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.

And he said to all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake shall save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and to destroy himself or to injure himself? For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, the Son of Man shall be ashamed of him, when He shall come in His glory, and of the Father, and of the holy angels. But I say to you truly, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. Since Christ said of Himself that the Son of Man must suffer much, He adds something general and universal, namely: I am not the only one who will endure death, but all who wish to follow Me must deny themselves, have no fellowship with the flesh, but despise themselves. - "The cross" here calls death the most shameful; for there was no other death so inglorious as death on the cross. Therefore He declares that whoever desires to be His disciple must die not a glorious death, but a reproachable one, will be killed as one who is condemned. And since many are killed reproachfully as robbers and evildoers, therefore He added, "And follow Me," that is, exercise every virtue. - "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it", that is, if anyone wants to live in a worldly way, he will die in soul. - He is ashamed of Christ who says: "How shall I believe in a crucified and desecrated God?" And he is ashamed of His words who mocks the simplicity of the Gospel. The Lord will be ashamed of such a person "in His glory," that is, at the Second Coming. He says, as it were, "As a householder, having a wicked servant, is ashamed to call him his servant, so I will be ashamed to call him my servant who has denied Me." - Since He said above: "Whoever loses his life for My sake will save it," now, wishing to show what blessings such will be vouchsafed to them, He says: "There are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God," that is, the glory in which the righteous have to be. He said this about His Transfiguration. For the Transfiguration was an image of the future heavenly glory, and just as Jesus in the Transfiguration miraculously shone like lightning, so then the righteous will shine in the same way (Matt. 13:43). There are, he says, a few (John, Peter, and James) who will not die before they see in what glory My confessors will be. And they will see it during the Transfiguration.

After these words, after eight days, taking Peter, John and James, He went up to the mountain to pray. And as He prayed, the appearance of His face changed, and His garment became white and shining. And behold, two men conversed with Him, who were Moses and Elijah; appearing in glory, they spoke of His exodus, which He was to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter and those who were with him were burdened with sleep; but when they woke up, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him. And as they were departing from him, Peter said to Jesus, Master! it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles, one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, not knowing what I spoke. And as he said this, a cloud appeared and overshadowed them; and they were afraid, when they entered into the cloud. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, hear him. When this voice came, Jesus was left alone. And they kept silent, and told no man in those days what they saw. The Evangelist Matthew says that Jesus ascended the mountain when six days had passed after these words (Matt. 17:1), and Luke says that eight days had passed. For Matthew speaks only of intermediate days, and Luke does not speak only of intermediate days, but also means the day on which these words were spoken, and the day on which the Transfiguration took place. - Jesus took only three with Him: Peter as loving, John as beloved, and James as burning with zeal for Him, or as being able to conceal the event, keep it silent and tell no one, - To pray, Jesus ascends the mountain; for we must pray in solitude, with ascent, without bowing down to anything earthly. - His appearance became different, not, however, as if He Himself had become different in essence, for He remained the same as He was, but the appearance of His face was much brighter than before. A similar thing happened with His clothing. For only her sight shone with lightning; the essence of the clothes did not change, but only the appearance. - When He prayed, Moses and Elijah stood before Him to show that He was not an opponent of the Law and the prophets. For if He had been an adversary, Moses, who gave the Law, and Elijah, the most zealous of the prophets, would not have allowed themselves to serve Him (like bodyguards), nor even to be with Him. - They spoke of the exodus which He was to accomplish in Jerusalem, that is, of His death. - While Christ was in prayer, Peter was burdened with sleep, for he was weak, and in serving sleep, he paid tribute to human nature. When Peter awoke, he saw the glory of Christ and two men. Finding such a stay here pleasant because of the light and the contemplation of the prophets, Peter says: "It is good for us to be here"! He thought that now the end of the world and the kingdom of Jesus had come. But he didn't know what he was saying. For then there was no end, the day of the kingdom and the enjoyment of the blessings which the saints will possess. Peter said this (it is good for us to be here) together and because he feared that Christ would be crucified. He heard from Christ that He must be killed and rise again on the third day; therefore he said this, as it were: let us not go down from the mountain, let us remain here in order to avoid the Cross and suffering; if the Jews come against us, then we have Elijah as his helper, who brought down fire from heaven and destroyed the fifty leaders; we have Moses, who smote so many such nations. He said this, not knowing what he was saying. For he thought that the cross was evil, and a painful one at that, and therefore, wishing to avoid it, he said this. Meanwhile, the Lord longed to be crucified, since otherwise the salvation of people could not be accomplished. - Then, as Peter also said: "Let us make three tabernacles," the Lord suddenly creates a canopy not made with hands and enters it with the prophets, in order to show that He is in no way less than the Father. For just as in the Old Testament the Lord appeared in a cloud, and Moses entered it, and thus received the Law (Exodus 19:9; 20:20-21), so now the cloud embraced Christ, and the cloud is not gloomy (for the shadow of the Law and the darkness of ignorance have passed), but a bright cloud. For the truth has come, and the grace of the Lord has shone, and therefore now there is nothing dark. - And a voice went out of the cloud, just as in the Old Testament the voice of God was heard from the cloud. - Jesus was left alone, so that no one would think that the words: "This is My Beloved Son" were spoken about Moses or Elijah. However, this perhaps also means that the Law and the prophets existed only for a certain time, just as Moses and Elijah were visible here, and then, when their time had passed, only Jesus remained. For now the gospel reigns, while many things that are lawful have passed away. - The apostles were silent and said nothing about what they saw. Before the Cross, it was not necessary to say anything divinely about Jesus. For what opinion would they have of Him who heard this, and then saw Him crucified? Would they not consider Him a deceiver and a dreamer? That is why the Apostles do not preach before the Cross about any of the miraculous and God-worthy deeds of Jesus. - However, we have said enough about this subject in the explanation of the Gospel of Matthew (see Chapter 17).

And the next day, when they came down from the mountain, a great multitude met Him. Suddenly, one of the people exclaimed: Teacher! I beseech Thee to look upon my son, for he is alone with me: his breath seizes him, and he suddenly cries out, and tears him to pieces, so that he foams; and forcibly departs from him, having tormented him. I asked Thy disciples to cast him out, and they could not. And Jesus answered, saying, O unfaithful and perverse generation! How long will I be with you and endure you? Bring thy son hither. While he was still walking, the demon threw him down and began to beat him; but Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and gave him to his father. This man (of whom we are speaking) was a very unbeliever. Therefore the demon did not come out of his son. For unbelief overcame the power of the apostles. His unbelief and impudence are evident from the fact that he came before everyone to accuse his disciples. But the Lord declares that his son is not healed because of his unbelief, and rebukes him before all, and not only him, but all others in general. For by saying, "O unfaithful generation," he means by this all the Jews, and by the word "perverse" he shows that their wickedness is not from the beginning, nor from nature. By nature they were good (for they were the holy offspring of Abraham and Isaac), but they were corrupt in their wickedness. The words, "As long as I am with you, and will endure you," mean that He desires to accept death and wants to be delivered from them as soon as possible. For how long, he says, shall I endure your unbelief? - The Lord, in order to show that He has the power to overcome the unbelief of the Jews, says: "Bring your son hither, and having healed him, you have given him to his father. The demoniac formerly belonged not to his father, but to the evil spirit that possessed him; and now the Lord has given it to his father, who lost it, and then found it.

And everyone was amazed at the greatness of God. And when they were all amazed at all that Jesus had done, he said to his disciples, "Put these words into your ears, The Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men." But they did not understand this word, and it was hidden from them, so that they did not comprehend it, but were afraid to ask Him about this word. The others were all amazed at everything that Jesus did, and not only at this miracle. But Jesus, leaving the rest, conversed with the disciples, and said, "All these miracles, and words about miracles, put them in your ears." For what? Since I am to be betrayed and crucified, so that when you see Me crucified, you may not think that I endured this because of My powerlessness. For whoever works such miracles could not have been crucified. But they did not understand this word; and it was closed from them. What was it for? So that they do not fall into sorrow before their time and are not troubled by fear. And so, God, condescending to their weakness and guiding them as if they were children, allowed them not to understand what was said about the Cross, and the reverence of the disciples, for which they did not dare, and were even more afraid to ask the Lord. For fear increases reverence, just as reverence is fear dissolved by love.

The thought came to them: which of them would be greater? And Jesus, seeing the thought of their hearts, took the child, and set him before him, and said unto them, Whosoever receiveth this child in my name receiveth me; but whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for whoever is the least of you will be great. And John said, "Teacher! we saw a man casting out demons in Thy name, and we rebuked him, because he does not walk with us. Jesus said to him, "Forbid not, for he who is not against you is for you." The Apostles were overtaken by a passion for empty glory. It seems that this passion was aroused in them because they did not heal the demoniac man. Probably, on this occasion they argued, each on his part asserting that the lad was not healed not because of my powerlessness, but because of the impotence of so-and-so, and from this a strife flared up as to which of them would be greater. But the Lord, knowing the heart of everyone, precedes and, before this passion grows, tries to nip it at the root. For it is convenient to overcome passions in the beginning, but when they grow, then it is very difficult to expel them. How does the Lord stop evil? Taking the child, it is said, he shows him to his disciples, letting them know that we must bring our mind to the state in which it is in childhood; for children are inexperienced in evil, very simple, and are not agitated by thoughts of love of glory, nor by the desire for primacy over others. - "Whosoever," he says, "receives this child in My name, receives Me." These words have the following meaning: although you think that you will be liked by many, and that you will be received by many in such a case, if you appear proud and glory-loving, yet I say to you that simplicity is especially pleasant to me, and that it is the distinguishing mark of my disciples, so that whoever receives a simple and gentle man as my disciple (for this means the expression "in my name"), he will receive Me. For whoever receives the proud receives neither My disciple nor Me. John, entering into conversation, said: Master! We saw a man casting out demons in Thy name, and we rebuked him. What is the sequence between the words of John and the words of the Lord? Very close. Since the Lord said that whoever is the least of you will be great, John began to fear that they had not acted badly when they imperiously and proudly rebuked that man. For the prohibition of someone reveals something in the one who forbids no less, but thinks a little more of himself than of the one whom he forbids. So John was afraid that he had not acted proudly in rebuking the man. "Why did the disciples forbid this man?" Not out of envy, but because they considered him unworthy to work miracles, since he did not receive the grace of working miracles with them, was not, like them, sent for this purpose by the Lord, and did not follow Jesus at all. What about the Lord? Leave him," he said, "to do this; for he also crushes the power of Satan. As long as he does not hinder you in the work of preaching, does not act in the same way as the devil, then he is for you. For he who is not against God is for God, just as he is with the devil who does not gather with God. - Perhaps consider the power of the name of Christ, how grace worked at the mere pronunciation of it, even though those who pronounce it were unworthy and were not disciples of Christ. In the same way, through priests, even if they are unworthy, grace works, and all are sanctified, even if the priest is not clean.

And when the days of His taking away from the world drew nigh. He wanted to go to Jerusalem; and he sent messengers before him; and they went and entered into the village of the Samaritans; to prepare for Him; but they did not receive Him there, because He had the appearance of traveling to Jerusalem. Seeing this, His disciples, James and John, said, "Lord! Do you want us to say that fire should come down from heaven and destroy them, as Elijah did? But He turned to them, and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy the souls of men, but to save. And they went to another village. What is the meaning of the words, "When the days of his taking drew nigh"? This means that the time had come in which He had to endure salvific suffering for us and then ascend to heaven and co-ascend with God and the Father. - When the time of His suffering and taking away from the world came, He decided not to go here and there, but to ascend to Jerusalem. The expression: "desired to go" (in Church Slavonic - strengthen Thy face) means that He determined, decided, set a firm intention to go to Jerusalem. - He sends messengers before His face to prepare some reception for Him. Though He knew that the Samaritans would not receive Him, yet He sent messengers to take away from the Samaritans any excuse, so that they might not later say that we would receive Him if He had sent anyone before Him. He did this together and for the benefit of His disciples, namely, that when they saw Him on the Cross in insult, they would not be offended, but would learn from the present incident that just as now He did not bear the contempt of the Samaritans, and even forbade the disciples themselves to stir up anger in Him against those who offended Him, so also then He suffers crucifixion, not because He is powerless, but because he is long-suffering. This is also useful for the disciples in the sense that the Lord by His own example teaches them to be not malicious. For they, looking at Elijah, who twice destroyed fifty men with their rulers by fire, and being still imperfect, stirred up the Lord to take vengeance on those who had wronged Him. But the Lord, showing them that His Law is higher than the life of Elijah, forbids them and leads them away from such a way of thinking, but on the contrary, taught them to endure offenses with meekness. - What is the meaning of the words: "But they did not receive Him there, because He had the appearance of traveling to Jerusalem"

For if the Lord had not had such an intention, He would have entered the village of the Samaritans even if they did not want it.