(Vers. 20)
(Verse 20) If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
94. At the same time, it shows that there is a certain imperial power of the Holy Spirit, in which the kingdom of God exists. We also, in whom the Spirit dwells, have a royal household. Therefore, we must consider the Holy Spirit as a companion of divinity, dominion, and imperial majesty, because the Lord is Spirit: where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (II Cor. III, 17).
(Vers. 24)
(Verse 24) When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it roams through dry places seeking rest, and finding none.
95. This statement about the Jewish people cannot be ambiguous, whom the Lord separated from his kingdom in the past. Therefore, understand that all heretics and schismatics are also separated from his kingdom and from the Church. And therefore, it is clear that all schismatics and heretics are not of God, but of unclean spirits. Therefore, the comparison of the entire Jewish people can be made to one man, from whom the unclean spirit had departed through the law. But because in nations and peoples they could not find rest through the faith of Christ (for Christ is a fire to unclean spirits, who in the hearts of the Gentiles, which were dry before, were afterwards moistened by the baptismal dew of the Holy Spirit, and the fiery projectiles of the adversary were restrained), therefore he returned to the Jewish people, which remains inwardly more defiled though adorned with an outward appearance of respectability. For he neither washed in the irrigating or extinguishing water of the sacred font, nor quenched the fire. And rightly the unclean spirit returned to it, bringing with him seven spirits more wicked than himself; for during the week of the Law and the mystery of the eighth day, he committed sacrilege with an impious mind. Therefore, just as the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit is multiplied for us, so the injury of all unclean spirits is accumulated for them; for the universe is encompassed by this number multiple times, because God rested on the seventh day after completing the works of the world (Gen. II, 2). Therefore, she who was barren gave birth to seven, and she who was populous with children was made weak (I Sam. II, 5). Finally, to show you how the people of the Synagogue are disfigured, where the beatitude of the Church is praised, he added:
(Vers. 29, 30.)
(Verse 29, 30.) This generation is a wicked generation: it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation.
96. In this also is clearly expressed the mystery of the Church, which is gathered from the ends of the earth, in the penance of the Ninevites, and in the seeking of wisdom by the Queen of the South: so that she may know the peaceful words of Solomon, the Queen, indeed, whose kingdom is indivisible, arising from diverse and distant peoples into one body. Therefore, this is a great Sacrament... of Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:32): but yet this is greater; because that took place in figure before, but now the mystery is fulfilled in truth; for there the type of Solomon, here Christ in His own body. Therefore, the Church consists of two things, so that either you may not know how to sin, or you may cease to sin; for repentance removes the offense, wisdom avoids it. This is the mystery.
97. Moreover, the sign of Jonah is not only a foreshadowing of the Lord's passion, but also a testimony of the serious sins committed by the Jews. It is worth noting both the oracle of majesty and the indication of piety; for just as the punishment is announced by the example of the Ninevites, so too is the remedy demonstrated. Therefore, the Jews should not despair of forgiveness if they are willing to repent.
(Vers. 33.)
(Verse 33.) No one lights a lamp and puts it in a hidden place, neither under a bushel basket, but on a lampstand.
Therefore, because in previous [passages] [he] preferred the Church to the Synagogue, [he] exhorts us to rather transfer our faith to the Church; for faith is a lamp, according to what is written: Your word, Lord, is a lamp to my feet (Psalm 118:105); for our faith is the word of God, the word of God is light, and faith is a lamp. [There] was the true light, which enlightens every person coming into this world (John 1:9). However, a lamp cannot shine unless it receives light from elsewhere. This is the lamp that is lit, namely the power of our mind and senses, so that it can find what was lost. Therefore, let no one establish faith under the Law; for the Law is within a measure, but grace is beyond measure: the Law shadows, grace illuminates. And therefore let no one confine their faith within the measure of the Law, but let them bring it to the Church, in which the grace of the sevenfold Spirit shines forth, which that Prince of priests illumines with the radiance of heavenly divinity, lest the shadow of the Law extinguish it.
99. Finally, that lamp which the high priest used to light at the times of morning and evening, according to the ancient rite of the Jews (Exodus 27:21), as if placed under a bushel, has disappeared: and that city, Jerusalem, which is on the earth, which killed the prophets, is hidden as if in a valley of tears: but that Jerusalem which is in heaven, in which our faith fights, placed on that highest of all mountains, that is, in Christ, the Church cannot be hidden by the darkness and ruins of this world: but shining with the brightness of the eternal sun, it illuminates us with the light of spiritual grace.
(Vers. 39.)
(Verse 39) Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish.
100. You see that our bodies, which are earthly and fragile, are marked by their outward appearance and easily broken by a brief fall. And easily the thoughts and actions of the mind are revealed through the senses and the movements of the body, just as the contents of a cup shine outwardly. Hence, in the latter (Luke 22:42) , there is no doubt that the passion of the body is indicated by the word "cup," when the Lord says: The cup which the Father has given me, do you not want me to drink it? (John 18:11) ? For he drinks his body, who absorbs bodily frailty with spiritual affection, and as it were pours it into his mind and soul, so that the weakness of the external is drawn into the inner. You therefore see that it is not the exterior of this cup or dish that contaminates us, but the interior. And therefore, like a good teacher, he has taught us how we should cleanse the contagion of our body, saying:
(Vers. 41.)
(Verse 41.) Give alms, and behold all things are clean for you.
101. Do you see what great remedies there are? Mercy cleanses us, the Word of God cleanses us, as it is written: Now you are clean by reason of the word, which I have spoken to you (John 15:3). Not only in this place, but also in others, you understand how great the grace is expressed: For almsgiving delivers from death (Tobit 12:9): and, Shut up alms in the heart of the poor, and it shall obtain help for thee against all evil (Ecclesiasticus 29:15).
102. Therefore, this whole beautiful place is directed towards the fact that, since it invites us to the study of simplicity, it condemns the superfluous and earthly things of the Jews, who rightly compare what pertains to the Law, when understood according to the body, to glass and a dish due to the fragility of their nature; and they observe those things for which we have no use, but they neglect those things in which there is fruit for our hope; and therefore, they commit a great sin by despising better things; and yet, the forgiveness of their sins is promised to them if they obtain mercy.
103. (Verse 42.) However, he briefly exposes their many sins who devote all their effort to contributing the tithes of cheaper fruits: they have no fear of the future judgment or any love for God, since their works are worthless without faith; for they disregard the judgment and love of God: the judgment, because they do not bring everything they do under judgment; the love, because they do not love God out of devotion.
104. But so that it does not make us diligent in faith, neglectful of works, he concludes the perfection of a faithful man with a short discourse; so that he may be approved both by faith and works, saying: These things you ought to do, and not leave the others undone.
105. (Verse 43, 44.) He also criticizes the arrogance and boasting of the Jews, as they seek the places of honor at banquets. The sentence of condemnation is also pronounced against those who deceive others with a false appearance, like hidden tombs that are not visible and deceive by their outward beauty; they promise good things on the outside, but inside they are full of decayed bones. This is what many teachers do, demanding things from others that they themselves cannot accomplish. And therefore these are their monuments, as it is also said elsewhere: Their sepulcher is open throat (Psalms V, 11).
106. (Verse 47.) Also a good argument against the most foolish superstition of the Jews, who condemned the building of tombs for the prophets and their fathers; but by emulating their fathers' crimes, they turned the judgment upon themselves. Indeed, by constructing the tombs of the prophets, they were accusing those who had killed them of wrongdoing; and by imitating similar actions, they were also revealing themselves as heirs of their fathers' wickedness. Therefore, it is not the act of building, but the act of emulation that is considered a crime. For those who crucified the Son of God, which is the more serious offense, added to the heap of their father's crimes, cannot be absolved from hereditary wickedness. And therefore he rightly added elsewhere: Fill up the measure of your fathers (Matthew 23:32); because there is nothing more serious that they can sin beyond the injury against God.