Chapter 2

Chapter Two Mk. 2:1. After some days He came again to Capernaum; and it was heard that He was in the house. Mk. 2:2. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even at the door; and He spoke the word to them. Mk. 2:3. And they came to Him with a paralytic, who was carried by four; Mk. 2:4. And when they could not come near unto Him for the multitude, they uncovered the roof of the house where He was, and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. Mk. 2:5. Jesus, seeing their faith, says to the paralytic: Child! Your sins are forgiven you. Upon the Lord's entrance into Capernaum, many, having heard that He was in a house, gathered in hope of convenient access to Him. At this, the faith of the men who brought the paralytic was so great that they broke through the roof of the house and lowered him down. Therefore the Lord also grants him healing, seeing the faith of those who brought him or the faith of the paralytic himself. For he himself would not have allowed them to take him if he did not believe that he would be healed. However, the Lord often healed on account of the faith of the one bringing, even though the one being brought was not a believer, and conversely, He often healed on account of the faith of the one being brought, even though those bringing him did not believe. First He forgives the sins of the sick man, and then heals the illness, because the most difficult diseases for the most part arise from sins, just as in the Gospel of John the Lord also traces the illness of a certain paralytic to sins. This paralytic mentioned in John is not the same as the one mentioned now; on the contrary, these are two different people. For the one mentioned in John had no one to help him, while this one has four; the first was at the Sheep Pool, while this one is in a house; that one was in Jerusalem, while this one is in Capernaum. One can find other differences between them as well. But it must be said that the one mentioned in Matthew (Matt. 9:2–7) and here in Mark is one and the same. Mk. 2:6. Some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts: Mk. 2:7. Why does He blaspheme so? Who can forgive sins, except God alone? Mk. 2:8. Jesus, immediately knowing in His spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said to them: Why do you reason thus in your hearts? Mk. 2:9. Which is easier? To say to the paralytic: your sins are forgiven you? Or to say: arise, take up your bed and walk? Mk. 2:10. But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, — He says to the paralytic: Mk. 2:11. I say to you: arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. Mk. 2:12. He immediately got up and, taking up the bed, went out before them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying: we never saw anything like this. The Pharisees accused the Lord of blasphemy because He forgave sins, since this belongs to God alone. But the Lord gave them yet another sign of His Divinity — the knowledge of their hearts, for the heart of each person is known to God alone, as the prophet also says: "Thou alone knowest the hearts of all" (3 Kings 8:39; 2 Chron. 6:30). Meanwhile the Pharisees, although the Lord revealed what was in their hearts, remain insensible, and do not concede to the One who knows their hearts that He is also able to heal sins. Then the Lord, through the healing of the body, confirms that He also healed the soul — that is, by means of what is manifest He establishes what is hidden, and by means of the easier He establishes the more difficult, although it seemed otherwise to them. For the Pharisees considered the healing of the body, as a visible act, to be more difficult, and the healing of the soul, as invisible, to be easier, and they reasoned as if to say: here is a deceiver who avoids the healing of the body, as something obvious, and heals the invisible soul, saying, "Your sins are forgiven you." If He could really heal, then surely He would have healed the body and would not have resorted to what is invisible. Therefore the Savior, showing them that He can accomplish both the one and the other, says: which is easier to heal, the soul or the body? Without doubt, the body; but to you it seems the opposite. And so I will heal the body, which is in fact easy but only seems difficult to you, and thereby I will assure you of the healing of the soul, which is truly difficult but seems easy only because it is invisible and cannot be exposed. Then He says to the paralytic: "Arise, take up your bed," so as to further confirm the reality of the miracle — that it was not imaginary — and at the same time to show that He not only healed the sick man but also gave him strength. So the Lord acts with the infirmities of the soul as well: He not only frees us from sins but also grants us strength for the fulfillment of the commandments. And so even I, a paralytic, can be healed. For even now Christ is in Capernaum, in the house of consolation — that is, in the Church, which is the house of the Comforter. I am paralyzed because the powers of my soul are inactive and immovable toward good; but when the four Evangelists take me up and bring me to the Lord, then I will hear His word: "Child!" For I become a son of God through the fulfillment of the commandments, and my sins will be forgiven. But how will they bring me to Jesus? By breaking through the roof. And what is the roof? The mind, as the summit of our being. Upon this roof there is much earth and tile — that is, earthly deeds; but when all this is cast off, when the power of the mind is broken open and freed from its burden, when I am then let down — that is, when I humble myself (for I must not be puffed up as a result of the lightening of my mind, but after being lightened I am obliged to descend, that is, to humble myself) — then I will be healed and will take up my bed, that is, my body, rousing it to the fulfillment of the commandments. For one must not only rise from sin and recognize one's sin, but also take up the bed — that is, the body — for the doing of good. Then we may also attain to contemplation, so that all our thoughts will say within us: "We have never seen anything like this" — that is, we have never had such understanding as now, having been healed of our paralysis. He who is cleansed from sins truly sees. Mk. 2:13. And Jesus went out again to the sea; and all the people went to Him, and He taught them. Mk. 2:14. Passing by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and says to him: Follow Me. And he rose up and followed Him. Mk. 2:15. And as Jesus sat at meat in his house, there sat down together with Him His disciples also and many publicans and sinners; for there were many of them, and they followed Him. Mk. 2:16. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw that He was eating with tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples: How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners? Mk. 2:17. When Jesus heard this, He said to them: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." After performing the miracle on the paralytic, the Lord went away to the sea, probably seeking solitude, but the crowd gathers around Him again. Learn, then, that to the degree you flee from glory, it will pursue you; but if you pursue it, it will flee from you. Here the Lord had just withdrawn to the sea, and the people again run after Him. However, He departed from there as well, and along the way He caught Levi-Matthew. He who is now called Levi by Mark is Matthew, for he had two names. Therefore Luke and Mark, concealing his real name, call him Levi. But he himself is not ashamed; on the contrary, he openly says of himself: Jesus saw Matthew the tax collector (Mt. 9:9). So too let us not be ashamed to reveal our sins. Levi was sitting at the tax booth, occupied, as was his duty, either with collecting taxes from someone, or with drawing up accounts, or with something else that tax collectors usually did at their places of business. But now he proved so zealous for Christ that, leaving everything, he followed Him, and in great joy invited many to a meal. And the Pharisees begin to blame the Lord, presenting themselves, of course, as pure people. But the Lord said to this: "I have come to call not the righteous," that is, you who justify yourselves (He says this by way of mocking them), "but sinners," to call them, however, not so that they might remain sinners, but "to repentance," that is, so that they might turn back. "To repentance," He said, lest you think that by calling sinners He does nothing to reform them. Mk. 2:18. The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. And they come and say unto Him: Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Thy disciples do not fast? Mk. 2:19. And Jesus said to them: Can the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as the bridegroom is with them, they cannot fast, Mk. 2:20. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. John's disciples, being still imperfect, held to Jewish customs. Therefore some of those who came to Christ presented them as an example and blamed Him because His disciples did not fast equally with them. But He said to them: now I, the Bridegroom, am with them, and therefore they ought to rejoice, not fast; but when I am taken from this life, then, being subjected to afflictions, they will both fast and grieve. He calls Himself the "Bridegroom" not only because He betrothed to Himself virgin souls, but also because the time of His first coming is not a time of weeping and sorrow for those who believe in Him, nor a burdensome time, but one that gives us rest through baptism without the works of the law. Indeed, what labor is it to be baptized? And yet in this easy act we find salvation. The "sons of the bridechamber" are the apostles, because they were deemed worthy of the joy of the Lord and were made partakers of every heavenly good and consolation. You may also understand it this way: that every person, when he practices virtue, is a "son of the bridechamber," and as long as he has the Bridegroom Christ with him, he does not fast, that is, he does not perform works of repentance; for why should he repent who does not fall? But when the Bridegroom Christ is taken from him, that is, when he falls into sin, then he begins to fast and repent, in order to heal the sin. Mk. 2:21. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth onto an old garment; otherwise, the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear becomes even worse. Mk. 2:22. No one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the wineskins, and the wine will spill out, and the wineskins will be ruined; but new wine must be poured into new wineskins. Just as an "unshrunk," that is, new patch, by its firmness will only tear the old garment if sewn onto it, and just as new wine by its strength will burst old wineskins, so too My disciples have not yet grown strong, and therefore, if we burden them, we will thereby do them harm, since in the weakness of their understanding they are still like an old garment. Thus, one should not impose upon them the heavy commandment of fasting. Or you can also understand it this way: Christ's disciples, being already new people, cannot serve old customs and laws. Mk. 2:23. And it came to pass that He was going through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to pluck the ears of grain as they went along. Mk. 2:24. And the Pharisees said to Him: Look, why are they doing on the Sabbath what is not lawful? Mk. 2:25. He said to them: Have you never read what David did when he had need and was hungry, he himself and those who were with him? Mk. 2:26. How he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which it was not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and also gave it to those who were with him? Mk. 2:27. And He said to them: The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; Mk. 2:28. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. The disciples of the Lord plucked the ears of grain, as men accustomed to living no longer under the law. When the Pharisees became indignant at this, Christ silences them by pointing to David, who out of necessity broke the law during the time of the high priest Abiathar. Fleeing from Saul, the prophet David came to this high priest and deceived him, saying that he had been sent by the king on an urgent military matter. There he both ate the showbread and took back the sword of Goliath, which he had once dedicated to God. There were twelve of these loaves; they lay upon the table every day, six on the right and six on the left side of the table. Some ask: why did the evangelist here call the high priest Abiathar, when the Book of Kings names him Ahimelech (1 Sam. 21)? To this one may say that the high priest had two names: Ahimelech and Abiathar. It can also be explained differently, namely: the Book of Kings speaks of Ahimelech, the priest at that time, while the evangelist speaks of Abiathar, the high priest at that time, and therefore their accounts do not contradict one another. The priest on that occasion was Ahimelech, while Abiathar was then the high priest. In the higher sense, understand it thus: Christ's disciples walk on the Sabbath, that is, in the repose of the soul (Sabbath means rest); consequently, when they have attained freedom from the passions and from the assaults of demons, then they make the journey, that is, they become guides for others as well on the path to virtue, plucking up and uprooting all earthly and base illusory growths. For whoever has not first been freed from the passions and disposed himself to a quiet way of life cannot guide others and be a leader for them toward the good.