Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew — Historical footnotes

This paralytic, however, was different from that one who is set forth in John. For he lay at the pool, but this at Capernaum; and that man had his infirmity thirty and eight years, but concerning this, no such thing is mentioned; and the other was in a state destitute of protectors, but this had some to take care of him, who also took him up, and carried him. And to this He saith, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee,”but to that He saith, “Wilt thou be made whole?” And the other He healed on a sabbath day, but this not on a sabbath, for else the Jews would have laid this also to His charge; and in the case of this man they were silent, but in that of the other they were instant in persecuting him.

And again He entered into the ship and passed over, when He might have gone over afoot. For it was His will not to be always doing miracles, that He might not injure the doctrine of His humanity.

Upon their murmuring,then, and saying, “This man blasphemeth; who can forgive sins but God only?”let us see what He saith. Did He indeed take away the suspicion? And yet if He were not equal, He should have said, “Why fix upon me a notion which is not convenient? I am far from this power.” But now hath He said none of these things, but quite the contrary He hath both affirmed and ratified, as well by His own voice, as by the performance of the miracle. Thus, it appearing that His saying certain things of Himself gave disgust to his hearers, He affirms what He had to say concerning Himself by the others; and what is truly marvellous, not by His friends only, but also by His enemies; for this is the excellency of His wisdom. By His friends on the one hand, when He said, “I will, be thou clean,”and when He said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel;”but by His enemies, now. For because they had said, “No man can forgive sins but God only,” He subjoined,

And whereas, when He spake unto the sick of the palsy, He spake without clearly manifesting His own authority: for He said not, “I forgive thee thy sins,” but, “thy sins be forgiven thee:” upon their constraining, He discloses His authority more clearly, saying, “But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath poweron earth to forgive sins.”

Thus everywhere His will is to offer proofs clear and indisputable; as when He saith, “Go thy way, show thyself to the priest;”and when He points to Peter’s wife’s mother ministering, and permits the swine to cast themselves down headlong. And in the same manner here also; first, for a certain token of the forgiveness of his sins, He provides the giving tone to his body: and of that again, his carrying his bed; to hinder the fact from being thought a mere fancy. And He doeth not this, before He had asked them a question. “For whether is easier,” saith He, “to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee? or to say, Take up thy bed, and go unto thine house?” Now what He saith is like this, “Which seems to you easier, to bind up a disorganizedbody, or to undothe sins of a soul? It is quite manifest; to bind up a body. For by how much a soul is better than a body, by so much is the doing away sins a greater work than this; but because the one is unseen, the other in sight, I throw in that, which although an inferior thing, is yet more open to sense; that the greater also and the unseen may thereby receive its proof;” thus by His works anticipating even now the revelation of what had been said by John, that “He taketh away the sins of the world.”

Seest thou how He indicates Himto be Creator both of souls and bodies? He heals therefore the palsy in each of the two substances, and makes the invisible evident by that which is in sight. But nevertheless they still creep upon the earth.

Accordingly, when thou seest an enemy of the truth, wait on him, take care of him, lead him back into virtue, by showing forth an excellent life, by applying “speech that cannot be condemned,”by bestowing attention and tender care, by trying every means of amendment, in imitation of the best physicians. For neither do they cure in one manner only, but when they see the wound not yield to the first remedy, they add another, and after that again another; and now they use the knife, and now bind up. And do thou accordingly, having become a physician of souls, put in practice every mode of cure according to Christ’s laws; that thou mayest receive the reward both of saving thyself and of profiting others, doing all to the glory of God, and so being glorified also thyself. “For them that glorify me,” saith He, “I will glorify; and they that despise me, shall be lightly esteemed.”