Behold, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.^[1] Our Lord had instructed them in advance and trained them in the truth of the just, so that whenever he dispensed from the law fully, they would not be alarmed. His Father had also dispensed from sabbaths to show that the sabbath was of his own making. He was also continuing to dispense from it that he might show that these were discerning remedies, proposed by the skilled physician for the pain which stretches from the sole of the foot to the head.^[2]

The Lord Jesus begins to divest man [people] of the observation of the old law and clothes him with the new covering of grace not only through the understanding of words but also through the very usage and appearance of actions. Already on the sabbath, he leads him through the cornfields, that is, he brings him to what abounds in fruit. What the sabbath, the standing corn, and the ears mean to him is no small mystery. The field is this whole world, and the standing corn of the field is an abundant fruitfulness of saints in the sowing of the human race. The ears of the field are the fruits of the church that the apostles scattered with their works and on which they fed, sustaining themselves on our progress. The corn was already standing rich in abundant ears of virtues. The fruits of our merit are compared with these, because they also wither in a shower or are parched by the sun or soaked by the rain or shattered by storms or hoarded by the reapers in the storehouses of the blessed granaries. The earth has already received the Word of God, and the nourishing field sown with heavenly seed has brought forth abundant fruit. The disciples hungered for the salvation of humankind, and by the splendid miracles of their works they plucked as if from the husks of their bodies fruits of their minds to the light of faith. The Jews thought that this was not permitted on the sabbath, but Christ through the gift of new grace designated the idleness of the law as a work of grace.

Now although David acted contrary to what the law approves, he is rightly and justly esteemed by us as worthy of all admiration because he was truly a saint and prophet. Since the law of Moses expressly commands justice and does not consider the person being judged,^[1] how, he says, do you condemn my disciples while you still admire as a saint and prophet the blessed David, although he did not keep Moses’ command?

There is clearly indicated to us by the loaves of the showbread the bread that comes down from heaven to be set upon the holy tables of the churches and all the furniture of the table. Bread used for the performance of its mystical service was a plain type of the divine treasures. Spiritually the bread signifies the twelve apostles, of whom we shall speak in due order when our comments reach the disciples themselves.

The miracle sometimes converts to faith those who had disbelieved the word, but the Pharisees watched him to see if he would heal on the sabbath. The nature of an envious person is such that he makes the praises of others food for his own disease and is wickedly maddened by their reputation. Once more he spoke to this; he reveals deep and mysterious things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.^[1] And why did he do this? Perhaps it might be to move the cruel and unpitying Pharisee to compassion. The man’s malady [his withered hand] perhaps might shame them and persuade them to dispel the flames of their envy.

This question is most wise indeed and a most suitable statement to meet their folly. If it is lawful to do good on the sabbath and nothing prevents the sick being pitied by God, cease picking up opportunities for fault-finding against Christ and bringing down on your own head the sentence which the Father has decreed against those who dishonor the Son. You have heard the Father where he says of the Son by the voice of David, I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him.^[2] But if it is not lawful to do good on the sabbath and the law forbids the saving of life, you have made yourself an accuser of the law.

Are you angry at me because I have healed the whole man on the sabbath day?^[1] In this place he revivified with the salutary strength of good works the hand which Adam stretched out to pluck the fruit of the forbidden tree.^[2] The hand which had withered through a crime was healed by good deeds. Christ thereby rebuked the Jews who violated the precepts of the law with evil interpretations. They thought that they should rest even from good works on the sabbath, since the law prefigured in the present the form of the future in which indeed the days of rest from evils, not from blessings, would come.

Then you heard the words of the Lord, saying, Stretch forth your hand. That is the common and universal remedy. You who think that you have a healthy hand beware lest it is withered by greed or by sacrilege. Hold it out often. Hold it out to the poor person who begs you. Hold it out to help your neighbor, to give protection to a widow, to snatch from harm one whom you see subjected to unjust insult. Hold it out to God for your sins.^[1] The hand is stretched forth; then it is healed. Jeroboam’s hand withered when he sacrificed to idols; then it stretched out when he entreated God.^[2]

So the Lord prays, not to entreat for himself but to intercede for me. Although the Father placed all things in the power of his Son,^[1] yet the Son, in order to fulfill the form of a man, thinks that the Father must be entreated for us, because he is our Advocate. . . . If he is an Advocate, he must intercede on account of my sins. . . .

It says, He passed the whole night in prayer. A model is given to you. A form is prescribed which you must imitate. . . . Unless I am mistaken, it is nowhere found that he prayed with the apostles. Everywhere he entreats alone, for human prayers do not grasp the counsels of God,^[2] nor can anyone share with Christ in the inward mysteries.

Note the extreme moderation of the Evangelist. He does not simply say that the holy apostles were appointed, but rather, by introducing the record of these chief ones each by name, takes care that no other one should venture to enroll himself in the company of those that were chosen.

But our Lord and Savior, not very long after the beginning of his preaching, called the twelve apostles and to them alone of all his disciples he gave the name of apostles as a special honor.^[1] Later he proclaimed seventy others, and them also he sent out two by two in advance of himself into every place and city where he himself was to come.

It says, He called unto him his disciples, and he chose twelve of them, whom he appointed sowers of the faith, to spread the help of human salvation throughout the world. At the same time, observe the heavenly counsel. He chose not wise men, nor rich men, nor nobles, but fishermen^[1] and tax collectors,^[2] whom he would direct, lest they seem to have seduced some by wisdom, or bought them with riches, or attracted them to their own grace with the authority of power and nobility. He did this so that the reasoning of truth, not the grace of disputation, should prevail.

He also chose twelve disciples, whom he called apostles, and commanded them to preach the kingdom of heaven which he came upon earth to declare, and to make heavenly us who are low and earthly, by virtue of his incarnation.

If you listen to Luke, you will not hear him calling Matthew a publican nor subordinating him to Thomas, for he knows him to be the greater, and puts him first and Thomas second. Mark has done the same. . . . So Luke honored Matthew, according to what they delivered, who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word.

Judas too is chosen, not through inadvertence but through Providence. How great is the truth that not even a hostile minister weakens! How great is the integrity of the Lord, who preferred to endanger his judgment among us, rather than his compassion! For he had assumed the frailty of man, and therefore [he did not] refuse those aspects of human weakness. He was willing to be forsaken, he was willing to be betrayed, he was willing to be surrendered by his own apostles, so that you, when abandoned by an ally, betrayed by an ally, may bear it in good order.

When he had appointed the holy apostles, he performed very many wonderful miracles, rebuking demons, delivering from incurable diseases whoever drew near to him, and displaying his own most divine power. He did these works so that both the Jews, who had run together to him, and those from the country of the Greeks might know that Christ was not some ordinary man of those in our degree but, on the contrary, God. He honored these chosen disciples with the dignity of the apostolate. He was the Word that was made man but retained nevertheless his own glory. For power went forth from him and healed all. Christ did not borrow strength from some other person, but being himself God by nature, even though he had become flesh, he healed them all, by the demonstration of power over the sick.

Note all things carefully. He ascends with the apostles and descends to the crowds. How would a crowd see Christ, except at a low level? It does not follow him to the heights; it does not climb to majestic places. So when he descends, he finds the weak, for the weak cannot be high up. Thus also Matthew teaches that the weak were healed down below.^[1] First each was healed, so that little by little, with increasing virtue, he could ascend to the mountain. On the plain he heals each, that is, he calls them back from recklessness. He turns away the harm of blindness. He descends to heal our wounds, so that in an effective and abundant manner he makes us partakers in his heavenly nature.