Chapter 8

Chapter 8. — On the Leper. On the Centurion. On the Mother-in-law of Peter. On Those Healed of Divers Diseases. On Him Who Was Not Permitted to Bury His Father

¹ And when he was come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came and worshipped him, saying: Lord, if you will, you are able to cleanse me. The leper, being prudent, did not go up onto the mountain, lest he should interrupt the teaching. But when he had come down, the leper worships him. And showing great faith, he did not say, “If you entreat God, you will heal me,” but, “If you will” — wherefore Christ also [answers]:

² And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying: I will; be cleansed. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus says to him: See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them. He touches the leper, showing that he is not subject to the law, which commands not to touch a leper, but is Master of it; and that to the clean nothing is unclean; and that his holy flesh imparted sanctification. And fleeing glory, he commands him to tell no one, but to show himself to the priest. For unless the priest declared that the leper was cleansed, he would have remained outside the city. And he commands him also to offer the gift for a testimony to the Jews, that is: “When they accuse me of dissolving the law, you shall be a witness that I have now commanded you to bring forward the things ordained by the law.”

³ And when he was entered into Capernaum, there came to him a centurion, beseeching him and saying. Neither did this man come to him on the mountain, lest the teaching should be broken off. And this is the same [centurion] as the one in Luke. And if Luke says that he sent others as envoys to Jesus, this is no contradiction to Matthew, who says that the man himself came. For it was likely that he first sent others, and then, when the danger pressed upon him, came himself and said:

⁴ He did not bring him on a bed, believing that he could heal him even when absent; therefore,

⁵ Lord, my servant lies at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus says to him: I will come and heal him.

⁶ And the centurion answered and said: Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant shall be healed; for I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me, and I say to this one, Go, and he goes, and to another, Come, and he comes, and to my servant, Do this, and he does it. When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to those who followed: Truly I say to you, not even in Israel have I found so great faith. “If I,” he says, “being a servant of the king, command the soldiers under me, much more can you command death and the diseases, so that this one withdraws and is laid upon another; for the diseases of the body are soldiers and avengers of God.” Christ therefore marvels, saying that not even among the Israelites have I found so great faith as in this Gentile.

⁷ And I say to you, that many shall come from the East and the West, and shall recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He did not say that many Gentiles shall recline, lest he should wound the Jews, but spoke covertly, “from the East and the West.” And he made mention of Abraham, showing that he is not opposed to the Old [Covenant]; and in saying “outer darkness,” he made plain that there is also an inner [darkness], which is also lighter. For there are degrees even in the punishment. And he calls the Jews “children of the kingdom,” for to them belonged the promises: For, he says, Israel is my firstborn son.

⁸ And Jesus said to the centurion: Go, and as you have believed, so be it done to you. And his servant was healed in that hour, and the centurion, returning to his house in that same hour, found the servant whole. He showed, by the things he healed with a word, that he speaks truly also concerning the casting away of the Jews.

⁹ And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid down and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and ministered to them. He entered into Peter’s house in order to eat. And touching her hand, he not only quenched the fever, but also restored the woman to perfect health, so that her strength returned and she was able to minister — and yet we know that much time is required for the sick to recover. And while the other evangelists said that they besought him, and that thus he healed her, Matthew did not say this, taking thought for brevity. For I told you at the beginning that what this one leaves out, another says; and learn also that marriage in no way hinders virtue, for the chief of the apostles had a mother-in-law.

¹⁰ And when evening was come, they brought to him many that were possessed with demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: He himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses. In the evening and at an unsuitable hour they brought the sick; but he, being compassionate, healed all. Then, lest you should disbelieve how so many diseases were healed in a short time, he brings forward Isaiah as a witness. And yet the prophet says this concerning sins, while Matthew applied it to sicknesses; for indeed most [sicknesses] come from sins.

¹¹ And when Jesus saw great crowds about him, he commanded them to depart to the other side. For he was not fond of glory, and at the same time he was avoiding the envy of the Jews.

¹² And a certain scribe came and said to him: Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus says to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. By “scribe” he means one who understood the letter of the law. This man, then, seeing the many signs, expected that Jesus would gather money from them, and therefore is eager to follow him, that he too might gather. But Christ, meeting his thought, all but says this: “You expect, by following me, to gather money; do you not see that I am homeless? Such also must he be who follows me.” And he said these things as if to persuade him to follow once he had changed; but the man withdraws. And some say that the foxes and the birds are the demons. He says, then, that “The demons rest in you, and I therefore have no rest in your soul.”

¹³ And another of his disciples said to him: Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said to him: Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead. After one has given himself to God, he ought not to turn back to the affairs of this life. For one must indeed honor one’s parents, but prefer God [to them]. And here the parent was also an unbeliever — and this is plain from his saying, “Let the dead,” that is, the unbelievers, “bury their own dead.” But if that man was not even permitted to bury his father, woe to those who, after having given [themselves to God], turn back to the affairs of this life.

¹⁴ And when he was entered into the boat, his disciples followed him; and behold, a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves; but he was asleep. He kept the disciples themselves [with him], that they might see the wonder. And he allows them to be tossed by the storm, that they might be exercised against trials, and that through this sign they might believe. And he sleeps, so that, being afraid, they might recognize their own weakness and call upon him; wherefore he says:

¹⁵ And his disciples came and woke him, saying: Lord, save us, we perish. And he says to them: Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? He did not call them unbelieving, but of little faith; for inasmuch as they said, “Lord, save us,” they show faith; but the “We perish” is not of faith. For with him sailing along with them, they ought not to have been afraid. And see how, in reproaching them, he shows that fear brings on the tossings, and how, having first stilled the storm of the soul, he gives peace, and then looses also that of the sea.

¹⁶ Then arising, he rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying: What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? For what was seen was of a man; but the works were of God.

¹⁷ And when he was come to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two who were possessed with demons. While those in the boat were in doubt what manner of man he is, that even the winds and the sea obey him, the demons come as heralds. And if Mark and Luke speak of one as having the legion, understand that that one was [but] one of these two, the more prominent perhaps; and of his own accord he came to them, terrible as they were; no one dared to bring them forward.

¹⁸ Coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no one was able to pass by that way. They dwelt in the tombs, the demons wishing to instill the doctrine that the souls of the dead become demons. Which let no one even imagine; for the soul, when it has gone forth, does not wander in the world; for the [souls] of the righteous are in the hand of God, while those of sinners are also led away from here, as was [the soul] of the rich man.

¹⁹ And behold, they cried out, saying: What have we to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here before the time to torment us? They proclaim him Son of God, first confessing their enmity. And they reckon it a torment not to be permitted to wrong men; and as for “before the time,” understand that they thought Christ would put an end to their evil-doing already — because of the excess of their wickedness — and would not await the [appointed] time of punishment; which is not so, for until the consummation they are permitted to wrestle with us.

²⁰ Now there was, a good way off from them, a herd of many swine feeding; and the demons besought him, saying: If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said to them: Go. And they came out and went away into the herd of swine. The demons ask this so that, by striking the swine, they might grieve their owners, that they might not receive Christ. But Christ permits the demons, showing what bitterness they have toward men, and that, if they had the power and were not hindered, they would deal with us worse than with the swine; for he guards the demoniacs, so that they do not kill themselves.

²¹ And behold, the whole herd of swine rushed down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. And those who fed them fled, and going away into the city, they told everything, and the things concerning the demoniacs. And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they besought him to depart from their borders. Being grieved, and supposing they would suffer something worse thereafter, they besought him. But do you learn that, where there is a swinish life, Christ does not remain there, but the demons do.