1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| Mark 1:1 | The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. | The beginning of the Gospel. The Greek word{ Ver. 1. Euaggelion, Evangelium, bonum nuncium.|} and Latin derived from it, signifies the good news, or happy tidings about Christ's coming and doctrine. The word gospel is from the Saxon, God's spell, or good spell, that is God's word, or good speech. (Witham) --- Some are of opinion that the termination of the first verse should be pointed with a simple comma, thus connecting it with the sequel; and the Greek text seems to favour this sentiment. According to the punctuation of the Vulgate, the first verse is merely the inscription or title. |
| Mark 1:2 | As it is written in Isaias, the prophet: *Behold I send my Angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. Malachias 3:1. | In Isaias, the prophet. That in the ancient copies was read Isaias, and not Malachias, is confirmed by the Syriac version, and also by St. Irenaeus, Origen, St. Jerome, etc. It is also proved from an objection of Porphyrius, who says, St. Mark mistook Isaias for Malachias. In the ordinary Greek copies at present, we read in the prophets, not naming either Isaias or Malachias. The words seem taken partly out of one, and partly out of the other. These words, behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee, are found Malachias 3:ver. 1. And the following words, a voice of one crying in the desert: prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths, are in Isaias 40:3. (Witham) --- In the beginning of his gospel, St. Mark alleges the authority of the prophets, that he might induce every one, both Jew and Gentile, to receive with willingness what he here relates, as the authority of the prophets so highly respected was very great. St. John [the Baptist] is here styled an angel, on account of his angelic life, and extraordinary sanctity; but what is meant by, who shall prepare thy way, is, that St. John is to prepare the minds of the Jews, by his baptism and preaching, to receive their Messias. (Theophylactus) See in Matthew 11:10. |
| Mark 1:3 | *The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make his paths straight. Isaias 40:3.; Matthew 3:3.; Luke 3:4.; John 1:23. | See Matthew 3:3. |
| Mark 1:4 | *John was in the desert baptizing, and preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins. | about the year A.D. 29. For the remission of sins. Some commentators think from this that the baptism of John remitted sins, though he says in another place, I baptize you with water, but there has stood one amongst you, who will baptize you with water and the Holy Ghost, to shew that he did not baptize with the Holy Ghost, without which there is no remission of sin. This apparent difficulty will be easily reconciled, if we refer this expression to the word penance, and not baptism; so that by penance their sins were to be washed away, and there were baptized to shew their detestation of their former life. (Jansenius, Concord. Evang.) |
| Mark 1:5 | *And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all they of Jerusalem, and were baptized by him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. Matthew 3:5. | |
| Mark 1:6 | *And John was clothed with camels' hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins: **and he eat locusts and wild honey, and he preached, saying: Matthew 3:4. --- ** Leviticus 11:22. | See Matthew 3:4. --- Wild honey. Rabbanus thinks it was a kind of white and tender leaf, which, when rubbed in the hand, emitted a juice like honey. Suidas thinks it was a kind of dew, collected from leaves of trees, and was called manna. But St. Chrysostom, Theophylactus, Euthymius, and St. Isidore, with greatest probability, think it was honey collected by wild bees, in the fissures of rocks, or in the holes of decayed trees, which was insipid and unpleasant to the taste. (Tirinus) |
| Mark 1:7 | *There cometh after me one mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. Matthew 3:11.; Luke 3:16.; John 1:27. | One mightier than 1:The precursor [St. John the Baptist] does not yet openly declare our Lord to be the Son of God, but only one mightier than himself. The Jews were not prepared to receive his coming; he therefore wisely led them by degrees to the knowledge of what divine Providence had designed them; he yet secretly assures them that he is the Son of God. I have baptized you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. Now it is evident that none but God can bestow upon man the grace of the Holy Ghost. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 1:8 | *I have baptized you with water; but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. Acts 1:5.; Acts 2:4.; Acts 11:16.; and 19:4. | |
| Mark 1:9 | And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee; and was baptized by John in the Jordan. | See notes on our Saviour's baptism, Matthew 3:--- That Christ was baptized by immersion, is clear from the text; for he who ascended out of the water must first have descended into it. And this method was of general use in the Church for 1300 years, as appears from the acts of councils and ancient rituals. It is imagined by some, that in the very spot of the river Jordan, where the ark stood whilst the Israelites passed over, our Lord (the ark of the covenant of grace) was baptized by St. John. |
| Mark 1:10 | And forthwith coming up out of he water, he saw the heavens opened, *and the Spirit as a dove descending, and remaining on him. | about the year A.D. 30. Spirit. The epithet Holy is not found in most of the Greek manuscripts but it is in John 1:32-33. |
| Mark 1:11 | *And there came a voice from heaven: Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased. Luke 3:22.; John 1:32. | The Greek printed copies, and some manuscripts read with St. Matthew 3:17. in whom, en o, thus St. Chrysostom, Euthymius, and Theophylactus. Some few, however, have en soi, in thee, with the Syriac and Latin text. (Pastorini) --- All the Fathers cite these verses for a proof of the Trinity: the testimony of the Father speaking, of the Son receiving the testimony, of the Holy Ghost descending in the shape of a dove. (Pastorini in Matt. 3:17) |
| Mark 1:12 | *And immediately the Spirit drove him out into the desert. Matthew 4:1.; Luke 4:1. | Into the desert. For the description of this desert, etc. read Maundrel's Travels, or extracts therefrom in Rutter's Evangelical Harmony. Vol. 1:p. 169. |
| Mark 1:13 | And he was in the desert forty days, and forty nights: and was tempted by Satan, and he was with beasts, and the Angels ministered to him. | The Greek does not express the forty nights, but we find it in St. Matthew 4:2. |
| Mark 1:14 | *And after that John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God; Matthew 4:12.; Luke 4:14.; John 4:43. | about the year A.D. 31. |
| Mark 1:15 | And saying: The time is accomplished, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel. | As if he were to say: To this day the Mosaic law has been in full force, but henceforth the evangelical law shall be preached; which law is not undeservedly compared to the kingdom of God. (Theophylactus) --- Repent, therefore, says our Saviour, and believe the gospel; for if you believe not, you shall not understand; repent, therefore, and believe. What advantage is it to believe with good works? the merit of good works will not bring us to faith, but faith is the beginning of good works. (St. Jerome) |
| Mark 1:16 | *And passing by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon, and Andrew, his brother, casting nets into the sea, (for they were fishermen.) Matthew 4:18.; Luke 5:2. | We must observe that what St. Luke mentions, relative to the vocation of the apostles, is antecedent in point of time to what is here related by St. Mark; since it is known that these disciples on some occasions returned to their fishing, until Jesus called them to be his constant attendants. (Theophylactus) |
| Mark 1:17 | And Jesus said to them: Come after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. | |
| Mark 1:18 | And immediately leaving their nets, they followed him. | |
| Mark 1:19 | And going on from thence a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets; | |
| Mark 1:20 | And forthwith he called them. And having left their father, Zebedee, in the ship, with his hired men, they followed him. | |
| Mark 1:21 | *And they enter into Capharnaum: and forthwith on the sabbath-days, going into the synagogue, he taught them. Matthew 4:13.; Luke 4:31. | |
| Mark 1:22 | *And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he was teaching them as one having power, and not as the Scribes. Matthew 7:28.; Luke 4:32. | |
| Mark 1:23 | *And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit: and he cried out, Luke 4:33. | |
| Mark 1:24 | Saying: What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know who thou art, the holy one of God. | The Greek text has here the same as in Luke 4:34, Let us alone. (Bible de Vence) --- I know who thou art. It is a common opinion, that the devil did not know for certain that Jesus was the true Son of God. Yet St. Mark's words, both in this and ver. 34, seem to signify he did know it. (Witham) |
| Mark 1:25 | And Jesus threatened him, saying: Speak no more, and go out of the man. | Christ would not suffer the devils to be produced as witnesses of his divinity; the author of truth could not bear the father of lies to bear testimony of him. Hence Jesus threatened him, in order to teach us never to believe or put our trust in demons, whatever they may foretell. (St. Chrysostom) |
| Mark 1:26 | And the unclean spirit tearing him, and crying out with a loud voice, went out of him. | Tearing him: not that the devil tore the poor man's limbs or body; for St. Luke 4:35. expressly tells us, that the devil hurt him not. It means no more, than that he shook him with violent agitations. (Witham) |
| Mark 1:27 | And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying: What thing is this? what is this new doctrine? for with power, he commandeth even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. | It is observed by St. Justin, (Apol. 1:54.) that the discourses of Jesus were short and concise. St. Chrysostom (in hom. xlviii. in Matt.) says, that Christ here accommodated his preaching to his hearers, and to his subject. The ancients differ as to the length of time employed by Christ in the ministry of the word. It is most probable that he spent about three years in announcing to the world his heavenly doctrines. In the first year of his preaching, he seems not to have met with any great opposition; and on this account it may have been called, by the prophet Isaias, the acceptable year. (Sandinus) --- What is this new doctrine? In the Greek, This new manner of instructing. See below, 14:2[Mark 4:2?], and 12:38. |
| Mark 1:28 | And the fame of him was spread forthwith through all the country of Galilee. | |
| Mark 1:29 | *And immediately going out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Matthew 8:14.; Luke 4:38. | |
| Mark 1:30 | And Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever: and forthwith they tell him of her. | It appears from St. Mark and St. Luke, that the cure of Peter's mother-in-law and the other sick, here mentioned, happened after the preceding narrative, and probably on the same day. But St. Matthew does not observe this order; for having related that Jesus, after the sermon on the mount, entered Capharnaum, and healed the centurion's servant, he hence takes occasion to mention this and the other miracles, which he had omitted, and which Jesus had wrought at his first coming to Capharnaum. (Rutter) |
| Mark 1:31 | And approaching lifted her up, taking her by the hand: and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. | |
| Mark 1:32 | And when it was evening, after sunset, they brought all to him that were diseased, and that were possessed with devils. | |
| Mark 1:33 | And all the city was gathered together at the door. | |
| Mark 1:34 | And he healed many that were suffering of divers diseases: *and he cast out many devils, and he suffered them not to speak, because they knew him. Luke 4:41. | The devils knew that it was Christ, who had been promised for so many ages before; for they saw him perform the wonders which the prophets had foretold of him; yet they were not perfectly acquainted with his divine nature, or otherwise they never would have persecuted to death and crucified the Lord of glory. (St. Augustine) --- But Christ would not permit them to declare that they knew him. (Bible de Vence) --- See Luke 4:41. |
| Mark 1:35 | And rising very early in the morning, going out he went into a desert place: and there he prayed. | |
| Mark 1:36 | And Simon, and they that were with him, followed after him. | |
| Mark 1:37 | And when they had found him, they said to him: All men seek for thee. | |
| Mark 1:38 | And he saith to them: Let us go into the neighbouring towns and cities, that I may preach there also: for to this purpose I am come. | |
| Mark 1:39 | And he was preaching in their synagogues, and in all Galilee, and casting out devils. | |
| Mark 1:40 | *And there came a leper to him, beseeching him; and kneeling down, said to him: If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Matthew 8:2.; Luke 5:12. | |
| Mark 1:41 | And Jesus having compassion on him, stretched forth his hand; and touching him, saith to him: I will. Be thou made clean. | |
| Mark 1:42 | And when he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was made clean. | |
| Mark 1:43 | And he strictly charged him, and forthwith sent him away. | |
| Mark 1:44 | And he saith to him: See thou tell no man: but go, shew thyself to the high priest, and offer for thy cleansing *the things that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them. Leviticus 14:2. | It was not the intention of Christ, that he should not tell any body; had that been his wish, he would easily have realized it: he spoke thus purposely, to shew us that we ought not to seek the empty praises of men. He bade him also offer the sacrifices prescribed, because the law remained in full force till the passion of Christ, in which was offered a perfect sacrifice, that did away with all the legal sacrifices. (Nicholas of Lyra) |
| Mark 1:45 | But he being gone out, began to publish and to blaze abroad the word: so that now he could not go openly into the city, but was without in desert places, and they flocked to him from all sides. | |
| Mark 2:0 | Christ heals the sick of the palsy: calls Matthew; and excuses his disciples. | |
| Mark 2:1 | And *again he entered into Capharnaum after some days. | about the year A.D. 31. |
| Mark 2:2 | And it was heard that he was in the house, and many came together, so that there was no room, not even at the door: and he spoke to them the word. | Some Greek and Latin copies have, after eight days. |
| Mark 2:3 | *And they came to him, bringing one sick of the palsy, who was carried by four. Matthew 9:1.; Luke 5:18. | |
| Mark 2:4 | And when they could not offer him to him for the multitude, they uncovered the roof where he was: and opening it, they let down the bed wherein the man sick of the palsy lay. | Such diligence ought to be used to bring sinners to Christ, by means of the sacraments, as was used to procure for this man, through Christ, the health of his body. (Bristow) |
| Mark 2:5 | And when Jesus saw their faith, he saith to the sick of the palsy: Son, thy sins are forgiven thee. | When Jesus saw their faith. Our Lord is moved to shew mercy to sinners, by the faith and desires, and prayers of others; for this man was not more helpless in his limbs, than in his soul. From this example, we are taught that in sickness the sacraments and helps of the Church, which are the medicines of the soul, should be called for in the first instance; for Christ first healed the sick man's soul, before he removed his bodily infirmity. We also learn that many diseases originate in sin, and that we are to remove the effect by removing the cause. |
| Mark 2:6 | And some of the Scribes were sitting there, and thinking in their hearts: | |
| Mark 2:7 | Why doth this man speak thus? He blasphemeth. *Who can forgive sins, but God only? Job 14:4.; Isaias 43:25. | |
| Mark 2:8 | Which Jesus presently knowing in his spirit, that they so thought within themselves, saith to them: Why think you these things in your hearts? | |
| Mark 2:9 | Which is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy: Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say: Arise, take up thy bed, and walk? | |
| Mark 2:10 | But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) | The Son of man. Jesus Christ here proveth that himself as man, and not as God only, hath power to forgive sins; by this, that he was able to do miracles, and make the sick man suddenly rise; so the apostles and their successors, though they be not God, may in like manner have authority from God to remit sins, not as God, but as God's ministers, and acting in his name, and vested with his delegated authority. --- On earth. This power which the Son of man hath to remit sins on earth, was never taken from him, but is perpetuated in his sacraments and ministers, by whom he still remitteth sins in the Church, and not in heaven only. Relative to sin, there is one court of conscience on earth, and another in heaven, and the judgment of heaven followeth and approveth this on earth; as is plain by the words of our Saviour, to Peter first, and then to all the apostles: Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall by bound also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven. See Matthew 16:19.; Matthew 18:18. Whereupon St. Jerome sayeth: that priests having the keys of the kingdom of heaven, judge in some manner before the day of judgment. (Ep. V. ad Heliod; and St. Chrysostom, more at large, lib. 3:de Sacerd.) |
| Mark 2:11 | I say to thee, Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house. | |
| Mark 2:12 | And immediately he arose: and taking up his bed, went his way in the sight of all: so that all wondered, and glorified God, saying: We never saw the like. | This paralytic is not the same as that mentioned in St. John; for that distressed man had no one to assist him, whereas this person had four; the former was by the side of the Probatica, but the latter in a house at Capharnaum. (Theophylactus) |
| Mark 2:13 | And he went forth again to the sea side: and all the multitude came to him, and he taught them. | |
| Mark 2:14 | *And when he was passing by, he saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting at the receipt of custom; and he saith to him: Follow me. And rising up, he followed him. Matthew 9:9.; Luke 5:27. | To follow Christ, is to imitate him; wherefore this apostle, that he might be able to follow Christ, the model of poverty, not so much by his bodily steps, as by the inward affections of his soul, forsook all; he not only forsook his present goods, but despised all danger, which he incurred by leaving his business abruptly, and without rendering any account of it to his employers or governors. (Ven. Bede) --- The person to whom Christ addresses the words, follow me, was Matthew: see Matthew 9:9. |
| Mark 2:15 | And it came to pass, that as he sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat down together with Jesus and his disciples: for they were many, who also followed him. | |
| Mark 2:16 | And the Scribes and Pharisees, seeing that he did eat with publicans and sinners, said to his disciples: Why doth your master eat and drink with publicans and sinners? | |
| Mark 2:17 | *Jesus hearing this, saith to them: They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: for I came not to call the just, but sinners. 1 Timothy 1:15. | The Greek printed copies, and some manuscripts add to penance, as we read in Luke 5:33.[32.?] |
| Mark 2:18 | Now the disciples of John, and the Pharisees, used to fast: and they come, and say to him: Why do the disciples of John, and of the Pharisees, fast; but thy disciples do not fast? | See Matthew 9:14, and Luke 5:33. |
| Mark 2:19 | And Jesus saith to them: Can the children of the marriage fast, as long as the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. | |
| Mark 2:20 | *But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them: and then they shall fast in those days. Luke 5:35. | Jesus Christ here foretelleth that fasting shall be used in his Church, no less than in the old law, or in the time of John the Baptist. See Matthew 9:15. --- When first we begin to be converted to God, the spiritual consolations which God infuses into our souls, cause in us an overflowing of spiritual delights, so that we then feast, and are in the midst of delight; but when the Bridegroom shall be taken away, when these spiritual consolations cease, then we fast, and find the commandments difficult. It is then we must prepare ourselves for tribulation. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 2:21 | No man seweth a piece of raw cloth to an old garment: otherwise the new piecing taketh away from the old, and there is made a greater rent. | |
| Mark 2:22 | And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: otherwise the wine will burst the bottles, and both the wine will be spilled, and the bottles will be lost. But new wine must be put into new bottles. | |
| Mark 2:23 | *And it came to pass again, as the Lord walked through the corn-fields on the sabbath, that his disciples began to go forward and to pluck the ears of corn. Matthew 12:1.; Luke 6:1. | |
| Mark 2:24 | And the Pharisees said to him: Behold, why do they on the sabbath-day that which is not lawful? | |
| Mark 2:25 | And he said to them: *Have you never read what David did, when he had need, and was hungry, he and they that were with him? 1 Kings 21:6. | When he had need. In necessity many things are done without sin, which in other circumstances it would be unlawful to do. (Bristow) |
| Mark 2:26 | How he went into the house of God, under Abiathar, the high priest, and did eat the loaves of proposition, *which it was not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave to them who were with him? Leviticus 24:9. | Under Abiathar. The priest from whom David had these loaves, is called Achimelech, 1 Kings xxi. The most probable answer to this difficulty is, that the priest had both these names of Achimelech and of Abiathar, as also his father had before him. For he that (1 Kings xxii.) is called Abiathar, the son of Achimelech, is called 2 Kings 8:17, Achimelech, the son of Abiathar. See also 1 Paralipomenon 18:16. (Witham) --- Others say that Abiathar, son of Achimelech, was present, and sanctioned the deed of his father, thus making it his own. (Denis the Carthusian) |
| Mark 2:27 | And he said to them: The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. | |
| Mark 2:28 | Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. | The maker of the law may abrogate or dispense with it when and where, for just cause, it seemeth good to him: thus the Church can dispense with, change, or abrogate, for just reasons, the discipline of the Church founded upon Church authority. This we prove also from the action of David, (ver. 26, above) which the Scripture notices without blaming it, because the observance of the law, prescribed for the utility of man, must yield to the necessities of man. |
| Mark 3:0 | Christ heals the withered hand. He chooses the twelve. He confutes the blasphemy of the Pharisees. | |
| Mark 3:1 | And *he entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand. Matthew 12:10.; Luke 6:6. | about the year A.D. 31. He entered again into the synagogue, viz., of Capharnaum. The man was there either, of course, on account of the sabbath, or to be cured by Jesus Christ. |
| Mark 3:2 | And they watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath-day: that they might accuse him. | |
| Mark 3:3 | And he saith to the man who had the withered hand: Stand up in the midst. | |
| Mark 3:4 | And he saith to them: Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath-day, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy? But they held their peace. | A difficulty here arises, how to reconcile St. Mark with St. Matthew. St. Mark puts the words into the mouth of Jesus Christ: Is it lawful? When St. Matthew says, that they interrogated him: Is it lawful? To cut the knot of this apparent difficulty, we must understand that they first put the question to our Lord, whether it was lawful to heal on the sabbath-day or not: and that Jesus understanding their secret thoughts, that they wished to have some grounds of accusation against him, placed the sick man in the midst of them, and said what St. Mark here relates of him: Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath-day, or to do evil? (St. Augustine) |
| Mark 3:5 | And looking round about on them with anger, being grieved for the blindness of their hearts, he saith to the man: Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth; and his hand was restored unto him. | |
| Mark 3:6 | *And the Pharisees going out immediately, made a consultation with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. Matthew 12:14. | |
| Mark 3:7 | But Jesus retired with his disciples to the sea; and a great multitude followed him from Galilee and Judea, | |
| Mark 3:8 | And from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and from beyond the Jordan: and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing the things which he did, came to him. | What is to be understood by Idumea, see Rutter's Evangelical Harmony, Vol. 1:p. 286. |
| Mark 3:9 | And he spoke to his disciples that a small ship should wait on him, because of the multitude, lest they should throng him: | |
| Mark 3:10 | For he healed many, so that they pressed upon him to touch him, as many as had evils. | |
| Mark 3:11 | And the unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him; and they cried, saying: | \f + \fr 3:11-12\ft The unclean spirits being obliged by the Divine Power, not only to come and worship, but also to declare his majesty, exclaimed: Thou art the Son of God. How astonishing then is the blindness of the Arians, who even after his resurrection denied him to be the Son of God, whom the devils confessed as such when clothed with human nature. But it is certain that not only the devils, but the infirm that were healed, and the apostles themselves were forbidden, as well as the unclean spirits, to proclaim his divinity; lest the passion and death of Christ might be on that account deferred. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 3:12 | Thou art the Son of God. And he strictly charged them that they should not make him known. | |
| Mark 3:13 | *And going up into a mountain, he called unto him whom he would himself: and they came to him. Matthew 10:1.; Luke 6:13.; Luke 9:1. | He spent here the whole night in prayer, not that he who had all things to bestow, stood in need of prayer, or had any thing to ask; but to teach us that we must undertake nothing without previously recommending the affair to heaven, in humble and fervent prayer. |
| Mark 3:14 | And he made that twelve should be with him: and that he might send them to preach. | The number twelve is mystical, as appeareth by choosing Mathias to full up the place of Judas: they are the twelve foundations, under Christ, of the heavenly Jerusalem. (Apocalypse xxi.) |
| Mark 3:15 | And he gave them power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils. | He gave his apostles the power of curing maladies both of soul and body, and of expelling devils, that they might prove the truth of their doctrines by the authority of miracles. (Bible de Vence) |
| Mark 3:16 | And to Simon he gave the name of Peter: | The evangelist here gives the names of the twelve. First, Simon, to whom he gave the name of Peter, in Greek, Petron, which signifies a rock; thus shewing that upon him his Church should be founded, as on a rock, never to be overturned. (Tirinus) --- Polus, in his Synopsis Criticorum on this verse says that some Greek copies have, Proton Simona, First, Simon, which he believes to be the genuine reading: "nec dubito quin haec sit germana lectio." |
| Mark 3:17 | And James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, and he named them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: | And he called James, etc. The words, he called, are no addition, as they only express the literal sense: they are included in what is said, ver. 13, that he called to him whom he would. --- Boanerges, the sons of thunder, or thunderers, is only to express their great zeal. (Witham) --- He gave also the two sons of Zebedee the name of Boanerges, (Boanerges) from the Syriac, Benairegesch; or the Hebrew, Beni, sons, regesch, thunder, noise or tumult. In conformity to their name, we find these two apostles asking Jesus, (Luke 9:54.) wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, to consume them? They spread the fame of the gospel through the whole world. So great was the zeal of St. James, that he incurred the resentment of king Agrippa, and was the first of the apostles to seal the doctrines of Jesus Christ with his blood. St. John also fulfilled the import of his name, as appears from his gospel, epistles, apocalypse, and the sufferings he underwent at Rome for the faith. Sts. Peter, James, and John, were the only apostles to whom our Saviour gave particular names, a mark, perhaps, of his special affection for them. (Tirinus) |
| Mark 3:18 | And Andrew and Philip, and Bartholomew and Matthew, and Thomas, and James, of Alpheus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Cananean, | |
| Mark 3:19 | And Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. | |
| Mark 3:20 | And they come to a house: and the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. | |
| Mark 3:21 | And when his friends had heard of it, they went out to lay hold of him: for they said: He is become mad. | And when his friends had heard of it;{ Ver. 21. Sui, oi par autou.|} literally, his own. We cannot here understand his apostles, for they were in the house with him; but either some of his kindred and friends, or some that were of the same country and town of Nazareth, though perhaps enemies to him. --- For they said. It is not certain who said this, whether his friends or his adversaries. --- He is become mad.{ Ver. 21. In furorem versus est, exeste; the word existasthai, is extra se esse, from which cometh the word ecstacy. See 2 Corinthians 5:13, where St. Paul useth the same Greek word.|} By the Greek, he is not himself. Christ might be called a madman by the Scribes and Pharisees, when he blamed their vices and when he preached with such extraordinary zeal. Or, as the Greek implies, he was thought to be transported out of his wits, and, as the Protestant translation hath it, was beside himself. If they were his friends that said this of him, they did not think so, but only pretended it, that they might get him safe out of the hands of his adversaries. (Witham) |
| Mark 3:22 | And the Scribes, who were come down from Jerusalem, said: *He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of devils he casteth out devils. Matthew 9:34. | From St. Matthew 12:22. et dein., we learn that it was on the occasion of the delivery of a possessed person, this blasphemy was uttered. |
| Mark 3:23 | And after he had called them together, he said to them in parables: How can Satan cast out Satan? | |
| Mark 3:24 | And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. | Kingdom against kingdom. As this is true in all kingdoms and states where civil dissensions obtaineth, so it is especially verified in heresies and heretics which have always divisions among themselves, as a punishment for their abandoning the Church, the pillar and ground of truth, the only centre of peace and unity. |
| Mark 3:25 | And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. | |
| Mark 3:26 | And if Satan be risen up against himself, he is divided, and cannot stand, but hath an end. | |
| Mark 3:27 | No man can enter into the house of a strong man, and rob him of his goods, unless he first bind the strong man, and then shall he plunder his house. | |
| Mark 3:28 | *Amen, I say to you, that all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and the blasphemies wherewith they shall blaspheme: Matthew 12:31.; Luke 12:10.; 1 John 5:10. | |
| Mark 3:29 | But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, shall never have forgiveness, but shall be guilty of an everlasting sin. | See St. Matthew 12:32. --- Of an everlasting sin; that is of eternal punishment. (Witham) --- What is here called everlasting offence, is (as St. Matthew expresseth it) that which shall neither be remitted in this life, nor in the life to come; which words would not be true, says St. Augustine, if some sins were not forgiven in the world to come. Now, as no mortal sin can be forgiven after death, there must necessarily be smaller transgressions, which we call venial; though many of our separated brethren will needs have all sins to be mortal; which is very far from a comfortable tenet. |
| Mark 3:30 | Because they said: He hath an unclean spirit. | |
| Mark 3:31 | And his mother and his brethren came: and standing without, sent to him, calling him. | |
| Mark 3:32 | And the multitude sat about him: and they say to him: Behold thy mother and thy brethren, without, seek for thee. | The brethren of our Lord were not the children of the blessed Virgin: nor were they the sons of St. Joseph by a former wife, as some pretend; but in the Scripture language, and in this place, we understand by brethren the relatives of Mary and Joseph. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 3:33 | And answering them, he said: Who is my mother and my brethren? | Our Lord does not refuse to go out through any, the least, inattention to his mother; he wishes hereby, to teach us the preference we should give to the business of our heavenly Father, before that of our earthly parents. Neither does he consider his brethren as beneath his attention, but prefers spiritual before temporal duties; and shews us, that a religious union of hearts and feelings is far more lasting, and better rooted than any other ties of affinity or friendship whatsoever. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 3:34 | And looking round on them who sat about him, he saith: Behold my mother and my brethren. | The Pharisees were afraid lest the greatness of Christ's miracles, and the excellence of his doctrines, should put an end to their credit and authority among the people. Hence their calumnies against him. |
| Mark 3:35 | For whosoever shall do the will of God, he is my brother, and my sister, and mother. | |
| Mark 4:0 | The parable of the sower. Christ stills the tempest at sea. | |
| Mark 4:1 | And *he began again to teach by the sea side: and a great multitude was gathered together unto him, so that he went up into a ship, and sat in the sea, and all the multitude was upon the land, by the sea side: Matthew 13:1, 2.; Luke 8:4. | about the year A.D. 31. If we examine St. Matthew on this point, we shall discover that this discourse was made on the same day as the preceding discourse; for St. Matthew informs us, that having finished this exhortation, he the same day went and taught by the sea. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 4:2 | And he taught them many things in parables, and said to them in his teaching: | |
| Mark 4:3 | Hear ye: Behold a sower went out to sow. | |
| Mark 4:4 | And whilst he is sowing, some fell by the way side: and the birds of the air came, and eat it up. | |
| Mark 4:5 | And other some fell upon stony ground, where it had not much earth: and it shot up immediately, because it had no depth of earth: | |
| Mark 4:6 | And when the sun was risen, it was scorched: and because it had no root, it withered away. | |
| Mark 4:7 | And some fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up, and choaked it, and it yielded no fruit. | |
| Mark 4:8 | And some fell upon good ground: and brought forth fruit that grew up, and increased, and yielded, one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred. | |
| Mark 4:9 | And he said: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. | |
| Mark 4:10 | And when he was alone, the twelve that were with him, asked him the parable. | When he was alone: in Greek Ote egeneto Katamonas; that is when he was retired and alone, either in the house, out of the city, or at a distance from the multitude. (Tirinus) |
| Mark 4:11 | And he said to them: To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but to them that are without, all things are done in parables: | Such as are out of the Church, though they both hear and read, they cannot understand. Bede's note in (Mark 4.) |
| Mark 4:12 | *That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand: lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. Isaias 6:9.; Matthew 13:14.; John 12:40.; Acts 28:26; Romans 11:8. | That seeing they may see, etc. In punishment of their wilfully shutting their eyes, (Matthew 13:15.) God justly withdrew those lights and graces which otherwise he would have given them, for their effectual conversion. (Challoner) --- These speeches here and elsewhere, we are not to understand as if he spoke in parables to this end that the hearers might not understand, lest they should be converted; but we must learn the true sense from the corresponding texts in Matthew xiii, and Acts xxviii, where our Saviour and St. Paul render it thus: with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut. lest, perhaps, they may see, and understand, and be converted, and I heal them. Whereby it is evident, that the speaking in parables was not the cause, (for many besides the apostles heard and understood) but themselves, who would not hear and understand, and be converted: and thus they were the real cause of their own wilful and obstinate infidelity. And therefore also he spoke in parables, because they were not worthy to understand, as the others were to whom he expounded them. (Bristow) |
| Mark 4:13 | And he saith to them: Know you not this parable? how then shall you know all parables? | |
| Mark 4:14 | He that soweth, soweth the word. | |
| Mark 4:15 | And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; and as soon as they have heard, immediately satan cometh and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. | |
| Mark 4:16 | And these likewise are they that are sown on the stony ground: who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy. | |
| Mark 4:17 | And they have no root in themselves, but are only for a time: and then when tribulation and persecution arise on account of the word, they are presently scandalized. | |
| Mark 4:18 | And others there are that are sown among thorns: these are they that hear the word, | |
| Mark 4:19 | And the cares of the world, *and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts after other things entering in, choak the word, and it is made fruitless. 1 Timothy 6:17. | |
| Mark 4:20 | And these are they who are sown upon the good ground, who hear the word, and receive it, and yield fruit, the one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred. | |
| Mark 4:21 | *And he said to them: Doth a candle come in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? Matthew 5:15.; Luke 8:16.; Luke 11:33. | |
| Mark 4:22 | *For there is nothing hid, which shall not be made manifest: neither was it made secret, but that it may come abroad. Matthew 10:26.; Luke 8:1. 7. | All my parables, doctrines, and actions, which appear now to you so full of mystery, shall not always be so: in due time they shall all be publicly expounded by you, my apostles, and by your successors. (Tirinus) |
| Mark 4:23 | If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. | And let him learn that he is not to bury in unjust silence the instructions or the examples I give him; but must exercise them for the light and direction of others. (Bible de Vence) |
| Mark 4:24 | And he said to them: Take heed what you hear: *With what measure you shall mete, it shall be measured to you again, and more shall be given to you. Matthew 7:2.; Luke 6:38. | Pay attention then to what you hear this day, that you may retain it, and communicate it to others, your brethren; for as you measure to others, so shall it be meted unto you; yes, more shall be given to you, who receive the word of God, if you be attentive to preserve it yourselves, and to communicate it to your brethren. (Bible de Vence) |
| Mark 4:25 | *For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, that also which he hath, shall be taken away from him. Matthew 13:12.; Matthew 25:29.; Luke 8:18.; Luke 19:26. | They who do not profit by the knowledge of the word of God, shall in punishment of their neglect, lose the advantage which they may seem to have, since it will turn in the end to their greater condemnation: and moreover, by trusting to their own judgment, they interpret the word in a perverse sense, and thus also lose what they seem to have. (Nicholas of Lyra) --- Let those who talk so much about Scripture, and interpret it according to their own private spirit or fancy, see lest this also attach to them. (Haydock) |
| Mark 4:26 | And he said: So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the earth, | So it is with him who announces the gospel of the kingdom of God, as with the sower. For whether he sleep or rise, the seed will grow up while he knoweth not; and the well prepared soil will, by the blessing of God, be productive: so the word of God shed abroad in the heart of man, will increase and fructify independently of all the preacher's solicitude, till he who has received it, being arrived at the measure of the age and fulness of Christ, shall be withdrawn by God from this world, and be called to himself. (Bible de Vence) |
| Mark 4:27 | And should sleep, and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring, and grow up whilst he knoweth not. | |
| Mark 4:28 | For the earth of itself bringeth forth fruit, first the blade, then the ear, afterwards the full corn in the ear: | |
| Mark 4:29 | And when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. | When the fruit is brought forth: literally, when the fruit{ Ver. 29. Cum produxerit fructus. In the Greek, fructus is in the nominative case; otan de parado o karpos, etc.|} hath produced. By the fruit is here meant the seed; that is when the seed by degrees hath produced the blade, then the ear, and lastly the corn, which is become ripe. (Witham) --- This is a secondary sense of the text, when the fruit hath come to maturity, and by no means a forced interpretation. |
| Mark 4:30 | And he said: To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? or to what parable shall we compare it? | |
| Mark 4:31 | *It is as a grain of mustard-seed, which when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that are in the earth: Matthew 13:31.; Luke 13:19. | |
| Mark 4:32 | And when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches, so that the birds of the air may dwell under the shadow thereof. | |
| Mark 4:33 | And with many such parables he spoke to them the word, according as they were able to hear. | This seems to contradict what was said [in] ver. 12, that seeing they may not see, [seeing they may see, and not perceive,?] etc.; but we must observe, that parables have more explanations than one, some more easy, whilst others are more difficult to be understood. In parables, the multitude understood the more literal interpretation, whilst Christ explains the more abstruse and hidden sense to his apostles. Hence there is no contradiction in these texts. (Nicholas of Lyra) |
| Mark 4:34 | And without parable he did not speak unto them: but apart, he explained all things to his disciples. | |
| Mark 4:35 | And he saith to them that day, when evening was come: Let us pass over to the other side. | |
| Mark 4:36 | *And sending away the multitude, they take him even as he was in the ship: and there were other ships with him. Matthew 8:23.; Luke 8:22. | |
| Mark 4:37 | And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that the ship was filled. | |
| Mark 4:38 | And he was in the hinder part of the ship, sleeping upon a pillow; and they awake him, and say to him: Master, doth it not concern thee that we perish? | |
| Mark 4:39 | And rising up, he rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: Peace; be still. And the wind ceased; and there was made a great calm. | |
| Mark 4:40 | And he said to them: Why are you fearful? have you not faith yet? And they feared exceedingly, and they said one to another: Who is this (thinkest thou) that both wind and sea obey him? | |
| Mark 5:0 | Christ casts out a legion of devils: he heals the issue of blood, and raises the daughter of Jairus to life. | |
| Mark 5:1 | And *they came over the strait of the sea into the country of the Gerasens. Matthew 8:28.; Luke 8:26. | about the year A.D. 31. |
| Mark 5:2 | And as he went out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit: | Ven. Bede gives a beautiful explanation of this miracle. He says that it represents the Gentiles, who were converted to the faith by the apostles. The legion represents the innumerable vices to which they were subject, neither restrained by the laws of God nor man, but breaking through every restraint, and wallowing in all kinds of uncleanness. (Ven. Bede) --- The three evangelists agree in the expulsion of the legion of devils, except that St. Matthew makes mention of two demoniacs, and Sts. Mark and Luke only of one. The difficulty is thus solved by St. Augustine. St. Mark and St. Luke only mention one, as being more generally known, and particularly frightful in the neighbourhood. (St. Augustine) |
| Mark 5:3 | Who had his dwelling in the tombs, and no man now could bind him, not even with chains: | |
| Mark 5:4 | For having been often bound with fetters and chains, he had burst the chains, and broken the fetters in pieces, and no man could tame him. | |
| Mark 5:5 | And he was always day and night in the tombs, and in the mountains, crying and cutting himself with stones. | |
| Mark 5:6 | And seeing Jesus, afar off, he ran and adored him: | |
| Mark 5:7 | And crying with a loud voice, he said: What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. | I adjure thee by God. The same is, I earnestly beg of thee not to torment me, by sending me into hell, and confining me in the abyss, there to be more tormented than I am at present. See St. Luke 8:31. (Witham) |
| Mark 5:8 | For he said to him: Go out of the man, thou unclean spirit. | |
| Mark 5:9 | And he asked him: What is thy name? And he saith to him: My name is Legion, for we are many. | My name is Legion. Spirits have no names, only with respect to our language. These devils say their name is Legion, because they are many. (Witham) |
| Mark 5:10 | And he besought him much, that he would not drive him away out of the country. | |
| Mark 5:11 | And there was there near the mountain a great herd of swine, feeding. | |
| Mark 5:12 | And the spirits besought him, saying: Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. | |
| Mark 5:13 | And Jesus immediately gave them leave. And the unclean spirits going out, entered into the swine: and the herd with great violence was carried headlong into the sea, being about two thousand, and were stifled in the sea. | Jesus Christ permitted the devil to destroy these swine, that from their destruction, the men of that country might take the alarm, and be converted. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 5:14 | And they that fed them fled, and told it in the city, and in the fields. And they went out to see what was done. | |
| Mark 5:15 | And they came to Jesus, and they see him that was troubled with the devil, sitting, clothed, and in his right mind; and they were afraid. | |
| Mark 5:16 | And they that had seen it, told them in what manner he had been dealt with who had the devil; and concerning the swine. | |
| Mark 5:17 | And they began to pray him to depart from their coasts. | Astonished at the miracle that had been performed, and displeased with the loss of their herds, they refused the Saviour of the world entrance into their country. (Theophylactus) --- It is observed that all Christ's miracles, except this, and the blasted fig-tree, were of the beneficent kind. We cannot but pity the wretched blindness of the Gerasens, in driving Jesus from their coasts. As a just judgment of God, their city was the first that fell into the hands of the Romans, in the fatal war under Vespasian. |
| Mark 5:18 | And when he went up into the ship, he that had been troubled with the devil, began to beseech him that he might be with him. | That he might be with him; that is as one of his disciples. St. Ambrose says Christ did not grant his request, lest they might think that he sought to be glorified by men, in having always in his company a man out of whom he had cast so many devils. Christ himself seems to give us another reason, that the man might go, and publish in his own country the miracles done by Jesus. (Witham) |
| Mark 5:19 | And he admitted him not, but saith to him: Go into thy house to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had mercy on thee. | And he admitted him not: By Christ's conduct on this occasion, he teaches his disciples that they ought sometimes to make known their own good works, when either the glory of God or the edification of their neighbour were likely to be advanced by such a manifestation: otherwise they ought to conceal them, out of a spirit of humility. (Denis the Carthusian) |
| Mark 5:20 | And he went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men wondered. | Decapolis, a territory on the eastern borders of the sea of Tiberias, and is so called, from ten principal towns that compose it. (Bible de Vence) |
| Mark 5:21 | And when Jesus had passed again in the ship over the strait, a great multitude assembled together unto him, and he was nigh unto the sea. | |
| Mark 5:22 | *And there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, named Jairus: and seeing him, falleth down at his feet; Matthew 9:18.; Luke 8:41. | |
| Mark 5:23 | And he besought him much, saying: My daughter is at the point of death; come, lay thy hand upon her, that she may be safe, and may live. | St. Matthew says: my daughter is even now dead. The sense in both is exactly the same. St. Matthew attended rather to the thoughts of Jairus, than to his words; for, as he left her dying, he could not reasonably hope to find her still in the same state; and, as he expected she was already dead, when he spoke this to Jesus, St. Matthew relates what the man thought at that instant, not what he said. (St. Augustine) |
| Mark 5:24 | And he went with him, and a great multitude followed him, and they thronged him. | |
| Mark 5:25 | And a woman who was under an issue of blood twelve years, | |
| Mark 5:26 | And had suffered many things from many physicians: and had spent all that she had, and was nothing the better, but rather worse: | |
| Mark 5:27 | When she had heard of Jesus, came in the crowd behind him, and touched his garment. | |
| Mark 5:28 | For she said: If I shall but touch his garment, I shall be whole. | Touch his garment. Almighty God is pleased to give occasionally to the relics and clothes of his pious and faithful servants, a degree of virtue. See Acts v, and xix, where the very shadow of St. Peter, and the handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched the body of St. Paul, and were brought to the sick, cured their diseases, and banished the wicked spirits. See St. Chrysostom, T. 5. contra Gent. in vit. Babyloe. St. Basil saith: "he that toucheth the bone of a martyr, receiveth in some degree holiness of the grace or virtue that is therein. (St. Basil in Psalm cxv.) |
| Mark 5:29 | And forthwith the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the evil. | |
| Mark 5:30 | And immediately Jesus knowing in himself the virtue that had proceeded from him, turning to the multitude, said: Who hath touched my garments? | Virtue that hath proceeded from him. Virtue to heal this woman's malady proceeded from Christ, though she touched but his coat: so when the saints by their relics and garments perform miracles, the grace and force thereof cometh from our Saviour; they being but the means of instruments of the same. (Bristow) |
| Mark 5:31 | And his disciples said to him: Thou seest the multitude thronging thee; and sayest thou, Who hath touched me? | |
| Mark 5:32 | And he looked about to see her who had done this. | |
| Mark 5:33 | But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. | |
| Mark 5:34 | And he said to her: *Daughter, thy faith hath made the[thee?] whole: go in peace, and be thou whole of the disease. Luke 7:50.; Luke 8:48. | |
| Mark 5:35 | While he was yet speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue, saying: Thy daughter is dead: why dost thou trouble the master any farther? | Ruler of the synagogue. His house is understood. |
| Mark 5:36 | But Jesus having heard the word that was spoken, saith to the ruler of the synagogue: Fear not: only believe. | Only believe. Dissenters grossly abuse this and other similar texts of Scripture, to prove that faith alone will suffice for justification; whereas God only declares, that he requires a faith in his almighty power for the performance of miracles, and that without this necessary predisposition, he will not do any miracles. See ver. 5, of the following chapter. |
| Mark 5:37 | And he admitted not any man to follow him, but Peter, and James, and John, the brother of James. | |
| Mark 5:38 | And they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue; and he seeth a tumult, and people weeping and wailing much. | |
| Mark 5:39 | And going in, he saith to them: Why make you this outcry, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. | |
| Mark 5:40 | And they laughed him to scorn. But he having put them all out, taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying: | |
| Mark 5:41 | And taking the damsel by the hand, he saith to her: Talitha, cumi; which is, being interpreted; damsel, (I say to thee) arise. | Only three resurrections from the dead are mentioned as performed by our Saviour: one just dead; one carried out to be buried; and Lazarus, already in his tomb. These represent the different states of sinners dead in sin, some more desperate than others. To such as have been for years in sin, and have none to intercede for them, we must apply the words of Christ, suffer the dead to bury the dead. (Ven. Bede, and St. Augustine, de verb. Dom. serm. 44.) |
| Mark 5:42 | And immediately the damsel rose up, and walked: now she was twelve years old: and they were astonished with a great astonishment. | |
| Mark 5:43 | And he charged them strictly that no man should know it: and commanded that something should be given her to eat. | |
| Mark 6:0 | Christ teaches at Nazareth. He sends forth the twelve apostles: He feeds five thousand with five loaves; and walks upon the sea. | |
| Mark 6:1 | And *going out from thence, he went into his own country; and his disciples followed him. Matthew 13:53.; Luke 4:16. | about the year A.D. 32. After the miracles that Christ had performed, though he was not ignorant how much they despised him, yet that there might be no excuse for their disbelief, he condescended to return to them. (Theophylactus) |
| Mark 6:2 | And when the sabbath was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were in admiration at his doctrine: saying: How came this man by all these things? and what wisdom is this that is given to him, and such mighty works as are wrought by his hands? | |
| Mark 6:3 | *Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph, and Jude and Simon? are not also his sisters here with us? and they were scandalized in regard of him. John 6:42. | St. Matthew relates that they asked: Is not this the son of the carpenter? It is not improbable that both questions were asked; it was certainly very natural to take him for a carpenter, who was the son of one. (St. Augustine) --- They were scandalized at his lowly birth and humble parentage. Hence Jesus Christ takes occasion to expose the malice and envy of the Jews, in refusing him, and to shew that the Gentiles would more esteem him. See Luke 4:25[22?], and John i. |
| Mark 6:4 | And Jesus said to them: *A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and in his own house, and among his own kindred. Matthew 13:57.; Luke 4:24.; John 4:44. | |
| Mark 6:5 | And he could not do any miracle there, only that he cured a few that were sick, laying his hands upon them; | And he could not do{ Ver. 5. Non posse in Scripture, is divers times the same as nolle. So Genesis xxxvii, it is said of Joseph's brothers, they could not, (non poterant) that is would not, speak to him peaceably. See John 12:39, etc.|} any miracle there. |
| Mark 6:6 | And he wondered because of their unbelief, and he went through the villages round about teaching. | |
| Mark 6:7 | *And he called the twelve; and began to send them two and two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. Matthew 10:1.; Mark 3:15.; Luke 9:1. | |
| Mark 6:8 | And he commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, but a staff only: no scrip, no bread, nor money in their purse, | |
| Mark 6:9 | *But to be shod with sandals, and that they should not put on two coats. Acts. 12:8. | |
| Mark 6:10 | And he said to them: Wheresoever you shall enter into a house, there abide till you depart from that place. | |
| Mark 6:11 | And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, *going forth from thence, shake off the dust from your feet for a testimony to them. Matthew 10:14.; Luke 9:5.; Acts 13:51.; Acts 18:6. | |
| Mark 6:12 | And going forth they preached that they should do penance: | |
| Mark 6:13 | And they cast out many devils, *and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them: James 5:14. | It was usual for the Jews to prescribe oil as a proper thing to anoint the sick; but its virtue in the present instance, when used by the apostles, was not natural but supernatural, and was derived from him who sent them; because this unction always produced a certain and constant cure in those who were anointed. This miraculous gift of healing the sick with oil, which Christ conferred on his apostles, was a prelude or gradual preparation to the dignity to which he raised this unction, when he established it a perpetual rite in his holy Church. (Rutter) --- With oil, etc. This anointing the sick, was at least a figure of the sacrament, which Christ was pleased to institute for the spiritual relief of persons in danger of death: and which is fully expressed by St. James, in his Catholic Epistle. (James vi.[v.?]) The Council of Trent says this sacrament was insinuated in St. Mark, and published in the Epistle of St. James. (Council of Trent, session xiv., Mark 1.) (Witham) |
| Mark 6:14 | *And king Herod heard, (for his name was made manifest) and he said: John the Baptist is risen again from the dead, and therefore mighty works shew forth themselves in him. Matthew 14:2.; Luke 9:7. | The Herod here mentioned was the son of Herod, from whom St. Joseph fled with Jesus and Mary into Egypt. (St. Chrysostom, hom. xlix. in Matt.) --- How great was the envy of the Jews, is easily to be conceived from this passage. They can believe that John is risen from the dead, and appeared in public again, although no one gave testimony that this was the case: but that Jesus, so much favoured by God, who worked so many and so great miracles, should be risen again is incredible, although attested by angels, by apostles, by men, women, and persons of every denomination. They still assert that the body of Jesus was stolen. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 6:15 | And others said: It is Elias. But others said: It is a prophet, as one of the prophets. | |
| Mark 6:16 | Which Herod hearing, said: John whom I beheaded, he is risen again from the dead. | |
| Mark 6:17 | *For Herod himself had sent and apprehended John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, the wife of Philip, his brother, because he had married her. Luke 3:19. | |
| Mark 6:18 | For John said to Herod: *It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. Leviticus 18:16. | |
| Mark 6:19 | Now Herodias laid snares for him: and was desirous to put him to death, and could not. | |
| Mark 6:20 | For Herod feared John, knowing him to be a just and holy man: and kept him, and when he heard him, did many things: and he heard him willingly. | Herod,{ Ver. 20. Custodiebat eum, suneterei auton. The Protestant translation, observed him.|} etc. The sense both of the Latin and Greek text seems to be, that Herod entertained and shewed a particular respect and value for John the Baptist: yet some expound it, that he had a watchful eye over him, and sought only for an occasion to take him off. (Witham) |
| Mark 6:21 | And when a convenient day was come, Herod made a supper for his birthday, for the princes, and tribunes, and chief men of Galilee. | |
| Mark 6:22 | And when the daughter of the same Herodias had come in, and had danced, and pleased Herod, and them that were at table with him, the king said to the damsel: Ask of me what thou wilt, and I will give it thee. | |
| Mark 6:23 | And he swore to her: Whatsoever thou shalt ask I will give thee, though it be the half of my kingdom. | |
| Mark 6:24 | Who when she was gone out, she said to her mother: What shall I ask? But she said: The head of John the Baptist. | |
| Mark 6:25 | And when she had come in immediately with haste to the king, she asked, saying: I will that forthwith thou give me in a dish the head of John the Baptist. | |
| Mark 6:26 | And the king was struck sad: yet because of his oath, and because of them that were with him at table, he would not displease her: | It is customary, in Scripture, to give the generally prevailing sentiment at the time; thus Joseph is called by the blessed Virgin, the father of Jesus; so now Herod is said to be stricken with sadness, because he appeared to be so to the company at table, though within his own breast, he secretly rejoiced that he had an opportunity of destroying an importuning monitor, with an exterior shew of piety and honour. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 6:27 | But sending an executioner, he commanded that his head should be brought in a dish. And he beheaded him in the prison, | |
| Mark 6:28 | And brought his head in a dish; and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother. | |
| Mark 6:29 | *Which his disciples hearing, came, and took his body: and laid it in a tomb. Matthew 14:12. | Church history informs us, that the Christians were accustomed to frequent this tomb with great piety and respect, till the reign of Julian the apostate, at which time the pagans, through hatred for Christianity, broke open his tomb, and dispersed his bones; but immediately after, thinking it better to burn them, they endeavoured to collect them again. But some religious of a neighbouring convent, joining themselves to the pagans, under pretence of collecting the bones to burn, secreted the greater part of them, and sent them to Philip, at Jerusalem, who sent them to Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria; and in the reign of Theodosius, the temple of Serapis was converted into a Christian church, and dedicated to the honour of St. John the Baptist, where his relics were deposited. (Gloss. Ordina.) |
| Mark 6:30 | *And the apostles coming together unto Jesus, related to him all things that they had done and taught. Luke 9:10. | |
| Mark 6:31 | And he said to them: *Come ye apart into a desert place, and rest a little. For there were many coming and going: and they had not so much as time to eat. Matthew 14:13.; Luke 9:10.; John 6:1. | |
| Mark 6:32 | And going up into a ship, they went into a desert place apart. | |
| Mark 6:33 | And they saw them going away, and many knew: and they ran flocking thither on foot from all the cities, and were there before them. | |
| Mark 6:34 | *And Jesus going out, saw a great multitude: and he had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. Matthew 9:36.; Matthew 14:14. | |
| Mark 6:35 | And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came to him, saying: This is a desert place, and the hour is now past: | |
| Mark 6:36 | *Send them away, that going into the next villages and towns, they may buy themselves meat to eat. Luke 9:12. | |
| Mark 6:37 | But he answering, said to them: Give you them to eat. And they said to him: Let us go and buy bread for two hundred pence, and we will give them to eat. | For two hundred pence. See Matthew 18:28. The apostles seem to speak these words ironically, to signify that they had not so much money as could procure a mouthful for each of them. (Witham) |
| Mark 6:38 | And he saith to them: How many loaves have you? go and see. And when they knew, they say: Five, and two fishes. | |
| Mark 6:39 | *And he commanded them to make them all sit down by companies upon the green grass. John 6:10. | |
| Mark 6:40 | And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. | |
| Mark 6:41 | And when he had taken the five loaves, and the two fishes; looking up to heaven, he blessed, and broke the loaves, and gave to his disciples to set before them: and the two fishes he divided among them all. | |
| Mark 6:42 | And they all did eat, and had their fill. | |
| Mark 6:43 | And they took up the leavings, twelve baskets full of fragments, and of the fishes. | |
| Mark 6:44 | And they that did eat, were five thousand men. | |
| Mark 6:45 | And immediately he obliged his disciples to go up into the ship, that they might go before him over the water to Bethsaida: whilst he dismissed the people. | The apostles were in a desert place belonging to Bethsaida, which probably was divided from it by some bay or creek, that ran into the land; and Christ only ordered them to pass over this to the city, where he might afterwards have joined them, when he had sent away the people. But in their passage a great storm arose, and they were driven by an adverse wind to the open sea, towards Capharnaum; or, probably, when they found the wind so violent, afraid of shipwreck if they neared the shore, they rowed out to sea. This reconciles the seeming discrepance of St. Mark and St. John, when notwithstanding the directions Christ had given his disciples to go before him to Bethsaida, we find them going to Capharnaum. (Rutter) |
| Mark 6:46 | And when he had dismissed them, he went up to the mountain to pray. | |
| Mark 6:47 | And when it was late, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. | |
| Mark 6:48 | *And seeing them labouring in rowing, (for the wind was against them) and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh to them, walking upon the sea; and he would have passed by them. Matthew 14:25. | Thus the divine mercy often seems to desert the faithful in the height of tribulation, but God only acts thus, that he may try their patience, and reward them more abundantly. (Nicholas of Lyra) |
| Mark 6:49 | But they seeing him walking upon the sea, thought it was an apparition, and they cried out. | |
| Mark 6:50 | For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he spoke with them, and said to them: Have a good heart, it is I; fear ye not. | |
| Mark 6:51 | And he went up to them into the ship, and the wind ceased. And they were far more astonished within themselves. | |
| Mark 6:52 | For they understood not concerning the loaves: for their heart was blinded. | They understood not concerning the loaves;{ Ver. 52. Non intellexerunt de panibus, ou gar sunekan epi tois artois.|} that is they did not reflect how great a miracle that was which Christ had lately wrought, otherwise they would not have been so much surprised at his walking upon the sea. (Witham) |
| Mark 6:53 | *And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Genesareth, and set to the shore. Matthew 14:34. | |
| Mark 6:54 | And when they were gone out of the ship, immediately they knew him: | |
| Mark 6:55 | And running through that whole country, they began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was. | |
| Mark 6:56 | And whithersoever he entered, into towns, or into villages, or cities, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch but the hem of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole. | |
| Mark 7:0 | Christ rebukes the Pharisees. He heals the daughter of the woman of Chanaan; and the man that was deaf and dumb. | |
| Mark 7:1 | And there assembled together unto him the Pharisees, and some of the Scribes, coming from Jerusalem. | |
| Mark 7:2 | *And when they had seen some of his disciples eat bread with common, that is, with unwashed, hands, they found fault. Matthew 15:2. | about the year A.D. 32. With common hands. It may be translated, with defiled hands; as also ver. 15; but the circumstances plainly shew the sense. (Witham) |
| Mark 7:3 | For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, eat not without often washing their hands, holding the tradition of the ancients: | Often washing, etc.{ Ver. 3. Crebò, ean me pugme. Mr. Bois, prebend of Ely, defends the Latin version, and says pugme comes from pukna and puknos. But Theophylactus would have it to signify, up to the elbows; achri tou agkonos.|} Some would have the Greek to signify unless they wash up to the elbows, but I think without sufficient grounds. (Witham) |
| Mark 7:4 | And when they come from the market, unless they be washed, they eat not: and many other things there are that have been delivered to them to observe, the washings of cups, and of pots, and of brazen vessels, and of beds. | Washed: literally, baptized. By beds are not understood night beds, but couches to eat upon, as it was then the custom. (Witham) |
| Mark 7:5 | And the Pharisees and Scribes asked him: Why do not thy disciples walk according to the tradition of the ancients, but they eat bread with common hands? | |
| Mark 7:6 | But he answering, said to them: Well did Isaias prophesy of you, hypocrites, as it is written: *This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Isaias 29:13. | |
| Mark 7:7 | And in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines and precepts of men. | See the annotations Matthew 15:9, 11. It is groundless to pretend from this text, that the precepts and traditions of the Church are not binding and obligatory, for Christ himself has commanded all to hear his Church, and obey their lawful pastors. These indeed may be called the precepts of men, but they are precepts of men invested with power and authority from God, and of whom Christ himself said, (Luke 10:16.) He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me. |
| Mark 7:8 | For leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washings of pots, and of cups: and many other things you do like to these. | |
| Mark 7:9 | And he said to them: Well do you make void the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition. | Well do you. Christ here speaks by the figure called irony. (Witham) |
| Mark 7:10 | For Moses said: *Honour thy father and thy mother: and **he that shall curse father or mother, let him die the death. Exodus 20:12.; Deuteronomy 5:16.; Ephesians 6:2. --- ** Exodus 21:17.; Leviticus 20:9.; Proverbs 20:20. | |
| Mark 7:11 | But you say: If a man shall say to his father or mother, Corban, (that is a gift) whatsoever is from me, shall profit thee: | |
| Mark 7:12 | And farther you suffer him not to do any thing for his father or his mother, | |
| Mark 7:13 | Making void the word of God by your tradition, which you have given forth. And many other such like things you do. | |
| Mark 7:14 | *And calling again the multitude unto him, he said to them: Hear ye me all, and understand. Matthew 15:10. | |
| Mark 7:15 | There is nothing from without a man entering into him, that can defile him: but the things which come from a man, those are they that defile a man. | |
| Mark 7:16 | If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. | |
| Mark 7:17 | And when he was come into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked him the parable. | Asked him the parable. Asked him to explain its meaning. |
| Mark 7:18 | And he saith to them: Are you also so unwise? understand you not that whatever thing from without entering into a man, it cannot defile him: | |
| Mark 7:19 | Because it entereth not into his heart, but goeth into the belly, and goeth out into the privy, purging all meats? | |
| Mark 7:20 | But he said that the things which come out from a man, they defile a man. | |
| Mark 7:21 | *For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Genesis 6:5. | |
| Mark 7:22 | Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. | |
| Mark 7:23 | All these evil things come from within, and defile a man. | |
| Mark 7:24 | *And rising from thence, he went to the borders of Tyre and Sidon: and entering into a house, he would have no man know it, but he could not be hid. Matthew 15:21. | If he desired to conceal himself, and could not, his will it seems was under control; but this is impossible. His will must always take place. On this occasion, therefore, he wished himself to be sought for by these Gentiles, but not to be made known by his own apostles. Wherefore it came to pass, that not the persons who were his followers, but the Gentiles who entered the house in which he was, published his fame abroad. (St. Augustine) --- Jesus Christ commanded his disciples not to publish that he was come into that country; not that he intended to cease from healing the infirm, and curing diseases, when he saw the faith of the inhabitants deserved it; for he informed the Gentile woman of his coming, and made it known to as many others as he thought worthy; but that he might teach us, by his example, to decline the applause of men. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 7:25 | For a certain woman heard of him, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, and presently came in, and fell down at his feet. | This part, in which St. Mark says that Christ was in the house, when the woman came to petition in behalf of her daughter, seems to differ from the narration of St. Matthew, who says that the disciples besought Christ to dismiss her, because she cried after them; by which he signifies, that she followed them as they were on the road. These apparent differences may thus easily be reconciled. The woman came to our Lord when he was in the house, and he, according to St. Matthew, not answering her a word, went out during the silence: the woman followed after, and by her perseverance obtained her request. (St. Augustine) |
| Mark 7:26 | For the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician born. And she besought him to cast forth the devil out of her daughter. | |
| Mark 7:27 | And he said to her: Let the children first be filled: for it is not good to take the bread of the children, and cast it to the dogs. | |
| Mark 7:28 | But she answered and said to him: Yea, Lord; for the whelps also eat under the table of the crumbs of the children. | |
| Mark 7:29 | And he said to her: For this saying, go thy way, the devil is gone out of thy daughter. | |
| Mark 7:30 | And when she was come to her house, she found the girl lying upon the bed, and that the devil was gone out. | |
| Mark 7:31 | And again going out of the borders of Tyre, he came to Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis. | |
| Mark 7:32 | *And they bring to him one that was deaf and dumb, and they besought him to lay his hand upon him. Matthew 11:32.; Luke 11:14. | Dumb.{ Ver. 32. Mutum, dumb; Greek, mogilalon, qui parum loquitur.|} The Greek signifies one that speaks little, or with difficulty. (Witham) --- They besought him. In the Greek it is, they beseech him, which agrees so well with they bring, that we have every reason to believe that this was the original reading. |
| Mark 7:33 | And taking him aside from the multitude, he put his fingers into his ears, and spitting, he touched his tongue; | |
| Mark 7:34 | And looking up to heaven, he groaned, and said to him, Ephphetha, that is, Be opened. | Ephphetha, a Syriac word. Jesus Christ, in the cure of this man, uses many and various actions; but as of their own nature they are no ways equal to such a cure, they shew: first, that the cure was miraculous; and secondly, the virtue, which his divinity communicated to his sacred body. (Bible de Vence) --- We must not suppose that our Saviour here groaned on account of any difficulty he experienced in working this miracle, but only from commiseration for the man, whom he was about to heal; as likewise to shew, how very difficult is the cure of those who are spiritually deaf and dumb by sin. He was affected in a similar manner when he raised Lazarus to life, to shew with what difficulty a man, dead and buried in sin by evil habits, can arise from that miserable state. (Denis the Carthusian) |
| Mark 7:35 | And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right. | |
| Mark 7:36 | And he charged them that they should tell no man. But the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal did they publish it: | |
| Mark 7:37 | And so much the more did they wonder, saying, He hath done all things well; he hath made both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. | |
| Mark 8:0 | Christ feeds four thousand. He gives sight to a blind man. He foretells his passion. | |
| Mark 8:1 | In *those days again, when there was a great multitude, and they had nothing to eat; calling his disciples together, he saith to them: Matthew 15:32. | about the year A.D. 32. |
| Mark 8:2 | I have compassion on the multitude: for behold they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: | |
| Mark 8:3 | And if I shall send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint in the way; for some of them came from afar off. | |
| Mark 8:4 | And his disciples answered him: From whence can any one satisfy them here with bread in the wilderness? | |
| Mark 8:5 | And he asked them: How many loaves have ye? and they said: Seven. | |
| Mark 8:6 | And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and taking the seven loaves, giving thanks, he broke, and gave to his disciples to set before them, and they set them before the people. | |
| Mark 8:7 | And they had a few little fishes: and he blessed them, and commanded them to be set before them. | |
| Mark 8:8 | And they did eat and were filled, and they took up that which was left of the fragments, seven baskets. | After the multitude had eaten and were filled, they did not take the remains; but these the disciples collected, as in the former miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. By this circumstance we are taught to be content with what is sufficient, and to seek no unnecessary supplies. We may likewise learn from this stupendous miracle the providence of God and his goodness, who sends us not away fasting, but wishes all to be nourished and enriched with his grace. (Theophylactus) --- Thus does our Lord verify in his works what he has promised in his instructions; that if we will seek in the first instance the kingdom of God and his justice, that all necessary things shall be added unto us. By the gathering up of the fragments that remained, he not only made the miracle more striking to the multitude and to the apostles, but has also left us a practical lesson, how, in the midst of plenty, which proceeds from the munificence of heaven, we must suffer no waste. (Haydock) |
| Mark 8:9 | And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away. | St. Matthew (xv. 38.) adds, without counting either the women or the children. |
| Mark 8:10 | And immediately going up into a ship with his disciples, he came into the parts of Dalmanutha. | Dalmanutha. St. Matthew (xv. 39.) has, to the borders of Magedan; in Greek, Magdala, or Magedan. These were two towns beyond the sea of Galilee, situated near to each other; it is of little consequence which of these names the Evangelists mention; perhaps our Saviour visited both. (Tirinus) --- The major part of commentators, if we can believe the Bible of Vence, take Magedan, or Magdala, to be the the town of that name situated to the east of the lake of Tiberias, in the vicinity of Gerasa, and Dalmanutha to be the name of that part of the country in which these two towns were situated. (Bible de Vence) --- Polus in his Synopsis Criticorum, (vol. 4:p. 410.) gives three explanations for the discrepance of the names in Sts. Matthew and Mark: 1. Idem locus erat binominis, the same place might have two names. 2. Propiqua erant loca, the places were near. 3. Alterum erat regio, alterum vicus, the one was the name of the territory, the other of the town or village; and concludes with asserting from Jewish authorities, that it was the same territory in which the two villages Magedan and Dalmanutha were situated; so that it might be known by either name, as we find the territory of Gadara and of Gergesae is one and the same. (Polus) |
| Mark 8:11 | *And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. Matthew 16:1.; Luke 11:54. | Jesus Christ did not consent to the petition they made him, because there will be another time for signs and wonders, viz. his second coming, when the powers of heaven shall be moved, and the moon refuse her light. This his first coming is not to terrify man, but to instruct and store his mind with lessons of humility, and every other virtue. (Theophylactus) |
| Mark 8:12 | And sighing deeply in spirit, he saith: Why doth this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, a sign shall not be given to this generation. | Jesus Christ fetches a deep sigh on account of their obduracy, and says; why do these ask for a miracle to confirm their belief, when they resist the authority of so many miracles, which are daily performed under their eyes? (Bible de Vence) --- A sign shall not be given. But by a Hebrew form of speech, if divers times is put for a negative. (Witham) |
| Mark 8:13 | And leaving them, he went up again into the ship, and passed to the other side of the water. | |
| Mark 8:14 | And they forgot to take bread: and they had but one loaf with them in the ship. | |
| Mark 8:15 | And he charged them, saying: Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. | Of the leaven of Herod. In Matthew 16:6, we read of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees: we may conclude that Christ named all of them. (Witham) |
| Mark 8:16 | And they reasoned among themselves, saying: Because we have no bread. | |
| Mark 8:17 | Which Jesus knowing, saith to them: Why do you reason, because you have no bread? do you not yet know nor understand? have you still your heart blinded? | |
| Mark 8:18 | Having eyes, see you not? and having ears, hear you not? *Neither do you remember. Mark 6:41.; John 6:11. | |
| Mark 8:19 | When I broke the five loaves among five thousand: how many baskets full of fragments took you up? They say to him: Twelve. | |
| Mark 8:20 | And when the seven loaves among four thousand, how many baskets of fragments took you up? And they say to him: Seven. | |
| Mark 8:21 | And he said to them: How do you not yet understand? | |
| Mark 8:22 | And they came to Bethsaida: and they bring to him a blind man, and they besought him to touch him. | |
| Mark 8:23 | And taking the blind man by the hand, he led him out of the town: and spitting upon his eyes, laying his hands on him, he asked him if he saw any thing. | It may be asked, why our Lord led the man from the multitude before he cured him? --- It may be answered, that he did it not to seem to perform his prodigies through vain glory; and thence to teach us to shun the empty praises of men: 2dly, to facilitate recollection, and to give himself to prayer, before he cured the blind man; and lastly, he went out of the city because the inhabitants of Bethsaida had already rendered themselves unworthy of the miracles of Christ. For among them our Saviour had wrought many miracles, yet they would not believe. (St. Matthew 11:21.) (Tirinus) (Theophylactus) --- Dionysius says, that Jesus led him from the multitude to shew that if a sinner, figured by the blind man, wishes to be converted from his evil ways, he must first leave all immediate occasions and inducements to sin. (Dionysius) |
| Mark 8:24 | And looking up, he said: I see men, as trees, walking. | Men{ Ver. 24. Video homines velut arbores ambulantes, blepo taus anthropous os dendra peripatountas.|} as trees walking. In the Latin text, walking may agree either with men, or with trees, but the Greek shews that walking must be referred to men. Perhaps Christ restored sight in this manner to the man by degrees, to make him more sensible of the benefit; or to teach us how difficult is a sinner's conversion; of which this was a figure. (Witham) |
| Mark 8:25 | After that he laid his hands again upon his eyes, and he began to see, and was restored, so that he saw all things clearly. | Our Saviour made use of exterior signs in the performance of his miracles to command attention, and to signify the inward effects of the favours grants: these the Catholic Church, after the example of her Founder and Model, also uses in the celebration of her sacraments, and for the same purposes. Nor ought any supercilious and superficial reasoner to undervalue and contemn the corporal and external application of holy things, under the hollow plea, that we are exclusively to attend to the spirit and faith. |
| Mark 8:26 | And he sent him to his house; saying: Go into thy house, and if thou enter into the town, tell nobody. | |
| Mark 8:27 | *And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and in the way he asked his disciples, saying to them: **Whom do men say that I am? Matthew 16:13. --- ** Luke 9:18. | |
| Mark 8:28 | And they answered him, saying: John the Baptist; but some Elias, and others as one of the prophets. | As one of the prophets. In the Greek it is, one of the prophets. |
| Mark 8:29 | Then he saith to them: But whom do you say that I am? Peter answering, said to him: Thou art the Christ. | |
| Mark 8:30 | And he strictly charged them that they should not tell any man of him. | |
| Mark 8:31 | And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the ancients, and by the high priests, and the Scribes, and be killed: and after three days rise again. | After our Redeemer had heard the confession of his first apostle, who spoke in the name of all, as the head, he opens out to them the grand mystery of his passion. |
| Mark 8:32 | And he spoke the word openly: *And Peter taking him, began to rebuke him. Matthew 16:22. | |
| Mark 8:33 | But he turning about and seeing his disciples, threatened Peter, saying: Go after me, Satan, because thou dost not relish the things that are of God, but the things that are of men. | |
| Mark 8:34 | And calling together the multitude with his disciples, he said to them: *If any man will follow me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Matthew 10:38.; Matthew 16:24. | |
| Mark 8:35 | *For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, and for the gospel, shall save it. Luke 9:23.; Luke 14:27. | |
| Mark 8:36 | For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? | |
| Mark 8:37 | Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? | |
| Mark 8:38 | *For whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man also shall be ashamed of him, when he shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels. Matthew 10:33.; Luke 9:26.; Luke 12:9. | |
| Mark 8:39 | And he said to them: *Amen, I say to you, that there are some of them that stand here, who shall not taste death, till they see the kingdom of God coming in power. Matthew 16:28.; Luke 9:27. | |
| Mark 9:0 | Christ is transfigured. He casts out the dumb spirit. He teaches humility, and to avoid scandal. | |
| Mark 9:1 | And *after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John: and leadeth them up to a high mountain apart by themselves, and was transfigured before them. Matthew 17:1.; Luke 9:28. | |
| Mark 9:2 | And his garments became shining, and exceedingly white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can make white. | |
| Mark 9:3 | And there appeared to them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. | |
| Mark 9:4 | And Peter answering, said to Jesus: Rabbi, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. | The law and the prophets were signified by Moses and Elias; both bear testimony to the divinity of Jesus Christ's mission, which was effectually to close the old, and open the new dispensation. By the apparitions of these two illustrious personages, we learn also that sometimes, though not often, there is, by the permission of heaven, a certain intercourse between the living and the dead. (Bristow) |
| Mark 9:5 | For he knew not what he said: for they were struck with fear. | Peter had forgotten that the glorious kingdom of Christ was not of this world, but in heaven only; that himself and the other apostles, clothed as they were with their mortality, could not participate in immortal joys; and that the mansions in the house of the Father are not raised with human hands. He again shewed that he knew not what he said, by wishing to make three tabernacles, one for the law, one for the prophets, and one for the gospel, since these three cannot be separated from each other. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 9:6 | And there was a cloud that overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, saying: This is my most beloved Son: hear ye him. | |
| Mark 9:7 | And immediately looking about, they saw no man any more, but Jesus only with them. | |
| Mark 9:8 | *And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them not to tell any man what things they had seen, till the Son of man shall be risen again from the dead. Matthew 17:9. | |
| Mark 9:9 | And they kept the word to themselves: questioning together what that should mean: When he shall be risen from the dead. | Risen from the dead. The disciples believed the resurrection of the dead, but they knew not what Christ meant by by his rising from the dead. Their thoughts were filled with the idea of a glorious kingdom in this world, in which they should enjoy great dignities and offices under the Messias. (Witham) |
| Mark 9:10 | And they asked him, saying: *Why then do the Pharisees and Scribes say, that Elias must come first? Matthew 17:10. | The Jews here confound the two comings of Jesus Christ. The Baptist, in the spirit of Elias, will precede the first, and Elias in person, the second coming of Christ. |
| Mark 9:11 | He answering, said to them: Elias, when he shall come first, shall restore all things: and how *it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be despised. Isaias 53:3-4. | |
| Mark 9:12 | But I say to you, that Elias also is come, (and they have done to him whatsoever they would) as it is written of him. | |
| Mark 9:13 | And coming to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the Scribes questioning with them. | |
| Mark 9:14 | And presently all the people seeing Jesus, were astonished and struck with fear: and running to him, they saluted him. | The multitude were so solicitous to see Christ that they saluted him when yet a great way off. Some imagine that the countenance of our Saviour, being rendered more beautiful by his transfiguration, attracted the attention and admiration of the people. (Theophylactus) |
| Mark 9:15 | And he asked them, What do you question about among you? | |
| Mark 9:16 | *And one of the multitude, answering, said: Master, I have brought to thee my son who hath a dumb spirit. Luke 9:38. | |
| Mark 9:17 | Who wheresoever he taketh him, dasheth him, and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away; and I spoke to thy disciples to cast him out, and they could not. | |
| Mark 9:18 | He answering them, said: O incredulous generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him to me. | |
| Mark 9:19 | And they brought him. And when he had seen him, immediately the spirit troubled him: and being thrown down upon the ground, he rolled about, foaming. | |
| Mark 9:20 | And he asked his father: How long a time is it since this hath happened unto him? But he said: From his infancy. | Let those blush who pretend to affirm, that all men come into this world clear of original sin, and perfectly innocent like Adam when first created. For why should this child be tormented by a cruel devil, if he had not been under the guilt of original sin, as it is clear, beyond dispute, that he could not be guilty of any actual transgression? (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 9:21 | And oftentimes hath he cast him into the fire, and into waters, to destroy him. But if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. | |
| Mark 9:22 | And Jesus saith to him: If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. | The answer of our Lord is adapted to the petition of the child's father. He had said: If thou canst do any thing, have mercy on us: and Christ answered: If thou canst believe, etc. Thus when the leper said: If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean, he answered: I will, be thou made clean. (Ven Bede) --- { Ver. 22. Omnia possibilia sunt credenti, dunata to pisteuont.|}All things are possible to him that believeth. The sense is not, as if he that believeth could do all things; but that any thing might be done by the divine power and goodness, in favour of him that had a firm and lively faith. (Witham) |
| Mark 9:23 | And immediately the father of the boy crying out, with tears, said: I do believe, Lord; help my unbelief. | If the man believed, as he said, why does he add, help my unbelief? It may be answered: because faith is manifold; their is a faith of beginners, and a faith of the perfect. The incipient faith this man already possessed, and he besought our Saviour to help him to the higher degrees of this virtue. No one becomes great and perfect all at once, but must first set off with small beginnings, and thus gradually ascend to the height of perfection. Thus the man, who, by the inspiration of grace has received imperfect faith, may be said at the same time to believe, and still to be incredulous. (Ven. Bede) --- Here we are taught that our faith is weak, and has need of support and increase from God's assistance. When tears accompany our faith, they obtain for us the grant of our petitions. (St. Jerome) |
| Mark 9:24 | And when Jesus saw the multitude running together, he threatened the unclean spirit, saying to him: Thou deaf and dumb spirit, I command thee, go out of him; and enter no more into him. | |
| Mark 9:25 | And crying out, and greatly tearing him, he went out of him, and he became as one dead, insomuch that many said, He is dead. | |
| Mark 9:26 | But Jesus taking him by the hand, lifted him up, and he arose. | Him whom the devil had made like to the dead, the goodness of Christ, by his charitable touch, restored to life. Thus proving at once both his divinity and humanity; the former by his wonderful cure of healing, and the latter by performing this cure by a touch of the hand. (Ven. Bede) --- The devil could not inflict a real death on the child, on account of the dissent of the Author of life. (St. Chrysostom) |
| Mark 9:27 | And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately; Why could not we cast him out? | This person, whom the apostles had forbidden to work miracles in the name of Christ, believed indeed in Christ, but did not follow him, on account of the great poverty of the apostles: he was not perfect, nor had he left all things to follow Christ. The apostles therefore concluded, that such a one was not worthy to work miracles in the name of their divine Master. But for this indiscretion, Christ rebukes them, saying , do not, etc. (Tirinus) |
| Mark 9:28 | And he said to them: This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. | |
| Mark 9:29 | And departing from thence, they passed through Galilee, and he would not that any man should know it. | |
| Mark 9:30 | And he taught his disciples, and said to them: *The Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise again the third day. Matthew 17:21.; Luke 9:22.; Luke 9:44. | |
| Mark 9:31 | But they understood not the word: and they were afraid to ask him. | They could not comprehend what he said; and this not so much through the dulness and stupidity of their understandings, as through their personal affection to him; and because knowing him to be God, they could not conceive how a God could die. (Nicholas of Lyra) |
| Mark 9:32 | And they came to Capharnaum. And when they were in the house, he asked them: What did you treat of in the way? | |
| Mark 9:33 | But they held their peace: for in the way they had disputed among themselves, *which of them should be the greatest. Matthew 18:1.; Luke 9:46. | |
| Mark 9:34 | And sitting down, he called the twelve, and saith to them: If any man desire to be first, he shall be the last of all, and the servant of all. | |
| Mark 9:35 | And taking a child, he set him in the midst of them: and when he had embraced, he saith to them: | |
| Mark 9:36 | Whosoever shall receive one such child as this in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me. | |
| Mark 9:37 | *John answered him, saying: Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, who followeth not us, and we forbade him. Luke 9:49. | Who followeth not us, in that special manner, as Christ's apostles did. (Witham) |
| Mark 9:38 | But Jesus said: Do not forbid him: *For there is no man that doth a miracle in my name, that can soon speak ill of me. 1 Corinthians 12:3. | |
| Mark 9:39 | For he that is not against you, is for you. | |
| Mark 9:40 | *For whosoever shall give you to drink a cup of water in my name, because you belong to Christ, Amen, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. Matthew 10:42. | Here we may find that no one, however poor, can be excused from good works; since there is no one who is not able to give at least a cup of cold water; and we are assured that he will not lose his reward. (Nicholas of Lyra) |
| Mark 9:41 | *And whosoever shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. Matthew 18:6.; Luke 17:2. | |
| Mark 9:42 | *And if thy hand scandalize thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than, having two hands, to go into hell, into unquenchable fire: Matthew 5:30.; Matthew 18:8. | |
| Mark 9:43 | Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished. | Where their worm dieth not. These words are taken out of Isaias 66:24; and are to be expounded of the punishments, and fruitless repentance of the wicked in the next world. (Witham) |
| Mark 9:44 | And if thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter lame into life everlasting, than, having two feet, to be cast into the hell of unquenchable fire: | |
| Mark 9:45 | *Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished. Isaias 66:24. | |
| Mark 9:46 | And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee, with one eye, to enter into the kingdom of God; than, having two eyes, to be cast into the hell of fire: | |
| Mark 9:47 | Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished. | |
| Mark 9:48 | *For every one shall be salted with fire: and every victim shall be salted with salt. Leviticus 2:13. | { Ver. 48. Omnis enim igne salietur, et omnis victima sale salietur, pas gar puri alisthesetai, kai pasa thusia ali alisthesetai.|}For every one shall be salted with fire. The sense seems to be, that every wicked unrepenting sinner (of whom it was before said, that their worm dieth not) shall be severely and continually punished, though not consumed by the fire of hell. --- And every victim shall be salted with salt; that is, even good men shall be cleansed and purified by trials and sufferings in this world, as some victims were to be salted by the law. (Leviticus 2:13.) (Witham) |
| Mark 9:49 | *Salt is good: but if the salt become unsavoury; wherewith will you season it? Have salt in you, and have peace among you. Matthew 5:13.; Luke 14:34. | Become unsavoury; that is if he, who has once received the faith, should apostatize from it, what is there that can possibly convert him from his wicked ways? since even the salt, with which he was salted, is become unsavoury, that is the doctrines he formerly received are no longer of any use. (Nicholas of Lyra) |
| Mark 10:0 | Marriage is not to be dissolved. The danger of riches. The ambition of the sons of Zebedee. A blind man is restored to his sight. | |
| Mark 10:1 | And *rising up from thence, he cometh into the borders of Judea, beyond the Jordan: and the multitudes flock to him again. And as he was accustomed, he taught them again. Matthew 19:1. | |
| Mark 10:2 | And the Pharisees coming to him, asked him: Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. | |
| Mark 10:3 | But he answering, saith to them: What did Moses command you? | |
| Mark 10:4 | They said: *Moses permitted to write a bill of divorce, and to put her away. Deuteronomy 24:1. | Moses permitted the injured husband to send away his wife, declaring that he had repudiated her. See Deuteronomy 24:1. |
| Mark 10:5 | Jesus answering, said to them: Because of the hardness of your heart, he wrote you that precept. | Because of the hardness of their hearts, and to prevent the excesses they would otherwise have committed with regard to their wives. (Bible de Vence) |
| Mark 10:6 | But from the beginning of the creation, *God made them male and female. Genesis 1:27. | But from the beginning of the world it was not thus; for then God only formed one man and one woman, that they might be exclusively and invariably attached to each other. |
| Mark 10:7 | For this cause *a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife. Geneis 2:24.; Matthew 19:5.; 1 Corinthians 7:10.; Ephesians 5:31. | Hence it is written, (Genesis 2:24, and Matthew 19:5.) A man shall leave father and mother, and adhere to his wife. |
| Mark 10:8 | *And they two shall be in one flesh. Therefore now they are not two, but one flesh. 1 Corinthians 6:16. | |
| Mark 10:9 | What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. | |
| Mark 10:10 | And in the house again his disciples asked him concerning the same thing. | |
| Mark 10:11 | And he saith to them: Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. | |
| Mark 10:12 | And if the wife shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. | |
| Mark 10:13 | And they brought to him young children, that he might touch them. And the disciples rebuked them that brought them. | |
| Mark 10:14 | Whom when Jesus saw, he was much displeased, and said to them: Suffer the little children to come to me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. | Unless we are possessed of the innocence and purity of little children, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. By the kingdom of heaven, we may here understand the truths of the gospel; for as a child never contradicts its teachers, nor opposes to them vain reasonings and empty words, but faithfully and readily receives their instructions, and with fear obeys them; so must we implicitly obey, and without any, the least, opposition, receive the word of the Lord. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 10:15 | Amen, I say to you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall not enter into it. | |
| Mark 10:16 | And embracing them, and laying his hands upon them, he blessed them. | |
| Mark 10:17 | And when he was gone forth into the way, a certain man running up and kneeling before him, *asked him: Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting? Matthew 19:16.; Luke 18:18. | |
| Mark 10:18 | And Jesus said to him: Why callest thou me good? None is good, but one; that is God. | None is good. Of himself, entirely and essentially, but God alone: men may be good also, but only by a participation of God's goodness. (Challoner) |
| Mark 10:19 | *Thou knowest the commandments: Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, bear not false witness, do not fraud, honour thy father and mother. Exodus 20:13. | |
| Mark 10:20 | But he answering, said to him: Master, all these things I have observed from my youth. | We must recollect, that to the faithful observers of the Mosaic law, not only present goods were given, but the happiness of a future life promised. Hence our Lord with reason inquired, whether he had kept the commandments. The innocent life of this young man is deserving of our imitation. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 10:21 | And Jesus looking on him, loved him; and said to him: One thing is wanting unto thee: go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. | Loved him. We need understand no more by this, than that Christ gave him some marks of his tenderness for him, and for all men by his kind instructions, and invitations to a good and perfect life. (Witham) --- It is worthy of inquiry, how that could happen which the evangelist here mentions, how Jesus could love this young man; when, as it is here related, he did not follow the admonitions given him by Jesus Christ. The reason is, Christ loved him for his past behaviour, and his strict observance of the old law. (St. Chrysostom in St. Thomas, Catena Aurea) |
| Mark 10:22 | But he being struck sad at the saying, went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. | |
| Mark 10:23 | And Jesus looking round about, saith to his disciples: How hardly shall they who have riches, enter into the kingdom of God! | |
| Mark 10:24 | And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answering again, saith to them: Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God! | |
| Mark 10:25 | It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. | |
| Mark 10:26 | They wondered the more, saying among themselves: Who then can be saved? | |
| Mark 10:27 | And Jesus looking on them, saith: With men it is impossible; but not with God: for all things are possible with God. | |
| Mark 10:28 | *And Peter began to say to him: Behold, we have left all things, and have followed thee. Matthew 19:27.; Luke 18:28. | Although St. Peter had left but few things, he still calls them his all. For small things have power of attaching us to them, and of exciting our passions; therefore he that forsakes his small possessions, shall be a partaker of the blessings of Jesus Christ. (Theophylactus) |
| Mark 10:29 | Jesus answering, said: Amen, I say to you, there is no man, who hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, | |
| Mark 10:30 | Who shall not receive a hundred times as much, now in this time; houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions: and in the world to come, life everlasting. | |
| Mark 10:31 | *But many that are first, shall be last, and the last first. Matthew 19:30. | |
| Mark 10:32 | And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem: and Jesus went before them, and they were astonished: and following, were afraid. *And taking again the twelve, he began to tell them the things that should befall him. Luke 18:31. | Christ goes before, to shew his eagerness to suffer the ignominies and torments of his approaching passion, for our salvation. (Theophylactus) --- But the disciples being already forewarned of what their Master was to suffer from the high priest and Scribes, went along the road to Jerusalem, with silent fear and trepidation, either lest they should be put to death with him, or lest he, whose life and doctrines they enjoyed, should fall into the hands of his enemies. But our kind Redeemer, foreseeing that the minds of his disciples were disturbed, comforts them with the assurance of his resurrection. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 10:33 | Saying: Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be betrayed to the chief priests, and to the Scribes and ancients, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles. | |
| Mark 10:34 | And they shall mock him, and spit on him, and scourge him, and kill him: and the third day he shall rise again. | |
| Mark 10:35 | *And James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him, saying: Master, we desire that whatsoever we shall ask, thou wouldst do it for us. Matthew 20:20. | St. Matthew (xx. 20.) says it was their mother, Salome, but probably at their solicitation, or at least with their connivance and consent. |
| Mark 10:36 | But he said to them: What would you that I should do for you? | |
| Mark 10:37 | And they said: Grant to us, that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. | |
| Mark 10:38 | And Jesus said to them: You know not what you ask. Can you drink of the chalice that I drink of: or be baptized with the baptism wherewith I am baptized? | |
| Mark 10:39 | But they said to him: We can. And Jesus saith to them: You shall indeed drink of the chalice that I drink of: and with the baptism wherewith I am baptized, you shall be baptized: | |
| Mark 10:40 | But to sit on my right hand, or on my left, is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared. | |
| Mark 10:41 | And the ten hearing it, began to be much displeased at James and John. | |
| Mark 10:42 | But Jesus calling them, saith to them: *You know that they who seem to rule over the Gentiles, lord it over them: and their princes have power over them. Luke 22:25. | Who seem to rule over the Gentiles, etc. See Matthew 20:25, and Luke 22:25. (Witham) |
| Mark 10:43 | But it is not so among you: but whosoever will be greater, shall be your minister. | In vain then do men either seek for immoderate power, or sigh after human greatness; for, not power, but humility, is the sure and only path to the summit of perfection. He then proves to them by his own example, that if they would not believe his words, they might at least learn by his example. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 10:44 | And whosoever will be first among you, shall be the servant of all. | |
| Mark 10:45 | For the Son of man also is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many. | |
| Mark 10:46 | *And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho, with his disciples and a very great multitude, Bartimaeus, the blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the way side, begging. Matthew 20:29.; Luke 18:35. | Bartimaeus is a Syriac word, and signifies, son of Timaeus. |
| Mark 10:47 | And when he had heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and to say: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. | |
| Mark 10:48 | And many rebuked him, that he might hold his peace. But he cried a great deal the more: Son of David, have mercy on me. | |
| Mark 10:49 | And Jesus standing still, commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying to him: Be of better comfort: arise, he calleth thee. | |
| Mark 10:50 | He casting off his garment, leaped up, and came to him. | |
| Mark 10:51 | And Jesus answering, said to him: What wilt thou that I should do to thee? And the blind man said to him: Rabboni, that I may see. | Let us endeavour sedulously to imitate the good example of this blind man, who did not ask for honours, riches, or other worldly advantages, but only that he might receive his sight; that he might behold the light with the blessed angels, to which faith alone can conduct us. (Ven. Bede) --- In this worse than Cimmerian darkness, how few are found, who pray as they ought for this all-necessary light of faith!!! |
| Mark 10:52 | And Jesus saith to him: Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he saw, and followed him in the way. | |
| Mark 11:0 | Christ enters into Jerusalem upon an ass: curses the barren fig-tree: and drives the buyers and sellers out of the temple. | |
| Mark 11:1 | And *when they were drawing near to Jerusalem, and to Bethania, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth two of his disciples, Matthew 21:1.; Luke 19:29. | about the year A.D. 33. This place, doubtless, had its name from the great number of olive-trees that grow upon it. It lay a little out of Jerusalem, on the east side, about five furlongs from the city, according to Josephus; but he must be understood of the nearest part of it, since St. Luke makes the distance to be a sabbath-day's journey, that is eight furlongs, or a mile; unless we suppose he meant the summit of the hill, from which our Saviour ascended. (Acts 1:12.) Mr. Maundrell says: I and my companions going out of Jerusalem, at St. Stephen's gate and crossing the valley of Josaphat, began immediately to ascend the mountain; and being about two-thirds of the way up, we came to certain grottos, cut with intricate windings and caverns, under ground, which were called, the sepulchres of the prophets; that a little higher up, were twelve arched vaults under ground, standing side by side, and built in memory of the apostles, who are said to have compiled their creed in this spot. Sixty paces higher, we came to the place where Christ is said to have uttered his prophecy, concerning the final destruction of Jerusalem; and a little on the right hand, to another, where he is said to have dictated (a second time) the Lord's prayer to his disciples. A little higher, is the cave of a saint called Pelagia; a little lower, a pillar denoting the place where an angel gave the blessed Virgin three day's warning of her death; and, at the top of all, we saw the place of our blessed Lord's ascension. See Maundrell's Journey to Jerusalem. --- In the Greek, being between Bethphage and Bethania. Bethania, which they had just left, was about one mile and a half from Jerusalem: Bethphage was between the two. (Bible de Vence) |
| Mark 11:2 | And saith to them: Go into the village that is over-against you, and immediately at your coming in thither, you shall find a colt tied, upon which no man yet hath sat: loose him, and bring him. | This order of Jesus Christ shews his omniscience and supreme dominion. By the former, he informs his two disciples that in Bethphage they would find a colt tied; and by the latter, he assures them that the master, on learning that the Lord hath need of the colt, will immediately let him go. (Haydock) |
| Mark 11:3 | And if any man shall say to you: What are you doing? say ye that the Lord hath need of him: and immediately he will let him come hither. | |
| Mark 11:4 | And going their way, they found the colt tied before the gate without, in the meeting of two ways: and they loose him. | |
| Mark 11:5 | And some of them that stood there, said to them: What do you, loosing the colt? | |
| Mark 11:6 | They said to them as Jesus had commanded them: and they let him go with them. | |
| Mark 11:7 | *And they brought the colt to Jesus: and they lay their garments on him, and he sat upon him. John 12:14. | |
| Mark 11:8 | And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down boughs from the trees, and strewed them in the way. | The martyrs strewed garments in the way by putting off the garments of the flesh, and thus preparing a way by their blood for the servants of God. Many strew their garments in the way, by subduing their bodies in fasting and abstinence, and thus affording good example to those that follow them. Those cut down branches from the trees, who in their instructions take their seeds from the discourses of the Fathers, and, by an unassuming and humble delivery, spread them in the way of God. (Ven. Bede) --- Let us strew the way of life, and cut branches from the trees, by imitating the example of the saints. For the saints are the trees, from which we cut down branches, when we imitate their virtues. (Theophylactus) --- The just shall flourish like the palm-tree, (Psalm xci.) confirmed in their roots, and extensive in their fruit and flowers, being the sweet odour of Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:15.) |
| Mark 11:9 | And they that went before and they that followed, cried, saying: *Hosanna: Psalm 117:26.; Isaias 28:16.; Matthew 21:9.; Luke 19:38. | They that went before, were the prophets; and they that come after, are the apostles. (St. Jerome) --- All these voluntary offerings were grateful to our divine Saviour; so are the like offerings made to him in the blessed sacrament. (Bristow) |
| Mark 11:10 | Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Blessed be the kingdom of our father, David, that cometh: Hosanna in the highest. | They call the kingdom of Christ the kingdom of David, because Christ was descended of the family of David. David is likewise interpreted, strong of hand; but who is strong of hand but the Lord, whose hand has wrought so many and such miracles? (Theophylactus) --- How great is the similarity of this sentence with that delivered by the angel Gabriel, when he addressed the blessed Virgin Mary: "the Lord God will give to Him the seat of David, his father." (Ven. Bede) --- "In the highest." By this is meant, that the just shall be built upon the ruins of the angels; and, that the inhabitants of the earth shall obtain salvation. (St. Jerome) --- The literal meaning is: blessed be the kingdom of our father, David, which he sees arrive in the person of his Son: Hosanna, glory and salvation to this Son so long expected, so ardently desired: peace and salvation, and glory be given to Him, by the great Lord and God, who dwelleth in the highest heaven. (St. Matthew 21:9; St. Luke 19:38.) |
| Mark 11:11 | *And he entered Jerusalem, into the temple: and having viewed all things round about, when now the hour of evening was come, he went out to Bethania with the twelve. Matthew 21:10. | In going into the temple, immediately on entering the city, he shews what religion recommends to us, viz. to enter first into a place of worship, if there is one, where we visit. (Ven. Bede) --- Looking into the hearts of all, he could not, amongst those who contradicted the truth, find where to recline his head; therefore, he withdraws to his faithful servants, and takes up his abode with the children of obedience. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 11:12 | And the next day, when they came out from Bethania, he was hungry. | |
| Mark 11:13 | *And when he had seen afar off a fig tree having leaves, he came, if perhaps he might find any thing on it. And when he was come to it, he found nothing but leaves: for it was not the time for figs. Matthew 21:19. | He came, if perhaps, etc. Christ knew there was no fruit upon it, and that it was not the season, or a season for figs. See Matthew 21:19, what instruction he designed to give his disciples by what he said and did to the fig-tree. (Witham) --- Jesus Christ here curses the barren tree, on account of his disciples, who were present; for as he every where gave instances of his most beneficent will, it was proper he should also give them proofs of his justice and severity. Hence his principal motive for cursing the fig-tree was, not on account of any hunger he then experienced; for it is not probable that Christ should experience so great hunger, and at so early an hour, as these words seem to indicate. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 11:14 | And answering, he said to it: May no man hereafter eat fruit of thee any more for ever. And his disciples heard it. | |
| Mark 11:15 | And they came to Jerusalem. And when he was entered into the temple, he began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and he overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the chairs of them that sold doves. | |
| Mark 11:16 | And he suffered not that any man should carry a vessel through the temple. | The vessels here spoken of as not allowed to be carried through the temple, were not any belonging to the temple, but only such as were brought by those who were buying and selling. Origen asserts, that our Saviour's driving so many thousands out of the temple, poor and humble as he appeared, was a more astonishing miracle than even his giving sight to the blind. So divine an effulgency flashed from his eyes and whole countenance, as affected every beholder with astonishment and awful terror. (Origen in Dionysius) --- If Christ could not bear to see his Father's house profaned, even with those things which in another place were not unbecoming, how indignant must he be to see the temple of God defiled with blasphemous and heretical doctrines, and with that levity and inattention observed in thoughtless giddy Christians, who thus scandalize and pervert his devoted children. (Haydock) |
| Mark 11:17 | And he taught, saying to them: Is it not written: *My house shall be called the house of prayer to all nations? But you have made it a den of thieves. Isaias 56:7.; Jeremias 7:11. | Not to the Jews only, but to all nations; not in Jerusalem only, but in every city of the known world. It is no longer a temple of bulls, goats, and rams, but a temple of prayer. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 11:18 | Which when the chief priests, and the Scribes, had heard, they sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because the whole multitude was in admiration at his doctrine. | What effect this strong reproof of our Saviour had upon the Jewish priests, and other ministers of the temple, is related by the evangelist in the subsequent words: they sought how they might destroy him. Still they were obliged to protract their iniquitous designs for a short time, as the multitude were in admiration of his doctrines. (Gloss.) --- It was on a Tuesday that Jesus Christ discussed various subjects in the temple, his mission, the duties we owe to society, the resurrection of the body, etc. etc. |
| Mark 11:19 | And when evening was come, he went forth out of the city. | |
| Mark 11:20 | And when they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig-tree dried up from the roots. | |
| Mark 11:21 | And Peter remembering, said to him: Rabbi, behold the fig-tree, which thou cursedst, is withered away. | |
| Mark 11:22 | And Jesus answering, saith to them: *Have the faith of God. Matthew 21:21. | |
| Mark 11:23 | Amen, I say to you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain: Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not stagger in his heart, but believe, that whatsoever he saith shall be done: it shall be done for him. | Ecclesiastical history informs us, that St. Gregory of Neo-Caesarea, surnamed Thaumaturgus (whose feast is kept Nov. 17.) performed this miracle, removing by his prayers a mountain that obstructed the building of a church. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 11:24 | *Therefore, I say to you, all things, whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive, and they shall come unto you. Matthew 17:19.; Matthew 21:22. | |
| Mark 11:25 | *And when you shall stand to pray, forgive, if you have any thing against any man, that your Father also, who is in heaven, may forgive you your sins. Matthew 6:14.; Matthew 18:35.; Luke 11:9. | |
| Mark 11:26 | But if you will not forgive, neither will your Father, who is in heaven, forgive you your sins. | Faith alone will not suffice for the remission of sins; we must moreover pardon every neighbour, and from our heart. |
| Mark 11:27 | *And they come again to Jerusalem. And when he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the Scribes, and the ancients; Luke 20:1. | |
| Mark 11:28 | And they say to him: By what authority dost thou these things? and who hath given thee this authority to do these things? | "It was a reasonable demand," says Dr. Barrow, "which was made to our Saviour: tell us by what authority thou doest these things, and who hath given thee this authority. The reasonableness of it our Lord did often avow, declaring, that if by his doctrine and works he had not vouched the divinity of his authority, it had been no sin to disbelieve or reject him." (John 5:31, 36; 10:25, 37; and 15:22, 24.) Dr. Barrow on Supremacy, p. 49. --- This principle, which supposes in pastors the necessity of a lawful mission, was formerly, and may still be, triumphantly urged against Luther, Calvin, Tindal [Tyndale], Cranmer, and all the first pretended Reformers of the Catholic Church. For whence, said the Catholics, did these innovators derive their mission? Who sent them to preach? Who gave them authority to reform and alter the whole state of God's Church? Let them shew their commission for this purpose, either ordinary or extraordinary. Unless they can do this, we have nothing to do with usurpers and intruders. ... If it be pretended that they had extraordinary mission, immediately derived from God, why did they not shew their credentials, stamped with the broad seal of heaven; that is, why did they not by clear and evident miracles, such as Christ and his apostles wrought, attest their being thus extraordinarily commissioned for the extraordinary work of the Reformation? Without such proofs as these, no pretensions to an extraordinary mission, in opposition to the ordinary Church authority, can be admitted. Otherwise every fanatic or enthusiast, following his own caprice, may pretend to a call from heaven; and, upon this foolish plea, preach up his own dreams for the pure word of God, in contempt of all authority, whether of Church or State. If it be said that the missions of the first reformers were ordinary, and derived to them by the ministry of men, it behoves them to point out what men these were from whom they received this ordinary power. Were they Catholics or Protestants? Not Protestants, for they cannot name any such who commissioned them to preach; not Catholics, because the religion which Luther and his reforming brethren endeavoured to propagate, was a new religion, directly opposite to that of Catholics, and therefore could not be taught, in virtue of any commission from Catholics. And how can they preach unless they be sent? (Romans 10:15.) If it be urged that Luther had received his orders in the Catholic Church, it is easily answered that this could not authorize him to commence preacher and teacher of another religion, any more than the orders which Mr. Whiston and Mr. Wesley might receive in the Protestant church of England could authorize them to teach a doctrine anathematized by that Church. (Rutter) |
| Mark 11:29 | And Jesus answering, said to them: I will also ask of you one word, and answer me: and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. | |
| Mark 11:30 | The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men? Answer me. | |
| Mark 11:31 | But they thought with themselves, saying: If we say, From heaven: he will say, Why then did you not believe him? | |
| Mark 11:32 | If we say, From men, we fear the people. For all men counted John that he was a prophet indeed. | |
| Mark 11:33 | And they answering, say to Jesus: We know not. And Jesus answering, saith to them: Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things. | Neither do I tell you, etc. I do not tell you what I know, because you refuse to own what you know. We should observe, there are here two reasons for concealing the truth from inquirers: 1st, when he that inquireth after the truth is incapable of understanding it; 2d, when on account of some contempt of the truth, or some other evil indisposition, the person is not deserving of having the truth laid open to him. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 12:0 | The parable of the vineyard and husbandmen. Caesar's right to tribute. The Sadducees are confuted. The first commandment. The widow's mite. | |
| Mark 12:1 | And *he began to speak to them in parables: A man planted a vineyard, and made a hedge round it, and dug a place for the wine-vat, and built a tower, and let it to husbandmen, and went into a far country. Isaias 5:1.; Jeremias 2:21.; Matthew 21:33.; Luke 20:9. | about the year A.D. 33. Under these figurative modes of speech, or parables, Jesus Christ began to trace out for their reflection a true portraiture of their ingratitude, and of the divine vengeance. By this man we are to understand God the Father, whose vineyard was the house of Israel, which he guarded by angels; the place dug for the wine-vat is the law; the tower, the temple; and Moses, the prophets and the priests, whom the Jews afflicted and persecuted are the husbandmen or servants. (St. Jerome) --- This same parable was employed by Isaias, 5:1. where speaking of Christ, he says: My beloved had a vineyard, and he fenced it in. (Tirinus) --- He went into a far country, not by change of place, for he is every where, but by leaving the workmen the power of free-will, either to work or not to work; in the same manner as a man in a far country cannot oversee his husbandmen at home, but leaves them to themselves. (Ven. Bede) -- This parable is thus morally explained: Jesus Christ planted a Church with his own blood, surrounded it with evangelical doctrine, as with a hedge; dug a place for the wine-vat, by the abundance of spiritual graces which he has prepared for his Church; built a tower, by appointing his angels to guard each individual Christian, who are the husbandmen to whom he has let it out. (Nicholas of Lyra) |
| Mark 12:2 | And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, to receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. | The first servant whom the Almighty sent, was Moses; but they sent him away empty; for, says the Psalmist, they provoked him to anger in the camp. (Psalm cv.) The second servant sent was David, whom they used reproachfully, saying: What have we to do with David? (3 Kings 12:16.) The third was the school of the prophets; and which of the prophets did they not kill? (Matthew xxiii.) (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 12:3 | But they having laid hands on him, beat him: and sent him away empty. | |
| Mark 12:4 | And again he sent to them another servant: and him they wounded in the head, and used him reproachfully. | |
| Mark 12:5 | And again he sent another, and him they killed: and many others, of whom some they beat, and others they killed. | |
| Mark 12:6 | Having therefore yet one most dearly beloved son: he sent him also to them last of all, saying: They will reverence my son. | |
| Mark 12:7 | But the husbandmen said one to another: This is the heir: come, let us kill him; and the inheritance shall be ours. | From this it appears, that the chief priests and lawyers were not ignorant that Christ was the Messias promised in the law and the prophets, but their knowledge was afterwards blinded by their envy: for otherwise, had they known him to be true God, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory, says St. Paul. For a further explanation, see St. Matthew xxi. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 12:8 | And laying hold on him, they killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. | They cast the heir, Jesus Christ, out of the vineyard, by leading him out of Jerusalem to be crucified. (Theophylactus) --- They had before cast him out by calling him a Samaritan and demoniac; (John 8.) and again by refusing to receive him, and turning him over to the Gentiles. (St. Jerome) |
| Mark 12:9 | What, therefore, will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard to others. | The vineyard is given to others; as it is said, they shall come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. (St. Jerome) |
| Mark 12:10 | And have you not read this Scripture, *The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: Psalm 117:22.; Isaias 28:16.; Matthew 21:42.; Acts 4:11.; Romans 9:33.; 1 Peter 2:7. | By this question, Christ shows that they were about to fulfil this prophecy, by casting him off, planning his death, and delivering him up to the Gentiles, by which he became the corner-stone, joining the two people of the Jews and Gentiles together, and forming out of them the one city and one temple of the faithful. (Ven. Bede) --- The Church is the corner, joining together Jews and Gentiles; the head of it is Christ. By the Lord hath this been done in our days, and it is wonderful in our eyes, seeing the prodigies which God has performed through him whom men reject as an impostor. (Theophylactus and Bible de Vence) |
| Mark 12:11 | By the Lord hath this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes? | |
| Mark 12:12 | And they sought to lay hands on him: but they feared the people. For they knew that he spoke this parable against them. And leaving him, they went their way. | The chief priests thus shew, that what our Saviour had just said was true, by thus seeking to lay their hands on him. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 12:13 | *And they sent to him some of the Pharisees, and of the Herodians; to catch him in his words. Matthew 22:15.; Luke 20:20. | |
| Mark 12:14 | They coming, say to him: Master, we know that thou art a true speaker, and carest not for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar; or shall we not give it? | The disciples of the Pharisees said this in order to induce our Saviour to answer them, "that they were not to pay tribute to Caesar, being the people of God; an answer they confidently anticipated, and which the Herodians hearing, might immediately apprehend him, and thus remove the odium from themselves to Herod. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 12:15 | But he knowing their hypocrisy, saith to them: Why tempt you me? bring me a penny that I may see it. | Knowing their hypocrisy.{ Ver. 15. Versutiam. ten upokrisin.|} The Latin word commonly signifies, cunning, but by the Greek is here meant their dissimulation, or hypocrisy. (Witham) |
| Mark 12:16 | And they brought it to him. And he saith to them: Whose is this image and inscription? they say to him: Caesar's. | |
| Mark 12:17 | And Jesus answering, said to them: *Render, therefore, to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him. Romans 13:7. | Although Christ clearly establishes here the strict obligation of paying to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, to the confusion of his very enemies, we shall still find them bringing forward against him the charge of disloyalty, as if he forbade tribute to be paid to Caesar. (Luke 23:2.) After the example of her divine Model, the Catholic Church has uniformly taught with St. Paul, the necessity of obeying the powers in being; and this not for fear of their wrath, but for conscience sake. Render to Caesar the money on which his image is stamped, but render yourselves cheerfully to God; for the light of thy countenance, O Lord, is stamped upon us, (Psalm iv.) and not the image of Caesar. (St. Jerome) --- With reason were they astonished at the wisdom of this answer, which eluded all their artifices, and taught them at the same time what they owed to their prince, and what they owed to God: and whoever hopes for the favour of heaven, must conscientiously observe this double duty to God and to the magistrate. |
| Mark 12:18 | *And there came to him the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying: Matthew 22:23.; Luke 20:27. | |
| Mark 12:19 | Master, Moses wrote unto us,* that if any man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed to his brother. Deuteronomy 25:5. | |
| Mark 12:20 | Now there were seven brethren; and the first took a wife, and died, leaving no issue. | |
| Mark 12:21 | And the second took her, and died: and neither did he leave any issue. And the third in like manner. | |
| Mark 12:22 | And the seven all took her in like manner; and did not leave issue. Last of all the woman also died. | |
| Mark 12:23 | In the resurrection, therefore, when they shall arise again, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife. | |
| Mark 12:24 | And Jesus answering, saith to them: Do ye not therefore err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God? | |
| Mark 12:25 | For when they shall rise again from the dead, they shall neither marry, nor be married, but are as the Angels in heaven. | |
| Mark 12:26 | And, as concerning the dead that they rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spoke to him, saying: *I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? Exodus 3:6.; Matthew 22:32. | The doctrine of the resurrection from the dead is clearly given in the book of Moses, where mention is made of the burning bush, from the midst of which God appeared to Moses: have you not read, I say, what God there said to him? As God is the God of the living, you must be in an egregious error in imagining, that such as die in the eyes of the world not to return thither any more, die in the same manner in the eyes of God, to live no more. (Bible de Vence) |
| Mark 12:27 | He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You therefore do greatly err. | |
| Mark 12:28 | *And there came one of the Scribes, that had heard them reasoning together, and seeing that he had answered them well, asked him which was the first commandment of all. Matthew 22:35. | |
| Mark 12:29 | And Jesus answered him: The first commandment of all is: *Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God, is one God: Deuteronomy 6:4. | Literally the Lord our God is the only Lord: and this is the sense of the text in Deuteronomy 6:4. The word in the original text, rendered by the term Lord, is the grand name JEHOVA, which signifies properly God, considered as the supreme Being, or the author of all existence. |
| Mark 12:30 | And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment. | |
| Mark 12:31 | *And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these. Leviticus 19:18.; Matthew 22:39.; Romans 13:9.; Galatians 5:14.; James 2:8. | |
| Mark 12:32 | And the Scribe said to him: Well, master, thou hast said in truth, that there is one God, and there is no other besides him. | |
| Mark 12:33 | And that he should be loved with the whole heart, and with the whole understanding, and with the whole soul, and with the whole strength: and to love one's neighbour as oneself, is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices. | Venerable Bede gathers from this answer of the Scribes, that it had been long disputed among the Scribes and Pharisees, which was the greatest commandment in the law; some preferring the acts of faith and love, because many of the fathers, before the law was instituted, were pleasing to God on account of their faith and piety, and not on account of their sacrifices; yet none were agreeable to God who had not faith and charity. This Scribe seems to have been of the opinion of those who preferred the love of God. (Ven. Bede) --- This excellence of charity teacheth us that faith only is not sufficient. (Bristow) |
| Mark 12:34 | And Jesus seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him: Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question. | Being now refuted in their discourse, they no longer interrogate him, but deliver him up to the Roman power. Thus envy may be vanquished, but with great difficulty silenced. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 12:35 | And Jesus answering, said, teaching in the temple: How do the Scribes say, that Christ is the son of David? | According to St. Matthew it was principally to the Pharisees that Christ proposed this question. See Matthew 22, 41. |
| Mark 12:36 | For David himself saith by the Holy Ghost: *The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy foot-stool. Psalm 109:1.; Matthew 22:44.; Luke 20:42. | |
| Mark 12:37 | David, therefore, himself calleth him Lord, and whence is he then his son? And a great multitude heard him gladly. | This interrogation of Jesus instructs us how to refute the adversaries of truth; for if any assert that Christ was but a simple and holy man, a mere descendant of the race of David, we will ask them, after the example of Jesus: If Christ be man only, and the Son of David, how does David, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, call him Lord? The Jews were not blamed for calling him the Son of David, but for denying him to be the Son of God. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 12:38 | And he said to them in his doctrine: Beware of the Scribes, who love to walk in long robes, and to be saluted in the market-place, Matthew 23:6.; Luke 11:43.; Luke 20:46. | |
| Mark 12:39 | And to sit in the first chairs in the synagogues, and to have the highest places at suppers: | |
| Mark 12:40 | Who devour the houses of widows under the pretence of long prayer: these shall receive greater judgment. | |
| Mark 12:41 | *And Jesus sitting over-against the treasury, beheld how the people cast money into the treasury, and many that were rich cast in much. Luke 21:1. | |
| Mark 12:42 | And there came a certain poor widow, and she cast in two mites, which make a farthing. | |
| Mark 12:43 | And calling his disciples together, he saith to them: Amen, I say to you, this poor widow hath cast in more than all they who have cast into the treasury. | God accepts alms, if they are corresponding to each one's abilities; and the more able a man is, the more must he bestow in charities. The widow's mite was very acceptable to God, and very meritorious to herself; because though small the offering considered in itself, it was great considering her extreme indigence. |
| Mark 12:44 | For all they did cast in of their abundance: but she, of her want, cast in all she had, even her whole living. | But she, of her want,{ Ver. 44. De penuria sua, ek tes ustereseos. See the same Greek word, 1 Corinthians xvi. 17; 2 Corinthians 9:12, and Mark 11:9. etc.|} or indigence, out of what she wanted to subsist by, as appeareth by the Greek. (Witham) |
| Mark 13:0 | Christ foretells the destruction of the temple, and the signs that shall forerun the day of judgment. | |
| Mark 13:1 | And *as he was going out of the temple, one of his disciples saith to him: Master, behold what manner of stones, and what buildings are here. Matthew 24:1. | |
| Mark 13:2 | And Jesus answering, said to him: Seest thou all these great buildings? *There shall not be left a stone upon a stone, that shall not be thrown down. Luke 19:44.; Luke 21:6. | As Christ had frequently denounced the destruction of the temple, his disciples, surprised that so beautiful an edifice should be reduced to nothing, wish on that account to shew him the grandeur and magnificence of it; upon which Christ exclaimed: There shall not remain a stone upon a stone. (Theophylactus) |
| Mark 13:3 | And as he sat on the mount of Olives, over-against the temple, Peter and James, and John and Andrew, asked him apart: | |
| Mark 13:4 | Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall begin to be fulfilled. | When shall these things be? The miseries that took place previously to the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, were a figure of the extreme calamity that will happen before the last day, in the reign of Antichrist: hence Jesus Christ speaketh indifferently of both. (Bristow) |
| Mark 13:5 | And Jesus answering, began to say to them: *Take heed, lest any man deceive you. Ephesians 5:6.; 2 Thessalonians 2:3. | |
| Mark 13:6 | For many shall come in my name, saying: I am he; and they shall deceive many. | At the destruction of Jerusalem there appeared many impostors, many who professed themselves to be the Christ, and assured the populace that their delivery was at hand. And in the Church many heresiarchs started up, and many came in the name of Christ; the first of these was Simon Magus, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, whom the people of Samaria received as the power and virtue of God. But it is remarkable from the time of our Saviour's passion, when they preferred the robber Barabbas to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, they had no peace or quiet in the city, but constant tumult and dissension succeeded, to the very time of its destruction. (Ven. Bede) --- So shall many seducers come towards the end of the world, who shall make themselves authors of sects, and shall gain many disciples: as followeth in plain words, ver. 22. of this chapter. (Bristow) |
| Mark 13:7 | And when you shall hear of wars, and rumours of wars, fear ye not: for such things must needs be: but the end is not yet. | |
| Mark 13:8 | For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in places, and famines. These are the beginning of sorrows. | |
| Mark 13:9 | But look to yourselves. For they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten, and you shall stand before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony unto them. | In the synagogues, or assemblies. The word is here taken for assemblies of judges, and of justice. --- For a testimony to them; that is that you may bear witness of me and my doctrine, and also against them. (Witham) --- Some solicitude perhaps had seized upon the minds of the disciples, when they were informed by their divine Master, that they should stand accused before kings, and princes of the earth, for fear they should not be able, for want of human learning, to make a proper defence. Our Saviour therefore says: be not thoughtful beforehand; for when we are brought to the bar in defence of our holy faith, it is only necessary for us, under such circumstances, to make an offer of our will; Christ himself will speak for us: and in our answers will be infused the grace of the Holy Ghost: for it is not you that speak, but the Holy Ghost. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 13:10 | And unto all nations the gospel must first be preached. | |
| Mark 13:11 | *And when they shall lead you, delivering you up, be not thoughtful beforehand what you shall speak; but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye. For it is not you that speak, but the Holy Ghost. Matthew 10:19.; Luke 12:11.; Luke 21:14. | |
| Mark 13:12 | And the brother shall betray his brother unto death, and the father his son; and children shall rise up against the parents, and shall put them to death. | |
| Mark 13:13 | And you shall be hated by all men for my name's sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved. | |
| Mark 13:14 | *And when you shall see the abomination of desolation, standing where it ought not: let him that readeth, understand: then let them that are in Judea, flee to the mountains: Daniel 9:27.; Matthew 24:15.; Luke 21:20. | Ven. Bede here gives a beautiful illustration of this passage in a spiritual sense. When, says he, we see the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not, that is, when we behold heresies and crimes reigning where we ought to see truth and virtue flourish, then let those who are in Judea, such as have kept the true faith unpolluted, flee to the mountains; that is, rise to the height of perfection; and let those who are on the house-top, those who crucifying the works of the flesh, live according to the spirit, not descend any more to their former way of living according to the flesh. (Ven. Bede) --- If all heresies tend to the abomination of desolation, that more particularly does which taketh away with other sacrament, and the external worship of God, the very sacrifice of Christ's body and blood; which being taken away, as St. Cyprian remarketh, no religion can remain. (St. Cyprian, on the supper of our Lord. Num. ii.) |
| Mark 13:15 | And let him that is on the house-top, not go down into the house, nor enter therein to take any thing out of his house: | |
| Mark 13:16 | And let him that shall be in the field, not turn back to take up his garment. | |
| Mark 13:17 | And wo to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days. | |
| Mark 13:18 | But pray ye, that these things happen not in winter. | |
| Mark 13:19 | For in those days, shall be such tribulations as were not from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, neither shall be. | Jospehus, the Jewish historian, relates the calamities that befell unhappy Jerusalem, about thirty-seven years after the death of Jesus Christ, which verified to the very letter the prediction: there shall be such tribulations as were not from the beginning. (St. Augustine) |
| Mark 13:20 | And unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect which he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. | This may be explained in a more general sense of the persecution of Antichrist, which will be dreadful beyond description, and executed in every part of the world. The time however allowed to him and his wicked agents to tread under foot the holy city, (Apocalypse 11:2.) that is the Church of Christ, will not extend beyond forty-two months, or three years and a half. This space of time Christ has set apart to purify his Church, and try his servants; and therefore he allows them to fall under the power of this merciless tyrant; and it was given unto him, says St. John, speaking of this event, to make war with the saints, and overcome them. (Apocalypse 13:7.) We are admonished of the same by the prophet Daniel 7:21. I beheld, says he, and lo that horn (Antichrist) made war against the saints, and prevailed against them; and he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall crush the saints of the Most High ... and they shall be delivered into his hand until a time, and times, and half a time, (Daniel 7:25.) that is a year, two years, and half a year, or three years and a half, the same with St. John. (Pastorini, p. 327 and 8.) --- St. Augustine, speaking of this dreadful period, says: this persecution will be the last; it will happen towards the approach of the last judgment, and will fall upon the Church in every part of the world; that is, the whole city of Christ will be persecuted by the whole city of the devil, as far as both are extended upon earth. (De civit. lib. XX. ch. XI.) But our Saviour will put a stop to these calamities on account of his elect, unwilling that they should be tempted above their strength; for he will descend himself from heaven, and, as St. Paul tells us, will kill the wicked man, Antichrist, with the breath of his mouth, and shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming. |
| Mark 13:21 | *And then if any man shall say to you: Lo, here is Christ; lo, he is there: do not believe. Matthew 24:23.; Luke 17:23.; Luke 21:8. | |
| Mark 13:22 | For there will rise up false Christs, and false prophets; and they shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. | |
| Mark 13:23 | Take you heed, therefore: behold, I have foretold you all things. | |
| Mark 13:24 | *But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. Isaias 13:10.; Ezechiel 32:7.; Joel 2:10. | In the day of judgment the luminaries of heaven shall be darkened, not by the privation of their light, but by the approach of the true light of the world, that is the great Judge. And what cause for wonder can there be, that man should be terrified at the thoughts of the last day, when the angelic powers shall tremble; or, how will these mortal habitations of ours stand the shock, when the very pillars of heaven shall be moved? what will the tender osier suffer, when the lofty cedars of Paradise bend their head! (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 13:25 | And the stars of heaven shall be falling down, and the powers that are in heaven, shall be moved. | |
| Mark 13:26 | And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds, with great power and glory. | |
| Mark 13:27 | *And then shall he send his Angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Matthew 24:31. | |
| Mark 13:28 | Now of the fig-tree learn ye a parable. When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves are come forth, you know that summer is very near: | |
| Mark 13:29 | So you also, when you shall see these things come to pass, know ye that it is very nigh, even at the doors. | |
| Mark 13:30 | Amen, I say to you, that this generation shall not pass, until all these things be done. | |
| Mark 13:31 | Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. | |
| Mark 13:32 | But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the Angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father. | But how can the Son be ignorant of that last day? Were this the case, we must thence conclude that his nature was imperfect: since he was under the necessity of a second coming, and yet was ignorant when that time should be. But we must remember, that the meaning of this sentence is not, that Christ was really ignorant of this circumstance, but only that it was not then a convenient time to disclose the secret. (St. Augustine) --- Not as if Christ were ignorant himself, as certain Eutychian heretics, called Agnoitae, held; but because he knew it not as our teacher, to teach it others, as being not expedient. (St. Ambrose, de fide, lib. V. ch. VIII.) --- The Son of God is ignorant of this day, not according to his divinity, which sees and knows all things; but according to his humanity, which does not know it of itself, of its own light, but by revelation which is made to it by the divinity, which is intimately united to it. In natura quidem divinitatis novit, says St. Gregory, non ex natura humanitatis. See St. Matthew 24:36. |
| Mark 13:33 | *Take ye heed, watch, and pray: for ye know not when the time is. Matthew 24:42. | Some will perhaps think, that it would have been much better, if the Almighty had not left the hour of death uncertain; as in that case, they would not have been so solicitous with regard to its arrival. But St. Augustine, St. Gregory, and other saints assure us, on the contrary, that it is a very great mercy of God to keep us in this ignorance, that we may always be prepared for it. For, if we knew the precise period, this assurance would give occasion of living more unguardedly, and of sinning more freely. If, with this uncertainty of the hour of our death, we live notwithstanding, so very remissly; what should we do, were we assured that we were not to die for some years? Sts. Gregory, Augustine, and Bonaventure say, that God chose to leave us in this uncertainty, purposely to prevent all attachment to temporal things; that, seeing every hour, nay every moment, we may lose them, we may not be tied to them, but aspire to those we shall always possess, when once we have obtained them. Fool, says the Son of God to the rich covetous man, (Luke 12:20.) this night thy soul shall be required of thee, and what then will become of all these riches thou hast amassed. (St. Bonaventure) |
| Mark 13:34 | Even as a man who, going into a far country, left his house, and gave authority to his servants over every work, and commanded the porter to watch. | |
| Mark 13:35 | Watch ye, therefore, (for you know not when the lord of the house cometh: at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning.) | At even, at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning. These are generally referred to the different ages of man's life; infancy, youth, manhood, and old age. We are exhorted to be always in readiness, for we know not at what hour the Judge will come. (Nicholas of Lyra) --- We are taught to watch, because we are charged with the care of our soul, which is the temple or house of God, and which is to be his temple for all eternity. (Bible de Vence) |
| Mark 13:36 | Lest coming on a sudden, he find you sleeping. | |
| Mark 13:37 | And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch. | |
| Mark 14:0 | The first part of the history of the Passion of Christ. | |
| Mark 14:1 | Now *the feast of the Pasch, and of the azymes, was after two days: and the chief priests, and the Scribes, sought how they might by craft lay hold on him, and kill him. Matthew 26:2.; Luke 22:1.; | about the year A.D. 33. Though the evangelists generally use the words pasch and azymes promiscuously, yet St. Mark distinguishes them, being really different. The pasch is used for the 14th day of the moon of the first month. But the 15th day, on which they departed out of Egypt, was the feast of the azymes, or the unleavened bread; which continued seven days, till the 21st day of the moon inclusive. (Ven. Bede) --- Pasch is also used for the sabbath day within the seven days of the solemnity; (John 19:14.) and also for all the sacrifices made during the seven days of the feast. |
| Mark 14:2 | But they said: Not on the festival day, lest there should be a tumult among the people. | They were not so much afraid of the sedition itself, as of the people delivering Christ out of their hands. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 14:3 | *And when he was in Bethania, in the house of Simon, the leper, and was at meat; there came a woman, having an alabaster-box of ointment of precious spikenard, and breaking the alabaster-box, she poured it out upon his head. Matthew 26:6.; John 12:1. | Of precious{ Ver. 3. Unguenti nardi spicati pretiosi, murou nardou pistikes polutelous. Both here in St. Mark, and also in St. John 12:3, we read pistikes, which by the Greek agees with nard, and not with ointment. The interpreters are much divided about the signification of the word pistikes: some late writers would needs have pistides to come from pio or pino, and to signify liquid, but this does not seem well grounded. Others, with St. Augustine, would have pistikes to be taken from the name of some country or place from whence this precious nard was brought. The most common opinion seems that of St. Hierom [St. Jerome], with whom agree Theophylactus, and Euthymius, that pistika, derived from pistis, signifies true and genuine nard, and so of the greatest price and value.|} spikenard. This was a perfume extracted and distilled from the leaves, tops, or stalks, of the plant or herb called nard. It was the custom of the eastern people to pour such precious perfumes on their own heads, or on the heads of their guests whom they had a mind to honour. (Witham) --- This happened six days previous to the pasch. The woman here mentioned was Mary, sister of Lazarus. (John 12:3.) |
| Mark 14:4 | Now there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said: Why was this waste of the ointment made? | It was chiefly Judas Iscariot that murmured here. St. John only mentions him; perhaps some others had been excited to complain, by the traitor. This is certain, that if any concurred in murmuring with Judas, they afterwards repented, on hearing the answer given immediately by our Saviour. (Dionysius) |
| Mark 14:5 | For this ointment might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and given to the poor. And they murmured against her. | |
| Mark 14:6 | But Jesus said: Let her alone; why do you molest her? She hath wrought a good work upon me. | |
| Mark 14:7 | For the poor you have always with you; and whensoever you will, you may do them good: but me you have not always. | Christ here answers the apostles, by informing them that he should not always be with them, but would shortly leave them, as to his corporal presence, though he spiritually will remain with them, and their successors, to the end of time. (Matthew xxviii.) --- Behold I am, etc. He will not always be with them, so as to want their services. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 14:8 | What she had she hath done: she is come beforehand to anoint my body for the burial. | |
| Mark 14:9 | Amen, I say to you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done, shall be told for a memorial of her. | |
| Mark 14:10 | *And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests, to betray him to them. Matthew 26:14. | Many of the present day shudder at the thought of the horrid and inexpressible crime of Judas, in betraying his Master, his Lord, and his God, and yet do not take care to avoid the like wickedness themselves; for, as often as for a little gain they neglect the duties of faith and charity, they become traitors to God, who is charity and faith. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 14:11 | They hearing it, were glad: and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him. | |
| Mark 14:12 | *Now, on the first day of the unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Pasch, the disciples say to him: Whither wilt thou that we go, and prepare for thee to eat the Pasch? Matthew 26:17.; Luke 22:4. | Whither wilt thou, etc. By these words the disciples teach us to direct our every step according to the will of God; therefore does their Lord tell them, with whom he would eat the pasch, to go two of them into the city. (St. Jerome) |
| Mark 14:13 | And he sendeth two of his disciples, and saith to them: Go ye into the city: and there shall meet you a man carrying a pitcher of water, follow him; | |
| Mark 14:14 | And wheresoever he shall go in, say to the master of the house: The master saith, Where is my refectory: where I may eat the Pasch with my disciples? | Were is my refectory:{ Ver. 14. Ubi est refectio mea, ubi pascha manducem? Pou esti to kataluma, opou pascha ... phago.|} where I may eat the pasch, or the paschal supper of the lamb sacrificed? Literally, in the Latin, where is my eating, or my refection? but it is generally agreed that here is meant a place to eat in. (Witham)* |
| Mark 14:15 | And he will shew you a large dining-room, furnished: and there prepare ye for us. | |
| Mark 14:16 | And his disciples went their way, and came into the city: and they found as he had told them, and they prepared the Pasch. | |
| Mark 14:17 | *And when evening was come, he cometh with the twelve. Matthew 26:20.; Luke 22:14. | |
| Mark 14:18 | And when they were at table, and eating, Jesus saith: Amen, I say to you, *that one of you who eateth with me, shall betray me. John 13:21. | |
| Mark 14:19 | But they began to be sorrowful, and to say to him one by one: Is it I? | |
| Mark 14:20 | He saith to them: One of the twelve who dippeth his hand in the dish with me. | |
| Mark 14:21 | And the Son of man indeed goeth, *as it is written of him: but wo to that man, by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed. It were better for him, if that man had not been born. Psalm 40:10.; Acts 1:16. | |
| Mark 14:22 | *And whilst they were eating, Jesus took bread: and blessing, broke, and gave to them, and said: Take ye, This is my body. Matthew 26:26.; 1 Corinthians 11:24. | \f + \fr 14:22\fk This is my Body.\ft This which I now give, and which you now receive; for the bread is not the figure only of Christ, but is changed into the true body of Christ; and he himself says, The bread, which I will give you, is my flesh. (St. John vi.) But the flesh of Christ is not seen, on account of our infirmity; for if we were allowed to see with our eyes the flesh and blood of Jesus, we should not dare to approach the blessed sacrament. Our Lord therefore condescending to our weakness, preserves the outward species of bread and wine, but changes the bread and wine into the reality of flesh and blood. (Theophylactus) --- St. Chrysostom, in his thirtieth sermon on the treason of Judas, says: "Christ is also now present to adorn our table, (altar) the same that was present to adorn that table. For it is not man that causes the elements to become the body and blood of Christ, but the very Christ, the same that was crucified for us: oude gar anthropos estin o[?] koion ta prokeimena ginesthai soma kai aima christou all autos o staurotheis uper emon christos. The priest stands his vicegerent, and pronounces the words, but the power and grace is of God. He says, this is my body, and the word changes the elements: and as the sentence 'increase and multiply, and fill the earth, was spoken once, but still imparts fecundity to human nature throughout all time: so these words (of consecration) once spoken, constitute an absolute, perfect sacrifice upon every altar of the Church from that day to this, yea even to the time when Christ shall come again at the last day." Schema pleron esteken o iereus, ta remata phtheggomenos ekeina e de dunamis, kai e charis tou theou esti. touto mou esti to soma, phesi touto to rema metarruthmizei ta prokeimena. Kai kathaper e phone ekeine e legousa "auxanesthe, kai plethunesthe, kai plerosate ten gen," errethe men apax, dia pantos de tou[?] chronou ginetai ergo endunamousa ten phusin ten emeteran pros paidopoiian. outo kai e phone aute apax lechtheisa, kath ekasten trapesan en tais ekklesiais, ex ekeinou mechri semeron, kai mechri tes autou parousias, ten thusian apertismenen epgasetai. (St. Chrysostom, Serm. xxx, on the treachery of Judas.) These words are so plain, that it is difficult to imagine others more explicit. Their force and import will however appear in a still stronger light, if we consider the formal promise Christ had made to his apostles, as related by St. John, that he would give them his flesh to eat, that same flesh he was to deliver up for the life of the world. He on that occasion confirmed with remarkable emphasis of expression the reality of this manducation, assuring them that his flesh was meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed; and when some of the disciples were shocked at such a proposal, he still insisted that unless they eat his flesh, they should have no life in them. The possibility of it he evinced from his divine power, to be exemplified in his miraculous ascension; the necessity of it he established, by permitting those to abandon him who refused to believe it; and the belief of it he enforced on the minds of his disciples, from the consideration that he, their teacher, was the Son of God, and the author of their eternal salvation. The apostles were deeply impressed with these thoughts, previously to the institution of the holy Eucharist; consequently when they beheld Jesus Christ, just before his death, taking bread into his sacred hands; when after blessing it with solemnity, they heard him say, Take, eat; this is my body, which shall be given for you; they must necessarily have concluded, that it was truly his body, which he now gave them to eat, according to his former promise. And though their reason or senses might have started difficulties, yet all these were obviated by their belief of his being God, and consequently able to effect whatever he pleased, and to make good whatever he said. ------ Moreover, if we consult tradition, we shall find that the Greek, as well as the Latin Church, has uniformly declared in favour of the literal sense of Christ's words, as may be seen at large in all Catholic controvertists. The learned author of the Perpetuite de la Foi, and his continuator, Renaudot, in the two additional quarto volumes, have invincibly demonstrated, that the belief of all the Oriental Christians perfectly coincides with that of the Catholic Church, respecting the real presence. Dr. Philip Nicolai, though a Protestant, candidly acknowledges, in his first book of the Kingdom of Christ, p. 22, "that not only the churches of the Greeks, but also the Russians, the Georgians, the Armenians, the Judaeans, and the Ethiopians, as many of them as believe in Christ, hold the true and real presence of the body and blood of our Lord." This general agreement amongst the many Churches of the Christian world, affords the strongest evidence against Secker and others, who pretend that the doctrine of the real presence is a mere innovation; which was not started till 700 years after Christ's death. For, how will their supposition accord with the belief of the Nestorians and Eutychians, who were separated from the Church of Rome long before that period, and who were found to agree exactly with Catholics concerning this important tenent? --- See this point clearly given in Rutter's Evangelical Harmony. |
| Mark 14:23 | And having taken the chalice, giving thanks, he gave to them, and they all drank of it. | |
| Mark 14:24 | And he said to them: This is my blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many. | \f + \fr 14:24\fk This is my Blood.\ft Which shall be shed. With words so explicit, with the unanimous agreement of the Eastern and Western Churches, how can any Dissenters bring themselves to believe that there is nothing more designed, or given, than a memorial of Christ's passion and death? Catholics, who believe in the real presence, do certainly renew in themselves the remembrance of our Saviour's death and passion, with more lively sentiments of devotion than they who believe it to be mere bread and wine. The outward forms of bread and wine, which remain in the Eucharist, are chiefly designed to signify or represent to us three things; viz. 1. The passion of Christ, of which they are the remembrance; 2. the body and blood of Christ, really, though sacramentally present, of which they are the veil; and 3. everlasting life, of which they are the pledge. --- N. B.[Nota Bene, Note Well?] In speaking of the real presence in the Eucharist, Catholics hold that Christ is corporally and substantially present, but not carnally; that is not in that gross, natural, and sensible manner, in which or separated brethren so frequently misrepresent our doctrine. |
| Mark 14:25 | Amen, I say unto you, that I will drink no more of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it new in the kingdom of God. | This vine represents the Synagogue, according to Isaias. The vine, or vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. Of this vine Christ drank for some time; and though many of the branches were become useless, there were yet many that still brought forth fruit. But Christ now going to his passion, declares that it would be no longer acceptable to him, since the figures were not to pass into reality. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 14:26 | And when they had sung a hymn, they went forth to the mount of Olives. | Jesus Christ is seized upon Mount Olivet, whence he ascended into heaven; that we might know that the place on earth where we watch and pray, where we suffer chains without resistance, is the place whence we are to ascend into heaven. (St. Jerome) |
| Mark 14:27 | And Jesus saith to them: *You will all be scandalized in me this night: for it is written: **I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be dispersed; John 16:32. --- ** Zacharias 13:7. | Christ permitted his disciples to fall, that they might learn not to trust in themselves. To strengthen his prediction, he adduces the testimony of Zacharias the prophet, (xiii. 7.) I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be dispersed. (Theophylactus) ... This text is expressed in other words, being there spoken in the person of the prophet: Strike the pastor, and the sheep shall be dispersed. (Ven. Bede) --- By these words, the prophet prays for the passion of the Lord. The Almighty Father answers his prayer: I will strike the shepherd. The Son is sent by the Father, and is stricken by becoming incarnate and suffering death. (St. Jerome) |
| Mark 14:28 | But after I shall be risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. | |
| Mark 14:29 | But Peter saith to him: Although all shall be scandalized in thee, yet not I. | |
| Mark 14:30 | And Jesus saith to him: Amen, I say to thee, to-day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. | |
| Mark 14:31 | But he spoke the more vehemently: *Although I should die together with thee, I will not deny thee: And in like manner also said they all. Matthew 26:35.; Luke 22:40. | |
| Mark 14:32 | *And they came to a farm called Gethsemani. And he saith to his disciples: Sit you here while I pray. Matthew 26:36. | |
| Mark 14:33 | And he taketh Peter, and James, and John, with him; and he began to fear, and to be heavy. | |
| Mark 14:34 | And he saith to them: My soul is sorrowful even unto death: stay you here and watch. | |
| Mark 14:35 | And when he had gone forward a little, he fell flat on the ground: and he prayed, that, if it could be, the hour might pass from him: | |
| Mark 14:36 | And he said: Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; take away this chalice from me: but not what I will, but what thou wilt. | |
| Mark 14:37 | And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping. And he saith to Peter: Simon, sleepest thou? couldst thou not watch one hour? | You who were ready to die for me, cannot watch with me! We are here taught a great duty of a Christian life, and that is, to beg of God, that he would give us strength to observe and follow the motions and inspirations of his Holy Spirit, and never to resist the calls of heaven. |
| Mark 14:38 | Watch ye, and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. | |
| Mark 14:39 | A going away again, he prayed, saying the same words. | |
| Mark 14:40 | And when he returned, he found them again asleep, (for their eyes were heavy) and they knew not what to answer him. | |
| Mark 14:41 | And he cometh the third time, and saith to them: Sleep ye now, and take your rest. It is enough: the hour is come: behold the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners. | |
| Mark 14:42 | Rise up: let us go. Behold, he that will betray me, is at hand. | |
| Mark 14:43 | And while he was yet speaking, cometh Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve: *and with him a great multitude, with swords and staves, from the chief priests, and the Scribes, and the ancients. Luke 22:47.; John 18:3. | |
| Mark 14:44 | And he that betrayed him had given them a sign, saying: Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is he, lay hold on him, and lead him away cautiously. | |
| Mark 14:45 | And when he was come, immediately going up to him, he saith: Hail, Rabbi: and he kissed him. | Our Lord received the kiss of the traitor, that he might not appear to avoid being delivered up; and at the same time he fulfilled that of the Psalmist, with those who hated peace, I was peaceful. (Psalm 119:7.) |
| Mark 14:46 | But they laid hands on him, and held him. | Here is Joseph betrayed and sold by his brethren, and pierced in his soul with a sword. (St. Jerome) |
| Mark 14:47 | An one of them that stood by drawing a sword, struck a servant of the chief priest, and cut off his ear. | This was Peter, as we learn from St. John 18:10. He is here actuated with his usual ardent zeal, calling to mind the example of Phinees, who by executing justice on the wicked, merited the reward of justice, and a continual priesthood. (Ven. Bede) --- St. Mark conceals his master's name, lest he should seem to be publishing the ardour of his zeal for Christ. (Theophylactus) |
| Mark 14:48 | And Jesus answering, said to them: are you come out as against a robber with swords and staves to apprehend me? | |
| Mark 14:49 | I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you did not lay hands on me. But, that the Scriptures may be fulfilled. | |
| Mark 14:50 | *Then his disciples leaving him, all fled away. Matthew 26:56. | |
| Mark 14:51 | And a certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body: and they laid hold on him. | This probably was the owner, or the son of the owner of the garden, who hearing the tumult came to see what was the cause. It must have been a young man from the Greek word neaniskos. (Tirinus) |
| Mark 14:52 | But he casting off the linen cloth, fled from them naked. | |
| Mark 14:53 | *And they brought Jesus to the high priest: and all the priests, and the Scribes, and the ancients, assembled together. Matthew 26:57.; Luke 22:54.; John 18:13. | |
| Mark 14:54 | And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants at the fire, and warmed himself. | |
| Mark 14:55 | *And the chief priests, and all the council, sought for evidence against Jesus, that they might put him to death; and they found none. Matthew 26:59. | Though the law prescribed there should be only one high priest, yet at this time there were many, being appointed yearly by the Roman governor; and those are here called chief priests who had once been invested with the dignity of high priest, but were at that time out of office. (Theophylactus) |
| Mark 14:56 | For many bore false witness against him, and their evidence did not agree. | Their evidence did not agree. Others translate, their testimonies were not sufficient; that is, so as to amount to a crime that made him guilty of death. The Greek, as well as the Latin text, may be taken in either sense. The high priest, vexed at this, stood up, and asked him questions, hoping to make him appear guilty by his own confession. (Witham) --- This latter sense is given to the same expression, ver. 59. infra. |
| Mark 14:57 | And some rising up, bore false witness against him, saying: | Thus has iniquity lied to itself, (Psalm xxvi.) as formerly in the case of the wife of Putiphar against Joseph, (Genesis xxix.[xxxix.?]) and the elders against Susanna. (Daniel [xiii.?]) (St. Jerome) |
| Mark 14:58 | We heard him say: *I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another, not made with hands. John 2:19. | |
| Mark 14:59 | And their witness did not agree. | |
| Mark 14:60 | And the high priest rising up in the midst, asked Jesus, saying: Answerest thou nothing to the things that are laid to thy charge by these men? | |
| Mark 14:61 | But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said to him: Art thou the Christ, the Son of the blessed God? | Our Redeemer was silent, because he knew they would not attend to his words; therefore does he say in St. Luke, If I shall tell you, you will not believe me. (Theophylactus) |
| Mark 14:62 | And Jesus said to him: I am: *And you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming with the clouds of heaven. Matthew 24:30.; Matthew 26:64. | |
| Mark 14:63 | Then the high priest rending his garments, saith: What need we any farther witnesses? | Caiphas, in order to excite their hatred against what was said, rent his garments, and thus deprived himself of the priestly dignity, by transgressing the precept; which, speaking of the high priest says: He shall not uncover his head, and his garments he shall not rend. (Leviticus 21:10.) (St. Leo the Great) --- By the high priest rending his garments he shews, that the Jewish priesthood, on account of their crimes, was now dissolved; whereas the tunic of Christ, by which the one true Catholic Church is prefigured, was seamless, and not to be divided. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 14:64 | You have heard the blasphemy. What think you? They all condemned him to be guilty of death. | |
| Mark 14:65 | And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say to him: Prophesy: and the servants struck him with the palms of their hands. | |
| Mark 14:66 | *Now, when Peter was in the court below, there cometh one of the maid-servants of the high priest: Matthew 26:69.; Luke 22:56.; John 18:7. | |
| Mark 14:67 | And when she had seen Peter warming himself, looking on him, she saith: Thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth. | |
| Mark 14:68 | But he denied, saying: I neither know nor understand what thou sayest. And he went forth before the court; and the cock crew. | |
| Mark 14:69 | *And again a maid-servant seeing him, began to say to the standers-by: This is one of them. Matthew 26:71. | |
| Mark 14:70 | But he denied again. *And after a while they that stood by, said again to Peter: Surely thou art one of them: for thou art also a Galilean. Luke 22:59.; John 18:25. | |
| Mark 14:71 | But he began to curse and to swear, saying; I know not this man of whom you speak. | In this one apostle, Peter, the first and chief in the order of apostles, in whom the Church was figured, both sorts were to be signified, viz. the strong and the weak, because the Church is not without both. (St. Augustine, Serm. xiii. de verb. Do.) --- Again, our Saviour would shew by the example of the chief apostle, that no man ought to presume of himself, when even St. Peter was not secure and immoveable. (St. Augustine, tract. lxvi. in Evan. Joan. and St. Leo, serm. ix. de Pass. Do.) |
| Mark 14:72 | And immediately the cock crew again. *And Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said to him: Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he began to weep. Matthew 26:75.; John 13:38. | |
| Mark 15:0 | The continuation of the history of the Passion. | |
| Mark 15:1 | And *straightway in the morning the chief priests, holding a consultation with the ancients, and the Scribes, and the whole council, binding Jesus, led him away, and delivered him to Pilate. Matthew 27:1.; Luke 22:66.; John 18:28. | about the year A.D. 33. It was customary with the Jews to bind and deliver over to the Roman governors those whom they had condemned in their own councils; but we must not suppose that this was the first time they bound Jesus; for, as St. John informs us, when first they apprehended him, they put manacles upon him. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 15:2 | And Pilate asked him: Art thou the king of the Jews: But he answering, saith to him: Thou sayest it. | It may be remarked upon this answer of our Lord, that he was not unwilling to answer the questions put to him by the governor, who condemned him contrary to his inclination, though he would not condescend to return an answer to the question of the high priests, as they were not worthy of the favour. (Theophylactus) |
| Mark 15:3 | *And the chief priests accused him in many things. Matthew 27:12.; Luke 23:2.; John 18:33. | |
| Mark 15:4 | And Pilate again asked him, saying: Answerest thou nothing? behold in how many things they accuse thee. | |
| Mark 15:5 | But Jesus still answered nothing; so that Pilate wondered. | |
| Mark 15:6 | Now on the festival-day he was wont to release unto them one of the prisoners, whomsoever they demanded. | This practice of releasing to the people any prisoner they might think proper, was instituted in order to captivate the will of the people; which was most commonly done on the festival day, when the Jews were assembled from the different provinces to Jerusalem. But that the blindness and malice of this people might be more apparent, the evangelist here describes the atrocious wickedness of the man they preferred to the Son of God. (Gloss.) |
| Mark 15:7 | And there was one called Barabbas, who was put in prison with seditious men, who in the sedition had committed murder. | |
| Mark 15:8 | And when the multitude was come up, they began to desire that he would do as he had always done to them. | |
| Mark 15:9 | And Pilate answered them, and said: Will you that I release to you the king of the Jews? | |
| Mark 15:10 | For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him up through envy. | Since envy put to death the Author of life, Jesus Christ, how watchful should all Christians be against every degree of that sin. (St. Chrysostom, hom. xl. in Matt.) |
| Mark 15:11 | But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas to them. | |
| Mark 15:12 | *And Pilate again answering, saith to them: What will you then that I do to the king of the Jews? Matthew 27:22.; Luke 23:14. | |
| Mark 15:13 | *But they again cried out: Crucify him. John 18:40. | |
| Mark 15:14 | And Pilate saith to them: Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more: Crucify him. | |
| Mark 15:15 | So Pilate being willing to satisfy the people, released to them Barabbas, and delivered up Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified. | |
| Mark 15:16 | *And the soldiers led him into the court of the palace, and they called together the whole band. Matthew 27:27.; John 19:2. | |
| Mark 15:17 | And they clothe him with purple, and platting a crown of thorns, they put it upon him. | |
| Mark 15:18 | And they began to salute him: Hail, king of the Jews! | |
| Mark 15:19 | And they struck his head with a reed: And they did spit on him, and bowing their knees, they worshipped him. | |
| Mark 15:20 | And after they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own garments on him, and they led him out to crucify him. | |
| Mark 15:21 | *And they forced one Simon, a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander, and of Rufus, to take up his cross. Matthew 27:32.; Luke 23:26. | St. Jerome thinks Alexander and Rufus were disciples of Christ, and on this account the name of their father is here expressed (St. Jerome in Dionysius) |
| Mark 15:22 | And they bring him into the place called Golgotha, which being interpreted, is, The place of Calvary. | |
| Mark 15:23 | And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he took it not. | St. Matthew says mixed with gall; for gall is here used for bitterness, and wine that has myrrh in it is a very strong bitter; although, perhaps, both gall and myrrh might have been ingredients to increase the bitterness. (St. Augustine) --- Or, in the confusion that was occasioned, some might have offered him one thing, some another; one person giving vinegar and gall, another wine mixed with myrrh. (Theophylactus) --- Wine mingled with myrrh may perhaps be used for vinegar. (St. Jerome) --- This was given to criminals, to lessen their torments. Our Lord was pleased to taste the bitterness, but he would not permit the relief which the admittance of the same into his stomach might have afforded. Thus also were the scriptures fulfilled: they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. (Psalm lxviii.) (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 15:24 | *And crucifying him, they divided his garments, casting lots upon them what every man should take. Matthew 27:35.; Luke 23:34.; John xix 23. | |
| Mark 15:25 | And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. | St. Mark is the only evangelist who says it was the third hour. St. John says it was the sixth. But these may easily be reconciled by supposing that he was crucified towards the end of the third hour, that is, about eleven of the clock, or half-past eleven, which being near the sixth hour, or twelve, the evangelist might say it was the sixth hour. (Nicholas of Lyra) --- The third hour. The ancient account divided the day into four parts, which were named from the hour from which they began: the first, third, sixth, and ninth hour. Our Lord was crucified a little before noon; before the third hour had quite expired; but when the sixth hour was near at hand. (Challoner) |
| Mark 15:26 | And the inscription of his cause was written over: The King of the Jews. | It was written on a board, or rather on parchment fixed to a board, (as Leipsius informs us) expressing the cause why he was crucified, viz. because he was the King of the Jews. And, indeed, Pilate himself was fully persuaded that he was the Messiah promised to the Jews: and though he knew him to be innocent, he connived the more at his death through fear lest he might attempt something against the Roman empire, if he were permitted to continue. At the same time, by putting up his cause, he wished to revenge himself of the Jews, for their importunity and obstinacy in compelling him, partly against his will, to condemn him to death. For what could be more ignominious to the Jews than to see their king crucified at their own request, and for no other reason than because he was their king, and they did not wish him to reign over them. Thus did they receive the king for whose coming they had so long sighed, and from whom they had expected delivery from the Roman yoke, and the subjugation of the whole world to their own power. (Sirinus)[perhaps (Tirinus) is meant here.] |
| Mark 15:27 | And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. | |
| Mark 15:28 | *And the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith: And with the wicked he was reputed. Isaias 53:12. | This text of Isaias regards the Messias according to the very letter. (Bible de Vence) |
| Mark 15:29 | And they that passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying: *Vah, thou that destroyest the temple of God, and in three days buildest it up again: John 2:19. | |
| Mark 15:30 | Save thyself, coming down from the cross. | |
| Mark 15:31 | In like manner also the chief priests, with the Scribes, mocking, said one to another: He saved others, himself he cannot save. | |
| Mark 15:32 | Let Christ, the king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him, reviled him. | Afterwards they saw Him arising out of the sepulchre whom they thought unable to descend from the cross. Where, O Jew, is thy infidelity? I ask you yourselves. You shall be your own judges. How much more astonishing is it to be able, when dead, to rise again, than, when living, to descend from the cross? You desired a small exertion of power, and a much greater is here performed: but still your infidelity would not be cured. All have turned out of the way, all have become useless. (St. Jerome) --- If the Scribes and Pharisees did not believe in Christ when he rose from the dead, neither would they have believed in him had he left the cross. Though the scripture had foretold in many places that he was to suffer, Psalm xxi, They have dug my hands and feet; and Psalm xcv, They shall look upon him whom they have pierced; He shall reign from the tree: (and which St. Justin assures us the Jews had erased from the psalm) yet where can the Jews point out that it was foretold he should descend from the cross? (Tirinus) |
| Mark 15:33 | And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole earth, until the ninth hour. | |
| Mark 15:34 | And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying: *Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabacthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Psalm 21:1.; Matthew 27:46. | |
| Mark 15:35 | And some of the standers-by hearing, said: Behold, he calleth Elias. | |
| Mark 15:36 | And one running, and filling a sponge with vinegar, and putting it upon a reed, gave him to drink, saying: Stay, let us see if Elias come to take him down. | |
| Mark 15:37 | And Jesus having cried out with a loud voice, gave up the ghost. | |
| Mark 15:38 | And the veil of the temple was rent in two, from the top to the bottom. | |
| Mark 15:39 | And the centurion who stood over-against him, seeing, that crying out in this manner, he had given up the ghost, said: Indeed this man was the Son of God. | The centurion considered the crying out of our Saviour as an effect not of human, but divine power, since it generally happens that people at the moment the soul quits the body are reduced to so debilitated a state, that they are scarce able to utter the least word. Although Jesus was truly the natural, not the adoptive, Son of God, it is nevertheless probable that the centurion, being a Gentile, did not speak in this manner as if he knew Jesus to be the natural Son of God. He did not know that the Son of God was really true God, equal to the Father, but called him Son of God, as if adopted, on account of his extraordinary sanctity; or, perhaps, he might have called him the Son of God, in order to oppose the Jews, who called our Saviour a blasphemer, because he made himself the Son of God. (Dionysius) |
| Mark 15:40 | *And there were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James the less, and of Joseph; and Salome; Matthew 27:55. | |
| Mark 15:41 | Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, *and ministered to him, and many other women that came up with him to Jerusalem. Luke 8:2. | |
| Mark 15:42 | *And when evening was now come, (because it was the Parasceve, that is, the day before the sabbath), Matthew 27:57.; Luke 23:50.; John 19:38. | Ven. Bede thinks the word parasceve is derived from the Greek paraskeue, signifying a preparation. It was the day before the sabbath, on which the Jews were accustomed to prepare two meals, one for the parasceve, and another for the sabbath; the Jews not being allowed to dress any meat on the latter day, on account of its great solemnity. The Jews learnt this word of the Greeks, who lived among them in Jerusalem. (Ven. Bede) |
| Mark 15:43 | Joseph, of Arimathea, a noble counsellor, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. | A noble Decurion. The Decurions among the Romans were first called so as having ten men under them, as the centurions were over a hundred. But some of the Decurions were also Counsellors in towns, as is here signified by the Greek word Bouleutes. (Witham) |
| Mark 15:44 | But Pilate wondered that he should be already dead. And sending for the centurion, he asked him if he were already dead. | |
| Mark 15:45 | And when he had understood it by the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. | |
| Mark 15:46 | And Joseph buying fine linen, and taking him down, wrapped him up in the fine linen, and laid him in a sepulchre, which was hewed out of a rock, and he rolled a stone to the door of the sepulchre. | According to the description of those that have seen it, it is a kind of small chamber, the height of which, from top to bottom, is eight feet and an inch, its length six feet and one inch, and its breadth fifteen feet ten inches. Its entrance, or vestibule, which looks towards the east, is but four feet high, and two feet four inches wide. The place within, where our Lord's body was laid, takes up a whole side of the cave. The stone which was laid to secure the door of the sepulchre is still remaining, and according to Mr. Maundrell, is two yards and a quarter long, one broad, and one thick: but the particular parts of it are not visible, being all incrusted over with white marble, except in five or six little places, where it is left bare to receive the kisses and other devotions of pilgrims. (Mark Luke's Voyage to Asia Minor, Vol. 2:p. 12. and Maundrell's Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem.) |
| Mark 15:47 | And Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of Joseph, beheld where he was laid. | |
| Mark 16:0 | Christ's resurrection and ascension. | |
| Mark 16:1 | And *when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, bought sweet spices, that coming they might anoint Jesus. Matthew 28:1.; Luke 24:1.; John 20:1. | Saturday evening, after the sun was set, for the sabbath began and ended with the setting sun. |
| Mark 16:2 | And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they come to the sepulchre, the sun being now risen. | St. Mark says very early, the sun being now risen, whereas St. John tells us that it was yet dark. But when St. Mark says the sun was risen, he means that it began, by its approach to the horizon, to enlighten the heavens, at which time there is still darkness remaining, (according to St. John) which decreases as light approaches the earth. (St. Augustine) |
| Mark 16:3 | And they said one to another: Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the sepulchre? | |
| Mark 16:4 | And looking, they saw the stone rolled back. For it was very great. | |
| Mark 16:5 | *And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white robe: and they were astonished. Matthew 28:5.; Luke 24:4.; John 20:12. | St. Matthew says the angel was sitting on the stone, whilst St. Mark says that they saw him sitting on the right side of the sepulchre. This must not surprise us; for the angel which first appeared sitting upon the stone, might have been afterwards seen by him sitting on the right side of the sepulchre. (Theophylactus) --- Perhaps the angel mentioned by St. Matthew is different from the one mentioned by St. Mark. Or it may be understood, that the women entering the monument, which may mean the enclosure of it, saw the angel sitting on the stone, which was placed on the right side of the sepulchre. (St. Augustine) |
| Mark 16:6 | He saith to them: Be not affrighted; you seek Jesus, of Nazareth, who was crucified: he is risen, he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. | |
| Mark 16:7 | But go tell his disciples, and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee: there you shall see him, *as he told you. Mark 14:28. | |
| Mark 16:8 | But they going out, fled from the sepulchre: for a trembling and fear had seized them: and they said nothing to any man: for they were afraid. | |
| Mark 16:9 | But he rising early *the first day of the week, appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. John 20:16. | This appearance of our Saviour is more fully related by St. John. Our Lord arose early from the monument in which he had been placed late in the evening, thus fulfilling the words of the psalmist: In the evening weeping shall have place, and in the morning gladness. (Psalm xxix.) (Ven. Bede) --- Rising early. It appears from this that our Saviour arose early, about sunrise, as was the sentiment of St. Augustine; though St. Gregory seems to think that he arose at midnight, in the same manner as Samson, who was a figure of Christ, arose in the middle of the night and carried away the gates of Gaza. If we follow this opinion, we must understand the word early as referring to the verb appeared, not to the participle rising, and then the sentence will be: he rising, (having arisen) appeared early the first day of the week. The first interpretation, however, of St. Augustine seems more agreeable to the text: he rising early the first day of the week, appeared, etc. |
| Mark 16:10 | She went, and told them that had been with him, who were mourning and weeping. | |
| Mark 16:11 | And they hearing that he was alive, and had been seen by her, did not believe. | |
| Mark 16:12 | *And after that he appeared in another form to two of them walking, as they were going into the country. Luke 24:13. | He had appeared to Magdalene in the form of a gardener, and to two disciples in the form of a traveller. |
| Mark 16:13 | And they going, told it to the rest: neither did they believe them. | |
| Mark 16:14 | At length he appeared to the eleven, as they were at table: and he upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart; because they did not believe them who had seen him after he was risen again. | At length, etc. in the Latin text, taken according to the letter, is lastly, or last of all: but if we examine and compare the four gospels, this was not the last time that Christ appeared to his disciples after his resurrection. We can only then understand it of the last time mentioned by this evangelist. --- To the eleven. If this apparition (as it was the opinion of St. Augustine) was made when St. Thomas was not with them, they were only then ten, without St. Thomas and Judas. The evangelist here calls them eleven, because the apostolical college (Judas being dead) consisted of no more than eleven. And this way of speaking may be justified by diverse examples: one instance may suffice. A meeting of the Jewish sanhedrim might be called the Council of the Seventy-two, though it many times happened that all the seventy-two were not there present. (Witham) --- Some think that this was the last apparition of Jesus Christ, after which he quitted the earth, and ascended into heaven. (Bible de Vence) |
| Mark 16:15 | And he said to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. | |
| Mark 16:16 | He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not, shall be condemned. | Let those weep and lament who have not yet seen him, and in a short time they shall receive consolation. Blessed are they that weep, for they shall be comforted, St. Matthew 5. (St. Jerome) --- Perhaps some one will say within himself, I have already believed, I shall be saved: he says true, if his faith be supported by good works; for that only is true faith, which does not contradict in works what is believed in words. (St. Gregory) |
| Mark 16:17 | And these signs shall follow them that believe: *In my name they shall cast out devils: **they shall speak with new tongues: Acts 16:18.; Acts 2:4.; Acts 10:46. | |
| Mark 16:18 | *They shall take up serpents: and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: **they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. Acts 28:5.; Acts 28:8. | |
| Mark 16:19 | And the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, *was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God. Luke 24:51. | By these words it is not to be understood that Jesus is to be confined to that particular posture of body, or that the Father has any hands, or any human shape; for God is a pure, incorporeal, and all-perfect Spirit. The image of God, as he is in himself, comes not within the reach of our mortal senses. When the Scripture, therefore, speaks of God, it uses such imagery of language as is adapted to our senses, that it may thereby convey to us some imperfect knowledge of those sublime mysteries, which are ineffable in themselves, and incomprehensible to our understanding. Thus we are informed that Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, to signify that, as man, our Lord is raised to the height of glory, and to that supreme beatitude, than which there is nothing higher, and nothing greater in the whole bliss of heaven; and that he moreover holds the same sovereign dominion with the Father over all creatures; because, as God, he is equal to the Father in power, in wisdom, and in all perfection. See Pouget, p. 256. ed. in fol. --- On the right hand of God. Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, was not man only, but truly God, the same God with his eternal Father: and hereby is signified that the person, who took upon him human nature, and became man, is equal in dignity with the Father: he, who, as man, ascended into heaven. { Ver. 19. St. Hieron.[St. Jerome,] Ep. ad Hebidiam, q. 3, tom. 4, part 1, p. 172: omnibus Graecis Libris penè hoc capitulum non habentibus.|} When St. Jerome says that most Greek copies wanted this chapter, he speaks not of chapters according to our present division, but only of the last 12 verses, which formerly made what was called a little chapter: yet these twelve verses must have been omitted in those manuscripts by some negligent transcribers. Now they are found in all, both Latin and Greek copies. They are found in the Canons of Eusebius on the Gospels; in St. Jerome in several places; in St. Ambrose, lib. iii, in Luc. tom. iii, p. 292. Ed. Paris, an. 1582; in St. Augustine, lib. iii, de consensu Evang. ch. XXV, tom. 3, part 2, p. 142, etc. (Witham) --- St. Gregory of Nyssa, (orat. 2. de Resurr.) says, that the best copies of St. Mark's gospel finished with the 8th verse, a trembling and fear had seized them: En tois akribesterois to Kata Markon Euaggelion mekri tou ephobounto gar, echei to telos. It is the very generally received sentiment of the learned, that the last 12 verses were given by St. Mark; and the most probable reason yet offered for the omission of them in various copies is, that the transcribers followed a mutilated copy, where the last page was wanting. (Bible de Vence) |
| Mark 16:20 | But they going forth, preached every where: the Lord co-operating with them, and confirming the word, with signs, that followed. | Let us here take notice, that, as the apostles confirmed their words by the signs that followed, so also in us must our words be confirmed by works. "Grant, O Jesus! that the discourse we deliver, concerning virtue, may be confirmed by works and actions; that thus, by thy co-operation, we may become perfect in word and work; for to Thee is due the glory of our discourses and actions." (Theophylactus) |