41. He also liberates from infirmity of the will: on account of which is subjoined: And to set at liberty those who are broken, in release, he sent, namely. The broken are those whose will has been weakened toward the good through sin, as are foolish sinners: Sirach twenty-one: "The heart of the fool is like a broken vessel"; and Isaiah fifty-eight: "Let free those who are broken." This breaking, however, is reparable while we live here, but becomes irreparable in death, according to that passage of Isaiah thirty: "It shall be broken as the potter's vessel is broken with an utter breaking, and there shall not be found among its fragments a shard in which a little fire may be carried from the hearth"; because it will not be receptive of grace. And this will be at the judgment, according to that passage of the Psalm: "You shall rule them with a rod of iron, and you shall break them like a potter's vessel." But now he grants release, which was prefigured in First Maccabees ten, where it is said that under Jonathan, the brother of Simon, many releases were made to the Jews.
42. Finally, the rewarder is indicated through the judgment of retribution, in which there is made a universal conferral of good upon the good. On account of which he says: To preach the acceptable year of the Lord, namely to the good, concerning which in the Psalm: "You shall bless the crown of the year of your goodness," etc. This is the year signified in the jubilee; Leviticus 25: "In the year of jubilee all shall return to their possessions"; or also in the seventh year; Deuteronomy 15: "In the seventh year you shall make a remission." This year surpasses the year of merit, because the good shall be rewarded beyond what is condign; Sirach 33: "Why does one year surpass another, one day another day, one light another light from the sun?"
In this judgment also there is made an everlasting damnation upon the wicked; therefore it is added: And the day of retribution, in which he will repay each one according to his works; Isaiah 63: "The day of vengeance is in my heart, the year of my recompense has come." Concerning this day it is said in First Thessalonians 5: "The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night; for when they shall say: Peace and security," etc. This day, as Gregory says, we ought to fear with all the more solicitude, inasmuch as we cannot foresee it.
43. (Verse 20). And when he had closed the book, etc. Here in the fourth place, after the congruity in the testimony has been described, the belief among the people is noted. To express this, there is indicated maturity in the teacher, eagerness to hear in the people standing by, truth in the instruction, and belief in those instructed.
To express, therefore, the maturity in the teacher, it says: And when he had closed the book, he returned it to the minister and sat down. Previously he had read standing, receiving the book with humility; now he returns it and sits down with authority, for to sit is the mark of doctors and kings; whence Matthew 23: "The scribes and Pharisees have sat upon the chair of Moses"; and Job 29: "If at any time I wished to go to them, I sat first; and when I sat as a king, with the army standing round about, I was nevertheless the consoler of those who mourned." — And note: here by the closing of the book we ought to understand the concealment of divine mysteries, because not all things are to be revealed to all, according to what Bede says: " He returns the closed book to the minister, because not all things are to be communicated to all, but according to the capacity of the hearers he entrusts the word to the doctor to be dispensed"; Daniel 12: "Go, Daniel, for the words are closed and sealed until the appointed time."
Or he returned the closed book to the minister because, according to that passage of Second Corinthians 3, "even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil is placed over their heart."
44. To express the eagerness in the people, there is added: And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him, as though desiring to hear him as a wise man: in Wisdom eight the wise man says: "In the sight of princes I shall be admirable: when I am silent they will wait for me, and when I speak they will look upon me"; and Job twenty-nine: "Those who heard me waited for my judgment and, attentive, were silent at my counsel"; because, as is said in Sirach three, "a good ear will hear wisdom with all desire."
45. (Vers. 21.). To intimate the truth or firmness of the doctrine, there is added: And he began to say to them: Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Therefore that Scripture is said to have been fulfilled then, because, since those words pertained to Christ, no one in his own person could truly speak the aforesaid word except Christ, who read it in their hearing: below in the last chapter: "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me." Whence Christ fulfilled all justice with regard to moral uprightness, according to that passage in Matthew three: "Thus it behooves us to fulfill all justice." He also fulfilled all Scripture by pouring forth God's truth, as in Matthew five: "Do you think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets? I came not to destroy, but to fulfill." And therefore it is said in Ephesians one: "Because he fulfilled all things in all." Whence the words and signs of the old law, being empty, he filled with truth and grace. As a sign of this, in John two, in the first sign, it is said:
"Fill the water jars with water. And they filled them up to the brim."
46. (Vers. 22.). To denote the belief in the attending multitude, there is added: And all bore witness to him; all, that is, some from among all, bore witness to his holiness and innocence: Job twenty-nine: "The ear that heard me blessed me, and the eye that saw me bore witness to me." — And since they could not express his grace in words, therefore there is added: And they wondered at the words of grace that proceeded from his mouth, just as the doctors also wondered "at his prudence and his answers," above in chapter two. And they are called words of grace, according to that passage in Ecclesiastes ten: "The words of the mouth of a wise man are grace"; and especially of this one, to whom Peter said in John six: "You have the words of eternal life"; and he himself said of himself: "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." And therefore in the Psalm: "Grace is poured forth upon your lips, therefore God has blessed you forever."
Second, the testimony of Scripture is brought forward for the confutation of detractors.
47. And they said: Is not this etc. After he introduced the prophetic testimony for the instruction of believers, here he introduces an authoritative example for the confutation of detractors. And because detractors, when they are confuted, become worse, since they become persecutors, therefore in this part there are two sections. In the first of which is set forth the confutation of detractors ; in the second, the avoidance of persecutors, at the passage: And all in the synagogue were filled etc.
The first part has two sections. In the first are set forth the insults of the detractors; in the second are introduced prophetic examples confuting the detractors, at the passage: And he said: No prophet is etc.
48. (Verse 22). He expresses the insults of the detractors in three ways, namely by way of open reproach, by way of hidden irony, by way of explicit invective. - By way, I say, of open reproach he expresses it when he says: And they said: Is not this the son of Joseph? They called the Son of God the son of a carpenter; him who was conceived of the Holy Spirit and from a virginal womb they said was begotten by conjugal intercourse: whence in Matthew thirteen it is said that they were saying: "Is not this the carpenter's son?" Bede: "Great blindness, when him whom they recognize by words and deeds to be Christ, they despise on account of mere knowledge of his lineage." Something similar to this was said of Saul, in 1 Kings ten: "What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the Prophets?" and in 2 Kings twenty: "We have no part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Jesse." These things, however, were said not by all, but by the wicked, namely the scribes and Pharisees: whence it does not contradict what was said before, that "all bore witness to him." A similar manner of speaking is found in Scripture: "When he slew them, they sought him"—not the dead, but others. This moreover is the custom of the wicked, that when they hear someone praised, they immediately oppose it: and if they cannot do so on the part of character and knowledge, at least on the part of birth, according to that passage in Ecclesiasticus eleven: "Turning good into evil, he lies in ambush, and upon the elect he places a stain."
Or even those same ones who previously praised, afterwards despised, according to that passage of the Psalm: "They praised his praise. They quickly acted and forgot his works."
Or it can be understood otherwise, so that, although it is narrated here immediately, it did not however happen immediately, but after the fact.
49. (Verse 23). By way of hidden irony he expresses their reproaches, when he adds: And he said to them: Doubtless you will say to me this similitude: for he saw them thinking this secretly. He said therefore: this you propose ironically against me, which you have secretly conceived in your hearts, because, according to what is said in Matthew twelve, "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks"; you propose this similitude, namely by irony: Physician, heal yourself: which is customarily said to physicians who are ailing, when they cannot help themselves, or do not know how, or are negligent: which is a mocking word directed at them. So also you, heal yourself, that is, the infirm one. Which they said rather out of unbelief and derision than out of humility and devotion, as is said in Matthew thirteen, that "he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief." Whence Bede says in the Gloss: "In vain do you await the help of heavenly mercy, if you envy the virtues bestowed on others. For the Lord is a despiser of the envious, and from those who persecute the divine benefits given to others, he turns away the miracles of his power."
And note that they ironically call him physician, whom they ought truthfully to confess as physician, according to that passage in Job five: "He himself wounds and heals." They despise him whom they ought to revere and honor, according to that passage in Sirach thirty-eight: "Honor the physician on account of necessity"; and afterward: "The Most High created medicine from the earth, and a prudent man will not abhor it."
50. But by way of explicit invective he expresses it, when he adds: How great things we have heard done in Capernaum, namely miraculous works: whence Matthew eleven: "Woe to you, Capernaum! For if in Tyre and Sidon the mighty works had been done," etc.
But how did they hear these things, since the Evangelist had not yet related that he had performed any miracles?
On account of which it must be noted that the Evangelist does not follow the order of events as they happened, but the order of his own intention, and this indeed he does frequently; and therefore, when one Evangelist narrates afterward what another narrates before, there is no contradiction, because they do not intend to say that events occurred in the order in which they were written, as Augustine says in On the Harmony of the Evangelists. Moreover, Luke, together with the other two, Matthew and Mark, narrates nothing about the first coming of Christ into Galilee, but about the second; about the first, however, John alone treats. From the fame, therefore, of miracles performed in a foreign land, they reproached him because he did not perform them in his own land. - Whence is added: Do so also here in your own country; and this is to say: heal yourself, that is, heal those of your own country through miracles, as you have healed others, according to that passage in Sirach fourteen: "He who is evil to himself, to whom will he be good?" and First Timothy five: "If anyone does not have care for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith"; it is said in Sirach seventeen: "He gave commandment to each one concerning his neighbor."
51. (Verse 24.). And he said: Amen I say etc. Here, after the reproaches of the detractors, prophetic examples are added, confuting the detractors. For their full confutation, a general proverb is first set forth; second, a special example in Elijah, the most eminent of the Prophets; third, in Elisha, his disciple. The first is for admonishing, the second for confuting, the third for confirming.
Therefore he sets forth the general proverb concerning every Prophet and people, when he says: And he said, namely Christ: Amen I say to you, that is, with certainty, because amen is a sign of affirmation. And truly so, because, as he himself says in Matthew twenty-four, "heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."
That no prophet is accepted in his own country, namely neither as regards doctrine nor as regards life, in which Prophets were accustomed to have excellence. And therefore it is not surprising if he does not work miracles in his own country, which are not to be done for the ungrateful and unworthy. This denunciation of the Savior is attested by the fact that Joseph is sold by his brothers, Genesis thirty-seven, and honored by the Egyptians, Genesis forty-one. So Moses suffers insult from Aaron and Miriam, Numbers twelve, and is reproached by his fellow tribesmen, Numbers sixteen. So Abraham suffers from his countrymen; whence it is said to him: "Go forth from your land and from your kindred," Genesis twelve.
Bede in the Gloss assigns the reason for this: "The other Prophets were less honored in their homeland than in other cities, because it is almost natural for citizens to envy their fellow citizens. For they do not consider the present works of the man, nor his virtue, but they recall his frail infancy, as though they themselves had not also passed through the same stages of age to maturity."