28. Nor was it only known to the people standing by, but also pleasing to the mother who was longing for him; whence he adds: And he gave him to his mother, in which he shows that he raised him for the consolation of his mother. Whence she could say that word of Anna in first Kings one: "I prayed to the Lord for this boy, and he granted me my petition." Thus Elijah handed over the resuscitated boy to his mother, saying in third Kings seventeen: "Behold, your son lives"; but that one handed over, this one gave, because that one was the minister of the raising, but this one is the giver of life and salvation.
29. (Verse 16.) Secondly, the promotion of faith is designated with respect to reverence for the Creator, when it is said: And fear seized all, and they magnified God: fear, namely, of magnifying reverence: Job thirty-seven: "Men shall fear him, and none shall dare to contemplate, all who seem to themselves to be wise"; and Isaiah fifty-nine: "They shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun." And thus fearing in heart they glorified and magnified with mouth: Ecclesiasticus forty-three: "Glorifying him as much as you can, he shall still prevail beyond." "And who shall magnify him as he is from the beginning"?
30. But faith is not sufficiently promoted to reverence for the Creator without understanding of the Mediator:
and therefore with respect to that there is added: Saying: A great prophet has risen among us, that is, Christ the Mediator, according to that passage of Deuteronomy eighteen: "The Lord will raise up a prophet for you from your brethren like me; him you shall hear." And because God has visited his people, namely through Christ the Redeemer, according to that passage of Zechariah, above in chapter one: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he has visited and wrought the redemption of his people"; and this according to that passage of Genesis, the last chapter: "After my death the Lord will visit you and lead you out of this place"; which is understood concerning the visitation through Christ the Mediator.
And thus it appears from the foregoing how he was manifested with respect to the excellence of his power.
31. According to the spiritual understanding, note that a threefold state is designated in the course of this miracle, namely the state of justice in the Lord's company; the state of injustice in the dead young man; and the state of penance in the same one raised to life.
The state of justice is designated in Christ and his company. For the state of the just is threefold, namely of contemplation, prelacy, and action. The state of prelates is designated in Christ, of whom it is said in John 10: "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep"; where he shows in himself the form of right prelacy. — The state of contemplatives is designated in the disciples, who are admitted to the mountain at the transfiguration of the Lord, according to that passage of Matthew 17: "Jesus took Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them"; and below, in chapter 10: "Turning to his disciples he said: Blessed are the eyes that see what you see"; this is said to contemplatives.
The state of actives is designated in the crowd, which is tossed about in the waves of the world; below, in chapter 10: "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things"; because, as is said in John 16, "in the world you will have tribulation: but take courage, I have overcome the world." — Concerning this threefold state of justice it is said figuratively in Ezekiel 14: "If Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the midst of it, they indeed will deliver their own souls," etc. By Noah are understood prelates; by Daniel, to whom was given the understanding of visions, contemplatives; by Job, actives.
32. The state of fault, however, is designated in the dead youth, of which there is a threefold degree: the first in interior affection; the second, in exterior operation; the third, in habit or obstinacy. These three states are designated by the three dead persons raised by the Lord, both by reason of places and by reason of ages.
For the state of those sinning in the heart is designated by the girl who died in the house, of whom we read in Mark 5.
The state of those sinning in deed is designated by the youth who was found at the gate of the city, because sin has already gone forth and become manifest; of whom we read here.
The state of those sinning through habit and obstinacy is designated by Lazarus, already lying in manly age, already four days dead and stinking in the tomb, in John 11.
To these three correspond three dead persons raised in the Old Testament, namely the little boy raised by Elisha, the son of the Shunammite woman, in Fourth Kings 4; the youth, the son of the woman of Zarephath, raised by Elijah, in Third Kings 17; and the man, raised by the dead Elisha, in Fourth Kings 13. In these three are designated the three aforementioned states.
Also in these three, the three roots of sins can be designated, because one died from the languor of illness, in which is signified the concupiscence of the flesh; another from the heat of the sun, in which is signified the cupidity of the world; the third invisibly, in which is signified the pride of life.
Now the state of penance is designated in the raised youth, of whom it is said that he sat up and began to speak and was restored to his mother. He sat up indeed through contrition, which lifts the head from the ground: in the Psalm: "Rise up after you have sat, you who eat the bread of sorrow"; and according to that passage of Jeremiah 15: "I sat alone, because you have filled me with bitterness." He began to speak, through confession: Job 10: "I will speak in the bitterness of my soul, I will say to God: Do not condemn me"; and chapter 7: "I will not spare my mouth, I will speak in the tribulation of my spirit, I will converse in the bitterness of my soul." He was restored to his mother, the Church, through satisfaction, because to make satisfaction is to render what is owed, not only to God the Father, but also to mother Church: in whose figure it is said in 4 Kings 4: "Take this child and bring him to his mother." And just as a mother gladly receives her raised son, so Christ and the Church joyfully receive the penitent sinner: below in chapter 15: "It was fitting to feast and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come back to life."
Second, the sublimity of the Teacher is declared on account of the evidence of truth through the testimony of the Forerunner.
33. And this word went forth etc. After the excellence of power in Christ has been sufficiently shown through the greatness of the twofold miracle, here secondly is shown the evidence of truth in the same through the certainty of truthful testimony, which was indeed the testimony of the Forerunner. Now for the certification of this testimony, one can and ought to proceed in two ways: either through the proof of the truth itself in itself, or through the approbation of virtue in the one testifying. The first regards the Forerunner's teaching, the second regards the Forerunner's life, both of which contribute to the corroboration of the testimony. First therefore in this part it is shown that the Forerunner's testimony is true; second, that the merit of the one testifying is great, at the passage: And when the messengers of John had departed etc.
Now concerning the first, namely the truth of the testimony to be corroborated, two things are introduced. The first is the question of the Forerunner; the second is the response of the Savior, at the passage: Now in that very hour he cured many etc. Now John asks of him to whom he had borne testimony, not in order to remove doubt, but in order to confirm the testimony through an infallible argument.
Now the question itself is proposed in this order. For first is introduced the occasion of the question; second, the putting forth of the question; third, the announcement of the question put forth.
34. (Vers. 17.). Therefore, first is introduced the occasion of seeking from the proclamation of Christ's name: with respect to which it is said: And this report went out, namely concerning the raising of the dead man, into all Judea concerning him and into the entire surrounding region, so that all could say that word of Job twenty-eight: "With our ears we have heard the fame of him"; and Joshua nine: "We have heard the fame of his power," namely of your God: whence also in Matthew four it is said that "his fame went throughout all Syria." A figure of this preceded in King Uzziah: Second Chronicles twenty-six: "His name went out far abroad, because the Lord helped him and strengthened him."
35. (Vers. 18.). Now this proclamation of fame, although it was for many a cause of believing, was nevertheless for some an occasion of derision, as for the disciples of John, with respect to whom it is added: And his disciples reported to John concerning all these things. Bede: "Not with a simple heart, but spurred by envy, as elsewhere, namely in John three, they complain saying: Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—behold, he baptizes, and all come to him. Concerning such persons, in Philippians one: "Some preach Christ out of contention, not sincerely." From this therefore was taken the occasion of inquiring whether he himself was the one whom John had foretold, both for the sake of uprooting the envy of the disciples, and for the sake of putting the contention to rest, and for the sake of removing their doubt, and also for the sake of now more clearly spreading abroad the truth itself.
36. (Vers. 19.). There follows therefore secondly the putting forth of the question from John's office, when it is said: And John called two of his disciples and sent them to Jesus . For this pertains to his office, the sending of disciples to Christ. For it is the office of the Precursor to send to Christ equally by word and by office, that is, both by preaching and by baptizing, according to what is said in Acts nineteen: "John baptized with the baptism of penance, saying that they should believe in him who was to come." Whence the Gloss: "He sent them to Jesus, so that by this occasion they might see the signs, and being corrected might believe in him." And Ambrose: "He sent his disciples to Christ, so that they might attain the supplement of knowledge, because Christ is the fullness of the Law, and because words without deeds usually waver, so that a fuller faith might be displayed through the testimonies of deeds than through the pledges of words." Whence he was sending them to the Truth, so that they themselves might be made certain through the truth, and having been made certain might render testimony to the truth; and therefore he sent two, because, according to that passage in John eight, you say that "the testimony of two men is true." — Because, however, they still doubted, therefore he gives them the form of inquiry, when it is added: Saying: Are you he who is to come, that is, whom I foretold was to come: John one; "After me comes he who was made before me," and in the other Evangelists. Or do we look for another? As if to say: if you are he, then another is not to be expected, lest perchance, if we look for another, we receive not Christ but antichrist, concerning whom the Lord says to the unbelieving Jews in John five: "I came in the name of my Father, and you did not receive me; if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive."
37. (Vers. 20.). There is subjoined moreover thirdly the report of the question put forth through the ministry of the disciples, when it is added: And when the men had come to him. These two men were prefigured by the two spies sent beyond the Jordan, Joshua two. These are called men, because they manfully and faithfully fulfilled what had been commanded to them. Whence it is added: They said: John the Baptist sent us to you, so that we might inquire of you in his person.
Which he notes, when he adds: Saying: Are you he who is to come, or do we look for another? Whence note that this question is proposed by the disciples in the person of John, to show that the disciples bear a doubting mind within themselves, but through John are directed to Christ.
Hence John did not pose the question on his own account, because he did not doubt in himself, but in his disciples. And this is what Chrysostom says: "Since he had learned by the Spirit, who had heard the voice of the Father, who had preached to the rest, who had borne witness, how could he doubt after so many miracles, through which he had become known to many? Had he perhaps become more timid on account of his imprisonment? Far be it, since the Lord says of him that he is not a reed shaken by the wind." Hence he did not doubt, but put forth the words of one doubting for the certainty of his disciples, just as it is said in John 11: "Where have you laid him?" and in John 6: "Whence shall we buy bread?"