And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm for you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Cast me. God intimates that he required this sacrifice. (Menochius)
LXX: 'and he said to them, take me and throw me into the sea, and the sea will become calm for you. For I know well that it is on account of me that these great waves are against you.' It is against me that the thunder sounds, it seeks me, it threatens to shipwreck you in order to reach me. It will seize me so that my death might let you live. For I know this, he says. This great storm is on my account. And I am not unaware that this is my punishment, this confusion of the elements, this trouble of the world. This wrath is for me, but you are going to be the victims of a shipwreck. The waves themselves command you to throw me into the sea. And since I will have felt the full effect of the storm you will be in calm seas again. We must note here the greatness of spirit of our fugitive: he is not evasive, he does not hide or deny his guilt, but having confessed his flight he accepts his punishment willingly. He would rather die so that the other sailors do not perish on account of him, an...
From where, my beloved, came the foresight of the prophet? From the economy of God. God made these things happen so that the prophet might learn from them to be a lover of humanity and be subdued. Only to him did he cry out and say, “Imitate the sailors, the nave men, who neither despise a single soul nor neglect a single body, yours. And you would allow to be destroyed, on your part, an entire city with myriads of inhabitants. These sailors, when they discovered who was responsible for all the evils that confronted them, still were not eager to condemn him; but you, who have no charge brought against you by the Ninevites, would convict and annihilate them. Yet when I commanded you to go and, through preaching, summon them back to salvation, you disobeyed. They who were not accountable to anyone did all things and exerted themselves so that you, who are accountable should be punished.” Although the ocean condemned him and the lot exposed him, when he implicated himself and confessed hi...
