Mark 2 · The Lantern

A few days later Jesus went back to Capernaum. And when the people heard that He was home,

(de Con. Evan. ii. 25) But Matthew writes this miracle as if it were done in the city of the Lord, whilst Mark places it in Capernaum, which would be more difficult of solution, if Matthew had also named Nazareth.

This is not however the paralytic, whose cure is related by John, (John 5) for he had no man with him, this one had four; he is cured in the pool of the sheep market, but this one in a house. It is the same man, however, whose cure is related by Matthew (Matt. 9) and Mark. But mystically, Christ is still in Capernaum, in the house of consolation.

(Vict. Aut. e Cat. in Marc.) Or else, Matthew called Capernaum His city because He went there frequently, and there did many miracles. It goes on: And it was noised that he was in the house, &c. For the desire of hearing Him was stronger than the toil of approaching Him.

they gathered in such large numbers that there was no more room, not even outside the door, as Jesus spoke the word to them.

Then a paralytic was brought to Him, carried by four men.

Since they were unable to get to Jesus through the crowd, they uncovered the roof above Him, made an opening, and lowered the paralytic on his mat.

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking in their hearts,

“Why does this man speak like this? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Now the commandment was given to man by the Word. For Adam, it is said, "heard the voice of the Lord God." Rightly then does His Word say to man, "Thy sins are forgiven thee;" He, the same against whom we had sinned in the beginning, grants forgiveness of sins in the end.

In their ministry of the forgiveness of sin, pastors do not exercise the right of some independent power. For not in their own name but in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit do they forgive sins. They ask, the Godhead forgives. The service is enabled by humans, but the gift comes from the Power on high.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA.a; Now they accuse Him of blasphemy, anticipating the sentence of His death: for there was a command in the Law, that whosoever blasphemed should be put to death. And this charge they laid upon Him, because He claimed for Himself the divine power of remitting sins: wherefore it is added, Who can forgive sin, save God only?

At once Jesus knew in His spirit that they were thinking this way within themselves. “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?” He asked.

“Which is easier: to say to a paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’?

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...” He said to the paralytic,

But by means of that light, which is of one substance with Thee, Thou hast given light to those that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, in order that in Thy light they might see the light of knowledge; and it has seemed good to Thee, by means of our Lord and Creator, to fashion us again unto immortality; and Thou hast graciously given unto us a return to Paradise by me…

(ubi sup.) A carnal sign therefore is given, that the spiritual sign may be proved, although it belongs to the same power to do away with the distempers of both soul and body; whence it follows: And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all.

(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) And because it is easier to say than to do, there was still manifestly something to say in opposition, for the work was not yet manifested; wherefore He subjoins, But that ye may know, &c. as if He said, Since ye doubt my word, I will bring on a work which will confirm what was unseen.

“I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”

But the good Instructor, the Wisdom, the Word of the Father, who made man, cares for the whole nature of His creature; the all-sufficient Physician of humanity, the Saviour, heals both body and soul. "Rise up," He said to the paralytic; "take the bed on which thou liest, and go away home;" and straightway the infirm man received strength.

Take up your bed. Carry the very mat that once carried you. Change places, so that what was the proof of your sickness may now give testimony to your soundness. Your bed of pain becomes the sign of healing, its very weight the measure of the strength that has been restored to you.

It is necessary to take up also one's bed, that is the body, to the working of good. For then shall we be able to arrive at contemplation, so that our thoughts should say within us, never have we seen in this way before, that is never understood as we have done since we have been cured of the palsy; for he who is cleansed from sin, sees more purely.

And immediately the man got up, picked up his mat, and walked out in front of them all. As a result, they were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Once again Jesus went out beside the sea. All the people came to Him, and He taught them there.

As He was walking along, He saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, and Levi got up and followed Him.

Do you hesitate about arts, and trades, and about professions likewise, for the sake of children and parents? Even there was it demonstrated to us, that both "dear pledges," and handicrafts, and trades, are to be quite left behind for the Lord's sake; while James and John, called by the Lord, do leave quite behind both father and ship; while Matthew is roused up from the toll-b…

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.

Thus then Levi, which means Appointed, followed from the custom-house of human affairs, the Word, Who says, He who doth not quit all that he has, cannot be my disciple.

While Jesus was dining at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Him and His disciples—for there were many who followed Him.

When the scribes who were Pharisees saw Jesus eating with these people, they asked His disciples, “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

When Jesus is attacked for mixing with sinners, and taking as his disciple a despised tax collector, one might ask: What could he possibly gain by doing so? Only the salvation of sinners. To blame Jesus for mingling with sinners would be like blaming a physician for stooping down over suffering and putting up with vile smells in order to heal the sick.

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 env…

But the Pharisees blame this, making themselves pure. Whence there follows: And when the Scribes and Pharisees saw him eat, &c. Not indeed that they should continue sinners, but be converted to that repentance.

On hearing this, Jesus told them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Quite true, say they; yet the flesh is a sinner, so much so, that it forces the soul to sin along with it. And thus they vainly accuse it, and lay to its charge alone the sins of both. But in what instance can the flesh possibly sin by itself, if it have not the soul going before it and inciting it?

It is a greater work to establish those things that are falling than those that still stand. Thus also did Christ desire to save those who are perishing. He has saved many by coming and calling us just when we were hastening to destruction.

Pray for us that we may be saved by that salvation of which it is said: "They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill; for I am not come to call the just but sinners." Pray, then, for us that we may be made upright.

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were often fasting. So people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t Your disciples fast like John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees?”

At all events, in the Gospel they think that those days were definitely appointed for fasts in which "the Bridegroom was taken away; " and that these are now the only legitimate days for Christian fasts, the legal and prophetical antiquities having been abolished: for wherever it suits their wishes, they recognise what is the meaning of" the Law and the prophets until John.

Now the Pharisees and the disciples of John, not having understood the power of this freedom, reproached Christ boldly, saying, "Why do we fast so much, and thy disciples fast not?" But Jesus made answer unto them in words the meaning of which was above the power of their understanding, saying, "The children of the bride-chamber cannot fast so long as the bridegroom is with the…

(non occ.) As above, the Master was accused to the disciples for keeping company with sinners in their feasts, so now, on the other hand, the disciples are complained of to the Master for their omission of fasts, that so matter for dissension might arise amongst them. Wherefore it is said, And the disciples of John and the Pharisees used to fast.

Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them? As long as He is with them, they cannot fast.

Can the children of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is present? Why should they keep a bodily fast who are effectively cleansed by the Word, who came in bodily form as visible Word? The time of his sojourning among us was not one of mourning, but gladness.

From the time that the incarnation of our Savior was first promised to the patriarchs, it was always awaited by many upright souls with tears and mourning—until he came. From that time when, after his resurrection, he ascended to heaven, all the hope of the saints hangs upon his return.

(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) But intercourse with Him, He says, is far removed from all sorrow, when He adds, As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. He is sad, from whom some good is far removed; but he who has it present with him rejoices, and is not sad.

But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, and a worse tear will result.

The Spirit of God, and the Word of God, and the Reason of God-Word of Reason, and Reason and Spirit of Word-Jesus Christ our Lord, namely, who is both the one and the other, -has determined for us, the disciples of the New Testament, a new form of prayer; for in this particular also it was needful that new wine should be laid up in new skins, and a new breadth be sewn to a new…

(ubi sup.) Neither was it fitting to sew on a, new piece; that is, a portion of doctrine which teaches a general fast from all the joy of temporal delights; for if this be done, the teaching is rent, and agrees not with the old part.

(Vict. Ant. e Cat in Marc.) As if He said, because these are preachers of the New Testament, it is not possible that they should serve old laws; but ye who follow old customs, fitly observe the fasts of Moses.

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskins.”

One Sabbath Jesus was passing through the grainfields, and His disciples began to pick the heads of grain as they walked along.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT, WHEN THE JEWS ACCUSED THE DISCIPLES OF BREAKING THE SABBATH BY RUBBING EARS OF GRAIN IN THEIR HANDS AND EATING THEM, THE SAVIOR PUT FORWARD THE EXAMPLE OF DAVID, BECAUSE HE ATE THE LOAVES WHICH IT WAS NOT LAWFUL TO EAT EXCEPT FOR THE PRIESTS ALONE (Matt. 12:1–4)?

(in Marc. 1, 13) We read also in the following part, that they who came and went away were many, and that they had not time enough to take their food, wherefore, according to man's nature, they were hungry.

(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) The disciples of Christ, freed from the figure, and united to the truth, do not keep the figurative feast of the sabbath, wherefore it is said, And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.

So the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

Jesus replied, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?

It is foolish to believe the Evangelist's account that he ate and not to believe that he was really hungry. Yet it does not follow that everyone who eats is hungry. For we read that even an angel ate, but we do not read that he was hungry. Nor does it follow that everyone who is hungry eats.

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.

(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) But our Lord brings forward David, to whom it once happened to eat though it was forbidden by the law, when he touched the Priest's food, that by his example, he might do away with their accusation of the disciples. For there follows, Have ye never read, &c.

During the high priesthood of Abiathar, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which was lawful only for the priests. And he gave some to his companions as well.”

Then Jesus declared, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

In the same manner that he, according to his humanity, is like Abraham, even so, according to his divinity, he is before Abraham. As he is, according to his humanity, the Son of David, so is he also, as God, the Lord of David. As he is, according to his humanity, born under the law, so is he as God, the Lord of the sabbath.

It goes on: Therefore the Son of man is Lord, &c. As if he said, David the king is to be excused for feeding on the food of the Priests, how much more the Son of man, the true King and Priest, and Lord of the sabbath, is free from fault, for pulling ears of corn on the sabbath-day.

(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) He calls himself properly, Lord of the sabbath, and Son of man, since being the Son of God, he deigned to be called Son of man, for the sake of men. Now the law has no authority over the Lawgiver and Lord, for more is allowed the king, than is appointed by the law.

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