Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First, Christ restores the withered hand to the man on the Sabbath, then withdraws with the crowds to the sea, where He heals many sick and demoniacs. Second, in verse 13, on the mountain He chooses twelve Apostles from His disciples and sends them to evangelize, with power to heal the sick and cast out demons. Third, in verse 22, He refutes the Scribes who slanderously claimed that He was casting out demons by Beelzebub, and says that this is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which is never forgiven. Finally, in verse 31, He teaches that His mother and brethren are those who do the will of His Father God.
Vulgate Text: Mark 3:1-35
1. And He entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there who had a withered hand. 2. And they watched Him to see whether He would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3. And He said to the man who had the withered hand: Rise up in the midst. 4. And He said to them: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do evil? to save a life, or to destroy it? But they remained silent. 5. And looking around at them with anger, grieved at the blindness of their hearts, He said to the man: Stretch out thy hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6. But the Pharisees, going out, immediately took counsel with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him. 7. But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea; and a great multitude from Galilee and Judea followed Him, 8. and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and from beyond the Jordan; and those about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing the things He was doing, came to Him. 9. And He told His disciples that a small boat should be at His disposal because of the crowd, lest they press upon Him. 10. For He healed many, so that they rushed upon Him to touch Him, as many as had ailments. 11. And the unclean spirits, when they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying: 12. Thou art the Son of God. And He strictly charged them not to make Him known. 13. And going up onto the mountain, He called to Himself those whom He willed, and they came to Him. 14. And He appointed twelve to be with Him, and to send them out to preach. 15. And He gave them power to heal infirmities and to cast out demons. 16. And He gave Simon the name Peter; 17. and James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, and He gave them the names Boanerges, which is, Sons of Thunder; 18. and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19. and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. 20. And they came to a house; and a crowd again assembled, so that they could not even eat bread. 21. And when His own heard of it, they went out to take hold of Him; for they said: He has been turned into madness. 22. And the Scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said: He has Beelzebub, and by the prince of demons He casts out demons. 23. And calling them to Him, He said to them in parables: How can Satan cast out Satan? 24. And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26. And if Satan has risen up against himself, he is divided, and he cannot stand, but has an end. 27. No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house. 28. Amen I say to you, that all sins will be forgiven to the sons of men, and the blasphemies wherewith they shall have blasphemed; 29. but he who shall have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit shall not have forgiveness forever, but shall be guilty of an eternal offense. 30. Because they said: He has an unclean spirit. 31. And His mother and brethren come; and standing outside, they sent for Him, calling Him, 32. and a crowd was sitting about Him, and they said to Him: Behold, Thy mother and Thy brethren are outside, seeking Thee. 33. And He answered them, saying: Who is My mother, or My brethren? 34. And looking around at those sitting around Him in a circle, He said: Behold My mother, and My brethren. 35. For whoever does the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother.
Verse 4: Is It Lawful on the Sabbath to Do Good, or Evil?
4. AND HE SAID TO THEM: IS IT LAWFUL ON THE SABBATH TO DO GOOD, OR EVIL? TO SAVE LIFE, OR TO DESTROY IT? — The translator reads ἀπολέσαι, that is, to destroy; others now read ἀποκτεῖναι, that is, to kill: but "destroy" is more fitting here. For the matter concerns a man with a withered hand, not a dead or slain man, nor one about to be killed. Concerning the healing of this crippled man the Scribes had raised a scruple and doubt to Christ: "Whether it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" Christ resolves this doubt not with another doubtful question, but with a clear one, saying: "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or evil? to save life, or to destroy it?" "Life" (anima), that is, the man himself, says St. Augustine, is a synecdoche; for the whole is signified by the part. The sense is: if anyone, when he can do so, does not help and do good to a sick or gravely afflicted person — such as this crippled man with his withered hand — on the Sabbath day (as I Christ can), this man does him evil; for he denies him the help owed by the law of charity. Similarly, if anyone does not save a man placed in great need on the Sabbath, when he is able to save him, he is considered to destroy him; therefore it is lawful for Me to heal this crippled man on the Sabbath. For unless I give him this benefit, I shall be considered to have harmed and done evil to him; and unless I save him, I shall be considered to have destroyed him — inasmuch as I would have deprived this afflicted man of the benevolence and aid in some sense owed to him, and would have been hard and merciless toward him, leaving him in his affliction which I could easily have removed. In a similar sense St. Augustine says: "If you have not fed the hungry man, you have killed him," because you have allowed him to die of hunger. So if you have not saved from a robber a man about to be slain, when you could have, you have killed him: for his death and slaying will be imputed to you as guilt and penalty by God, just as though you had killed him. Christ therefore signifies that not to do good to the sick on the Sabbath, when one can, is to do evil to the same; but it is never lawful to do evil: therefore it is always lawful to do good to such a person, even on the Sabbath; for the Sabbath is dedicated to God and to good works. Hence it is a more grievous sin to do evil on the Sabbath than on other days: for thus the holiness of the Sabbath is violated, just as it is more celebrated and sanctified by doing good.
Verse 5: And Looking Around at Them With Anger
5. AND LOOKING AROUND AT THEM WITH ANGER. — Being angry at their unbelief, says the Interlinear Gloss, namely, with a stern and angry countenance showing that He was indignant at the blind, perverse, and obstinate mind of the Scribes, by which they were accusing Christ's miracles and benefits performed on the Sabbath as if done wrongly and against the law of keeping the Sabbath. From this it is evident that in Christ there were true anger, sadness, and the other passions and affections that are in other men, but tamed and subject to reason: wherefore anger was to Him a whetstone of virtue. "Anger," says Franciscus Lucas, "is to us a passion, but to Christ it was as it were an action; it arises in us spontaneously, but in Christ it is stirred up in Him; when it has arisen in us, it disturbs the other faculties of body and soul, and cannot be held back at will; but when stirred up by Christ, it moves what He Himself wishes to be moved, disturbs nothing, and finally rests according to His will." This is what St. Leo says in letter 11: "The bodily senses flourished (in Christ) without the law of sin, and the truth of the affections was under the moderation of the Godhead and the mind."
Furthermore anger, says Aristotle, book 1 On the Soul, ch. 1, text 46, "is the appetite to inflict pain in turn upon an adversary." Hence Nyssen (or rather Nemesius the Christian philosopher; for this book is extant under his name, vol. 9 of the Bibliotheca Sanctorum Patrum), book 4 of Philosophy, ch. 20: "Anger," he says, "is the appetite for retaliation." And Lactantius, in his book On the Anger of God, from Posidonius: "Anger," he says, "is the desire for punishing him by whom you think yourself unjustly injured." Hence anger in other men is born from self-love; but in Christ it was born from love of God: for because He supremely loved God, therefore at His offense, committed through sins and sinners, He was supremely saddened and angered, willing to compensate for that offense either by punishing or by correcting sinners and unbelievers. Therefore Christ's anger was zeal, or seasoned with zeal — just as in the Angels and the Blessed there is no anger, but zeal. See St. Thomas and the Scholastics, Part III, Question 15, article 9. Whether there is a proper affection of anger in God, the opinions of the Doctors vary. For some with Suarez, Opuscule On Divine Justice, section 5, n. 2, affirm it; others with Vasquez, vol. 1 on Part I, disputation 84, ch. 4, deny it.
GRIEVED OVER THE BLINDNESS (the Syriac has "hardness" or "callousness") OF THEIR HEART. — In Greek, συλλυπούμενος, that is, sorrowing with them and commiserating, because these men, hardened by hatred and envy, were unwilling to acknowledge Him as the Messiah, but were perverting His benefits conferred on the sick on the Sabbath, so as to slander them as evil deeds. This therefore signifies that Jesus' anger did not proceed from the appetite for vengeance, but was mixed with commiseration, and that Jesus was angry at the sins, but grieved for the sinners, inasmuch as He loved them and earnestly sought to save them. Finally, all anger is mixed with sadness: for the angry person suffers and is saddened by the evil at which he is angry, and so sadness for evil causes and sharpens anger, so that with vigor it may remove this saddening evil. So St. Thomas and the Scholastics in the place cited.
Verse 9: That a Small Boat Should Be at His Service
9. THAT A SMALL BOAT SHOULD BE AT HIS SERVICE. — In Greek, προσκαρτερῇ, that is, that it should be ready at hand, and, as Pagninus renders it, that it should be a constant companion, so that, when the crowd rushed upon Him, He might at once withdraw into the boat, lest He be pressed by them.
Verse 10: Plagues
10. PLAGUES. — In Greek, μάστιγας, that is, scourges, namely the wounds and diseases by which God chastises and scourges men for their sins. It therefore signifies that diseases are often scourges, and are sent by God on account of sins, in order to chastise them.
Verse 11: And the Unclean Spirits, When They Saw Him, Fell Down Before Him
11. AND THE UNCLEAN SPIRITS, WHEN THEY SAW HIM, FELL DOWN BEFORE HIM. — That is, they came before Him at His feet on bended knee, not out of religion and love, but out of fear and dread, in order to beg off their punishment, lest namely He cast them out of men and consign them to Tartarus.
AND THEY CRIED OUT, — so that, being honored and praised by them, He might spare them.
Verse 12: Saying, Thou Art the Son of God
12. SAYING: THOU ART THE SON OF GOD. — You will ask, Did the demons truly know that Jesus was the Messiah, that is, Christ the Son of God? I answer: From this place and from Matthew 8:29, and from Luke chapter 4:41, and from the Fathers and Interpreters generally commenting on those passages, it is clear that the demons, although at Christ's baptism and before the baptism they did not plainly know Him — for after the baptism they tempted Him, to learn who He was — yet afterward they came to know this from His many and great miracles, which they plainly saw to be true miracles, to transcend their own and the angels' and all natural power, and to be wrought by God alone with supernatural power, and which Christ performed to this end and purpose: first, to prove that He was the Messiah promised to the Fathers; second, that He was God and the Son of God. Hence, I say, the demons came to know Jesus to be the Messiah and the Son of God, especially when they compared the miracles of Christ with the Scriptures and ancient prophecies about Christ, which had foretold that He would be such as Jesus was, and that He would perform such miracles.
Note however that the demons did not know this so clearly and firmly but that, considering from another side the greatness of the mystery, of such great condescension and humiliation of the incarnate Christ, which seems naturally incredible, especially to the most proud devil, they hesitated and doubted from time to time whether Jesus was truly the Messiah and the Son of God. Even more did they hesitate — rather, they were ignorant — about the end and fruit of this mystery, namely, that through Christ's incarnation, cross, and death men were to be redeemed, and thus their own kingdom in them was to be overthrown, and the kingdom of God was to be established; especially because hatred of Jesus blinded them, whom, because they saw Him to be a most holy man and to be snatching many souls from them, they therefore determined must in every way be opposed, overthrown, and killed by them. Hence it happened that, blinded by their hatred of Jesus, they either did not consider or did not understand the Holy Scriptures, which were otherwise clear about Christ's cross and death and our redemption through it: wherefore they crucified and killed Jesus through the Jews as a sworn enemy, and thus unknowingly overthrew their own kingdom. So St. Leo, Sermon 9 On the Passion: "Not even the devil himself," he says, "understood that by raging against Christ he was destroying his own principality; he would not have lost the rights of his ancient fraud, had he restrained himself from the blood of the Lord Jesus. But greedy to do harm, while he rushes on, he falls; while he captures, he is captured; while he persecutes a mortal, he runs into the Savior."
Verse 14: And He Appointed Twelve to Be With Him
14. AND HE APPOINTED TWELVE TO BE WITH HIM. — As His Apostles, companions, and ambassadors from His very side. Hence He adds: "And that He might send them out to preach."
Verse 15: And He Gave Them Power to Heal Infirmities
15. AND HE GAVE THEM POWER TO HEAL INFIRMITIES. — "He gave" — not yet merely when He designated and created them Apostles, but afterward when He sent them out to preach, chapter 6:7; for then they had to confirm their preaching by miracles. There is therefore here a prolepsis, or anticipation.
Verse 16: And He Gave Simon the Name Peter
16. AND HE GAVE SIMON THE NAME PETER. — Before these words some Greek codices have πρῶτον Σίμωνα, that is, "First Simon," namely that He made him first among the Apostles; but the others omit these words. The same is however sufficiently understood from the fact that Peter is here named first by Christ and has his name changed — so that he who was before called Simon is now called in Syriac Cephas, in Greek and Latin Peter, that is, rock: because he was to be appointed by Christ as the rock and foundation of the Church. Hence this name of Cephas or Peter was promised to Simon by Christ in John 1:42, but actually given in Matthew 16:18.
Verse 17: And James the Son of Zebedee, and John the Brother of James
17. AND JAMES THE SON OF ZEBEDEE, AND JOHN THE BROTHER OF JAMES (James is named first, because he was older than John, who was of all the Apostles the youngest, and the least in age), AND HE GAVE THEM THE NAMES BOANERGES, WHICH IS (means) SONS OF THUNDER. — He does not say "name" but "names," because there were more than one, namely two, so they required more than one name, namely Boanerges, which is plural, and signifies not "son" but "sons of thunder," in the plural — that is, ones thundering, namely the Gospel and teachings of Christ.
BOANERGES. — So also the Arabic, Egyptian, and Persian; but the Ethiopic has Baanerges. This name is corrupted; for in Hebrew, or rather in Syriac, it would have to be said Banerges, or Bonerges, as some copies have it, according to the testimony of Franciscus Lucas in his Notations here, note 460. For the Syrians, like the Bavarians and Westphalians, pronounce the vowel a as o, and e as a: whence for Semuel they say Samuel, for Selomon Salomon, for bene they say bane, that is, "sons." Perhaps Banerges was corrupted and turned into Boanerges by the unlearned, who thought that boa meant the roaring of thunder. So Franciscus Lucas.
Furthermore Banerges, as Jansenius and Angelus Caninius rightly note in his Hebrew Names, chapter 11, is composed and formed from בני bane, that is, "sons," and רגש regesh, that is, "roaring," which is to say, "thunder." For thus Jupiter is called by the Greeks ὑψιβρεμέτης, that is, "high-roaring," that is, "high-thundering." Hence the Syriac here also renders it bane reges, that is, "sons of thunder," for which the Hebrews say בני רעם bene raam; but Christ spoke in Syriac according to the usage of that age. There is therefore here a metathesis: for the letter r is transposed, and the letter e is placed before; for instead of banereges they say banerges. Similar metatheses with the same letter r exist among other nations, as Angelus Caninius shows with many examples in his Hellenism, page 64.
So the Greek poets, for καρδία (heart), say κραδίη; for κρατερός, καρτερός; for τέταρτος, τέτρατος; the Latins, for νεῦρον say "nervus"; for ἅρπαξ, "rapax"; for ἁρπάζω, "rapio"; for μορφή, "forma"; for καρκίνος, "cancer"; for κρέας, "caro"; for κρίνω, "cerno"; for he who judges must discern. In Punic gerac (ax, arx); Etruscan rocca; bigr, virgin; darag, step; mecar, decay; elmara, woman; carmes, cramesy (crimson). In Hebrew: arets (Flemish aerde), earth; sippor, sparrow; kebara, sieve; cabbirim, Cherubim; keraim, legs; kerem, horn.
The sense therefore is, as if to say: Christ called James and John by a new name, "Banerges," that is, "sons of thunder," because He appointed them above the other Apostles for the illustrious preaching and propagation of His Gospel, so that by holiness of life and miracles they might be as it were lightnings, and by the efficacy of their voice they might be as it were thunderings, which would shake even unbelieving and barbarous men and lead them over to repentance and a holy life. This is evident in James, because he, on account of this freedom and zeal in preaching, first among the Apostles incurred the wrath of the Jews and of Herod, and fell as a martyr, beheaded by them, Acts 12. The same James converted the Spanish, and through them the Indians both of the East and the West, and either instructs or preserves other nations in the faith of Christ. John, however, preached for the longest time and most effectively, and was the last of the Apostles to depart this life, after he had subjected Asia and other provinces to Christ by his preaching. Hence also his Gospel begins from a divine thunder, as it were the eagle of God thundering, clanging, and flashing like lightning, when he thus thunders: "In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So St. Epiphanius, Heresy 73. And therefore, while he himself was writing the Gospel, lightnings and thunders flashed forth from the sky, just as they flashed forth from Mount Sinai when God gave His law there to Moses and the Hebrews, as Baronius teaches from Prochorus, the disciple of John, and from the Metaphrast, at the end of the year of Christ 99.
See what I have said at Ezekiel 1:14 on the words: "They went in the likeness of a flashing lightning," where I have explained "sons of thunder" in three ways. So Pericles the orator seemed not so much to speak and plead as to flash and thunder, says Quintilian, book 2, chapter 6. Whence he was nicknamed Olympius, that is, heavenly, by the poets.
Verse 21: And When His Own People Had Heard
21. AND WHEN HIS OWN PEOPLE HAD HEARD (some of Christ's kinsmen; the Syriac has "his cousins." So Euthymius, Theophylact, Bede), THEY WENT OUT TO TAKE HOLD OF (to bind) HIM; FOR THEY SAID: HE HAS BEEN TURNED INTO MADNESS. — In Greek, ἐξέστη, that is, he is beside himself, alienated in mind, made out of his wits, delirious and insane from excessive piety and zeal. See what I have said at Matthew 12:46. The Arabic: "saying that he was mindless"; the Syriac, word for word: "they said he had gone out of his mind"; others otherwise: "saying that he had fallen into a swoon from lack of food, because on account of the crowd he had no leisure to eat." See verse 20.