Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aquinas - Matthew
CHAP . 9
9:1–8
1. And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.
2. And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.
3. And, behold, certain of the Scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.
4. And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?
5. For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?
6. But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
7. And he arose, and departed to his house.
8. But when the multitude saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.
CHRYSOSTOM . (Hom. xxix.) Christ had above shewn His excellent power by teaching, when he taught them as one having authority; in the leper, when He said, I will, be thou clean; by the centurion, who said to Him, Speak the word, and my servant shall be healed; by the sea which He calmed by a word; by the dæmons who confessed Him; now again, in another and greater way, He compels His enemies to confess the equality of His honour with the Father; to this end it proceeds, And Jesus entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. He entered a boat to cross over, who could have crossed the sea on foot; for He would not be always working miracles, that He might not take away the reality of His incarnation.
CHRYSOLOGUS . (Serm. 50.) The Creator of all things, the Lord of the world, when He had for our sakes straitened Himself in the bonds of our flesh, began to have His own country as a man, began to be a citizen of Judæa, and to have parents, though Himself the parent of all, that affection might attach those whom fear had separated.
CHRYSOSTOM . By his own city is here meant Capharnaum. For one town, to wit, Bethlehem, had received Him to be born there; another had brought Him up, to wit, Nazareth; and a third received Him to dwell there continually, namely, Capharnaum.
AUGUSTINE . (De Cons. Ev. ii. 25.) That Matthew here speaks of his own city, and Mark calls it Capharnaum, would be more difficult to be reconciled if Matthew had expressed it Nazareth. But as it is, all Galilee might be called Christ’s city, because Nazareth was in Galilee; just as all the Roman empire, divided into many states, was still called the Roman city1. Who can doubt then that the Lord in coming to Galilee is rightly said to come into his own city, whatever was the town in which He abode, especially since Capharnaum was exalted into the metropolis of Galilee?
JEROME . Or; This city may be no other than Nazareth, whence He was called a Nazarene.
AUGUSTINE . (ubi sup.) And if we adopt this supposition, we must say that Matthew has omitted all that was done from the time that Jesus entered into His own city till He came to Capharnaum, and has proceeded on at once to the healing of the paralytic; as in many other places they pass over things that intervened, and carry on the thread of the narrative, without noticing any interval of time, to something else; so here, And, lo, they bring unto him a paralytic laying on a bed.
CHRYSOSTOM . This paralytic is not the same as he in John. For he lay by the pool, this in Capharnaum; he had none to assist him, this was borne on a bed.
JEROME . On a bed, because he could not walk.
CHRYSOSTOM . He does not universally demand faith of the sick, as, for example, when they are mad, or from any other sore sickness are not in possession of their minds; as it is here, seeing their faith;
JEROME . not the sick man’s, but theirs that bare him.
CHRYSOSTOM . Seeing then that they shewed so great faith, He also shews His excellent power; with full power forgiving sin, as it follows, He said to the paralytic, Be of good courage, son, thy sins are forgiven thee.
CHRYSOLOGUS . (ubi sup.) Of how great power with God must a man’s own faith be, when that of others here availed to heal a man both within and without. The paralytic hears his pardon pronounced, in silence uttering no thanks, for he was more anxious for the cure of his body than his soul. Christ therefore with good reason accepts the faith of those that bare him, rather than his own hardness of heart.
CHRYSOSTOM . Or, we may suppose even the sick man to have had faith; otherwise he would not have suffered himself to be let down through the roof as the other Evangelist relates.
JEROME . O wonderful humility! This man feeble and despised, crippled in every limb, He addresses as son. The Jewish Priests did not deign to touch him. Even therefore His son, because his sins were forgiven him. Hence we may learn that diseases are often the punishment of sin; and therefore perhaps his sins are forgiven him, that when the cause of his disease has been first removed, health may be restored.