1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
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VERS. 1.-- *The beginning of the Gospel.* The Gospel, *good tidings,* which belongs properly to the kingdom of God and to the remission of sins. Whence: *Repent ye and believe the Gospel: and the kingdom of heaven hath drawn nigh.* The four Gospels are one, and the one is four. And so the book of Mark also is called the Gospel, and likewise that of the others: because all are one, and one is all. *Of Jesus Christ.* Jesus in Hebrew, Soter in Greek, Salvator in Latin, Christus in Greek, Messias in Hebrew, anointed in Latin, that is, king and priest: he is said to be of the line of David the king, and of the Levitical line. *Of the Son of God.* Matthew says: *of the son of David, the son of Abraham*. Mark says: *of the Son of God,* so that little by little from the lesser to the greater, etc., *as far as* John begins from the eternity of the Word of God, and ends in the resurrection of the Lord.
2 As it is written in Isaias the prophet: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare the way before thee.
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VERS. 2.-- *As it is written.* Mark sets the testimonies of the prophets first, by which he asserts that these things are old and not new, but foreknown and foretold by the prophets, and in this he invites also the Jews, who had received the law and the prophets, to the Gospel: and he calls the Gentiles, who held the Gospel, to the veneration of the law and the prophets, that no one, after the heretics, may receive the one without the other. *Behold, I send.* John is called an angel not by fellowship of nature, as Origen falsely pretends, but by the dignity of his office: as the priests also are, of whom it is said: *The lips of the priest keep knowledge, and they seek the law out of his mouth, because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts*. Note that this testimony: *Behold, I send my angel,* etc., is Malachi's, yet he says that both are Isaiah's, because, etc., *as far as* all the prophets spoke by one spirit as with one mouth.
3 A voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight his paths.
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VERS. 3.-- *Of one crying.* To the Jews, deaf because of their sins, set far off, worthy of a cry of indignation. *In the desert.* In the desert the voice and the cry are made: because the house of Judaea is deserted, standing empty and swept, without the Spirit of God, without prophet, king, priest. Whence Jesus and John seek what was lost in the desert. Where the devil conquered, there he is conquered: where man fell, there he rises again. *Prepare ye.* Do penance and preach. Whence the Parasceve before the sabbath, etc., *as far as* that we, being at rest, may possess the desirable land. *The way of the Lord.* The way of the Lord by which he enters in unto men is penance, through which God comes down to us, and we ascend to him. Whence the angels are remembered as ascending and descending upon the Son of man. *Make straight the paths.* He commands that, going by the royal road, we love our neighbours as ourselves, and ourselves, etc., *as far as* that the mouth be not sundered from the work, nor the work from the mouth. The paths come after the way, because the moral commandments are expounded after penance, according to Mark or Matthew. The way is prepared by faith and baptism and penance. The paths are made straight by the austere tokens of raiment, of girdle, of food, of drink, of a most humble voice.
4 John was in the desert, baptizing and preaching the baptism of penance, unto remission of sins.
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VERS. 4.-- *John.* The grace of God. He begins from the grace of God, whence there follows: *Baptizing,* etc. Through baptism sins are forgiven; whence: That which *ye have freely received, freely give*. And the Apostle: *By grace ye are saved*. *Baptizing.* He gave the baptism of penance, he preached a baptism unto the remission of sins, yet he did not give it. As by preaching, etc., *as far as* now the bride is brought in by the friend of the bridegroom, as Rebecca to Isaac, veiled by the servant with a white cloak.
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.
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VERS. 5.-- *In the Jordan* Jordan is the descent of another, where sins are loosed. For the ark, etc., *as far as* the body of Christ profits not those who are not cleansed, but changes them for the worse. *Confessing,* etc. * Confession and beauty are in his sight*, that is, in the sight of the bridegroom. Whence the bride alights from her camel, when the Church humbles herself to Christ, who is figured by Isaac, at whose birth God made laughter for Sara. As it is said to Mary, who is a princess with God: *Blessed art thou among women*. Confessing their sins, they are baptized. For they ought to promise the newness of a better life, who baptism, etc., *as far as* and so change those who are cleansed and promise the Christian religion into members of the Church.
6 And John was clothed camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins: and he ate locusts and wild honey.
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VERS. 6.-- *And John was,* etc. The prophet's raiment and food and drink signify the whole austere life of preachers, and the Gentiles, etc., *as far as* because all things are from the grace of the Gospel, in which there is no distinction of Jew and Greek. * Clothed with camel's hair.* Because he did not cherish sins, but rebuked them sharply, saying: *Ye brood of vipers,* etc. The leathern girdle, etc., *as far as* for in the honey is sweetness, in the locust a nimble flight, but one soon falling.
7 And he preached, saying: There cometh after me one mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.
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VERS. 7.-- *Mightier than I.* Who is mightier than the grace by which sins are washed away? He who, etc., *as far as* and it reaches even to the hundred and forty-four thousand. *To loose the latchet.* There was a custom among the ancients, that if any man were unwilling to take to wife her who fell to him, he, etc., *as far as* I am not able to bare the feet of the Redeemer, because I claim not for myself the name of bridegroom. The latchet of the shoes, that is, the mystery of the Incarnation of God. For the heel, etc., *as far as* the bride among the patriarchs, the friend among the prophets, the neighbour in Mary and Joseph, the beloved in John the Baptist, the dove in Christ and the apostles.
8 I have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
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VERS. 8.-- *I have baptized you with water.* John does not yet say openly that he is God or the Son of God, because his hearers were untaught: but little by little, through the humanity glorified, he leads them to faith in the divinity, saying: *But he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.* Yet afterwards, when he saw them now more capable, he preaches the Son of God openly, saying: *He gave testimony, that this is the Son of God*. * I baptize you with water, he,* etc. The river of God is always full, always equal, of which: *The stream of the river maketh the city of God joyful*. There is a great distance, etc., *as far as* the anointing of Christ comes from the bitterness of the passion to the glory of the resurrection; whence the Apostle: *Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,* etc., even to: *For which cause God also hath exalted him*.
9 And it came to pass, in those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in Jordan.
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VERS. 9.-- *And he was baptized in the Jordan.* For three causes: that he might fulfil justice and humility; that he might approve the baptism of John; that, sanctifying the waters of Jordan by the descent of the dove, he might show the Holy Ghost to be present in baptism. Mark: As the hart, longing for the fountains of waters, gives leaps, crops the tops of the meadows, bears palms upon his crown, so, like the honey-flowing bee, he tastes but lightly the flowers of the field (to which the odour of the true Isaac is likened). Whence Jesus coming from Nazareth of Galilee to the baptism, etc., *as far as: To him that overcometh I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of my God*.
10 And forthwith coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens open and the Spirit as a dove descending and remaining on him.
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VERS. 10.-- *He saw the heavens opened,* etc. The mystery of the Trinity is shown in the baptism: the Son is baptized, the Spirit is in the dove, the Father sounds in the voice. The heavens are opened, etc., *as far as* the Spirit shall abide with us and shall be in us according to the measure of faith. But of Christ it is said: *Full of grace and truth*. *Remaining in him.* The Spirit remains in him, not from the time he was baptized, but from the time he was conceived. But that he descended at the baptism signifies that spiritual grace is given to us in baptism, to whom, being regenerated of water and the Spirit unto the remission of sins, a fuller grace of the Spirit is wont to be given from heaven by the imposition of the bishop's hand.
11 And there came a voice from heaven: Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
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VERS. 11.-- *Thou art my beloved Son.* He is not taught what he knew not, but it is shown to us what we ought to believe, namely that he, etc., *as far as* and rightly did the Spirit descend in the likeness of a dove, which is a simple creature and without gall: because he seeks the simple, nor does he dwell in impure minds.
12 And immediately the Spirit drove him out into the desert.
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VERS. 12.-- *The Spirit.* Lest it be doubtful which spirit, Luke deliberately sets before it: *Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from the Jordan;* then he added: *and was led by the Spirit into the desert, lest an unclean* spirit be thought to have had any power against him.
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.
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VERS. 13.-- *Forty days.* It signifies the whole time in which the devil tempts his members. For the fourfold world, by the observance of the ten commandments, serves the Lord in striving against the devil. And four times ten make forty. Everywhere and always the adversary is at hand, who ceases not to hinder our journey. *And he was with the beasts.* We also, if in the desert of holy conversation we bear with undefiled mind the bestial manners of men, deserve the mystery of the angels, by whom, loosed from the body, we may be carried over into heaven
14 And after that John was delivered up, Jesus came in Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
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VERS. 14.-- *But after that.* We have received grace for grace, things carnal are beheaded, things spiritual are quickened. The shadow ceasing, the truth is at hand. John in prison, the law in Judaea, Jesus in Galilee, salvation among the Gentiles. *Preaching,* etc. * Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall possess*, etc. To the earthly kingdom succeeds poverty, and to the poverty of Christians an everlasting kingdom; whence: *My kingdom is not of this world*: for every earthly honour is froth, smoke, a dream.
15 And saying: The time is accomplished and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel:
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VERS. 15.-- *Repent ye.* The sweetness of the fruit makes up for the bitterness of the root: the hope of the harbour delights away the perils of the sea, the hope of health softens the pain of the medicine. He who desires the kernel, let him break the nut: let him do penance who wishes to cleave to the eternal good. They can tell forth the praises of Christ who have deserved to come to the palm of pardon. Whence after penance preachers are chosen.
16 And passing by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother, casting nets into the sea for they were fishermen.
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VERS. 16.-- *He saw Simon.* Simon, *obedient;* Andrew, *manly;* James, *supplanter;* John, *grace.* By these names, etc., *as far as* by prudence we obey, by justice we act manfully, by temperance we tread upon serpents, by fortitude we merit the grace of God. Whom does worldly eloquence not intoxicate? With difficulty do men that are powerful, and noble, and rich, and with much more difficulty than these the eloquent, believe God. Their mind is blinded by riches and wealth and luxury, and, encompassed about with vices, they cannot see the virtues, and they judge the simplicity of Holy Scripture not from the majesty of its meanings, but from the serviceableness of its words. Four fishermen are called, Simon, Andrew, James and John: leaving all things they follow. By this chariot we are borne to the upper air, etc., *as far as* we are covered with the skins of Solomon, in which the bride glories that she is beautiful. It is asked how he called first Peter and Andrew, and after a little James and John, as he relates, etc., *as far as* for then they followed him, not with the ships drawn up to land as though with a care of returning, but as one calling and commanding. *And they enter in.* Mark, disposing the sayings of the Gospel within himself, not following the order of the history, keeps the order of the mysteries, whence on the sabbath he relates the first miracle, saying: *And they enter in,* etc. *Capharnaum.* Capharnaum is the village of consolation, the sabbath is rest. The man in an unclean spirit, the human race, in which is uncleanness, etc., *as far as* Pharao, let go by Israel, we pursue him, the devil, despised, rises up into scandals. That he heals and teaches chiefly on the sabbath shows that he is not under the law, but above it: and he teaches us the true sabbath, that, being zealous namely for the salvation of souls, we may abstain from every servile work, that is, from all unlawful things.
17 And Jesus said to them: Come after me; and I will make you to become fishers of men.
18 And immediately leaving their nets, they followed him.
19 And going on from thence a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who also were mending their nets in the ship:
20 And forthwith he called them. And leaving their father Zebedee in the ship with his hired men, they followed him.
21 And they entered into Capharnaum: and forthwith upon the sabbath days going into the synagogue, he taught them.
22 And they were astonished at his doctrine. For he was teaching them as one having power, and not as the scribes.
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VERS. 22.-- *For he was,* etc. The scribes said the things that were written in Moses and the prophets; Jesus, as God and Lord, freely added to the law of Moses himself, or changed, the things that were wanting; whence in Matthew: *You have heard that it was said to them of old,* etc. *But I say to you.*
23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,
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.
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VERS. 24.-- *What have we,* etc. This is not a confession of the will, but an extortion of necessity: as a runaway servant fears his master when he sees him, and entreats concerning stripes. For the demons, beholding the Lord upon earth, believed that they were straightway to be judged.
25 And Jesus threatened him, saying: Speak no more, and go out of the man.
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VERS. 25.-- *Hold thy peace.* In fitting order the serpent's tongue, which first scattered venom, is first stopped, that it scatter no more, then, etc., *as far as* that the order of restoration in the Lord may be the same as that of perdition in the first-formed man.
26 And the unclean spirit, tearing him and crying out with a loud voice, went out of him.
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VERS. 26.-- *Tearing him.* Or shaking him, as certain codices have it. But Luke says that it hurt him nothing. Yet what Mark says, *tearing,* is the same as Luke's: *when he had cast him into the midst.* But as to what he added, *and hurt him not:* it is to be understood that that tossing did not weaken him: as demons go out with some limbs cut off or torn away. The man delivered from the demon we understand to be the mind cleansed from unclean thought. But the woman consequently healed of her fevers, the flesh bridled from the fervour of concupiscence by the precepts of continence.
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.
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VERS. 27.-- *What thing is this?* By the things which they see they are stirred up to the search of the things which they had heard. For to this end the Lord himself both works signs and gave to his disciples to work them, that by this the Gospel may be the more surely believed, while they who promise heavenly things to earthly men work heavenly and divine works upon earth.
28 And the fame of him was spread forthwith into all the country of Galilee.
29 And immediately going out of the synagogue they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
30 And Simon's wife's mother lay in a fit of a fever: and forthwith they tell him of her.
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VERS. 30.-- *And forthwith they tell him,* etc. Luke says that they besought him for her. For sometimes the Saviour heals when he is asked, sometimes of his own accord, that against the passions of vices also he may show both that he is always present to the prayers of the faithful, and that the things which are not understood he either gives to be understood, or, when they are not understood, forgives to them that ask devoutly. Whence: *Who can understand sins? from my secret sins cleanse me*.
31 And coming to her, he lifted her up, taking her by the hand; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.
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VERS. 31.-- *Taking her by the hand.* Peter's mother-in-law, sick of a fever, is lifted up when her hand is taken. The fever is intemperance, of which we, the sons of the Synagogue, are healed by the hand of discipline and by the lifting up of desire, and we minister to the will of him who heals us as he declines from us toward evening. *She ministered unto them.* Tropologically: that is, let the members which had served uncleanness serve justice.
32 And when it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all that were ill and that were possessed with devils.
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VERS. 32.-- *And in the evening.* The setting of the sun is the death of Christ. *They brought unto him all that were ill.* For he healed more by the apostles after his death than when, living in the flesh, he preached to the Jews.
33 And all the city was gathered together at the door.
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VERS. 33.-- *At the door.* The door of the kingdom, morally, is penance with faith, which works salvation for divers infirmities. For divers are the vices by which the city of the world languishes.
34 And he healed many that were troubled with divers diseases. And he cast out many devils: and he suffered them not to speak, because they knew him.
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VERS. 34.-- *Because they knew him.* Luke says more openly: *Demons went out from many,* etc., *because they knew him to be Christ.* The demons therefore know that he is Christ and the Son of God, etc., *as far as* whence Paul: *None of the princes of this world knew. For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory*.
35 And rising very early, going out, he went into a desert place: and there he prayed.
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VERS. 35.-- *And in the morning.* As by the setting of the sun, death, so by the dawn, the resurrection of Christ, by whose manifest light he went away into the desert of the Gentiles and prayed in the faithful, because he was stirring up their hearts to prayer.
36 And Simon and they that were with him followed after him.
37 And when they had found him, they said to him: All seek for thee.
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 am I come.
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VERS. 38.-- *For to this I came.* Fitly does the evangelist subjoin this. For not by this alone is the authority of his divinity shadowed forth, but also the humility of his voluntary emptying. But Luke, that he may express the dispensation of the Word, writes, *for to this was I sent.* Wherefore he designates by the name of apostleship the Father's good pleasure concerning the incarnation of the Word.
39 And he was preaching in their synagogues and in all Galilee and casting out devils.
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VERS. 39.-- *And he was preaching in the synagogues.* In this preaching is understood also that sermon delivered on the mount which Matthew relates; for, etc., *as far as: And behold a leper came and adored him, saying: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean*.
40 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him and kneeling down, said to him: If thou wilt thou canst make me clean.
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VERS. 40.-- *And kneeling down,* etc. Humble, ashamed. For every man ought to blush at the stains of his life, but let shame not check confession: let him show the wound, let him ask the remedy. The leper, kneeling, entreating the will of the Lord, is made clean by him who willeth not the death of the sinner, but, etc., *as far as: Give alms: and behold, all things are clean.*. The leper signifies the human race, which, according to Luke, is reported to have been full of leprosy. *For all,* etc., *as far as* and to offer to the true priest *their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God*. *If thou wilt, thou canst.* In the will he assigns the power, nor does he doubt of the Lord's will as an unbeliever, but, conscious of his own foulness, he does not presume. He who, shut out by the law, asks to be healed by the Lord's power, judges grace to be above the law. For as in the Lord the authority of power, so in him the constancy of faith.
41 And Jesus, having compassion on him, stretched forth his hand and touching him saith to him: I will. Be thou made clean.
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VERS. 41.-- *He stretched forth his hand.* The law forbids a leper to be touched, but because he is the Lord of the law, he does not obey the law, but makes the law. He touches him not because he could not heal without a touch, but he thus proves that he was not subject to the law. *I will, be thou made clean.* That is wonderful, that he heals in the same manner in which he is asked. *I will, be thou made clean: and when he had said it, immediately the leprosy departed from him.* There is nothing between the work and the command. *He spoke, and they were made*. Thou seest that the will is the power. And so, etc., *as far as: I will* for he says on account of Potinus, he commands on account of Arius, he touches on account of the Manichee.
42 And when he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him: and he was made clean.
43 And he strictly charged him and forthwith sent him away.
44 And he saith to him: See thou tell no one; but go, shew thyself to the high priest and offer for thy cleansing the things that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.
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VERS. 44.-- *See thou,* etc. Not because he willed what he could not do, since *he hath done all things whatsoever he would*. But he teaches that our good deeds are to be kept back, not only from the wage of money, but also from that of favour. *Show thyself,* etc. That he may understand that he was healed not by the order of the law, but by the grace which is above the law. He bids him offer, that he may show that he does not destroy the law, but fulfils it, while, walking according to the law, he heals above the law those whom the remedies of the law were not healing. Nor ought the sacrifice which signified to cease, since that which was signified had not yet been confirmed by the ordinance of the apostles and the faith of believers.
45 But he being gone out, began to publish and to blaze abroad the word: so that he could not openly go into the city. but was without in desert places. And they flocked to him from all sides.
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VERS. 45.-- *But he going out.* The salvation of one compels many to the Lord. He cannot keep silence about the benefit, even when bidden by him who gave it. The Lord commanded that it be hidden. For he wills that in the good things we do we should wish to lie hid, which belongs to humility; and that we be brought forward unwilling, that we may profit others, which belongs to great sublimity, since even if we ourselves should wish it, the works cannot be kept silent. *So that now,* etc. Jesus was not made manifest to all, who serve broad and public praises and their own pleasures, but to those, etc., *as far as* whom nothing can separate from the charity of God.