Tyre and Sidon were pagan cities, but Bethsaida and Chorazin were Jewish cities. Therefore He says that at the judgment it will be more pleasing to the Gentiles than to you, who have seen miracles and disbelieved; for if they had seen, they would have believed. And you, Capernaum, who have ascended to heaven, as glorified by the many miracles that have wrought in you, will descend to hell; you will be condemned for the very fact that even after so many miracles you do not believe. - Then, lest those who are sent to preach should say, "Why do you send us, if some cities will not receive us," he says, "Do not be sad; he who rejects you rejects Me and My Father; therefore the offense does not stop at you, but ascends to God. Therefore, let it be a comfort to you that the offense is inflicted (not on you, but) on God. In the same way, on the other hand, do not boast or be exalted by the fact that some listen to you; for this is not your work, but mine's grace.

     The seventy disciples returned with joy and said: "Lord! and the demons obey us in Thy name. And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning; Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and on all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you; However, do not rejoice that the spirits obey you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. 

The Evangelist said before that the Lord sent seventy disciples, and now he says that they returned with joy, that they not only healed from other diseases, but delivered them from an even greater evil - from demons. See how far they are from arrogance; for they say to the Lord, "In Thy name" the demons obey us, according to Thy grace, and not according to our power. And the Lord said to them, "Do not be amazed that the demons obey you, for their ruler has long been cast down and has no power." Although it was not visible to people, it was visible to Me, who contemplates and is invisible. Satan fell like lightning from heaven because he was light, archangel and Lucifer, although now he has become darkness. But if he fell from heaven, then his servants, I mean demons, what will they not tolerate? Some words "from heaven" are understood thus: from glory. Since the seventy told the Lord that the demons obeyed them, He said, "I also knew this, for I saw Satan fall from heaven, that is, he lost the glory he had and the honor." Before the coming of Christ, he was revered as God, but now he fell from heaven, that is, they stopped revering him as God and thinking that he lived in heaven. "Behold, I give you power to trample down his powers." For serpents and scorpions are hosts of demons, creeping things in the valley, and those of them that bite in a more visible way are serpents, and those that strike in a more hidden way are scorpions. For example, the demon of fornication and murder is a serpent, for it incites to visible evil deeds; and the demon who, under the pretext of illness, for example, inclines a person to use baths, fragrant ointments, and other bliss, can be called a scorpion, since he has a hidden sting and secretly tries to sting the flesh in order to lead the listener into a greater crime. But thanks be to the Lord, Who gave the authority to tread on them! However, teaching His disciples not to be arrogant, the Lord says: nevertheless, do not rejoice that the demons obey you (for from this others receive benefit, namely those who receive healing), but rather rejoice that your names in heaven are written not with ink, but with God's memory and grace. The devil falls from heaven, and people who live on earth are inscribed in heaven. So, the true joy is that your names are written in heaven and are not forgotten by God.

     In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes." Yes, Father! For such was Thy good pleasure. 

As a good father, seeing his children succeeding in something worthy of praise, rejoices, so the Savior rejoiced that the Apostles were vouchsafed such blessings. Therefore, He thanks the Father that such sacraments are hidden "from the wise," that is, the Pharisees and scribes who interpreted the Law, and from the "prudent," that is, the disciples of these same scribes. For he who teaches is wise, but he who learns and understands lessons is wise; for example, Gamaliel is wise, and Paul is wise, for the former is a teacher, and the latter understands what the former instructs. - The Lord calls His disciples "babes" because they were not skilled in the Law, but were chosen for the most part from the common class of the people and from the fishermen. However, they could also be called infants because of their kindness. And those (the Pharisees and scribes) were not real wise and intelligent, but only seemed. Thus these mysteries are hidden from the wise and prudent, who seemed to be so, but in reality were not. For if they had been so, the sacraments would have been revealed to them. "Yes, Father," I thank Thee, "for such was Thy good pleasure," that is, that such was Thy favor and will, and so it pleased Thee.

     And turning to the disciples, he said, "All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and who the Son is, no one knows but the Father, and who the Father is, no one knows except the Son, and to whom the Son wants to reveal. And turning to the disciples, he said to them especially, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!" For I say to you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear. 

The Father gives everything to the Son, because everything has to submit to the Son. God reigns over everyone in two ways: first, over those who do not desire His Kingdom, and, second, over those who will. For example, I will say: God is my Lord, even if I do not want to, because He is my Creator; and again, God is my Lord, when I, as a discreet servant, do His will by keeping the commandments. Human nature had been in slavery and in the hands of God before, although it did not want it, although it also served Satan. But when Christ endured the struggle for us, and, having freed us from the power of the devil, made us His servants and doers of the commandments, from that time we became discreet slaves, both by nature and by will; for the first slavery was only by nature, and the second, moreover, by our will. Thus, the Lord now says: "All things have been delivered to Me by My Father," that is, all things have to submit to Me and fall under My dominion. This is similar to another saying: "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to Me" (Matt. 28:18). And thus He says because He has reconciled all things (Col. 1:20) that are in heaven and on earth, and in other words: the Father commends all things to the Son, all the works of the economy of our salvation. Therefore, for our sake neither the Father nor the Spirit was incarnate, or suffered, or rose again, but the Son did all this, and He became the leader of our salvation; therefore He says that all things are given to Him. He said, as it were: My Father has entrusted everything to Me: to be incarnate, to suffer, to be resurrected, to save the rejected nature. - "And who the Son is, no one knows except the Father, and who the Father is, no one knows except the Son." Since He said that everything is committed to Me, now He seems to resolve some perplexity. So that someone does not think: why did He give everything to You, and not to another, even to an Angel or an Archangel? - He says: He betrayed Me because I am of the same Nature and Essence with Him. And just as no one knows Him, so no one knows Me except the Father alone. Therefore He justly committed all things to Me, as One in Essence with Him and surpassing all knowledge, just as He also is above all knowledge. For the Father, he says, is known only by the Son, and by him to whom the Son wishes to reveal. See: the Son does not know the Father by revelation, but creatures by revelation, for they receive knowledge by grace; therefore the Son is not created. - Turning to the disciples, the Lord blesses them and in general all who look with faith to Him, Who walks in the flesh and works miracles. For the ancient prophets and kings, although they greatly desired to see the Lord in the flesh and to hear Him, were not worthy of this. And in other words: since He said above that He knows the Father, to whom the Son will reveal, He now blesses the disciples, as having already received this revelation. For He revealed the Father to them by Himself, inasmuch as he who sees Him has seen the Father (John 14:9). And this good was not attained by any of those saints who lived before the appearance and action of the Son of God in the flesh. Since they did not see the Lord in the flesh, through whom the Father was known, it follows that they did not see the Father as the apostles did.