Chapter 9

Chapter 9. — On the Paralytic. On Matthew. On the One Who Ate at Table Together With the Publicans and Sinners

¹ And entering into a boat, he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed. By his own city he means Capernaum, for there he dwelt; for Bethlehem bore him, Nazareth nourished him, but Capernaum had him as a continual resident. This paralytic is another than the one in John; for that one was at the sheep-pool in Jerusalem, but this one in Capernaum. And the one had no man, but this one is carried by four, as Mark says, so that he was even let down through the roof—which Matthew omitted.

² And Jesus, seeing their faith. Either of those who brought him—for often he works wonders on account of the faith of those who bring—or also of the man himself.

³ He said to the paralytic: Take courage, child; your sins are forgiven you. He calls him child, either as a creature of God or as one who believed; showing that paralysis arises especially from sins, he first looses those.

⁴ And behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves: This man blasphemes. And Jesus, seeing their thoughts, said: Why do you think evil things in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Arise and walk? By knowing their thoughts he shows himself to be God. He convicts them, then, saying this: You suppose me to be a blasphemer, as daring to forgive sins, which is indeed a great thing; and you think that I take refuge in this so that I may not be put to the test. But I will give assurance, from the healing of the body, of the healing of the soul as well; through the lesser thing, which seems also the harder, confirming likewise the remission of sins, which, though it is great, seems to you the easier because it is unseen.

⁵ But that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins—then he says to the paralytic: Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. And he arose and went away to his house. But when the crowds saw it, they marveled, and glorified God, who had given such power to men. He commanded him to carry the bed, that it might not seem an illusion, and at the same time that the crowds might see the sign—they who held him to be a mere man, yet mightier than all.

⁶ And as Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man sitting at the tax office, called Matthew, and says to him: Follow me. And he arose and followed him. He did not call this man together with Peter and John, but when he was about to be persuaded; for thus he also called Paul later, when it was the time. And see the evangelist, how he parades his own former life, though the others concealed his name, not calling him a publican; but it was the work of God to convert him by a word alone.

⁷ And it came to pass, as he reclined at table in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and reclined together with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples: Why does your teacher eat with the publicans and sinners? Matthew, rejoicing at the reception of Christ, called the publicans together; and Christ eats with them, so as to do them good, even though he was reproached for this. For the Pharisees, wishing to draw away his disciples from him, slandered his eating together with the publicans.

⁸ But when Jesus heard it, he said to them: They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. I have not come now, he says, as a judge, but as a physician; whence also I bear with the stench. And he convicts them as ignorant, saying: Go and learn—that is, since up to now you have not learned, at least from now on go and learn that God prefers showing mercy to sinners above sacrifices. And the words, I came not to call the righteous, he says in irony—that is, you who justify yourselves—since no one among men is righteous. I came to call sinners, not that they should remain sinners, but that they should repent.

⁹ Then come to him the disciples of John, saying: Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast? The disciples of John, envying the glory of Christ, find fault with him because he does not fast; and perhaps they were perplexed how he conquers the passions without ascetic exercise, which John was not strong enough to do. For they did not know that John was a mere man, righteous out of virtue, but Christ is virtue itself, as God.

¹⁰ Jesus therefore said to them: Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they will fast. A time of joy, he says, is the present season, as long as I am with the disciples. For he names himself bridegroom, as wedding to himself the new synagogue, the old one having died; and the sons of the bridechamber are the apostles. There will be a time, then, he says, when, after I have suffered and been taken up, they will fast, being persecuted in hunger and thirst. And, showing the disciples to be still imperfect, he adds:

¹¹ No one puts a patch of unfulled cloth on an old garment, for the piece that fills it up takes away from the garment, and a worse rent is made. Neither do men put new wine into old wineskins; else the wineskins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins perish; but they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved together. Not yet, he says, have the disciples become strong, but they need condescension; and one must not lay upon them the weight of injunctions. He said these things, teaching the disciples also, that they too, when they make disciples of the world, should show condescension. The unfulled cloth, then, and the new wine are fasting; the old garment and the wineskins are the weakness of the disciples.

¹² While he was speaking these things to them, behold, a certain ruler came and worshiped him, saying: My daughter has just now died; but come and lay your hand upon her, and she will live. And Jesus arose and followed him, and his disciples. This man appears to have faith, even if not great; for he begs Jesus not merely to speak the word, but also to come and lay on his hand. And he says that his daughter has died, although Luke says that she had not yet died—either as conjecturing it, because she had been left at her last breath, or as magnifying the calamity so as to draw Christ to compassion.

¹³ And behold, a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within herself: If I may but touch his garment, I shall be made whole. But Jesus, turning about and seeing her, said: Take courage, daughter; your faith has made you whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. Being unclean because of her affliction, the woman did not come forward openly, fearing lest she be hindered; and she thought to escape notice, yet hoped to obtain health if only she touched the edge of his garment—the hem. But the Savior makes her manifest, not as accusing her, but that he might display her faith for our benefit, and that the ruler of the synagogue also might be assured. And he says to her, Take courage, because she was afraid, as having stolen the gift; and he calls her daughter, as faithful. And they say that, had she not brought faith, she would not have received the grace, even though the garments were holy. And they say that she made a statue of the Savior, at whose feet there grew up a herb that healed women with an issue of blood, which in the days of Julian the impious cast down.

¹⁴ And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a tumult, he said to them: Withdraw, for the girl is not dead, but sleeps. And they laughed him to scorn. Since it was a Jewish custom, they bewailed her with the wedding flutes, doing this according to the law; and he says that she sleeps, because with him death was a sleep, since he was able to raise her up. And if they laugh him to scorn, do not be troubled; for they rather bear witness to the miracle, as being one who truly raised her—for, lest anyone say that she had merely fallen into a deathlike faint, for this reason it was confessed by all that she had died.

¹⁵ But when the crowd was put out, he entered in and took hold of her hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went out into all that land. Where there is distraction, Jesus does not work a wonder. And he takes hold of her hand, imparting power; and you too, if you are deadened by sins, will then rise up when you take hold of the active hand, having cast out the crowd of distractions.

¹⁶ And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying out and saying: Have mercy on us, Son of David. The blind men said, Have mercy, as to God; but, Son of David, as to a man. For it was bruited about a little among the Jews that the Messiah would come from the seed of David.

¹⁷ And when he had come into the house, the blind men came to him. And Jesus says to them: Do you believe that I am able to do this? They say to him: Yes, Lord. He draws the blind men as far as the house, that he might display their persevering faith, and might condemn the Jews. And he asks them whether they believe, showing that faith accomplishes all things.

¹⁸ Then he touched their eyes, saying: According to your faith be it done to you. And their eyes were opened. He heals in the house and privately, because he was without love of glory. For everywhere he taught humility.

¹⁹ And Jesus sternly charged them, saying: See that no one knows it. But they went out and spread his fame in all that land. Do you see his freedom from vainglory? But they, not as disobeying, but as giving thanks, spread it abroad. And though elsewhere he appears saying, Go and declare the glory of God, there is nothing contrary in this; for he wishes to say nothing about himself, but to declare the glory of God.

²⁰ And as they went out, behold, they brought to him a man who was mute and possessed by a demon. And when the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke. The affliction was not natural, but from the demon; therefore others bring him. For he could not entreat through himself, since the demon had bound his tongue. Whence he does not even require faith, but straightway heals him, casting out the demon that hindered his speech.

²¹ And the crowds marveled, saying that it was never so seen in Israel. The crowd, marveling, sets Christ above the prophets and patriarchs as well. For he healed with authority, and not, as those did, by praying. But let us see also what the Pharisees say.

²² But the Pharisees said: By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons. Their words are of the utmost folly. For no demon casts out a demon. But grant that he cast out the demons as serving the ruler of the demons, that is, by sorcery: how then did he loose diseases and sins, and proclaim the kingdom? For the demon, on the contrary, rather both brings on diseases and draws away from God.

²³ And Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people. Being a lover of mankind, he does not wait for them to come to him, but he himself goes about, that they might have no excuse, saying, No one taught us. And by deed and by word he draws them, teaching and working wonders.

²⁴ But when he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were faint and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. They had no shepherd, since their rulers not only failed to set them right, but even did them harm; and it belongs to a true shepherd to have compassion on the flock.

²⁵ Then he says to his disciples: The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest. He names the multitude needing healing the harvest, and the laborers those who ought to teach, who were not then in Israel. And the Lord of the harvest is Christ himself, as Lord of prophets and apostles; and this is plain from his appointing the twelve without asking God. For hear: