Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Christ first appears to Magdalene and the other pious women. Secondly, at verse 12, to two disciples as they were going to Emmaus. Thirdly, at verse 14, to the eleven Apostles, whom He sends throughout the whole world to preach the Gospel, adding signs and miracles to be granted to those who believe. Finally, at verse 19, ascending into heaven, He sits at the right hand of God.
Vulgate Text: Mark 16:1-20
1. And when the Sabbath had passed, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought sweet spices, that coming they might anoint Jesus. 2. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they come to the sepulchre, the sun being now risen. 3. And they said one to another: Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 4. And looking, they saw the stone rolled back. For it was very great. 5. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white robe, and they were astonished. 6. Who said to them: Be not affrighted: you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: He is risen, He is not here; behold the place where they laid Him. 7. But go, tell His disciples, and Peter, that He goeth before you into Galilee; there you shall see Him, as He told you. 8. But they going out, fled from the sepulchre: for a trembling and fear had seized them; and they said nothing to any man, for they were afraid. 9. But He rising early the first day of the week, appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils. 10. She went and told them that had been with Him, who were mourning and weeping. 11. And they hearing that He was alive, and had been seen by her, did not believe. 12. And after that He appeared in another shape to two of them walking, as they were going into the country; 13. and they going told it to the rest; neither did they believe them. 14. At length He appeared to the eleven as they were at table: and He upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart, because they did not believe them who had seen Him after He was risen again. 15. And He said to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. 16. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned. 17. And these signs shall follow them that believe: In My name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18. they shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. 19. And the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God. 20. But they going forth preached every where: the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed.
Verse 1: And When the Sabbath Had Passed
1. AND WHEN THE SABBATH HAD PASSED. — Namely as the night of the Lord's Day was beginning. "After the sad sabbaths a joyful day shines forth," says the Scholiast in St. Jerome.
MARY OF JAMES, — namely the mother of James the Less and of Jude, as the Arabic has it, and the wife of Cleophas.
AND SALOME, — the wife of Zebedee, mother of the Apostles James the Greater and John.
THAT COMING THEY MIGHT ANOINT JESUS, — according to the custom of the Jews, says Theophylact, that the body might remain fragrant and be preserved: for spices dry it out. For they did not yet grasp the dignity of Christ's Godhead, nor of His resurrection, but they loved Jesus most tenderly as a man and a prophet, even though He was now dead.
Tropologically: those anoint Jesus who, out of love of Him, carry out works of piety, humility, obedience, patience, and especially of mercy and charity toward their neighbors, who are the mystical members of Jesus: hence these are worthy to be the first to see Jesus rising again, so that, as it were, they may themselves rise again with a new fervor in knowing Him, in His grace, merits, and glory, and may be strengthened, advance, and be perfected. So St. Gregory and others. See what has been said at Matt. xxvi, 7.
Verse 2: The First Day of the Week
2. THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, — that is, the first day of the week, as he explains at verse 9, namely Sunday. See what has been said at Matt. xxviii, 1.
Verse 6: Crucified: He Is Risen, He Is Not Here
CRUCIFIED: HE IS RISEN, HE IS NOT HERE. — "The angel is not ashamed of the cross, says Theophylact, for in it lies the salvation of men." The Interlinear adds: "The bitter root of the cross has vanished, the flower of life with its fruits, that lay in death, has risen in glory."
Verse 7: Go, Tell His Disciples
7. GO, TELL HIS DISCIPLES. — "It is said to the women," says the Interlinear, "that they should announce to the Apostles, because through a woman (Eve) death was announced, and through a woman life is rising again."
AND PETER. — "So that a woman might make him confess whom a woman had caused to deny Him," says Druthmar. The Scholiast in St. Jerome adds that Peter is named before the rest: "who had judged himself unworthy of the apostolate, in that he had three times denied the Lord as his master; but past sins do no harm when they no longer please." And St. Gregory, in Homily 21 on the Gospels: "If the angel had not named Peter, he would not have dared to come among the disciples; therefore he is called by name, lest he should despair because of his denial." The rest I have set forth at Matt. xxviii, 1 and following.
Verse 8: For Trembling and Fear Had Seized Them
8. FOR TREMBLING (of body) AND FEAR (of mind) HAD SEIZED THEM. — In Greek, ἔκστασις, that is, amazement, says Theophylact, "at the sight of the angel and in awe at the resurrection." Truly this amazement was mixed with immense joy: for they were amazed and rejoiced to hear such wonderful and glad tidings, namely that Jesus, their beloved, had risen from the dead. This is clear from Matt. chap. xxviii, verse 8.
FOR THEY WERE AFRAID, — not only on account of the vision of the angels, but also "because of the Jews," says Euthymius, "lest, being seen, they themselves should appear to have stolen Jesus; lest the Jews should kill them, when they heard that they were proclaiming the resurrection of Christ" — just as a little later they placed Magdalene, Martha, and Lazarus together with their companions on a ship without sail or oars, to the certain destruction of them all, had not God safely brought them to Marseilles.
Verse 9: The First Day of the Week
9. THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK. — That is, the first day after the Sabbath, namely Sunday.
MAGDALENE, OUT OF WHOM HE HAD CAST SEVEN DEVILS. — Luke viii, 2. Mark adds this to show the force of penitence and love by which Magdalene the sinner so caught fire that she deserved to be the first to see the risen Christ; so that from her sinners might learn not to despair, but to love vehemently: for so they shall surpass the innocent Saints in grace and glory; thus Bede: "For where sin abounded, grace did much more abound," Rom. v. Bede adds: "The woman (Eve), who brought in guilt, who first tasted death, first saw the resurrection (in Magdalene), lest she should sustain the reproach of a perpetual guilt among men." Further, the "seven devils" are the seven capital vices contrary to the seven chief virtues, over which the devils preside. So St. Gregory, Theophylact, and others. This apparition of Christ, made to Magdalene, John narrates at length at chap. xx, verse 11. See what has been said at Luke chap. viii, verse 2.
Verse 12: He Was Shown in Another Appearance to Two of Them
12. AND AFTER THAT HE WAS SHOWN IN ANOTHER APPEARANCE TO TWO OF THEM (disciples) WALKING (the Arabic has: in another garment, namely that of a pilgrim), AS THEY WERE GOING INTO THE COUNTRY. — The Arabic has: into a castle; the Greek, into a field, that is into a house situated in the country at Emmaus; for, as St. Augustine says in On the Harmony of the Gospels: "By the name of 'field' not only castles but also municipia and colonies are commonly called, outside of the city, which is the head and, as it were, the mother of the others." These disciples, therefore, were going from the city of Jerusalem into the country, namely into the neighboring town of Emmaus, which afterward was made, by the Romans as a memorial of their victory over subdued Jerusalem, a notable city, called Nicopolis. So Adrichomius and others. This apparition of Christ is the same as the one which Luke narrates at xxiv, 13, as is clear from the circumstances, which are the same in both. So the Interpreters commonly teach. Almost alone Euthymius thinks it to be different from the one in Luke, on the ground that Mark adds that the Apostles did not believe those who announced to them that Christ had risen, whereas Luke insinuates the contrary, namely that they did believe. But an easy answer is that some believed, others did not believe; or, as Theophylact says, that the Apostles believed, but the other disciples did not believe.
Verse 13: Neither Did They Believe Them
13. NEITHER DID THEY BELIEVE THEM. — This was done by God's permission and providence. For this their unbelief, "was not so much their weakness as our future firmness," says Gregory, Homily 29 on the Gospels. For the resurrection itself was shown to them, while they doubted, by many proofs: and when we in reading recognize these, what else are we doing but being strengthened by their very doubt?
Verse 14: At Length He Appeared to the Eleven
14. AT LENGTH HE APPEARED TO THE ELEVEN (at table). — "At length," in Greek ὕστερον, that is, afterward, next, lastly: for this was the last apparition of Christ made on the very day of the Passover, or of the Resurrection, when in the evening He appeared to the eleven Apostles. Mark records here only these appearances of that day, leaving out the rest which were made later. You will say: "But at that time He did not appear to eleven Apostles, but only to ten; for Thomas was absent." Hence Maldonatus holds that this apparition is the one which was made eight days later, when Thomas was now present. But I say that they are called "eleven" here, even though Thomas was absent, who was the eleventh, because the college of the Apostles, after Judas' betrayal and hanging, had been reduced to eleven; hence they are called "the eleven," even though Thomas alone was missing. So ten men (decemviri) are said to be assembled, even if one or another is absent. A similar case is found in Luke, chap. xxiv, 33. So Bede and St. Augustine, book III of On the Harmony of the Gospels, chap. xxv.
AT TABLE. — From this St. Bernard gathers, in his sermon On the Ascension of the Lord, observing: "It affords much confidence, he says, that He more willingly is present to those leaning into prayer, when not even to those reclining at table does He disdain to be present."
THEY DID NOT BELIEVE. — St. Jerome, in book II of his work Against the Pelagians, writes that after these words, in certain Greek codices the following is added: "And they made satisfaction, saying: This age is the substance of iniquity, which does not allow the true power of God to be apprehended through unclean spirits: therefore now reveal Thy justice." But the Church has cut off all these things: for they smack of the heresy of Manichæus or Montanus.
HE UPBRAIDED THEIR INCREDULITY. — The Syriac: "little faith"; the Arabic: "He rebuked them because of the smallness of their faith."
Verse 15: Go Ye into the Whole World, and Preach the Gospel
15. AND HE SAID TO THEM: GO YE INTO THE WHOLE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE. — "And He said" — not on the very day of the Passover, when He appeared to the eleven as they reclined at table, but afterward, when on the mount of Galilee He showed Himself to be seen by them and by others, as Matthew has it, chap. xxviii, verses 16 and following. Or, rather, Christ gave this very great office of evangelizing, proper to the Apostles, to them repeatedly: so that on the day of the Passover itself He first hinted it to them, as Luke suggests at xxiv, 47; then on the mount of Galilee He repeated it; and finally, on the day He ascended into heaven, He confirmed it.
INTO THE WHOLE WORLD. — As if He said: Not in Judea alone, as you have hitherto done, and as I once commanded you at Matt. x, 5, but preach the Gospel everywhere throughout the whole world. For it does not seem likely that the few Apostles personally traversed and converted the whole earth, especially since in America, lately discovered, no traces of the Christian faith have been found.
TO EVERY CREATURE, — that is, to all peoples, as Matthew has at xxviii, 19. It is a synecdoche: for the genus is appropriated to its noblest species, namely the rational creature, man. For man is the noblest creature, created after the image of God Himself the creator.
Verse 16: He That Believeth and Is Baptized Shall Be Saved
16. HE THAT BELIEVETH AND IS BAPTIZED, SHALL BE SAVED; BUT HE THAT BELIEVETH NOT SHALL BE CONDEMNED. — This sentence of Christ is misused for their heresy, first, by the Lutherans, to prove that faith alone is sufficient for salvation, and good works are not required. But I answer: The sense of Christ is, as Euthymius, Theophylact, and others have rightly noted: "He that believeth," etc., as if to say: He who has believed in Christ and received His baptism, being washed from his sins and imbued with the grace of God and sanctified, this man shall be saved; understand: if he dies in that state, if he departs in this condition of grace and holiness, if he retains the grace of God until death and does not lose it through any sin. But one baptized cannot retain this grace unless he performs the good works which the law of Christ commands. Add that under the name of belief — that is, of faith and baptism — as being the most necessary of first principles, and those which at the beginning of the Church needed most to be impressed upon the Gentiles, there are silently included all the other things which follow from them and which lie hidden in them as in a root: such as hope, charity, good works, etc., as I have shown at length in my proem to St. Paul. See St. Augustine, in his book On Faith and Works.
Secondly, the Anabaptists infer from this sentence of Christ that infants ought not to be baptized, on the ground that they cannot believe. But I reply that Christ is speaking of adults: for they alone can believe; and all the preceding words of Christ apply only to adults. But that infants are to be baptized is clear from the perpetual tradition and practice of the Church, and from that saying in John III, 5: "Amen, amen I say to you, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
St. Augustine adds — and he repeats this in various places — that these words of Christ belong in their own way also to infants, inasmuch as they sinned by another's will (that of Adam) and contracted original sin; and so, in like manner, they believe by the foreign faith of the Church, and of their parents, or of those who offer them.
Thirdly, the Calvinists gather from these words of Christ that baptism is not necessary for salvation, but that faith alone suffices, because, they say, Christ adds a condition only concerning this: "But he that believeth not shall be condemned." I reply that under this "believeth," that is, under faith, baptism is to be understood, which is the sacrament of faith, and all those other things which are born of faith and follow upon it, as I said a little earlier. For Mark, aiming at brevity, leaves the "or has not been baptized" to be understood by the reader from the things he had said immediately before; for otherwise the antithesis does not stand, but is mutilated and imperfect. In order for it to be complete, one ought to say: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not, or is not baptized, shall be condemned." For that baptism is required for salvation is clear from the words of Christ at John III, 5, already cited.
Verse 18: They Shall Take Up Serpents
18. THEY SHALL TAKE UP SERPENTS — from the places which they infested, and, as Euthymius says, "they shall destroy them, or slay them, or even hold them in their hands without danger," as Paul held the viper, Acts xxviii, 3 and following. Hence the Arabic renders: "they shall take up serpents with their hands."
AND IF THEY SHALL DRINK ANY DEADLY THING, IT SHALL NOT HURT THEM, — so that they may drink poison unharmed, as the Apostles and many Saints have done.
THEY SHALL LAY THEIR HANDS UPON THE SICK, AND THEY SHALL RECOVER. — Note that these signs were necessary in the primitive Church, for proving and establishing the faith of Christ; hence nearly all Christians at that time worked miracles, at least some — for example, to drive demons out of the possessed, as is clear from Justin, Dialogue against Trypho; Tertullian, in the Apology; Lactantius, and others. Very many at that time received, at Baptism, the gift of tongues, as is clear from Acts x, 46, and xix, 6.
Mystically: St. Bernard, in Sermon 1 On the Ascension: "The first work of faith working through love, he says, is the compunction of heart, in which doubtless devils are cast out, when sins are uprooted from the heart. Thereafter, they who believe in Christ speak with new tongues, when the old things now depart from their mouth, and they no longer speak the ancient tongue of the first parents who turn aside into words of malice to make excuses for their sins: but when through compunction of heart and confession of mouth the former sins have been blotted out, then — lest they should suffer a relapse, and the latter state be worse than the former — it is necessary that they should take up serpents, that is, extinguish venomous suggestions," and so on. "If they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them," that is, when they shall feel the stings of concupiscence, they shall not consent to them. "They shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover," that is, they shall cover their diseased affections with good works, "and they shall be healed by this remedy."
A little differently, St. Gregory, in Homily 29 on the Gospels: "Every one of the faithful, he says, who now leaves behind the worldly words of his former life and sounds forth the holy mysteries, who tells forth the praises and power of his Creator as far as he is able — what else are they doing, except speaking with new tongues? And when they by their good exhortations take away wickedness from the hearts of others, they take up serpents; and when they hear pestilent counsels, yet are in no way drawn to a wicked action, what they drink is indeed deadly, but it shall not hurt them. And as often as they see their neighbors weakening in a good work, and with all their strength run to their aid and strengthen their life by the example of their own conduct — while the others were wavering in their own action — what else are they doing except laying hands on the sick, that they may recover? And these miracles are without doubt all the greater inasmuch as they are spiritual: they are the greater inasmuch as through them not bodies but souls are raised up."
Verse 19: He Was Taken Up into Heaven
19. HE WAS TAKEN UP INTO HEAVEN, — by His own divinity, by means of the gift of agility imparted by it to His body, on the fortieth day from the Resurrection, namely on the Feast of the Ascension. On the Ascension of Christ I have treated at length at Acts chap. i, verse 9.
HE SITTETH AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. — In what manner He sits I have explained at length at Colossians chap. iii, verse 1.
O kingdom of everlasting blessedness, where youth never grows old, where beauty never fades, where love never grows cold, where health never wastes away, where joy never diminishes, where life knows no end! (St. Augustine, in the Soliloquies, chap. xxxv.)