Chapter 2
[Mark 2:1] -- And again he entered Capernaum, etc. The Savior of all, God, with saving step, surveys all things. And sometimes in deserts, now in the city, now by the sea, he ministers to the crowds the gifts of heavenly doctrine and virtues. Sometimes he alone prays on the mount, sometimes he assists those laboring at sea so that they may not perish. Everywhere, he imparts the gifts of salvation, so that he demonstrates all ranks and conditions pertain to his grace. According to the mystical understanding, after performing a miracle in the city, he withdraws to the desert, and there receives the crowds coming to him with kind piety, to show that he prefers a quiet life, remote from the cares of the world, and, due to this pursuit, takes care to heal bodies. Indeed, in a human manner, as if avoiding the crowd seeking him, he did not want to enter the city openly. But allegorically, it teaches that truth does not exhibit an open manifestation of itself to tumultuous carnal minds, but generously infuses the light of its gifts to those whom it sees to be detached from the allurements of temporal things. Yet because heavenly piety does not forsake even the carnal, but also grants them the grace of its visitation, through which also they may become spiritual, the Lord returns to the city after the desert: speaking the word to many converging there, and by healing the paralytic, he provides many the occasion for internal healing which is in faith. Now, teaching the Lord and the house being so full that they didn't have room, not even at the door, specifically designates our salvation who have come to faith from the Gentiles, that when the Lord preached in Judea, we were not yet able to enter to hear. But to us, nonetheless being outside, he made the words of his doctrine arrive, because he himself collected us through the mouths of holy preachers, and although found outside the synagogue where he preached, made us participants of his Gospel. And they came carrying a paralytic to him, because he was carried by four. The healing of this paralytic designates the salvation of a soul after a long inertia of carnal allure desiring Christ, which first of all needs ministers who uplift it and bring it to Christ, i.e., good teachers who suggest hope of healing and aid of intercession. They are rightly said to have been four, either because the strength of all preaching and every word is established by the four books of the holy Gospel, or because there are four virtues by which the confidence of the mind is raised to deserve health. Of these is said in the praise of eternal wisdom: "For she teacheth temperance and prudence, justice and courage, which are such things as men can have nothing more profitable in life" (Wisdom VIII). Some call them prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice by different names. And when they could not bring him in through the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was. They desire to offer the paralytic to Christ, but being obstructed on all sides by the crowd, they are shut off because often the soul, after the laziness of a sick body and desiring to be renewed by the remedy of heavenly grace, is hindered by the obstacle of ancient habit. Often even within the delights of secret prayer, and as it were sweet conversation with the Lord, a crowd of thoughts intervening obstructs the keenness of mind so that Christ is not seen. And what is to be done amid these things? Certainly not to remain below outwardly where the crowds rage, but ascend to the roof of the house where Christ teaches, that is, the loftiness of Sacred Scripture must be sought, and the law of the Lord meditated upon day and night as the Psalmist says. In what does the young man correct his way? In keeping your words, he says (Ps. 119). And uncovering it, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. When the roof is uncovered, the sick man is laid down before Jesus, because, with the mysteries of the Scriptures opened, one comes to the knowledge of Christ, that is, descends to his humility with the piety of faith. And indeed the house of Jesus is found covered with tiles according to another evangelist's narrative, because under the contemptible covering of letters, if there is one who uncovers, the virtue of spiritual grace will be found. The uncovering of the tiles in the house of Jesus is the revelation in the vileness of the letter of the spiritual sense and heavenly secrets. What indeed is laid down with the bed signifies that Christ ought to be known by man still constituted in this flesh.
[Mark 2:5] -- When Jesus saw their faith, etc. The Lord, about to cure a man of paralysis, first dissolved the bonds of sins, to show that he was condemned due to the bonds of sins by the dissolution of his limbs, and that he could not be restored to health in his limbs unless these bonds were relaxed. Likewise, to that paralytic, who was waiting in vain by the pool of Bethesda for the movement of the water for a long time, it is said by the Lord, healed: "Behold, you have been made well; do not sin anymore, lest something worse happen to you." (John XIV).
[Mark 2:5] -- "Son," he said, "your sins are forgiven you." O wondrous humility! He calls "son" the despised and weak man, dissolved in all his limbs, whom the priests would not deign to touch. Or rightly "son" because his sins are forgiven him. It should indeed be considered how much the faith of each person is worth before God, since the faith of others was so great that a whole man, that is, was suddenly saved both outwardly and inwardly, and the errors of some were loosed by the merit of others.
[Mark 2:6] -- Now there were some of the scribes sitting there, thinking in their hearts, etc. The scribes speak truly, that no one can forgive sins but God alone, who through them also forgives, to whom He has granted the power to forgive. And therefore Christ is proved truly to be God because He can forgive sins like God. They bear true witness to God but are deceived by denying the person of Christ. The Jews thus err, who although they believe that Christ both is God and can forgive sins, yet do not believe that Jesus is the Christ. But the Arians err much more foolishly, who, while conquered by the words of the Gospel, do not dare to deny that Jesus is the Christ and that He can forgive sins, nevertheless they are not afraid to deny Him as God. But He, desiring to save the faithless, manifests Himself to be God by both the knowledge of hidden things and the power of deeds. For it follows: As soon as Jesus perceived in His spirit that they thus reasoned within themselves, He said to them: Why do you think these things in your hearts? He shows Himself to be God who can know the hidden things of the heart. And in a certain way, He speaks silently: With the same majesty and power by which I observe your thoughts, I can also forgive sins to men. Understand from yourselves what the paralytic gains. What is easier to say to the paralytic: "Your sins are forgiven," or to say: "Rise, take up your bed, and walk"? There is a great difference between saying and doing. Whether the paralytic’s sins are forgiven only the one who forgave knows. But "Rise and walk," both he who rose and those who saw him rising could approve. Therefore, a carnal sign is made that the spiritual might be proven; although it is of the same virtue to forgive the faults of both the body and the soul. And it is given to us to understand that many bodily weaknesses occur because of sins. And for this reason perhaps sins are forgiven first, so that the causes of the weakness being removed, health may be restored. Indeed, there are five differentiations of causes for which we are afflicted with bodily troubles in this life. For we are either burdened with the infirmity of the just body to increase merits through patience, as the blessed fathers, Job and Tobias and countless martyrs in both Testaments. Or, to protect the virtues received, lest they perish by the temptation of pride, as the apostle Paul, to whom a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan was given to buffet him, lest he be exalted by the abundance of revelations. Or, to understand and correct our sins, as Mary the sister of Aaron in the desert was struck with leprosy for her audacity and prideful words. Or, as the paralytic of whom we speak, who could only be healed of his weakness after his sins were first forgiven. Or, for the glory of God who saves, either by Himself or through His servants, as the man born blind in the Gospel, who neither sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. Like Lazarus, whose sickness was not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Or, for the commencement of eternal damnation, belonging to and being proper to the reprobate, like Antiochus and Herod, who both in their time resisting God, showed to all by their present afflictions the miseries they were to suffer in perpetual hellish torments. To whom agrees the prophet's word: Crush them with double destruction. Hence it is necessary in all temporal adversities we endure, with humility to give thanks to the Lord, and being conscious of our infirmity, to rejoice in the remedies bestowed on us. It is necessary to diligently explore our works and thoughts upon returning to our conscience, and whatever we find we have sinned in, let us cleanse with worthy punishment; whatever we discover that, by pride, we have believed to be rightly done but is lost to this faulty vanity, let us likewise chastise with humble satisfaction. For this often becomes a cause of scourges for us. However, it is the characteristic of the perfect and a special gift of men to be scourged for the increase of rewards. But to be driven by temporal blows to eternal torments is the punishment of the impenitent reprobate.
[Mark 2:10] -- But that you may know that the Son of man has power, etc. If he is also God according to the Psalmist, who as far as the east is from the west has removed our transgressions from us, and the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, therefore he himself is both God and the son of man, so that Christ as man can forgive sins through the power of his divinity, and the same God Christ, through the frailty of his humanity, can die for sinners. Spiritually, to arise from the bed is to draw the soul, which lay sick due to carnal desires, away from them. But to take up the bed is to also subdue the flesh, corrected by the bridle of continence, and to separate it from earthly delights through the hope of heavenly rewards. To go home after taking up the bed is to return to paradise. For indeed, this is our true home, which first received man, not rightfully lost, but through deceit, ultimately restored by him who owed nothing to the deceitful enemy. Alternatively, the man who was healed carries the bed home, when the soul, having received the forgiveness of sins, returns with the body to the inner vigilance of itself, lest it admit anything after pardon for which it may be justly struck again. And immediately he rose, and taking up the bed, he went before all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this." How marvelous is the power of divine authority, where, without any intervening delay of time, the swift healing follows the command of the Savior! Rightly those who were present, condemning the javelins of blasphemy, turn their amazed hearts to the praise of such majesty. And he went out again to the sea, and all the crowd came to him, and he taught them. Teaching in Capernaum, the Lord demonstrated the heavenly power of his doctrine through the healing of the paralytic. After this, he went out to the sea, to not only instruct the civil life of men in the way of truth, but also to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the inhabitants of the sea, teaching them to scorn the wavering motions of passing things and to overcome them with the firmness of faith. Finally, he teaches the great crowd that comes to him there. There he makes an apostle and evangelist of a tax collector called from the toll booth. There he deems many sinners corrected through penance worthy of his supper, making them hearers of his secrets, and leading them away from swelling waves and the deceiving leviathans of desires to the solidity of a peaceful life, which is in the hope of heavenly goods. For it follows:
[Mark 2:14] -- And as he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, etc. At the custom house, he says to the care and duty of collecting taxes; for τέλος in Greek is called tax in Latin: moreover, the same Levi is also Matthew. But Luke and Mark, out of respect and honor for the evangelist, did not want to put the well-known name. However, Matthew himself, according to what is written, a righteous man is his own accuser: in the beginning of his discourse, he names himself Matthew and a publican; to show those reading that no one who is converted should despair of salvation, since from being a publican he was suddenly changed into an apostle, from a tax collector into an evangelist.
[Mark 2:14] -- And rising, he followed him. In the Gospel of Luke, it is written more fully: And leaving all, he rose and followed him (Luke 5). Therefore Matthew, understanding what it truly means to follow the Lord, leaves all things and follows. To follow indeed is to imitate. And so, in order to follow the poor Christ not so much in steps as in affection, he left what was his own, who was accustomed to seizing what belonged to others. And giving us a perfect form of renunciation of the world, he not only left the profits of taxes but also disregarded the danger that could come from the leaders of the world, because he left the accounts of the taxes unfinished and disordered. For he was led by such a great desire to follow the Lord that he retained no regard or thought for this life at all. Indeed, the Lord himself, who outwardly called him with human speech to follow him, inwardly kindled him with divine inspiration to follow immediately when called, and he taught invisibly how it ought to be followed. On account of this, he rightly became a faithful steward of the Lord's talents while abandoning human affairs with disdain.
[Mark 2:15] -- And it happened that as He reclined in the house, many tax collectors, etc. The evangelist Luke writes that Levi held a great banquet for Him in his house, which aptly aligns with the figures of mysteries. For whoever receives Christ in the inner residence is nourished with the greatest delights of overflowing pleasures. Thus, the Lord willingly enters and reclines in the affection of the one who has believed. And this is the spiritual banquet of good works, at which the rich people are in need, and the poor feast. Tax collectors, as their name even shows, are called those who collect public taxes or those who are contractors of the treasury's taxes or public goods, as well as those who pursue the profits of this world through businesses, are designated by the same term. Therefore, the tax collector, having seen that by turning from sins to better things, he found a place of repentance, and for that reason, they also do not despair of salvation. Neither do the tax collectors who come to Jesus remain in their former vices, as the Pharisees and scribes, who grumble, but they repent, as the subsequent statement of the evangelist indicates, saying: "For there were many who also followed Him." The Lord, however, went to the banquets of sinners so that He might have the opportunity to teach and offer spiritual food to His hosts. Finally, even though they often describe Him going to a banquet, nothing else is reported except what He did or taught there, so that both the humility of the Lord in going to sinners and the power of His teaching in the conversion of penitents are demonstrated.
[Mark 2:16] -- And the scribes and Pharisees seeing that he was eating with sinners, etc. If through Matthew’s choosing and calling the faith of the publicans is expressed of the gentiles, who first coveted the gain of the world, but now are refreshed with the Lord at the feast of charity and with diligent devotion of good works, surely the pride of the scribes and Pharisees indicates the envy of the Jews, troubled about the salvation of the gentiles. He speaks to them: Amen I say to you, that the publicans and prostitutes will precede you into the kingdom of God.—Hearing this Jesus said to them: The healthy do not need a physician, but those who are ill. For I did not come to call the righteous but sinners. He reproaches the scribes and Pharisees, who, thinking themselves righteous, shunned the company of sinners. He calls himself a physician, who by a marvelous kind of healing was wounded for our iniquities, and by his bruises we are healed (Isaiah 53). Moreover, he calls healthy and righteous those who, ignorant of God's righteousness, and wanting to establish their own, have not subjected themselves to the righteousness of God (Romans 10); who, presuming on the law, do not seek the grace of the Gospel. Furthermore, he calls the ill and sinners those who, overcome by the consciousness of their fragility, and seeing that they cannot be justified by the law, submit their necks to the grace of Christ by repenting.
[Mark 2:18] -- And the disciples of John were there, etc. Others recount that the evangelists themselves questioned the Pharisees and the disciples of John about this with the Lord. Here, however, the evangelical message seems to sound as if some others, moved by this concern, posed this question to him. From which it must be gathered that this question was posed to the Lord by many, namely by the Pharisees and the disciples of John, and by the guests or by others who were moved by this: why do the disciples of John and the Pharisees fast; but the disciples of the Savior do not fast. However, in a mystical sense, it can be explained thus: that the disciples of John and the Pharisees fast, but those of Christ do not fast, because everyone who either boasts of works of the law without faith, or, which is more serious, follows the traditions of men, or even certainly hears the preaching of Christ with the ear of the body only and not with the faith of the heart, abstaining from spiritual goods, with a fasting heart, withers away. But he who is faithfully incorporated by love into the members of Christ cannot fast, who feasts on his flesh and blood. Otherwise, John does not drink wine and strong drink, the Lord eats and drinks with publicans and sinners, because he increases merit through abstinence when there is no power in nature. The Lord, however, who naturally possesses the ability to forgive sins, why would he avoid those whom he could make even purer by abstaining? But Christ also fasted, so that you would not evade the precept, he ate with sinners, so that you would perceive grace, recognize power. And Jesus said to them: Can the children of the marriage feast fast, as long as the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then they shall fast on that day. In Matthew, it is thus placed: Can the children of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? (Matt. IX). The bridegroom is therefore Christ; the bride is the Church. From this holy and spiritual union, the apostles are created. They cannot mourn and fast, as long as they see the bridegroom in the wedding chamber and know that the bridegroom is with the bride. But when the nuptials are over and the time of passion and resurrection has come, then the children of the bridegroom will fast. According to the laws of allegory, it must be understood that as long as the bridegroom is with us and we are in joy, we can neither fast nor mourn. But when he has withdrawn and flown away because of sins, then fasting must be prescribed, then grief must be taken up. No one sews a patch of unshrunken cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new patch takes away from the old, and a worse tear is made. When the Lord was asked why his disciples did not fast, he responded that those who are still carnal and not yet solidified in the faith of his passion and resurrection cannot endure the more severe precepts of fasting and continence, lest through excessive austerity they also lose the faith which they seemed to have. Hence, he still calls the disciples old garments, to which a new patch, that is, any piece of doctrine pertaining to the temperance of a new life, is unfitly sewn, because if this happens, the doctrine itself is, in a way, torn, whose part that pertains to fasting from food is untimely handed down, since it teaches a general fasting not only from the desire for food but from all temporal delights. Whose like a patch, that is, some part that pertains to food, he says should not be imparted to men still bound to old customs, because from there also a kind of tearing seems to happen, and it does not fit with the oldness itself.
[Mark 2:22] -- And no one puts wine, etc. He also compares them to old wineskins, which he says are more easily burst by new wine, that is, by spiritual precepts, than being able to contain it. However, they were already new wineskins when, after the ascension of the Lord, they were renewed by praying and hoping for the desire of His consolation. For then they received the Holy Spirit, when, filled with it, they spoke in all tongues, it was said by the Jews who did not understand but nonetheless truly witnessed: These men are full of new wine (Acts 2). For new wine had already come into new wineskins, that is, the fervor of the Holy Spirit had filled the hearts of the spiritually new. Otherwise. A teacher must be cautious not to entrust the secrets of new mysteries to a soul not yet renewed but still enduring in the oldness of wickedness. But if anyone asks what the difference mystically is between new wine and a new garment, it is easily apparent, because we are internally refreshed and intoxicated by wine, whereas we are externally clothed by a garment. But while both pertain to the significance of spiritual life, the garment indeed insinuates our good works which we perform outwardly and by which we shine before men. However, new wine expresses the fervor of faith, hope, and charity, by which in the sight of our Creator we are inwardly renewed in the newness of our mind.
[Mark 2:23] -- And again it happened on the Sabbath, etc. We read in the following passages that there were many who came and went, and they did not even have time to eat, and thus they were almost hungry like men. But what they rub the ears of grain with their hands, and console their hunger, is an indication of a more austere life, seeking not prepared feasts, but simple foods. However, the Pharisees said to him: Behold, why are your disciples doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? Note that the first apostles of the Savior destroy the letter of the Sabbath against the Hebionites, who, while accepting the other apostles, reject Paul as a transgressor of the law. Mystically, however, the disciples pass through the fields, namely those about which the Lord said: Lift up your eyes and see the regions, for they are already white for harvest. And he who reaps receives wages (John IV), as holy teachers observe with the care of pious concern those whom they seek to instruct in the faith of truth, and with diligent consideration ponder how each one should be drawn to salvation and in what order. And therefore it is understood that nothing is better than hungering for the salvation of men, which the first of the reapers, once hungering among the prayers, soon when offered the dainties he desired, heard: Arise, Peter, kill and eat (Acts X). And there is wonderful harmony of the sacrament, for there too animals ordered to be slain and eaten are sent from heaven, and here the disciples, consecrating the ears of corn with the Lord looking on, are said, according to the accounts of the other evangelists, to have rubbed them with their hands and eaten. For this is what the Apostle says: Mortify your members that are upon the earth, and put off the old man with his deeds (Coloss. III). For no one can otherwise pass into the body of Christ, nor otherwise nourish the teacher with the fruits of their progress, than if, having renounced the old desires, one becomes a new man with the new commandment of love. Therefore, to pluck the ears of grain is to draw men away from earthly intentions, where they had fixed, as it were, the root of their minds; but to rub them with hands is, through examples of virtues, to strip away, as it were, the husks and coverings of the chaff, even from the very desires of the flesh, the purity of the mind. To eat the grains is to be incorporated into the members of the Church, each one cleansed from the filth of vices, through the preaching mouths. And it is well remembered that the disciples did this while going before the Lord, for the teacher’s word must precede, and thus the grace of the supreme visitation illuminates the following heart of the listener. Well on the Sabbath, for the holy teachers both labor in preaching for the hope of future rest, and equally admonish their listeners not to insist on superfluous works for the love of the world, but rather to labor hard for eternal rest in good works. Again, they walk through the fields with the Lord, who, striving to obey divine commands, delight in diligently meditating on the sacred words. They hunger in the fields, desiring to find the bread of life in the same sacred words they read through, that is, they care to reach those words by which they may kindle in themselves a greater love for their Creator. And this on the Sabbath, when they rejoice to be free from the turbulent thoughts with a calm mind, and to see how sweet the Lord is, and how blessed the man who hopes in Him (Psalm XXXIII). And assuming the habit of piety and humility, they strive to reach the rest of their souls. They pluck the ears that perhaps occur, and turn and purify them with their hands until they reach the food, when they take up the testimonies of the Scriptures which they reach by reading, and discuss them with diligent investigation until they find the marrow of love that seemed to be hidden in them. For just as the grains of wheat which refresh are veiled by the roughness of the chaff which bristles, so often under what seemed the usefulness of the letter are hidden the gifts of divine love, which feed the hungry and thirsty minds of the faithful with the dainties of inner sweetness. But this refreshment of minds indeed displeases the foolish defenders of the Sabbath, but is approved by the Lord of the Sabbath, for those who follow only the surface of the letter neither know true refreshment of minds nor reach the inner rest of souls. Hence their recklessness is rightly confounded by the mouth of Truth, while it is added:
[Mark 2:25] -- And he said to them: Have you never read, etc.? To refute the Pharisees’ accusation, he recalls an old story, when David, fleeing Saul, came to Nob and was received by the priest Abimelech, and asked for food (1 Samuel 21). Since he did not have ordinary bread, he gave him consecrated bread, which only priests and Levites were allowed to eat. He only asked if the young men were pure from women: and when he answered from yesterday and the day before, he did not hesitate to give the bread, considering it better (as the prophet says, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice [Hosea 6]) to free men from the danger of hunger than to offer a sacrifice to God. For the acceptable sacrifice to God is the salvation of men. Therefore, the Lord argues and says: If both David is holy and Abimelech the priest is not blamed by you, but each of them transgressed the commandment of the law with reasonable excuse, and hunger is the cause, why do you not approve the same hunger in the apostles which you approve in others? Although, in this matter, there is much difference. These rub the ears of grain in their hands on the Sabbath, those ate Levitical bread. There, even at the solemnity of the Sabbath, the days of the new moons illuminated it, and in the feasts when he fled from the royal court. Figuratively speaking, when it is said that David and his men received the consecrated bread, it shows that the food of the priesthood would pass into common use, either because we all ought to imitate the priestly life, or because all the children of the Church are priests. For we are anointed into a holy priesthood, offering ourselves as spiritual sacrifices to God. We have spoken more fully about this whole story according to our understanding in the exposition of the book of Kings, and about the table and the bread of the presence, in the book on the exposition of the tabernacle and its vessels. As for why the Lord calls Abimelech the chief of the priests instead of Abiathar, there is no discrepancy. For both were there when David came and asked for and received the bread, namely Abimelech the chief of the priests, and Abiathar his son. After Abimelech was killed by Saul, along with eighty-five priests of his household, Abiathar fled to David and became his companion throughout his exile. Later, when David reigned, he received the office of high priest and remained in the pontificate throughout his reign, surpassing his father in much greater excellence. Therefore, he was worthy of being remembered by the Lord as the high priest even while his father lived. And he said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Greater care is due to the health and life of a man than to the observance of the Sabbath. For the Sabbath is commanded to be observed in such a way that if there is necessity, one is not guilty of breaking the Sabbath. Therefore, circumcision on the Sabbath is not prohibited because it is necessary. For Joshua also circled the walls of Jericho with his army for seven days. And the Maccabees fought on the Sabbath out of necessity. Hence, if the disciples were hungry, what was not permitted by the law became permitted out of the necessity of hunger. This is a similar case to that which exists today in legal fasts: where if anyone breaks the fast because of illness, he is by no means guilty. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath. If, he says, David the king fed with priestly food is excusable, and according to another evangelist’s account the priests violate the Sabbath by temple service and are without blame, how much more is the Son of Man, who is the true king and the true priest, and therefore the Lord of the Sabbath, not guilty of plucking ears of grain on the Sabbath?