Concerning this miracle, however, three things present themselves for consideration. The first is what is understood by the disease of leprosy; second, what by the touch of the Lord's hand; third, what by the precept of the Law to be fulfilled. - The disease of leprosy rightly designates mortal sin, because, just as leprosy infects and deforms the flesh, so sin stains and deforms the soul; whence Lamentations, the last chapter: "Their face is made blacker than coals, their skin has clung to their bones." Leprosy also causes one to be cast out from the camp, and so mortal sin from the camp of glory; Ezekiel twenty-eight: "You sinned, and I cast you out from the mountain of God." - This disease, however, has a fourfold distinction, according to what is said in Leviticus thirteen. For there is leprosy in the flesh, leprosy in the hair, leprosy in garments, leprosy in dwellings. Leprosy in the flesh signifies carnal sin; leprosy in the hair of the beard or head, spiritual sin, because by hair thoughts are understood; leprosy in a garment, sin in one's manner of life; leprosy in a house, sin in the congregation. He therefore is full of leprosy who is infected with all these sins. Concerning these distinctions of leprosy, it is spoken of in Leviticus thirteen. As a figure of this, it is also said in Fourth Kings seven that four leprous men were at the gate of Samaria, to designate these four distinctions. The Lord therefore willed that mortal sin be designated by leprosy, so that, just as leprosy is fled both in itself and in association, so also sin.
37. By the touch of the Lord's hand we understand the visitation of divine grace, which the Prophet sought: "Send forth your hand from on high and rescue me"; because, as it is said in Romans seven, "Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord." For through Christ the divine hand touches us, as it is said in the Song of Songs five: "My beloved put his hand through the opening," that is, grace through the opening of Christ's side, whence the Sacraments flow forth; "and my belly groaned," because this grace first gives birth to contrition; whence in the Psalm: "Who looks upon the earth and makes it tremble; who touches the mountains, and they smoke," because contrition gives birth to weeping. - But in order that the sinner may arrive at this state, it is necessary that, with the leper, he see God through faith: First Corinthians thirteen: "We see now through a glass darkly"; it is necessary that he fall down through fear: the Psalm: "Before him the Ethiopians shall fall down," that is, sinners; it is necessary that he trust through hope: Proverbs twenty-nine: "He who hopes in the Lord shall be saved"; and Romans eight: "In hope we have been saved." And these three things give birth to contrition: Isaiah twenty-six: "Before your face, O Lord, we conceived and were as though in labor and brought forth the spirit of salvation."
38. By the precept of observing the Law we understand the reception of the Sacrament of penance. Hence note that he commands four things, namely to go, to be silent, to show, and to offer: to go, when he says: Go: to be silent: Tell no one: to show: Show yourself: to offer: Offer the gift.
Go, namely by abandoning sins, as to the adulteress, John 8: "Go and sin no more."
He commands to be silent about good things, lest one be like that Pharisee, below in the eighteenth chapter, who said: "I am not like the rest of men." - He commands to show evil things, as Job 31: "If I have hidden my sin as a man"? that is, no: Psalm: "I made my transgression known to you." - He commands to offer works of satisfaction; Psalm: "I will enter your house with holocausts: I will render to you my vows, which my lips have uttered"; Romans 12: "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, your reasonable service."
These four things necessarily concur for the perfect reception of the Sacrament of penance, namely the abandonment of sin, the humiliation of the sinner, the disclosure of sin, and the offering of satisfaction.
39. Finally, the apparent controversy between Matthew and Luke must be resolved: because Matthew says this miracle was performed after the Lord's sermon on the mount, here Luke narrates it long before the sermon. - To this there is a twofold way of resolving the controversy: either because the sermon Luke narrates was one, and the one Matthew narrates was another - The sign of which is that many things are said in the one sermon that are not said in the other - or because it was the same sermon differing according to greater and lesser explication. Then it must be noted that the Evangelists do not entirely preserve the order of events, but narrate in the manner that better serves the pursuit of their intention. Hence Augustine in the second book of On the Harmony of the Evangelists: "What does it matter in what order anyone places things, whether he inserts something in due order, or recalls something omitted, or anticipates beforehand what was done later, so long as he does not contradict the same or another narrator, or himself, or another? For it is sufficiently probable that each of the Evangelists believed he ought to narrate in that order in which God willed to suggest to his recollection those very things which he was narrating, at least in those matters whose order, whether this or that, diminishes nothing of evangelical authority and truth." - And by this the resolution of every contrariety that seems to arise from a different order is made clear.
40. And it came to pass on one of the days. Having confirmed the disciples through the healing of the leper, here for greater firmness he confirms the same through the wondrous healing of the paralytic. The Evangelist describes this admirable healing in the following order. For first is introduced the opportunity for performing the miracle: second, the completeness of the miracle accomplished, at: Whose faith etc.: third, the renown of the miracle made public, at: And astonishment seized etc.
The opportunity now for performing the miracle is gathered from four things, namely from the multitude of the people present, from the readiness of the healing power, from the severity of the oppressing disease, from the solicitude of the faith of the one presenting.
41. (Verse 17). First, therefore, to designate the multitude of the people present, to whom the doctrine of truth was to be communicated, it is said: And it came to pass on one of the days, and Jesus sat teaching: He sat, I say, as the chief master and teacher on account of the multitude of His wisdom, as in Job chapter twenty-nine: " If I wished to go to them, I sat first; and when I sat as a king, with the army standing around, I was nevertheless the consoler of those who mourned ". In this manner indeed Christ sat in the midst of many; whence it is also added: And there were Pharisees sitting and doctors of the Law. For they among others are the more excellent, the Pharisees in observing and the doctors of the Law in instructing. And for this reason they too are called sitting, because in Matthew chapter twenty-three: " Upon the chair of Moses the scribes and Pharisees sat ".
And because "in the multitude of the people is the glory of the prince ", therefore he adds that they were many, when he says: Who had come from every town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem.
42. And note that in these three he expresses the nearby region, namely in Galilee; whence He also chose His disciples from there, according to what is said in Acts chapter two: " Are not all these who speak Galileans "?
He also expresses the principal region in Judea, in which the tribe of Judah dwelt, to whom Christ was promised, according to that word of the Psalm: " And He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah ". - He also touches upon the royal city in Jerusalem, where the doctors chiefly dwelt, according to that word of Isaiah chapter two: " Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem ". - And he names these three significantly, because in Galilee Christ is conceived, as above in chapter one: in Judea He is born, as above in chapter two: but in Jerusalem He is crucified, as below in chapter twenty-three. And therefore to the inhabitants of these three places Christ was promised, and they themselves awaited Him, and therefore they came together to Him.
43. Second, to denote the readiness of the liberating power, he adds: And the power of the Lord was, namely ready, to heal them, namely the infirm, because they themselves were ready to listen. Concerning which power, Hebrews 1: "Upholding all things by the word of his power"; which power indeed is Christ, who is the Word of the Father, 1 Corinthians 1: "We preach Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." And this power is suited to healing, not to destroying; and therefore his name is Jesus, that is, Savior. Whence the holy soul in the Psalm: "O Lord God, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle," etc. And therefore Acts 10: "God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power," that is, with the power of the Holy Spirit, "who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed." The faith of believers renders this power ready; whence below in chapter six: "They had come together to hear him"; "because power went out from him and healed all"; but on the contrary it is said of his own city, Matthew 13: "He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief."
44. (Verse 18). Third, to show the gravity of the oppressing illness, he adds: And behold, men carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and thus entirely powerless, because paralysis entirely dissolves the strength of the limbs, as is read concerning Alcimus in 1 Maccabees 9: "His mouth was shut, and he was dissolved with paralysis, nor could he speak a word any longer." Truly a great and pitiable infirmity, which takes away both movement and speech. And he was carried on a bed — not, I say, on a bed of rest, but rather of labor and pain; whence one could pray concerning him: "The Lord help him upon the bed of his pain," etc. Therefore the men who carried him acted mercifully, according to the instruction of the Apostle, Galatians 6: "Bear one another's burdens"; whence that passage from Ecclesiasticus 44 could fittingly apply to them: "These are men of mercy, whose acts of piety have not failed"; and already that passage from Isaiah 49 is verified in this deed: "They shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters they shall carry upon their shoulders."
45. Fourth, to intimate the solicitude of the presenting faith, he adds: And they sought to bring him in and place him before him, so that, namely, he might be healed by his presence. Whence they wished to fulfill the exhortation of the Psalm: "Seek the Lord and be strengthened; seek his face always." Nor undeservedly, because Job 17: "Deliver me, O Lord, and set me beside you, and let the hand of whomever fight against me."
46. (Verse 19). And because obstacles frequently arise for one who seeks through faith, therefore it is added: And not finding by what way they might bring him in because of the crowd, which is wont to impede approach to Christ; as it is said in Matthew 20 and below in chapter 18, that "the crowds rebuked the blind man, that he should be silent"; so also Zacchaeus, below in chapter 19, "sought to see Jesus, and could not because of the crowd."
But certainly obstacles do not hold back true faith, but rather inflame it; in testimony of which it is added: They went up onto the roof and through the tiles let him down with his bed. So also Zacchaeus did, as is said below in the nineteenth chapter, that "he climbed up into a sycamore tree, so that he might see Jesus passing by," whom he could not see because of the crowd.
Such helpers that sick man needed, who said in John 5: "Lord, I have no man who, when the water is stirred, may put me into the pool." Such helpers are simple men, according to what is said in Acts 9: "The disciples, taking Paul by night, let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket." Such are spiritual men, who present the sick before the sight of the Lord through prayer: Lamentations 2: "Pour out your heart like water before the sight of the Lord your God. Lift up your hands for the souls of the little ones, who have fainted from hunger at the head of all the crossroads." And therefore they presented him to the sight of the Lord, so that he might see him, and to his presence, so that he might touch him. — And therefore it is added: Into the midst before Jesus, because the Savior always seeks the midst; whence John 1: "He stood in the midst of you"; and below in the twenty-second chapter: "But I am in the midst of you"; and therefore in the Psalm: "We have received your mercy in the midst of your temple."
47. (Verse 20). When he saw their faith etc. The occasion for performing the miracle has been set forth; but here is added the completeness of the miracle itself in its performance, because Christ heals the body and soul of the sick man at the same time: the soul from sin and the body from disease. Now the perfect completeness of this miracle consists in four things which are above human power, namely in the remission of sins, the discernment of thoughts, the extirpation of errors, and the strengthening of the paralyzed limbs. For these four things render the miracle perfect.
Therefore the remission of sins from the merit of the faith of those presenting him is set forth first, when he says: When he saw their faith, because, as is said in 1 Kings 16, "man sees those things which appear, but the Lord looks upon the heart." He saw, I say, with the eye of mercy, as in Exodus 3: "I have seen the affliction of my people, who are in Egypt." To which vision faith disposes: Jeremiah 5: "Lord, your eyes look upon faith."
And since, as is said in Proverbs 15, "by mercy and faith sins are purged"; therefore it is added: He said: Man, your sins are forgiven you. In this, that he says man, he invites to the consideration of one's own misery: Job 14: "Man born of woman, living for a short time, is filled with many miseries"; and again 25: "Man is rottenness, and the son of man a worm." In this, that he adds are forgiven, he invites to the hope of divine grace; Ephesians 1: "He has graced us in his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins"; whence it is said in 1 John 2: "Your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake." Now this forgiveness of sins was begun by the faith of another, but is consummated in one's own: whence Bede: "One's own faith avails much for each person, since through another's faith a man has been saved both inwardly and outwardly," but this not without one's own faith following: whence in Matthew 9 it is said to the paralytic: "Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven you."
48. And note that sins are said to be forgiven and are said to be pardoned, are said to be cleansed, are said to be healed, are said to be covered, are said to be redeemed. They are said to be forgiven with respect to the guilt of punishment; below in chapter 7: "Her many sins are forgiven her, because she loved much." — They are said to be pardoned by reason of the offense: Matthew 6: "If you forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your trespasses."
They are said to be cleansed by reason of the stain: Psalm: "Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin"; and Isaiah 6: "Your iniquity shall be taken away, and your sin shall be cleansed." — They are said to be healed with respect to the wounding of nature: whence John 5: "Behold, you are now made whole; sin no more henceforth," is said to the infirm man; and in the Psalm: "Heal my soul, for I have sinned against you."
They are said to be covered on account of the despoliation of gratuitous virtue: Psalm: "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered"; which is done through charity; 1 Peter 4: "Charity covers a multitude of sins."