Chapter 8

Chapter 8. — On the Seven Loaves. On Those Seeking a Sign. On the Leaven of the Pharisees. On the Blind Man. On the Questioning at Caesarea. On the Rebuking of Peter

¹ In those days, the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him and says unto them: I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with me three days, and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away fasting to their own homes, they will faint by the way; for some of them are come from afar. And his disciples answered him: Whence shall one be able to fill these men with bread here in the wilderness? And he asked them: How many loaves have you? And they said, Seven. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, having given thanks, he broke them, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude. And they had a few small fishes; and having blessed, he bade set these also before them. So they ate, and were filled; and they took up of the broken pieces that remained over seven baskets. Now they that had eaten were about four thousand; and he sent them away. Already before this the Lord had wrought some such wonder; but now he works it, having seized upon a reasonable occasion. And this was, that the multitude had remained three days, and the provisions of each had been consumed. For he did not always work wonders concerning food, lest the multitudes should seem to follow him for the sake of food. And now, then, had there not been an expected danger of want of nourishment coming upon the multitude, he would not have worked the wonder. And mark the disciples too, how they are still without understanding, not yet believing in his power from what had gone before. But he upbraids them with nothing, teaching us also not to rebuke too severely those who are untaught, but in some things even to bear with them in their want of understanding. And consider this also, that Christ wishes no one to be sent away fasting. For he wishes all to delight in his gifts of grace, and especially those who have remained with him three days — that is, the baptized. For since baptism is called illumination, and baptism is accomplished in three immersions, in three days are those who are illumined through baptism. He takes, then, the seven loaves — I mean the more spiritual words. For the number seven is a symbol of the Spirit. For it is the Spirit that perfects all things, and in the number seven our life is perfected, and this present age. And the illumined eat and are filled, and leave fragments over. For they cannot eat all the divine thoughts. But there, in the wonder of the five loaves, the fragments were twelve baskets; for they were five thousand, that is, men enslaved to the five senses. And for this cause they could not eat much, but were content with little; wherefore also the things left over were many. But here there are seven baskets, and few the remnants, because they were four thousand, that is, men exercised in the four virtues, and for this cause, as being stronger, they ate much and left little. For those things only they could not eat, which were more spiritual and deeper; for this is the seven baskets. And learn this also according to the history, that we ought to stand fast within our need, and to seek nothing more. For behold, the multitudes, having eaten and been filled, did not take with them the remnants of the loaves, but the disciples took these up, as also in the case of the baskets; thus, then, we too ought to be content with the due measure of our need.

² And straightway entering into the boat with his disciples, he came into the parts of Dalmanutha. And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. And sighing deeply in his spirit, he says: Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen I say unto you, no sign shall be given unto this generation. After the wonder concerning the loaves, he straightway withdraws to another place, fearing lest the multitude, on account of such a wonder, should rise up and make him king. But the Pharisees seek a sign from heaven — such as to stay the sun, or the moon, to bring down thunderbolts, to alter the air. For they thought that he would not be able to make a sign from heaven, inasmuch as, by Beelzebul, he could work only the signs that are on the earth. But he does not yield to them. For the time of the signs from heaven is another, namely that of the second coming, I mean, when the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and the moon shall not give her light. But the time of the first coming has nothing of this kind, but all things full of meekness. So that there shall not be given to this generation such a sign, that is, one from heaven.

³ And leaving them, entering again into the boat, he departed to the other side. And the disciples had forgotten to take loaves, and they had not with them in the boat more than one loaf. And he charged them, saying: Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no loaves. And Jesus, knowing it, says unto them: Why do you reason, because you have no loaves? Do you not yet perceive, neither understand? Have you your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? and having ears, do you not hear? and do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments you took up? They say unto him, Twelve. And when the seven among the four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments you took up? And they said, Seven. And he said unto them: How is it that you do not yet understand? The Lord leaves the Pharisees, as past correction. For where there is hope of correction, there one ought to tarry; but where the evil is past correction, thence one ought to leap away. And by a [providential] dispensation the disciples forget to take loaves, that, being reproached, they might become better, and might come to a sense of the power of Christ. For when the Lord said to take heed of the leaven of the Pharisees — that is, of their teaching — they supposed that the Lord was forbidding them the leaven of [common] loaves. Whence with reason they are rebuked, as not understanding the power of Christ, that he can make loaves out of things that are not. And by leaven he names the teaching of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, as being rank and full of old malice. For everyone who is grown gross in malice, and can say nothing spiritual, so as to sweeten the throat of the hearer, such a one has leaven, a teaching of old malice that bites, and afterward brings the one persuaded to repentance. But who were the Herodians?

⁴ And he comes to Bethsaida; and they bring unto him a blind man, and beseech him to touch him. And taking hold of the blind man’s hand, he led him out of the village; and spitting upon his eyes, and laying his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught. And looking up, he said: I see men, for I behold them as trees, walking. After that he laid his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up; and he was restored, and saw all men clearly. And he sent him away to his house, saying: Neither enter into the village, nor tell it to any in the village. Bethsaida appears to have been sick with much unbelief, wherefore also Christ bewails it, as Matthew says: Woe unto you, Chorazin! woe unto you, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago. Hither, then, when the Lord came, they bring unto him a blind man. But the faith of those who brought him was not genuine, whence also the Lord leads the blind man out of the village, and thus heals him. And he spits upon the eyes of the blind man, and lays his hands upon him, that we may learn that the divine word, and the deed that follows the word, can accomplish wonders. For the hand is a symbol of action; the spittle, of the word, inasmuch as it is from the mouth. Nor yet did the blind man himself have perfect faith, for which cause neither does he make him see at once, but by degrees, as one not having entire faith; for according to the faith are the healings also wrought. And he charges him not to enter into the village, because, as I said, the people in Bethsaida being unbelievers, the man would have been harmed in his soul; but neither to tell to anyone what was done upon him, lest they, disbelieving, should draw upon themselves a worse judgment. And we too, then, are often blind in soul, being in the village — that is, in this world. Then, being led out of the village — that is, out of the world and its affairs — by Christ, we are healed. And after we are healed, he tells us no longer to return to the village, but to the house. And the house of each of us is heaven and the mansions there.

⁵ And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them: Whom do men say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but others, one of the prophets. And he says unto them: But whom do you say that I am? And Peter answering says unto him: You are the Christ. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. Having led them far away from the Jews, he then asks concerning himself, that, fearing no one, they might confess the truth. They answer, then, that Some suppose you to be John, and others Elijah. For the many thought that John had risen, even as Herod also supposed, and that he had received from the resurrection the working of signs as well; for while John lived, he did no sign. After, then, he had asked them the suppositions of others, he asks them also their own opinion. As though saying this: They indeed think thus concerning me, being deceived, but do you say something else. What, then, does Peter? He confesses him to be the Christ proclaimed by the prophets. But what the Lord said in answer to Peter’s confession, and how he blessed him, Mark passed over, that he might not seem to be saying these things in favor of Peter, who was his teacher; but Matthew has spoken all things without omission. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. For he wished the opinion concerning him to be kept in shadow, lest many should be offended at him, and on this account, disbelieving, should become liable to greater punishment.

⁶ And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spoke that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But he, turning about and looking on his disciples, rebuked Peter, saying: Get behind me, Satan; for you mind not the things of God, but the things of men. When he had held them fast in confessing that he is the true Christ, then he reveals to them also the mystery of the cross, though not altogether nakedly; for neither even so did they understand, he says, nor did they perceive what the rising again is, but they thought it better not to suffer at all. Wherefore also Peter begins to blame him, as casting himself into death when it was possible to suffer nothing. But the Lord, showing that his passion would be for salvation, and that Satan alone does not wish him to suffer, that he might not save mankind, names Peter Satan, as minding the things of Satan, and not wishing him to suffer, but being set against him. (For Satan is interpreted adversary.) And, Get behind me, he says — that is, Follow my will, and set not yourself against me, nor come opposite to me, but follow behind me. And he said that Peter minded the things of men, inasmuch as, minding certain lowly and carnal things, he wished the Lord to be at ease, and not to be crucified, and to fall into trial for the salvation of the world.

⁷ And calling the multitude unto him with his disciples, he said unto them: Whosoever will follow after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Since Peter had rebuked him as wishing to be crucified, he calls the multitude unto him, and in the hearing of all, addressing himself rather to Peter, he says: Do you blame me, Peter, that I choose the cross? But I say to you, that neither you nor any other shall be saved, unless he die for the good and for the truth. And mark that he said not, Even if one wish not, let him die, but, Whosoever will. For I compel no one, he says. For I call to good things, not to evil, that I should also constrain; so that he who wills not is not even worthy of these things. And what it is to deny oneself, we may thus learn, if we know what it is to deny another. He who denies another — a brother, it may be, or a servant, or a father — even though he see him scourged, even though slain, does not turn to him, does not suffer with him, as having once for all become estranged. Thus, then, he wishes us also to be unsparing of our own body, that even if they scourge us, even if they do whatever they will, we may not spare it. And let him take up the cross — that is, the death of reproach; for the cross seemed at that time a thing of reproach. And since many are crucified for being robbers, he adds that, together with being crucified, one must have the rest of virtue also. For this is the saying, And let him follow me. And since this seemed a grievous and harsh thing which he enjoined, to give oneself over to death, he says that, on the contrary, this is rather a thing of love for man. For whosoever shall lose his life — but for my sake, not being slain as a robber, or hanging himself (for this is not for my sake) — such a one, then, shall find his own life; even as, on the other side, he who thinks to gain shall lose it, he who in the time of martyrdom does not stand fast. For tell me not, But he gained life. For if you put with this that he gained also the whole world, there is no profit. For salvation is not to be bartered for money; whereas, if this were so, the man who gained the world but lost his soul might then, while frying in the flame, have given it and been set free. But there is no such ransom there. And from this, then, let us stop the mouths of the followers of Origen, who say that there will be a restoration of souls after they have been punished in proportion to their sins. For let them hear that it is not possible to give a ransom for the soul. Therefore neither is it possible to be punished so much as to counterbalance one’s sins.

⁸ For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. And he said unto them: Amen I say unto you, that there are some of them that stand here, who shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. He is not content with the faith that is in the mind, but demands also the confession through the mouth. For since man is twofold, let the sanctification also become twofold; the soul being sanctified through faith, and the body also being sanctified through confession. Whosoever, then, shall be ashamed to confess the crucified one as his God, him also will he be ashamed of, judging him a servant unworthy of himself, when he shall come — no longer lowly, nor such as he appeared here, mean, so that some are ashamed at him, but in glory and with the bodyguard of the angels. And since he had spoken concerning his glory, wishing to show them that he does not vainly boast, he says that There are some of them that stand here — that is, Peter and James and John — who shall not die, until I show them, in the transfiguration, with what glory I am about to come at the second coming. For the transfiguration was nothing other than a foreshowing of the second coming. For thus shall he too then shine forth, and the righteous also. And he named the generation adulterous, not because they commit adultery, but because they are addicted to the devil. And since, and so forth.