Luke § 71

He soon explained that He had been speaking of the synagogue, showing, that He truly came to it, who preached in it, as it is said, And he was teaching in one of the synagogues.

Now He was teaching in one of their synagogues on the Sabbaths, and behold, there was a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years. After the parable of the fig tree was spoken, the Lord is narrated to have been teaching in the synagogue, to intimate that the parable was not referring to anything else but indicating seeking fruit on the fig tree and not finding it, meaning the word was given to the synagogue and not received. However, so that you might not think she would be entirely cut off due to the fault of barrenness but know the remnant is to be saved through the choice of grace, immediately following there is the healing of the primitive Church under the image of a curved woman. This woman had been bent over for eighteen years, a number which is completed by the sixfold multiplication of three, showing that she languished in weak works in the testimony of the law, the prophecy of the prophets, and the revelation of grace. For the number six, in which the world's creation is perfected, signifies the perfection of works. There are three times (as I have said) of the Lord's visitation, in which Judea, knowing more earthly than heavenly things: to work, was bent over for eighteen years from the uprightness of her mind.

Second, those who calumniate the miracles are refuted on the part of the circumstance of time according to a twofold occasion.

Now he was teaching in the synagogue, etc. That part, in which the Savior refutes the deceitfulness of the calumniating Jews, was divided into two parts according to the twofold manner of calumniating the miracles of Christ, namely on the part of the efficient cause and on the part of the circumstance of time. The first part having been treated, here begins the second. And this part is divided into two according to a twofold occasion of time: in the first, he refutes those calumniating the miracles of Christ, because they were performed on the Sabbath, in an assembly; in the second, he refutes at a banquet, there: And it came to pass, when he entered, in the fourteenth chapter.

The refutation which takes place in the assembly, concerning which two things. The first part is divided into two. For first he refutes those who said that miracles ought not to be performed on the Sabbath; second, however, having taken the occasion, he shows that good works must be done without intermission, there: He said: To what is the kingdom of God like?

Concerning the refutation of those calumniating the miracles on account of the Sabbath, he proceeds in this manner. First, the working of a wondrous healing is set forth. Second, a rebuke of Jewish superstition is added, there: But the ruler of the synagogue answering, etc. Third, a refutation of the proposed objection is subjoined, there: But the Lord answering him. Fourth, the attainment of a glorious victory is inferred, there: When he said these things, they were ashamed, etc.

Concerning the working of a wondrous healing, three things are introduced, namely the solemnity of the day and the gravity of the long-standing illness and the power of the hastened miracle.

First, therefore, as to the solemnity of the sacred day, he says: Now he was teaching in their synagogue on the Sabbaths. Note that the Lord taught on the Sabbaths either for the sake of preserving the custom of the Jews: Acts 15: "Moses from ancient times has in every city those who preach him in the synagogues, where he is read every Sabbath."

Or also for the sake of the publication of doctrine, because then, as on a solemn day, they were more commonly attentive to the word of God: John 18: "I always taught in the synagogues, where all the Jews come together."

Or because the Sabbath was a day of rest, and he had come to announce peace and rest; whence Ephesians 2: "Coming, he preached peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near."

Or also because the precept concerning the Sabbath, which pertained to charity, was especially a figure of the time of grace, in which it is commanded: "This is my commandment, that you love one another," John 15.

Or also for the sake of preserving the order: because restoration ought to have begun where creation was completed: in Genesis 2 it is said that "God completed on the seventh day His work which He had made." "And He blessed the seventh day," etc.

Or for giving instruction, that one intent upon wisdom ought to cease from all occupations, according to that saying in Sirach 38: "Write wisdom in a time of leisure." — Or also for a seventh reason, that He might show Himself Lord of the Law and of the Sabbath by working miracles on the Sabbath: John 5: "My Father works even until now, and I work. For this reason therefore the Jews sought to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath but also called God His own Father, making Himself equal to God."

He was teaching in their synagogue on the Sabbaths. And behold, a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years. A little earlier we have already said that the threefold coming of the Lord to the unfruitful fig tree is what the number of eighteen years signifies in relation to the bent woman. For on the sixth day man was made, and on that same sixth day all the works of the Lord were completed. Moreover, the number six multiplied in a triangle makes eighteen. Therefore, because man, who was made on the sixth day, did not wish to have perfect works, but stood weak before the law, under the law, and at the beginning of dawning grace, the bent woman was eighteen years.

He teaches indeed not separately, but in the synagogues; calmly, neither wavering in any thing, nor determining aught against the law of Moses; on the Sabbath also, because the Jews were then engaged in the hearing of the law.

The members of the church are similar to this vine. They are planted with the root of faith and held in check by the shoots of humility.… He placed in the church a tower of apostles, prophets and doctors who are ready to defend the peace of the church. He dug around it when he had freed it from the burden of earthly anxieties. Nothing burdens the mind more than concern for the world and lust for either wealth or power.An example of this is in the Gospel. We can read the story of the woman "who had sickness caused by a spirit, and she was bent over so that she was unable to look upwards." In fact, her soul was bent over. It inclined to earthly rewards and did not possess heavenly grace. Jesus saw her and addressed her. She immediately laid aside her earthly burdens. These people also were burdened with lusts. He addressed them in these words, "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest." The soul of that woman breathed once more and stood up like a vine around which the soil has been dug and cleared.

(Serm. 110.) That which the three years signified in the tree, the eighteen did in the woman, for three times six is eighteen. But she was crooked and could not look up, for in vain she heard the words, lift up your hearts.

(Hom. 9. in Hex.) Because the head of the brutes is bent down towards the ground and looks upon the earth, but the head of man was made erect towards the heaven, his eyes tending upward. For it becomes us to seek what is above, and with our sight to pierce beyond earthly things.

And she was bent over, unable to straighten up at all. Because she was wise to earthly matters, seeking weakness, and not yet driven to think of heavenly ones, hearing through the prophet: "If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land." To whom, in contrast, the Apostle says to the members of the Church: "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." (Colossians 3).

Second, as to the severity of the long-standing disease, he adds: And behold, a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years, as to the prolonged duration of the infirmity: Sirach 10: "A prolonged illness burdens the physician; a brief illness the physician cuts short."

And she was bent over, as to the severity of the infirmity, according to what he lamented: "I am made wretched and bent down even to the end," etc.

Nor could she at all look upward, on account of the unceasing nature of the infirmity, according to that passage in Lamentations 1: "He has given me into a hand from which I cannot rise."

Moreover, by this long-standing curvature can be understood the disease of avarice and cupidity, which bends the heart toward temporal things; the Psalm: "They set their eyes to turn toward the earth." And this is what the demons seek; Isaiah 51: "Bow down, that we may pass over."

This bending infirmity lasts for eighteen years, that is, through a threefold six, that is, through the whole time of life; because, as Jerome says, while other vices grow old in the elderly, avarice alone grows young; and in Ecclesiastes 2 it is said of the miser: "All his days are full of sorrows and afflictions, nor does his mind rest at night"; and Hosea 7: "Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not; gray hairs also are sprinkled upon him, and he knew it not."

This infirmity also does not allow one to look upward: whence it is said in Matthew 6: "Where your treasure is, there is your heart also"; and the Psalm: "Fire fell upon them," namely of cupidity, "and they did not see the sun," lest they should remember, etc.

"There was in the synagogue a woman who for eighteen years was bowed down by infirmity." Her case may prove to be of great benefit to those who have understanding. We must gather what is to our advantage from every quarter. By what happened to her, we may see that Satan often receives authority over certain persons who fall into sin and have grown lax in their efforts toward piety. Whomever he gets into his power, he may involve in bodily diseases since he delights in punishment and is merciless.… The accursed Satan is the cause of disease to the human bodies, just we affirm that Adam's transgression was his doing, and by means of it our bodily frames have become liable to infirmity and decay.

Now that the Incarnation of the Word was manifested to destroy corruption and death, and the hatred of the devil against us, is plain from the actual events; for it follows, And behold there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity, &c. He says spirit of infirmity, because the woman suffered from the cruelty of the devil, forsaken by God because of her own crimes or for the transgression of Adam, on account of which the bodies of men incur infirmity and death. But God gives this power to the Devil, to the end that men when pressed down by the weight of their adversity might betake them to better things. He points out the nature of her infirmity, saying, And was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

He was teaching in their synagogue on the Sabbaths. And behold, a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years. A little earlier we have already said that the threefold coming of the Lord to the unfruitful fig tree is what the number of eighteen years signifies in relation to the bent woman. For on the sixth day man was made, and on that same sixth day all the works of the Lord were completed. Moreover, the number six multiplied in a triangle makes eighteen. Therefore, because man, who was made on the sixth day, did not wish to have perfect works, but stood weak before the law, under the law, and at the beginning of dawning grace, the bent woman was eighteen years.

(ut sup.) Or else; man was made on the sixth day, and on the same sixth day were all the works of the Lord finished, but the number six multiplied three times makes eighteen. Because then man who was made on the sixth day was unwilling to do perfect works, but before the law, under the law, and at the beginning of grace, was weak, the woman was bowed down eighteen years.

(Hom. 31. in Evang.) Mystically the unfruitful fig tree signifies the woman that was bowed down. For human nature of its own will rushes into sin, and as it would not bring forth the fruit of obedience, has lost the state of uprightness. The same fig tree preserved signifies the woman made upright.

(up sup.) For every sinner who thinketh earthly things, not seeking those that are in heaven, is unable to look up. For while pursuing his baser desires, he declines from the uprightness of his state; or his heart is bent crooked, and he ever looks upon that which he unceasingly thinks about. The Lord called her and made her upright, for He enlightened her and succoured her. He sometimes calls but does not make upright, for when we are enlightened by grace, we ofttimes see what should be done, but because of sin do not practise it. For habitual sin binds down the mind, so that it cannot rise to uprightness. It makes attempts and fails, because when it has long stood by its own will, when the will is lacking, it falls.

Now, if someone does not wish, whether like the sinful woman to embrace the feet of Christ [Luke 7:38], or like the prodigal son to run back to Him with burning repentance [Luke 15:11ff], or like the woman with a hemorrhage and bowed with infirmity (Luke 8:43 and 13:11) even to approach Him, why does he then make excuses for his sins by saying, "Those whom He foreknew, them also"-and them alone!-"He called"?

One may perhaps reasonably reply to the person so disposed that "God, Who is before eternity and Who knows all things before creating them, also knew you beforehand, knew that you would not obey Him when He called, that you would not believe in His promises and in His words, yet still, even while knowing this, He "bowed the heavens and came down" [Psalm 18:19] and became man, and for your sake has come to the place where you lie prone. Indeed, visiting you many times every day, sometimes in His own Person and sometimes as well through His servants, He exhorts you to get up from the calamity in which you lie and to follow Him Who ascends to the Kingdom of Heaven and enter it together with Him. But you, you still refuse to do it. - "Second Ethical Discourse"

This illness befell the aforementioned woman through the violence of the devil, as the Lord Himself says: "whom Satan has bound for eighteen years" (Luke 13:16). Perhaps Satan tormented her because she had been forsaken by God for some transgressions, for he, when permitted from above by God, inflicts all manner of afflictions upon the bodies of people (Job 2:6–7). He was also the cause from the beginning of our losing the incorruption in which we were created (Wisdom 2:23), and of our being united now with a body subject to pain and susceptible to illness. For this is what we understand by the garments of skin (Genesis 3:21).

And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified God, as regards the effect of power: Ecclesiastes eight: "Whatsoever he wills, he shall do, and his word is full of power." Moreover, he lays on hands to show that he himself is the hand through which the Almighty works all things and through which he restores all things: Isaiah fifty-nine: "Behold, the hand of the Lord is not shortened, that it cannot save"; and in Numbers eleven the Lord said to Moses: "Is the hand of the Lord weak? Now you shall see whether my word shall be fulfilled in deed." And therefore Sirach thirty-six: "Renew signs and change wonders, glorify the hand and the right arm."

And note that here he says four things about the bowing down of this woman, which the Lord exercises in the salvation of any faithful soul. For first he sees by predestining: Wisdom four: "His regard is upon his elect."

Second, he calls by drawing outwardly: Matthew nine: "I came not to call the just, but sinners"; and Proverbs nine: "She sent her handmaids to call to the citadel and to the walls of the city." — Third, he lays on his hand by justifying: Ezekiel three: "I went away bitter in the indignation of my spirit, for the hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me"; and above in chapter one: "For indeed the hand of the Lord was with him." — Fourth, he raises up by glorifying: First Kings two: "He raises up the needy from the dust and lifts the poor from the dunghill, that he may sit with princes and hold the throne of glory."

Concerning these four things it is similarly said in Romans eight: "Those whom he predestined, these he also called; and those whom he called, these he also justified; and those whom he justified, these he also glorified."

Well is it said of this our crookedness, as a type of the human race, through the Psalmist: I am bowed down and humiliated utterly. For having contemplated that man was created for gazing upon the heavenly light, but having been cast out on account of his sins, he carries the darkness of his own mind, does not seek heavenly things, attends to the lowest things, by no means desires celestial things, always turns earthly things over in his mind, and what he grieved concerning his race, he cried out in himself, saying: I am bowed down and humiliated utterly. For losing the contemplation of heavenly things, if man thought only of the necessities of the flesh, he would be bowed down and humiliated, but nevertheless not utterly. Therefore he whom not only necessity casts down from higher thoughts, but also illicit pleasure prostrates, is not only bowed down but utterly bowed down. Hence another prophet says concerning unclean spirits: Who said to your soul, Bow down that we may pass over. For the soul stands upright when it desires heavenly things, and is by no means bent toward the lowest things. But when malign spirits see it standing in its uprightness, they cannot pass through it. For their passing through is to scatter unclean desires upon it. Therefore they say, Bow down that we may pass over, because if the soul does not cast itself down to desiring the lowest things, their perversity by no means prevails against it; and they cannot pass through her whom they fear standing rigid against them in heavenly intention.

Therefore, brothers most dear, we do not give way to malign spirits within us when we desire earthly things, when we bend down toward temporal appetites. Let it shame us, then, to desire earthly things and to offer the backs of our minds to ascending adversaries. He who is bent always gazes upon the earth, and he who seeks the lowest things does not remember by what price he was redeemed. Hence also it is said through Moses that whoever is burdened with a hump should by no means be advanced to the priesthood. And all of us who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ are made members of that same high priest. Whence also it is said to us through Peter: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood." But he who bears a hump always gazes at the lowest things. Therefore he is driven from the priesthood, because whoever is intent only on earthly things is himself a witness to himself that he is not a member of the high priest. Hence again, fish that do not have fins are forbidden from being eaten by the faithful people. For fish that have scale-fins are also accustomed to leap above the waters. What therefore is figured by finned fish except elect souls? These alone indeed pass into the body of the heavenly Church, who, supported by the fins of virtues, know how to leap through heavenly desire, so that they may reach toward things above through contemplation, although they fall back again into themselves from mortal flesh. If therefore we have now recognized the goods of the heavenly homeland, let it displease us, brothers most dear, that we are bent. Let the bent woman be placed before our eyes, and the unfruitful tree. Let us remember the evils we have done, let us send to the root of the heart a basket of dung, so that what was foul to us here through penance may then grow rich in the fruit of retribution. And if we cannot perform the highest works of virtue, God himself rejoices in our lamentation. For from the very beginning of justice we will please him, we who punish the unjust things we have done. Nor will there be delay in weeping, because enduring joys will quickly wipe away passing tears.

Not understanding this, the ruler of the synagogue commanded that no one should be healed on the sabbath since the sabbath is an image of a future day of rest, days of rest from evil deeds, not from good works. It is commanded that, neither bearing the burden of offenses nor being devoid of good works, we shall celebrate future sabbaths after death. The Lord then is seen to reply spiritually when he says, "You hypocrites, does not every one of you on the sabbath day untie his ox or his donkey and lead them to water?" Why did Jesus mention another creature? He showed the future to his opponents, the rulers of the synagogue. The Jewish and the Gentile peoples would lay aside the thirst of the body and the world's heat through the abundance of the Lord's fountain. "The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's feeding trough." The people who were fed on the food of common hay, which before it is plucked up is withered away, received the Bread that came down from heaven.

But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath." Jesus healed on the Sabbath, showing that it was now time, according to the prophecy of the Song of Songs, for the day to breathe and the shadows to be removed. But the ruler of the synagogue did not understand this much more excellent sacrament, that by healing on the Sabbath the Lord was intimating, that after the six ages of this world, he would grant the eternal joys of immortal life. In whose figure Moses commanded rest on the Sabbath not from good but from servile, that is harmful, actions, thus prefiguring that time when our secular works would cease, but not the religious works of praising God. Therefore, the ruler of the synagogue is mistaken and misleads, because the law prohibited burdening oneself on the Sabbath, that is being weighed down by sins, not healing a person.

But the ruler of the synagogue answering, etc. Here secondly is added the rebuke of Jewish superstition. Concerning which, first is introduced the stirring of disordered zeal in the mind; second, the pretense of ordered zeal in word.

First, therefore, as regards the stirring up of disordered zeal in the soul, he says: But the ruler of the synagogue, being indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, as if to say that his response drew its origin from indignation of soul. This indignation, moreover, arose from a presumption of justice; whence only "true justice has compassion, but false justice has indignation." This false justice, moreover, was zealous for the Law with respect to the observance of the Sabbath, but with a foolish zeal: Romans ten: "They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge; for being ignorant of the justice of God and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to the justice of God." Whence foolish presumption begets zeal, and zeal begets indignation, and indignation begets transgression of the divine law, according to that saying in Proverbs twenty-nine: "He who is quick to indignation will be more prone to sin." Whence the foolish zealot of the law is a destroyer of the law itself; on account of which, Galatians one: "Beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God and laid waste to it"; "being more abundantly a zealot for the traditions of my fathers," etc.

Second, as regards the simulation of ordered zeal in word, he adds: He said to the crowd: There are six days in which one ought to work: behold, an allegation of truth: Exodus twenty: "Six days you shall do all your works. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord." — Come therefore on these days and be healed: behold, a simulation of piety, whence what is said in Second Timothy three concerning dissemblers applies to him: "Having an appearance of piety, but denying its power." When he says: And not on the day of the Sabbath: behold, an ostentation of holiness, because as a holy man he was showing that he wished the Sabbath day to be kept as holy, according to that saying in Leviticus twenty-three: "Six days you shall work; the seventh day, because it is the Sabbath of rest, shall be called holy." Whence the Jews said in John nine: "This man is not from God, who does not keep the Sabbath"; but the observance of the holy day in the ruler of the synagogue was rather for the simulation of justice than for its fulfillment, according to that saying in Isaiah one: "New moon and Sabbath and other solemnities I will not endure." "Your new moons and your solemnities my soul has hated." And the reason for this is that they kept them rather for superstition than out of devotion; whence Lamentations one: "Her enemies saw her and mocked her Sabbaths."

"But he says that you are loosed from your infirmity, and she is loosed." Well, do you not also unloose your belt on the sabbath?… Did she that very day begin weaving or working at the loom? No, he says that she was made straight. The healing was a labor. No, you are not angry because of the sabbath. Since you see Christ honored and worshiped as God, you are frantic, choked with rage, and waste away with envy. You have one thing concealed in your heart and profess and make pretext of another. For this reason you are most excellently convicted by the Lord, who knows your vain reasoning. You receive the title that fits you, being called hypocrite, pretender, and insincere.

But the ungrateful ruler of the synagogue, when he saw the woman, who before was creeping on the ground, now by Christ's single touch made upright, and relating the mighty works of God, sullies his zeal for the glory of the Lord with envy, and condemns the miracle, that he might appear to be jealous for the Sabbath. As it follows, And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath-day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work, and not on the sabbath-day. He would have those who are dispersed about on the other days, and engaged in their own works, not come on the Sabbath to see and admire our Lord's miracles, lest by chance they should believe. But the law has not forbidden all manual work on the Sabbath-day, and has it forbidden that which is done by a word or the mouth? Cease then both to eat and drink and speak and sing. And if thou readest not the law, how is it a Sabbath to thee? But supposing the law has forbidden manual works, how is it a manual work to raise a woman upright by a word?

Well then does he call the ruler of the synagogue a hypocrite, for he had the appearance of an observer of the law, but in his heart was a crafty and envious man. For it troubles him not that the Sabbath is broken, but that Christ is glorified. Now observe, that whenever Christ orders a work to be done, (as when He ordered the man sick of the palsy to take up his bed,) He raises His words to something higher, convincing men by the majesty of the Father, as He says, My Father worketh until now, and I work. (John 5:17.) But in this place, as doing every thing by word, He adds nothing further, refuting their calumny by the very things which they themselves did.

Satan, having first bound the woman, was vexed at her liberation, since he desired to inflict even more evil upon her, and so he binds the ruler of the synagogue with envy and through his mouth blasphemes the miracle. Thus he everywhere opposes what is good! This man is indignant that the healing was performed on the Sabbath, but the Lord reproves him with the excellent example of irrational animals.

And as He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by Him. Those who are ashamed of the sayings of the Savior show that they are rightly to be compared to the barren fig tree. Those who rejoice in His miracles declare that they belong to the daughter of Abraham, giving glory to God for her uplifting, that is, to the Church by the piety of faith.

And when he said these things, etc. Here fourthly he subjoins the attainment of glorious victory with respect to two things that are introduced here, namely the confusion of the rebellious and the rejoicing of the faithful.

First, therefore, as regards the confusion of the rebellious, he says: And when he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame; the Gloss: "The adversaries, the scribes and Pharisees, who can neither contradict the manifest truth nor are willing to believe on account of envy." Concerning such people, Job twenty-four: "They were rebellious against the light and did not know its ways." Such people are not instructed but confounded when the truth is made manifest; Isaiah forty-one: "Behold, all who fight against you shall be confounded and put to shame; they shall be as nothing, and the men who oppose you shall perish. You shall seek them, and you shall not find the men who rebel against you," etc.

Second, as regards the rejoicing of the faithful, he adds: And all the people rejoiced in all the glorious things that were done by him: Bede: "The people, that is, the simple and humble, who love the words of truth and miracles." These rejoice in the manifestation of divine glory; whence Isaiah twenty-nine: "The poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel"; they shall exult, I say, in all the glorious things that were done by him: Sirach forty-two: "The work of the Lord is full of his glory."

And note that the works of Christ were gracious with respect to the condescension of divine favor, and for these one must give thanks: Tobit twelve: "Bless the God of heaven, and before all the living give praise to him, because he has shown his mercy to you." They were also glorious with respect to the operation of power and the manifestation of majesty, and over these one must rejoice and exult; the Psalm: "Shout joyfully to God, all the earth; sing a psalm to his name; give glory to his praise. Say to God: How terrible are your works! In the greatness of your power your enemies shall lie to you."

Moreover, these things can be explained allegorically concerning the Church gathered from the nations, which through a threefold set of six years was bent over: that is, under the rule of the law of nature, the Mosaic law, and also of prophecy; in each of which the works performed pertained to the six days, that is, servile works, which were done out of fear. And these cannot raise the soul upward, because fear weighs it down, and love alone raises it upward; whence above in chapter one: "He has raised up for us a horn of salvation in the house of David"; and this is accomplished through the spirit of charity; Ezekiel two: "And the spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet."

This one is loosed on the Sabbath day, just as an ox and a donkey that are led to be watered, because this Church has been gathered from the Jewish and Gentile people, who are to be understood by the ox and the donkey, according to that passage of Isaiah 1: "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey the manger of its master"; and 32: "Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, sending forth the foot of the ox and the donkey." But the Lord loosed both, both the Jews coming to the Church from the burden of legal servitude, and the Gentiles from the bond of idolatrous servitude: Ephesians 2: "He himself is our peace, who made both one and, breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmities in his flesh, abolishing the Law of commandments by decrees, that he might create the two in himself into one new man, making peace," etc.

By this loosing, however, the people of the Jews opposing Christ are confounded, and the people of the Gentiles rejoices, according to that passage of Matthew 8: "Many shall come from the east and the west and shall recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob," etc. "But the children of the kingdom shall be cast into the outer darkness," and this on account of their rebellion. Whence Acts 13: "It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first; but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles; for so the Lord has commanded us."

Shame fell then on those who had uttered these corrupt opinions, stumbled against the chief cornerstone, and had been broken. When busied in straightening his crooked vessels, they clashed against the wise Potter and resisted the Physician. They could make no reply. They had unanswerably convicted themselves. They were put to silence, doubting what they should say. The Lord closed their bold mouths. The crowds who reaped the benefit of the miracles were glad. The glory and splendor of his works solved all inquiry and doubt in those who sought him without ill will.

But they had nothing to answer; they themselves unanswerably condemned themselves. Hence it follows, And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed. But the people, reaping great good from His miracles, rejoiced at the signs which they saw, as it follows, And all the people rejoiced. For the glory of His works vanquished every scruple in them who sought Him not with corrupt hearts.