*H And certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary who is called Magdalen, out of whom seven devils were gone forth,
Ver. 2. Mention is made in the gospels, of a woman who was a sinner, (Luke vii.) of Mary of Bethania, the sister of Lazarus, (John xi. and xii. Mark xiv. Matt. xxvi.) and of Mary Magdalene, who followed Jesus from Galilee, and ministered to him. Many think all this to belong to one and the same person: others think these were three distinct persons. See the arguments on both sides in Alban Butler's Lives of Saints, July 22d; and also more at large in the dissertations upon the three Marys, at the conclusion of the harmony in the Bible de Vence.
* Footnote * Mark 16 : 9
But he rising early the first day of the week, appeared first to Mary Magdalen; out of whom he had cast seven devils.*H And Joanna the wife of Chusa, Herod's steward, and Susanna and many others who ministered unto him of their substance.
Ver. 3. The wife of Chusa, Herod's steward. Lit. his procurator, as in the Rheims translation. The Greek signifies one that provides for another, or manages his concerns. The same word is used, Matt. xx. 8. and Gal. iv. 2. Wi. — The Greek word is επιτροπου . It was the custom of the Jews, says S. Jerom, that pious women should minister of their substance, meat, drink, and clothing, to their teachers going about with them. But as this might have given cause of scandal among the Gentiles, S. Paul mentions that he allowed it not. 1 Cor. ix. 5. 12. They thus ministered to our Lord and his apostles of their worldly substance, from whom they received spiritual riches.
* Footnote * Matthew 13 : 3
And he spoke to them many things in parables, saying: Behold the sower went forth to sow.* Footnote * Mark 4 : 3
Hear ye: Behold, the sower went out to sow.*H And other some fell upon good ground and, being sprung up, yielded fruit a hundredfold. Saying these things, he cried out: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Ver. 8. Ears to hear, let him hear, &c. i.e. he that is willing to hear the word of God, and diligently comply with what is therein commanded, let him be attentive to the words of Christ. For the sight, hearing, and other senses, were not given to man to be used only as beasts use them, but likewise that they might profit his soul to eternal life. Tirinus.
*H And his disciples asked him what this parable might be.
Ver. 9. After the multitude had left our divine Saviour, his disciples wishing thoroughly to understand the meaning of his instructions, came to him, and desired he would give them an explanation of the parable. Tirinus.
* Footnote * Isaias 6 : 9
And he said: Go, and thou shalt say to this people: Hearing, hear, and understand not: and see the vision, and know it not.* Footnote * Matthew 13 : 14
And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive.* Footnote * Mark 4 : 12
That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.* Footnote * Acts 28 : 26
Saying: Go to this people and say to them: With the ear you shall hear and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive.* Footnote * Romans 11 : 8
As it is written: God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, until this present day.*H And that which fell among thorns are they who have heard and, going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life and yield no fruit.
Ver. 14. The sense of the Greek text is: they produce no fruit that arrives at maturity. V.
*H Now no man lighting a candle covereth it with a vessel or putteth it under a bed: but setteth it upon a candlestick, that they who come in may see the light.
Ver. 16. Our Lord calls himself the lighted candle, placed in the middle of the world. Christ was by nature God, and by dispensation man: and thus, not unlike a torch placed in the middle of a house, does our Lord, seated in the soul of man, illumine all around him. But by the candlestick, is understood the Church, which he illuminates by the refulgent rays of his divine word. S. Maximus. — By these expressions, Jesus induces his audience to be very diligent, and quite alive in the momentous affair of salvation; informing them that they are placed in the public view of the whole world. S. Chry. hom. xv. in Matt.
* Footnote * Matthew 5 : 15
Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house.* Footnote * Mark 4 : 21
And he said to them: Doth a candle come in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?* Footnote * Matthew 10 : 26
Therefore fear them not. For nothing is covered that shall not be revealed: nor hid, that shall not be known.* Footnote * Mark 4 : 22
For there is nothing hid, which shall not be made manifest: neither was it made secret, but that it may come abroad.*H Take heed therefore how you hear. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given: and whosoever hath not, that also which he thinketh he hath shall be taken away from him.
Ver. 18. He here exhorts his audience to attend to what he was about to deliver, and to apply themselves with all their attention to the divine word; for he who has a desire of hearing the word, shall also receive the grace and power of understanding it. But the man who has no desire of hearing it, though from his learning he might expect to understand it, shall not understand it, because he does not willingly attend to the divine admonitions; hence it is said, Whosoever hath, to him also shall be given. Ven. Bede.
* Footnote * Matthew 13 : 12
For he that hath, to him shall be given, and he shall abound: but he that hath not, from him shall be taken away that also which he hath.* Footnote * Matthew 25 : 29
For to every one that hath shall be given, and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, that also which he seemeth to have shall be taken away.* Footnote * Matthew 12 : 46
As he was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold his mother and his brethren stood without, seeking to speak to him.* Footnote * Mark 3 : 32
And the multitude sat about him; and they say to him: Behold thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.*H And it was told him: Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee.
Ver. 20. These brethren were not the sons of the blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God, as Helvidius wickedly taught; nor yet the sons of Joseph, by another wife; for, as S. Jerom writeth, not only Mary, but Joseph also, observed virginity. Contra Helvidium, c. ix. et ibidem, c. viii. — In the scriptural idiom, cousins are called brethren. B.
*H Who answering, said to them: My mother and my brethren are they who hear the word of God and do it.
Ver. 21. There is no tie of affinity and friendship so proper, and so becoming man, as that made by faith in Christ, and strengthened by charity. Tirinus.
*H And it came to pass on a certain day that he went into a little ship with his disciples. And he said to them: Let us go over to the other side of the lake. And they launched forth.
Ver. 22. And they launched forth: lit. they went up. The sense is, being gone abroad, they set forward, or launched forth, as in the Prot. translation. Wi.
* Footnote * Matthew 8 : 23
And when he entered into the boat, his disciples followed him:* Footnote * Mark 4 : 36
And sending away the multitude, they take him even as he was in the ship: and there were other ships with him.*H And when they were sailing, he slept. And there came down a storm of wind upon the lake: and they were filled and were in danger.
Ver. 23. And they were filled; i.e. the little ship was filled with water. Wi.
*H And they came and awaked him, saying: Master, we perish. But he arising, rebuked the wind and the rage of the water. And it ceased: and there was a calm.
Ver. 24. In this Christ evidently shews two distinct natures; his human nature, denoted by his sleep; and his divine nature by stilling the tempest at sea. Ven. Bede.
*H And he said to them: Where is your faith? Who being afraid, wondered, saying one to another: Who is this (think you), that he commandeth both the winds and the sea: and they obey him?
Ver. 25. After Christ had appeased the storm at sea, the disciples, all astonishment at the miracle, began to whisper to each other, saying, Who is this? not that the disciples were ignorant of whom they were speaking, but they wondered at his mighty works, and at the glory of his divine power. S. Amb.
*H And they sailed to the country of the Gerasens, which is over against Galilee.
Ver. 26. Here S. Matt. relates the history of the two demoniacs, whilst S. Mark and S. Luke speak only of one; but the man mentioned in these two evangelists, was a man of some consideration and consequence, for whose cure the country was deeply interested. S. Austin de concord. evang.
*H And when he saw Jesus, he fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said: What have I to do with thee, Jesus, Son of the most high God? I beseech thee, do not torment me.
Ver. 28. This is not a voluntary confession, which merits a reward, but a forced acknowledgment, extorted against their wills. Like fugitive servants, who, when they meet their masters, think of nothing but of deprecating punishment. The devils think our Lord is come down upon earth to judge them. S. Jerom. — The torment from which this devil desires to be freed, is the pain and affliction he would suffer by being forced to yield to the power of Christ, in leaving the man; not the general torment of hell, to which he knew he was unchangeably and irrevocably condemned. He was also tormented with the fear, lest he should be now consigned to those eternal pains before his time, as it is expressed in S. Matt. For, though the evil spirits are unavoidably condemned, and already suffer the chief torments of hell, yet the rigorous fulfilment of all is deferred to the day of judgment. Jans. conc. Evang.
*H And Jesus asked him, saying: What is thy name? But he said: Legion. Because many devils were entered into him.
Ver. 30. He did not put the question through ignorance of his name, but that his answer might shew forth the divine power in a more glorious manner; as also for our instruction, that knowing the great number of our invisible enemies, we might work out our salvation with fear and trembling, placing all our confidence in God. Dion. Carth.
*H And there was there a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them.
Ver. 32. If, says S. Athanasius, the infernal spirits have no power over such impure beasts as swine, with much greater reason then are they deprived of power over man, who is made after God's own image, and redeemed by the blood of his son, Christ Jesus. We should therefore fear only God, and despise the devil. In vit. S. Ant.
*H The devils therefore went out of the man and entered into the swine. And the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake and were stifled.
Ver. 33. This event shews what was before asserted, that many devils had possession of the man. The obstinacy of the Sadducees, who denied the existence of evil spirits, was thus likewise refuted; as well as the cavils of certain moderns, who pretend that these effects which appeared in the demoniacs, were not produced by the power of the devil, but were the consequences of some violent natural malady. Jans. conc. Evang.
*H And behold there came a man whose name was Jairus: and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at the feet of Jesus, beseeching him that he would come into his house:
Ver. 41. See this explained in Matt. ix. and Mark v.
* Footnote * Matthew 19 : 18
He said to him: Which? And Jesus said: Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness.* Footnote * Mark 5 : 22
And there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue named Jairus: and seeing him, falleth down at his feet.*H And there was a certain woman having an issue of blood twelve years, who had bestowed all her substance on physicians and could not be healed by any.
Ver. 43. All her substance; ( ολον τον βιον ) i.e. all that she had to live upon.
*H And Jesus said: Who is it that touched me? And all denying, Peter and they that were with him said: Master, the multitudes throng and press thee; and dost thou say, who touched me?
Ver. 45. All denied that they had designedly touched him, though, on account of the pressure of the crowd, many unwillingly touched him. Menochii Commentaria.
*H But he said to her: Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go thy way in peace.
Ver. 48. Παρα του αρχισυναγωγου , which some interpret, from the house of the ruler. M. — In vain do you trouble him. Idem. Ibid.
*H And her spirit returned: and she arose immediately. And he bid them give her to eat.
Ver. 55. This returning of the souls again, to reanimate the bodies of those whom Christ and his apostles raised from death, (and especially Lazarus, who had been dead four days) doth evidently prove the immortality of the soul. From this place we may also conclusively infer against our adversaries, who say, that every one goeth straight to heaven or hell, that it is not probable that they were called from the one or the other; and therefore from some third place.