Spanish reals, or two Italian julii: for the shekel weighed four didrachmas, that is four julii; for it was a silver coin.
See what is said in Exodus 30:13. Baronius, Francisco Lucas and others hold that this didrachma was sacred, which was to be paid to the temple according to the law given by God in Exodus 30:13. For there God decrees that all from twenty years and above, when the census or numbering of the people is taken, should pay a didrachma to the temple. Afterwards the Jews of their own accord out of devotion, so that they might more fully satisfy this law, decreed that each one should pay this didrachma each year to the temple, for the support of so many Levites and priests, for the repair of the sound roofs, for the victims and other things appropriate for the use and ornament of the temple; this is clear from the fact that King Joash recalled this custom which had been neglected or interrupted through the iniquity of the times, as is clear from 2 Chronicles 24:5, 6, 7, 9, and from Josephus, who teaches this expressly in book 7 of the Jewish War, chapter 26, at the end. The same author, book 18 of the Antiquities, chapter 12, teaches that the Jews living outside Judea in Babylon collected this sacred didrachma and sent it to Jerusalem to the temple. But that this didrachma was not sacred and due to the temple, but profane and due to the Romans or to Herod Antipas, who had been established by the Romans as king of Galilee, is clear from Christ's words to Peter in the following verse: "The kings of the earth, from whom do they receive tribute?" Therefore this tribute was royal, and was exacted for the king or emperor. The same is clear from chapter 22:21, where the Herodians, that is, Herod's followers, tempting, ask Christ whether it is lawful to pay tribute to Caesar or not. The cause and origin of this tribute and census was that, shortly before Christ, when Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, grandsons of Simon Maccabeus, were contending over the high priesthood and kingdom, Pompey was called upon by them as arbiter and awarded the cause to Hyrcanus, but the people of Jerusalem, who favored Aristobulus, resisted him. Wherefore Pompey took Jerusalem by force, and subjected it and consequently all Judea to the Romans, and imposed an annual tribute on it, as Josephus clearly teaches in book 14 of the Antiquities, chapter 8. Further, because the Jews paid a didrachma to the temple, they were ordered by the Romans likewise to pay a didrachma to them, as is clear from this passage, until, when Jerusalem rebelled again, Vespasian besieged and captured it, and overthrew the temple; for then he ordered that the didrachma customarily paid to the temple should be paid to the Roman Capitol. Hear Josephus, book 7 of the Jewish War, chapter 26, at the end, concerning Vespasian: "He imposed a tribute upon the Jews wherever they dwelt, and ordered them to bring two drachmas each year to the Capitol, just as they had previously paid to the temple of Jerusalem." This tribute the Jews paid reluctantly to the Romans, as being Gentiles, saying that they were the people of God (and therefore free), and that they ought to pay tribute to Him, not to Caesar: whence about the time of Christ arose the sect of the Galileans, under the authorship of Judas the Galilean, who rejected all tribute and dominion of Caesar, which finally broke out into open war, by which Judea was again subdued and destroyed by Vespasian. Christ and the Apostles were brought under suspicion of belonging to this sect, as being in origin Galileans, and heralds and teachers of the new heavenly kingdom; and therefore, in order that Christ might show Himself a stranger to that [faction], He here paid the didrachma, and commanded that it be paid to Caesar, chap. XXII, 21. See what is said on Acts V, 36. So St. Jerome, Bede, Jansenius, Maldonatus, and others. These tax collectors, therefore, not daring to accost Christ because of His fame for holiness of doctrine and for miracles, approach Peter apart and say: "Does your Master not pay," that is, is He not accustomed to pay, "the didrachma?" Or is He not, by some prince's privilege or some other title of exemption, obligated to pay the tribute which singly, head by head, every year they pay to the Romans in the place where each one dwells? Since Christ here was dwelling in Capernaum, they therefore exact this tribute from Him there.
Verse 25: He Said: Yes; and When He Had Entered the House, Jesus Anticipated Him
He Said: Yes. — Peter assented, and from the custom of Christ, which he had observed in preceding years, he answers that Christ was altogether accustomed to pay this tribute.
And When He Had Entered the House (rented by Christ at Capernaum, as I said in chap. IV, 13), Jesus Anticipated Him, Saying: What Dost Thou Think, Simon? The Kings of the Earth, From Whom Do They Receive Tribute or Census, From Their Own Sons, or From Strangers? — That is, from other subjects, who are not sons: for He sets "strangers" in opposition to "sons." So Chrysostom.
Verse 26: Jesus Said to Him: Therefore the Sons Are Free
26. And He Said: From Strangers. Jesus Said to Him: Therefore the Sons Are Free. — When Peter wished, at home and apart, to report to Christ the tax collectors' question about the tribute, Christ, aware of that private conversation of his with them — since in spirit He had already seen and heard it — anticipated him, that is, questioned him on the matter first, and showed that He Himself is not bound to this tribute, saying: "the kings of the earth," etc.
It is an argument from the lesser to the greater, as St. Chrysostom teaches; as if He said: The sons of kings, together with their household, are by common law immune from the tribute imposed by the king: therefore much more am I, together with My Apostles and My household; I, I say, who am the Son, natural and only-begotten, of the King of kings — that is, of God Himself — am immune from every tribute whatsoever which the kings of the earth impose upon their subjects. So St. Jerome, St. Chrysostom, and others. And so understand St. Augustine, Bk. I of Questions on the Gospels, chap. XXIII. Hence from this reasoning of Christ certain canonists incorrectly conclude that by divine right the Clergy are immune and free from every tribute. For by the same reasoning it would follow that all Christians are equally immune — as the Anabaptists hold — for Christians are adopted sons of God, reborn by grace in baptism; which, however, the Apostle in Rom. XIII, 7, and the whole Church, teaches to be false: for this adoption is of a higher inheritance and order, namely the heavenly, not the earthly. So St. Hilary, Chrysostom, Euthymius, and others. Yet rightly and aptly, in conformity with this saying of Christ, kings and princes have exempted the Ecclesiastics from tribute, as being, so to speak, of the household and family of Christ. And this only is the meaning here of St. Jerome and of the Canons, when they say that Clerics are exempt from tribute not only by human right but also by divine right; namely because divine right dictates that this exemption ought to be granted by princes. See Lessius, On Justice, Bk. II, chap. XXXIII, doubt 4, where he shows that the exemption of Clerics from tribute is of human, not divine, right.
Verse 27: That Fish Which Shall First Come Up, Take, and Thou Shalt Find a Stater
27. But Lest We Should Scandalize Them, Go to the Sea, and Cast in a Hook; and That Fish Which Shall First Come Up, Take, and When Thou Hast Opened Its Mouth, Thou Shalt Find a Stater; Take That and Give It to Them for Me and Thee. — As if to say: Lest the tax collectors be held in contempt and suppose that we despise Tiberius, the Roman Caesar, as though a Gentile, and refuse his empire and his tribute, and thus stir up the Jews to rebel against him — as Judas the Galilean did — go, fish, and the stater which thou shalt find in the mouth of the first fish, take, and pay it for Me and for thee to the tax gatherers. The Greek stater is the same as the Hebrew shekel, namely a weight; for formerly uncoined money was weighed out and paid by a fixed weight. Further, the shekel was a tetradrachmon, that is, it weighed four drachmas, that is, four Spanish reales or four Italian giulios. Therefore the silver shekel was equivalent to a Brabantine florin.
Note: Christ here elicited a heroic act of justice, as well as of humility and obedience, when He paid tribute to the prince — from which, by the law of nature and by divine right, He was exempt — in order to teach that the Christianity instituted by Him is not contrary to civil society and political government, but rather aids and submits to it.
Shall Come Up, — baited to the bait of the hook, as if to say: the one which thou shalt first draw in with the hook. For Christ had caused this stater to be placed by Angels in the mouth of the fish, so that Peter, fishing, might find it there.
Taking It, Give It to Them for Me and Thee. — Thou wilt ask, why did Christ pay this tribute only for Himself and Peter? The answer is: Because, as I have said, it was to be paid man by man, or as the Syriac has it, head by head, by individuals — not by travellers passing through (as Titelmannus holds), but by inhabitants and citizens. He did not pay for the rest of the disciples either because, as Lyranus holds, only the heads of households were liable to this tribute, not each individual member; or because Christ's disciples were poor — whence Christ, before the tax collectors, tacitly willed them to be excused under the title of poverty, as Franciscus Lucas holds; or because they themselves were of other origin, and had already been sent by Christ into other cities to evangelize, and so were not considered inhabitants of Capernaum, and therefore were not bound to pay tribute there. Finally Abulensis, Question CC, thinks that for each of the Apostles who had wives and children — and who therefore were heads of households (such as most were, except John and James) — the didrachma was paid from the common purse which Judas carried, or from the alms of friends, and that Matthew here presupposes and passes over this, as a matter of small importance and well known; and that he narrates only the didrachma of Christ, because He found it by a miracle in the mouth of the fish, in order to show that He was not bound to it, nor subject to Caesar. Nevertheless, Christ paid it for Peter on account of their cohabitation, both because Peter was the agent of this exaction as well as of the payment; and because Peter had a house and a family at Capernaum, as Abulensis says, as is clear from Matthew chap. VIII, vv. 5 and 14, and from Luke chap. IV, vv. 31 and 38; and also for the sake of honor, in order to signify that he was the vicar of His own household and Church, and to be instructed by Him as the head and chief of all the other Apostles. So St. Chrysostom, St. Jerome, Origen, and others.
Morally: learn here the zeal for poverty in Christ, inasmuch as He did not have at home even a single shekel to pay the tribute, but received it by a miracle from the fish, in order to teach that God provides necessities for the poor in spirit through fishes and other creatures, just as He provided food for Elijah through the raven, as it were by a miracle.