14. And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the Scribes questioning with them.
15. And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.
16. And he asked the Scribes, What question you with them?
17. And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought to you my son, which has a dumb spirit;
18. And wherever he takes him, he tears him: and he foams, and gnashes with his teeth, and pines away: and I spoke to your disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
19. He answers him, and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him to me.
20. And they brought him to him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tore him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
21. And he asked his father, how long is it ago since this came to him? And he said, Of a child.
22. And oft times it has cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if you can do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
23. Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes.
24. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help you mine unbelief.
25. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying to him, You dumb and deaf spirit, I charge you, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
26. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
27. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
28. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
29. And he said to them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
THEOPHYL. After He had shown His glory in the mount to the three disciples, He returns to the other disciples, who had not come up with Him into the mount; wherefore it is said, And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the Scribes questioning with them. For the Pharisees, catching the opportunity of the hour when Christ was not present, came up to them, to try to draw them over to themselves.
PSEUDO-JEROME; But there is no peace for man under the sun; envy is ever slaying the little ones, and lightning strike the tops of the great mountains. Of all those who run to the Church, some as the multitudes come in faith to learn, others, as the Scribes, with envy and pride. It goes on, And straightway all the people, when they beheld Jesus, were greatly amazed, and feared.
BEDE; In all cases, the difference between the mind of the Scribes and of the people ought to be observed; for the Scribes are never said to have shown any devotion, faith, humility, and reverence, but as soon as the Lord was come, the whole multitude was greatly amazed and feared, and ran up to Him, and saluted Him; wherefore there follows, And running to him, saluted him.
THEOPHYL. For the multitude was glad to see Him, so that they saluted Him from afar, as He was coming to them; but some suppose that His countenance had become more beautiful from His transfiguration, and that this induced the crowd to salute Him.
PSEUDO-JEROME; Now it was the people, and not the disciples, who on seeing Him were amazed and feared, for there is no fear in love; fear belongs to servants, amazement to fools. It goes on: And he asked them, What question you with them. Why does the Lord put this question? That confession may produce salvation, and the murmuring of our hearts may be appeased by religious words.
BEDE; The question, indeed, which was raised may, if I am not deceived, have been this, wherefore they, who were the disciples of the Savior, were unable to heal the demoniac, who was placed in the midst, which may be gathered from the following words; And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought to you my son, which has a dumb spirit;
and wherever he takes him, he tears him: and he foams, and gnashes with his teeth, and pines away.
CHRYS. The Scriptures declare that this man was weak in faith, for Christ says, O faithless generation: and He adds, If you can believe. But although his want of faith was the cause of their not casting out the devil, he nevertheless accuses the disciples; wherefore it is added, And I spoke to your disciples that they should cast him out; but they could not. Now observe his folly; in praying to Jesus in the midst of the crowd, he accuses the disciples, wherefore the Lord before the multitude so much the more accuses him, and not only aims the accusation at himself, but also extends it to all the Jews; for it is probable that many of those present had been offended, and had held wrong thoughts concerning His disciples.
Wherefore there follows, He answers them and says, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? By which He showed both that He desired death, and that it was a burden to Him to converse with them.
BEDE; So far, however, is He from being angry with the person, though He reproved the sin, that He immediately added, Bring him to me; and they brought him to him. And when He saw him, straightway the spirit tore him , and he fell on the ground and, wallowed foaming.
CHRYS. But this the Lord permitted for the sake of the father of the boy, that when he saw the devil vexing his child, he might be brought on to believe that the miracle was to be wrought.
THEOPHYL. He also permits the child to be vexed, that in this way we might know the devil's wickedness, who we would have killed him, he had not been assisted by the Lord. It goes on: And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came to him? And he said, Of a child;
and oft times it has cast him into the fire and into to the waters to destroy him.
BEDE; Let Julian blush, who dares to say that all men are born in the flesh, without the infection of sin, as though they were innocent in all respects, just as Adam was when he was created. For what was there in the boy, that he should be troubled from infancy with a cruel devil, if he were not held at all by the chain of original sin? since it is evident that he could not yet have had any sin of his own.
GLOSS. Now he expresses in the words of his petition his want of faith; for that is the reason why he adds, But if you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. For in this he says , If you can do anything, he shows that he doubts His power, because he had seen that the disciples of Christ had failed in curing him; but he says, have compassion on us, to show the misery of the son, who suffered, and the father, who suffered with him.
It goes on: Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes.
PSEUDO-JEROME; This saying, you can, is a proof of the freedom of the will. Again, all things are possible to him that believes, which evidently means all those things which are prayed for with tears in the name of Jesus, that is, of salvation.
BEDE. The answer of the Lord was suited to the petition, for the man said, If you can do anything, help us; and to this the Lord answered, If you can believe on the other hand the leper whom cried out, with faith, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean, received an answer according to his faith, I will, be you clean.
CHRYS. His meaning is; such a plenitude of virtue is there in Me, that not only can I do this, but I will make others to have that power; wherefore if you can believe as you ought to do, you shall be able to cure not only him, but many more. In this way then, He endeavored to bring back to the faith, the man who as yet Speaks unfaithfully. There follows, And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help you mine unbelief. But if he had already believed, saying, I believe, how is it that he adds, help you mine unbelief? We must say then that faith is manifold, that one sort of faith is elementary, another perfect; but this man, being but a beginner in believing, prayed the Savior to add to his virtue what was wanting.
BEDE; For no man at once reaches to the highest point, but in holy living a man begins with the least things that house may reach the great; for the beginning of virtue is different, from the progress and the perfection of it. Because then faith mounts up through the secret inspiration of grace, by the steps of its own merits, he who has not yet believed perfectly was at once a believer and an unbeliever.
PSEUDO-JEROME; By this also we are taught that our faith is tottering, if it lean not on the stay of the help of God. But faith by its tears receives the accomplishment of its wishes;
Wherefore it continues, When Jesus saw that the multitude came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying to him, You dumb and deaf spirit, I charge you come out of him, and enter no more into him.
THEOPHYL. The reason that He rebuked the foul spirit, when He saw the crowd running together, was that he did not wish to cure him before the multitude, that He might give us a lesson to avoid ostentation.
PSEUDO-CHRYS. And His rebuking him, and saying, I charge thee, is a proof of Divine power. Again, in that He says not only, come out of him, but also enter no more into him, He shows that the evil spirit was ready to enter again, because the man was weak in faith, but was prevented by the command of the Lord.
It goes on, And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him; and he was as one dead, inasmuch that many said, He is dead. For the devil was not able to inflict death upon him, because the true Life was come.
BEDE; But him, whom the unholy spirit made like to death, the holy Savior. Saved by the touch of His holy hand; wherefore it goes on, But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up, and he arose. Thus as the Lord had shown Himself to be every God by the power of healing, so He showed that He had the very nature of our flesh, by the manner of His human touch. The Manichaean indeed madly denies that He was truly clothed in flesh; lie Himself; however, by raising, cleansing, enlightening so many afflicted persons by His touch, condemned his heresy before its birth.
It goes on: And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
CHRYS. They feared that perchance they had lost the grace conferred upon them; for they had already received power over unclean spirits. It goes on: And he said to them, This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.
THEOPHYL. That is, the whole class of lunatics, or simply, of all persons possessed with devils. Both the man to be cured, and he who cures him, should fast; for a real prayer is offered up, when, fasting is joined with prayer, when he who prays is sober and not heavy with food.
BEDE; Again, in a mystical sense, on high the Lord. Bede unfolds the mysteries of the kingdom to His disciples, but below He rebukes the multitude for their Sins of unfaithfulness, and expels devils from those, who are vexed by then, Those who are still carnal and foolish, He strengthens, teaches, punishes, whilst He more freely instructs the perfect concerning the things of eternity.
THEOPHYL. Again, this devil is deaf and dumb; deaf; because he does not choose to hear the words of God; dumb, because he is unable to teach others their duty.
PSEUDO-JEROME; Again, a Sinner foams forth folly, gnashes with anger, pines away in sloth. But the evil spirit tears him, when coming to salvation, and in like manner those whom he would drag into his maw he tears asunder by terrors and losses, as he did Job.
BEDE, For often times when we try to turn to God after sin, our old enemy attacks us with new and greater snares, which he does, either to instill into us a hatred of virtue, or to avenge the injury of his expulsion.
GREG. But he who is freed from the power of the evil spirit is thought to be dead; for whoever has already subdued earthly desires, puts to death within himself his carnal mode of life, and appears to the world as a dead man, and many look upon him as dead; for they who know not how to live after the Spirit, think that he who does not follow after carnal pleasures is altogether dead.
PSEUDO-JEROME; Further, in his being vexed from his infancy, the Gentile people is signified, from the very birth of whom the vain worship of idols arose, so that they in their folly sacrificed their children to devils. And for this reason it is said that it cast him into the fire and into the water; for some of the Gentiles worshipped fire, others water.
BEDE; Or by this demoniac are signified those, who are bound by the guilt of original sin, and coming into the world as criminals, are to be saved by grace; and by fire is meant the heat of anger, by water, the pleasures of the flesh, which melt the soul by their sweetness. But He did not rebuke the boy, who suffered violence, but the devil, who inflicted it, because he who desires to amend a sinner, ought, whilst He exterminates his vice by rebuking and cursing it, to love and cherish the man.
PSEUDO-JEROME; Again, the Lord applies to the evil spirit what he had inflicted on the man, calling him deaf and dumb spirit, because he never will hear and speak what the penitent sinner can speak and hear. But the devil, quitting a man, never returns, if the man keep his heart with the keys of humility and charity, and hold possession of the gate of freedom. The man who was healed became as one dead, for it is said to those who are healed, You are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
THEOPHYL. Again, when Jesus, that is, the word of the Gospel, takes hold of the hand, that is, of our powers of action, then shall we be freed from the devil. And observe that God first helps us, then it is required of us that we do good; for which reason it is said that Jesus raised him, in which is shown the aid of God, and that he arose, in which is declared the zeal of man.
BEDE; Further, our Lord, while teaching the Apostles how the worst devil is to be expelled, gives all of us rules for our life; that is, He would have us know that all the more grievous attacks of evil spirits or of men are to be overcome by fastings and prayers; and again, that the anger of the Lord, when it is kindled for vengeance on our crimes, can be appeased by this remedy alone. But fasting in general is not only abstinence from food, but also from all carnal delights, yes, from all vicious passions. In like manner prayer taken generally, consists not only in the words by which we call upon the Divine mercy, but also in all those things which we do with the devotedness of faith in obedience to our Maker, as the Apostle testifies, when he says, Pray without ceasing.
PSEUDO-JEROME; Or else, the folly which is connected with the softness of the flesh, is healed by fasting; anger and laziness are healed by prayer. Each wound has its own medicine, which must be applied to it; that which is used for the heel will not cure the eye; by fasting, the passions of the body, by prayer, the plagues of the soul, are healed.
Catena Aurea Mark 9