Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons: freely you have received, freely give.
Read Chapter 10
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Heal the sick This verse contains the third observation respecting the mission of the apostles: Christ not only gave them power to preach, but also to work miracles, in order, says St. Gregory, that works might give force and efficacy to their words, that as their doctrine was new, so their works might be new, and such as were before unheard of. St. Jerome also says, men would never have given any credit to the apostles, unlearned and illiterate as they were, had they not been able to work miracles in proof of the great promises they made to them of heaven. It was necessary that the greatness of their work should confirm the greatness of their promises. (St. Jerome)
Gratis you have received. Here our Saviour admonishes his apostles not to work for the sake of lucre; but having themselves received gratuitously the light of faith, they should in the same manner communicate it to others. (St. Jerome)
St. Aquinas also observes on this passage, that our Saviour probably wished to repress ...
Non occ.: Because the manifestation of the Spirit, as the Apostle speaks, is given for the profit of the Church, after bestowing His power on the Apostles, He sends them that they may exercise this power for the good of others; “These twelve Jesus sent forth.”.
non occ.: Having told them to whom they should go, He now introduces what they should preach; “Go and preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”.
non occ.: This He says, that Judas who had the bag might not use the above power for getting money; a plain condemnation of the abomination of thesimoniacal heresy.
Hom. in Ev., iv. 1: Or He would be first preached to Judaea and afterwards to the Gentiles, in order that the preaching of the Redeemer should seem to seek out foreign lands only because it had been rejected in His own. There were also at that time some among the Jews who should be called, and among the Gentiles some who were not to be called, as being unworthy of being renewed to life, and yet not deserving of the aggravated punishment which would ensue upon their rejection of the Apostles’ preaching.
Miracles also were granted to the holy preachers, that the power they should hew might be a pledge of the truth of their words, and they who preached new things should also do new things; wherefore it follows, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out daemons.”.
Hom. in Ev., xxix, 4: These signs were necessary in the beginning of the Church; the faith of the believers must be fed with miracles, that it might grow.
The Holy Church daily doth spiritually, what it then d...
All the power possessed by the Lord is bestowed upon the apostles! Those who were prefigured in the image and likeness of God in Adam have now received the perfect image and likeness of Christ. They have been given powers in no way different from those of the Lord. Those once earthbound now become heavencentered. They will proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, that the image and likeness of God are now appropriated in the company of truth, so that all the holy ones who have been made heirs of heaven may reign with the Lord. Let them cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out devils. Whatever impairment Adam’s body had incurred from being goaded on by Satan, let the apostles wipe away through their sharing in the Lord’s power. And that they may fully obtain the likeness of God according to the prophecy in Genesis, they are ordered to give freely what they freely have received. Thus a gift freely bestowed should be freely dispensed.
The promulgation of the Law deserved also the first preaching of the Gospel; and Israel was to have less excuse for its crime, as it had experienced more care in being warned.
Though they are here called sheep, yet they raged against Christ with the tongues and throats of wolves and vipers.
Lest anyone hold as unworthy of belief these rough men bereft of eloquence, unschooled and unlettered, as they promise the kingdom of heaven, Jesus empowered them to cure the sick, cleanse the lepers and cast out devils. Many signs would confirm the promises made. And because spiritual gifts are defiled if connected with rewards, Jesus adds a condemnation of avarice: “Freely you have received, freely give.” I, your Lord and Master, have given this to you without cost, and you should give, lest the grace of the gospel be corrupted. .
This passage does not contradict the command which He gave afterwards, “Go and teach all nations;” for this was before His resurrection, that was after. Andit behoved the coming of Christ to be preached to the Jews first, that they might not have any just plea, or say that they were rejected of the Lord, who sent the Apostles to the Gentiles and Samaritans.
Figuratively, herein we who bear the name of Christ are commanded not to walkin the way of the Gentiles, or the error of the heretics, but as we are separate in religion, that we be also separate in our life.
Lest peasants untaught and illiterate, without the graces of speech, should obtain credit with none when they announced the kingdom of heaven, He gives them power to do the things above mentioned, that the greatness of the miracles might approve the greatness of their promises.
And because spiritual gifts are more lightly esteemed, when money is made the means of obtaining them, He adds a condemnation of avarice; “Freely ye hav...
See how He provides for their conduct, and that no less than for their miracles, implying that the miracles without this are nothing. Thus He both quells their pride by saying, Freely you have received, freely give; and takes order for their being clear of covetousness. Moreover, lest it should be thought their own work, and they be lifted up by the signs that were wrought, He says, freely you have received. You bestow no favor on them that receive you, for not for a price did ye receive these things, nor after toil: for the grace is mine. In like manner therefore give ye to them also, for there is no finding a price worthy of them.
Observe the propriety of the time in which they are sent. After they had seenthe dead raised, the sea rebuked, and other like wonders, and had both in word and deed sufficient proof of His excellent power, then He sends them.
Also they were sent to the Jews first, in order that being trained in Judaea, as in a palaestra, they might enter on the arena of the world to contend; thus He taught them like weak nestlings to fly.
Also that they should not suppose that they were hated of Christ because they had reviled Him, and branded Him as daemoniac, He sought first their cure, and withholding His disciples from all other nations, He sent this people physicians and teachers; and not only forbid them to preach to any others before the Jews, but would not that they should so much as approach the way that led to the Gentiles; “Go not into the way of the Gentiles.” And because the Samaritans, though more readily disposed to be converted to the faith, were yet at enmity with the Jews, He would no...
The kingdom of heaven is here said to draw nigh by the faith in the unseen Creator which is bestowed upon us, not by any movement of the visible elements. The saints are rightly denoted by the heavens, because they contain God by faith, and love Him with affection.
“The sick” are the slothful who have not strength to live well; “the lepers "are the unclean in sin and carnal delights; the daemoniacs are they that are given up under the power of the Devil.
Nothing so befits a teacher as humility and non-possessiveness. He indicates these two virtues here by saying, "freely ye have received." Do not think highly of yourselves that you have such good things to give, for you have received them as a gift and by grace. But as you are humble-minded, so also do not be lovers of money. For He says, "freely give." And finally He eradicates the root of all evils, saying:
