When a strong man with arms guards his house, then his possessions are safe; And when his mighiest shall come upon him, and shall overcome him, then shall he take all his weapons in which he trusted, and shall divide what he has stolen from him. He who is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters. When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he walks in dry places, seeking rest, and not finding, he says, "I will return to my house from whence I came." and when he comes, he finds it swept and tidy; then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits, which are worse than himself, and having entered, they dwell there, and for that man the last is worse than the first. 

"Before My coming," he says, "Satan was strong and "guarded" his "house," that is, he ruled over human nature firmly and safely. But when I, who was stronger than him, came, then I overcame the world and all its "weapons" that it trusted, that is, all kinds of sin. For sin is the weapon of the devil, and with it he boldly overcame people. All these weapons of his I have broken, because no sin has been found in Me (1 Pet. 2:22); Since then, it has weakened. And "that which was stolen from him," that is, the people who were as it were his prey, I have plucked from him, and I entrust each one to a special Angel, a faithful guardian, so that instead of the demon who had him in power, an angel may rule over him. - And otherwise. What fellowship is there between Me and Beelzebub? My task is to gather the scattered children of God; and his work is that he scatters those who are gathered. How then do you conclude of Me that I have fellowship with Satan? Verily, such a thought has come to you because you are now in greater communion with demons. An unclean spirit lived in you before, when you served idols and killed prophets. Then, apparently, he came out of you. And now He has returned again "to His house," that is, to your souls, with "seven" spirits, that is, many (for the number "seven" is often used in the Scriptures to mean "many"), and has done the latter for you worse than the former. For when you served idols, you killed the prophets, but you did not yet give a clear offense to the Son of God, who appeared in the flesh for your sake. And now what hope for salvation is there when you remain with the same ingratitude and audacity, even after the Son has become incarnate and works miracles for your sake? - "Waterless places" are the souls of those who have no softness, (souls) callous and preoccupied with themselves. Since the evil one has no place to dwell in such souls, he returns to the Jews, and the latter becomes worse for them than the former. Thus, now they have no more prophets, for they have killed the Word, nor anointing, for they have crucified Christ (the anointed one). Formerly, although they served idols, prophets and anointing were visible among them; but now they have lost everything, because they have sinned against the Son of God.

     And while he was saying this, a certain woman, lifting up her voice from among the people, said to him, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that fed you!" And He said, Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. And when the people began to gather together in multitude, He began to say, "This generation is wicked, it seeks a sign, and no sign shall be given to it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet; for as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The queen of the south will rise up to judge the people of this generation, and will condemn them, for she has come from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, there is more Solomon here. The Ninevites will rise up to judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they have repented because of the preaching of Jonah, and behold, there is more than Jonah here.

     While the Pharisees and scribes defame the miracles of the Lord, the woman, a guileless and simple person, glorifies Him. Where are those who say that the Lord has appeared illusory? For this is the testimony that He also ate His breasts! And He blesses those who keep the word of God, however, not in order to deprive His Mother of pleasure, but in order to show that She would not have received any benefit from giving birth to Him and nourishing Him with her breasts, if She had not had all the other virtues. He says this at the same time and because he goes to the right time. Since those who envied Him and did not listen to His words reproached those who heard, He especially blesses those who hear them in spite of them. Perhaps He also says this for the sake of the deaf man who was healed, so that he, too, having heard the word, would keep it, so that the ability to hear (granted to him) would not serve to condemn him. - When the people began to gather in multitude, the Lord began to rebuke the foolish. Among them were some who desired Jesus to perform a sign from heaven; For they said, The signs that he does are of the earth, and he does them by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of peace, who has power over the earth. but He cannot do signs from heaven, because He is not the Son of the Heavenly Father. Since some have said so, the Lord rebukes them and says: "A sign will be given to you, which will prove that I am the true Son of the Heavenly Father." What is it? The sign of Jonah, that is, the sign of the Resurrection. For as he spent three days in the belly of the whale, so I will dwell three days in the belly of the whale, the great animal, that is, hell, and I will rise again. When Jonah, thrown out by the whale and as if revived again, began to preach, the Ninevites obeyed; but even after My Resurrection this generation will not believe Me. Therefore, they will be condemned for not imitating the Ninevites, although there is more Jonah here. For My worthiness and the way I preach are very different. I am the Lord, he is a slave. I preach the Kingdom of Heaven, he is salvation from threatening destruction, I perform miracles, he has not performed any miracle. "In the same way, the queen of the south will condemn this generation, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon." "By the 'queen of the south' I mean, perhaps, every soul, strong and constant in goodness. Let me explain. The North, when it serves as a symbol of the enemy's abode, is not approved by the Scriptures, because it cools and causes necrosis and torpor; and the south (as the opposite of the north) is approved, because the south wind brings warmth, revival, warms even the numb parts. That is why in the Song of Songs, the bride, chasing away the north, says: "Ascend from the north, and be brought from the south" (4:16), and the prophet again says: "And he who comes from the north will I put away from you," that is, Satan (Joel 2:20). Thus, the soul that reigns in the south, that is, in the grace-filled land of spiritual life, and has become strong through the exercise of activity, comes to listen to wisdom, that is, ascends to contemplation. For the wisdom of Solomon, the king of peace, is the contemplation of our Lord and God, which no one can attain otherwise, unless through exercise in activity he becomes king and ruler in a virtuous life.

     No one, having lit a candle, puts it in a secret place, not under a bushel, but on a candlestick, so that those who enter may see the light. The lamp of the body is the eye; therefore, if thy eye be pure, thy whole body shall be light; but if it be bad, then your body will also be dark. See, then, that the light that is in you is not darkness? But if your body is all light and has not a single dark part, then everything will be bright as if a lamp were shining on you.

     Since the envious Jews, looking at miracles, misinterpreted them through malice of their minds, the Lord also says the following: people who have received a "lamp" from God, that is, the gift of the mind, which we look upon as if given to us by light, have concealed their prudence and, having darkened themselves with envy, do not see miracles and blessings, although we have received intelligence in order to put it on a candlestick, so that others may also see the light. In my opinion, He says this: Pharisee! You have knowledge - this is a lamp. You should have used this knowledge to acknowledge the miracles yourself, and to declare and explain to others that they are the work of the Son of God, and not of Beelzebub. In this way, the "incomers," that is, the newly introduced and the beginners, would see the light of day. For he who is wise has already entered; and he who is still studying is only entering. But you, Pharisees, did not want to do this, and the eye of the soul, that is, the mind, hitherto straight, was distorted and obscured. For just as the eye of the body, as it is itself, makes the body so, for example, if it is pure, the body is light, and if it is dark, the body is also gloomy, so the soul is disposed according to the state of the mind. If the eye and light received by God begin to be darkened by envy or covetousness, in general, by love for material things, then she too is darkened.

     While He was saying this, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. He came and sat down. The Pharisee was amazed to see that He had not washed His hands before dinner. But the Lord said to him, "Now you, Pharisees, cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but your inside is full of theft and deceit." Foolish! Is it not the same Who created the outward created the inward? It is better to give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean for you.