Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First, Christ takes away the bill of divorce, and establishes the primeval firmness of the indissoluble marriage. Second, at verse 13, He calls little children to Himself and blesses them. Third, at verse 17, He urges the rich young man, eager for salvation, to renounce his riches and follow Him as a poor man; he refuses sadly, whence Christ teaches that the rich are saved with difficulty. But Peter, asserting that he with his companions had renounced his wealth to follow Christ, and asking for a reward, receives from Christ the promise of a hundredfold, and of eternal life. Fourth, at verse 32, He says that He is going up to Jerusalem to the cross and to death; and to James and John, who ask for the first places in His kingdom, He offers the cup of His Passion, and teaches them and the rest to flee ambition and pursue humility. Finally, at verse 46, He restores sight to blind Bartimaeus.
Vulgate Text: Mark 10:1-52
1. And rising up from thence, He came into the borders of Judea beyond the Jordan; and the multitudes gathered to Him again, and as He was accustomed, He again taught them. 2. And the Pharisees coming to Him, asked Him: Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? — tempting Him. 3. But He answering, said to them: What did Moses command you? 4. They said: Moses permitted to write a bill of divorce, and to put her away. 5. To whom Jesus answering, said: Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you that commandment. 6. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. 7. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: 8. and they two shall be in one flesh. Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh. 9. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. 10. And in the house again His disciples asked Him concerning the same thing. 11. And He saith to them: Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. 12. And if the wife shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. 13. And they brought to Him little children, that He might touch them. And the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14. Whom when Jesus saw, He was much displeased, and saith to them: Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 15. Amen I say to you: Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall not enter into it. 16. And embracing them, and laying His hands upon them, He blessed them. 17. And when He was gone forth into the way, a certain man running up and kneeling before Him, asked Him: Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting? 18. And Jesus said to him: Why callest thou Me good? None is good, but one, God. 19. Thou knowest the commandments: Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Bear not false witness, Do no fraud, Honor thy father and mother. 20. But he answering, said to Him: Master, all these things I have observed from my youth. 21. And Jesus, looking upon him, loved him, and said to him: One thing is wanting unto thee: go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me. 22. Who being struck sad at the saying, went away grieving: for he had great possessions. 23. And Jesus looking round about, said to His disciples: How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the kingdom of God! 24. And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! 25. It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. 26. Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: And who can be saved? 27. And Jesus looking on them, said: With men it is impossible; but not with God: for all things are possible with God. 28. And Peter began to say to Him: Behold, we have left all things, and have followed Thee. 29. Jesus answering, said: Amen I say to you, there is no man who hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for Me and for the Gospel, 30. who shall not receive a hundred times as much, now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the world to come life everlasting. 31. But many that are first shall be last, and the last first. 32. And they were on the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them, and they were astonished, and following were afraid. And taking again the Twelve, He began to tell them the things that were about to befall Him. 33. For behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered to the chief priests, and to the Scribes, and to the ancients, and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles; 34. and they shall mock Him, and spit on Him, and scourge Him, and kill Him; and on the third day He shall rise again. 35. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come to Him, saying: Master, we desire that whatsoever we shall ask, Thou wouldst do it for us. 36. But He said to them: What would you that I should do for you? 37. And they said: Grant to us, that we may sit, one on Thy right hand and the other on Thy left, in Thy glory. 38. And Jesus said to them: You know not what you ask: can you drink of the cup which I drink of, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? 39. But they said to Him: We can. And Jesus said to them: You shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and with the baptism with which I am baptized you shall be baptized: 40. but to sit on My right hand or on My left is not Mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared. 41. And the ten hearing it, began to be much displeased at James and John. 42. But Jesus calling them, saith to them: You know that they who seem to rule over the Gentiles, lord it over them, and their princes have power over them. 43. But it is not so among you, but whosoever will be greater, shall be your minister; 44. and whosoever will be first among you, shall be the servant of all. 45. For the Son of Man also is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a redemption for many. 46. And they came to Jericho; and as He was going out of Jericho with His disciples, and a very great multitude, the son of Timaeus, blind Bartimaeus, was sitting by the wayside begging. 47. Who, when he had heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, began to cry out, and to say: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. 48. And many rebuked him, that he might hold his peace. But he cried out the more: Son of David, have mercy on me. 49. And Jesus, standing still, commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying to him: Be of better comfort: arise, He calleth thee. 50. Who casting off his garment, leaped up, and came to Him. 51. And Jesus answering, said to him: What wilt thou that I should do for thee? And the blind man said to Him: Rabboni, that I may see. 52. And Jesus said to him: Go, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he saw, and followed Him in the way.
Verse 21: And Jesus Looking Upon Him, Loved Him
Verse 21. AND JESUS LOOKING UPON HIM (with a gentle, kind, and tender countenance), LOVED HIM. — That is, He showed him signs of love, e.g., taking hold of his hand, nodding at him and smiling, embracing and kissing him.
AND HE SAID TO HIM: ONE THING THOU LACKEST. — The Arabic inserts: "And He said to him: Wouldst thou be perfect? one thing thou lackest," etc., namely for the perfection of a holy and Evangelical life.
FOLLOW ME. — The Greek adds: "Taking up thy cross." Hence the Syriac: "And take up thy cross, and come after me"; the Arabic: "Come, follow me, and carry the cross."
Verse 24: Little Children
Verse 24. LITTLE CHILDREN. — The Syriac, "my sons." With a gentle form of address He softens the difficulty of the matter, as one who loves them as most dear sons, and as to such ones sincerely tells the truth, and persuades them to renounce riches as obstacles to salvation.
TRUSTING IN MONEY. — For the rich trust in their riches rather than in God, according to the saying: "The substance of the rich man is the city of his strength," Proverbs X, 15; and for this reason they are saved with difficulty, because salvation comes only from God. Therefore those wishing to be saved must hope in God, and from Him must ask and await salvation, as do the poor, who, since they have no riches in which to trust, are compelled to place all their hope in God, according to Psalm XIII[XIV], 6: "You have confounded the counsel of the poor man, because the Lord is his hope." If, therefore, the rich wish to be saved, let them withdraw their hope, heart, and love from riches and transfer them to God.
Verse 30: Who Shall Not Receive an Hundred Times as Much
30. WHO SHALL NOT RECEIVE AN HUNDRED TIMES AS MUCH, NOW IN THIS TIME, HOUSES, AND BRETHREN, ETC., WITH PERSECUTIONS. — I have explained this hundredfold at Matthew chapter XIX, verse 29. Mark adds this, that it must be rendered "with persecutions"; the Arabic, "in tribulations"; that is to say: Let the faithful one who for love of Christ has left his own and his own kin be set in the midst of persecutions, and hemmed in by them on every side; nevertheless he will not lack a hundred, that is, very many, who will come to his aid and cherish him as brothers, fathers, and mothers. So St. Jerome, Bede, Francis Lucas, Emmanuel Sa, Vatablus.
He adds this, both because in persecutions the faithful one most of all needs the help and aid of others, and because it is a wondrous and rare thing that in persecution, when a man is usually deprived of helps and friends, and when all, fearing danger, withdraw themselves from him, the followers of Christ nevertheless experience plainly the opposite, and find a hundred, that is, very many, who will assist them.
Again, that phrase "with persecutions" can be understood thus, as if the persecutions and tribulations undergone or to be undergone for Christ were part of the reward to be given to those who follow Christ, together with the hundredfold. For it is a great gift of God to suffer for Christ, as the Apostle teaches, Philippians I, 29. So Jansenius, Sa, and others.
Verse 32: And They Were in the Way Going Up to Jerusalem
32. AND THEY WERE IN THE WAY (from Jericho) GOING UP TO JERUSALEM (toward the cross and death looming over Christ, as Christ had foretold), AND HE WENT BEFORE THEM, — eagerly offering Himself as guide on the way to the timid Apostles, who shrank from Jerusalem, because they knew that Jesus was sought there by the chief men unto death, nay, that that death had been decreed upon Him by the great council of the Sanhedrin, chapter XI, 5. Whence follows:
AND THEY WERE AMAZED, AND FOLLOWING HIM WERE AFRAID. — That is, they followed Jesus with fear. The Arabic: "and they themselves, astonished, followed Him fearing"; the Greek, ἐθαμβοῦντο, that is, from immense fear and dread they were astounded. The cause of the fear, and thence of the astonishment, was, Bede says, the imminent peril of death: for they were amazed that Christ, with so eager and resolute a mind, cast Himself and His own into open danger of death; for they feared that they themselves would suffer and be killed with Christ.
Verse 38: Or to Be Baptized With the Baptism Wherewith I Am Baptized
38. OR TO BE BAPTIZED WITH THE BAPTISM WHEREWITH I AM BAPTIZED? — Christ calls His Passion a "baptism," because He was plainly to be immersed and plunged into it, according to that saying of David about himself, and much more about Christ, Psalm LXVIII[LXIX], 1: "Save me, O God, for the waters (of tribulations) have come in even unto my soul. I am stuck fast in the mire of the deep, and there is no sure standing (a place where I may stand). I have come into the depth of the sea, and a tempest hath overwhelmed me." See what is said at Matthew XX, 22.
Verse 42: You Know That They Who Seem to Rule Over the Gentiles
42. YOU KNOW THAT THEY WHO SEEM TO RULE OVER THE GENTILES, LORD IT OVER THEM. — In Greek, κατακυριεύουσιν αὐτῶν, that is, they exercise lordship over them, or against them. For "who seem," the Greek is οἱ δοκοῦντες, that is, those who are pleased with themselves and rejoice to command and to rule. For none rule more imperiously and harshly than those who delight in ruling and in command. Hence the Arabic translates: "those who think themselves to be princes of the peoples are their lords," that is, they exercise a quasi-tyrannical domination over them.
Verse 46: The Son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus
46. THE SON OF TIMAEUS, BARTIMAEUS. — The Syriac: "Timaeus son of Timaeus"; the Arabic: "Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus." This blind man is therefore called as by a proper name "Bartimaeus," that is, son of Timaeus, just as Bartholomaeus is the same as "son of Tholomaeus," Matthew X, 3. The same man was called "Timaeus" from his father. Thus was called "Timaeus" that Pythagorean philosopher who wrote the life of Pythagoras, under whose name Plato wrote the dialogue which he entitled Timaeus, because in it he treats of nature and the universe of things, and its parts, especially concerning man, in which matter that Pythagorean Timaeus was most versed. Hence Plato brings him on as an interlocutor in this dialogue.
Moreover, Pagninus, in his Hebrew Names, interprets Bartimaeus in three ways. First, following St. Jerome, that Bartimaeus is the same as "son blind," or "of blindness," so that it is a Syriac name, but corrupted, which properly ought to be said Barsamia or Barsamaeus: for bar is son, sema blindness.
Second, that it is the same as "son of honor," being composed and blended from the Syriac bar, that is, son, and the Greek τιμή, that is, honor; whence that Pythagorean philosopher was called Timaeus, that is, "one to be honored" on account of his knowledge. Thus this blind man, by following Christ, became for Him a matter of honor and praise.
Third, that it may be the same as "son of one who admires," or "admirable grain," or "admirable purity": for this blind man obtained this from Christ, because, enlightened in body, he was more enlightened in mind; for bar means "son," or far and "grain," or "purity"; and tama means "to admire."
Verse 52: And He Followed Him in the Way
52. AND HE FOLLOWED HIM IN THE WAY. — Morally, the Gloss says: Let us consider by what way He walks, and let us follow through humility and labors. For He says "the Way": "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." This is the narrow way, which leads to the heights of Jerusalem and Bethany, to the Mount of Olives, which is the mount of light and consolation, nay, to Sion and the heavenly Jerusalem. Therefore the blind man sees and follows, because whoever rightly understands the life of Christ ought to follow and imitate it in deed.