No one, having lit a candle, covers it with a vessel, or puts it under the bed, but puts it on a candlestick, so that those who enter can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that is not made manifest, nor hidden that is not made known and revealed. Observe therefore how you listen: for he who has will be given, but he who does not have will be taken away from him even that which he thinks to have. Here is the beginning of another teaching. For He addresses His disciples and says this in order to instruct them to be thorough in life and unceasing ascetics, since everyone will turn their eyes to them. For everyone looks at the teacher and the preacher, everyone watches him, whether he is good, or vice versa, and he will not hide anything of his own. Therefore, if you, disciples, are attentive and thorough, then God will grant you great grace; but whoever does not have care and attentiveness, by his negligence will extinguish and destroy the gift from God that he apparently has.

And his mother and his brethren came to him, and they could not come near him because of the multitude. And they let him know, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. He answered and said to them, My mother and My brethren are those who hear the word of God and do it. From this it turns out that Christ was not together with His kinsmen in the flesh, but they came to Him, for He, having left them, is engaged in spiritual teaching. In the same way, anyone to whom the ministry of God is entrusted should not prefer anything to him; and we must also leave our parents, if they unprofitably and in vain hinder us in the work of God, just as the Lord does now. When some have spoken to Him about His kinsmen, He does not make brotherhood among the few, nor does He give the sons of Joseph the honor that they were only His brothers. But since He came to save the whole world, and to make all men brethren, He says, My mother and My brethren are they who hear the word of God; then, since hearing alone does not save anyone, but only condemns, He says: and they do. For we must listen and do together. He calls His teaching the Word of God, for whatever He said, everything belonged to His Father, since He was not an adversary of God, so that His words would not be God's. - Some understand this passage thus: since Christ taught and was glorified for His teaching, some, stirred up by envy, as if in mockery of Him, said: Behold, Thy Mother and Thy brethren stand outside, desiring to see Thee. Since His mother was poor, and His brothers were not glorious as the children of a carpenter, they, in order to disgrace Him as an ignoble one, pointed Him to His mother and to His brothers. But he, knowing their thought, said, "The poverty of relatives does not harm me in the least; on the contrary, if anyone is poor, but hears the Word of God, I make him My kinsman.

One day He went into a boat with His disciples and said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake." And off we went. While they were sailing, He fell asleep. A stormy wind had risen on the lake, and they were flooded with waves, and they were in danger. And they came and woke Him up, and said, "Teacher! Mentor! we die. But He arose, and rebuked the wind and the agitation of the waters; and they ceased, and there was silence. Then he said to them, Where is your faith? And they said to one another in fear and wonder, Who is this, that he commands the winds and the waters, and obeys him? The Lord falls asleep with a special intention, namely, to give exercise to the disciples and to test what their faith is, whether they will remain untroubled by temptations. It turns out that they are weak. They reveal faith that is not perfect, but mixed with unbelief. For they believe that He is able to save, but how do those of little faith say, Save! we die. And if they had perfect faith, they would be fully convinced that it is impossible for them even to perish when the Almighty is with them. "He arose, and rebuked the wind." In order that His power might be more apparent, He allowed them to be confused. For we, people, usually remember more the deliverer who saved us from great danger. So He rose up and saved them, not in the beginning, but when they were on the brink of danger. - You can also see a figurative meaning. The present event is an image of what happened to the disciples afterwards. The lake is Judea, upon which came a great storm of fury against Christ, such as the Jews raged at the crucifixion of the Lord. The disciples were also troubled, for they all forsook Him and fled. But the Lord arose from sleep, that is, He rose again, and the disciples again calmed down. For when He stood before them, He said: "Peace be unto you" (John 20:19). Such is the figurative meaning of this passage. They say this not in the sense of doubt, but in a sense of wonder. It was as if they said: "Who is this," that is, how great and wondrous He is, and with what authority and power He does this?!

And they sailed to the land of the Gadarenes, which lies opposite Galilee. When He came ashore, there met Him a certain man from the city, who had been possessed by demons for a long time, and who did not put on clothes, and who lived not in a house, but in tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beseech Thee, do not torment me. For Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out of this man, because he had tormented him a long time, so that they bound him with chains and fetters, keeping him; but he broke the bonds and was driven by a demon into the wilderness. Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, Legion, because many devils have entered into it. And they asked Jesus not to command them to go into the abyss. A large herd of pigs was grazing on the mountain; and the demons asked Him to allow them to enter into them. The demons, coming out of the man, entered into the pigs, and the herd threw themselves down the steep slope into the lake and drowned. Look: the demon is possessed by two passions of malice: insolence and fear. For the words, "What have you to do with me?" are characteristic of a bold and shameless servant, but "I beseech you" are characteristic of a fearful one. He lives in tombs, with the intention of instilling in people the evil idea that the souls of the dead become demons. - The demons ask that they not be commanded to go into the abyss, but be allowed to live on earth. The Lord allows them to be on earth, so that by attacking people they will make them more glorious. For if there were no opposing ones, there would be no feats, and if there were no feats, there would be no crowns. - Know a more figurative meaning. Whoever has demons in him, that is, demonic deeds, does not put on clothes, that is, he does not have the clothes of baptism and does not live in the house, that is, in the church, because he is not worthy to enter the church, but lives in the graves, that is, in places of dead works, for example, in the houses of the useless, in the toll-houses (customs). For such houses are the receptacles of wickedness,

The shepherds, seeing what had happened, ran and told the story in the city and in the villages. And they went out to see what had happened; and when they came to Jesus, they found a man out of whom demons had come out, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; And they were horrified. And those who saw told them how the demon-possessed man was healed. And all the people of the Gadarene region asked Him to depart from them, because they were seized with great fear. He got into the boat and returned. But the man out of whom the demons came asked Him to be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your house and tell me what God has done for you." He went and preached throughout the city what Jesus had done for him. The flight of the shepherds was for the Gadarenes a reason for salvation; but they did not understand. They should have been amazed at the power of the Savior and believed in Him, but they, it is said, asked, that is, begged Jesus to depart from them. For they feared lest they should suffer some other loss, as they had lost their swine. But he who has been healed is an indisputable proof of healing. He became so healthy in mind that he came to know Jesus and asked Him to be with Him. Perhaps he feared lest, after his departure from Jesus, he would again fall into the power of demons. But the Lord, showing him that he was not with Jesus, but covered by His grace, and could be above the snares of demons, said to him: "Return to your house and tell what God has done for you." He did not say, "What have I done unto thee," in order to set an example for humility and to attribute every happily accomplished deed to God. But the healed man was so prudent that he told what "Jesus" had done to him. Although the Lord commanded him to tell about what "God" had done for him, and he told what "Jesus" had done to him. Therefore, when we do good to someone, we should not desire to preach about him; but he to whom good has been done must declare it, even though we do not desire it.

And when Jesus returned, the people received him, because they were all waiting for him. And behold, there came a man named Jairus, who was the ruler of the synagogue; And he fell down at the feet of Jesus, and asked him to come into his house, because he had one daughter, about twelve years old, and she was at the point of death. And as he went, the people pressed upon him. And a woman who had been suffering from an issue of blood for twelve years, who, having spent all her possessions on doctors, could not be cured by one, came up from behind and touched the hem of His garment; and immediately the flow of her blood stopped. Jesus had just returned from the land of the Gadarenes, and the people were already waiting for Him, partly for the sake of teaching, and partly for the sake of miracles. And there came a certain ruler of the synagogue, neither poor nor outcast, but one of the first. The Evangelist also adds his name, so that it would be all the more obvious that the miracle is true. At the insistence of need, he falls down at the feet of Jesus. Even if he should fall down before Jesus without urgent need and confess Him to be the Eternal God, it still happens that sorrow prompts people to choose the best. That is why David also said: "Be not like a horse, like a foolish hinny, whose jaws must be bridled with bridles and bits, that they may obey you" (Psalm 31:9). During the journey of the Lord, a woman approaches, guided by a very strong faith. Approaching, she touched the hem of the Lord's garment in the confidence that as soon as she touched it, she would immediately be healed. "And immediately the flow of her blood stopped." As if someone turns his eye to a shining light or brings brushwood to a fire, they (light and fire) immediately exert their effect, so the woman who brought faith to Him who is able to heal immediately received healing. For she thought of nothing, neither of the longevity of the illness, nor of the despair of the doctors, nor of anything else, but only believed, and was saved. And it seems that she touched Jesus first with her thought, and then with her body.

And Jesus said, Who has touched me? And when all were denying, Peter also said to those who were with him, "Master! the people surround Thee, and press Thee, and Thou sayest, Who hath touched Me? But Jesus said, "Someone touched me, for I felt power come out of me." The woman, seeing that she did not hide herself, trembled and approached and, falling down before Him, declared to Him before all the people why she had touched Him and how immediately she was healed. He said to her, "Be of good cheer, daughter! thy faith hath saved thee; Go in peace.

The Lord, wishing to show everyone the faith of his wife, so that they would imitate her, and give Jairus good hope for his daughter, reveals what was done secretly. Namely, He asks who has touched Him, but Peter, as a bold man, reproaching Him for such a question, says: "So many people are oppressed by You, and You say, Who has touched Me?" And he himself did not understand what the Lord was asking. For Jesus asked, "Who has touched Me in faith, and not just like that." For as every one has ears to hear, and yet another, having ears, does not hear, so in this case one touches with faith, and another, although he draws near, yet his heart is far away. And so, the Lord, although He knew the woman, asks, nevertheless, in order, as I have said, both to glorify her faith and to give more hope to the ruler of the synagogue, He asks and thus leads the woman into the middle. "I felt power come out of Me." He is right. For the prophets had no power proceeding from them: they performed miracles by the grace of God. And Jesus, being the Source of all good and all power, also has the powers that come from Him. Christ heals his wife doubly: first, He healed her illness, and then He calmed the fear of her soul, saying: "Be of good cheer, daughter!"

While He was still saying this, a certain man came from the house of the ruler of the synagogue and said to him, "Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher. But when Jesus heard this, he said to him, "Do not be afraid, only believe, and she will be saved." And when he came into the house, he did not allow anyone to enter except Peter, John, and James, and the father of the maiden, and the mother. Everyone wept and wept for her. But He said, "Weep not; She is not dead, but she is asleep. And they laughed at Him, knowing that she was dead. And he, sending them all out, and taking her by the hand, exclaimed, "Damsel! Get up. And her spirit returned; she got up immediately, and He gave her something to eat. And her parents were surprised. He also commanded them not to tell anyone about what had happened. When Jesus heard that someone had said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not trouble the Master, that is, do not trouble, do not ask to go," did not allow the ruler of the synagogue to say anything to Himself, but warned him lest the ruler of the synagogue should say, "I have no need of Thee; the misfortune has already been accomplished; the one we hoped You would heal is dead. Therefore, so that he would not say anything of the kind (for he was an unbelieving Jew), Christ warned him and said: "Do not be afraid, only believe; look," he said, "at the bleeding woman; imitate her, and you will not be deceived. - The Lord allows only Peter, John and James to enter with Him, as the most chosen of the disciples and as able to keep silent about the miracle, for He did not want it to be revealed to many before His time. He concealed most of His works, perhaps because of the envy of the Jews, so that, being inflamed with envy, they would not be guilty of condemnation. In the same way we should act: if someone envies us, we should not reveal our perfections to him, lest, by striking him with them, we should arouse in him more envy and lead him into sin, but we should try as much as possible to hide them from him. - When the Lord said that the virgin was not dead, but asleep, and called death sleep (since He had to raise the dead, as if to awaken her from sleep), those who heard this laughed at Him, that He allowed the miracle to be more a miracle, so that later they could not say that the virgin did not die, but slept, for this He arranged so that they first mocked Him for saying: "She is not dead, but sleeps" in order to stop the mouths of those who wish to slander. For the death of the maiden was so evident that they laughed at Him when He said that she was not dead. The Lord sent everyone away, perhaps in order to teach us not to love glory and not to do anything for show, and perhaps in order to impress upon us that he who has to perform a miracle should not be among many, but should be in solitude and be free from all disturbances on the part of others. "And the spirit returned" of the maiden. For the Lord did not bring in a new soul, but commanded the one that had flown away from the body to return. He ordered her to be served food - for greater assurance and proof that she had really been resurrected. - You can understand it this way. Bleeding is every soul in which bloody and murderous sin boils and as if springs up. For every sin is a murderer and a stiffener of the soul. If the soul touches the garments of Jesus, that is, His incarnation, and believes that the Son of God has become incarnate, it will receive health. If any man be also the ruler of the synagogue, that is, the mind that is exalted above the riches gathered out of covetousness, but his daughter, that is, the thought, is sick, let him call only on Jesus and believe in Him, and he will be saved.

Chapter Nine

And having called together the twelve, He gave power and authority over all demons, and to heal from diseases, and sent them to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. And he said to them, "Take nothing for the journey: neither staff, nor purse, nor bread, nor silver, nor have you two garments; and whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there go on your way. And if you are not received anywhere, when you go out of that city, shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them. They went and passed through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. And from this the superiority of the Divinity of Jesus is revealed. For He not only worked miracles Himself, but gave the same power to His disciples. And to communicate such gifts to one's friends, without any doubt, is possible not to man, but only to God. - Having given the disciples power over evil spirits, the Lord did not limit them to the use of this power only, but commanded them to preach the Gospel as well. The one who has been entrusted with the teaching department must both preach and perform miracles. In this case, the sermon is confirmed by miracles, and the miracles by preaching. For many often performed miracles by the power of demons, but their preaching was not true; and therefore their miracles are not from God. - The Lord, sending his disciples, commands them to be so moderate that He commands them not to take bread or anything else that many of us take for ourselves. He also commands them not to run from one to another, but to remain in whatever house they enter, so as not to appear to be somewhat fickle and very changeable. "Shake off the dust," he says, "on those who will not receive you, for a witness against them, that is, for their rebuke and condemnation, showing them that, although for their sake you have traveled many ways, you have not received any profit from them. - Some of the commandments to the apostles - not to carry either a bag or a staff, not to have two garments, are understood as follows: do not lay up treasures - for a bag, containing much, means gathering; do not carry a staff, that is, do not be angry and pugnacious; do not have two clothes, that is, do not be changeable in morals and double-minded in thoughts.

Herod the tetrarch heard all that Jesus had done, and was perplexed: for some said that it was John who had risen from the dead; others that Elijah had appeared, and others that one of the ancient prophets had risen. And Herod said, "I have beheaded John; Who is this of whom I hear such things? And sought to see Him. This Herod was a small one, the son of the great Herod, who slew the innocents. This one was a king, and this one was a tetrarch. He wondered who Jesus would be. Nevertheless, John," he says, "I have beheaded, and therefore if he has risen from the dead, then when I see him, I will know; and sought an opportunity to see Jesus. Look: the Jews consider the resurrection of the dead in the life of the flesh, in food and drink. They think erroneously, for the resurrection is not in food and drink or in the life of the flesh, but the resurrected live like the angels of God.

The Apostles returned, and told Him what they had done; and he took them with him, and went away to a desolate place, near the city called Bethsaida. But the people, having learned, followed Him; and He, having received them, conversed with them about the Kingdom of God, and healed those who required healing. The day began to turn towards evening. And the twelve came to him, and said to him, Let the people go, that they may go to the villages and villages round about for the night, and get food. Because we are here in an empty place. But He said to them, "Give them something to eat." They said, "We have not more than five loaves and two fishes; shall we go and buy food for all these people? For there were about five thousand of them. But he said to his disciples, Sit them in rows of fifty. And they did so, and seated everyone. And he took five loaves and two fishes, and looked up to heaven, and blessed them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples, to distribute to the people. And they ate, and they were all satisfied; and the pieces that remained with them were collected twelve boxes. Jesus, intending to perform a miracle on the loaves, goes into an empty place, so that no one would think of saying that the loaves were brought from a city near it. - Having received the people, He taught and healed, so that you might know that our chastity is divided into word and deed, and that just as you should not say what is inconvenient to do, so you should not do what is absurd to say. - When the day was turning towards evening, the disciples, who had already begun to be distinguished by their philanthropic and pastoral dispositions, took pity on the people and said: let them go, that is, quickly heal their illnesses, fulfill their petitions. And the Lord says to the disciples: "Give them something to eat." He says this not because He did not know about poverty, but because He wanted to make His disciples themselves tell how many loaves they had, and thus by confessing them, by announcing the number of loaves, to reveal all the greatness of the miracle. Commanding the disciples to seat the people in rows of fifty, he shows that when we receive a stranger, we must calm him down and take every care for him. He Himself gives it to the disciples, and then they give it to the people; this is so that they would not forget about the miracle, but would remember it at the thought that they took the loaves into their own hands. There were twelve boxes of leftovers, so that we might know the power of hospitality and how our wealth increases when we help the poor. - However, this is said in more detail in the explanation of the Gospel of Matthew (see Chapter 14).

At one time, when He was praying in a solitary place, and the disciples were with Him, He asked them, "Whom do the people say that I am?" They answered and said, "For John the Baptist, and some for Elijah; others say that one of the ancient prophets was resurrected. And he asked them, "And whom do you say that I am?" Peter answered, "For Christ of God." But He strictly commanded them not to tell anyone about this, saying that the Son of Man must suffer much, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day rise again. The Lord, asking His disciples, does not ask directly what they themselves say, but first asks about the opinion of the people, and then about the opinion of themselves. He did this in order to show the injustice of the people's rumor about Him and to bring the disciples to the true understanding, which was done. For when the disciples said that some call you John, others Elijah, He asked, "And you, that is, you are different from all, you are chosen, you are separated, whom do you call Me?" Then Peter precedes the others and, having become the mouth of all, confesses Him to be the Christ of God, of Whom it has long been preached. He did not simply call Him the Christ of God, but the Christ of God, who is actually the Christ of God. For many have been anointed, but that Christ (the Anointed One) of God is the One and Only.