Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First, Christ, on the occasion of the Galileans slain by Pilate and others crushed by the fall of the tower of Siloam, urges repentance; and for this purpose He employs the parable of the barren fig tree that must therefore be cut down: second, verse 11, He heals a woman bent over for 18 years on the Sabbath, and thereby clearly refutes the murmuring Jews; third, verse 18, He compares the kingdom of heaven to a grain of mustard and a small amount of leaven which leavens the whole mass of flour; fourth, verse 23, He teaches that few are saved; fifth, verse 31, when the Pharisees urge Christ to depart because Herod is plotting His death, He responds that He is to be killed not by Herod but by the people of Jerusalem and the Pharisees themselves; and therefore He predicts that Jerusalem and Judea will be destroyed by Titus.
Moreover, I explained the third part at Matthew 13:31 and following; the fourth, at Matthew 7:13; the fifth in part at Matthew 23:36 and following. There remain therefore to be explained here the first and second parts, and a portion of the fifth.
Vulgate Text: Luke 13:1-35
1. Now there were present at that very time some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2. And He answered and said to them: Do you think that these Galileans were sinners above all Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3. No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish. 4. Like those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were debtors above all men dwelling in Jerusalem? 5. No, I tell you; but if you do not repent, you shall all likewise perish. 6. And He spoke also this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7. And he said to the dresser of the vineyard: Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none: cut it down therefore; why does it even encumber the ground? 8. But he answering said to him: Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it and put on manure; 9. and if indeed it bear fruit: but if not, you shall cut it down hereafter. 10. And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11. And behold a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years; and she was bowed together and could in no way lift herself up. 12. And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her: Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity. 13. And He laid His hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 14. And the ruler of the synagogue, being indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people: There are six days in which men ought to work; in these therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. 15. And the Lord answered him and said: Hypocrites, does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead it away to water? 16. And ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound these eighteen years, to be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? 17. And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by Him. 18. He said therefore: What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? 19. It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and cast into his garden, and it grew and became a great tree; and the birds of the air lodged in its branches. 20. And again He said: To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21. It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until the whole was leavened. 22. And He went through cities and towns teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23. And one said to Him: Lord, are there few who are saved? But He said to them: 24. Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25. But when the master of the house has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying: Lord, open to us; and He will answer and say to you: I do not know where you are from; 26. then you will begin to say: We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets. 27. And He will say to you: I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity. 28. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves cast out. 29. And they shall come from the east and the west, and the north and the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. 30. And behold, there are last who shall be first, and there are first who shall be last. 31. On that same day certain Pharisees came, saying to Him: Depart and go hence, for Herod wants to kill You. 32. And He said to them: Go and tell that fox: Behold, I cast out demons and perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I am perfected. 33. Nevertheless I must walk today and tomorrow, and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet perish outside Jerusalem. 34. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the Prophets and stones those who are sent to you, how often would I have gathered your children together, as a bird gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 35. Behold, your house is left to you desolate. And I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you shall say: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
Verse 1: There Were Present Some Who Told Him About the Galileans
NOW THERE WERE PRESENT AT THAT VERY TIME SOME WHO TOLD HIM ABOUT THE GALILEANS WHOSE BLOOD PILATE HAD MINGLED WITH THEIR SACRIFICES. — That is, those whom Pilate killed on Mount Gerizim, which is situated in Samaria, while they were sacrificing there, so that their blood was mingled with the blood of the victims they were offering. Josephus narrates the event more fully in Antiquities, book 18, chapter 4, and Hegesippus in book 2 of The Destruction of Jerusalem. Hear Josephus: "A certain impostor stirred them up (the Samaritans), commanding them to assemble at Mount Gerizim, held most sacred by that nation, declaring that he would show them the sacred vessels dug up there, which Moses had deposited: they, being credulous, took up arms and occupied the village of Tirathaba, waiting there for others to gather, so that they might ascend the mountain in a great body. But Pilate first occupied the slope of the mountain with his cavalry and infantry, who, engaging in battle with the Samaritans gathered at the village, routed some and put others to flight; they also led away many alive as captives, of whom Pilate punished the chief and most powerful with death."
You will say, Josephus asserts they were Samaritans: how then does Christ here call them Galileans? I answer that they are called Samaritans by origin and homeland, but Galileans by sect and heresy. So Baronius. To understand this, note that Judas the Galilean, as Luke testifies in Acts 5:37, was the founder of the sect of the Galileans, who were rebels against the Roman Caesar, saying that it was not lawful for the Jews, as a faithful people devoted to divine worship, to be subject to a Gentile and idolatrous Caesar, and to pay him tribute; nor should they acknowledge and worship any other lord than God. So Cyril in the Catena; Theophylactus, Euthymius, and Titus. Therefore Pilate, the governor of Judea, had them slaughtered by soldiers sent against them. This sect arose in the time of Christ. Hence both Christ and the Apostles, being Galileans by nationality, were accused of belonging to it, and therefore carefully taught against it, that tribute must be paid to kings and to Caesar, even a Gentile one. Furthermore, Francisco Lucas thinks these Galileans were killed by Pilate in Jerusalem, when they were sacrificing in the temple, because Pilate governed Judea, not Samaria. But Josephus expressly says they were killed on Mount Gerizim, which is in Samaria. Add that the Samaritans had made a schism from the Jews, and therefore refused to go to the temple at Jerusalem, but had erected another temple in their own territory, namely on Mount Gerizim, and sacrificed there, as is clear from John 4:20.
Pilate therefore, pursuing these rebellious Samaritans, seized and killed them in Samaria, which borders Judea, as public enemies of Caesar, to be slain by any prefect of Caesar.
When therefore the report of their slaughter had spread, there were many common discussions about it, with most people saying repeatedly that those men had been wicked and hateful to God, since their sacrifices had not only been rejected by God but had also been seasoned with their own blood. Those standing by therefore reported these things to Christ, in order to seek His opinion on the slaughter of these men; but Christ, wisely using the occasion of this disaster, drew from it an argument for urging them to repentance, lest otherwise a similar vengeance of God should rage against them. Let the preacher follow Christ's example, so that when public calamities of plague, famine, or war assail, he may exhort the people to repentance, that they may escape both these and the torments of hell.
Verse 2: Do You Think That These Galileans Were Sinners
2. AND HE ANSWERED AND SAID TO THEM: DO YOU THINK THAT THESE GALILEANS WERE SINNERS (more wicked) ABOVE ALL GALILEANS, BECAUSE THEY SUFFERED SUCH THINGS? — For they themselves thought this, and they inferred it from their calamity; but wrongly: for God often chastises a few who are less sinful, in order to set them before the rest as an example and a terror, by which they may be stirred to repentance. So Bede, Titus, and others.
Verse 3: Unless You Repent, You Shall All Likewise Perish
3. NO, I TELL YOU, BUT UNLESS YOU REPENT (Greek μετανοῆτε, that is, do penance), YOU SHALL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH. — "Likewise," that is, equally, with no one excepted, says Maldonatus. So Wisdom 6:8 says: "He cares equally for all," because He cares equally for all without exception, even if one more, another less. Second, and more simply, "likewise," that is, you will perish equally, even if by a different kind of death, namely eternal, or even temporal. Third, and properly, Jansenius says: "Likewise," he says, that is, by a similar death, disaster, and divine vengeance. For the Jews were besieged and crushed by Titus during the feast of Passover, when they were sacrificing. Then therefore, when the city was taken by Titus, many were slain in the temple, where they were sacrificing and were accustomed to sacrifice. So also Euthymius, St. Thomas, Hugo, Lyranus, Cyril in the Catena.
Note that Christ here teaches us that from such calamitous events we ought to reflect on our sins, that we may repent of them, lest we fall into similar disasters when God punishes. So Bede.
Symbolically, Bede says: Pilate, in Hebrew means the same as "mouth of the hammer-smith," that is, the devil, always ready to strike; blood is sin and concupiscence; sacrifices are good works, which the devil defiles either by the pleasure of the flesh, or by the ambition of human praise, or by some other pestilence.
Verse 4: Those Eighteen Upon Whom the Tower in Siloam Fell
4. LIKE THOSE EIGHTEEN, UPON WHOM THE TOWER IN SILOAM FELL AND KILLED THEM. — There was a spring, or pool, of Siloam near Jerusalem, of which Isaiah 8:6 says: "This people has rejected the waters of Siloam, which go with silence." Near this spring was a tower, likewise called Siloam, which in the time of Christ collapsed by force of winds, or lightning, or earthquake, or a similar accident, and crushed eighteen men who were in it or standing near it: although this happened by chance, if you look at secondary causes; yet if you consider the first cause, namely God, it was done by the certain providence of God willing to punish men and terrify the rest; for to God nothing is fortuitous, but all things are certainly foreseen and provided for, so that nothing in the realm of His providence is left to fortune or chance, as Boethius says. God therefore ordains these accidents for the punishment and correction of men, so that the rest, seeing their neighbors killed by the fall of a tower or by some other sudden and unforeseen means, may fear lest something similar happen to them, and therefore repent of their sins and reconcile themselves to God, lest they be overwhelmed by some accident in their sins and condemned to hell. This is what God declares through the prophet Amos 3:6, saying: "Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord has not done?" And through Isaiah 45:7: "I the Lord, forming light and creating darkness; making peace and creating evil." The same thing was seen in shadow by the Poets and Philosophers. Hence Virgil celebrates God thus, in Aeneid 1:
O qui res hominumque deumque
Aeternis regis imperiis, et fulmine terres.
O You who govern the affairs of men and gods
With eternal authority, and terrify with the thunderbolt.
And Plutarch, in his Moralia: "Just as, he says, if a blind man runs into someone, we call blind the one who did not avoid him: so we make fortune blind, into which we fall by our own blindness." For fortune itself that governs fortune, which is nothing other than God Himself and God's providence, is most sharp-sighted, and has far more eyes than Argus. Furthermore, the same Plutarch in the same place: "Just as, he says, doctors cauterize the thumb for those suffering from sciatica, so that when pain is in one place, they apply the remedy elsewhere; so God sometimes, in order to heal the parents, rages against the children," and vice versa. Again the same author: "Just as certain dogs suddenly hide themselves underground, yet are nonetheless carried to where they are heading; so the wrath of the divine powers, though hidden, nevertheless sometimes carries the guilty to extreme calamities."
Symbolically, Bede says: "The tower, he says, is Christ; Siloam, that is, sent by the Father into the world, who will crush all the impious upon whom He shall fall by the sentence of condemnation," Matthew 21:44.
DO YOU THINK THAT THEY WERE DEBTORS (that is, sinners; the Arabic has "culpable," for these are called in Chaldean charebim, that is, debtors: for the sinner owes God his soul, namely ten thousand talents, Matthew 18:24) ABOVE ALL MEN DWELLING IN JERUSALEM? — Here Christ clearly indicates that those 18 crushed by the tower of Siloam were sinners, though not the greatest and worst in Jerusalem. So the Interlinear Gloss.
Verse 5: But If You Do Not Repent
5. NO, I TELL YOU: BUT IF YOU DO NOT REPENT, YOU SHALL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH. — He shows, says St. Chrysostom, "these eighteen were set before the rest as an example and a terror: each one is indeed punished for his own crimes, but this becomes a matter of salvation for others, namely that when a pestilent man is scourged, the fool may become wiser. For God does not punish all here, but grants delays for repentance; yet He does not reserve all for future punishment, lest many deny His providence." So Chrysostom.
Verse 6: A Certain Man Had a Fig Tree Planted in His Vineyard
6. AND HE SPOKE ALSO THIS PARABLE: A CERTAIN MAN HAD A FIG TREE PLANTED IN HIS VINEYARD, AND HE CAME SEEKING FRUIT ON IT, AND FOUND NONE.
Verse 7: Behold, These Three Years I Come Seeking Fruit
7. AND HE SAID TO THE DRESSER OF THE VINEYARD: BEHOLD, THESE THREE YEARS I COME SEEKING FRUIT ON THIS FIG TREE AND FIND NONE: CUT IT DOWN THEREFORE; WHY DOES IT EVEN ENCUMBER THE GROUND? — The Greek is more expressive, κατ᾽ αργεῖ, that is, it burdens with useless weight, indeed renders the ground inert and barren, both by its shade and by its roots, by which it drains and seizes the sap of the earth from neighboring vines. The Syriac has "renders idle"; for ἀργόν means sluggish, inert, and deprived of strength.
In the literal sense, this fig tree represents the Synagogue of the Jews, which God planted through Moses, to which Christ came through the Incarnation, that He might cultivate it through His preaching. Christ therefore is the dresser of the vineyard, that is, of the Synagogue, to whom God said: Cut it down, because for three years now, during which You have preached in it, I seek from it the fruit of faith and good works, but I find none, on account of the unbelief, obstinacy, and malice of the Jews; Christ intercedes for it, that for yet one more year, at least half a year, God may let it be cultivated by His preaching; if then it bears no fruit, let it be cut down. And so it happened, because the Jews in the fourth year of Christ's preaching at Passover, adding sins to sins and becoming more obstinate, killed and crucified Christ: whence after a few years Titus, an avenger sent by God, destroyed Jerusalem and overthrew all Judea. The remaining details are ornamental embellishments belonging to the elegance of the parable, and therefore it is not necessary to apply them to the reality signified by the parable.
St. Ambrose notes that the fig tree is an apt symbol of the Synagogue of the Jews: First, "because this tree, abounding with flowing leaves, disappointed the hope of its owner by the empty unfolding of hoped-for produce: so also in the Synagogue, while her teachers, unfruitful in works, glory only in words like overflowing leaves, the vain shadow of the law abounds; but the expectation of false anticipated produce mocks the hopes of the believing people."
Second, just as the fig tree, instead of a flower, puts forth an unripe fig (grossus), that is, an immature fig, which soon falls off, and then produces a tasty and solid fig; so the Synagogue first brought forth the Jews as unripe figs, immature and evanescent, and then produced Christians as ripe and tasty figs through Christ. This is what Pliny says, book 16, chapter 27: "Late figs are obtained if the unripe figs are removed when they first exceed the size of a bean: for others grow in their place which ripen later."
Tropologically: the fig tree is any man, especially a believer; the dresser is Christ, the Apostles, and the like; the master is God the Father or the Holy Trinity. Why a believer and just person is compared to a fig tree, our Salmeron gives various reasons and analogies, volume 7, treatise 21: The first is that the fig tree produces sweet fruits, which seem to be pouches of honey or sugar: the just person produces similar fruits. Second, just as the fig tree grows little in height and is an almost prostrate tree: so also the just person abases himself and is humble. Third, the fig tree gives fruits instead of flowers, and does so twice; namely, early figs in summer and late figs in autumn: fig trees are therefore biennial bearers: so likewise the just person is wholly engaged in copiously producing the fruit of good works. Fourth, the fig tree makes shade with its broad leaves: so the just person protects and shields others with his charity. Fifth, the fig tree cannot be grafted onto another tree on account of its excessive sweetness, which it cannot abandon: so the just person rests upon no human being, but upon God alone and his own conscience. Sixth, the fig tree when stripped of its bark dries up and bears no fruit: so the just person, unless he is covered with the bark of honest conduct, and modesty and outward composure, will bear no fruit with his neighbors. Seventh, the fig tree is medicinal and cures diseases, as Isaiah healed Hezekiah with figs, chapter 38, verse 21. Hear Pliny, book 16, chapter 27: "The fig alone of all trees' fruit provides a remedy for ripeness." So the just person, because he is mature and precocious in virtue, heals the infirmities of others by teaching, by counseling, and by living holy lives. Again Pliny, book 23, chapter 7, asserts that the milky juice of the fig loosens the bowels, opens wounds, cures menstrual disorders, and is effective against poisons, especially of scorpions, against scabies, tumors, skin eruptions, psoriasis, baldness, the bite of a rabid dog, and other diseases which he lists: so the just person by his milky brightness, courtesy, and benevolence dispels the rancors and bitterness of others, hatreds, quarrels, fights, suspicions, envies, etc. Eighth, Pliny, book 17, chapter 27: "The same (fig trees), he says, when they begin to put forth leaves, when the tops of each branch are removed, become stronger and more fruitful." And he adds also: "It is helpful to cut the roots of luxuriantly growing vines and fig trees, and to add ash to those that have been pruned." So the just person, by cutting and pruning above the appetite for honor, and below the appetite for gluttony and lust through the meditation on ashes, that is, death and burial, becomes fertile in virtues and good works, by which he converts many neighbors to God. Ninth, Pliny says, book 23, chapter 7: "Fig wood stimulates urine, loosens the bowels, promotes sweating, increases the strength of the young, gives better health to the old, and fewer wrinkles, quenches thirst, and cools heat." These same things the just person does mystically in the spirit. Tenth, Pliny, book 15, chapter 18, says that a small fig tree in Moesia, covered with manure, and then dug up again in milder weather after winter, becomes early-bearing: so the just person, renewed through humility and spiritual exercises, as it were puts on youth, so that he becomes eager and swift for every good. Eleventh, Pliny, book 15, chapter 18: "Admirable, he says, is the haste of this fruit (the fig), the only one among all that hastens to ripeness by the art of nature." So the just person, by fervor of spirit, quickly matures in every virtue, and brings others to a similar maturity.
THREE YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE I CAME SEEKING FRUIT. — He alludes to the nature of the fig tree, which sometimes only bears fruit in the third year after its planting. But if by the third year it has not yet produced them, it is accustomed never to bear them.
Symbolically: the three years are the three polities, or states, of the Jews, namely under the Judges, under the Kings, and under the High Priests, that is, the Maccabees, says Euthymius. Hear St. Ambrose: "He came to Abraham, He came to Moses, He came to Mary, that is, He came in the sign, He came in the law, He came in the body: we recognize His coming by its benefits; in one place is purification, in another sanctification, in another justification. Circumcision purified, the law sanctified, grace justified. One in all, and all in one. For no one can be cleansed unless he fears the Lord; no one deserves to receive the law unless purified from guilt; no one approaches grace unless he knows the law." Similarly also St. Cyril: "The Lord, he says, sought out the nature of the human race before the law, under the law, and under grace by waiting, admonishing, and visiting; but some are corrected neither by natural law, nor instructed by precepts, nor converted by miracles."
Tropologically: the three years are the three ages of man, says Theophylactus, namely childhood, manhood, and old age; for each person at every time ought to offer God the fruits of virtue, appropriate and proportionate to each age. For God requires these from each one, He who wills no age of man to be idle and unfruitful.
Verse 8: Lord, Let It Alone This Year Also
8. BUT HE (the dresser of the vineyard, namely Christ and the Apostles) ANSWERING, SAID TO HIM: LORD, LET IT ALONE THIS YEAR ALSO, UNTIL I DIG ABOUT IT AND PUT ON MANURE. — Christ and the Apostles, understanding, says the Interlinear Gloss, that some of the Jews could be saved, pray God that He defer the vengeance for the Lord's cross: namely the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus.
Verse 9: And If Indeed It Bear Fruit
9. AND IF INDEED IT BEAR FRUIT (understand: it will be well, it will be safe and saved. It is an aposiopesis. The Arabic adds, for it did indeed bear fruit; namely the Synagogue once gave the fruit of virtues under Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, etc.); BUT IF NOT (it does not bear fruit), YOU SHALL CUT IT DOWN HEREAFTER. — As God cut down Judea through the Romans.
Mystically: St. Augustine, On the Words of the Lord, says: The dresser who intercedes is every Saint who within the Church prays for those who are outside; to dig around the conscience is to teach it humility and patience; likewise to impress upon the mind the contemplation of heaven and heavenly things, lest, as St. Ambrose says, the heap of earthly things (and earthly desires) bury and hide the root of wisdom.
AND I WILL PUT ON MANURE. — This means, as St. Ambrose says, the disposition of humility, and St. Augustine, On the Word of the Lord, says: Manure, he says, is filth, but it produces fruit: the filth of the dresser is the sorrow of the sinner; and St. Gregory says: Manure, he says, represents the sins of the flesh, from the consideration of which the soul is stirred up to good works. Finally, the Gloss says: "I will put on manure," this means, he says, I will bring back to mind the abomination of the evils he has committed.
Verse 10: He Was Teaching in a Synagogue on the Sabbath
10. AND HE WAS TEACHING IN A SYNAGOGUE (Greek, in one of the synagogues) ON THE SABBATH. — For the Sabbath was the feast day on which the Jews assembled at the synagogue to hear the law and its interpretation, just as Christians on Sundays assemble to hear Mass and the sermon. Christ chose this time and this place for the following miracle, so that it would be public, and so that He might refute and instruct the Pharisees who would find fault with Him on account of the Sabbath.
Verse 11: A Woman Who Had a Spirit of Infirmity Eighteen Years
11. AND BEHOLD A WOMAN WHO HAD A SPIRIT OF INFIRMITY EIGHTEEN YEARS: AND SHE WAS BOWED TOGETHER AND COULD IN NO WAY LIFT HERSELF UP. — "A spirit of infirmity," that is, an infirmity sent by an evil spirit, says Lyranus and Euthymius: "A demon of weakness, he says, not allowing her to live." Hence the Arabic translates: with whom was a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years, and she was bowed down, and could in no way stand upright. This infirmity was a bending and curvature of the whole body, so that the woman was forced always to walk bent over and bowed down, as follows. Note here that diseases are often sent upon men by demons, with God's permission on account of sins or for other reasons. Hence in verse 16, revealing the cause of this infirmity, He says: "And ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound." So the demon afflicted St. Job with various diseases, Job chapter 2. The same is clear from Psalm 77:49 and Matthew 9:25. See Delrio in his Magicis. The demon therefore bent and bowed down this woman, so that she was forced always to look at the ground.
EIGHTEEN YEARS. — This evil was therefore chronic, and hence incurable by physicians.
AND SHE WAS BOWED DOWN, — stooped, curved, with her back and head bent and pressed toward the earth, so that like a beast, indeed more than a beast, she could not look upward or gaze upon the sun and sky; but always look downward at rocks and the ground: for God in the creation of things, Genesis 1,
Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri
Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus;
Gave man an uplifted face, and bade him gaze upon the heavens,
And raise his upright countenance to the stars;
so that he might look upon the sun and sky, and strive toward God in heaven through a heavenly life, that he might deserve to be received into heaven and be made blessed there by the vision of God: "For it is fitting to seek the things above, to transcend earthly things by gazing," says St. Basil in the Catena. The demon therefore, in order to turn man away from heaven, bows him downward, so that he may look upon, love, and pursue nothing but earthly things.
Mystically, St. Gregory in homily 31 says: This woman signifies the same thing as the barren fig tree: for because human nature refused to bear the fruit of obedience, it lost the state of uprightness; the eighteen years signify the infirmity of man, who was created on the sixth day of the world, before the law, under the law, and at the beginning of grace, for three times six makes 18. And St. Ambrose says: This woman, he says, is a figure of the Church, which could not be healed unless fulfilling the law and grace: in the ten words is the perfection of the law; in the number eight is the fullness of the resurrection.
Tropologically: this woman bears the type of the soul gaping after the goods of the earth, for the devil persuades it to do this. Hear St. Gregory, homily 31: "Hence another Prophet says of unclean spirits: They said to your soul: Bow down, that we may pass over. For the soul stands upright when it desires heavenly things and is in no way bent toward base things. But when the malign spirits see it standing in its uprightness, they cannot pass through it. For their passing through is to scatter impure desires into it. Therefore they say: Bow down, that we may pass over; because if the soul itself does not cast itself down to desire base things, the perversity of those spirits in no way prevails against it; and they cannot pass through the soul which they fear stands firm against them in its intention toward heavenly things."
Verse 12: Woman, You Are Loosed From Your Infirmity
12. AND WHEN JESUS SAW HER (the Arabic has: Jesus looked upon her, with the eyes both of body and of soul; with the eyes, I say, of grace, mercy, and clemency), HE CALLED HER TO HIM AND SAID TO HER: WOMAN, YOU ARE LOOSED FROM YOUR INFIRMITY. — That is, you are being loosed, healed, namely by Me through the laying on of My hand, as follows. For Christ seems to have done both at once, namely both to have laid His hands upon her and thus healed her, and to have said: "You are loosed," etc. He says rather "You are loosed" than "I loose you," in order to sharpen the woman's faith. For elsewhere Christ frequently attributes healing and salvation to faith. Again, to signify the efficacy of His voice and His touch, namely that at the very instant He touched her, He healed her. For in the flesh of Christ there was divine power, says St. Cyril in the Catena, which works wonders and miracles in an instant, just as by saying "This is My body," He changes bread into His body, and transubstantiates it daily in the Mass, as if to say: For Him to have spoken is to have done, according to that saying: "He spoke, and they were made." Hence Titus says: "By a most divine voice, he says, and one most full of heavenly power, He drove away the infirmity of this woman." Finally, the phrase "you are loosed," that is, you are freed, signifies that this woman had been, as it were, bound by certain chains by Satan, constrained and pressed down, so that her head seemed to be tied by a rope to her knees and shins. Christ loosed this bond, and thus raised her up. "For Christ came to destroy the works of the devil," 1 John 3:8.
Verse 13: He Laid His Hands Upon Her, and Immediately She Was Made Straight
13. AND HE LAID HIS HANDS UPON HER, AND IMMEDIATELY SHE WAS MADE STRAIGHT, AND GLORIFIED GOD. — The hands signify Christ's power, authority, and dominion over diseases and demons, as well as His kindness and beneficence, by which He conferred the benefit of health upon the woman, kindly touching her.
Verse 14: The Ruler of the Synagogue, Indignant Because Jesus Had Healed on the Sabbath
14. AND THE RULER OF THE SYNAGOGUE ANSWERED (that is, the chief and governor of the synagogue), BEING INDIGNANT BECAUSE JESUS HAD HEALED ON THE SABBATH, AND SAID TO THE PEOPLE: THERE ARE SIX DAYS IN WHICH MEN OUGHT TO WORK; IN THESE THEREFORE COME AND BE HEALED, AND NOT ON THE SABBATH DAY. — "Being indignant," because he envied Jesus this glory of miracle and healing, by which He was publicly showing before all the people in the synagogue that He was greater and worthier than the ruler of the synagogue: yet he concealed his envy under the pretense of zeal for religion and the observance of the Sabbath, and therefore he is called a "hypocrite" by Christ. So St. Cyril in the Catena: "The ruler of the ungrateful synagogue, he says, after he saw this woman suddenly raised upright by a mere touch and recounting the divine wonders, was provoked by envy at the Lord's glory, and faulted the miracle, as though he seemed concerned about the Sabbath." Note there the word "ungrateful": for he himself ought to have been grateful to Christ and to have given Him thanks for honoring him and his synagogue, and for bestowing this miracle and benefit upon it; but envy blinded him, so that he considered the glory of Christ to be his own shame and disgrace, because he himself could not perform such great things. So Saul ought to have given thanks to David, because David had killed Goliath who was fearsome to him and all Israel; but envy drove him aside, so that he considered the glory of David to be his own disgrace. For he thought that David was being preferred to himself, and that he, though king, was being set below David. Here therefore is a living image of envy, veiled and concealed under the mask of religion.
Verse 15: Hypocrites, Does Not Each One of You on the Sabbath Loose His Ox
15. AND THE LORD ANSWERED HIM AND SAID: HYPOCRITES, DOES NOT EACH ONE OF YOU ON THE SABBATH LOOSE HIS OX OR HIS ASS FROM THE MANGER, AND LEAD IT AWAY TO WATER? — "Hypocrites," because you feign holiness outwardly, while inwardly you are full of envy and malice. Hear Chrysostom in the Catena: "Well did He call him a hypocrite, because he had the face of a keeper of the law, but his mind was that of a crafty and envious man; for he was not troubled because the Sabbath was being violated, but because Christ was being glorified." I described the mask of hypocrisy at length at Sirach 1:32, on the words: "Do not be a hypocrite;" and at chapter 2, on the words: "Woe to the double-hearted."
AND LEADS IT AWAY TO WATER? — Hence the Gloss: "These men, he says, while they desired to be seen as teachers of the people, did not scruple to set aside the healing of a person in favor of the care of a beast."
Verse 16: Ought Not This Daughter of Abraham, Whom Satan Has Bound
16. AND OUGHT NOT THIS DAUGHTER OF ABRAHAM, WHOM SATAN HAS BOUND (as if with her head tied by a rope to her feet, as I said at verse 12), BEHOLD, FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS, TO BE LOOSED FROM THIS BOND ON THE SABBATH DAY? — This is a most fitting and most efficacious argument of Christ, showing that this healing of the woman was not a servile work, but a liberal and divine one, and therefore not unworthy, but most worthy of the Sabbath; inasmuch as the Sabbath, indeed God Himself the author of the Sabbath, was wonderfully sanctified and glorified by it, as Irenaeus shows, book IV, chapter 19, where he teaches that Christ, by healing the sick on the Sabbath, acted not contrary to the law but in accordance with it. He therefore composes, contrasts, and sets above, Christ's binding and loosing of the woman against the binding and loosing of an ox or donkey.
Furthermore, each individual word contains a pregnant antithesis: for He contrasts and places first the woman as a "daughter of Abraham" against the ox and donkey; second, the spiritual binding and loosing of the woman against the binding and loosing of the ox; third, that the woman endured this bond for 18 years, while these animals endured the bond, and thereby thirst, for only one or two hours; fourth, that the loosing of the ox is laborious and lengthy, but His loosing of the woman and her deliverance from illness was done suddenly and in an instant, so that the Sabbath could not be violated by working; fifth, that through this loosing the woman was restored to complete health and holiness, while the ox merely drank a small amount of water. Finally, He reproaches the ruler of the synagogue and the Pharisees for their inhumanity, "because they place the care of an animal above the healing of a human being," says Bede.
Verse 17: All His Adversaries Were Ashamed; All the People Rejoiced
17. AND WHEN HE SAID THESE THINGS, ALL HIS ADVERSARIES WERE ASHAMED; AND ALL THE PEOPLE REJOICED IN ALL THE GLORIOUS THINGS THAT WERE DONE BY HIM. — The Syriac has: in all the miracles that were done by His hand. All the people. — In the Greek, the whole crowd, "as being free from envy and having been the recipients of His benefits," says Euthymius. Whence Cyril says: "The splendor of the works of Christ resolved every question among those whose minds were not perverse."
Verse 18: To What Is the Kingdom of God Like?
18. He said therefore: To what is the kingdom of God like?... — The word "therefore," since it is inferential, signifies that these things are inferred and gathered from what precedes, as if to say: Christ saw that He had imposed silence on the Pharisees, His enemies, by His wisdom, and that the people therefore rejoiced and applauded Him and His words. When therefore He saw the people thus properly disposed, He proposed to them the parable of the kingdom of heaven; for He perceived that the way was now prepared for Him to propose and preach this kingdom of His, so as to incite all to strive for it, and therefore to embrace His evangelical doctrine and life. Furthermore, I have explained the parable itself at Matthew XIII, 31.
Verse 23: Lord, Are There Few Who Are Saved?
23. AND A CERTAIN ONE SAID TO HIM: LORD, ARE THERE FEW WHO ARE SAVED? — Christ answered affirmatively, that few are saved, as Luke insinuates and Matthew expressly states, VII, 14. Isaiah likewise asserts the same, chapter X, 22, and chapter XXIV, 13. "Few" is to be understood in comparison with all the people of the entire world, whether comparing the faithful and the unfaithful: for all the unfaithful are condemned on account of their unbelief, just as many of the faithful are condemned on account of their impious life. Therefore only the faithful are saved, but not all of them. Whether among the faithful alone more are saved or more are condemned is a debated question. Some hold that more are saved on account of the holy Sacraments, which most people receive at the end of life. Others hold that more are condemned, because more live wickedly in a state of mortal sin. The rule of St. Augustine, however, is that people die as they have lived. Which view is truer, I have discussed at James II, 43, on the text: "But mercy triumphs over judgment." Formidable is the pronouncement of St. Chrysostom, Homily 40 to the People of Antioch, who easily numbered a hundred thousand persons and more: "In our city, he says, among so many thousands, scarcely a hundred can be found who are saved, because in the young there is great wickedness, in the old there is sluggishness," etc. And St. Augustine, book IV Against Cresconius, chapter 53, compares the Church to a threshing floor of wheat, on which there are more chaff than grains, that is, more reprobate than elect.
Verse 31: Depart and Go Hence, For Herod Wishes to Kill You
31. ON THAT SAME DAY CERTAIN OF THE PHARISEES CAME TO HIM, SAYING: DEPART AND GO FROM HERE, FOR HEROD WISHES TO KILL YOU, — as he killed John the Baptist, your forerunner. It seems that Christ was preaching at this time not in Galilee, since He had already departed from there some time before, as is clear from Matthew chapter 19, verse 1, but in Perea, near Judea: for Herod governed Perea just as he did Galilee. So says Franciscus Lucas. Maldonatus, however, and others think that these events took place in Galilee, so that by way of recapitulation Luke here inserts things that had already taken place in Galilee: of this kind also is what we heard at verse 24, and at chapter 9, verse 51.
Furthermore, the Pharisees here fabricate a lie, pretending that Herod was hostile to Christ, in order to send Christ away from them, or at least to test and undermine His freedom and constancy by instilling in Him fear of Herod — both so that through this fear they might expel Him from their region, "lest, being present and working miracles, He be glorified and attract the crowd," says Euthymius; and also so that Christ, going out from Perea into Judea, might fall into the hands of the chief priests and rulers, whom they knew to be plotting His death, as is clear from John VII, 20 and 25. That Herod was otherwise not hostile to Christ is evident from the fact that he desired to see Him and His signs, as is clear from chapter 9, verse 9; indeed, when Christ was sent to him by Pilate, he refused to condemn Him, but dressed Him in a white garment, as one worthy of ridicule rather than death, and sent Him back to Pilate, as is clear from chapter 23, verse 8. So say Jansenius, Maldonatus, Franciscus Lucas, and others.
Verse 32: Go and Tell That Fox
32. AND HE SAID TO THEM: GO AND TELL THAT FOX: BEHOLD, I CAST OUT DEMONS AND I PERFORM HEALINGS TODAY AND TOMORROW, AND THE THIRD DAY I AM PERFECTED. — Christ responds to the Pharisees, who cast at Him the fear of Herod, with magnanimity and freedom, saying that He fears neither him, nor the Pharisees, nor the rulers, but all of them He would continue to preach in spite of them all, until the day of His death appointed by the Father should arrive. He calls Herod a "fox" because he was cunning, duplicitous, and deceitful; just as he killed John the Baptist through fraud and pretense, as I have shown from St. Chrysostom and the Greeks at Mark VI, 26. Hear Bede: The fox is a fraudulent animal, lurking in its den for the sake of ambushes, foul-smelling, never traveling in straight paths. Such are heretics, whose type is Herod, who seek to kill Christ in His believers.
But Christ here directs His speech more at the Pharisees themselves, and calls them all "foxes," because through fraud they instilled in Him fear of Herod, so that fleeing into Judea He might be captured and killed by the rulers there. The pronoun ταύτη ("this") signifies the same thing, that is, "this fox," as the Arabic translates, which shows that the Pharisee was standing nearby, says Cyril and Theophylactus. Hear Titus: It might have seemed that He was directing the entire force of His speech against the single person of Herod, and some have thought so; and yet He directs it more truly against the depravity of the Pharisees than against Herod: for He did not say, "Tell that fox," but, "this fox." Indeed, in order to clearly show that the Pharisees were like foxes by their wicked fraudulent scheme, He uses with the greatest skill a certain middle expression; and this cleverly, says Theophylactus, for by saying "fox" in the singular, He made them suspect He meant Herod; but by saying "this," which is a demonstrative pronoun, He insinuated that they themselves were those deceitful ones.
Whence Emmanuel Sa says: "Tell that fox," that is, he says, either Herod, or the "one" who had fabricated that lie, namely that Herod wished to kill Christ — who was certainly one of the Pharisees, Christ's enemies. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: You, O Pharisees, like cunning and deceitful foxes, casting at Me the fear of Herod, you wish to drive Me away lest I preach among you; but I steadfastly declare that I fear neither you nor Herod, nor will I cease from preaching on account of anyone; because I am certain that My Father will not permit Me to be seized and killed before the day decreed by Him has arrived.
BEHOLD, I CAST OUT DEMONS AND I PERFORM HEALINGS (that is, I shall continue to cast out and to heal, in spite of you — not so much Herod, as you yourselves) TODAY AND TOMORROW (that is, for some time yet), AND THE THIRD DAY (that is, shortly after, when My mission and preaching are finished and completed) I AM PERFECTED — that is, I shall be perfected, because I shall willingly and bravely undergo a glorious death on the cross for the salvation of mankind, as the Apostle teaches at length, Hebrews IX, 11.
Note the Hebraism, by which a definite time is used for an indefinite one here, as also in Hosea VI, 3. So say Cyril, Theophylactus, and Euthymius. "Today and tomorrow" therefore means for some further time, but brief and short, namely for about three months; for it seems that Christ said these things shortly before the feast of the Dedication (Hanukkah), which was celebrated on the 26th day of the month of Casleu (which corresponds partly to our November and partly to December), since He was killed and crucified the following March.
Therefore Christ said these things boldly, first, to signify that He did not fear death but welcomed it; second, to show His divine power, by which He would live and teach in spite of men for as long as He Himself and the Father willed and decreed; third, to increase the vexation of the perverse Pharisees, for they would have wished Him already eliminated.
Furthermore, Christ calls His death a consummation, because in it and through it He consummated the entire economy of the Incarnation, and the entire office of the mission for which He was sent by the Father, namely the expiation of all sins, the redemption of the human race, the salvation of the elect, etc., according to the text: "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified," Hebrews X, 14.
Verse 33: A Prophet Cannot Perish Outside Jerusalem
33. NEVERTHELESS, I MUST WALK TODAY AND TOMORROW, AND THE FOLLOWING (the Arabic has: the third; Vatablus, the day after tomorrow) DAY, BECAUSE IT DOES NOT BEFIT A PROPHET TO PERISH OUTSIDE JERUSALEM. — "I must" — not from compulsion, but from a heavenly disposition, says St. Bonaventure. So also St. Cyril and Titus. Christ emphasizes what He said in the preceding verse, to show that He persists in His resolution and fears neither Herod nor the Pharisees; but, in spite of them, He will continue to preach for a short time yet, until the day appointed by Himself and the Father. The meaning therefore is: "Today and tomorrow and the following day I must walk" — in Greek πορεύεσθαι, that is, to journey; as if to say: For a short time yet I must go about through villages and towns, walking and preaching, and on the following third day, that is shortly afterward, be consummated through death on the cross, as I said in the preceding verse. Now I stand by what I said, and I add that on the third day as well I must do the same: for although on the third day I am to be consummated, nevertheless on that very day I must still walk, as if to say: Throughout the entire time of My life up to death I must preach by going about the regions, and perform healings, and cast out demons, because I have consecrated My entire life to holy action and My death to a noble passion, and have offered Myself to God as a holocaust. Thus in Hebrew halach, that is, to walk, is used to mean to work, John VIII, 12, and chapter XII, 33; Psalm I, 1, and elsewhere. Furthermore, the Syriac translates: Nevertheless I must work today and tomorrow, and on the next day I shall make my journey, that is, I shall go to Jerusalem to die, and from there to heaven, whence I came.
Morally: let the faithful learn here, and especially apostolic men, to labor strenuously in the vineyard of the Lord until death and martyrdom, as did St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Chrysostom, St. Athanasius, etc. So too our own Peter Canisius, though worn out by many great labors, nevertheless did not cease to labor until the age of 77, at which point he departed from labor and from life alike. For these were his maxims: "The wages of Christ's soldiers do not end before their life: when they have finished, then they begin; death alone gives them their discharge; the only seat of veterans is heaven." So says our Sacchinus, in his Life, book III. Let us therefore labor until death, so that after death we may rest forever in blessed happiness; for the earth is a stadium of brief toil, heaven is the seat of eternal rest.
BECAUSE IT DOES NOT BEFIT A PROPHET TO PERISH OUTSIDE JERUSALEM. — In Greek οὐκ ἐνδέχεται, that is, it is not fitting, it does not happen, it is not possible, as the Syriac translates. It is a hyperbole, as if to say: So great is the impiety and savagery of Jerusalem that it seems to belong to her alone, and she does not suffer prophets to be killed by others than herself, and takes it ill if others do so. And therefore I too do not fear Herod for this reason, because I am not to be killed by him in Galilee now, but after some months at last in Jerusalem, the slayer of prophets, where I shall be crucified and killed not by Herod, whom you cast at Me, but by you yourselves, O Pharisees. "For those accustomed to shedding the blood of the servants will also kill the Lord Himself," says Theophylactus. So also Titus, Jansenius, Maldonatus, and Franciscus Lucas, whom hear: It does not befit a prophet to be killed outside Jerusalem, that is, a prophet must be killed in Jerusalem — not that none were killed outside Jerusalem (for Jezebel killed many in Samaria, 1 Kings XVIII, 13, and chapter XIX, 10), but because in Jerusalem nearly all were accustomed to be killed, and it was most lamentable that prophets should be killed in Jerusalem; for since kings, priests, rulers, the powerful of the world, scribes, wise men, and Pharisees holy in their own eyes had their seat there, who with popular support refused to bear the rebukes and admonitions of the prophets, that city was made, from a house of God, into a slaughterhouse of prophets, which virtually professed itself to be a butchery of prophets. We read in 2 Kings XXI, 16, of Manasseh, that he "shed innocent blood exceedingly, until he filled Jerusalem up to the mouth."
In a similar way at Rome, in various places, and especially at the Ursus Pileatus (where the church of St. Bibiana now stands), very many Christians were killed by the pagan Emperors, so much so that the place was commonly called the shambles of the Martyrs. Hence it could rightly be said at that time: It does not befit a Pontiff to perish outside Rome, because nearly all the Pontiffs from St. Peter to Sylvester, over three hundred years, were killed by the Emperors residing at Rome on account of the faith of Christ.