Questions and Solutions 47

Question. Where did Christ eat the fish? For John recorded that it happened by [the sea] of Galilee. If in Galilee, how does Luke say that he commanded the disciples, “But you, stay in the city of Jerusalem”? And how, having led them out from there to Bethany, was he taken up …?

Solution. … many times, as in forty days, … John records … in Galilee … the first … in which he also mentioned the broiled fish; but not of fishes, nor of a charcoal fire, nor of bread, as in the supper by the sea of Galilee recorded by John.

[Question.] When did the supper recorded by Luke take place? For if long before the fortieth day, that is, the ascension, how did he write that he was taken up immediately, saying, “He led them out as far as to Bethany,” and what follows, and “he was carried up into heaven”? And if on the fortieth day, how was he then touched by the disciples, having already been touched on the first day and on the eighth of the resurrection?

Solution. That he ate the supper of the fish recorded by Luke with them on the first day of the resurrection is clear from what was written before. And the words “He led them out as far as to Bethany” and “he was taken up” do not at all give us to understand that he was taken up immediately. For it is the custom of writers who aim at conciseness to join one narrative to another; just as it is written by Matthew, who, without having completed the Lord’s return from Egypt and his dwelling in Galilee, [passes to] John’s coming to the Jordan and his preaching, which took place almost thirty years later. And many other such things can be gathered by those who wish, to confirm the agreement of the Gospels; not to mention that in the Acts of the Apostles, summing up the account of the ascension, he recorded that it took place on the fortieth day.

[Question.] How does Luke [say in the Gospel that] Christ [led] the disciples out to Bethany and was taken up from there, but in the Acts [that] the disciples [returned from the Mount of Olives], as though the Lord had been taken up from there? And how, having recorded in the Gospel that after the ascension the disciples stayed in the temple, praising and blessing God, did he set out in the Acts of the Apostles that they went up to an upper room and stayed there?

Solution. “To Bethany” and “toward Bethany” are different. For “toward Bethany” gives us to understand the road that leads there, beside which lies the Mount of Olives; which Luke set out by saying “toward Bethany,” meaning also the part bordering on it, … of the mountain, where the Lord was taken up, describing the place in some way. The second question has this solution. When the Lord had been taken up, the apostles returned to Jerusalem, as is contained in the Gospel, and they were continually in the temple, that is, for the appointed time of prayer, during which it was permitted to stay in the temple, hinting at this by these words; and the rest of the hours they spent at home, that is, in the upper room mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, ceaselessly praising and blessing the Lord. For to him belongs the glory, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, to the ages.

For what reason does John record that the Lord himself carried the cross, while the other evangelists wrote that Simon of Cyrene did this? Because both were done. For as soon as the Lord was led away to be crucified, he went out himself carrying the cross on his shoulders, since the soldiers did not deem it fitting to carry it, and no one else was present who was obliged to carry it. But when they had set out on the road, then Simon, pressed into service by the soldiers, took it from the Lord and carried it. That this is so, the very words of the evangelists will teach us: “They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country”; which shows that Simon, coming from the country, met them on the road leading to Golgotha. For meeting happens to those who are travelling. Hence he carried the cross not from the beginning, but when he was then pressed into service.