Matthew 4:23

Kings, when about to go to war with their enemies, first gather an army, and so go out to battle; thus the Lord when about to war against the Devil, first collected Apostles, and then began to preach the Gospel.

An example of life for doctors; that they should not be inactive, they are instructed in these words, "And Jesus went about."

Because they being weak could not come to their physician, He as a zealous Physician went about to visit those who had any grievous sickness. The Lord went round the several regions, and after His example the pastors of each region ought to go round to study the several dispositions of their people, that for the remedy of each disease some medicine may be found in the Church.

That they should not be acceptors of persons the preachers are instructed in what follows, "the whole of Galilee." That they should not go about empty, by the word, "teaching." That they should seek to benefit not few but many, in what follows, "in their synagogues."

[ed. note: A passage is here inserted in Nicolai's edition which is not in the original. It is of no doctrinal importance.] By which too He shewed the Jews that He came not as an enemy of God, or a seducer of souls, but as consenting with his Father.

That they should not preach error nor fable, but sound doctrine, is inculcated in the words, "preaching the Gospel of the kingdom." "Teaching" and "preaching" differ; teaching refers to things present, preaching to things to come; He taught present commandments and preached future promises.

Or, He taught natural righteousness, those things which natural reason teaches, as chastity, humility, and the like, which all men of themselves see to be goods. Such things are necessary to be taught not so much for the sake of making them known as for stirring the heart. For beneath the prevalence of carnal delights the knowledge of natural righteousness sleeps forgotten. When then a teacher begins to denounce carnal sins, his teaching does not bring up a new knowledge, but recalls to memory one that had been forgotten. But He preached the Gospel, in telling of good things which the ancients had manifestly not heard of, as the happiness of heaven, the resurrection of the dead, and the like. Or, He taught by interpreting the prophecies concerning Himself; He preached by declaring the benefits that were to come from Himself.

That the teacher should study to commend his teaching by his own virtuous conduct is conveyed in those words, "healing every sort of disease and malady among the people;" maladies of the body, diseases of the soul.

Or, by disease we may understand any passion of the mind, as avarice, lust, and such like, by malady unbelief, that is, weakness of faith. Or, the diseases are the more grievous pains of the body, the maladies the slighter. As He cured the bodily pains by virtue of His divine power, so He cured the spiritual by the word of His mercy. He first teaches, and then performs the cures, for two reasons. First, that what is needed most may come first; for it is the word of holy instruction, and not miracles, that edify the soul. Secondly, because teaching is commended by miracles, not the converse.

We must consider that when some great change is being wrought, as the introduction of a new polity, God is wont to work miracles, giving pledges of His power to those who are to receive His laws. Thus when He would make man, He first created a world, and then at length gave man in paradise a law. When He would dispense a law to the holy Noah, he shewed truly great wonders; and again when He was about to ordain the Law for the Jews, He first shewed great prodigies, and then at length gave them the commandments. So now when about to introduce a sublime discipline of life, He first provided a sanction to His instructions by mighty signs, because the eternal kingdom He preached was not seen, by the things which did appear, He made sure that which as yet did not appear.

ap. Anselm: Because preachers should have good testimony from those who are without, lest if their life is open to censure, their preaching be contemned, he adds, "And the fame of him went abroad through all Syria."

Syria here is all the region from Euphrates to the Great sea, from Cappodocia to Egypt, in which is the country of Palestine, inhabited by Jews.

Observe the reserve of the Evangelist; he does not give an account of any one of the various cases of healing, but passes in one brief phrase an abundance of miracles, "they brought to him all their sick."

By these he would have us understand various but slighter diseases; but when he says, "seized with divers sicknesses and torments," he would have those understood, of whom it is subjoined, "and who had daemons."

"Sickness" means a lasting ailment; "torment" is an acute pain, as pleurisy, and such like; they "who had daemons" are they who were tormented by the daemons.

"Lunatics" are so called from the moon; for as it waxes in its monthly seasons they are tormented.

Not really smitten by the moon, but who were believed to be so through the subtlety of the daemons, who by observing the seasons of the moon, sought to bring an evil report against the creature, that is might redound to the blasphemy of the Creator.

Daemons are enticed to take up their abode in many creatures, (created not by themselves but God,) by delights adapted to their various natures; not that they are animals, drawn by meats; but spirits attracted by signs which agree with each one's taste.

Paralytics are those whose bodies have their nerves slackened or resolved from a Greek word, signifying this.

In some places it is, "He cured many;" but here, "He cured them," meaning, "all;" as a new physician first entering a town cures all who come to him to beget a good opinion concerning himself.

He requires no direct profession of faith from them, both because He had not yet given them any proofs of His miraculous power, and because in bringing their sick from far they had shewn no small faith.

The crowds that followed Him consisted of four sorts of men. Some followed for the heavenly teaching as disciples, some for the curing of their diseases, some from the reports concerning Him alone, and curiosity to find whether they were true; others from envy, wishing to catch Him in some matter that they might accuse Him. Mystically, Syria is interpreted "lofty," Galilee, "turning:" or "a wheel;" that is, the Devil and the world; the Devil is both proud and always turned round to the bottom; the world in which the fame of Christ went abroad through preaching: the daemoniacs are the idolaters; the lunatics, the unstable; the paralytics, the slow and careless.

ap. Anselm: The crowds that follow the Lord, are they of the Church, which is spiritually designated by Galilee, passing to virtuousness; Decapolis is he who keeps the Ten Commandments; Jerusalem and Judaea, he who is enlightened by the vision of peace and confession; and beyond Jordan, he who having passed the waters of Baptism enters the land of promise.

Or, they follow the Lord "from Galilee," that is, from the unstable world; from Decapolis, (the country of ten towns,) signifying those who break the Ten Commandments; "and from Jerusalem," because before it was preserved unhurt in peace; "and from Jordan," that is, from the confession of the Devil; "and from beyond Jordan," they who were first planted in paganism, but passing the water of Baptism came to Christ.

For if the Lord were a mere man, possessed of a soul and body only, why dost thou mutilate and explain away His being born with the common nature of humanity? Why dost thou call the passion a mere appearance, as if it were any strange thing happening to a [mere] man? And why dost thou reckon the death of a mortal to be simply an imaginary death? But if, [on the other hand,] He is both God and man, then why dost thou call it unlawful to style Him “the Lord of glory,” who is by nature unchangeable? Why dost thou say that it is unlawful to declare of the Lawgiver who possesses a human soul, “The Word was made flesh,” and was a perfect man, and not merely one dwelling in a man? But how came this magician into existence, who of old formed all nature that can be apprehended either by the senses or intellect, according to the will of the Father; and, when He became incarnate, healed every kind …

37. The question may indeed be raised as to how John gives us this account of the calling of the disciples, which is to the effect that, certainly not in Galilee, but in the vicinity of the Jordan, Andrew first of all became a follower of the Lord, together with another disciple whose name is not declared; that, in the second place, Peter got that name from Him; and thirdly, that Philip was called to follow Him; whereas the other three evangelists, in a satisfactory concord with each other, Matthew and Mark in particular being remarkably at one here, tell us that the men were called when they were engaged in fishing. Luke, it is true, does not mention An drew by name. Nevertheless, we can gather that he was in that same vessel, from the narrative of Matthew and Mark, who furnish a concise history of the manner in which the affair was gone about. …

And what again, tell me, did Paul? did he not ask even to be accursed in their stead? ( Rom. ix. 3 .) But the great pattern we must of necessity derive from the Lord, for thus doth He also Himself, where he saith, “For He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good,” ( Matt. v. 45 .) adducing the example from His Father; but we from Christ Himself. He came unto them, in His Incarnation, I mean, He became a servant for their sakes, “He humbled Himself, He emptied Himself, He took the form of a servant.” ( Philip. ii. 7, 8 .) And when He came unto them, He went not Himself aside “into any way of the Gentiles,” ( Matt. x. 5 .) and gave the same charge to His disciples, and not only so, but “He went about healing all manner of disease, and all manner of sickness.” ( Matt. iv. …

31. Your next point is that “the kingdom of heaven is promised even in the Old Testament,” and you adduce evidence from the Apocrypha, although it is clear that the kingdom of heaven was first preached under the Gospel by John the Baptist, and our Lord and Saviour, and the Apostles. Read the Gospels. John the Baptist cries in the desert, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”; and concerning the Saviour it is written, “From that time He began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And again,“Jesus went round about the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the kingdom of God.” And He commanded His Apostles to“go and preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” But you call us Manichæans because we prefer the Gospel to the law, and say that in the latter we have the shadow, in the former, the substance, and you do not se …

XVI. A little later on you will see Jesus submitting to be purified in the River Jordan for my Purification, or rather, sanctifying the waters by His Purification (for indeed He had no need of purification Who taketh away the sin of the world) and the heavens cleft asunder, and witness borne to him by the Spirit That is of one nature with Him; you shall see Him tempted and conquering and served by Angels, and healing every sickness and every disease, and giving life to the dead (O that He would give life to you who are dead because of your heresy), and driving out demons, sometimes Himself, sometimes by his disciples; and feeding vast multitudes with a few loaves; and walking dryshod upon seas; and being betrayed and crucified, and crucifying with Himself my sin; offered as a Lamb, and offering as a Priest; as a Man buried in the grave, and as God rising again; and then ascending, and to …