Commentary on Matthew 16.8–16.11

When these things had been said by the Saviour in answer to the request of the mother of John and James, or of the sons of Zebedee themselves, “when the ten heard it,” he says, “they were indignant at the two brothers,” as men who had asked to be preferred to the rest. Notice that Judas too was among those who were indignant; Mark too recorded this. And if he was among those indignant with the other nine, perhaps the devil had not yet put it into his heart to betray our Lord himself, but Judas was still one of the apostles in his choice as well. Having said much about him earlier, we do not now take up again the task of showing that Judas, though of the same choice as the rest, fell, and fell into the snare of the evil one, both loving money and betraying the Saviour. “But Jesus called them to him and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,” and so on, up to “and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark too recorded what is equivalent to these words. We have observed, as in many other cases, that Matthew and Mark keep the order of what is recorded, whether healings or sayings; and so it is here too. For next, everything from “And as Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve aside privately,” up to “and he will send them at once,” Mark too has kept in order, from “And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem,” up to “and he will send it back here at once.” And you, by placing the Gospels side by side at these places and comparing them, will find that what is said is so. Luke, however, recorded the like in part, putting before it the words, “And there arose a dispute among them, which of them was the greatest”; for after these he adds: “And he said to them, The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you,” and so on. Let this be said so that we may not overlook the equivalence of this passage as kept by Matthew and Mark, and in part by Luke. Now we must examine also the sense of what is said. It has been said already that James and John laid claim to the first places with Jesus and asked to be granted to sit at his right and his left in his kingdom, or that their mother asked this for them; and that at this the other ten, as men who themselves also laid claim to the first places with Jesus, were indignant, if James and John wished to snatch for themselves, as being above the other ten, nearness to Jesus in glory. These things having been said beforehand, as was fitting, Jesus calls either the ten who were indignant or the other two with them as well, and teaches the way by which one will be great and first with God. What was said was this: that the rulers of the Gentiles, or those who think they rule them, not content with being lords of their subjects, but wishing to rule them more violently, lord it over them; and likewise those who are great among the Gentiles in the rank of this life are not content with having authority over their subjects, but rise up against them and exercise authority over them. But among you, my disciples, let these things not be; and let not those who have been entrusted with some rule over those who believe in me, or are thought to have authority in the church of my Father and God, lord it over their own brothers, or exercise authority over those who have taken refuge in the godliness that comes through me. But if anyone wishes to be judged great by my Father, and to excel in comparison with his brothers, let him serve all those than whom he wishes to be greater. And if anyone longs for the first places with me, let him know that he will be first of no one whom he did not serve, when he could, with a service in moderation and praiseworthy humility, able to benefit the one who serves and to profit or refresh those who are served. Luke brings kings and those who have authority over the Gentiles into the saying, turning away the one who wishes to be greater among the brothers from imitating royal authority, or the desire for flattery of those in authority; and he teaches us that the one who is truly greater among us should become as the younger, that is, as a child, for the sake of unpretentiousness and equality; and the one who leads (by which, I think, he names the one called bishop in the churches) as one who serves those who are waited upon. These things the Word of God teaches. But we, either not understanding the intent of Jesus’ teaching in these words, or despising such great counsels of the Saviour, are such that we sometimes surpass even the conceit of the wicked rulers among the Gentiles, and all but seek bodyguards like kings; and making ourselves fearsome and hard of access, especially to the poor, we behave toward those who come to us and ask us for something as not even tyrants and the harsher rulers behave toward suppliants. And one can see in many churches, as they are thought to be, and especially in those of the larger cities, the leaders of the people of God allowing no one, sometimes not even the best of Jesus’ disciples, to speak with them as equals. The Apostle gives a command to masters about their servants, saying, “Masters, grant your slaves what is just and equal, knowing that you too have a Lord in heaven”; and he teaches masters to forbear threatening their servants. But one can see some threatening, sometimes on the pretext of sin, sometimes from contempt for the poor, contrary to the apostolic word in which it is said, “They gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcision; only that we should remember the poor”; and again not even imagining equality toward those under them, nor that it is fitting for Christians above all to live without conceit and in equality, and especially for those who bear some eminence of ecclesiastical name. For it is written: “The greater you are, the more humble yourself, and you will find favour before the Lord.” We ought also to know what is said in Proverbs: “Before ruin a man’s heart is exalted, and before glory it is humbled”; and to avoid falling into thinking or saying the word spoken by the one who wished to justify himself before Jesus when he taught, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” and who was not ashamed to say to the Saviour, “And who is my neighbour?” We ought also to have read in Paul: “Though we could have been a burden as apostles of Christ, we became gentle among you, as a nurse cherishes her own children.” We ought to imitate also the words: “Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted?” Let the rulers of the Gentiles, then, lord it over them, but let the rulers of the church serve it; and let the great among the Gentiles exercise authority over them, but let those of the faithful hear: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” And let us be trained not to accept flattery, nor to be glad to be called benefactors by men for whatever good we seem to have done to some. We do not say these things wishing to humble ourselves without understanding “under the mighty hand of God,” and, according to his word, under the church’s ministry. There are times when one must, according to the apostolic word, “reprove those who sin before all, so that the rest also may stand in fear”; and there are times when one must, using one’s authority, “hand someone over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” But such a thing must be done rarely; for one must “admonish the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient toward all, and render to no one evil for evil.” And one must not consider the sinner an enemy, but hear the Apostle saying, “Do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.” These things have been said by me because I wish to show, according to the saying, that the ruler of the church must not imitate the ruler of the Gentiles, nor emulate those who lord it over others and exercise authority, or kings; but, as far as possible, one must imitate in these matters too Christ, who …, and who conversed with women and laid his hands on children. And even if Jesus’ pouring water into a basin and cleansing the feet of the disciples has a greater meaning, no less must we hear him, according to the letter too, when he says about these things, “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am,” and what follows; for by these words he teaches the disciples to become imitators of his praiseworthy humility. And perhaps it is because, being Lord, he served the human race for the salvation of men, that he is said to have taken the form of a servant and to have humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death; and if it was for this that God highly exalted him, let the one who wishes to be exalted do things like those for which one is highly exalted. For the Son of Man, even if he was served—when “angels came and ministered to him,” and again when he was served by Martha—did not come for this, to be served; for he came to dwell among the human race in order to serve, and to go so far in serving our salvation as to give his own life as a ransom for many, those who believed in him; and if, by hypothesis, all had believed in him, he would have given his life as a ransom for all. To whom did he give his life as a ransom for many? Surely not to God. Was it, then, to the evil one? For he held us fast until the ransom for us, the soul of Jesus, should be given to him—he being deceived, as though he could master it, and not seeing that he cannot bear the torment of holding it. Therefore death too, having seemed to master him, no longer masters him, since he became “free among the dead,” and stronger than the authority of death; and so much stronger that all of those held by death who wish to follow him can follow him, death no longer having any power against them; for everyone who is with Jesus is beyond the reach of death. In the words of the Gospel under examination, then, it is written that our Saviour “gave his own life as a ransom for many”; and in Peter it is said that “we were ransomed from our futile way of life inherited from our fathers, not with perishable things, silver and gold, but with precious blood”; and the Apostle says, “You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.” We were bought, then, with the precious blood of Jesus, and the soul of the Son of God was given as a ransom for us—not his spirit, for he had earlier committed it to the Father, saying, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”; nor his body, for we have found nothing of the kind written about it. And since his soul was given as a ransom for many, but did not remain with the one to whom it was given as a ransom for many, he says in the fifteenth Psalm: “You will not abandon my soul to Hades.” Having once come to this passage, I would remind those who, under an appearance of glorifying Christ, have confused what concerns the Firstborn of all creation with what concerns the soul and the body of Jesus, and perhaps his spirit too, and who think that what was seen and came to dwell in this life is one and wholly uncompounded, that they do not speak soundly. For let us ask them whether the … “of the image of the invisible God,” and the preeminence of “the Firstborn of all creation”—whether he “in whom all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or lordships or principalities or authorities”—was given as a ransom for many; and to whom that was given as a ransom—to an enemy who held us captive until he should receive the ransom?—and whether that enemy could receive so great and so mighty a ransom for the captives. I do not say these things as despising the soul of Jesus and making it small, but because I hold that this soul was given as a ransom by the whole Saviour, as far as was possible, while that preeminence and divinity could not have been given as a ransom. Yet today I do not separate Jesus from the Christ; much rather I know that Jesus the Christ, and his soul, are one with “the Firstborn of all creation”; and his body too, so that, if one must so name it, this whole is one even more than “he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” [On the two …]

“And as they went out from Jericho, a great crowd followed him; and behold, two blind men sitting by the road,” and so on. Let the narrative of the passage be true: that, as Jesus went out from Jericho with his disciples, a great crowd followed him; and that two blind men sitting by the road leading out of Jericho, hearing that Jesus was passing that place, themselves cried out and said, “Have mercy on us, Lord, son of David,” and agreed together in crying out to say what is recorded; and that because of the blind men who asked for mercy Jesus stopped and called them, so as not to call them while passing by and going past. And standing and inquiring, let him have said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And let the blind men, now setting out their request more particularly, have said to him that they wanted their eyes to be opened by Jesus. And let our humane and compassionate Saviour, moved with compassion for the blind men—moved, I think, because they had first offered what calls forth, if I may so name it, the mercy of Jesus, namely their crying out, “Have mercy on us, Lord, son of David,” and their asking, in faith, that their eyes be opened—touching their eyes and instilling healing power into them through the touch, have made the blind men see; and let them have followed Jesus with thanksgiving. And let one who believes these things, and knows the words, “Unless you believe, you will not understand,” receive understanding from his having believed, in proportion to his faith; and having received it, let him speak about these things, interpreting them after laying the foundation of faith concerning them, according to the words, “I believed, therefore I spoke.” And let such a one not only believe Jesus and what is recorded in this passage, but also know its meaning; for the one who remains in the truth of faith, and abides in the Word through the works of the word, according to Jesus’ promise, knows the truth and is made free by it. And we too—since if we do not believe we do not understand the intent of what is said, but when we understand, we understand from believing—come, let us set out, as far as we can, what occurs to us on the passage, having prayed to him who delivers us from the gospel’s being veiled to us. And first let us consider what it means that, as the disciples of Jesus went out from Jericho with the Saviour, a great crowd followed him. See, then, whether you can—remembering what we dictated on the parable in the Gospel according to Luke, “A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers”—say, on reflection, that here too Jericho is a symbol of the earthly place commonly called in Scripture the world. The one going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, Adam—that is, man—fell among robbers; and because of the many in Jericho (for a great crowd is in Jericho), let our Jesus, having come into it together with his disciples, go out from it doing his business, and by having entered Jericho, guide those who wish to follow. For those in Jericho do not know how to go out from the worldly mind unless they see not only Jesus going out from Jericho but also his disciples; and seeing this, a great crowd follows him. And by considering those who wish to live according to the word, and to despise the world and earthly things, following Jesus and his disciples and walking in their footsteps as they go out from Jericho, one can see what the passage is about. The great crowd follows Jesus so that, walking behind him and using him as their guide, they may come to Jerusalem.

A little later, then, it is added: “When they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent the disciples,” and so on. But next is written, as though the word were pointing to the blind men who were about to be healed: “And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, Lord, son of David.” And notice in these words, “And behold, two blind men,” whether the “behold” does not contain a pointing. If, then, we can follow the word that points out the two blind men, and see them, we shall say that Israel and the Jews before the coming of Jesus were blind, yet “sitting by the road,” in that they spent their time in the law and the prophets: blind, because before the coming of Jesus into their souls the true word in the law and the prophets was not seen by them; and crying out, “Have mercy on us, Lord, son of David,” because they were aware that they did not see the intent of the writings, and wished to recover their sight and see the glory in them. As men still blind and imagining nothing great about Jesus, but understanding only what concerned him according to the flesh, they call the one who came from the seed of David according to the flesh “son of David,” since they understood nothing more than this; and all their great voice, which seemed to come from godliness, knew nothing more to say about the Saviour than that he was the son of David. And if I say that the two blind men are Israel and Judah before the coming of Jesus into their soul, lead yourself up to the books of Kingdoms, and consider the people divided in the times of Rehoboam into Israel and Judah; and next see the prophets prophesying sometimes to Israel, sometimes to Judah, and in some places to both together. How they prophesy to each separately you would find by attending to the reading of the prophets; and to Israel and Judah together, when through Jesus God promises “to accomplish for the house of Judah a new covenant, not according to the covenant which God made with the fathers” when they went out from the land of Egypt. And being blind, Israel—which we have often explained, distinguishing it from Israel according to the flesh—and Judah likewise, “hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out.” Hearing, he says—for, I think, hearing from those who preach the coming of Jesus, and that he is passing by Jericho, which will pass away, coming into it but about to go out from it, they take care lest he pass them by without their receiving mercy; and therefore they cried out to him, saying, “Have mercy on us, Lord, son of David.” And when the Saviour does good he does not pass by but stands still, so that, as he stands, the benefaction may not flow past and pass by, but may come to those who are benefited as from a standing spring.

Jesus, then, standing still, and struck by their cry and their request, calls them to himself, already making the beginning of the benefaction when he called them; for he would not have called in vain, with nothing accomplished in those he called. Would that, when we too cry out to him and say, “Have mercy on us, Lord,” he would call us, as we begin from “son of David,” and would stand still and call us, as one attending to our request. He said, then, to them: “What do you want me to do for you?” This, I think, means: Present what you want, make it plain, so that all who are going out from Jericho and following me may hear and see what happens. And they answered: “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.” This answer is given by those who are well-born, as being from Israel and Judah, but who have been blinded by wickedness and are aware of it, and who, having heard what is said about the Saviour, speak to him and say that they wish their eyes to be opened. And this is said above all by those who, in reading the holy Scripture, are not insensible of their own blindness to the meaning in it; for these say, “Have mercy on us,” and, “We wish our eyes to be opened.” Would that we too, perceiving in what respects we are blind and do not see, sitting beside the very road of the Scriptures, and hearing that Jesus is passing by, might make him stand still by our request, and might say that we wish our eyes to be opened. If we say this from a disposition that longs to see what Jesus grants us to see when he touches the eyes of the soul, our Saviour will be moved with compassion; and, being Power and Word and Wisdom and all that is recorded of him, he will touch our eyes, which did not see before he came; and when he has touched them, darkness and ignorance will flee, and at once we shall not only recover our sight but also follow him—he himself working with our recovered sight, beside him, so that we do nothing else than follow the one who made us see again—so that, always following him, we may be guided by him to God, and may see God with our eyes that have recovered their sight through him, together with those who are blessed for having a pure heart. We have, then, those who go out from Jericho and follow Jesus, a great crowd, who are neither Israel nor Judah; and the two blind men who heard that Jesus was passing by, knew that he is the son of David, were aware of their own blindness, and asked that their eyes be opened—Israel and Judah, as explained, whose eyes were closed and shut, … recover their sight through Jesus. So much according to Matthew.