Chapter 5
[Mark 5:1] -- And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. Gerasa is a notable city of Arabia beyond the Jordan, attached to the mountain of Gilead, which the tribe of Manasseh held, not far from the lake of Tiberias, into which the swine were cast. It signifies, however, the nation of the Gentiles, which after the slumber of the passion and the glory of his resurrection, the Savior deigned to visit through the preachers he sent. Hence Gerasa, or Gergesenes (as some read), well interprets as "casting out the colonist," or "the approaching stranger"; namely, indicating that the gentile people both expelled the hostile inhabitant from their heart and who were far, became near by the blood of Christ.
[Mark 5:2] -- And when he had come out of the ship, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him from the tombs, who had his dwelling among the tombs. This man, who was vexed by an unclean spirit and was mad to the Lord but soon to be healed, holds the figure of the gentile people, who, up to the time of the Lord's incarnation, deluded by demonic doctrines, worshiped idols as God. He had his dwelling among the tombs because he delighted in dead works, that is, in sins. For what are the bodies of the faithless if not certain sepulchres of the dead, in which the word of God does not dwell, but a soul dead in sins is enclosed?
[Mark 5:4] -- And no one was able to bind him anymore, not even with chains, for he had often been bound with fetters and chains, and he had torn the chains apart and smashed the fetters: and no one could tame him. By chains and fetters are signified the severe and hard laws of the Gentiles, by which sins are restrained even in their republic. And with the chains broken (as Luke writes), he was driven by the demon into the wilderness, who, having also transgressed those laws, was led by desire to those crimes that already exceeded common custom.
[Mark 5:5] -- And always, night and day, he was in the tombs and in the mountains, crying out and cutting himself with stones. Always, night and day, the demoniac raged because paganism, whether struggling with the adverse circumstances of things or any peace and prosperity of a flattering world might smile, he never knew how to shake off the yoke of serving evil spirits from the neck of his mind. Through the foulness of his deeds, he lay as if in the tombs, wandered on the mountain peaks through the act of pride, and through the words of the hardest infidelity, as if frenziedly seizing stones, he cut himself. But with John the Baptist bearing witness, the Lord raised children for Abraham from the stones, while he turned the hard hearts of infidels to the grace of piety.
[Mark 5:6] -- But seeing Jesus from afar, he ran and worshipped him, and crying out with a loud voice, he said: What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? How great is the madness of Arius to believe Jesus is a creature and not God, whom the demons believe to be the Son of the Most High God and tremble! What impiety of the Jews it is to say that he cast out demons by the prince of demons, whom the demons themselves confess to have nothing in common with him! This very thing that they shouted in the frenzy of the demoniac then, they did not cease to say and confess later in the shrines of idols, namely that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Most High God, and that they have no peace or fellowship with him.
[Mark 5:7] -- I adjure you by God, do not torment me. For he was saying to him: Come out of the man, unclean spirit. The enemy of human salvation considers it no small torment to cease harming a man, and the longer he used to possess him, the harder he agrees to let him go. Hence, it must be earnestly studied that if at any time, as humans, we are overcome by the devil, we should immediately strive to escape his snares, lest, by resisting his strength somewhat tardily, it becomes more laborious at some point to expel him.
[Mark 5:9] -- And he asked him, "What is your name?" And he said to him, "Legion is my name, for we are many." He inquires not as one ignorant of the name, but so that, once the plague that tormented the man had been publicly confessed, the virtue of healing might appear more gracious. Even the priests of our time, who know how to cast out demons through the grace of exorcism, are accustomed to say that the afflicted can only be healed to the extent that they can disclose, by confessing openly, everything that they have suffered from unclean spirits through sight, hearing, taste, touch, or any other sense of the body or mind, whether awake or asleep. Now, what the spirit said, "Legion is my name, for we are many," signifies that the people of the nations are not subjected to any one individual but to countless and various rites of idolatry. Against this, it is written that the multitude of the believers were of one heart and one mind (Acts IV). Hence, well in the construction of Babylon, the unity of languages was shattered by the spirit of pride, while in Jerusalem, the diversity of languages was united through the grace of the holy. And that confusion, this vision of peace, because evidently in various languages and nations, one faith and piety fortifies the elect throughout the world, bringing about peace. But for the reprobates, several sects, more than languages, dissociate and confuse them.
[Mark 5:10] -- And he pleaded with Him greatly, that He would not send them out of the region. In the Gospel of Luke, it is written thus: And they begged Him not to command them to go into the abyss. Therefore, the demons knew that at some time in the future they would be sent into the abyss by the coming of the Lord, not foreseeing the future themselves, but recalling what the prophets had said about them. And so, the glory of the Lord’s coming, which they marveled at, they feared would extend to their own condemnation.
[Mark 5:11] -- There was a large herd of pigs feeding near the mountain. And the spirits implored him, saying: Send us into the pigs, that we may enter them. And Jesus immediately granted them. Therefore, he allowed what they were asking for, that through the destruction of the pigs, an occasion for salvation might be offered to humans. For the shepherds, witnessing these things, immediately reported them to the city. Let the Manichaean be ashamed. If the souls of humans and beasts are from the same substance and author, how can two thousand pigs be drowned for the salvation of one person? In their destruction, however, men who are unclean, devoid of voice and reason, are judged figuratively, who, feeding on the mountain of pride, delight in filthy actions. For demons can dominate over such through the worship of idols. For unless someone lives like a pig, the devil will not take power over him, or only to test him, but not even to destroy him.
[Mark 5:13] -- And the unclean spirits, coming out, entered into the pigs, and with great force, the herd rushed into the sea, about two thousand of them, and were drowned in the sea. This signifies that once the Church is glorified and the people of the Gentiles are freed from the domination of demons, those who refused to believe in Christ engage in their sacrilegious rites in secluded places, submerged in blind and profound curiosity. And it should be noted that the unclean spirits would not have gone into the pigs unless the gentle Savior had granted it to those who were asking, whom he could certainly consign to the abyss. Wishing to teach us something necessary, namely, that they were much less able to harm humans by their own power, who could not even harm any kind of cattle. This power, however, the good God can give us by hidden justice, he cannot give unjustly.
[Mark 5:14] -- But those who fed them fled, and reported it in the city and in the fields. That the shepherds of the pigs, fleeing, reported these things, signifies that even some leaders of the impious, although they flee from the Christian law, nonetheless proclaim its power among the nations with awe and wonder.
[Mark 5:14-15] -- And they went out to see what had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the man who had been possessed by demons sitting, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid, etc. It is written in the Gospel of Luke, "Sitting at his feet." It signifies that the multitude, delighted by their old life, honors indeed but does not want to endure the Christian law, saying that they cannot fulfill it, yet admiring the faithful people who have been healed from their former lost way of life. To sit at the Lord's feet is for him from whom demons had exited, just as those corrected from sins with fixed intention of the mind, to stare at the tracks of their Savior which they follow. To be clothed again is to receive with a sound mind the pursuit of virtues that the insane had lost. This figure fits aptly with that parable of the Lord in which the prodigal and extravagant son, returning to the father, is immediately dressed in the first robe with a ring, clearly indicating that whoever truly repents with a heart for what was lost can, by the grace given by Christ, recover the first works of righteousness they had fallen from, along with the ring of unbroken faith.
[Mark 5:17] -- And they began to ask him to depart from their region. The Gerasenes, aware of their own frailty, judged themselves unworthy of the Lord's presence, not grasping the word of God, nor yet able to bear the weight of wisdom with their still weak minds. This is also read to have happened to Peter himself upon seeing the miracle of the fish: and to the widow of Zarephath, who recognized that her hospitality was blessed by the presence of the blessed Elijah, nonetheless felt burdened, saying: "What do you have against me, man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to kill my son" (1 Kings 17).
[Mark 5:18-19] -- And when he was entering the ship, the man who had been vexed by the demon began to beseech him that he might be with him; and he did not admit him, but said to him: Go to your house, to your own people, and announce to them how much the Lord has done for you, and has had mercy on you. These words can rightly be understood from that saying of the Apostle when he says: To dissolve and to be with Christ is far better, but to remain in the flesh is necessary for your sake (Philippians 1); so that everyone understands that after the remission of sins, one should return to a good conscience and serve the Gospel, for the salvation of others too, so that afterwards he may rest with Christ, and not neglect the ministering suitable to the redemption of the brethren, by wanting too prematurely to be with Christ. But when Matthew mentions two being healed from the legion of demons, whereas Mark and Luke mention one, you should understand that one of them was a person of some higher and more renowned position, whom that region grieved most deeply for, and for whose salvation they were most anxious. This is what the two Evangelists, wanting to indicate, decided to mention only him, whose fame from that deed had spread more widely and more famously. But also, the climax of the allegory agrees, because just as one possessed by a demon, in the same way two gentile peoples do not inconveniently express the type. For when Noah generated three sons, only the family of one was received into the possession of God, from the remaining two, different nations who were enslaved to idols were procreated.
[Mark 5:22] -- And there came one of the rulers of the synagogue, named Jairus, and seeing him, he fell at his feet, etc. In this reading, where the ruler of the synagogue asks for the salvation of his daughter, but as the Lord goes to his house, a woman with an issue of blood precedes and seizes health, and then the daughter of the ruler attains the health she wished for, indeed called back to life from death, the salvation of the human race is shown, which the Lord coming in the flesh so dispensed, that first some from Israel would come to faith, then the fullness of the Gentiles would enter, and thus all of Israel would be saved. Who then is this ruler of the synagogue, who comes to the Lord to ask for his daughter, better understood as Moses himself? Hence he is well called Jairus, which means enlightening or enlightened, because he received the words of life to give to us, and by these words he enlightens others, and he himself is enlightened by the Holy Spirit, which enabled him to write or teach vital instructions. Seeing Jesus, he fell at His feet, because foreseeing in the spirit the Lord coming in the flesh, he surrendered himself to His power with a humble heart: he thus recognized that at the end of the age the man would be incarnate, understanding that He existed as God eternally before all ages. For if the head of Christ is God, what is more fitting than to accept His feet, which touched the earth of our mortality, as His assumed humanity? And the ruler of the synagogue falling at the feet of Jesus means that the lawgiver with the whole offspring of the patriarchs recognizes and admits, along with the Apostle, that the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Cor. 1:25).
[Mark 5:23] -- And he earnestly begged Him, saying: “My daughter is at the point of death; come, lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” In the Gospel of Luke, it is written that she was his only daughter about twelve years old, and she was dying. Therefore, the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue is the Synagogue itself, uniquely composed by legal institution, as if it were the only one born of Moses. And this girl, as if in the twelfth year of life, that is, as the time of puberty approached, was dying, because nobly brought up by the prophets, after having reached the years of understanding and after she should have generated spiritual offspring for God, suddenly struck by the weakening errors, hopelessly abandoned the paths of spiritual life, and if not assisted by Christ, would have completely fallen into dreadful death.
[Mark 5:24] -- And he went with him, and a great crowd followed him and pressed upon him. The Lord, proceeding to heal the girl, is pressed by the crowd, because while offering salutary teachings to the Jewish people, by which he might lift up their conscience sick with vices, he was burdened by the harmful habits of carnal people.
[Mark 5:25] -- And a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years. The woman flowing with blood, but cured by the Lord, is the Church gathered from the Gentiles, which was polluted by the innate flow of carnal pleasures and was already separated from the congregation of the faithful, but while the word of God was determined to save Judea, she seized salvation with certain hope, already prepared and promised to others. It is noteworthy that both the daughter of the synagogue ruler was twelve years old, and this woman had a flow of blood for twelve years; that is, at the same time when the former was born, the latter began to be ill. For at nearly the same age of this world, both the Synagogue in the patriarchs was born, and the nation of the foreign Gentiles began to be defiled by the foulness of idolatry throughout the world. For the flow of blood can be rightly understood in two ways, that is, both concerning the pollution of idolatry and concerning those things that are done with the delight of flesh and blood.
[Mark 5:26] -- And she had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse. Understand physicians either as false theologians, or as philosophers and secular law teachers, who, disputing about virtues and vices very subtly, promised to offer useful precepts for living and believing to mortals, or certainly those unclean spirits themselves, who, like consulting men, pushed themselves to be worshiped as gods. By eagerly listening to them, the Gentiles wasted the powers of natural industry all the more, but were no less able to be cleansed from the filth of their iniquity. But when she recognized that the Jewish people were sick and the true physician from heaven had arrived, she also began to hope for and seek a remedy for her illness.
[Mark 5:27-28] -- When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, "If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed." And immediately the source of her bleeding dried up. The Church comes and touches the Lord when it approaches Him through the truth of faith. However, it comes from behind, or as He Himself said: "If anyone serves me, he must follow me" (John 12). And elsewhere it is commanded: "You shall walk after the Lord your God." Or, because not seeing the Lord present in the flesh, after the mysteries of His incarnation had been fulfilled, it reached the grace of faith and recognition of Him. Thus, by the participation in His sacraments, it deserved to be saved from sins, as if by the touch of His garments, it dried up the source of her blood. For the source of blood is the origin of sin. The source of anyone's blood is the beginning of impure thought, from which all sin is born. But the Lord, with His evangelical words, not only sought to restrain evil deeds and words but also to uproot the root of wicked thoughts, granting that both be cleansed by evangelical sacraments, as if He endowed His garments with the power to dry up the source of filth.
[Mark 5:30] -- And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself the power that had gone out from Him, turned to the crowd and said: "Who touched My garments?" He asked not to learn what He did not know, but that the power He clearly knew, indeed which He Himself had given, might be declared in the woman, and by the declared and recognized power of faith, many might reach salvation.
[Mark 5:31] -- And His disciples said to Him, "You see the crowd pressing against You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'" The crowd pressing around Him in every direction, one believing woman touches the Lord, because those burdened by various disordered heresies or perverse habits, only the heart faithfully venerating the Catholic Church, is honored. For just as some seeing do not see, and hearing do not hear, so too those touching do not touch, who touch Christ not with a simple but with a doubtful or feigned heart. Therefore, to a certain one loving but not yet fully believing, He Himself says: "Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father (John 20). Clearly stating what it means to truly touch Him, namely to believe Him equal to the Father.
[Mark 5:32] -- And He looked around to see her who had done this. The Lord does not forget His faithful, nor does He cease to look upon those who hope in Him, but judges all who merit salvation as worthy of His regard and compassion. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him.
[Mark 5:33] -- But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done in her, came and fell down before Him, and told Him the whole truth. Behold where the questioning of the Lord was directed, namely that the woman openly confessing the truth of her long-standing infirmity, sudden belief, divine propitiation, and the healing given to her, would herself be more firmly confirmed in faith, and would provide an example of salvation and life to many. Finally, it follows.
[Mark 5:34] -- He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.” He did not say, “Your faith will save you,” but “has saved you.” For in the fact that you believed, you are already saved. While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue leader's house, saying, "Your daughter has died; why bother the teacher any further?" As the woman was cured of the flow of blood, the daughter of the synagogue leader was immediately reported dead, because while the Church is cleansed from the stain of sins and called a daughter due to the merit of faith, the Synagogue, filled with both disbelief and jealousy, is dissolved in mourning. Disbelief, because it did not want to believe in Christ. Jealousy, because it grieves that the Church believes. For it is written in the Acts of the Apostles: “On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.” (Acts 13). And what the messengers said to the synagogue leader, "Why bother the teacher any further?" is still said by those today who see such a desolate state of the synagogue that they do not believe it can be restored, and thus do not consider it necessary to ask for its resurrection. But what is impossible with human beings is possible with God (Mark 10); hence it fittingly follows:
[Mark 5:36] -- “But Jesus, overhearing the word that was spoken, said to the synagogue leader, ‘Do not be afraid; only believe.’” The synagogue leader is understood as the teacher of the law, about whom the Lord says, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat” (Matthew 23). For if he himself is willing to believe, the Synagogue subject to him will also be saved.
[Mark 5:38] -- And they come to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and see the tumult, and they weep and wail greatly. And, he says, let all who hope in you rejoice, they will exult forever, and you will dwell in them. However, because the Synagogue deservedly lost this joy of the Lord's indwelling due to unbelief, it lies as if dead among those who weep and wail. Yet, heavenly mercy does not allow it to perish utterly, but rather, towards the end of the age, according to the election of grace, it restores its remnants to salvation and life. Whence it is aptly added:
[Mark 5:39] -- And entering, he said to them: Why are you troubled and weeping? The girl is not dead, but sleeping. To men she was dead, who could not raise her, but to God she was sleeping, in whose arrangement, the soul was received and lived, and the body rested to be resurrected. Hence, the Christian custom has prevailed that the dead who are undoubted to be resurrected are called sleeping; as the Apostle says: We do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who sleep, so that you may not grieve as the rest who have no hope (1 Thess. 4). But also in part of the allegory, while the soul that sins itself shall die, however that which the Lord foresees to be about to be resurrected and to come to eternal life, though dead to us, could not incongruously be said to have slept to Him.
[Mark 5:40] -- And they laughed at him. But he, having ejected them all, takes the father and mother of the girl, etc. Because they preferred to mock the word of the one raising rather than to believe, they are deservedly excluded outside, as unworthy to see the power of the one raising and the mystery of the one rising. Likewise, the crowd is ejected outside so that the girl may be raised, because if the importunate crowd of secular cares is not first expelled from the innermost parts of the heart, the soul which lies dead within will not rise. For while it scatters itself through countless thoughts of earthly desires, it cannot collect itself back to the consideration of itself at all.
[Mark 5:41] -- And holding the hand of the girl, he said to her: Talitha cumi, which is translated: Little girl, I say to you, arise. A diligent reader might ask why the truthful Evangelist, explaining the words of the Savior, added from his own: I say to you, when in the Syrian language he used, nothing more was said than: Little girl, arise. Unless perhaps he thought it necessary to convey the force of the Lord's command, aiming to express the meaning of the speaker rather than the exact words to his readers. For it is known to be customary for the Evangelists and apostles, when they take testimonies from the Old Testament, to place greater emphasis on the prophetic sense rather than the words. And the Lord, holding the hand of the girl, raised her, because unless the hands of the Jews, which are full of blood, are first purified, their synagogue, which is dead, will not rise.
[Mark 5:42] -- And immediately the girl rose and walked. Well, she rose and walked. For whomever the heavenly hand of mercy touches to revive from the dead due to sins, not only must he rise from the filth and lethargy of crimes, but he must also immediately advance in good works, evidently according to the psalmist, entering without blemish and practicing works of justice.
[Mark 5:42] -- And they were amazed with great astonishment. And He strongly commanded them that no one should know this. And He commanded that something should be given her to eat. As a testimony of true resurrection, He commanded that food be given to the girl, lest it be thought by unbelievers to be not truth but a phantom that appeared. But also, if anyone has risen from spiritual death, it is necessary that they are soon fed with heavenly bread, and indeed become partakers of the divine word and the sacred altar. For according to the moral understanding, those three dead whom the Savior raised in the bodies signify three kinds of resurrection of souls. Indeed, some, by giving consent to evil pleasure, cause death to themselves by the hidden thought of sin. But implying that such people should be revived, the Savior raised the daughter of the synagogue leader, who was not yet carried out but died at home, as if harboring the vice secretly in the heart. Others, not only consenting to harmful pleasure but also committing the evil wherein they take pleasure, bring their dead out, as it were, beyond the gates. And demonstrating that these too can be resurrected if they repent, He raised the young man, the son of the widow, carried out beyond the city's gates, and restored him to his mother, because He restored the soul repenting from the darkness of sin to the unity of the Church. Some, however, not only by thinking or doing illicit things, but also by the very habit of sinning, corrupt themselves as if by burying. Yet neither for these to be raised is the virtue and grace of the Savior lesser, if indeed there are thoughtful souls devoted to Christ who watch over their salvation like devoted sisters. For to indicate this, He raised Lazarus, who had been in the tomb for four days, and because his sister testified that he already smelled bad, as indeed notorious acts of vice are usually accompanied by a bad reputation. It must be noted, however, that the graver the death of the soul, the more intensely the fervor of penance must persist for it to deserve to rise. For lighter and daily errors can be cured by lighter penance. Wanting to secretly show this, the Lord resurrected the girl lying in the room with a very easy and brief word, saying: Girl, arise. And due to the ease of resurrection, He denied she was dead. But the young man carried out was resurrected with more words, as he had to be emphasized with: Young man, I say to you, arise. The four-day dead, however, needed that Jesus, groaning in spirit, troubled Himself, weep, groan again, and cry out with a great voice: Lazarus, come forth. And thus at last the one who was considered hopeless, shunning the burden of darkness, was restored to life and light. But it is also noted that since public offense requires public remedy, but lighter sins can be removed by lighter and secret penance, the girl lying at home arises with few witnesses, and it is strongly commanded that they disclose it to no one. The young man outside the gate is resurrected while accompanied and watched by many. Lazarus, called from the tomb, became known to such an extent that due to the testimony of those who saw, many people met the Lord with palms, and many Jews went away and believed in Jesus because of him. The Lord heard of the fourth dead man announced by a disciple, but since there were no living people to pray for his resurrection, He said: Let the dead bury their dead (Luke 9), that is, let the wicked weigh down the wicked with harmful praises: and because there was no just person to correct in mercy, let the oil of the sinner make their heads fat.