Chapter 12

Chapter 12. — On the Disciples Plucking Ears of Grain on the Sabbaths. On the Man With the Withered Hand. On the Blind and Dumb Demoniac. On Those Who Ask for a Sign. On [His] Mother and Brethren

¹ At that time Jesus went on the Sabbaths through the grainfields. And his disciples were hungry, and began to pluck ears of grain and to eat. Doing away with the legal observances, he leads the disciples through the grainfields, so that by eating they might loose the Sabbath. And the Pharisees, seeing it, said to him: Behold, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. But he said to them: Have you not read what David did, when he himself was hungry, and those with him? how he entered into the house of God, and ate the loaves of the presentation, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests only? Again the Pharisees lay the blame upon the natural affection, [namely] hunger, themselves sinning more grievously; but the Lord puts them to shame from the history concerning David. For that man, he says, on account of hunger, dared even something greater. And the loaves of the presentation are those set forth each day; for there were set forth upon the table twelve, six on the right side, and six on the other; and yet, even though David was a prophet, not even so was it right to eat, for it was lawful for the priests only. But much more was it not lawful for those with him; nevertheless, on account of hunger, he is worthy of pardon. So, then, also the disciples.

² Or have you not read in the law, that on the Sabbaths the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? But I say to you, that one greater than the temple is here. The law forbade working on the Sabbath; the priests, then, on the Sabbath both split wood and kindled fire, so that they profaned the Sabbath—that is, defiled it, as you suppose. But you say to me that those were priests, and the disciples are not. I say, then, that one greater than the temple is here—that is, Since I, the Master greater than the temple, am also with the disciples, these have greater authority to loose the Sabbath than the priests.

³ But if you had known what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. He shows them to be also unlearned, as not knowing the prophetic [writings]; For ought one not, he says, to have had mercy on men who were hungry? And besides, I, the Son of Man, am Lord of the Sabbath, as the Maker of all things and of the days [themselves], so that I loose the Sabbath as Master. And understand it also according to the anagogical sense; for the apostles were laborers, and the harvests are the ears of grain, [namely] those who believe; the apostles plucked these and ate—that is, they had as their food the salvation of men; and this they did on the Sabbaths, in the resting from evils; but the Pharisees were indignant. So too in the Church, when the teachers often teach and benefit [the people], those who play the Pharisee and are envious are displeased.

⁴ And departing thence, he came into their synagogue, and behold, there was a man there having a withered hand, and they questioned him, saying: Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbaths? that they might accuse him. The other evangelists say that Jesus questioned the Pharisees. It is possible, then, to say that, being envious, they anticipated [him] and questioned him, as Matthew says. Then Christ again questioned them, as it were mocking and deriding their hardness, which the other evangelists relate. And they questioned him, that they might have an occasion for slandering [him].

⁵ But he said to them: What man shall there be among you, who shall have one sheep, and if this fall into a pit on the Sabbaths, will he not lay hold of it, and lift it out? How much, then, does a man differ from a sheep? So that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbaths. He shows them, on the one hand for the sake of love of money, and that they might not be deprived of a sheep, dissolving the Sabbath; but on the other hand, with regard to a man’s being healed, not enduring this to come to pass. So that at one and the same time he shows them to be both lovers of money and inhuman, and despisers of God. For they take thought for the Sabbath, that they might not lose a sheep; but they are merciless, because they do not will the healing of a man.

⁶ Then he says to the man: Stretch forth your hand; and he stretched it forth, and it was restored whole as the other. Many even now have withered hands—that is, [they are] unmerciful and ungiving; but when the evangelical word resounds in them, they stretch these forth unto giving, even though the Pharisees, the boastful and demon-driven, who are cut off from us, on account of their envy toward us, do not will our hands to be stretched forth unto almsgiving.

⁷ But the Pharisees, going out, took counsel against him, how they might destroy him. But Jesus, knowing it, withdrew thence. O envy! When they are benefited, then they rage. And Jesus withdraws, because the time of the Passion had not yet come, and sparing those very men, lest they fall under a charge of murder. For rashness is not pleasing to God. And observe the [word], Going out. For when they went out from God, then they took counsel to destroy Jesus. For no one who abides in God takes such counsel.

⁸ And great crowds followed him, and he healed them all; and he charged them, that they should not make him known. Soothing the envy of those [Pharisees], he does not will to be made manifest. For he was eager in every way to heal them.

⁹ That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: Behold my servant whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he shall declare judgment to the nations. He shall not strive, nor cry out. He brings in also the prophet as a witness of the meekness of Jesus. For whatever, he says, the Jews wish, he will do; if they wish him not to appear, then this also he will do, and he will not resist as one who loves glory, nor will he strive. But he will charge the crowds that they should not make him known; yet to the nations he will declare judgment—that is, he will also teach the Gentiles. For judgment is the teaching, and the knowledge, and the discernment of the good. Or also he will declare the coming judgment to the Gentiles, who had never heard concerning a coming judgment.

¹⁰ Neither shall anyone hear his voice in the streets. For not in the midst of the marketplace, like those who love glory, but in the temple and the synagogues, and on the mountain, and by the seashores, did he teach.

¹¹ A bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench. He was able, he says, to break the Jews in pieces like a bruised reed, and to quench their wrath like smoking—that is, burning—flax; but he did not will it, until he should fulfill the [divine] economy, and conquer them through all things. For this is what the [clause] that follows signifies.

¹² Until he send forth judgment unto victory; and in his name shall the nations hope. For that they might not have anything to plead as an excuse, he endured all things, so that he might afterward condemn them, and conquer them when they could say nothing in reply. For what did he not do that he might gain those [men]? But they would not; whence the nations shall hope upon him, since the Jews would not.

¹³ Then was brought to him a demoniac, blind and dumb, and he healed him, so that the blind and dumb man both spoke and saw. And all the crowds were amazed, and said: Is not this the son of David? The demon had shut up the ways toward faith—eyes, and hearing, and tongue. But Jesus heals him, and is named son of David by the crowds. For the Christ was expected [to come] from the seed of David; and now too, if you see anyone neither himself understanding the good, nor receiving the words of another, consider this one blind and dumb, whom God may heal by touching his heart.

¹⁴ But the Pharisees, hearing it, said: This man does not cast out the demons, except by Beelzebul the prince of the demons. And yet the Lord had withdrawn on their account, but those men, even hearing from afar, slander him, and, while men were being benefited, they were thus enemies of [human] nature, like the devil.

¹⁵ But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? By publishing their thoughts abroad, he shows that he is God. And he makes his defense to them from common examples, which show their senselessness. For how do the demons cast themselves out, when rather they band themselves together? And Satan is so called as the adversary.

¹⁶ And if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. Granted, he says, that I am such a one; but your sons—that is, my disciples—by whom do they cast them out? For surely not they too by Beelzebul? And if those [cast them out] by a divine power, much more do I. For they work wonders in my name; for this cause, then, those men shall be for your condemnation, because, even seeing those men working wonders in my name, you still slander me.

¹⁷ But if I cast out the demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. This is what he says: If by a divine power I cast out the demons, then I am the Son of God, and I have come for your sake, that you might be benefited. So that my presence has come upon you. For this is the kingdom of God; why, then, do you slander my presence, which has come about for your sake?

¹⁸ Or how can anyone enter into the house of the strong man, and plunder his goods, unless he first bind the strong man, and then he will plunder his house? So far, he says, am I from the demons being my friends, that I even set myself in array against them, and bind them, who before my presence were strong; for having entered into the house—that is, the world—Christ plundered the goods of the demons, [namely] men, I mean.

¹⁹ He who is not with me is against me; and he who gathers not with me scatters. How, he says, was Beelzebul going to work together with me, who rather works against me? For I teach virtue, but he wickedness. How, then, is he with me? And I gather men unto salvation, but he scatters; and he hints also at the Pharisees, that while he was teaching and benefiting many, those men were dispersing the people, so that they should not come to him. He shows them, then, to be truly demonic.

²⁰ Therefore I say to you: Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven men. And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in the [age] to come. This is what he says here, that every other sin, indeed, has at least some small excuse—such as fornication, theft; for we take refuge in human weakness, and are the more pardonable. But when someone sees wonders accomplished through the Spirit, and slanders these as being done by a demon, what excuse shall this man have? For it is plain that he knows, indeed, that they come from the Holy Spirit, but is willfully malicious. How, then, is such a one pardonable? When, therefore, the Jews saw the Lord eating and drinking, and consorting with publicans and harlots, and doing all the other things as Son of Man, and then slandered him as a glutton and a wine-drinker, for this they are worthy of pardon, and shall not even be required to repent of it. For they seem to be reasonably offended. But when, seeing him working wonders, they slandered and blasphemed the Holy Spirit, saying that it was demonic, how shall this sin be forgiven them, unless they repent? So know that he who blasphemes against the Son of Man, seeing him living in human fashion, and saying that he is a friend of harlots, and a glutton, and a wine-drinker, because Christ does these things, such a one, even if he does not repent, shall not give account for this; for he is pardoned as not having understood that he was God, hidden [in the flesh]. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit—that is, the spiritual works of Christ—and says that they are demonic, unless he repent, shall not be pardoned; for he had no reasonable occasion for slandering, as did that man who, seeing Christ among harlots and publicans, then slandered. To this man, then, it shall not be forgiven, neither here nor there; but both here and there shall he be punished. For many are chastised here, but there not at all; like the poor Lazarus. Others, both here and there; like the Sodomites, and these who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. But some, neither here nor there; like the apostles, and the Forerunner. For even though they seem to be chastised in being persecuted, yet those are not punishments for sins, but trials and crowns.

²¹ Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt. For by the fruit the tree is known. Since the Jews were not able to slander his wonders as evil, but blasphemed Christ, the doer of these things, as demonic, he says: Either call me also a good tree, and then by all means my wonders too, which are the fruit, will be good; or, if you call me a corrupt tree, plainly the fruit also—that is, the wonders—will be corrupt. But you do say that the wonders—that is, the fruit—are good; therefore I too am good, [I,] the tree. For by all means the tree is recognized by its fruit, so that I too [am known] by the wonders.

²² Offspring of vipers, how can you speak good things, being evil? Behold, he says, you, being evil trees, bear evil fruit, speaking evil of me; so that I too, if I were evil, would bear evil fruit, and not such wonders. And he calls them offspring of vipers, since they vaunted themselves over Abraham. He shows them, then, that they are not from Abraham, but from forefathers worthy of their wickedness.

²³ For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks; the good man, out of the good treasure, brings forth good things; and the evil man, out of the evil treasure, brings forth evil things. When you see someone foul-mouthed, know that he does not have in his heart [only] as much as he says, but many times more. For it is only out of the abundance that [the heart] pours forth even to the outside, and, having a hidden treasure, it shows but a small part. Likewise also he who speaks good things has more in his heart.

²⁴ But I say to you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account of it in the day of judgment; for by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned. We must be alarmed here, that we shall give account even for an idle word—that is, the false, the slanderous, or also the disorderly and frivolous. Then he sets down a testimony from the Scripture: By your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.

²⁵ Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying: Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. The evangelist, marveling, added the [word], then. For when they ought to have submitted on account of the wonders already done, then they ask for a sign; and they wish to see a sign from heaven, as another evangelist says. For they supposed that he did the wonders upon the earth by the power of the devil; for the devil is ruler of the world. What, then, [does] the Savior [say]?

²⁶ But he, answering, said to them: An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign shall not be given it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was in the belly of the sea-monster three days and three nights, so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. He calls them an evil generation, as insolent and deceitful. And adulterous, as departing from God, and cleaving to demons. And he means by a sign his resurrection, as a paradox; for in the heart of the earth—I mean in the lowest place, namely Hades—having descended, he rose on the third day. And the three days and the three nights understand in part, and not as complete [days]. For he died on the Friday—this was one day; and on the Sabbath he was dead—behold, another day; and the night of the Lord’s Day still found him dead. Three day-and-night periods, then, are reckoned in part. For thus also we are often accustomed to reckon.

²⁷ The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here. Jonah, he says, after his coming out from the sea-monster, was believed when he preached; but I shall not be believed by you even after the resurrection. Whence you shall also be condemned by the Ninevites, who believed my servant Jonah without signs, and these being barbarians; [while] you who were nurtured among the prophets, who have seen signs, did not believe me, the Master. For this is what the [saying] signifies: And behold, a greater than Jonah is here.

²⁸ The queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The queen, he says, came from afar, although she was a weak woman, that she might hear about trees and plants and certain things of nature. But you, even when I came to you, and spoke ineffable things, did not receive me.

²⁹ But when the unclean spirit has gone out from the man, it passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and finds none; then it says: I will return into my house from which I came out. And coming, it finds it empty, swept, and adorned. Then it goes, and takes along with itself seven other spirits more wicked than itself. And entering in, they dwell there, and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first; so shall it be also with this evil generation. He shows them to be coming to the uttermost ruin from their not receiving him. For as those who are freed from demons, if they grow slack, suffer worse things; so too your generation was held by a demon, when you worshiped the idols; but through the prophets they cast out this demon. And I too came, willing to cleanse you yet more; but since you thrust me away, and rather hasten to be impious, as sinning worse, you shall also be chastised worse, and your last captivity shall be heavier than the former ones. But understand also this, that through baptism the unclean spirit is cast out, and goes about in the waterless and unbaptized souls; but in those it finds no rest. For rest, for the demons, is to harass the unbaptized through wicked deeds, since it already holds the unbaptized. It returns, then, upon the baptized one with the seven spirits. For as the gifts of the Spirit are seven, so, on the contrary, the spirits of wickedness also are seven. For before there was hope through baptism; but now there is no hope, except that which is through repentance.

³⁰ But while he was yet speaking to the crowds, behold, his mother and his brethren stood outside, seeking to speak with him. His mother wished to display something human, that she had authority over her child. For she did not yet conceive anything great concerning him; for this cause, then, while he was still speaking, she wishes to draw him to herself, taking pride [in him] as a son who was subject to her. What, then, [does] Christ [do]? Since he knew her aim, hear what he says.

³¹ And someone said to him: Behold, your mother and your brethren stand outside, seeking to speak with you. But he, answering, said to him who told him: Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And stretching forth his hand toward his disciples, he said: Behold my mother and my brethren. For whoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother. He says these things not to insult his mother, but to correct her vainglorious and human opinion. For he did not say that You are not my mother; but, that Unless she do the will of God, it will profit her nothing to have given birth to me. For he does not deny the kinship according to nature, but adds also that according to virtue. For no one unworthy is profited by kinship. Having corrected, therefore, the disease of vainglory, nevertheless he again obeys his mother when she calls. For the evangelist says: