Chapter 3
[Mark 3:1] -- And he entered again into the synagogue, etc. The man who had a withered hand indicates the human race withered in the fertility of good works, but cured by the Lord's compassion. His right hand, which had withered in the first parent when plucking the forbidden tree's fruit, was restored to the health of good works’ juices by the Redeemer's grace when He stretched out innocent hands on the tree of the cross. And fittingly, the hand was withered in the synagogue, because where the gift of knowledge is greater, there the danger of inexcusable guilt is more severe. And they watched him whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might accuse him. Because the Master had excused the breaking of the Sabbath which they blamed in the disciples by a likely example, now they want to accuse the very Master by watching, so that if He heals on the Sabbath, they may charge Him with transgression; if He does not heal, they may accuse Him of cruelty or impotence. And he said to the man with the withered hand: Stand forth. And he says to them: Is it lawful on the Sabbaths to do good or to do harm? The Lord, predicting the calumny the Jews with faithless minds had prepared for Him, reproaches them because they violated the precepts of the law by a wrongful interpretation, thinking even from good works to rest on the Sabbath, while the law commands abstention from evil, saying: You shall not do any servile work on it, that is sin. For everyone who commits sin is a servant of sin. By this precept, He also foreshadows the form of the future age in the present: where those who have done good through the six ages of this world, will have rest in the seventh age, not from good works, but only from evil. For even if secular works rest, nevertheless the act of good work in the praise of God is not idle. To save a life or to kill? This is, to heal a man, or not? It is the same as He had said before, To do good or to do harm? Not that the supremely good God can be the author of evil or perdition for us, but that Scripture customarily speaks of not saving as killing. Just as He is said to have hardened Pharaoh's heart, not that He made a soft heart hard, but that He did not mercifully soften it, hardened by preceding merits. And when we pray, Lead us not into temptation (Matt. VI), by immediately adding, But deliver us from evil, we plainly are taught that to lead into temptation by Him is nothing other than not to free from evil, and to destroy a soul is not to save from perdition. If anyone is moved, why the Lord, when He was about to heal a body, asked about the salvation of the soul, let him understand either that the soul by the custom of Scriptures is put for the man, as it is said: These are the souls which came out of the loins of Jacob (Exod. I), or that these miracles were done for the sake of the soul’s salvation, or that this healing of the hand signified the salvation of the soul, which, ceasing from good works (as I have said), seemed to have a withered right hand. But they were silent. And looking around at them with anger, grieved at the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man: Stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it out; and his hand was restored. The withered hand is ordered to be stretched out for healing, because in no better order is the fruitless weakness of the soul cured than by the largesse of alms. Therefore John the Baptist, when questioned by the crowds about what they should do so as not to be cast into fire like withered trees, commanded only this: He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise (Luke III). And in Ecclesiasticus it is said: Son, let not your hand be stretched out to take, but drawn back when it comes to giving (Eccli. IV). For in vain does he stretch out his hands to God in prayer for sins, who does not extend them to a begging widow to confer a benefit.
[Mark 3:6] -- But the Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. He refers to the Herodians as the ministers of Herod the tetrarch, who, on account of the enmity which their lord exercised against John, also plotted against and hated the Savior whom John preached. However, it was of great foolishness for those who greatly needed salvation to take counsel about the death of the Savior. Their zeal for wickedness is shown when they even consider it a crime that he stretched out the hand of the one who was sick to heal it at his word, as if none of them had ever done greater works on the Sabbath, such as carrying food, offering a cup, and performing other necessary tasks for sustenance. For indeed, he who said "Let there be," and it was made, could not be convicted of working on the Sabbath.
[Mark 3:7] -- And Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea. He withdrew as a man fleeing the snares of those who persecuted Him, because neither had His hour of suffering yet arrived, nor was the place of His suffering outside Jerusalem. He withdrew, fleeing from those who persecuted Him out of hatred; but He went to a place where He found many following Him out of love. For it is added: And a large crowd from Galilee and Judea followed Him, and from Jerusalem and Idumaea, and beyond Jordan, and those around Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing what He was doing, came to Him. Behold, the Pharisees and Herodians, namely the teachers of the people and the king's ministers, sought to destroy the Lord with unanimous counsel. But the unlearned crowd and the masses gathered from everywhere followed Him with unanimous love. They, seeing the works of His virtues and hearing the words of His teaching, wanted to learn nothing more than to persecute Him. These, led only by the reputation of His virtues, came in a great throng to hear Him and to demand the help of salvation. Hence, they soon deserved to achieve the effect of their will and desire, with many healed by the Lord, as is read in the following. Where He also set an example for His followers, if they suffered persecution in one city, to flee to another. Finally, Paul, instructed by the Lord's example and precept, fled from Damascus, where he was threatened by the snares of the wicked. But having left there, he found countless people elsewhere who followed him to piety. Truly according to the laws of allegory, the Lord in that He went out from the synagogue, withdrew to the sea, everywhere encountering a large multitude coming to Him to be healed and taught, manifestly prefigured our salvation, to whom He deigned to come through faith, leaving Judea due to their perfidy. Rightly indeed are the incredulous nations, long tossed by the diverse windings of errors, compared to the instability, bitterness, and darkness of the fluctuating sea. But the Lord came to the sea with His disciples, and a large crowd from various provinces followed Him, because the hearts of the nations came to Him as the Apostles preached. And after He kindly consecrated in them a home dear to Himself, He already received many coming to Him generously and granted them to possess the desired salvation. To them aptly fits what follows: And He told His disciples to have a small boat ready for Him because of the crowd, lest they crush Him. For He healed many, so that they pressed upon Him, that they might touch Him. The small boat serving the Lord on the sea is indeed the Church, gathered from the nations, and crossing the waves of the passing world by the virtue of a free mind. The more the bosom of the heart expands to receive the grace of its Creator, the higher it rises above all the volumes of transient things, as a small boat tossed by the winds on the waves of a swelling sea. However, there is a difference between compressing the Lord and touching Him. For he touches Him who receives His faith and love with a true heart. They compress Him who disturb the peace of those in whom the truth used to dwell with carnal thoughts or even deeds. Therefore, it is aptly said that those who touched Him were saved, because indeed true faith and love are accustomed to generate eternal salvation. Because of the crowd, lest they compress Him, the Lord ascended into a boat, because fleeing the troubled minds of the carnal, He rejoices to come and make His abode with those who have learned to despise both the fleeting glory and the abasement of the world.
[Mark 3:11] -- "However many had plagues, unclean spirits, when they saw him, would fall down before him." Both groups would indeed fall down before the Lord, that is, both those who had plagues of physical infirmities and those who were afflicted by unclean spirits: but the sick, with a simple intention of obtaining health, and the demoniacs, or rather the demons dwelling in them, compelled by the force of divine fear, not only to fall down before him, but also to confess his majesty. For struck by the presence of his power, and exceedingly terrified, they dared not hide who they had already recognized was the Son of God. It is greatly to be wondered at, or rather deplored, the blindness of the Arians who, after the glory of his resurrection and ascension, after the faith of the Gospel had been spread throughout the whole world, after churches had been established among all nations, and the name of the Lord the Savior had been praised from the rising to the setting of the sun, suddenly deny that he is the Son of God, whom even the demons, while he was still clothed in mortal flesh, openly acknowledged to be the Son of God. For thus it continues: And they cried out, saying, 'You are the Son of God.' And he sternly ordered them not to make him known. But why he forbade unclean spirits to speak about him, the Psalmist makes clear, who says: To the sinner, however, God said, 'Why do you declare my statutes and take my covenant in your mouth? You hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you' (Psalm 49).
[Mark 3:12] -- Therefore, the sinner is forbidden to preach the Lord, lest anyone follow the erring while they preach. For the devil is a deceitful teacher, who often mixes falsehoods with truths, so that he may conceal the testimony of deceit under the appearance of truth. Moreover, it was not only the demons, who confessed unwillingly, that were willing to be silent about Christ, but also those who, healed by him, willingly wanted to confess. Indeed, even the apostles, who were to preach him throughout the whole world after his resurrection, were commanded to remain completely silent about him before his passion, lest the proclamation of his divine majesty prevent the dispensation of his passion, and with the passion delayed, the salvation of the world, which was to come through it, be denied."
[Mark 3:13-14] -- And going up into the mountain, he called to himself those whom he wanted, and they came to him, and he made it so that there were twelve with him. That mountain on which the Lord chose the apostles signifies the height of justice, by which they were to be instructed and which they were to preach to men. For because he was going to send them to preach the Gospel of the heavenly kingdom, he rightly wished to remind them, by the height of the place where they were chosen, not to dissolve their mind in low desires, but always to raise it to desire and seek higher things. Thus also, intending to give the law to his former people, he appeared on a mountain; from the mountain he thundered what was to be done. Indeed, because it was not yet time to say: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 4), but only to say, "Honor your father and your mother so that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you" (Exod. 20), these same words, however, typically promise us the eternal kingdom, which is in the land of the living: the people could not approach the Lord speaking on the mountain, but heard from below what was being said, because they did not yet know how to ascend with a mind capable of understanding the mysteries being mentioned; Moses alone, because he had learned to hear the law spiritually, ascended the summit of the mountain where God was. It is well said, that ascending the mountain, the Lord called to himself those he wanted. For it was not by their choice and zeal, but by divine will and grace, that they were called to apostleship. Hence, he also says to them elsewhere: "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you" (John 15).
[Mark 3:14] -- And he made it so that there were twelve with him. Certainly, for the sake of the mystery of grace, so that they might commend the salvation of the world, which they were to preach by word, also by their number. Indeed, three times four makes twelve. And three times four are the apostles sent to preach, so that they might baptize the nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit through all the regions of the fourfold world. Whence it is also written concerning the holy city, Jerusalem, descending from heaven from God, that it had three gates on the east, and three gates on the north, and three gates on the south, and three gates on the west (Rev 21). Where it is shown figuratively that, with the apostles and their successors preaching, all the nations throughout the world would enter the Church in the faith of the Holy Trinity. In which sacrament as well, the children of Israel once encamped around the tabernacle, so that on every side, in a square, three tribes would remain (Num 1). For undoubtedly the early Church which was in Judea was, surrounded on all sides by believing nations from the whole world, going to set up spiritual camps to God in faith and confession of the Holy Trinity.
[Mark 3:14-15] -- And to send them to preach the Gospel, He gave them the power to heal diseases and to cast out demons. After He forbid the unworthy spirits to preach, He chose the saints, who would cast out the impure spirits, and they themselves would preach the Gospel with a pure mind and tongue. To whom (as the evangelist Matthew writes) He also conferred the power of healing other sicknesses, and even of raising the dead, so that the greatness of the promised heavenly things might be attested by the greatness of the deeds, and the power shown might give faith to the words, and those who preached new things might also do new things. Whence also now, when the number of the faithful has grown, within the holy Church there are many who hold to the way of virtues without having the signs of virtues. For a miracle is displayed in vain outwardly, if there is lacking the work accomplished inwardly. For according to the voice of the master of the nations, tongues are a sign not for the faithful, but for the unbelievers (1 Cor 14).
[Mark 3:16] -- And he gave Simon the name Peter. Not now for the first time did he name Simon Peter, but long before when, as he was brought to him by his brother Andrew and looked at him, he said: You are Simon son of John; you shall be called Cephas, which means Peter (John I). But when the Evangelist wanted to list the names of the twelve apostles, he had to say Peter, he took care to briefly mention that he was not called this before, but that the Lord had so named him, although not then, but when John recorded the very words of the Lord, clearly making the listeners attentive. For if he had been called this before, you would not see the mystery of the rock in the same way, thinking that he was called so by chance, not by the providence of God. Therefore, he wanted him to be called something else first, so that from the very change of name, the vitality of the sacrament would be commended. The same Peter, then, in Greek or Latin, which is Cephas in Syrian. And in both languages, the name is derived from the rock: no doubt from that about which Paul says: And the rock was Christ (I Cor. X). For just as the true light, Christ, granted to the apostles to be called the light of the world, so also he bestowed on Simon, who believed in Christ the rock, the name of Peter. With another allusion to the etymology, he said: You are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my Church (Matt. XVI). But truly Simon, setting aside lamentation, or hearing sadness, is interpreted for that time when, after the resurrection, having seen the Lord, he set aside the sorrow of that death or his denial: but he immediately heard the sadness of his own death, with the Lord saying: But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish (John XXI).
[Mark 3:17] -- And James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James (it is understood from the previous verses that he called them to him when he went up into the mountain). And he gave them the names Boanerges, which means sons of thunder. They were aptly named sons of thunder, as one of them, resounding with that theological voice from heaven, which no one had known how to utter before, said: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, etc. (John I). It left such weighty power within it, that if he ever desired to thunder more, the world itself could not contain it. And both often deserved to be led apart and into the mountain by the Lord, and at times to perceive the terrifying sound from the cloud: This is my beloved son, listen to him (Mark IX). They also bore names most fitting to their merits. For James means supplanter. John, in whom is both grace, or the Lord's grace, as he is called. For he rejoiced to supplant the care of the flesh when the Lord called, and to despise the flesh itself when Herod killed him; and the latter, because of the grace of special love which he deserved through virginal glory, reclined on the chest of his Redeemer at the supper.
[Mark 3:18] -- And Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas. Andrew is a Greek name, and it means manly, from the fact that in Greek, a man is called Ἀνήρ. This name is most fittingly adorned for him who, upon John’s preaching, promptly ensured he followed, saw, and listened to the Lamb of God, and later, when called himself, left everything to follow Him and adhere to Him continually without delay. Philip is interpreted as the mouth of a lamp or lamps. And rightly so, because called by the Lord, he received the light of grace, which enlightened and kindled his heart, and promptly sought to share it with his brother through the service of his mouth, saying: We have found Him whom Moses wrote about in the Law and the Prophets, Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth (John I). Bartholomew is a Syriac, not Hebrew name, and it means the son of the one who suspends the waters, which evidently sounds like the Son of God, who lifts the minds of His preachers to contemplate heavenly things, so that as they soar more freely aloft, they may more fruitfully intoxicate the hearts of earthly men with the drops of their words. Matthew is called donated, namely because by the great gift of the Lord, he, from being a tax collector and a publican, was deputed to the office of apostle and evangelist. Thomas means abyss or twin, which in Greek is Δίδυμος, both of which interpretations suit his condition. Didymus he could rightly be called, because of his doubtful heart in believing the fact of the Lord’s resurrection. He could equally justly be called an abyss when with sure faith he penetrated the depth of the Lord’s power celebrated in the resurrection. Indeed, it should be noted that listing the apostles by name, the evangelist Matthew places them thus: Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas, and Matthew the publican. Therefore, the other evangelists, when naming them together, place Matthew first and then Thomas, and they do not designate him as a publican, lest recalling his former manner of life, they seem to reproach the evangelist. But he himself indeed puts Thomas before him and calls himself a publican, so that where sin abounded, grace might much more abound (Romans V). And James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus. James the son of Alphaeus he listed with an additional identifier, to distinguish him from James the son of Zebedee. He is the one who in the Gospels is called the brother of the Lord, and in the Epistle to the Galatians: since Mary the wife of Alphaeus was the sister of Mary the mother of the Lord, whom John the evangelist surnames Mary of Clopas, perhaps because either the same Alphaeus was also called Clopas or Mary, after Alphaeus's death following the birth of James, married Clopas. For since James could rightly be called the son of Alphaeus, meaning learned, the apostles themselves attest, who immediately after the Lord’s passion, appointed him to govern the church of Jerusalem. Thaddaeus is the same whom Luke in his Gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles names Judas of James. He was indeed the brother of James the brother of the Lord, as he writes in his Epistle. Therefore he was also called the brother of the Lord, as attested by his fellow countrymen, who, marveling at his virtues, said: Is this not the carpenter's son and Mary’s, brother of James and Joseph, and Judas, and Simon (Matthew XIII)?
[Mark 3:19] -- And Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And these he listed with an addition, to distinguish Simon Peter and Judas James. But Simon the Canaanite received his surname from the village of Cana in Galilee, which the evangelist Luke translated as Simon the Zealot. Indeed, Cana means zeal. The Canaanite is called Zealot, that is, emulator. But Judas Iscariot, either from the village where he was born or from the tribe of Issachar, took his name as a premonition of his damnation. Indeed, Issachar, which means reward, hints at the price of betrayal. Iscariot, which is interpreted as a memory of death, shows that he was not persuaded suddenly but had long contemplated the crime of betraying the Lord. He was chosen among the apostles not by imprudence, but by providence. For how great is the truth, which even the service of an adversary does not weaken? How great is the morality of the Lord, who preferred to risk His judgment among us rather than His affection? For He had taken on the fragility of man, and therefore did not refuse these parts of human weakness. He wanted to be abandoned, He wanted to be betrayed, He wanted to be handed over by His apostle, so that you, abandoned by a companion, betrayed by a companion, may bear moderately that your judgment was in error, your benefit was lost. When He had ordained the apostles on the mountain, to send them forth to preach the Gospel, He aptly added:
[Mark 3:20] -- And they come to the house. For He led the apostles chosen on the mountain back to the house, as if silently admonishing them that after receiving the rank of apostleship, they should return to their conscience, and that the greater care they have taken on of teaching the people, the more diligently they should consider and penetrate the dwelling places of their own minds, and lest anything be found there that might offend the eyes of the hidden inspector, they should seek it out with diligent examination. For thus, each one rightly governs his neighbor if he first thoroughly explores and purges from his own heart whatever wickedness was within.
[Mark 3:20] -- And again the crowd gathered, so much so that they could not even eat bread. Oh, how happy is the occupation of the Savior, how blessed is the multitude of the gathering crowd, to whom there was so much eagerness to hear the word of God, so much care to obtain salvation, that to the author of salvation and to those who were with Him, not even the hour of eating remained free from the solace of imparting life to the needy! Would that, Lord Jesus, in our times as well, you might grant as much grace to your faithful, who, by their studiousness in learning, hinder their teachers not only from the desire for carnal pleasures but sometimes also from the very reception of daily bread. But let us see how much the external crowd esteems the presence of their relatives. It follows,
[Mark 3:21] -- And when his own people heard of it, they went out to seize him, for they said, "He is out of his mind." Truly, as he himself says elsewhere, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house." For those whom others desire to approach, see, and hear as the author of life and the wisdom of God, his relatives decide that he must be bound as if he were out of his mind. Since they could not grasp the depth of the wisdom they heard, they believed that he spoke with an alien mind: akin to the example of those who could not bear the sacrament of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, and said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" And consequently, they went away, and no longer walked with him. Allegorically, however, in that the crowd frequently convenes to him, and he is scorned by his own as if he were mad, the salvation of the believing from the Gentiles is approved, and the envy and treachery of the Jews is noted. Of whom John says, "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." (John 1:11) There is indeed a great difference between those who do not understand the word of God because of the dullness of their minds and those who deliberately blaspheme and persecute what they understand. For there still remains a hope of salvation for these if perhaps they understand; but for those who are unwilling to understand to act well, and devise iniquity on their bed, what hope of salvation remains any longer, when they strive to reject by detesting and persecuting what they have rightly understood for the salvation of their souls? For consider what follows.
[Mark 3:22] -- And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebub," and, "By the prince of demons he casts out demons." It is not without reason that those who brought such blasphemy against the Lord are said to have come down from Jerusalem; but it surely foreshadowed that he would be persecuted by the citizens of that place unto death. Indeed, we read above that a great crowd from Galilee followed him, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea and beyond the Jordan, and those around Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, having heard what he was doing, came to him. Therefore, the crowd coming from Jerusalem followed the Lord, as also from other regions of the Jews, or even of the Gentiles. For who does not know that Idumea, Tyre, and Sidon were provinces or cities of the Gentiles? But the scribes coming down from Jerusalem persecuted him with dreadful blasphemies, because it was clearly to be in the time of his passion, that a crowd of the Jewish people would bring him to Jerusalem with palms and praises, the Gentiles would desire to see him, but the scribes and elders of the people would plot his death. Therefore, to the crowds, who seemed less instructed, always marveling at the deeds of the Lord, they endeavored to either deny these things, or to corrupt those which they could not deny with a sinister interpretation, as if these were not the works of Divinity, but of the filthiest spirit, that is Beelzebub, who was the god of Ekron. For Beel is indeed Baal, but Zebub is called a fly. Nor according to certain faulty copies is the letter k or d to be read at the end of the name, but b. Therefore Beelzebub is interpreted as Baal of the flies, that is the man of the flies, or having flies, due indeed to the filth of sacrificial blood, from whose most vile rite or name they designated the prince of demons.
[Mark 3:23] -- And calling them together, he said to them in parables: How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. A kingdom and city divided against itself cannot persist. But just as small things grow through harmony, so the greatest things fall apart through discord (Sallust). Therefore, if Satan fights against himself, and a demon is an enemy of another demon, the end of the world should already have come so that adversarial powers would not have a place in it, since war among them means peace for humans. But if you think, O Scribes and Pharisees, that the departure of demons is due to obedience to their prince, to deceive ignorant men with fraudulent simulation, what can you say about the health of bodies, which the Lord has brought about. It is one thing if you assign to demons also the weaknesses of members and the signs of spiritual powers. And if Satan has risen up against himself, he is divided, and he cannot stand, but has an end. By saying this, he wanted to be understood from their own confession that by not believing in him they had chosen to be in the kingdom of the devil, which surely could not stand divided against itself. Therefore, let the Pharisees choose what they will. If Satan cannot cast out Satan, they could find nothing to say against the Lord. But if he can, they should more carefully consider themselves, and depart from his kingdom, which cannot stand divided against itself.
[Mark 3:27] -- No one can enter the house of the strong man and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house. He calls the strong man the devil, his goods, the men deceived by him; his house, the world which lies in wickedness. In which until the coming of the Savior, he exercised a wretchedly pacified dominion, because he rested quietly in the hearts of the unbelievers without any contradiction. But the Lord bound the strong man, that is, he restrained the devil from deceiving the elect, and then plundered his house, because he united to the members of his Church those whom he foresaw would be rescued from the devil's snares and whom he designated to various orders of dignity within it. Or certainly, he plundered his house because he distributed all the parts of the world, over which the ancient enemy once ruled, to the successors of the apostles, so that each in his own province would lead back the people converted from error to the way of life. The Lord therefore showed through the parable, but now very clearly, that he did not free men from demons through a deceitful operation in agreement with them, as they slandered, but with a completely different and opposing power of divinity: and thus they committed a great crime who said that what they recognized to be of God was from the devil.
[Mark 3:28] -- Amen, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter. All sins and blasphemies are not indiscriminately forgiven to all men, but to those who perform worthy repentance for their errors in this life. Nor has the perverse assertion of Novatian any place, so as to deny pardon to the penitent who have lapsed in martyrdom; nor Origen, so as to assert that after the universal judgment, even granted the immense number of passing ages, all sinners and blasphemers will obtain forgiveness of sins and be led to the heavenly kingdom. This error is also refuted by the following words of the Lord, when he adds:
[Mark 3:29] -- Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, has no forgiveness forever, but is guilty of an eternal sin. Therefore, whoever understandingly and manifestly denies the works of God, spurred by envy, calumniates, and says that Christ, the Word of God, and the works of the Holy Spirit are of Beelzebub, to him it will not be forgiven neither in this age nor in the future. Not that we deny that if he desires to repent, he can be forgiven by Him who wishes all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth; but we believe that the blasphemer who believes in the Judge and Giver of pardon, who says this blasphemy is never to be forgiven, admits his merits require that he never reaches forgiveness nor the fruits of worthy repentance. As John the Evangelist most truthfully wrote about some who were blinded due to the merit of their blasphemy: "Therefore they could not believe, because, again Isaiah said: He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them" (John XII). Therefore, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, by which anyone, in the likeness of the devil and his angels, does not shrink from attacking the majesty of the Deity against his conscience, has no forgiveness forever, but is guilty of an eternal sin, as the evangelist clearly declares, who, having placed this testimony of the Lord, adds and says:
[Mark 3:30] -- Because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit." For those who neither believe in the Holy Spirit nor believe He is God, nor believe He is indeed God but less than the Father and the Son, and confess this, being led by human ignorance rather than devilish envy, are held by the crime of unforgivable blasphemy: specifically those Jewish leaders and others corrupted by a similar pestilence of envy, blaspheming against majesty, will perish without end. However, what is said according to Matthew, that whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, or speaks a word against the Holy Spirit, will not have forgiveness either in this age or in the future, is given to be understood that some faults are forgiven in this age, while others in the future. For what is denied about one fault, the consequent understanding is clear because it is granted about some. Nevertheless, it should be believed that this can happen with small and minor sins, such as continual idle talk, immoderate laughter, or the sin of concern for familial matters, which is rarely conducted without fault even by those who know how to avoid blame, or in not serious faults by the error of ignorance, all of which still weigh after death if not forgiven while still in this life. However, it should be known that no one will obtain any purification for even the smallest sins unless, while still in this life, they merit to obtain it through good deeds.
[Mark 3:31] -- And his mother and his brothers come, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling him. And a crowd was seated around him, etc. The brothers of the Lord, not to be thought sons of the blessed ever-virgin Mary, according to Helvidius, nor sons of Joseph by another wife, according to some, but rather to be understood as his relatives. Surely, the fact that the Lord, when requested by his mother and brothers, does not leave his duty of preaching, is not a rejection of his mother's pious duty, whose commandment is, Honor your father and your mother, but instead, he shows that he owes more to the paternal mysteries than to maternal affections: instructing us by example as well as by word, when he says, Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me (Matt. X). He does not contemptuously disregard his brothers, but, preferring the spiritual work to the kinship of the flesh, he teaches that the more religious bond of the hearts is greater than that of the bodies. Mystically, however, the mother and brothers of Jesus are the Synagogue, from whose flesh he is born, and the people of the Jews, who, while the Savior is teaching inside, coming, are unable to enter: they spiritually neglect to understand his words. For the crowd, having preoccupied, enters his house to listen to his words, as the evangelist Matthew declares: because, with Judea hesitating, the Gentiles flocked to Christ and, by faith growing nearer, received the inner mysteries of life with so much more capacity of mind. According to what the Psalmist says, Come to him, and be enlightened (Psalm XXXIII).
[Mark 3:32] -- And they say to him: Behold your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. And responding to them, he said: Who is my mother and my brothers? Inside is the word, inside is the light. Therefore elsewhere, he says, so that those who enter may see the light (Luke VIII). If then, those standing outside are not recognized even as parents, and perhaps they are not recognized for the sake of our example, how will we be recognized if we stand outside? For those standing outside, his kin, unwilling to see the Lord, while the Jews, not seeking the spiritual sense in the law, fixed themselves outside to the keeping of the letter, and as if compelling Christ to go out to teach carnal matters, rather than consenting to enter to learn the spiritual.
[Mark 3:34] -- And looking around at those who were sitting around him, he said: Behold, my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother, and sister, and mother. When he who does the will of God is called the sister and brother of the Lord, it is not surprising due to both sexes being gathered to faith. But it is very astonishing how even mother is also said. For he deigned to call his faithful disciples brothers, saying: Go, announce to my brothers. Whoever, therefore, is able to become the brother of the Lord by coming to faith, it must be asked how he can also be mother. But we must know that he who is the brother and sister of Jesus by believing, becomes a mother by preaching. For he as it were births the Lord, whom he has infused into the heart of the listener. And he becomes his mother if the love of the Lord is generated in the mind of the neighbor through his voice.