TITUS BOSTRENSIS . But as He was departing, the man who had been afflicted will not part from his Saviour, for it follows, Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him.
THEOPHYLACT . For as one who had been tried by experience, he feared, lest perhaps when far from Jesus he should again become the prey of evil spirits. But the Lord shews him, that though He is not present with him, He can protect by His grace, for it follows, But Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done for thee. But he said not, “how great things I have done for thee,” giving us an example of humility, that we should attribute all our righteousness to God.
TITUS BOSTRENSIS . He does not however turn aside from the law of truth, for whatever the Son doth the Father doth. But why does He, who every where charged those who were delivered to tell no one, say to this man who was delivered from the legion, Shew how great things God hath done for thee? Because in truth that whole country knew not God, and was in bondage to the worship of devils. Or more truly, now that He refers the miracle to His Father, He says, Shew how great, &c. but when He speaks of Himself He charges to tell no one. But he who was healed of the evil spirits knew Jesus to be God, and therefore published what great things God had done for him. For it follows, And he went through the whole city, &c.
CHRYSOSTOM . (ubi sup.) And so abandoning those who had proclaimed themselves unworthy of His teaching, He appoints as their teacher the man who had been released from the evil spirits.
BEDE . Now mystically; Gerasa signifies the Gentile nations, whom after His passion and resurrection Christ visited in His preachers. Hence Gerasa or Gergesa, as some say, is by interpretation “casting out an inhabitant,” that is, the devil by whom it was before possessed, or, “a stranger approaching,” who before was afar off.
AMBROSE . Now although the number of those healed by Christ is different in Luke and Matthew, yet the mystery is one and the same. For as he who had a devil is the figure of the Gentile people, the two also in like manner take the figure of the Gentiles. For whereas Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet; the family of Shem only was called to the possession of God, and from the other two the people of different nations were descended. He (as Luke says) had devils long time, inasmuch as the Gentile people was vexed from the deluge down to our Lord’s coming. But he was naked, because the Gentiles lost the garment of their nature and virtue.
AUGUSTINE . (de Quæst. Ev. l. ii. q. 13.) He abode in no house, that is, he had no rest in his conscience; he dwelt among the tombs, because he delighted in dead works in his sins.
AMBROSE . Or what are the bodies of the unbelieving but kinds of tombs in which the word of God abides not?
AUGUSTINE . (ubi sup.) Now that he was bound by brazen fetters and chains, signifies the harsh and severe laws of the Gentiles, by which also in their states offences are restrained. But, that having burst these chains he was driven by the evil spirit into the wilderness, means that having broken through these laws, he was also led by lust to those crimes which exceeded the ordinary life of men. By the expression that there was in him a legion of devils, the nations are signified who served many devils. But the fact that the devils were permitted to go into the swine, which fed on the mountains, signifies also the unclean and proud men over whom the evil spirits have dominion, because of their worship of idols. For the swine are they who, after the manner of unclean animals without speech and reason, have defiled the grace of their natural virtues by the filthy actions of their life.
AUGUSTINE . (ubi sup.) But by their being sent down violently into the lake, it is meant that the Church has been purified, and now that the Gentiles are delivered from the dominion of evil spirits, those who refuse to believe in Christ, carry on their unholy rites in hidden places with dark and secret watchings.
AMBROSE . They are carried violently down, for they are reclaimed not by the contemplation of any good deed, but thrust as from a higher place to a lower, along the downward path of iniquity, they perish amidst the waves of this world, shut out from the approach of air. For they who are carried to and fro by the rapid tide of pleasure cannot receive the communication of the Spirit; we see then that man himself is the author of his own misery. For unless a man lived like the swine, the devil would never have received power over him, or received it, not to destroy but to prove him. And perhaps the devil, who after the coming of our Lord can no longer steal away the good, seeks not the destruction of all men, but only the wanton, as the robber lies in wait not for armed men, but the unarmed. When those who kept the herd saw this they fled. For neither the teachers of philosophy nor the chief of the synagogue can bring a cure to perishing mankind. It is Christ alone who takes away the sins of the people.
AUGUSTINE . (de Qu. Evan. l. ii. q. 13.) Or, by the herdsmen of the swine flying and telling these things, He represents certain rulers of the wicked, who though they evade the law of Christianity, yet proclaim it among the nations by their astonishment and wonder. But by the Gerasenes, when they knew what was done, asking Jesus to depart from them, for they were struck with great fear, he represents the multitude delighting in their old pleasures, honouring indeed, but unwilling to endure the Christian law, saying that they cannot fulfil it, while they still marvel at the faithful released from their former abandoned mode of life.
AMBROSE . Or there seems to have been a kind of synagogue in the city of the Gerasenes who besought our Lord to depart, because they were seized with great fear. For the weak mind receives not the word of God, nor can it endure the burden of wisdom. And therefore He no longer troubled them, but ascends from the lower parts to the higher, from the Synagogue to the Church, and returned across the lake. For no one passes from the Church to the Synagogue without endangering his salvation. But whoever desires to pass from the Synagogue to the Church, let him take up his cross, that he may avoid the danger.
AUGUSTINE . (ubi sup.) But that he, now that he is healed, desires to be with Christ, and it is said to him, Return to thy house, and tell what great things God has done for thee, implies that each should understand, that after the remission of his sins he should return to a good conscience as to his home, and obey the Gospel for the salvation of others, in order that there he may rest with Christ, lest by too early wishing to be with Christ he neglect the ministry of preaching necessary for this redemption of his brethren.
8:40–48
40. And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him.
41. And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus’ feet, and besought him that he would come into his house:
42. For he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went the people thronged him.
43. And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
44. Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.
45. And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
46. And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
47. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.
48. And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole: go in peace.
AUGUSTINE . (de Con. Ev. l. ii. c. 28.) After relating the miracle of the Gadarenes, Luke goes on to relate that of the ruler of the synagogue’s daughter; saying, And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him.