Commentary on Luke (Greek fragments) 11.14–11.45

“And he was casting out a demon, and it was dumb” (11:14). We say that “dumb” here means voiceless; and the affliction was not natural, but the plot of the demon that had bound his tongue. Therefore he needs others to bring him; for he could not entreat by himself, being voiceless. Hence the Lord does not demand faith of him either, but at once corrects the disease. “And the crowds marvelled.” When he had been cleansed and the wonder accomplished, the multitude applauded him with praises and hastened to crown the wonder-worker with glory befitting God. “But some of them,” it says—these were scribes and Pharisees, with hearts drunk with madness and envy—made the wonder an addition to their disease. For removing from him what he had done in a manner befitting God, they ascribed to the devil the power to accomplish all things; for they said that he cast out the demons through him. — When Christ, then, was burying the evil demons as in an abyss and removing them against their will by sending them out of those who had them, though he should have been admired for this, he did not escape the talk of those accustomed to find fault. For they dared to say, making the miracle a charge: “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul.” “Others, testing him,” and so on (11:16). Others, pricked by the same goads of envy, sought to see a sign from heaven from him, all but crying out: “Even if you drive a malignant demon out of a man, the thing is not yet great, nor does what is done prove divine working. We have not yet seen anything like the ancient wonders. Show us something indisputably worked from above. Moses brought the people across, making the sea passable for them through the middle; he struck the rock with his rod and showed it to be a mother of rivers; springs came forth from the flint. Likewise Joshua after him made the sun stand still at Gibeon and the moon at the valley of Aijalon; he stopped the Jordan and put a bond on its streams. But you have shown none of these.” For wishing to ask for a sign from heaven would indicate nothing else but that they then had such thoughts about him. And what does Christ say to this?

“But he, knowing their thoughts,” and so on (11:17). First he shows himself to be God by knowing even what they whispered secretly; for he knew their reasonings. Then, drawing them away from so terrible an impiety, he says nothing from the Scriptures—for they did not attend to them, but would have misinterpreted them—but from what commonly happens. “For a city,” he says, “and a house, if divided, is quickly dissolved; and a kingdom”—than which nothing is more powerful. “If, then, I too, having a demon, cast out the demons through him, there is strife among the demons; and if they stand against one another, their strength has perished.” For loyalty of subjects keeps kingdoms standing; and that none of their members oppose one another in any way keeps houses standing. And Beelzebul’s kingdom too would be kept standing by his not wishing to act against himself. How, then, does Satan cast out Satan? Therefore the demons are not sent out of men willingly. “For Satan does not fight himself,” he says; “he does not rebuke his own bodyguards, but rather strengthens his own kingdom. It remains, then, to understand that I crush Satan by divine power.” — … the most perverse multitude of the unholy Pharisees slandered Emmanuel and dared to calumniate his glory, impiously calling him helped by the cooperation of Beelzebul to be able to drive the evil spirits out of the sick. Therefore Emmanuel himself also cried out through the prophet Hosea against the unbridled tongue of the Jews, saying: “Woe to them, for they have leapt away from me! They are wretched, for they have been impious toward me. I redeemed them, but they spoke lies against me.”

“By whom do your sons cast them out?” (11:19). For the blessed disciples were Jews and of Jews according to the flesh. They received from God authority over unclean spirits, and indeed freed those held by them, pronouncing over them, “In the name of Jesus Christ.” “When, then,” he says, “the sons who have come from you crush Beelzebul in my name, rebuking his bodyguards and sending them without delay out of those who have them, how is it not plain blasphemy, combined with great ignorance, to say that I borrow power from Beelzebul? You will be condemned, then, by the faith of the sons who have come from you, if they, having received authority and power from me, paralyse Satan and send him out of those who have him against his will, while you say that I work the divine signs using his powers.”

“But if by the finger of God I cast out the demons,” and so on (11:20). “Since,” he says, “what you say is not true, but rather stale and false and bearing the charge of slander, it is evident that I cast out the demons by the finger of God.” By the finger of God he means the Holy Spirit. For the Son himself has been named the hand and arm of God the Father, since he works all things through him. And likewise the Son works in the Spirit. Just as the finger hangs from the hand, not foreign to it but naturally in it, so the Holy Spirit is joined in union with the Son by reason of consubstantiality, even though he proceeds from God the Father. For, as I said, the Son works all things through the consubstantial Spirit. Yet he says, “By the finger of God I cast out the demons,” and now by the economy, as man. For the Jews, having a rotten and foolish mind, would not have borne it had he said, “By my Spirit I cast out the demons.” And note carefully, I pray, that when the Father works wonders through the Son, it is the Spirit who works them. For he too was working in that temple; and those whose working is one have also the same nature. Let the fighters against the Spirit, then, driven everywhere to the truth, hate the vomit of deceivers, return to sobriety toward God, and ask from him the light of the truth; for the Saviour, who loves humankind, will grant it. — “If, then,” he says, “I, being a man and having become as you are, cast out demons by the Spirit of God, human nature has been enriched in me, as in the first, with the kingdom befitting God; for it has been glorified by crushing Satan and rebuking unclean spirits.” This is the meaning of:

“The kingdom of God has come upon you.” “When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own court,” and so on (11:21). Since the discourse on these things had to proceed through many thoughts, he uses a clear and most plain example, through which those who wish may see that he has conquered the ruler of this age, and, as it were, having hamstrung him and stripped him bare of the strength in him, has given him as plunder to his own followers. “As long as the strong man,” he says, “has power and guards his own, he suspects no greed against him. But when someone stronger than he comes upon him and overpowers him, then he is plundered.” This example is spoken as of men; but the devil, who hates the good, has suffered it too. For before the Saviour’s coming he was in great strength, having driven together and holding, as it were, in his own court flocks that belonged to another—clearly, those of the God over all. But when the Word of God who is beyond all, the giver of all strength and Lord of the powers, leapt upon him, having become man, all his goods were plundered and the spoils distributed. For those who of old were held by him in godlessness and error have been called through the holy apostles to the knowledge of the truth, and brought to God the Father through faith in the Son.

“He who is not with me is against me” (11:23). “For I have come,” he says, “to deliver all from the hands of the devil, to free those who are captives, to enlighten those in darkness, to raise the fallen and heal the broken, and to gather into one the children of God scattered—by him, clearly. But Satan, not being with me, tries to scatter what I have gathered and saved. How, then, does the one who fights against my economy give me power against himself? Is it not silly to think any such thing has happened?” Whence, then, it came about that the crowds of the Jews slipped into such thoughts about Christ, he himself made clear, saying: “When the unclean spirit has gone out of the man, it passes through waterless places,” and so on (11:24).

That this whole example applies to the Jews Matthew showed, adding: “So shall it be also with this evil generation.” For as long as they were serving in Egypt and living by the customs and laws of the Egyptians, they were full of all uncleanness, and the evil spirit dwelt in them. But when they had been redeemed through Moses, God having pity on them, and had received the law as a tutor calling them to the light of the true knowledge of God, the profane and unclean spirit was driven out—at the time, too, when they sacrificed the lamb as a type of Christ, were anointed with its blood, and escaped the destroyer. But since they did not believe in Christ but thrust away the Redeemer, behold, the unclean spirit has fallen on them again, and far worse than before; for it found their heart bare and empty of all godliness, and as it were swept, and it dwelt in them. For as the Holy Spirit, when he sees a human heart empty of all uncleanness, makes his abode there, dwells and rests in it, so the unclean spirit is wont to dwell in the souls of the lawless; for they are empty, as I said, of all virtue. So the last state of those of Israel has become worse than the first. For as the Saviour’s disciple said: “It would have been better for them not to have known the way of truth than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. For there has happened to them what the true proverb says: The dog turns back to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing, to wallowing in the mire.” From their very daring deeds one could see that they touched their own vomit again, practised returning to wallow in the former mire, and fell into the error of Egypt. For the unclean spirit entered again, and according to the Saviour’s word their last state became worse than the first.

“It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it” (11:29). The request came from wickedness; therefore they do not obtain it, according to the saying, “The wicked will seek me and will not find me.” And if it had been possible for Jesus not to be willing to suffer death on the cross according to the flesh, not even this sign would have been given to the Jews. But since the passion for the salvation of the world under heaven was indispensable, it has been given them for condemnation. That it is a very great sign of the power and authority befitting God of the Word made man to have abolished death through his resurrection from the dead, it will suffice, I think, for the reasonable to be fully convinced by this: that Pilate’s soldiers, who were guarding the Lord’s tomb, were persuaded with much money to say, “While we were asleep he was stolen by night.” Not even by this sign, then, did the Jews believe. Therefore he very fittingly said of them: “The queen of the south will rise,” and so on. “The queen of the south will rise at the judgment,” and so on (11:31).

[Of Cyril, from the commentary on Luke.] A barbarian woman, though long distances kept her away, overcame reluctance—not to amass money, but to hear the wisdom of Solomon, who spoke parables and riddles and described the beauties and the faults of human things. — A barbarian woman was eager to hear Solomon, and undertook so long a journey for this, to hear wisdom about the nature of visible things, of animals and plants. “But you, who are present and hear about invisible and heavenly things, when Wisdom herself has come to you and confirms the word by works and wonders, are you estranged from the word and do you let the wonder of the oracles pass without feeling? How, then, is there not something greater than Solomon here, that is, in me?” And see again the skill of the saying: why does he say “here” and not rather “in me”? To persuade us to be humble, even if we are full of spiritual gifts. And besides, it would not have been unlikely that the Jews, hearing “Something greater than Solomon is in me,” would again try to say their usual things about him: “See, he says that he is even better than those who reigned illustriously among us.” So the Saviour by the economy speaks with restraint, saying “here” instead of “in me.” — He also says that the Ninevites will be for their condemnation at the time of the judgment. For they were cruel and barbarous men, not knowing the God who is God by nature and in truth, wholly unacquainted with what was decreed through Moses, ignorant of the eloquence of the prophets. Yet, being of such a mind, they repented, he says, at the preaching of Jonah; so they are far better than those of Israel and will condemn them. But hear the words: “The men of Nineveh will rise at the judgment against this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” “No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it in a hidden place,” and so on (11:33).

And what was the need of such words? He contends against an objection devised by the Jews out of their perversity and ignorance. For they said that he worked wonders not so much that he might be believed, but that he might have many followers and snatch the applause of those who saw the divine signs. He repels this slander, then, and takes as an example the use of a lamp; for the lamp is always set on high and on a lampstand, so that it may be useful to those who see. And let us consider what follows from this. Before our Saviour’s coming, the father of darkness, that is, Satan, had darkened the world under heaven, and all things were blackened with a spiritual mist. But when we were in this state, the Father gave the Son to the world under heaven as a kind of lamp, so that the divine light might shine on us and deliver us from the devil’s mist. But, O Jew, if you blame the lamp because it is not rather hidden, but, set on high and on a lampstand, gives light to those who see, then blame Christ for not wishing rather to escape notice, but to be seen by all, enlightening those in darkness and giving the light of the true knowledge of God. So he did not perform the divine signs and seek to be known through them in order to be admired, but rather so that it might be believed that, being God by nature, he became man for us and did not cease to be what he was. And shining, as on a lampstand, in the holy Church by the preaching, he enlightens the minds of all, filling them with divine knowledge. “A Pharisee asked him to dine with him” (11:37).

The most wise Paul speaks the truth in saying that Christ came into the world to save sinners. For this reason, lowering himself to self-emptying, he was seen on earth with flesh and lived among men. One can see this taking place also through the words before us. For how is it not plain to all that the workshop of the Pharisees was always evil and profane, envious and nursed in arrogance, and insolent toward Christ the Saviour of us all? How, then, did he lodge with them? Was he ignorant of the perversity in them? And how is it safe to say this? For he knows all things as God. What, then, is it? He hastened above all to admonish them, imitating the best of physicians, who bring the help of their own practice more insistently to the sick. For, as he himself says somewhere, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” So the Pharisee, as far as his own purpose went, invites him to his hearth; but the Saviour of all lowers himself to this, as I said, by the economy, and made the thing an occasion of teaching. And the dull Pharisee supplied the occasions for the discourse; for he marvelled, it says, that he had not first washed before dinner. He was offended, it means, that, having among them the reputation of a righteous man and a prophet, he did not conform to their most irrational customs. For they used to wash before eating, as though freeing themselves from all defilement—and this too very foolishly. For washing with water is very useful for those defiled in body; but how could it free anyone from the uncleanness that is in mind and heart? Yet we say this: Foolish Pharisee, you have thought much of yourself for your knowledge of the sacred Scriptures; you know the law of Moses. Tell me, then, where did Moses command you this? What commandment laid down by God can you name about having to wash before eating? Through the commandment of Moses the water of purification was given for cleansing bodily defilement, bearing the type of the truly holy and cleansing baptism, I mean the baptism in Christ. And those called to the priestly service also washed with water. And indeed the divine Moses washed Aaron with water, and with him the Levites; the law showing through the typical baptism, as in shadows, that their priestly service did not have perfection for sanctification but needed rather the divine and sacred baptism for true cleansing; and showing us in another way too that the Saviour of all perfects for sanctification, and for the putting off of all defilement, the holy and chosen race in God’s sight, that is, us, through holy and august baptism. Yet he is nowhere seen

to have commanded washing before eating. Why, then, have you marvelled, or for what reason were you offended, O Pharisee? And what does the Saviour do? He makes the rebuke on a fit occasion; for hear: “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish,” and so on (11:39). The Lord could have used other words too, wishing to admonish the foolish Pharisee; but he seizes the occasion and, as it were, weaves his teaching out of what was at hand. For at the time of food and table he takes the cup and the dish as a plain example, and shows that those who worship God sincerely must be clean and washed, and not only from bodily uncleanness but also from that hidden within in the mind—just as it would be well for the vessels that serve the tables to be freed from outward dirt and, besides, from what is within. “For he who made the outside,” he says, “made the inside too”; that is, he who created the body also fashioned the soul. Since both are works of the one God who loves virtue, they must have a cleansing that runs together. But this was unaccustomed for the scribes and Pharisees; for they were eager to do everything only so far as to seem clean, being like whitewashed tombs, according to the Saviour’s own word, beautiful outside, but inside full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. But Christ does not wish us to be such, but holy and blameless in soul and body. And indeed one of our own said: “Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” And Isaiah too, in the person of God: “Wash,” he says, “become clean; take away the wickedness from your souls before my eyes.” Note the precision of the saying: being wicked, some may sometimes escape the eyes of men, but they cannot escape the divine eyes. What remedy, then, did the Saviour give them after the rebukes? “But give as alms what is within, and behold, all things are clean for you” (11:41).

Yet we say that there are very many ways of winning approval, such as meekness, humility, and their kin. Why, then, passing over such things, does he command them to become merciful? The Pharisees were very fond of money, gathering gains with an insatiable hand. And indeed the God of all said of them somewhere: “How has the faithful city Zion, full of judgment, become a harlot? In her righteousness lodged, but now murderers. Your silver is debased; your merchants mix the wine with water; your rulers are disobedient, companions of thieves, loving gifts, pursuing rewards, not judging for orphans, and not heeding the cause of widows.” He went, then, fittingly against the sickness that ruled them. “You tithe mint and rue and every herb,” and so on (11:42).

For neglecting as stale what they ought above all to have accomplished, that is, judgment and the love of God, they kept exactly only those commandments—or rather commanded the peoples under their hand to keep them—which were the way and occasion of very many gains for them; so that they did not pass over even the small things of herbs, worth no account. — [Here the Apostate says that one should avoid tombs, and so on. But this is child’s play and nonsense; the Lord calls those who cover their own wickedness with hypocrisy unmarked tombs, deceiving those who come upon them.] — It is the work of love for God not to offend him in any way, and to fear the transgression of the whole law; and of judgment, just judging, and giving equal care to what has been decreed, and not neglecting what is necessary while looking exactly only to what is profitable, but casting an impartial vote in every matter; for to judge unjustly does not belong to those who keep love toward their brothers. So, not keeping what is necessary and binding in the law, they were eager to take tithes even of the most worthless things. “You love the chief seat in the synagogues,” and so on (11:43).

By what he rebukes them for, by the very same he makes us better; for he wishes us to be free of love of glory, and not to pursue seeming before truly being—which the Pharisees did. For greetings from some, and love of the first seats, do not certainly show us to be approved; for these belong to many who are not good. The Saviour shows this at once, saying: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like unmarked tombs, and the men who walk over them do not know it.” For, being eager to seek greetings from all in the marketplace and to make much of presiding in assemblies, they differ in nothing from unmarked tombs, which are splendid with outward ornaments but full of all uncleanness. Here, I pray, see hypocrisy and doing everything to please men condemned in the extreme. Therefore the blessed Paul says: “If I were still pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

“Teacher, in saying this you insult us too” (11:45). Being rebuked is always somehow hard to bear for every man; yet it is not useless for the reasonable, for it moves them to what is better. See those called lawyers among the Jews suffering this. For the Saviour of all was rebuking the Pharisees as running outside the straight road; and at this the band of unholy lawyers grew angry; for they bring themselves under the charges and think that what Christ said to those men was said against themselves. But surely it would have been better to love the rebuke and ask for the cure of their sicknesses, and not ignorantly to call the rebuke an insult, though it was beneficial and useful. What, then, does Christ say to this? He intensifies the rebuke and brings down their idle pride, saying: “Woe to you lawyers also, for you load men with burdens,” and so on (11:46).