Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” (Matthew 16:21–28)

What He intended when He forbade them to publicly declare Him Christ is clarified in part by “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples how He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders” and the following thoughts. At the right time and in the right way, He proclaimed to those who knew that Jesus was Christ, Son of the living God (the Father had revealed this to them), that rather than believing in Jesus Christ already crucified, they should believe in Jesus Christ soon to be crucified. So also, instead of believing in Jesus Christ already risen from the dead, they should believe in “Jesus Christ soon to be raised from the dead.”

“Having put off from himself the principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in the cross.” If anyone is ashamed of the cross of Christ, he is ashamed of the agency by which these powers were defeated. The one who both believes and is assured of these things should, more appropriately, glory in the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Through that cross, when Christ was crucified, the principalities (among them, I think, was also the prince of this world) were publicly humiliated and paraded before the eyes of the believing world.

Origen, Commentary on Matthew 12.18

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. (Matthew 16:13–20)

Given the various opinions among the Jews in their conceptions of Jesus, let us see the ways some people talk about Jesus out of certain unsound beliefs. For, some were saying that Jesus was John the Baptist, similar to Herod the Tetrarch, who said to his servants, This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason the powers are working within him. But others were saying that the one called Jesus was Elijah, who either underwent a second birth, or, being alive in the flesh from that time onward, again appeared in the present. There were those who claimed that Jesus was Jeremiah; not because Jeremiah was simply a type of Christ, but because they were perhaps motivated by the things said about Christ in the beginning of Jeremiah, since these were not then fulfilled in the prophet. Instead, these things began to be fulfilled in Jesus, whom God appointed to uproot, raze, destroy, rebuild, and replant the nations and kingdoms, because God made him to be a prophet to the Gentiles to whom he preached the word.…

Then Peter, being the kind of person who was not a disciple of flesh and blood but who made room for the revelation of the Father in heaven, confessed Jesus to be the Christ. What Peter said to the Savior, namely, You are the Christ (although the Jews did not know that He was the Christ) was a great confession. What was greater, however, was that Peter knew Him not only to be the Christ, but also the Son of the living God, who said through the prophets, I live, and, They have abandoned me, the spring of living water.

Origen, Commentary on Matthew 12:9

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.” But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.” But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. (Matthew 15:21–28)

Mark says that Jesus was not able to escape notice after He had come into the house. But why did He go away to these parts of the region at all? When He released them from the observance of food laws, then He finally also opened a door to the Gentiles as He proceeded on the road. This anticipates the similar act of Peter, who first received a command to put an end to this law and then was sent to Cornelius.

But if anyone should say, “Why then does He allow this woman to approach Him when He says to the disciples, ‘Do not go in the way of the Gentiles’?” We first note that He Himself, being who He is, was not, strictly speaking, required to obey the command that He gave to the disciples. We observe, second, that Jesus was not going there to preach. This is the very point that Mark implies when He says both that Jesus hid Himself and that He could not escape notice. The fact that He did not run to them first was consistent with the order of the tasks set before Him. In exactly the same way, driving away people who were coming to Him was unworthy of His love for humanity. For if one should pursue those who are trying to escape, much more should one not try to escape those who are pursuing. …

See her humility as well as her faith! For He had called the Jews “children,” but she was not satisfied with this. She even called them “masters,” so far was she from grieving at the praises of others. She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Behold the woman's wisdom! She did not venture so much as to say a word against anyone else. She was not stung to see others praised, nor was she indignant to be reproached. Behold her constancy. When He answered, “It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs,” she said, “Yes, Lord.” He called them “children,” but she called them “masters.” He used the name of a dog, but she described the action of the dog. Do you see this woman's humility? Then compare her humility with the proud language of the Jews: “We are Abraham's seed and were never in bondage to any man.” “We are born of God.” But not so this woman. Rather, she calls herself a dog and them masters. So for this reason she became a child. For what does Christ then say? “O woman, great is your faith.”

So we might surmise that this is the reason He put her off, in order that He might proclaim aloud this saying and that He might crown the woman: “Be it done for you as you desire.” This means “Your faith, indeed, is able to effect even greater things than these. Nevertheless be it unto you even as you wish.” This voice was at one with the voice that said, “Let the heaven be,” and it was.

“And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.”

Do you see how this woman, too, contributed not a little to the healing of her daughter? For note that Christ did not say, “Let your little daughter be made whole,” but “Great is your faith, be it done for you as you desire.” These words were not uttered at random, nor were they flattering words, but great was the power of her faith, and for our learning.

He left the certain test and demonstration, however, to the issue of events. Her daughter accordingly was immediately healed.

John Chrysostom, The Gospel of Matthew Homily 52.1, 3

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Amédée Varint, Christ Marchant sur la Mer

Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.” (Matthew 14:22–33)

Therefore when the Lord as teacher of the human race offered the example to us of praying, and the boat was being buffeted by waves in the midst of the sea, since the wind was contrary, “the Lord came to them, walking upon the sea.” Here he showed openly the power of His divinity. For who could have walked on the sea except one who is the Creator of the universe? He, surely, about whom the Holy Spirit had foretold long ago through blessed Job: “Who alone stretches out the heavens and walks on the sea as on the earth.” And who speaks about this same thing similarly through Solomon under the persona of Wisdom, when he says, “I dwelled in the highest places and my throne was in a pillar of cloud. I orbited the heavenly sphere alone and walked on the waves of the sea.” David also testified about this in a psalm and said, “God, Your way was through the sea, Your paths through the great waters.” Similarly, Habakkuk reported about this and said, “Scattering the waters in the crossings; the deep uttered its voice.” What could be plainer than these testimonies, what clearer? By them He is shown clearly to walk on the sea as upon the ground, that is, God’s only begotten Son, who long ago according to the will of the Father stretched out the heavens and at the time of Moses in a pillar of cloud showed the people a way to follow. Hence in what faithless impiety are the heretics being held fast who have dared to deny that Christ is God. They ought to recognize this based on these very testimonies. Therefore the Lord walked upon the sea, He who is both Creator and founder of the universe. For He who had made both the nature of humanity and the sea itself and all things heavenly and earthly could not be weighed down with respect to His body, to prevent Him from walking by the waves of the sea. That is why the very waters were made serviceable to their Lord and Creator, while the waves of the sea were raging, rejoicing in the obedient duty of service.

Thus when the disciples saw the Lord walking upon the sea, they did not know that it was Him. Struck by the wonder of fresh admiration, they thought that it was a ghost. For they knew that the nature of a human birth does not allow this earthly body to be held up by waves carrying the burden. But in order to strengthen the trepidation of His fearful disciples, the Lord says, “Take courage, do not be afraid; I am.” This shows that He is the one who long ago had spoken to Moses, “I am who I am.” Thus the disciples, upon recognizing their Lord and God by hearing His voice, would cease being amazed either that the Creator lords over His creation or that the creation serves its Creator. After all, as soon as they heard the Lord saying, “I am,” that which they knew was impossible for human beings, they immediately believed was possible for the Son of God.

Chromatius of Aquileia, Tractate on Matthew 52.2.2–3