1. In that lesson of the holy Gospel which has been read today, from power we learn patience. For what are we as servants to the Lord, as sinners to the Just One, as creatures to the Creator? Howbeit, just as in what we are evil, we are so of ourselves; so in whatever respects we are good, we are so of Him, and through Him. And nothing does man so seek as he does power. He has great power in the Lord Christ; but let him first imitate His patience, that he may attain to power. Who of us would listen with patience if it were said to him, You have a devil? As was said to Him, who was not only bringing men to salvation, but also subjecting devils to His authority.
2. For when the Jews had said, Say we not well that you are a Samaritan, and hast a devil? of these two charges cast at Him, He denied the one, but not the other. For He answered and said, I have not a devil. He did not say, I am not a Samaritan; and yet the two charges had been made. Although He returned not cursing with curs...
And to imitate His patience first, if we would attain to His power. But though being reviled, He reviled not again, it was incumbent on Him to deny the charge. Two charges had been made against Him: You are a Samaritan, and have a devil. In reply He does not say, I am not a Samaritan: for Samaritan means keeper; and He knew He was a keeper: He could not redeem us, without at the same time preserving us. Lastly, He is the Samaritan, who went up to the wounded, and had compassion on him.
Then after being so reviled, all that He says to vindicate His glory, is, But I honor My Father: as if to say, That you may not think Me arrogant, I tell you, I have One, Whom I honor.
As if to say, I do my duty: you donot do yours.
Meaning of course the Father. But is it then that He says in another place, The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son. Judgment is sometimes put for condemnation, whereas here it only stands for trial: as if tosay, There is one, even My Father, who d...
Meet is it again to bewail the madness of the Jews and the exceedingness of their folly. For they are taken by their own voice, like wild beasts when they spring upon the hand of them who are slaying them, themselves against themselves lending impetus to the steel. For when reproved of lying as their habit and custom which had grown up with them, they immediately shew that it is true, and they are cut at hearing from the Saviour that they are not of God, yet immediately without an interval do they shew in themselves most exact image of the devil's wickedness. For a Samaritan and possessed do they dare to say that He is Who is sprung God of God, themselves rather having in themselves the bitter and God-opposing devil: for no man saith Anathema Jesus, save in Beelzebub, as Paul saith. Liars therefore and insulters and railers are they hereby too found, and used to fight against God, they shall pay fit penalty to the Judge That can do all.
We must enquire again here too the reason why ...
See; when God suffers awrong, He does not reply reproachfully: Jesus answered, I have not a devil. An intimation this to us, that when reproached by our neighbors falsely, we should not retort upon them by bringing forward their evil deeds, however true such charges might be; lest the vehicle of ajust rebuke turn into a weapon of rage.
As all who have zeal toward God areliable to meet with dishonor from wicked men, our Lord has Himself set us an example of patience under this trial; And you do dishonor Me.
How we are to take injuries, He shows us by His own example, when He adds, I seek not Mine own glory, there is one that seeks andjudges.
As the perversity of the wicked increases, preaching so far from giving way, ought even to become more active. Thus our Lord, after He had been accused of having a devil, imparts the treasures of preaching in a still larger degree: Verily, verily, I say to you, If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death.
1. A shameless and a forward thing is wickedness, and when it ought to hide itself, then is it the fiercer. As was the case with the Jews. For when they ought to have been pricked by what was said, admiring the boldness and conclusiveness of the words, they even insult Him, calling Him a Samaritan, and saying that He had a devil, and they ask, Said we not well that you are a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Because when He utters anything sublime, this is thought among the very senseless to be madness. Yet nowhere before did the Evangelist say that they called Him a Samaritan; but from this expression it is probable that this had been often asserted by them.
You have a devil, says some one. Who is it that has a devil? He that honors God, or he that insults Him that honors Him? What then says Christ, who is very meekness and gentleness? I have not a devil, but I honor Him that sent me. Where there was need to instruct them, to pull down their excessive insolence, to teach them not to be...
Whenever our Lord said any thing of lofty meaning, the Jews in their insensibility set it down madness: Then answered the Jews and said to Him, Say we not well that you are a Samaritan, and have a devil? .
And observe, when He had to teach them, and pull down their pride, He used roughness; but now that He has to suffer rebuke, He treats them with the utmost mildness: a lesson to us to be severe in what concerns God, but careless of ourselves.
As if to say, I have told you this on account of the honor which I have forMy Father; and for this you dishonor Me. But I concern not myself for your reviling: you are accountable to Him, for whose sake I undergo it.
He says, keep, i.e. not by faith, but by purity of life. And at the same time too He means it as a tacit intimation that they can do nothing to Him. For if whoever keeps His word, shall never die, much less is it possible that He Himself should die.
Or they called Him a Samaritan because He transgressed the Hebrew ordinances, as that of the sabbath: the Samaritans not being correct observers of the law. And they suspected Him of having a devil, because He could disclose what was in their thoughts. When it was that they called Him a Samaritan, the Evangelist nowhere says: a proof that the Evangelists left out many things.
He honored the Father, by revenging Him, and not suffering murderers or liars to call themselves the true sons of God.
