77. (Vers. 41.). But Jesus answering said to them, etc. After the disposing occasion, the Evangelist explains secondly the efficient power, which is described here as just, as compassionate, and as great.
First, it is described as just in the reproof of the unbelieving heart, when he says: O faithless and perverse generation! so that faithlessness pertains to cognition and perversity to affection, according to Deuteronomy thirty-two: "For it is a perverse generation, and faithless children." Faithlessness rendered them foolish and perversity rendered them obstinate, according to Ecclesiastes one: "The perverse are corrected with difficulty, and the number of fools is infinite"; therefore they must not only be admonished but also strongly rebuked. - For this reason he adds: How long shall I be with you, namely doing good things for you, and endure you? namely bearing your evils: which he does not say out of impatience, since he himself is the one of whom it is said in Matthew five: "Who makes his sun to rise upon the good and the evil"; and above in chapter six: "He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked." But he says this so that through harsh rebuke he may expel the hardness of heart, according to Titus one: "Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith."
78. Second, it is described as compassionate in the summoning of the possessed child, when he says: Bring your son here, namely to the presence of the Savior, so that now that passage of Isaiah forty-nine may seem to be fulfilled: "They shall carry their sons in their arms, and they shall bear their daughters upon their shoulders." Bring him, I say, through your faith, him who cannot come through his own faith, just as those men had brought the paralytic, of whom it is said in Matthew nine: "Whose faith when Jesus saw, he said: Your sins are forgiven you." Whence in Mark nine the Lord said to that man: "If you can believe, all things are possible to one who believes." For faith is that by which one is led to Christ, because it is the way of arriving at the light; whence the Apostle in Hebrews eleven: "He who approaches must believe, because without faith it is impossible to please God."
79. (Verse 42.) And because "there is no agreement of Christ with Belial, nor of light with darkness," therefore he adds: And as he was approaching, the demon threw him down and convulsed him: in which it is shown that he came unwillingly to the light as one doing evil, according to John three: "He who does evil hates the light." At the same time it is also shown that the devil most greatly opposes anyone possessed by him from being converted to Christ, as Bede says in the Gloss: "Whence the boy approaching the Lord is thrown down, because those converted to the Lord are for the most part more gravely assailed by the demon, so that they may return to their vices." Of which we have the example in Exodus fourteen concerning Pharaoh, who pursued the departing people.
80. (Verse 43.) Third, it is described as mighty in the expulsion of the unclean spirit, when it is added: And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, as if restraining him by word alone, according to that passage above in chapter four: "Rebuking them, he did not allow them to speak"; whence the Angel of the Lord said in Zechariah three: "May the Lord rebuke you, Satan."
And because by that rebuke the demon was cast out, there is added: And he healed the boy. Whence that rebuke was salutary: on account of which Job 5: "Do not reject the rebuke of the Lord, for he himself wounds and heals, he strikes, and his hands shall heal." - And because the faith of the father had merited this, therefore there is added: And he restored him to his father , to soothe his grief, so that he might say to his only son that word of Jacob, Genesis 46: "Now I shall die happy, because I have seen your face and leave you surviving."
81. Moreover, by this deed the prelate is spiritually instructed how he ought to restore a subject possessed by the devil through sin to the King of heaven, namely by rebuking and healing : rebuking through justice and healing through mercy. Moreover, there ought to be the rigor of justice with respect to the fault, but the sweetness of mercy with respect to nature. Whence Augustine: "Let correction be made with love of persons in hatred of vices"; and Gregory: "We owe severity to vices and compassion to nature." "For true justice has compassion, false justice has indignation." Whence also below in chapter ten it is said of the Samaritan tending the wounded man, that he poured wine and oil into his wounds, wine that stings and oil that soothes, according to the two things which have been said.
82. (Verse 44). And all were amazed etc. - After the disposing occasion and the effecting power, the Evangelist here adds the consequent benefit. And this was twofold: the first universal, the second particular. The first was the arousal of all to reverence for his majesty, the second was the urging of the disciples to the understanding of truth.
First, therefore, with regard to the arousal of all to reverence for his majesty, it is said: And all were amazed at the greatness of God, because great was the power which perfectly healed so great a disease in so short a time, with so brief a word. Whence they sang that verse of the Psalm: "Great is our Lord and great is his power"; and that of Jeremiah 10: "Great are you, O Lord, and great is your name, and in all the kingdoms of the earth there is none like you"; and Exodus 15: "Who is like you among the mighty, O Lord? Terrible and praiseworthy and working wonders."
83. Second, with regard to the exhortation of the disciples to the understanding of truth, there is added: While all were marveling at all the things that he was doing and also saying and speaking; he said to his disciples: Place these words in your hearts; as if he were saying to them: while others recognize and admire the greatness of the miracles, you consider the humility of the future reproaches and "store away in your mind the outcome of the precious blood by which the world is to be redeemed, while the rest marvel only at the deeds of divine majesty." Whence place, that is, hold in memory, according to that passage of Song of Songs, the last chapter: "Set me as a seal upon your heart." Moreover, after the display of the miracle he joins the prediction of future suffering, lest the passion, coming suddenly, should utterly shake the disciples: whence Ecclesiasticus 11: "In the day of good things, be not unmindful of evil things"; and lest anyone be exalted in a time of prosperity, according to that passage of Proverbs 27: "Do not boast about tomorrow, not knowing what the coming day may bring forth"; and therefore Ecclesiasticus 11: "In the day of your honor, do not exalt yourself."
These words, which he wishes to be recalled to memory, are about the passion: whence he adds: The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men. Delivered, I say, out of clemency by God the Father: Romans 8: "Who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all," etc. He will be delivered out of obedience by himself; Isaiah 53: "Because he delivered his soul unto death." He will be delivered out of malice by Judas the traitor: Matthew 26: "He who dips his hand with me in the dish, he will betray me." And in this he encompasses the whole passion.
84. (Verse 45). And since this was a hidden mystery, therefore there is added: But they did not understand this word, and it was veiled before them, so that they did not perceive it; because they were still unlearned and natural and did not understand past things, therefore neither future things: whence Ecclesiastes 8: "He who is ignorant of the past can know future things by no messenger."
Indeed, and because they were not yet perfectly instructed, therefore it is added: And they were afraid to ask him about this saying. For they had not yet heard from him that word of John 15: "I will no longer call you servants, because the servant does not know what his master does," etc. Now the reason for this ignorance was threefold. For it came partly from the love of charity, partly from faith in his Divinity, and partly from his customary manner of speaking in parables. And the Gloss of Bede touches on this: "This ignorance," etc. But although the Lord knew that they were ignorant, he nevertheless foretold these things to them, as he afterwards recounted after the resurrection, when he rebuked them, below in the last chapter: "O foolish and slow of heart to believe!" and when "he opened their understanding." Whence he gives the reason for this in John 14: "I have told you this before it happens, so that when it has happened, you may believe." But he was saying it then so that, as has been said, in all our exaltation he might teach us to keep the memory of our death and our humility; whence Ecclesiasticus 7: "Remember your last end, and you shall never sin."
The norm of governing is explained in three ways.
85. And a thought entered, etc. This is the third part of this section, in which the mission of the Apostles is treated, where after the explanation of the form of preaching and the way of advancing, the norm of governing is explained. For the Apostles bore the person of preachers, of perfect men, and of prelates. Since, however, for prelates three things are necessary to rule the people, namely humility of spirit, equanimity of zeal, and perspicacity of judgment: therefore this section has three parts: in the first of which he instructs concerning humility of spirit; in the second, concerning equanimity of zeal, at the passage: And it came to pass, when the days were being fulfilled, etc.; in the third, concerning perspicacity of judgment, at the passage: And it came to pass, as they were going on their way, etc.
The first part has two sections. For first he instructs concerning humility with respect to those of one's own household; and second, with respect to outsiders, at the passage: And John answering said, etc.
Now in the persuasion to have humility toward those of one's own household, three things are introduced by the Evangelist. The first is the occasion for praising humility on account of its contrary; the second is a commendatory leading by hand through a sensible example; the third is the conclusion of perfect praise through a definitive judgment.
86. (Verse 46.) First, therefore, the occasion for praising humility is introduced, and this on account of repelling its contrary, when he says: And a thought entered into them, which of them should be the greater.
And note that Luke says a thought entered into them; in Mark 9 they are said to have disputed; in Matthew 18 they are said to have questioned the Lord. Nor is there a contradiction, because all of this could have been such that first the thought entered, then the disputation followed, and lastly the question was brought to the Master. And what one of the Evangelists passes over in silence, another states.
Now this thought was the path to pride and had entered into them from the ancient corruption, concerning which Genesis 8 says: "The sense and thought of the human heart are prone to evil from its youth," and especially to pride: because, as is said in Tobit 4, "never permit pride to reign in your mind or in your word: for in it all perdition had its beginning." Therefore to the man thinking proudly it is said in Job 15: "Why does your heart elevate you, and as though thinking great things you have dazed eyes?" Such were the Apostles at that time, against the counsel of Ecclesiasticus 6: "Do not exalt yourself in your thought like a bull, lest your strength be crushed." Now this proud thought had its entrance from the fact that he had led three disciples apart onto the mountain, and yet to Peter alone he had said: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven," as is said in Matthew 16; therefore some wished to make John equal to Peter, others wished to set Peter above the rest: and this is what is said in the Gloss: "Because they had seen Peter," etc.
87. (Vers. 47.). Second, there is added a commendatory guidance by means of a sensible example, when it is added: But Jesus, seeing the thoughts of their hearts, as true God, according to that passage of 1 Kings 16: "Man sees the things that are apparent, but God beholds the heart"; and Ecclesiasticus 23: "The eyes of the Lord are far more luminous than the sun, surveying all the ways of men and the depth of the abyss and beholding the hearts of men." And since he saw that the thought was the path to disease, therefore as a wise physician he applies a remedy, when he says: Taking hold of a child, he set him beside himself, as one conformed and close to himself; whence in Matthew 19 he said: "Allow the little ones to come to me, and do not forbid them to come to me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven"; and Hosea 11: "Because Israel is a child, and I loved him." And on account of this the Wise Man said in Wisdom 9: "Do not reject me from among your children, for I am your servant and the son of your handmaid." Beside himself therefore he set the little one, to show that whoever wishes to be a friend of God must become little.
88. (Vers. 48.). And he indicates this when he adds: And he said to them: Whoever receives this child in my name, receives me: in which he shows that he has such great affection for the little ones and the humble that what is done for them he considers done for himself: whence, in Matthew twenty-five, he will say at the judgment: "What you did for one of the least of mine, you did for me." For he accepts such ones above all, according to that word of the Psalm: "The Lord is on high and regards the lowly"; and according to that word of Isaiah sixty-six: "To whom shall I look except to the poor and contrite in spirit," etc. - From this, moreover, it is gathered that there is great excellence in the little one, since in him Christ is received not only according to human humility, but also according to divine authority; to intimate which he adds: And whoever receives me, receives him who sent me. From this it is gathered that he who honors and receives the little one of Christ receives and honors God: great therefore is the honor and glory of the little ones.
From which he persuades them not to seek to be great, but to strive to be little. And to this the Apostle invites in Philippians two: "In humility esteeming one another as superior to themselves." "For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." So also did the Apostle, according to that word of First Corinthians nine: "Though I was free from all, I made myself the servant of all"; and First Thessalonians two: "We became little ones in your midst, as if a nurse were cherishing her own children."
89. Third, however, there is subjoined the conclusion of perfect praise through a definitive judgment, when he says: For he who is the lesser among you all, by estimation and humility, he is the greater, according to divine acceptance and truth. The least therefore is the greatest, and this because he is ordained to great rewards, according to that word below in chapter eighteen: "He who humbles himself shall be exalted." If this is true in itself as a sentence of God, he who humbles himself more is the greater, and he who does so most is the greatest.
And the reason for this is that the more humble we are, the more empty we are of the swelling of pride; and the more empty of the swelling of pride, the more full of love; and the more full of this, the greater we are. For of it is written in First Corinthians thirteen: "But the greatest of these is charity"; and therefore Ecclesiasticus three: "The greater you are, humble yourself in all things, and you shall find grace before God"; and again in chapter ten: "Great is the judge and mighty in honor, but none is greater than he who fears God."