81. (Vers. 54.). This again is the second sign that Jesus performed: the second, namely with respect to the one that took place at the wedding: when he had come from Judea into Galilee, so that, because they had not believed through the first, they might believe through the second: Exodus four, the Lord said to Moses: "If they will not believe nor hearken to the voice of the first sign, they will believe the voice of the latter sign."
82. Morally. Here it must be considered who the royal official is, who the royal official's son is, by what infirmity he is held, and at what hour he is healed. - The king is said to be the higher part of reason, to which the whole kingdom of the soul is entrusted for judging: whence in the Psalm: And now, O kings, understand. He is called a royal official on account of the smallness of his justice, when he rules the soul badly and childishly: Ecclesiastes ten: Woe to the land whose king is a child, and whose princes eat in the morning!
The son of this king is said to be the lower part of reason, which is of the same nature and is to be instructed by it: Ecclesiasticus thirty: He who teaches his son shall be praised.
This king's son is sick with fever, when reason follows concupiscence, which is like a hot and putrid fever: Ecclesiasticus twenty-three: A burning soul, like a blazing fire, will not be quenched until it devours something. This concupiscence, like a fever, disturbs a man, now with heat, now with cold: Isaiah fifty-seven: The wicked are like a raging sea that cannot rest, and its waves cast up filth and mire.
He is set free at the seventh hour of the day. The day here can be called Christ, because he himself is the sun shining upon the earth: below, chapter eight: I am the light of the world.
The hours of this day are the various states of Christ, from the consideration of which the soul is freed from its various sicknesses.
83. The first hour is the incarnation, and this liberates from pride by illuminating unto humility, because he humbled himself in the incarnation: Philippians two: He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.
The second is the nativity, and this liberates from avarice by illuminating toward poverty, because Christ was born poor, as is said in Luke 2: She brought forth her firstborn Son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. - The third is the circumcision, and this liberates from disobedience by illuminating toward obedience. For although Christ was not subject to the Law, nevertheless he subjected himself to the Law; whence that word of the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 9 is rightly said of him: Though I was free from all, I made myself a servant of all. - The fourth is the manifestation, and this liberates from envy by illuminating toward the sharing of doctrine, because he then revealed knowledge of himself to the nations; Wisdom 7: I rejoiced in all things, because this wisdom went before me, which I share without envy, and I do not hide her honor. - The fifth is the offering in the temple, and this liberates from ingratitude by illuminating toward prayer, since the Lord himself was then offered in the temple as a sign that through gratitude man ought to offer his whole self; Luke 2: they brought the child Jesus to Jerusalem, to present him before the Lord.
The sixth is his baptism, and this liberates from uncleanness by illuminating toward newness of life, because Christ was washed in the river Jordan; Matthew 3: Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan, to be baptized by him; 1 Peter 3: Baptism saves, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, etc.
The seventh is the temptation during the fast, and this liberates the ruler's son from fever by illuminating toward the mortification of the flesh, because Christ then mortified his flesh by his fasting; Matthew 4: Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit, to be tempted by the devil; and when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward he was hungry.
The eighth is the passion, and this liberates from wrath by illuminating toward patience, because Christ in suffering was most patient; 1 Peter 2: Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you might follow in the footsteps of him who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth.
The ninth is the descent into hell, and this liberates from hardness of heart by illuminating toward mercy, because the Lord had mercy on those who were in darkness and the shadow of death; Zechariah 9: You also, by the blood of your covenant, have sent forth your prisoners from the pit. The greatest mercy is to give one's blood for captives.
The tenth is the repose in the sepulcher, and this liberates from the affliction of the world by illuminating toward peace, because Christ rested in the sepulcher; Psalm: In peace, in the selfsame, I will sleep and I will rest; and again: In peace his dwelling place was made.
Eleventh, the resurrection, and this liberates from the oldness of life by illuminating toward newness of life, because then Christ was made a new man: Romans 6: As Christ rose from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life.
Twelfth, the ascension, and this liberates from the love of earthly things by illuminating toward the desire for eternal things, to which Christ has preceded us: Colossians 3: Seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God: mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth.
QUESTIONS.
84. Question I. There is a question about what he says, that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
Against this: 1. Because a man is not honored except where he is known: therefore if he is known among his countrymen, not among foreigners, it seems that he would be honored more in his own country than in a foreign one.
2. Likewise we see that the prophet David had the honor of kingship in his own country.
Likewise it seems that Christ did have honor. For it is said in the text that the Galileans received him: therefore they honored him.
I respond: It must be said that a prophet is not honored in his own country for a twofold reason: both by reason of carnal generation, and by reason of familiar association. By reason of generation: for when he has a father and mother who are ignoble, lowly, and poor, as Christ was believed to have, he is despised on account of them. By reason of familiar association, because familiarity breeds contempt: therefore, since they knew Christ's parents to be poor and knew his upbringing, they believed there was nothing divine in him.
1. As to the objection that acquaintance causes a man to be honored: it must be said that acquaintance with virtue assists, but acquaintance with origin and weakness hinders.
3. As to the objection about David and other prophets, it must be answered that "a rule should not be pronounced from rarely occurring cases." And because this rarely occurs, therefore etc. - As to the objection that they received him: Augustine responds that they received him outwardly in a bodily manner, but not inwardly through faith: and this is not the honor the Lord requires. For the Lord does not place importance on a festival of the arm, but on a faithful mind.
85. Question II. Likewise Gregory asks about this royal official, whether he believed or not.
That he did not, it seems: