{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/110/1100037.htm","path":"chr/ecf/110/1100037.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/110/1100037.htm","text":"\u201cAnd He entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into His own city. And, behold, they brought to Him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.\u201d 1211\nBy His own city here he means Capernaum. For that which gave Him birth was Bethlehem; that which brought Him up, Nazareth; that which had Him continually inhabiting it, Capernaum.\nThis paralytic, however, was different from that one who is set forth in John. 1212 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, \u201cSon, thy sins be forgiven thee,\u201d 1213 but to that He saith, \u201cWilt thou be made whole?\u201d 1214 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.\nAnd this I have said, not without purpose, lest any one should think there is a discrepancy from suspecting it to be one and the same paralytic.\nBut do thou, I pray thee, mark the humility and meekness of our Lord. For He had also before this put away the multitudes from Him, and moreover when sent away by them at Gadara, He withstood not, but retired, not however to any great distance.\nAnd 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. 1215\nNow Matthew indeed saith, that \u201cthey brought him,\u201d but the others, that they also broke up the roof, and let him down. 1216 And they put the sick man before Christ, saying nothing, but committing the whole to Him. For though in the beginning He Himself went about, and did not require so much faith of them that came unto Him; yet in this case they both approached Him, and had faith required on their part. For, \u201cSeeing,\u201d it is said, \u201ctheir faith;\u201d that is, the faith of them that had let the man down. For He doth not on all occasions require faith on the part of the sick only: as for instance, when they are insane, or in any other way, through their disease, are out of their own control. Or rather, in this case the sick man too had part in the faith; for he would not have suffered himself to be let down, unless he had believed.\nForasmuch then as they had evinced so great faith, He also evinces His own power, with all authority absolving his sins, and signifying in all ways that He is equal in honor with Him that begat Him. And mark; He implied it from the beginning, by His teaching, when He taught them as one having p. 192 authority; by the leper, when He said, \u201cI will, be thou clean,\u201d 1217 by the centurion, when upon his saying, \u201cSpeak the word only, and my servant shall be healed, He marvelled at him,\u201d 1218 and celebrated him above all men; by the sea, when He curbed it with a mere word; by the devils, when they acknowledged Him as their judge, and He cast them out with great authority.\nHere again in another and a greater way He constrains His very enemies to confess His equality in honor, and by their own mouth He makes it manifest. For He, to signify His indifference to honor (for there stood a great company of spectators shutting up the entrance, wherefore also they let him down from above), did not straightway hasten to heal the visible body, but He takes His occasion from them; and He healed first that which is invisible, the soul, by forgiving his sins; which indeed saved the other, but brought no great glory to Himself. They themselves rather, troubled by their malice, and wishing to assail Him, caused even against their will what was done to be conspicuous. He, in fact, in His abundance of counsel, made use of their envy for the manifestation of the miracle.\nUpon their murmuring, 1219 then, and saying, \u201cThis man blasphemeth; who can forgive sins but God only?\u201d 1220 let us see what He saith. Did He indeed take away the suspicion? And yet if He were not equal, He should have said, \u201cWhy fix upon me a notion which is not convenient? I am far from this power.\u201d 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, \u201cI will, be thou clean,\u201d 1221 and when He said, \u201cI have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel;\u201d 1222 but by His enemies, now. For because they had said, \u201cNo man can forgive sins but God only,\u201d He subjoined,\n\u201cBut that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power to forgive sins upon the earth (then saith He to the sick of the palsy), Arise, and take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.\u201d 1223\nAnd not here only, but also in another case again, when they were saying, \u201cFor a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God,\u201d 1224 neither in that instance did He put down this opinion, but again confirmed it, saying, \u201cIf I do not the works of my Father, believe me not; but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works.\u201d 1225\n2. In this case indeed He discloses also another sign, and that no small one, of His own Godhead, and of His equality in honor with the Father. For whereas they said, \u201cTo unbind sins pertains to God only,\u201d He not only unbinds sins, but also before this He makes another kind of display in a thing which pertained to God only; the publishing the secrets in the heart. For neither had they uttered what they were thinking.\nFor \u201cbehold, certain of the scribes,\u201d it saith, \u201csaid within themselves, This man blasphemeth. And Jesus knowing their thoughts, said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?\u201d 1226\nBut that it belongs to God only to know men\u2019s secrets, hear what saith the prophet, \u201cThou most entirely alone 1227 knowest the hearts;\u201d 1228 and again, \u201cGod trieth the hearts and reins; 1229 \u201d and Jeremiah too saith, \u201cThe heart is deep above all things, and it is man, and who shall know him?\u201d 1230 and, \u201cMan shall look on the face, but God on the heart.\u201d 1231 And by many things one may see, that to know what is in the mind belongs to God alone.\nImplying therefore that He is God, equal to Him that begat Him; what things they were reasoning in themselves (for through fear of the multitude, they durst not utter their mind), this their opinion He unveils and makes manifest, evincing herein also His great gentleness. 1232\n\u201cFor wherefore,\u201d saith He, \u201cthink ye evil in your hearts?\u201d 1233\nAnd yet if there were cause for displeasure, it was the sick man who should have been displeased, as being altogether deceived, and should have said \u201cOne thing I came to have healed, and amendest Thou another? Why, whence is it manifest that my sins are forgiven?\u201d\nBut now he for his part utters no such word, but gives himself up to the power of p. 193 the healer; but these being curious and envious, plot against the good deeds of others. Wherefore He rebukes them indeed, but with all gentleness. \u201cWhy, if ye disbelieve,\u201d saith He, \u201cwhat went before, and account my saying a boast; behold I add to it also another, the uncovering of your secrets; and after that again another.\u201d What then is this? The giving tone to the body of the paralyzed.\nAnd whereas, when He spake unto the sick of the palsy, He spake without clearly manifesting His own authority: for He said not, \u201cI forgive thee thy sins,\u201d but, \u201cthy sins be forgiven thee:\u201d upon their constraining, He discloses His authority more clearly, saying, \u201cBut that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power 1234 on earth to forgive sins.\u201d\nSeest thou, how far He was from unwillingness to be thought equal to the Father? For He said not at all, \u201cThe Son of Man hath need of another;\u201d or, \u201cHe hath given Him authority,\u201d but, \u201cHe hath authority.\u201d Neither doth He say it for love of honor, but \u201cto convince you,\u201d so He speaks, \u201cthat I do not blaspheme in making myself equal with God.\u201d\nThus everywhere His will is to offer proofs clear and indisputable; as when He saith, \u201cGo thy way, show thyself to the priest;\u201d 1235 and when He points to Peter\u2019s wife\u2019s 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. \u201cFor whether is easier,\u201d saith He, \u201cto say, Thy sins be forgiven thee? or to say, Take up thy bed, and go unto thine house?\u201d 1236 Now what He saith is like this, \u201cWhich seems to you easier, to bind up a disorganized 1237 body, or to undo 1238 the 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;\u201d thus by His works anticipating even now the revelation of what had been said by John, that \u201cHe taketh away the sins of the world.\u201d\nWell then, having raised him up, He sends him to his house; here again signifying His unboastfulness, 1239 and that the event was not a mere imagination; for He makes the same persons witnesses of his infirmity, and also of his health. For I indeed had desired, saith He, through thy calamity to heal those also, that seem to be in health, but are diseased in mind; but since they will not, depart thou home, to heal them that are there.\nSeest thou how He indicates Him 1240 to 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.\n\u201cFor when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which\u201d (it is said) \u201chad given such power unto men:\u201d 1241 for the flesh was an offense unto them. 1242 But He did not rebuke them, but proceeds by His works to arouse them, and exalt their thoughts. Since for the time it was no small thing for Him to be thought greater than all men, as having come from God. For had they well established these things in their own minds, going on orderly they would have known, that He was even the Son of God. But they did not retain these things clearly, wherefore neither were they able to approach Him. For they said again, \u201cThis man is not of God;\u201d 1243 \u201chow is this man of God?\u201d And they were continually harping on these things, putting them forward as cloaks for their own passions.\n3. Which thing many now also do; and thinking to avenge God, fulfill their own passions, when they ought to go about all with moderation. For even the God of all, having power to launch His thunderbolt against them that blaspheme Him, makes the sun to rise, and sends forth the showers, and affords them all other things in abundance; whom we ought to imitate, and so to entreat, advise, admonish, with meekness, not angry, not making ourselves wild beasts.\nFor no harm at all ensues unto God by their blasphemy, that thou shouldest be angered, but he who blasphemed hath himself also received the wound. Wherefore groan, bewail, for the calamity indeed deserves tears. And the wounded man, again,\u2014noth p. 194 ing can so heal him as gentleness: gentleness, I say, which is mightier than any force.\nSee, for example, how He Himself, the insulted one, discourses with us, both in the Old Testament, and in the New; in the one saying, \u201cO my people, what have I done unto thee?\u201d 1244 in the other, \u201cSaul, Saul, why persecutest thou me.\u201d 1245 And Paul too bids, \u201cIn meekness instruct those that oppose themselves.\u201d 1246 And Christ again, when His disciples had come to Him, requiring fire to come down from heaven, strongly rebuked them, saying, \u201cYe know not what manner of spirit ye are of.\u201d 1247\nAnd here again He said not, \u201cO accursed, and sorcerers as ye are; O ye envious, and enemies of men\u2019s salvation;\u201d but, \u201cWherefore think ye evil in your hearts?\u201d\nWe must, you see, use gentleness to eradicate the disease. Since he who is become better through the fear of man, will quickly return to wickedness again. For this cause He commanded also the tares to be left, giving an appointed day of repentance. Yea, and many of them in fact repented, and became good, who before were bad; as for instance, Paul, the Publican, the Thief; for these being really tares turned into kindly wheat. Because, although in the seeds this cannot be, yet in the human will it is both manageable and easy; for our will is bound by no limits of nature, but hath freedom of choice for its privilege.\nAccordingly, 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 \u201cspeech that cannot be condemned,\u201d 1248 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\u2019s 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. \u201cFor them that glorify me,\u201d saith He, \u201cI will glorify; and they that despise me, shall be lightly esteemed.\u201d 1249\nLet us, I say, do all things unto His glory; that we may attain unto that blessed portion, unto which God grant we may all attain, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might forever and ever. Amen.\n[R.V., accepting the same Greek text with Chrysostom, \u201cthy sins are forgiven.\u201d\u2014R.]\n191:1212 191:1213\n\u03c4 \u03c4 \u03bf\u03ba\u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u03b1 \u03bb\u03b3. [\u201cIncarnation\u201d expresses better the technical sense of the Greek term, as here used. Comp. Homily XIII. 2, p. 81, note.\u2014R.]\n191:1216 192:1217 192:1218 192:1219\n[\u1f10\u03b8\u03bf\u03c1\u03c5\u03b2\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf; a stronger word than the Gospel narratives suggest. The translator tones it down, as above.\u2014R.]\n192:1220\nMatt. 8:3, Mark 2:7 [from which the latter part of the citation is taken.\u2014R.]\n192:1221 192:1222 192:1223\nMatt. viii. 6. [\u201cUpon the earth\u201d is placed in this peculiar position by Chrysostom here. In the next reference to the passage the correct order is followed.\u2014R.]\n192:1224 192:1225\nJohn 10:37, 38.\n192:1226 192:1227 192:1228 192:1229 192:1230\nJer. xvii. 9, LXX.\n192:1231 192:1232 192:1233 193:1234\n[R.V., margin, \u201cauthority;\u201d compare the next paragraph. On the order, see note 7, p. 196.\u2014R.]\n193:1235 193:1236 193:1237\n\u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03b9\u03c3\u03bc\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd, literally, \u201cdistributed into different habitations;\u201d as when the population of Mantinea was broken up by the Laced\u00e6monians, \u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03c3\u03b8\u03b7 \u039c\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b9\u03bd\u03b5\u03b1: see Xen. Hellenic, v. 2, 7; comp. Dem. de Pace, i. 59, ed. Reiske; de Fals. Leg. i. 366.\n193:1238 193:1239 193:1240\n[The reference here seems to be to God, but a reflexive sense is not improbable; \u201cindicates that He Himself is,\u201d etc.\u2014R.]\n193:1241\nMatt. ix. 8. [R.V., \u201cthey were afraid,\u201d for \u201cthey marvelled\u201d (A.V.). But Chrysostom\u2019s text agrees with that of the received, followed by the A.V.]\n193:1242 193:1243 194:1244 194:1245 194:1246 194:1247\nLuke ix. 55. [This clause is not found in the oldest Greek mss. of the New Testament. Comp. R.V. text and margin.\u2014R.]\n194:1248 194:1249\n1 Sam. ii. 30. [\u201cShall be despised,\u201d according to the form given in the text. But in the LXX. the last verb is not the same as the preceding one.\u2014R.]","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. X: The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom.: Homily XXIX","type":"page"}