The Gospel of Mark step-by-step

[patrick457]

22-30: And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzeboul,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”

And he called them to Him, and said to them in parables: "*How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand; and if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end!

But no one can enter into a strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man; and then he will plunder his house.

Amen, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies with which they may blaspheme; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin*"—because they said, ‘He has an unclean spirit.’

DEFINITIONS

Beelzeboul: The Hebrew name Ba‘al Zebûb appears as the name of a deity worshipped in the Philistine city of Ekron. In ancient contexts, there appears to have been little, if any, meaningful distinction between Beelzebub and the Semitic god Ba‘al. Jewish reference to the deity was almost certainly pejorative, and the title thus grew to be used among other terms for Satan.

The name might mean ‘Lord of Zebûb’, referring to an unknown place called Zebûb, or ‘Lord of things that fly’ (zebûb being a Hebrew collective noun for ‘fly’, thus the common lay translation ‘Lord of the Flies’).

It has been suggested that it might be a derogatory corruption of Ba’al Zebul, ‘Lord of the High Place’, or ‘Lord of Heaven’. Septuagint A renders the name as Baalzeboub, Septuagint B as Baal myîan, meaning ‘Baal of flies’, but Symmachus the Ebionite, a late 2nd-century translator of the Old Testament in Greek, may have reflected a tradition of its offensive ancient name when he rendered it as Beelzeboul.

It is unknown whether Symmachus was correct in identifying these names or not since we otherwise know nothing about either of them. Zeboul might derive from a slurred pronunciation of zebûb; from ‘zebel’, a word used to mean ‘dung’ in the Targums; or from Hebrew zebûl found in 1 Kings 8:13 in the phrase beth-zebûl ‘lofty house’ and used in Rabbinical writings to mean ‘house’ or ‘temple’; thus Beelzebul could also be taken to mean “lord of the house.”

In any case the form Beelzebub was substituted for Belzebul in the Syriac translation and the Vulgate, which was eventually repeated in the King James Version, the result of which is the form Beelzebul was mostly unknown to western European and descendant cultures until some more recent translations restored it. In summary, it is unknown if either or both of these names were a title applied to persons, to divinities exclusively, or otherwise were a corruption of such a title, possibly as a denigration.

Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit…An everlasting sin: The Catechism tells us that:

“‘Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.’ There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.” (C.C.C. # 1864)

The Jerome Biblical Commentary (The Gospel According to Matthew, Part II; Page 85, #31) tells us that:

Blasphemy against the Spirit: The saying about blasphemy against the Spirit has long presented difficulty, particularly in Catholic theology, which affirms the possibility of repentance up to the moment of death. This teaching is solidly founded in the NT, and this saying of Jesus cannot be understood in a way that contradicts his invitations to repentance. Refusal to recognize the Son of Man as Messiah can be forgiven; faith atones for previous denial of faith. This Messianic claim is missing in Mk.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, however, attributes the activity of the Spirit to some other power. The present activity of God can be attested only through the actions of the Spirit. If these are not recognized, then there is no means by which God can reach man. The one who will not accept the work of the Spirit has made it impossible for himself to recognize the word and the work of God. Only he can be forgiven who confesses that he has something to be forgiven.

COMMENTARIES

1.) From the Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 22. From St. Matthew 12:22. et dein. we learn that it was on the occasion of the delivery of a possessed person, this blasphemy was uttered.

Ver. 24. Kingdom against kingdom: As this is true in all kingdoms and states where civil dissensions obtaineth, so it is especially verified in heresies and heretics which have always divisions among themselves, as a punishment for their abandoning the Church, the pillar and ground of truth, the only centre of peace and unity.

Ver. 29: See St. Matthew 12:32. Of an everlasting sin; i.e. of eternal punishment. (Witham)

What is here called everlasting offence, is (as St. Matthew expresseth it) that which shall neither be remitted in this life, nor in the life to come; which words would not be true, says St. Augustine, if some sins were not forgiven in the world to come. Now, as no mortal sin can be forgiven after death, there must necessarily be smaller transgressions, which we call venial; though many of our separated brethren will needs have all sins to be mortal; which is very far from a comfortable tenet.

2.) Commentary by St. Ambrose (Concerning Repentance, Book II, chapter 4:20-22):

But we have heard that you (the Novatians) are accustomed to bring forward as an objection that which is written: “Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but blasphemies against the Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him, but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come (Matthew 12:31-32).” By which quotation the whole of your assertion is destroyed and done away, for it is written: “Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men.” Why, then, do you not remit them? Why do you bind chains which you do not loose? Why do you tie knots which you do not unfasten? Forgive the others, and deal with those who you think are bound for ever by the authority of the Gospel for sinning against the Holy Spirit.

But let us consider the case of those whom the Lord so binds, going back to the words before the passage quoted, that we may understand it more clearly. The Jews were saying: “This man does not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, prince of the devils.” Jesus replied: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be destroyed, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand; for if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself, how then shall his kingdom stand? But if I cast out devils by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?”

Now we see plainly here that the words are expressly used of those who were saying that the Lord Jesus cast out devils through Beelzebub, to whom the Lord gave that answer, because they were of the heritage of Satan, who compared the Saviour of all to Satan, and attributed the grace of Christ to the kingdom of the devil. And that we might know that He was speaking of this blasphemy, He added: “O generation of vipers, how can you speak good, being yourselves evil?” He says, then, that those who thus speak attain not to forgiveness.

3.) Commentary by St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica, Tertia Pars, Question 43, Article 2):

Objection 3: Further, what is done by Divine power cannot be done by the power of any creature. But the things which Christ did could be done also by the power of a creature: wherefore the Pharisees said (Luke 11:15) that He cast out devils “by Beelzebub the prince of devils.” Therefore it seems that Christ did not work miracles by Divine power.

Reply to Objection 3: Christ cast out demons otherwise than they are cast out by the power of demons. For demons are cast out from bodies by the power of higher demons in such a way that they retain their power over the soul: since the devil does not work against his own kingdom. On the other hand, Christ cast out demons, not only from the body, but still more from the soul. For this reason our Lord rebuked the blasphemy of the Jews, who said that He cast out demons by the power of the demons: first, by saying that Satan is not divided against himself; secondly, by quoting the instance of others who cast out demons by the Spirit of God; thirdly, because He could not have cast out a demon unless He had overcome Him by Divine power; fourthly, because there was nothing in common between His works and their effects and those of Satan; since Satan’s purpose was to “scatter” those whom Christ “gathered” together [Cf. Matthew 12:24-30; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15-32].

 

[patrick457]

31-35: And His mother and His brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to Him, calling Him. And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him: “Look, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you.”

And He answered them and said: “Who are my mother and (my) brothers?” And looking about at those who sat around him, He said: “Here are my mother and my brothers! (For) whoever does the will of God, the same is my brother and sister and mother.”

His brothers: A group of persons closely connected with Jesus appears repeatedly in the New Testament under the designation “His brothers” or “the brethren of the Lord” (Matthew 12:46, 13:55; Mark 3:31-32, 6:3; Luke 8:19-20; John 2:12, 7:3-5; Acts 1:14; 1 Corinthians 9:5).

While some modern-day branches of Protestantism interpret this as Jesus having literal brothers (i.e. Mary had other children), Semitic use of the word brother extended to all near, or even distant, relatives (Genesis 13:8, 14:14-16; Leviticus 10:4; 1 Chronicles 15:5-10, 23:21-22).

Catholics and Orthodox take the view that Jesus was Mary’s only Son (notice that while they are called Jesus’ ‘brothers’, they are not said to be Mary’s children anywhere in the text), and that the ‘brothers of Jesus’ mentioned here either refer to children of Joseph from a former marriage (thus making them Jesus’ half-brethren) or are merely relatives or kinsmen of Jesus. The following are links that explain the Catholic view:

1.) The Catholic Encylopedia on the subject.
2.) The articles Mary: Ever Virgin, How to Explain the Perpetual Virginity of Mary, Was Mary a Perpetual Virgin? and “Brethren of the Lord” from Catholic Answers itself.

COMMENTARIES

1.) From the Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 32. The brethren of our Lord were not the children of the blessed Virgin: nor were they the sons of St. Joseph by a former wife, as some pretend; but in the Scripture language, and in this place, we understand by brethren the relatives of Mary and Joseph. (Ven. Bede)

Ver. 33. Our Lord does not refuse to go out through any, the least, inattention to his mother; he wishes hereby, to teach us the preference we should give to the business of our heavenly Father, before that of our earthly parents. Neither does he consider his brethren as beneath his attention, but prefers spiritual before temporal duties; and shews us, that a religious union of hearts and feelings is far more lasting, and better rooted than any other ties of affinity or friendship whatsoever. (Ven. Bede)

Ver. 34. The Pharisees were afraid lest the greatness of Christ’s miracles, and the excellence of his doctrines, should put an end to their credit and authority among the people. Hence their calumnies against him.

2.) From the Second Epistle of Clement 9-10:

Let us therefore give Him praise, not with the mouth only, but also with the heart, that tie may accept us as sons. For the Lord has said, “Those are my brethren who do the will of my Father.” Wherefore, my brethren, let us do the will of the Father who called us, that we may live; and let us earnestly follow after virtue, but forsake every wicked tendency which would lead us into transgression; and flee from ungodliness, lest evils overtake us. For if we are diligent in doing good, peace will follow us.

3.) Commentary by St. Augustine (Tractates on the Gospel of John 10.2.3):

In a certain place, when He was informed that His mother and His brethren were standing without, at the time He was speaking to His disciples, He said: Who is my mother? or who are my brethren? And stretching out His hand over His disciples, He said, “These are my brethren; and, Whosoever shall do the will of my Father, the same is my mother, and brother, and sister (Matthew 12:46-50).” Therefore also Mary, because she did the will of the Father. What the Lord magnified in her was, that she did the will of the Father, not that flesh gave birth to flesh. Give good heed, beloved. Moreover, when the Lord was regarded with admiration by the multitude, while doing signs and wonders, and showing forth what lay concealed under the flesh, certain admiring souls said: “Happy is the womb that bare You:” and He said, “*Yea, rather, happy are they that hear the word of God, and keep it *(Luke 11:27).” That is to say, even my mother, whom you have called happy, is happy in that she keeps the word of God: not because in her the Word was made flesh and dwelt in us; but because she keeps that same word of God by which she was made, and which in her was made flesh.

 

[KingAlfred]

Mark was written to be read aloud, and in all probability was written outside the Holy Land. Its progression is that from one paragraph to another, not from one key event to another. It served as an important foundation for Matthew and* Luke*. The author of *Luke *also authored Acts. Mark is immensely important.

 

[patrick457]

Mark was written to be read aloud, and in all probability was written outside the Holy Land. Its progression is that from one paragraph to another, not from one key event to another. It served as an important foundation for Matthew and* Luke*. The author of *Luke *also authored Acts. Mark is immensely important.

Thank you for your comment.

As for your statement that Mark served as an important foundation for Matthew and Luke, I would respectfully disagree as personally I am more of a follower of Matthean priority, instead of the presently-more popular Markan priority. If anything, I think that it was Matthew (and perhaps Luke) who influenced Mark.

 

[patrick457]

4:1-9: And again He began to teach by the seaside. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He entered into a boat in the sea and sat down; and all the multitude were by the sea, on the land. And He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said to them: "Listen!

*'Behold, the sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some fell by the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

And other seed fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and it sprang up at once since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun was risen, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away.

And other fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no crop.

And others fell into good soil, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing, and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.’*"

And He said, “He who ears to hear, let him hear!”

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/7834/20vallottonsowingseedsq4.jpg
Behold, the sower went out to sow…

PARALLELS IN OTHER GOSPELS: Matthew 13:1-23, and Luke 8:1-15.

DEFINITIONS

Boat: In Greek “ploion,” meaning a small boat; this word is used in the Gospels for fishing boats on Galilee.

The sower: In Palestine, there were two ways of sowing seeds that were practiced. One was by scattering them while walking up and down the whole field. In this method, the sower may keep his supply of seed in a pocket made by pulling up his outer garment through his girdle to a sufficient extent for it to sag down outside his girdle in the form of a loose pouch. He may, on the other hand, carry it in a jar or basket as the sowers are pictured as doing on the Egyptian monuments.

The other way (the more ‘lazy’ method) involves putting a sack of seed on a donkey’s back to tear or cut a hole in the corner of the sack, and walking the donkey up and down the field while the seed ran out. In the second method, some seeds could dribble out of the sack while the animal was crossing the pathway and before it reached the field at all.

Jesus uses elements familiar to His audience in His parables, elements that are part of everyday life. He may have likely pointed to one of the fields nearby (the fertile soil in the lakeshore is perfectly suited for planting grain) where a sower was doing his daily job, and took him as an example: “Look at that sower in that field sowing grain!”

Moody Radio
The Sea of Galilee from Arbel.
The path: Fields in Palestine were long narrow strips of land with a pathway in the middle. It was used as a common path; and thus was beaten as hard as a pavement by the feet of passers-by. If seed fell there --some seeds were bound to end up there in whatever way it was sown-- there was no more chance that they would penetrate the earth and take any root, leaving them free for birds (such as crows or ravens) to chow down as birdseed.

Rocky ground: What is meant here is a thin layer of soil on top of an underlying shelf of limestone, which is common in the Holy Land. On such a type of ground, seeds would certainly germinate quickly since this type of ground heated up quickly with the heat of the sun; however, when the plant sends its roots down for moisture and nourishment, it would only meet a dead-end (as the soil might only extend for a few inches before the limestone shelf is reached) and thus die quickly, starved to death and unable to withstand the sunlight.

Thorny ground: While the sower is sowing, the ground looks clean enough. It is easy to make a garden look clean by simply turning it over, but within the ground would still lie the roots of the couch grass and other perennial pests (the ‘thorns’), ready to spring to life again.

Every good gardener knows that weeds grow with a speed and strength that only few seeds could equal. The result is that good seeds and the dormant weeds would grow together; but the weeds would prove out to be strong in that they will choke the life out of the seedlings.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d2/K&ESower2.JPG

COMMENTARIES

1.) From the Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 1. If we examine St. Matthew on this point, we shall discover that this discourse was made on the same day as the preceding discourse; for St. Matthew informs us, that having finished this exhortation, he the same day went and taught by the sea. (Ven. Bede)

 

[patrick457]

10-20: And when He was alone, those who were around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parables. And He said to them: "*To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables, so that

‘Seeing they may see, and not perceive;
and hearing they may hear, and not understand;
lest they should turn again, and be forgiven.’*"

And He said to them: "*Do you not understand this parable? And how will you understand all the parables?

The sower sows the word. And these are the ones who are beside the path where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them.

And in the same way, these are the ones that are sown upon the rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away.

And others are those who are sown among the thorns; they are those who have heard the word, but the worries of the age and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

And those who were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit; thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.*"

PARALLELS IN OTHER GOSPELS: Matthew 23:10-23; Luke 8:9-15. An Apocryphal parallel to the parable would be from the Gospel of Thomas 9.

CROSS-REFERENCE:

Seeing they may see, and not perceive: cf. Isaiah 6:9-10.

COMMENTARIES:

1.) From the Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 11: Such as are out of the Church, though they both hear and read, they cannot understand. (Ven. Bede, in Chap. iv, Mark.)

Ver. 12: That seeing they may see, etc. In punishment of their wilfully shutting their eyes, (Matthew 13:15) God justly withdrew those lights and graces which otherwise he would have given them, for their effectual conversion. (Challoner)

These speeches here and elsewhere, we are not to understand as if he spoke in parables to this end that the hearers might not understand, lest they should be converted; but we must learn the true sense from the corresponding texts in Matthew 13, and Acts 28, where our Saviour and St. Paul render it thus: with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut.

Lest, perhaps, they may see, and understand, and be converted, and I heal them: Whereby it is evident, that the speaking in parables was not the cause, (for many besides the apostles heard and understood) but themselves, who would not hear and understand, and be converted: and thus they were the real cause of their own wilful and obstinate infidelity. And therefore also he spoke in parables, because they were not worthy to understand, as the others were to whom he expounded them. (Bristow)

2.) Commentary by Origen (De Principiis, 3.1):

But, seeing there are found in the sacred Scriptures themselves certain expressions occurring in such a connection, that the opposite of this may appear capable of being understood from them, let us bring them forth before us, and, discussing them according to the rule of piety, let us furnish an explanation of them, in order that from those few passages which we now expound, the solution of those others which resemble them, and by which any power over the will seems to be excluded, may become clear. Those expressions, accordingly, make an impression on very many, which are used by God in speaking of Pharaoh, as when He frequently says, I will harden Pharaoh’s heart. For if he is hardened by God, and commits sin in consequence of being so hardened, the cause of his sin is not himself. And if so, it will appear that Pharaoh does not possess freedom of will; and it will be maintained, as a consequence, that, agreeably to this illustration, neither do others who perish owe the cause of their destruction to the freedom of their own will. That expression, also, in Ezekiel, when he says,* I will take away their stony hearts, and will give them hearts of flesh, that they may walk in My precepts, and keep My ways*, may impress some, inasmuch as it seems to be a gift of God, either to walk in His ways or to keep His precepts, if He take away that stony heart which is an obstacle to the keeping of His commandments, and bestow and implant a better and more impressible heart, which is called now a heart of flesh. Consider also the nature of the answer given in the Gospel by our Lord and Savior to those who inquired of Him why He spoke to the multitude in parables. His words are: That seeing they may not see; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest they should be converted, and their sins be forgiven them.

3.) Commentary by Clement of Alexandria (The Stromata, 1.7.37):

The Greek preparatory culture, therefore, with philosophy itself, is shown to have come down from God to men, not with a definite direction but in the way in which showers fall down on the good land, and on the dunghill, and on the houses. And similarly both the grass and the wheat sprout; and the figs and any other reckless trees grow on sepulchres. And things that grow, appear as a type of truths. For they enjoy the same influence of the rain. But they have not the same grace as those which spring up in rich soil, inasmuch as they are withered or plucked up.

And here we are aided by the parable of the sower, which the Lord interpreted. For the cultivator of the soil which is among men is one; He who from the beginning, from the foundation of the world, sowed nutritious seeds; He who in each age rained down the Lord, the Word. But the times and places which received [such gifts], created the differences which exist. Further, the husbandman sows not only wheat (of which there are many varieties), but also other seeds— barley, and beans, and peas, and vetches, and vegetable and flower seeds. And to the same husbandry belongs both planting and the operations necessary in the nurseries, and gardens, and orchards, and the planning and rearing of all sorts of trees.

 

[patrick457]

21-23: And He said to them: "*Surely a lamp is brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be set on a lampstand? For nothing is hidden, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.

If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!*"

PARALLELS IN OTHER GOSPELS: Matthew 5:15, Matt 10:26; Luke 8:16-17; 11:33; 12:2.

DEFINITIONS:

Surely a lamp is brought in: The question in Greek is phrased such that a negative answer is expected. The Greek reads literally “the lamp enters,” and thus some have identified the lamp with Jesus (cf. Rev. 21:23). But the word erchetai is also used in the passive sense of “be brought in.” Also the Greek could be influenced by an underlying Semitic expression: “a lamp is brought in.”

Lamp: Lamps were in use in very remote times, though we have few allusions to them in the early history of Egypt. There are indications that they were used there. Niches for lamps are found in the tombs of Tell el-Amarna. Lampstands are also represented. Torches were of course used before lamps, and are mentioned in Genesis (15:17), but clay lamps were used in Canaan by the Amorites before the Israelites took possession. Excavations in Palestine have furnished thousands of specimens, and have enabled us to trace the development from about 2000 BC onward.

Lamps were usually made from clay and were either decorated or simple, with a reservoir for the olive oil and a “nozzle” on which the flax wick would rest. Household lamps were small enough to be carried in the palm of the hand.

The lamp which Jesus was probably most familiar with was the “Herodian” lamp, a ‘closed’ (having a true ‘spout’ as opposed to a pinched rim, as in earlier models) lamp made of light-brown clay and manufactured on a potter’s wheel. For the most part, ‘Herodian lamps’ lack ornamentation, unlike Roman lamps from the same period. This type of lamp is distinguished from later lamp models by its downward-sloping wick nozzle.

http://img28.picoodle.com/data/img28/3/9/12/f_lampm_348f1ab.jpg
A ‘Herodian’-type lamp discovered in Qumran, dating from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD. Notice the traces of a palm-fiber wick in the lamp’s nozzle.

Basket (Greek: modion): A dry measuring basket containing about a peck (about 9 litres). As in the longer parables, some sense here a combination of realism and unrealism, perhaps for reasons of hyperbole (exaggerating to make a point). The everyday household things are realistic, but the image of hiding the lamp under the basket or bed is not quite since the lamp might as well set the basket or bed on fire.

COMMENTARIES

1.) From the Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 22: All my parables, doctrines, and actions, which appear now to you so full of mystery, shall not always be so: in due time they shall all be publicly expounded by you, my apostles, and by your successors. (Tirinus)

Ver. 23: And let him learn that he is not to bury in unjust silence the instructions or the examples I give him; but must exercise them for the light and direction of others. (Bible de Vence)

2.) Commentary by St. Bede (Homilies on the Gospels):

He teaches us to hear His words observantly, digesting them thoroughly in our hearts. Those who do so, by receiving much will be able to bring forth more for the hearing of others.

3.) Commentary by a 7th-century abbot (the very first formal Commentary on Mark):

The lamp is the word about the three types of seeds. The measure, or the bed, represents the hearing of disobedient folk. The apostles whom the hidden and concealed word of God enlightens are the lampstand. The parable concerns each kind of seed. It becomes clear when the Lord treats of it.

 

[patrick457]

24-25: And He said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; with the measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and still more will be given to you.”

PARALLELS IN OTHER GOSPELS: Matthew 7:2, 13:12; Luke 6:38.

COMMENTARIES

1.) From the Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 24. Pay attention then to what you hear this day, that you may retain it, and communicate it to others, your brethren; for as you measure to others, so shall it be meted unto you; yes, more shall be given to you, who receive the word of God, if you be attentive to preserve it yourselves, and to communicate it to your brethren. (Bible de Vence)

Ver. 25. They who do not profit by the knowledge of the word of God, shall in punishment of their neglect, lose the advantage which they may seem to have, since it will turn in the end to their greater condemnation: and moreover, by trusting to their own judgment, they interpret the word in a perverse sense, and thus also lose what they seem to have. (Nicholas of Lyra)

Let those who talk so much about Scripture, and interpret it according to their own private spirit or fancy, see lest this also attach to them. (Haydock)

2.) Commentary by a 7th-century abbot (the very first formal Commentary on Mark):

(Verse 24) For indeed an understanding of the mysteries is allotted according to the measure of each one’s faith, and the understanding will be increased according as virtues as added to knowledge.

(Verse 25) This means that whoever has faith will have virtue. Whoever has the task of preaching will have the understanding of the mystery. On the other hand, whoever does not have faith will lack virtue. And whoever does not have the task of preaching lacks understanding. Whoever does not understand, has already lost what he heard, as if he had not heard it.

 

[patrick457]

26-29: And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow; he knows not how. The earth bears fruit by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the fruit is produced, at once he puts forth the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/8997/610xoo6.jpg
When the fruit is produced, at once he puts forth the sickle, because the harvest has come.

DEFINITIONS

The parable: The parable is unique to the Gospel of Mark, yet the final part (the coming of the harvest) has a parallel in the Gospel of Thomas (21d).

Sickle (Greek Drepanon): Although many ancient peoples pulled much of their grain by hand, we know that they also used sickles. The earliest sickle was probably of wood, shaped like the modern scythe, although much smaller, with the cutting edge made of sharp flints set into the wood. Sickle flints were found at Tel el-Chesy. Crescent-shaped iron sickles were found in the same mound.

In Palestine and Syria the sickle varied in size. It is usually made wholly of iron or steel and shaped much like the instrument used in western lands. The smaller-sized sickles are used both for pruning and for reaping.

Harvest: For the Hebrews, as for those in any agricultural district today, the harvest was a very important season (Genesis 8:22; 45:6), to the point that events were reckoned from harvests (Genesis 30:14; Joshua 3:15; Judges 15:1; Ruth 1:22; 2:23; 1 Samuel 6:13; 2 Samuel 21:9; 23:13). There were three harvest seasons in Palestine, which coincided with three major Jewish festivals:

1.) Pesach (Passover) in April at the time of the barley harvest (cf. Ruth 1:22);

2.) Shavuot (Pentecost), 7 weeks after Passover, at the wheat harvest (Exodus 34:22), and

3.) Sukkot (the feast of Booths) at the end of the Jewish year (around October), during the fruit harvest.

The seasons have not changed since that time. Between the reaping of the barley in April and the wheat in June, most of the other cereals are reaped. The grapes begin to ripen in August, but the gathering in for making wine and molasses, and the storing of the dried figs and raisins, is at the end of September.

Between the barley harvest in April and the wheat harvest, only a few showers fall, which are welcomed because they increase the yield of wheat (cf. Amos 4:7), while from the wheat harvest until the fruit harvest no rain falls (2 Samuel 21:10; Jeremiah 5:24; compare Proverbs 26:1).

COMMENTARIES

1.) From the Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 26. So it is with him who announces the gospel of the kingdom of God, as with the sower. For whether he sleep or rise, the seed will grow up while he knoweth not; and the well prepared soil will, by the blessing of God, be productive: so the word of God shed abroad in the heart of man, will increase and fructify independently of all the preacher’s solicitude, till he who has received it, being arrived at the measure of the age and fulness of Christ, shall be withdrawn by God from this world, and be called to himself. (Bible de Vence)

Ver. 29. When the fruit is brought forth: literally, when the fruit hath produced. By the fruit is here meant the seed; i.e. when the seed by degrees hath produced the blade, then the ear, and lastly the corn, which is become ripe. (Witham)

This is a secondary sense of the text, when the fruit hath come to maturity, and by no means a forced interpretation.

2.) Commentary by Tertullian (On the Veiling of the Virgins 1):

Look how creation itself advances little by little to fructification. First comes the grain, and from the grain arises the shoot, and from the shoot struggles out the shrub: thereafter boughs and leaves gather strength, and the whole that we call a tree expands: then follows the swelling of the germen, and from the germen bursts the flower, and from the flower the fruit opens: that fruit itself, rude for a while, and unshapely, little by little, keeping the straight course of its development, is trained to the mellowness of its flavour. So, too, righteousness— for the God of righteousness and of creation is the same— was first in a rudimentary state, having a natural fear of God: from that stage it advanced, through the Law and the Prophets, to infancy; from that stage it passed, through the Gospel, to the fervour of youth: now, through the Paraclete, it is settling into maturity.

3.) Commentary by Pope St. Gregory I (Homiliae in Ezechielem 15):

To produce “the blade” is to hold the first tender beginning of good. The “blade” arrives at maturity when virtue conceived in the mind leads to advancement in good works. The “full corn” fructifies in “the ear” when virtue makes such great progress that it comes to its fullest possible expression.

 

[patrick457]

30-34: And He said, "*With what can we compare the kingdom of God? Or by what parable shall we use for it?

Like a mustard seed; which, when it is sown upon the soil, is less than any of the seeds that are on the earth. And when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the herbs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell under its shade.*"

And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. And without a parable He did not speak to them; but when they were alone, He explained everything to His disciples.

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/2554/27981319qi0.jpg
A mustard seed,…when it is sown upon the soil, is less than any of the seeds that are on the earth.
PARALLELS IN THE BIBLE: Matthew 13:31-32; Luke 13:18-19. An Apocryphal parallel to the parable would be from the Gospel of Thomas 20.

Possible parallels in the Old Testament are Daniel 4:10-12, 4:20-22 and Ezekiel 17:22-23, 31:1-9.

DEFINITIONS
Mustard: It has been theorized that the mustard referred here is the black mustard (Brassica nigra), an annual weedy plant cultivated for its seeds, which are commonly used as a spice. The plant is believed to be native to the southern Mediterranean region of Europe, and has been cultivated for thousands of years.

Less than any of the seeds: Some detractors, taking “less” to mean “smallest in size” here, argues that Jesus was wrong because there are smaller seeds in existence, like the orchid.

However, we need to remember to NOT inject a 21st century mindset into a 1st century context. Also, the Greek word used here is mikros, which can also mean “least,” “less,” or “little” (cf. Luke 9:48). Thus, the description of the mustard seed as “small” does not (exclusively) refer to its size, but also to its worth - which is a matter of personal judgment that is quite acceptable and cannot be charged as ‘erroneous’.

It grows up: Another objection is that Jesus seems to consider that the mustard becomes a tree (cf. Matthew 13:31-32). Yet, as in the former objection, we need to remember that Jesus was not addressing a conference of 21st century botanists. We need to remember that the scientific classification schemes of modern botany were not yet invented – classification was by appearance and function, not by biology. In that regard, black mustard could grow to a height of 2 to 8 feet and can be considered a tree – if not by the scheme of modern science, then by the descriptive classification scheme of the ancients.

COMMENTARIES
1.) From the Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 33. This seems to contradict what was said [in] ver. 12, that seeing they may not see, &c.; but we must observe, that parables have more explanations than one, some more easy, whilst others are more difficult to be understood. In parables, the multitude understood the more literal interpretation, whilst Christ explains the more abstruse and hidden sense to his apostles. Hence there is no contradiction in these texts. (Nicholas of Lyra)

2.) Commentary by St. Ambrose (The Grain of the Mustard seed):

Its seed is indeed very plain, and of little value; but if bruised or crushed it shows forth its power. So faith first seems a simple thing; but if it is bruised by its enemies it gives forth proof of its power, so as to fill others who hear or read of its with the odor of its sweetness. Our martyrs, Felix, Nabor and Victor, possessed the sweet odor of faith; but they dwelt in obscurity. When the persecution came, they laid down their arms, and bowed their necks, and being stricken by the sword they diffused to all the ends of the earth the grace of their martyrdom…

The Lord Himself is the grain of mustard seed. He was without injury; but the people were unaware of Him as a grain of mustard seed of which they took no notice. He chose to be bruised, that we might say: “For we are the good odor of Christ unto God.” He chose to be planted in the earth [when He was buried]. … [Then] He sprung up in a garden, where He also rose from the dead, and became a tree; namely, the Tree of Life.

3.) Commentary by Clement of Alexandria (Fragments from the Catena of Nicetas, Bishop of Heraclea 4):

The word which proclaims the kingdom of heaven is sharp and pungent as mustard, and represses bile, that is, anger, and checks inflammation, that is, pride; and from this word the soul’s true health and eternal soundness flow. To such increased size did the growth of the word come, that the tree which sprang from it (that is the Church of Christ established over the whole earth) filled the world, so that the fowls of the air-that is, divine angels and lofty souls-dwelt in its branches.

4.) Commentary by Tertullian (The Prescription against Heretics 20, 22):

Christ Jesus our Lord (may He bear with me a moment in thus expressing myself!), whosoever He is, of what God soever He is the Son, of what substance soever He is man and God, of what faith soever He is the teacher, of what reward soever He is the Promiser, did, while He lived on earth, Himself declare what He was, what He had been, what the Father’s will was which He was administering, what the duty of man was which He was prescribing; (and this declaration He made,) either openly to the people, or privately to His disciples, of whom He had chosen the twelve chief ones to be at His side, and whom He destined to be the teachers of the nations…What man, then, of sound mind can possibly suppose that they were ignorant of anything, whom the Lord ordained to be masters (or teachers), keeping them, as He did, inseparable (from Himself) in their attendance, in their discipleship, in their society, to whom, when they were alone, He used to expound all things which were obscure, telling them that to them it was given to know those mysteries, which it was not permitted the people to understand?

 

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35-41, 5:1: And on that day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the multitude, they took Him with them, just as He was, in the boat. And other boats were with Him.

And there arose a great windstorm, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. And He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke Him up and told Him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

And He awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

And He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you not have faith yet?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” And they came to the other side of the sea, into the region of the Gerasenes.

PARALLELS IN OTHER GOSPELS: Matthew 8:23-27; Luke 8:22-25.

DEFINITIONS
To the other side: The “other side” of the Sea of Galilee was a predominantly Gentile area. Up until now Jesus has preached and healed exclusively in Jewish areas, but now He (taking His disciples with Him) takes the initiative to take His message on a pagan, Gentile region. By crossing the lake Jesus extends His ministry of restoration and rejuvenation of Israel to the Gentiles; by bringing along His disciples He foreshadows the Church’s mission to the Gentiles.

And other boats were with Him: Here we notice that some attempted to follow the boat on which Jesus is on. Mark will not mention these boats again (perhaps driven back by the storm?); his main focus is on Jesus.

Windstorm: Storms in the Sea of Galilee result from differences in temperatures between the seacoast and the mountains beyond. The lake lies 680 feet (209 meters) below sea level. It is bounded by hills, especially on the east side where they reach 2000 feet high. These heights are a source of cool, dry air.

In contrast, directly around the sea, the climate is semi-tropical with warm, moist air. The large difference in height between surrounding land and the sea causes large temperature and pressure changes. This results in strong winds dropping to the sea, funneling through the hills.

The lake is small (being approximately 53 km (33 miles) in circumference, about 21 km (13 miles) long, and 13 km (8 miles) wide. The lake has a total area of 166 km², and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m), and these winds may descend directly to the center of the lake with violent results. When the contrasting air masses meet, a storm can arise quickly and without warning, transforming the quiet and peaceful lake into a violent inferno. Small boats and fishermen caught out in the area are in immediate danger.

He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion: The front and stern sections of a boat were often decked; a rudderman would sit on a cushion on the stern deck. Jesus, having a long day (it was evening) and extremely tired, uses such a cushion and sleeps on the boat in the middle of a storm.

Jesus sleeping on the stern could also mean that He has complete trust in God’s care for Him in all circumstances (cf. Psalm 4:9); His companions (some of whom are fishermen and know the dangers of the water very well) express the opposite, however, when they realize the boat is about to sink.

Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing: The disciples, calling Jesus ‘Teacher’ for the first time, ask a rather sharp reproach. Their later reactions show that they did not expect that Jesus will do much to save them; they were only irked that He was sleeping peacefully while they were scared and panicking.

And He awoke and rebuked the wind: Jesus does not pray to God here, nor does He even invoke God’s name; rather, He commands the wind and sea itself in the same manner that He rebuked and commanded demons (cf. Mark 1:25).

To the Jewish mind, the chaos of the sea represented the Abyss (Greek abyssos “bottomless, unbounded, immeasurable depth”), a place of great peril, the bottomless dwelling place where evil spirits and Satan were confined. Control over such was seen as a manifestation of God’s power (cf. Gen. 1:2; Ps. 65:8; 74:13-14; 89:9-10; 107:29)

He shows such power that the wind and the waves vanish at His word (choppy waves usually persist for a while after the wind dies down in ‘normal’ situations) and is replaced instantly by a great calm.

The region of the Gerasenes: Bruce Metzer, in his A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, mentions thus:

The healing of the demoniacs is recounted by all three Synoptic Gospels, and in each account there are three principal variant readings referring to the place at which the miracle occurred: Gadarēnōn [English: Gadarene], Gerasēnōn [English: Gerasene], Gergesēnōn [English: Gergesene]…

Gerasa was a city of the Decapolis (modern Jerash in Transjordan) located more than thirty miles to the southeast of the Sea of Galilee and, as Origen perceived (Commentary on John, v, 41 (24)), is the least likely of the three places.

Another Decapolitan city was Gadara, about five miles southeast of the Sea of Galilee (modern Um Qeis). Although Origen also objected to Gadara (which he says, was read by a few manuscripts) because neither lake nor overhanging banks were there, Josephus (Life, ix, 42) refers to Gadara as possessing territory “which lay on the frontiers of Tiberias” (= the Sea of Galilee). That this territory reached to the Sea may be inferred from the fact that ancient coins bearing the name Gadara often portray a ship.

Origen prefers Gergesa, not because it occurs in manuscripts - he is silent about this - but on the dubious basis of local tradition (it is the place “from which, it is pointed out, the swine were cast down by the demons”) and of the still more dubious basis of etymology (“the meaning of Gergesa is ‘dwelling of those that have driven away,’ and thus the name contains a prophetic reference to the conduct shown the Savior by the citizens of those places…”).

…Mar 5:1 - Of the several variant readings [associated with Mar 5:1], a majority of the Committee preferred Gerasēnōn [English: Gerasene] on the basis of (a) superior external evidence…, and (b) the probability that Gadarēnōn [English: Gadarene] is a scribal assimilation to the prevailing text of Matthew (8.28), and that Gergesēnōn [English: Gergesene] is a correction, perhaps originally proposed by Origen.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...lestine.gif/300px-First_century_palestine.gif

Gerasa as a city grew during the period of 22-76 AD, and may have even been the capital of the region for a while. We might see why someone like Mark would use it as a reference: It was the better-known of the two cities, and Mark’s Roman audience would perhaps know Gerasa better than they knew Gadara.

COMMENTARIES

1.) Commentary by St. Athanasius (Letter 29):

The Lord tested the disciples, when He was asleep on the pillow, at which time a miracle was wrought, which is especially calculated to put even the wicked to shame. For when He arose, and rebuked the sea, and silenced the storm, He plainly showed two things; that the storm of the sea was not from the winds, but from fear of its Lord Who walked upon it, and that the Lord Who rebuked it was not a creature, but rather its Creator, since a creature is not obedient to another creature. For although the Red Sea was divided before by Moses (Exodus 14:21), yet it was not Moses who did it, for it came to pass, not because he spoke, but because God commanded. And if the sun stood still in Gibeon (Joshua 10:12), and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, yet this was the work, not of the son of Nun, but of the Lord, Who heard his prayer He it was Who both rebuked the sea, and on the cross caused the sun to be darkened '(Matthew 27:45).

2.) From the first Commentary on Mark:

The boat, made of dead skins, contains living beings (Note: a reference to the Irish currach). It holds off the waves and is strengthened with wood, that is to say, the Church is saved by the cross and death of the Lord.

The cushion represents the body of the Lord, on which divinity was bowed down like the head. boat is the church at its beginning when Jesus sleeps in a bodily sense, because He never sleeps who guards Israel (Ps. 121:4). He rebukes the wind and the sea that it may be quiet. Concerning this, it is said, You control the might of the sea, etc. (Ps. 89:9) The wind and the sea are the demons and the persecutors. He says, Be quiet (Mark 4:39), when He restrains the edicts of wicked kings as he wishes, because it is not for a human being to direct his own steps (cf. Prov. 16:9).

The great calm is the Church at peace after trials, or else it suggests the contemplative life after a life of activity.

 

[patrick457]

2-10: And when He had come out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, who had his dwelling among the tombs.

And nobody could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, because he had been often bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces; and no man had the strength to tame him. And always, night and day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out and cutting himself with stones.

And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before Him; and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What is this to us and to you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” (For He was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.”)

And He asked him, “What is your name?” And he said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” And he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them away out of the region.

http://www.cc-art.com/images/palegion.gif

PARALLELS IN OTHER GOSPELS: Matthew 8:28-34; Luke 8:26-37.

DEFINITIONS:

A man: While Matthew mentions two demoniacs, Mark and Luke say that there is only one.

But then again, Matthew’s emphasis is more on what Jesus said, while Mark (and to some extent, Luke) emphasizes more what Jesus did. They would be inclined to describe what happened in more detail than Matthew.

So why does Matthew mention two men?

1.) One explanation is that Matthew doubles to fit the criteria of “two witnesses” which were required by Jewish law. However, Matthew does not double characters consistently enough for this to make a worthwhile explanation. Also, Matthew already has at least a dozen witnesses present in the form of Jesus and His disciples.
2.) Matthew has followed a normal literary procedure for the day, in that he has left out other accounts by Mark (1:23-6 of the demoniac; also the blind man of 8:22-26) and so has chronologically displaced them, quite intentionally. This explanation itself relies on the theory of Markan primacy, but the same process could conceivably have taken place using common oral tradition or an Aramaic original.
3.) The third idea is that the second demoniac didn’t do much, or as much as the first. Another possible instance of this usage is the account in Luke (24:12) where Peter is reported only to have gone to the tomb of Jesus, yet the account in John (20:1-9)reports that Peter and the ‘beloved disciple’ are said to have gone there (Luke even mentions later [24:24] that on Emmaus the disciples say that “some of our number” went there).

In a day and age where only 10% of the population was literate and where writing materials was expensive, it would seem that the third option would be a likely choice. After all, adding extra detail beyond one’s purpose would have made the listeners have to work too hard, losing track of the main point; and one writing in a limited amount of space would have gone directly to the focus and avoided distracting “by the way” elements running around, which is why Mark and Luke simply omitted any mention of the second demoniac.

Who had his dwelling among the tombs: Caves in hillsides were usually used as burial-places for the dead and could be taken by squatters desperate enough to the point to dwell among the dead. For the Jews, corpses (and by extension, graves) were ritually unclean and was a source of ritual impurity (cf. Numbers 19:11-13).

Shackles and chains: This indicates that the man had been bound hand and foot, yet to no avail.

He ran and fell down before Him: The man’s actions is quite puzzling. Jesus sets foot on the region for the first time – how did the man recognize Him? Did he go to Jesus of his own accord or impelled by the unclean spirit? Is he running to Jesus to confront Him or to seek His aid? Why does he prostrate himself before Jesus? To this Mark does not give any clear answers. Instead, we are only given an image: as Jesus gets out of the boat, a naked man runs furiously towards Him, only to stop short and fall to the ground.

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/5656/800pxjerash22a28js29yv1.jpg
The ruins of Jerash, the Biblical Gerasa.
What is this to us and to you: cf. Mark 1:24 (post no. 13 in this thread), where the demoniac in Capharnaum uses this same Semitic expression, a modern approximate of which is “Mind your own business!”

If it is the unclean spirit that speaks, then presumably it was this spirit that impelled the man to run to Jesus. But why would the spirit come to Jesus only to beg Him to leave it alone? Apparently because the spirit recognizes who Jesus is.

This is yet another incident of irony in this Gospel, as the disciples, after witnessing Jesus calm the storm earlier, ask each other what sort of man He is, yet here the man (or the demon inside him) identifies Jesus almost immediately before any action is further taken.

Most High God (Greek: Theou tou Ypsistou): A title usually used by Gentiles in the Bible to refer to the God of Israel (cf. Genesis 14:18-20; Numbers 24:16; Daniel 3:99 [26]; Acts 16:17). The Hebrew equivalent of the phrase there is “El-'Elyon”, which is also translated in Greek (LXX) as ‘Theou tou Ypsistou’.

 

[patrick457]

DEFINITIONS, continued

I adjure you by God: The irony continues when the evil spirit uses this phrase, which was usually used by Jewish exorcists when casting out demons; the demon attempts to turn a formula for exorcism as a protection against it.

For He was saying to him: Jesus’ ministry first deed among the Jews was an exorcism; here He does likewise in His mission amongst the Gentiles.

What is your name? In ancient thought, knowing someone’s name puts one in a position of power over the person (cf. Genesis 32:19), which are the reason as to why in various ancient incantations spiritual beings were called by their names; this was because it would guarantee that the conjuror would have ‘mastery’ over them and do his/her bidding.

Jesus, however, never acts as if He needs to know the names of evil spirits to cast them out; the demon does not really tell Jesus its name, and He casts it out anyway.

Legion: The Greek word is a loanword from Latin legio, meaning “military levy, conscription,” which in turn came from legere, “to choose.”

Here the evil spirits compare themselves to a legion (the basic military unit of the Roman army) due to their numbers, as the size of a typical Roman legion usually numbered somewhere between three to six thousand foot soldiers (there were variations in various periods of Roman history).

Jesus addressed His command in verse 8 to a single spirit, yet here He is confronted with an army of them.

Send them away out of the region: Demons were seen as having to have a place of residence (cf. Matthre 12:43-45; Luke 11:24-26) and apparently felt at home in the pagan territory of Gerasa, amid the tombs where the possessed man took shelter.

COMMENTARIES

1.) From the Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 2. Ven. Bede gives a beautiful explanation of this miracle. He says that it represents the Gentiles, who were converted to the faith by the apostles. The legion represents the innumerable vices to which they were subject, neither restrained by the laws of God nor man, but breaking through every restraint, and wallowing in all kinds of uncleanness. (Ven. Bede)

The three evangelists agree in the expulsion of the legion of devils, except that St. Matthew makes mention of two demoniacs, and Sts. Mark and Luke only of one. The difficulty is thus solved by St. Augustine. St. Mark and St. Luke only mention one, as being more generally known, and particularly frightful in the neighbourhood. (St. Augustine)

Ver. 7. I adjure thee by God. The same is, I earnestly beg of thee not to torment me, by sending me into hell, and confining me in the abyss, there to be more tormented than I am at present. See St. Luke viii. 31. (Witham)

Ver. 9. My name is Legion. Spirits have no names, only with respect to our language. These devils say their name is Legion, because they are many. (Witham)

2. St. Thomas Aquinas on Divination (Summa Theologica, Secunda Partis, Q. 95):

Objection 1. It would seem that divination practiced by invoking the demons is not unlawful. Christ did nothing unlawful, according to 1 Peter 2:22, “Who did no sin.” Yet our Lord asked the demon: “What is thy name?” and the latter replied: “My name is Legion, for we are many” (Mark 5:9). Therefore it seems lawful to question the demons about the occult.

Reply to Objection 1. According to Bede’s commentary on Luke 8:30, “Our Lord inquired, not through ignorance, but in order that the disease, which he tolerated, being made public, the power of the Healer might shine forth more graciously.” Now it is one thing to question a demon who comes to us of his own accord (and it is lawful to do so at times for the good of others, especially when he can be compelled, by the power of God, to tell the truth) and another to invoke a demon in order to gain from him knowledge of things hidden from us.

3.) Commentary by St. Gregory Nazianzus (Oration 29, On the Son):

He is called a Samaritan and a demoniac; — but He saves him that came down from Jerusalem and fell among thieves; the demons acknowledge Him, and He drives out demons and sinks in the sea legions of foul spirits, and sees the Prince of the demons falling like lightning. He is stoned, but is not taken. He prays, but He hears prayer. He weeps, but He causes tears to cease. He asks where Lazarus was laid, for He was Man; but He raises Lazarus, for He was God.

4.) Commentary by St. Athanasius (On the Incarnation of the Word, 32.4-5):

It is plain that if Christ be dead, He could not be expelling demons and spoiling idols; for a dead man the spirits would not have obeyed. But if they be manifestly expelled by the naming of His name, it must be evident that He is not dead; especially as spirits, seeing even what is unseen by men, could tell if Christ were dead and refuse Him any obedience at all. But as it is, what irreligious men believe not, the spirits see— that He is God—and hence they fly and fall at His feet, saying just what they uttered when He was in the body: “We know you who you are, the Holy One of God;” and, “Ah, what have we to do with you, Son of God? I pray you, torment me not.”

5.) Hymn by Prudentius (Hymn 9):

Then a man bereft of reason,
dwelling in sepulchral caves,
Bound with cruel and grinding fetters
and with raging frenzy torn,
Rushes forth and kneels in worship,
as the saving Christ draws near.

 

[patrick457]

11-20: Now there was there on the mountainside a great herd of pigs feeding. And they begged Him, saying, “Send us into the pigs that we may enter into them.”

And He gave them permission, and the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs; and the herd rushed down the steep bank(about two thousand), and they were choked in the sea.

And those who fed them fled and reported this in the city and in the country. And they came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus, and saw him who had been possessed by demons, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind (him who had the legion); and they were afraid.

And those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the pigs. And they began to beg Him to depart from their borders.

As He was entering into the boat, he who had been possessed with demons begged Him that he might be with Him. And He did not permit Him but said to Him, “Go to your house, to your family, and tell them how great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” And he went his way and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how great things Jesus did to him, and everyone marveled.

DEFINITIONS

A great herd of pigs: This shows to us that Gadara was in a Gentile area, as swine is considered as unclean animals, as per the Kashrut (Jewish dietary law); cf. Lev. 11:7.

In both ancient and modern times domestic swine (Sus scrofa domesticus or S. domesticus) have been little kept in Palestine, but wild swine are well known as inhabitants of the thickets of the Chuleh, the Jordan valley, the Dead Sea, and some of the mountains. The species is Sus scrofa, the wild pig (aka wild boar) of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/853/susscrofalc0074kv6.jpg
A herd of wild boar.

Steep bank into the sea: Origen initially rejected Gadara for what he perceives is its lack of high ridges and steep slopes. However, above the harbor (which has a 10-foot high breakwater of stones extending into the lake from the shore and curving around the harbor to protect boats from the sudden storms on the Sea of Galilee) there are multiple hills which could potentially match up with the biblical account. The most likely site is found at the end of a chain of hills that has a bank descending into the sea. The bank is the modern site of Tell es S’alib located near the New Testament Gadaran suburb of es-Samrah.

Although this tell may not have had as steep a slope as that found at Kursi, it does have a hill that runs into the sea and could accommodate a herd of swine that are 2000 in number.

In addition to the slope, other features of the site make it match up well with the biblical account of the miracle. Excavations in 1973 revealed a Roman tomb from the time of Jesus in a valley nearby es-Samrah, which could account for the tombs in which the demoniac/s lived. Also, there is needed a nearby site where the swine would have grazed and the groves of oak trees on the plateau above would have provided the acorns they favored.

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/4486/phpc31t11pm1ef6.jpg
Umm Qais (Gadara), with the Sea of Galilee in the distance.
While as mentioned, earlier manuscripts of Mark report that Jesus and His disciples went to Gerasa, it may be taken as certain that the jurisdiction of Gadara, as the chief city in these regions, extended over the country East of the Sea, including the lands of the subordinate (yet more larger and prosperous) town, Gerasa. Therefore the surrounding region might be called with propriety, either “land of the Gadarenes”, with reference to the local center, or “land of the Gerasenes”, with reference to the superior city.

Two thousand: This number was roughly ten times the number of pigs usually herded together. The large number reflects the magnitude of the evil that Jesus is defeating.

In the sea: Just as their presence in the man causes his self-destruction, here they do the same to the swine as well. The sea was usually considered as symbolic of evil and an abode of demons (which is why Jesus spoke to the sea as if commanding a demon); the demons are shown as returning to their natural habitat, which proves to be fatal to the swineherd.

 

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DEFINITIONS, continued

Sitting there, clothed and in his right mind: Mark now draws a contrast between the man before and after his possession. Whereas the man could formerly get free from any restraint and was naked and mad, here he has regained his sanity, and is sitting near Jesus clothed.

Seeing the man and hearing the reports of the herdsmen eventually causes the crowd to be so afraid that they begged Jesus to leave the area.

Begged Him: In contrast to the people who asked Him to leave, the man whom Jesus healed wants to remain with Jesus (the heart of discipleship; cf. 1:17; 2:14; 3:14).

Jesus, however, turns down his request, perhaps because either disciples are not volunteers but are personally handpicked by Jesus or because Jesus’ primary mission at the time is among the Jews, and this Gentile would have been ill-suited for such a mission. However, the man was suited to do something else, to which Jesus sends him.

Tell them how great things: Again, in contrast to other people He has healed, Jesus now commands the man to spread the news about his cure to his family. Until now Jesus’ ministry was among the Jews, who might take Him to be the wrong kind of messiah if news about cures reach their ears; there is less danger of this happening among the Gentiles, since they do not particularly expect that the Divine will send someone to establish His reign on earth.

He went his way and began to proclaim in the Decapolis: The man now proclaims (the same Greek word was used earlier when the Twelve is sent out by Jesus to preach; 3:14) the news of his cure. He now tells his family and to people in the Decapolis region about the “great things Jesus did to him”, acting as a Gentile version of John the Baptist: preparing the way for Jesus among the Gentiles, just as John did among the Jews.

Also, note the similarity between Jesus’ command to tell the “great things the Lord has done for you” with Mark’s phrasing here. The man may have had little knowledge of the God of Israel, but he knew firsthand what had happened to him because of Jesus. Mark would have expected his readers/listeners to understand that God works through Jesus, and that the title Lord could be applied to Jesus, as it applies to God (cf. 1:3).

Decapolis (Greek: deka, ten; polis, city): A group of ten cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in Jordan, Syria, and Palestine. The ten cities were not an official league or political unit, but they were grouped together because of their language, culture, location, and political status.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...polis-map.svg/270px-The-Decapolis-map.svg.png
Map of Roman Palestine with the Decapolis cities labeled in black.

The Decapolis cities were centers of Greek and Roman culture in a region that was otherwise Semitic (Nabatean, Aramean, and Jewish). With the exception of Damascus, the “Region of the Decapolis” was located in modern-day Jordan, one of them located west of the Jordan River in Palestine (modern day Israel). Each city had a certain degree of autonomy and self-rule.

Except for Damascus, the Decapolis cities were by and large founded during the Hellenistic period, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the Roman conquest of Coele-Syria, including Judea in 63 BC. Some were established under the Ptolemaic dynasty which ruled Judea until 198 BC. Others were founded later, when the Seleucid dynasty ruled the region. Some of the cities included “Antiochia” or “Seleucia” in their official names (Antiochia Hippos, for example), which attest to Seleucid origins. The cities were Greek from their founding, modeling themselves on the Greek polis.

The Roman government wanted Roman culture to flourish in the farthest reaches of the empire, which at the time included eastern Palestine. So they encouraged the growth of these ten cities, allowing them some political autonomy within the protective sphere of Rome. Each city functioned as a polis or city-state, with jurisdiction over an area of the surrounding countryside. Each city also minted its own coins. Many coins from Decapolis cities identify their city as “autonomous,” “free,” “sovereign,” or “sacred,” terms that imply some sort of self-governing status.

 

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COMMENTARIES
1.) From the Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 13. Jesus Christ permitted the devil to destroy these swine, that from their destruction, the men of that country might take the alarm, and be converted. (Ven. Bede)

Ver. 17. Astonished at the miracle that had been performed, and displeased with the loss of their herds, they refused the Saviour of the world entrance into their country. (Theophylactus)

It is observed that all Christ’s miracles, except this, and the blasted fig-tree, were of the beneficent kind. We cannot but pity the wretched blindness of the Gerasens, in driving Jesus from their coasts. As a just judgment of God, their city was the first that fell into the hands of the Romans, in the fatal war under Vespasian.

Ver. 18. That he might be with him; i.e. as one of his disciples. St. Ambrose says Christ did not grant his request, lest they might think that he sought to be glorified by men, in having always in his company a man out of whom he had cast so many devils. Christ himself seems to give us another reason, that the man might go, and publish in his own country the miracles done by Jesus. (Witham)

Ver. 19. And he admitted him not: By Christ’s conduct on this occasion, he teaches his disciples that they ought sometimes to make known their own good works, when either the glory of God or the edification of their neighbour were likely to be advanced by such a manifestation: otherwise they ought to conceal them, out of a spirit of humility. (Denis the Carthusian)

Ver. 20. Decapolis, a territory on the eastern borders of the sea of Tiberias, and is so called, from ten principal towns that compose it. (Bible de Vence)

2.) Commentary by Tertullian (De Fuga in Persecutione):

The devil’s legion have had power over the herd of swine unless they had got it from God; so far are they from having power over the sheep of God. I may say that the bristles of the swine, too, were then counted by God, not to speak of the hairs of holy men. The devil, it must be owned, seems indeed to have power— in this case really his own— over those who do not belong to God, the nations being once for all counted by God as a drop of the bucket, and as the dust of the threshing-floor, and as the spittle of the mouth, and so thrown open to the devil as, in a sense, a free possession. But against those who belong to the household of God he may not do ought as by any right of his own, because the cases marked out in Scripture show when— that is, for what reasons— he may touch them. For either, with a view to their being approved, the power of trial is granted to him, challenged or challenging, as in the instances already referred to, or, to secure an opposite result, the sinner is handed over to him, as though he were an executioner to whom belonged the inflicting of punishment, as in the case of Saul. “And the Spirit of the Lord,” says Scripture, “departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled and stifled him; or the design is to humble, as the apostle tells us, that there was given him a stake, the messenger of Satan, to buffet him; and even this sort of thing is not permitted in the case of holy men, unless it be that at the same time strength of endurance may be perfected in weakness.”

3.) Commentary by St. Jerome (Homily 54):

Was it just that two thousand swine perished so one soul might be saved? One seeking purity of heart had best not become preoccupied with the natural prerogative of the demonic legion or animals. It is better that each single reader reflect upon his own soul, his own way of life, and the rarity of true excellence. Remember when the whole of Judea was led into captivity when Nebuchadneser came, and thousands were displaced into Babylonia as prisoners – Jeremiah alone was left praising God. And they threw him into a muddy cistern. Nevertheless, the soul of this one man was more decisive for the destiny of Israel than all the rest.

4.) Commentary by Pope St. Gregory the Great (Letter 5, To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor):

A legion of demons having been, as I believed, cast out of me, I wished to forget those whom I had known, and to rest at the feet of the Saviour; and lo it is said to me, so as to compel me against my will, “*Return to your house, and declare how great things the Lord has done for you *(Mark 5:19).”

5.) Hymn by Prudentius (A Hymn on the Trinity):

Behold, a legion hurls headlong the swine
Of Gerasenes, and once enchained in tombs,
It loudly grunts with pain.
From lips possessed it had cried out:
“O Jesus, Son of God,
Offspring of David’s royal line, we know
Who you are and why you have come, what power
Expels us, at your coming filled with dread.”

Has not this voice, Judea, reached your ears?
True, but it has not pierced your darkened mind
And, driven back, has from the threshold fled.
Now sets the evening sun, where he who beholds
The rosy dawn beholds the Lord’s advent.

The fervent gospel word
Has thawed the Scythian frosts and Hyrcanian snows,
So that Rhodopeian Hebrus, freed from ice,
Flows from Caucasian cliffs, a gentler stream.

 

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21-24: And when Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered about Him, and He was by the sea.

And then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and seeing Him, he fell at His feet, and begged Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, that she may be saved and live.” And He went with him; and a great multitude followed Him and pressing in on Him.

PARALLELS IN OTHER GOSPELS: Matthew 9:18-26, Luke 8:40-56.

DEFINITIONS

Rulers of the synagogue (Greek: Archisynagōgōn): The organizational structure varied somewhat from synagogue to synagogue. One common scheme had a “ruler of the synagogue” (known as archisynagōgos or archōn) at the head of the congregation. He would control the flow of religious services, serve as judge over community disputes, and represent the congregation outside the local community. He was frequently a patron of the synagogue.

Surrounding the ruler of the synagogue was a group known as the “elders” (presbyteroi, gerontes) or “notables” (dynatoi), who served as an advisory panel and assisted in administration and teaching in the synagogues. In additional, one or more trained scribes–most frequently a Levite or priest–maintained the synagogue archives and assisted in the reading and teaching of scripture. Finally, a synagogue assistant (hyperētes or neōkoros) would oversee the upkeep of the physical plant and assist the synagogue ruler in various servile tasks during assemblies.

http://www.pohick.org/sts/images/Theodclr.jpg
The Theodotus inscription, discovered in Jerusalem by French excavator R. Weill in 1913. It is dated to the first century prior to the Temple’s destruction. Significantly, the inscription reveals that three generations of priests served as the “rulers of the synagogue” mentioned in the dedication.
There are a number of variations on this scheme. In some locales there were several synagogue rulers, rather than just one (such as in this case, where Jairus is just one of the rulers). In others, the offices of archisynagōgos and archōn became specialized, with the former being concerned with religious ritual and the latter with more temporal affairs. Priests and Levites frequently functioned among the various leadership roles, though synagogue positions were not restricted to the priestly or Levitical caste.

While in later centuries women occasionally served in leadership positions in diaspora synagogues, the existence of female synagogue leaders during the Second Temple period is currently unattested.

My little daughter: Jairus calls her daughter ‘little’, yet we later see that she is already twelve years old (which is practically considered an adult at the time); the term is that of affection.

Lay your hands on her: While there is barely a mention in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament of healing being conducted through the laying on of hands*, the practice is apparently attested in Jesus’ time due to a mention in one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a text called the Genesis Apocryphon (1Q20), Column 20:

16: During that night the Most High God sent a pestilential spirit to afflict [Pharaoh], and to every person of his household an
17: evil spirit. It was an ongoing affliction for him and for every person of his household, so that he was not able to approach her, nor did he have sexual relations with her. She was with him
18: for two years, and at the end of two years the afflictions and hardships grew heavier and more powerful over him and every person of his household, so he sent
19: a message to all the wise me[n] of Egypt, and to all the magicians, in addition to all the physicians of Egypt, (to see) if they could heal him and (every) person
20: of his household of this affliction. But all of the physicians and magicians and all of the wise men were not able to restore him to health. To the contrary, the spirit began afflicting all of them (as well),
21: so that they fled the scene! At this point Herqanos came to me and asked that I come and pray over
22: the king and lay my hands on him, so that he would live. This was because he had seen [me] in a dream…But Lot said to him, “Abram, my uncle, cannot pray over
23: the king while his wife Sarai is with him! Now go and tell the king that he should send his wife away from himself to her husband, so that he (Abram) can pray over him and he may live.”
24: Now when Hｙrcanus heard the words of Lot, he went (and) said to the king, “All these afflictions and hardships
25: that are afflicting and troubling my lord, the king, are due to Sarai, the wife of Abram. Just return Sarai to Abram her husband
26: and this affliction and the putrid spirit will depart from you.” So the [k]i[ng] called me and said to me, “What have you done to me?! Why were you saying
27:* to me, ‘She is my sister,’ when she was your wife? That is why I took her as a wife for myself! Here is your wife. Take her, go and get yourself out of*
28: the entire district of Egypt! But now pray over me and my household, that this evil spirit may be expelled from us.” So I prayed over [him in order to] heal
29: him, and I laid my hands upon his [h]ead. Then the affliction was removed from him, and the evil [spirit] rebuked [from him].

*The Septuagint, however renders 2 Kings 5:11 (“and would wave his hand”) as “and will lay on (epithēsei) his hand.”

 

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DEFINITIONS, continued

Saved (Greek: Sōthē): The Greek word used here literally means to be saved from death or be kept alive and can broadly refer to any rescue from danger or illness. In the Gospel, the word is sometimes used for physical healing, but is also used for a more fundamental rescue from everlasting death (8:35; 10:26; 13:13). Jairus’ words, therefore, has a richness of meaning in it.

COMMENTARIES

1.) From the Haydock Commentary:

**Ver. 23.**St. Matthew says: my daughter is even now dead. The sense in both is exactly the same. St. Matthew attended rather to the thoughts of Jairus, than to his words; for, as he left her dying, he could not reasonably hope to find her still in the same state; and, as he expected she was already dead, when he spoke this to Jesus, St. Matthew relates what the man thought at that instant, not what he said. (St. Augustine)

2.) Commentary by St. Peter Chrysologus (Sermon 33, 3):

Those who are sick do not lay down the conditions of how they are to be cured. They only want to be made well. But this man was a ruler of the synagogue, and versed in the law. He had surely read that while God created all other things by his word, man had been created by the hand of God. He trusted therefore in God that his daughter would be recreated, and restored to life by that same hand which, he knew, had created her…He who laid hands on her to form her from nothing, once more lays hands upon her to reform her from what had perished.

 

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25-34: And a woman, who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and profited nothing but rather had grown worse, having heard the things concerning Jesus, came up in the multitude behind Him and touched His garment. For she said, “If I touch even His garments, I will be saved.” And immediately the fountain of her blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the multitude and said, “Who touched my garments?” And His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude pressing in on you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And He looked around to see her who did this.

But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before Him, and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction.”

http://home.halden.net/vibeke/tissot/208.jpg

PARALLELS IN OTHER GOSPELS: Matthew 9:20–22; Luke 8:43-48.

DEFINITIONS
Discharge of blood: Mark does not tell us from what type of chronic bleeding the woman suffers from. Most commentators assume that it refers to menstrual bleeing, however some have challenged this and proposed instead that the woman suffered from an abnormal discharge of blood from the vagina outside the menstrual period.

Physicians: The woman suffered as much from her ‘cures’ as she did from her case of bleeding. From various contemporary sources we are informed as to the rather dubious and (to the modern mind) superstitious nature of some of these ‘cures’ and the low condition of medical science of the day.

For example, one remedy (recorded in the Talmud) consisted of drinking a goblet of wine containing a powder compounded from rubber, alum and garden crocuses. Another consisted of a dose of Persian onions cooked in wine administered with the incantation, ‘Arise out of your flow of blood!’ Other physicians prescribed sudden shock, or the carrying of the ash of an ostrich’s egg in a certain cloth.

To add insult to injury, the nature of this woman’s illness fell under the stipulations of Leviticus 15 (1-5), whereby she would have to be pronounced as ritually unclean (then again, we could assume that many Jews at the time were technically ‘unclean’ for some reason or another). She could not take part in any religious observances, nor could she have any public contact without defiling those whom she touched. Apparently, she was also forced to be separated from her husband, if she had one.

Touched His garment: This reflects a popular belief at the time that the dignity and power of a particular person are transferred to any article of clothing that touches his skin (cf. Acts 19:11-12).

Garment: The typical clothing of a 1st century Jew consisted of the following:

Tunic (aka Chaluq, Kittuna, Tunica, Chiton): A long, close-fitting tunic made of cotton, linen or wool and worn next to the skin. It had an opening for the neck and sometimes sleeves. It sometimes reached to the ankles; thus when a man needed to free himself for work, he usually tucked up his tunic into his belt. For some people, tunics usually doubled as undergarments, as wearing loincloths was not a universal practice.

http://jesuswalk.com/images/tunic.gif
The tunic.
Cloak (aka Tallith, Goltha, Himation): A square or rectangular piece of cloth or a loose-fitting robe that bore tassels (tzitzit) at the corners in fulfillment of the commands in Numbers 15:38-39 and Deuteronomy 22:12 as a reminder to obey the laws of the Lord. The strands that made up the tassel probably included at least one of hyacinth (light violet to moderate purple) color and several strands of white. Rich men usually had cloaks made of expensive silk or high-quality linen, with wide sleeves.

Belt: Usually made of linen or leather, the belt was worn around the waist or under the breast. Sometimes, the belt had a pouch to keep money in.

Head-gear: Possibly a cloth twisted or draped like around the head like a turban (called sudar), a type of hat made of a light material, or a sort of head covering (called maaphoreth) which extended over the back of the neck and shoulders. However, there is some dispute about whether men wore headgears such as these in Jesus’ day.

Footwear: While the poorest people often went barefoot, sandals (sandalim), made of leather with wooden soles, were usually worn by most people. Some wore shoes (manalim), sometimes made of a very coarse material, which covered the whole foot.

According to Luke, the garment that the woman touched was the hem (kraspedon) of Jesus’ cloak (the goltha or tallith), which had tassels on its four corners.

 

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DEFINITIONS, continued

The power (Greek: dynamis) proceeding from Him had gone forth: The Greek word is a term associated with both strength and spirit; thus, this verse continues the motifs begun in 1:7 (One mightier than John) and 1:10 (on whom the Spirit of God dwells).

Jesus’ realization about the depature of His power parallels the woman’s self-realization of being healed. In addition, the passage stresses Jesus’ supernatural (thanks to His divine nature) though limited (due to His human nature) knowledge, in that while seemingly not aware of who has touched Him in a special way, He is spiritually aware that something has happened beyond a simple jostling.

It is also possible that Jesus may have asked the question in order to elevate the woman’s faith beyond the level of thinking that there might be a sort of magical power contained in His clothing. He apparently wants her to bear witness about her faith and of the cure she received.

Faith (Greek: Pistis): Faith and Salvation (healing) are joined in 2:5; 5:36; 9:23; 10:52.

In contrast to the disciples, who interpret His words in a superficial sense (which is yet another example of the ‘blindness of the disciples’ motif in Mark), Jesus chooses to explain to her (and to all) that it was not His garment that brought forth her cure, but her pistis.

Go in peace: A standard Biblical dismissal (cf. Ex. 4:18; Judges 18:6; 1 Samuel 1:17; 20:42; 25:35; 2 Kings 5:19), combining both blessing and a prayer that peace (shalom) may accompany a person.

COMMENTARIES

1.) From the Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 28. Touch his garment: Almighty God is pleased to give occasionally to the relics and clothes of his pious and faithful servants, a degree of virtue. See Acts 5 and 19, where the very shadow of St. Peter, and the handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched the body of St. Paul, and were brought to the sick, cured their diseases, and banished the wicked spirits. See St. Chrysostom, T. 5. contra Gent. in vit. Babylœ.

St. Basil saith: “he that toucheth the bone of a martyr, receiveth in some degree holiness of the grace or virtue that is therein. (St. Basil in Psalm 115)”

Ver. 30. Virtue that hath proceeded from him: Virtue to heal this woman’s malady proceeded from Christ, though she touched but his coat: so when the saints by their relics and garments perform miracles, the grace and force thereof cometh from our Saviour; they being but the means of instruments of the same. (Bristow)

2.) Commentary by St. Jerome (Homily 33):

The woman with the hemorrhage had spent all that she had on doctors. Hungering and thirsting, her spirit had died within her. Having lost everything she possessed, because her life was wasting away within her, she cried out to the Lord in anguish. Her touch on the hem of His garment was the cry of a believing heart. In this she is the figure of the assembly of God gathered from all nations.

3.) Commentary by St. Ephrem the Syrian (Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron):

Glory to you, hidden Son of God, because your healing power is proclaimed through the hidden suffering of the afflicted woman. Through this woman whom they could see, the witnesses were enabled to behold the divinity that cannot be seen. Through the Son’s own healing power His divinity became known. Through the afflicted woman’s being healed her faith was made manifest. She caused Him to be proclaimed, and indeed was honored with Him. For truth was being proclaimed together with its heralds. If she was a witness to His divinity, He in turn was a witness to her faith…He saw through to her hidden faith, and gave her a visible healing.

4.) From the first Commentary on Mark:

The raising of the dead girl is the seventh miracle. But along the way a woman with a hemorrhage touched the fringe of His garment from behind. She had lost, along with health, all her wealth, wasted on useless doctors. The Lord ‘rested from all His labors on the seventh day (Gen. 2:2; Heb. 4:4).’ Indoors, the dead girl is raised up while, outdoors among the crowds, the half-alive woman is restored. A hemorrhage results in sterility and this is why the church of the gentiles is told, “Rejoice, sterile woman, you who have not given birth (Isaiah 54:1; Gal. 4:27).”

She approaches from behind, that is after the resurrection. She touches the fringe, as if it were the cymbals and pomegranate-shaped decorations which hung from the hem of the High Priest’s tunic. A cymbal stands for confession and a pomegranate for unity.