The text says then. Then when? This was after the descent of the Spirit, after the voice that was borne from above had said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Led by whom? This is marvelous. All of this was led by the Holy Spirit. For it says Jesus was led up by the Spirit. All this was for our instruction. The Lord does whatever is necessary for our salvation by both acting and being acted upon. He submitted himself to being led up there to wrestle against the devil. Now we should not be troubled if, after our baptism, we too have to endure great temptations. We should not treat this as if unexpected but continue to endure all things nobly, as though it were happening in the natural course of things.

For since Adam met with luxury in paradise and, through deception, deteriorated to what is worse, it was necessary that [the Spirit] lead Christ into the wilderness in order to enfeeble the devil’s force by someone greater in strength. So he fasted for forty nights and days.

With the words the Evangelist added, to be tempted by the devil, he shows that Jesus was led by the Spirit, but not as a subordinate on the command of a superior and not as a superior on the encouragement of a subordinate. He is referring not only to one who is led or drawn under another’s power but also to one who acquiesces in someone’s reasonable insistence.

Jesus was led to the devil to be tempted. Note that the devil goes out to people to tempt them, and it is not people who go to the devil in order to be tempted by him. And since the devil could not go against Christ, it was Christ who went against the devil.

The journey into the desert, the forty-day fast, the hunger after the fast, the temptation by Satan and the Lord’s response—all these are full of the effects of the great heavenly counsel. The fact he was led into the desert signifies the freedom of the Holy Spirit to offer his man to the devil and to permit the occasion of temptation and conquest, which the tempter would not have had unless he had been given it. There was in the devil therefore suspicious fear but no knowledge of the true identity of the One suspected. The devil was moved by the forty-day fast. He had knowledge of the poured-out waters of the abyss in just as many days and of the exploration of the promised land,^[1] in the Mosaic law written by God.^[2] He also knew that this number of years was fulfilled when the people remained in the desert with the life and condition as it were of angels.^[3] Apprehensive of that time therefore in tempting him whom he considered to be a man, he acted rashly. He had enticed Adam and by deceiving him led him to death. But it was fitting, because of his wickedness and evil deed, that he be defeated by that same humanity in whose death and misfortunes he gloried. It was the devil who envied God’s gifts to humanity before the temptation of Adam, who was now unable to understand God’s being present in a human being. The Lord was therefore tempted immediately after being baptized. His temptation indicates how sinister are the devil’s attempts especially against those who have been sanctified, for he eagerly desires victory over the saints.

Jesus did not hunger for human food but for human salvation. It was after forty days and not during forty days that he hungered. Moses and Elijah were not hungry during the same period of fasting.^[4] Therefore, when the Lord hungered, the work of abstinence did not creep up on him. His strength was not depleted by his forty days of fasting. He did not abandon his nature as a man. The devil was not to be defeated by God but by the flesh, which he surely would not have dared to tempt, except in those things which he recognized were proper human needs because of the pangs of hunger.

For the number forty days is composed of four groups of ten.^[1] This may be akin to the four aspects of physical reality, because the sensible world is formed out of four elements. Or it may be because a human being is formed in forty days in the womb.^[2] And so that he might not, by fasting any longer than this, give anyone the notion that he had not taken on flesh in truth, he afterward was hungry, sharing all that we have except for sin^[3] and participating in our condition through his own suffering.

When Christ hungered, as it is written, then the devil made his move to tempt him; for he was not wholly amazed at the fact of his fasting for forty days, since he knew that Elijah had fasted for the same length of time.^[1] For this reason he took courage to attack him, thinking him to be a person of this kind, and not God.

He therefore fasted for forty days, and he did this for two reasons. First, that he might give us an example of fasting to ward off temptations. Second, that he might set the measure of forty days for our fasting. He hungered, furthermore, so that by not overdoing his fasting God might be manifestly understood and he might dash the devil’s hope in temptation and thwart his victory. After the devil beheld him fasting for forty days, he gave up hope. It was when he realized that Christ was hungry that hope was restored. He approached him as he hungered outwardly but found that inwardly he was never hungry. And while he tempted the hungry Christ, he was conquered by the Christ who was not hungry.

To be hungry and not to eat is proper of human patience, but not to be hungry is proper of a divine nature. Therefore he who was not hungry for forty days and then became hungry demonstrates that his hunger was voluntary and not necessary.

So you see, my friends, the fact that we fast during Lent is not of human invention. The authority is divine and mystical and not taken for granted. Nor is it based on an earthly custom but on heavenly secrets. Lent [Quadragesima] contains the four-sided teaching of four decades of faith, because perfection is always four-sided. The number forty [quadragesimus] and the number ten [denarius], which hold sacraments both in heaven and on earth because a square is not free to open, are used to explain the undertaking of the Lord’s fast.

The devil provokes that he might tempt him, and the Lord follows up that he might win. The battle over this temptation is thus engaged, as the devil says to the Lord, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. Unaware of the mystery of the divine dispensation, he frames as a question what he does not know.^[1] With the voice of a doubter, he interrogates Christ and says, If you are the Son of God . . . Now let us see why he inquires when he doubts and why he questions when he does not know. He heard that it had been announced by the angel to the Virgin that she would give birth to the Son of God. He saw the magi, who had left behind the error of their limited knowledge, in humble adoration of the Child that was born. He saw, after the baptism, the Holy Spirit descending like a dove. He also heard the Father’s voice from heaven saying, This is my Son.^[2] He heard John with a loud voice proclaiming, This is he who takes away the sin of the world.^[3] Disturbed by so much testimony therefore and now troubled by this voice, this is what he feared most of all: that after he had filled the world with sins, he heard there would now come someone to take away the sins of the world. He was frightened indeed by all these utterances, but he did not yet fully believe that the Son of God whom he had heard, whom he now beheld as a man in the flesh, would take away the sins of the world. In a terrible state of fear he seeks to find out whether these things he had heard were true. He sees the Lord fasting forty days and nights, but he was loath to believe that this was the Son of God. He recalled that both Moses and Elijah also fasted for forty days. And so he asked to be given some sign that this was truly the Son of God. He therefore said, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.

What does the devil first say? If you are Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. The focus is not upon hunger but divine Sonship. Thinking to cheat him with supposed compliments, the devil suggested, If you are Son of God, remaining silent about his hunger in order that he not seem to allege that he indeed was hungry and not upbraiding him for it. For unaware of the greatness of the economy which was unfolding, he supposed hunger to be a reproach to him. So flattering him smoothly, he makes mention of his dignity only.

How then did Christ respond to this? In order to put down the devil’s pride and signify that there was nothing shameful in Jesus’ hunger nor unbecoming to his wisdom, he brings forward precisely the point that the devil had passed over in silence to flatter him. Jesus said, Man shall not live by bread alone.

In this way the devil begins his temptation with the necessity of the belly. Mark well the craft of that wicked demon. Note at what precise point he begins his struggling and how well he remembers what he does best. For it was by this same means that he cast out the first man and then encompassed him with thousands of other evils. Now by the same means here he again weaves his deceit: the temptation to indulge the belly. So too even now one may hear many foolish people say their bad words by thousands because of the belly.

Wanting to draw Christ into the passion of vainglory,^[1] Satan did not say to him eat but work a miracle. This he did, not so that Christ would be helped, but, as I said, in order to draw him to a pretentious act. But Christ, knowing this, did not obey him. Later he would not comply with the Pharisees when they wanted to see a sign from him. For they did not approach him with an undoubting heart, as to God, but were tempting him as a man. Let this therefore be an unfailing rule for the saints, not to show off before unbelievers upon any pretext of utility.^[2]

This saying is quoted by our Savior, and it makes clear to a person with understanding that before the manna came, which was our heavenly food, we must have been in a bad way and close to starving, having spent up all our fat for food. For thus it is written: And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and then fed you with manna, which you had not known, nor had your fathers known, in order that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone.^[1] The manna itself is a word. This is made clear from the reply Moses made to the question of the children of Israel, when they said to one another, What is that?^[2] What then did Moses say? This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. This is the word which the Lord has commanded.^[3] After this the devil goes on to another defeat.

The Savior put down the devil’s stratagem with a clever response. He does not do what the devil says, lest he seem to declare the glory of his power at his adversary’s will, nor does he answer that it cannot be done, since he could not deny what he had often already done. Therefore he neither gives in to the devil’s petition nor rejects his inquiry. He reserves for himself the manifestation of his power and counters his adversary’s stratagem with eloquence. He therefore says to him, Not by bread alone shall man live, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God—that is, not by earthly bread or by material food, whereby you deceived Adam the first man, but by the word of God, which contains the food of heavenly life. The Word of God is Christ the Lord, as the Evangelist says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.^[1] So, whoever feeds on the word of Christ does not require earthly food, nor can one who feeds on the bread of the Savior desire the food of the world. The Lord has his own bread; indeed, the bread is the Savior himself, as he taught when he said, I am the bread who came down from heaven.^[2] About this bread the prophet says, And bread strengthens the human heart.^[3]

The first Adam sinned by eating. Christ prevailed by self-control. He thus teaches that there is no need for us to stay far away from God, even if we are famishing. This is also a pledge of our future state, which Christ in fact inaugurated, that in the future human beings will live even without food.

The testimony was taken from Deuteronomy. The Lord responded in this way, for it was his purpose to overcome the devil with humility and not with power. At the same time, it should be noted that unless the Lord had begun to fast, the devil would not have had an occasion, in accordance with the passage: My son, as you embark upon the service of God, prepare your soul for temptation.^[1] But the Savior’s very response indicates that it was as man that he was tempted: Not by bread alone shall man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. So if anyone does not feed upon God’s Word, that one will not live.

If as God Jesus overcame the devil, it was no great accomplishment for him to defeat the apostate angel whom he himself had made. Nor is this victory to be ascribed to his humanity alone. But by long-suffering, he prevailed over him as man, teaching us that it is not through miracles but by long-suffering and patient endurance that we must prevail over the devil and that we should do nothing merely for show or for notoriety’s sake.

The devil works at temptation by leading the Lord from the highest to the lowest things to reduce him to humiliation. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple, as if towering over the laws and the prophets. He knew indeed that the angels would be prompt to minister to the Son of God, lest he dash his foot against a stone. He could trample underfoot the serpent and the adder and tread on the lion and the dragon.^[1] Concerning those lower things which were taken for granted, the devil kept silent, but by mentioning the higher things, he wanted in some way to elicit obedience from the tempted One, hoping to hear an echo of his own glory in a vote of confidence from the Lord of majesty.

What can the reason be that with each temptation the devil adds, If you are the Son of God? He is acting just like he did in the case of Adam, when he disparaged God by saying, In the day you eat, your eyes will be opened.^[1] So he does in this case, intending thereby to signify that our first parents had been beguiled and outsmarted and had received no benefit. So even in the temptation of Jesus he insinuates the same thing, saying, In vain God has called you Son and has beguiled you by his gift. For, if this is not so, give us some clear proof that you are from that power. And, because Christ had reasoned with him from Scripture, he does the same, bringing in the testimony of the prophet.

Throw yourself down. It is the devil’s voice by which he desires that everyone should fall down. Throw yourself, he says. He is able to persuade, but he cannot cast down. He will give his angels charge concerning you; and upon their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. This we read in the ninetieth psalm.^[1] Clearly the prophecy here is not about Christ but about a holy man. The devil therefore is a poor interpreter of the Scriptures. Certainly, if he really knew what was written about the Savior, he should have also said what follows in the same psalm against him: You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.^[2] Concerning the help of the angels, he speaks as though to a feeble man. Concerning his being trampled underfoot, he is silent like an artful dodger.

Jesus said to him, It is written further, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ The false arrows from the devil’s own scriptures he breaks with the true shield of the Scripture. And it should be noted that he cited the necessary testimony from Deuteronomy that he might show the sacraments of the second law.

What does Christ then do? He is neither indignant nor provoked but with extreme gentleness reasons with him again from the Scriptures, saying, You shall not tempt the Lord your God,^[1] teaching us that we must overcome the devil not by miracles but by forbearance and long-suffering and that we should do nothing at all for display and vainglory.

Then the devil took him into the holy city. When you hear the words led by the devil, do not think of the devil’s power, that he was able to lead Christ. Rather, wonder at the patience of Christ when he allowed himself to be led by the devil. Therefore, in following, the Lord did not show weakness but patience; in leading, the devil did not show strength but pride, because not understanding the willingness of Christ, it was as though he were leading an unwilling person. He was led that we might not follow the devil’s will.

The statement that the devil led him away has to be understood with reference to God’s plan,^[1] since Christ, who had foretold and sought that he should do this, had prearranged for the clear defeat of the one who should try in vain to tempt him. For in the case of Job too it says that the devil said to the Lord.^[2] But who is so simpleminded as to suppose that the devil discusses things with God? But what he had intended, God allowed him to do, in order to demonstrate Job’s indomitability. So too in the present instance, to the devil is applied whatever purpose God had wished to happen in providentially arranging all things. But as to the phrase he showed him, it is clear that he did not show him this in substance and reality, since it is impossible to find a mountain so high that from it someone who wishes can see the whole world. Rather it was through an imaginary image, in keeping with the demon’s usual custom, the clear identifying mark of which is the attempt to delude people of sound understanding by representing to them things that are not there as though they were there and things that have not happened as though they had happened.

Consider how every promise of the devil is intrinsically irrational and untrue. Certainly he could not give everything to one person unless he took everything away from everybody. If he took everything away from everybody, he would be adored by no one. Remember that the devil is not adored either out of love or out of fear but because he promises and makes deals for riches. So how could the devil take everything away from everyone and give it to one person, in order to be despised by all and worshiped by one? Nor can we say that anyone could keep his own when the devil has charge of everything. There is no case in which one person is in a situation where he is subject to no one else. This has not happened, nor can it happen. Why? First, because God will not grant the devil such absolute power. Second, because of the devil himself, for in what do his joy and glory and power consist except in pride, envy, wrath, vain ambition and the like? When these things come into play, a kingdom cannot stand in unity. It would be necessary to divide up such a kingdom into many kingdoms. But when these things do not come into play, the devil is not reverenced, nor does he reign.

If we look at the progression of his temptation, we see how great the struggle was that set us free from temptation. Our ancient enemy rose up against the first human being, our ancestor, in three temptations. He tempted him by gluttony, by vain ambition and by avarice. And he overcame [Adam] when tempted, because he subjugated him through consent. He tempted him by gluttony when he showed him the forbidden food of the tree and told him, Taste it. He tempted him by vain ambition when he said, You will be like gods. He tempted him by adding avarice when he said, knowing good and evil. Avarice is concerned not only with money but also with high position. We rightly call it avarice when we seek high position beyond measure. If grasping at honor was not related to avarice, Paul would not have said of God’s only begotten Son, He did not think that being equal to God was something to be grasped.^[1] The devil drew our ancestor to pride by stirring him up to an avaricious desire for high position.

But the means by which he overcame the first man were the same ones that caused him to yield when he tempted the second Adam. The devil tempted him by gluttony when he said, Tell these stones to become bread. He tempted him by vain ambition when he said, If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down. He tempted him by an avaricious desire for high position when he showed him all the kingdoms of the world, saying, ‘I will give you all these if you will fall down and worship me.’ But the devil is overcome by the second man in the same way as he boasted of overcoming the first man. He exits our heart at the same juncture where he first made his earliest inroads.

But there is something else we have to consider in this temptation of the Lord, dearly beloved. When the Lord was tempted by the devil, he answered him with the commands of sacred Scripture. By the Word that he was, he could have easily plunged his tempter into the abyss. But he did not reveal the power of his might, but he only brought forth the precepts of Scripture. This was to give us an example of his patience, so that as often as we suffer something from vicious persons we should be aroused to teach rather than to exact revenge. Consider how great God’s patience is, how great our impatience. When we are provoked by some injury or threatened harm, or moved to rage, we seek revenge as far as possible. When we are unable to obtain it, we make our threats. But the Lord endured the devil’s opposition, and he answered him with nothing except words of meekness. He put up with one he could have punished, so that this might all the more redound to his praise. He overcame his enemy not by destroying him but by suffering him for a while.

But now for the third time, the full ambition of diabolical power is at work. The Lord was taken to a very high mountain. All the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them would be his, he was promised, if only he would fall down and worship. His answer broke through all the devil’s suspicions. The devil had enticed Adam with food and led him from the glory of paradise to the place of sin—to the region of the forbidden tree. And he had corrupted him with ambition for a divine name by promising a future similar to that of the gods. In this same way all the power of the world is arrayed against the Lord. The possession of all this is offered to the devil’s very Creator, so that in line with the order of the ancient deceit, he whom the devil did not entice with food nor move from place, he would now corrupt by ambition.

But the Lord’s response put the matter on a higher plane. He said, Begone, Satan! For it is written, ‘The Lord your God shall you worship, and him only shall you serve.’ The devil had to live with the outcome of such great recklessness. His crimes were being discovered. He realized that the Lord his God must be adored in the man. By this effective response, the Lord gave us a decisive example. With human power having been disdained and with worldly ambition being held of little account, we also should remember that our Lord and God alone must be adored, especially when the devil’s honor has become the common business of every age. After this flight of the devil, therefore, the angels ministered to Christ. With the devil overcome by the man, his head now being crushed, we now can see better the ministering service of the angels and the unfailing courtesies of the heavenly powers toward us.

He put an end to the devil’s tempting when he said, Get behind me, Satan! The devil could progress no further with his temptation. But we can rightly understand and reasonably ascertain that he withdrew not as though in obedience to the command. Rather it was the divinity of Christ or the Holy Spirit in Christ who drove away the devil. This gives us great consolation, for the devil cannot tempt God’s people as long as he wishes. He can tempt them only so long as Christ or the Holy Spirit who is in them allows him to.

Then Jesus said to him, ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written: the Lord your God shall you worship, and him only shall you serve.’ Satan and the apostle Peter are not condemned by the same judgment, as many may think. For to Peter it was said, Get behind me, Satan, that is, follow me, you who are contrary to my will. But the devil heard the words Begone, Satan; And it was not said to him Get behind me, as if it were a matter of simple subjection. Rather it is an instruction: You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. This is the opposite of the devil’s earlier words to the Savior: If you will fall down and worship me. Now he hears that it is he who should worship his Lord and God. Otherwise, Go into the everlasting fire that has been prepared for you and your angels.^[1]

David also prefigures this rejection of temptation when he speaks of the Lord, saying, And the scourge did not approach his tabernacle.^[1] No sin of diabolical scourge could come close to the body of the Lord. Therefore the Lord withstood temptations from the enemy that he might restore victory to humankind. He thereby made sport of the devil, according to what David also proclaimed: That Leviathan, whom you made to sport in it.^[2] And again: He will bring low the false accuser.^[3] And also: You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces on the water.^[4] In the book of Job the Lord declared that this Leviathan would be made sport of and caught in this temptation, saying, You will draw out Leviathan with a fishhook.^[5]

He did not say, The angels descended and ministered to him, so he might show that the angels were always on earth to minister to him. Rather at the Lord’s behest they withdrew from him so that the devil might have room to work against Christ. If the devil were to see angels around him, he might not approach him. In this same way the devil comes invisibly to tempt the faithful. There are two permanent angels with each one of us—a good angel and a bad one. As long as the good angel is with us, the bad angel can never lead us into temptation. According to God’s dispensation, however, the good angel may draw back somewhat. Well, he does not exactly draw back but hides himself, making himself invisible to the devil. For unless the good angel wishes to be recognized, he is not seen by the devil. He therefore withdraws, that he might give the devil an open space in which to tempt, and then he waits for the temptation to transpire.

It was not out of fear that he withdrew. By doing the things he did, he taught us to escape from persecutors. He withdrew from Judea to the Gentiles. This showed that God removes himself to a remote part of the land of the Jews when they sin against the holy prophets and insult his deity.

Undoubtedly [John’s arrest]^[1] was permitted by God, because no one can do anything against a holy man unless God permits him to. A sinner may perhaps do something against another sinner, for the sinner is not completely under God’s care. Against a man of God, however, he can undoubtedly do nothing, for God is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.^[2] And thus he says in another place: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.^[3] . . .

The Lord knew this, and he withdrew, not because he feared death but for two other reasons. First, that he might reserve his passion for an appropriate time, and second, that he might set an example for us about fleeing from the danger of temptation. It was not because he feared the danger of temptation, but because otherwise we would be unable to withstand all temptation. If he preceded us along every path of justice as our master that we might follow him as his disciples, it is clear that he did not consider what he could do but what we were capable of doing. Moreover, if Christ did those things which he could do and we could not do, we could not be his disciples, for we would lack the strength to follow him.

Why did he withdraw? He was serving as a pattern for us in instructing us not to seek out temptation but to withdraw ourselves from its sphere of influence. It is not a matter of reproach that one does not intentionally put oneself in danger. Yet one must stand nobly when one inadvertently falls into danger. So, to teach us this and to soothe the ire of the Jewish leaders,^[1] he withdrew to Capernaum, and in doing so he fulfilled the prophey of Isaiah.^[2]

As history teaches us, these tribes were the first to cross over into Babylonia.^[1] It is appropriate therefore that all those whom the wrath of God has struck should first be visited by God’s mercy and those who have been led into bodily captivity should first be brought back from spiritual captivity. The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.^[2] Jews also were sitting in darkness. Even though they were under the law, God’s justice was not being manifested. Although justice was there, it had been covered over with certain figures and mysteries of carnal things. What light of justice is there in circumcision? Indeed the darkness was especially poignant under the law, which was given more to punish the hardness of our hearts than to actually bring about righteousness. As the Lord said, For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.^[3] The law was not given to save but to chastise them. The law blinded them, so that, inebriated with the law, they were unable to see the great light, Christ, when he came.

There indeed were many lights among the Jews: Moses and Aaron and Joshua and the judges and prophets were all lights. Every teacher is a light to them, whom he enlightens by teaching, as is written: You are the light of the world.^[4] But Christ is the great light. In the region and shadow of death were seated the Gentiles, either because they were committing iniquities or because they were worshiping idols and demons, the worship of which was leading them to everlasting death.

And the great light is Christ our Lord and the brightness of the gospel preaching. It is not, in fact, the law, which was likened to a lamp.^[1] For this reason a lamp always burned in the tabernacle, on account of the shortness of the law’s rays, which had strength to extend their light only within the confines of the Jewish territories. Therefore the Gentiles were in darkness, not having this lamplight.

The Evangelist commemorated in this passage the prophet’s words: Beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.^[1] In what darkness? Certainly in the profound error of ignorance. What great light did they see? The light concerning which it is written: He was the true light that illumines everyone who comes into this world.^[2] This was the light about which the just man Simeon in the Gospel declared, A light of revelation to the Gentiles and a glory for your people Israel.^[3] That light had arisen according to what David had announced, saying, A light has arisen in the darkness to the upright of heart.^[4] Also, Isaiah demonstrated that light about to come for the enlightenment of the church when he said, Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.^[5] Concerning that light also Daniel noted, It reveals the profound and hidden things, knowing those things which are in darkness and the light is with it,^[6] that is, the Son with the Father, for even as the Father is light, so too is the Son light. And David also speaks in the psalm: In your light shall we see light,^[7] for the Father is seen in the Son, as the Lord tells us in the Gospel: Who sees me, sees the Father.^[8] From the true light, indeed, the true light proceeded, and from the invisible the visible. He is the image of the invisible God, as the apostle notes.^[9]

He spoke of the shadow of death and not simply death. This is because of the inability of sin utterly to corrupt the soul. Such complete corruption happens to bodies in death. But sin brings forth the shadow of death. And the words light is sprung up signify that it did not spring up upon us who were looking for it, but it shone upon those who were unprepared for it.

Concerning this light, the Evangelist points out in the present passage: The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. They see not with bodily contemplation—for the light is invisible—but with the eyes of faith and in the mind’s eye. Therefore he says, The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.^[1] Therefore not only to those who were in darkness did this light appear, but he says that a light has arisen for those sitting in the region and shadow of death. This shows that there were others who were sitting in darkness—established in the region and shadow of death. And what is this region and shadow of death if not the region of the infernal abode, about which David speaks: Even though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for you are with me?^[2] He shall not fear any evil, that is, the punishments of hell. Therefore a saving light has arisen for those who are seated in the region and shadow of death, that is, Christ the Son of God who says in the Gospel: I am the true light. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness.^[3]

He who after his venerable and life-giving passion and death went down into the region of the infernal abode suddenly introduced the light of his majesty upon those who were shrouded in death, so that he might free those who were being held among the dead in expectation of his arrival, as the Lord himself in the person of Wisdom says through Solomon: I will go down into the depths of the earth and gaze upon all those who are asleep, and I shall enlighten those who hope in God.^[4]

John’s preaching of repentance^[1] was not precisely the same as the preaching of Jesus, yet the Savior preaches in ways commensurable with John, for there is one God who sent them both. John first says repent in order to make ready a people prepared for God.^[2] Jesus, when he has received a people who have been made ready and who have already repented, does not merely say to them, Repent. For he does not preach in competition with the law and the prophets. When John had fulfilled the old covenant, Jesus began to preach the new, being himself the beginning of it. For this reason the words he began are not written of John, for he was an end. Moreover, the one preaches in the wilderness, the other in the midst of the people.

From that time. What time? After John was cast into prison. But why didn’t he start preaching this from the beginning? What occasion did John provide? Didn’t the witness of his works already make this proclamation? He began only at this time to preach in a public way, so that his unique divine identity might become recognized, of which the patriarchs and prophets had already spoken by way of anticipation, as in the voice of Zechariah: And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High.^[1] And that he might leave no occasion for impetuous Pharisaic interpretations, he remarked, For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her actions.^[2] It was necessary, furthermore, that he be correctly identified not by his own words alone but by another. Otherwise, even after so many and such powerful testimonies and demonstrations, they would merely dismiss him by saying You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.^[3] If John had said nothing, and if Jesus had first come into their midst and testified only of himself, you can imagine what they would have said. So he did not preach publically before John’s coming, nor did he work miracles until John was cast into prison, lest the people be confused.

From the time when John was delivered, Jesus began to preach. For if he had begun to preach while John was alive, doubtless he would have belittled John, and John’s preaching would have been considered superfluous compared with that of Jesus—as the light that rises at the same time with the lamplighter overshadows the lamplighter’s grace. How wisely then did he begin preaching as John, was accustomed to preach: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.^[1] His intention was not to trample on John’s teaching but to confirm it all the more. For if he were to preach while John was still teaching, he might seem to be intruding on John’s mission. But now, with John confined, he takes up John’s teaching. There is no trampling, but confirmation. He confirmed John’s teaching, that he might point him out as a true witness.

The kingdom of heaven is not in a place but in disposition. For it is within us.^[1] John preaches the coming of that kingdom of heaven, which Christ the King will deliver up to God, even the Father.^[2]

The voice of the Lord urging the people to repentance—the Holy Spirit made it known to the people that they might take heed, saying, Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as in the day of testing in the wilderness.^[1] In the same psalm above, he made clear that he was urging the sinful people to repentance and showed the state of a repentant soul, saying, Come, let us fall down before him and lament before the Lord who made us, for he is our God.^[2] The Lord urges the people to repentance, and he promises to pardon their sins, according to Isaiah’s words: I, even I, am the one who wipes out your iniquities, and I will not be mindful of your sins. But you be mindful, declare first your iniquities that you may be justified.^[3] Rightly then does the Lord urge the people to repentance when he says, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, so that through this confession of sins they may be made worthy to approach the kingdom of heaven. For no one can receive the grace of the heavenly God unless one has been cleansed of every stain of sin by the confession of repentance, through the gift of the saving baptism of our Lord and Savior.

The kingdom of heaven is at hand. This refers to the blessedness of the heavenly kingdom, which God has prepared for the faithful. The message is to prepare yourselves by penance and by patience to receive the blessedness of the heavenly kingdom. The time for receiving a reward is at hand. You who fear to do evil and desire to do good, pay heed, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. If you are repelled by what is evil or attracted by what is good, or if you do not desire kingdoms or if you fear torments, pay heed. Let the just rejoice, for their troubles are now ending and their good fortune is beginning. Let sinners lament, for their good fortune is now passing and their troubles are beginning. No harm is being done to just people. Their troubles are over, and their good fortune beginning. The recollection of past troubles not only does not harm them but gives even greater delight. Indeed, as long as troubles are present, they seem to be oppressive. When they are a thing of the past, the memory of them is a cause for delight. But what good is it when sinners have obtained fortune and are beginning to experience trouble? For the recollection of past fortune not only does no good but becomes even disagreeable. For as long as that fortune is present, it is a source of enjoyment; when it is a thing of the past, however, the recollection of it becomes a source of annoyance. Did this preaching yield the fruit of bringing people to Christ? It sowed the word of repentance and produced virtuous preachers of justice.

Someone may wonder: At the Lord’s beckoning, what or how much did these two fishermen, who scarcely had anything, leave behind? On this, my beloved, we should attend to one’s intention rather than one’s wealth. That person has left behind a lot who keeps nothing for himself, who, though he has little, gives up everything. We tend to be attached to those things we own, and those things we scarcely own, we carefully hold on to. Therefore Peter and Andrew left much behind when they left behind covetousness and the very desire to own. That person has left much behind who renounces with the thing owned the very coveting of that thing. Therefore those poor who followed Jesus left behind just as much as those less poor who did not follow him but were able to covet. So when you notice that some have left a great deal behind, you need not say to yourself, I want to imitate those who disdain this world, but sorry, I have nothing to leave behind. You will leave much behind, my brothers, if you renounce earthly desires. External things, however small they may be, are sufficient for the Lord, since he looks at the heart and not at our material goods. Nor does he judge by how much is involved in our sacrifice but from how much it is made. For if we judge by external goods, our holy merchants traded in their nets and vessels for the perpetual life of the angels.

And they left their nets, and followed him.^[1] And yet John (the Evangelist) says that they were called in a different way.^[2] From this it is evident that this was a second call. One may conclude this from several evidences. For there it is said that they came to him when John had not yet been thrown into prison;^[3] but here it says after he was in confinement. And there Andrew calls Peter, but here Jesus calls both. On the one hand, John says, Jesus saw Simon coming and said, ‘You are Simon, the Son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas, which is translated Peter.’^[4] On the other hand, Matthew says that he was already called by that name, for he says, Seeing Simon who was called Peter. . . . In the other instance, Andrew is seen coming into his house and hearing many things. But here, having heard one brief call, they both followed immediately. When they earlier had seen that John was in prison and that Jesus was withdrawing, it would not have been unnatural for them to return again to their own craft, fishing, having followed him at the beginning and then later having left him to fish. Accordingly, you now see that Jesus finds them actively fishing. But he neither resisted them at first when they desired to withdraw from him, nor having withdrawn themselves, did he let them go altogether. He gave way when they moved aside from him and came again to win them back. This, after all, is exactly what fishing is all about.

Here they proved that they were true sons of Abraham, because by a similar pattern they followed the Savior on hearing God’s voice. For they immediately gave up hope of material advantage that they might seek eternal rewards. They left behind their earthly father that they might have a heavenly Father, and hence not undeservedly were they chosen. So the Lord chose fishermen who in a better way of plying their fishing trade were converted from earthly to heavenly fishing, that they might catch the human race for salvation like fish from the deep waters of error, according to what the Lord himself said to them: Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. It was the very same thing he had promised through Jeremiah the prophet: Behold, I am sending for many fishers, says the Lord, and they shall catch them; and afterward I will send for many hunters and they shall hunt them.^[1] So we see that the apostles are called not only fishermen but also hunters: fishermen, for in the nets of gospel preaching they catch all believers like fish in the world; hunters, for they catch for salvation by heavenly hunting those people who are roving in this world as though in the woods of error and who are living like wild animals.

And he said to them, ‘Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ That is, I will make you teachers, so that with the net of God’s Word you may catch people in this delusive world,^[1] a world fluctuating and frenetic, unstable, treacherous and always dangerous, and never safe for anyone, where people do not walk but are borne along as though against their will.

The devil’s wrath made clever use of the instability of strong desire. He lied to them that their will would be accomplished. He took delight in impelling them to evil deeds, so they may feed upon each other like big fish eating the weaker fish, lest having been removed from the water they live on the fruitful land of the body of Christ. Otherwise, having been made limbs of Christ’s body, they could have lived on the fruitful earth, on the sweet and ever tranquil earth, where there is no storm that brews destruction, except perhaps for the testing of their faith and the flowering of their patience. In that body people walk safely, not being coerced. They do not devour each other but support each other.

Behold, I am not handing over to you a new gospel. It is not like another net woven with numerous narrations billowing here and there like waves of various opinions and indispensable parables, admirable virtues and manifold teachings, and bound by threats of judgments and promises of happiness. It is not made of rigid ties, or highlighted by predictions or the knowledge of occult thinking, or confessions of devils and resurrections of the dead, in order for its secure texture to diligently hold rational people captive and prevent them from exiting by any means as through some fissure overlooked by the Holy Spirit who wove that net.

Someone may ask, So I cannot love riches and please Christ? The apostles gave us a lesson in leaving behind their nets immediately, for no one can own earthly things and completely attain to heavenly things. Notice how, between the earth and the sky, there is an intermediate layer that separates both creations. This shows that between the heavenly and earthly bodies there can be no commingling. The heavenly bodies are spiritual and light, and naturally they always tend upward. The earthly bodies are heavy, and they always hang downward. So, if you hold onto spiritual things, they will bring you up; if you hold onto earthly things, they will bring you down. Therefore they left behind their nets, lest these things become more of an impediment to them than an added benefit.

Before he says or does anything, he calls the apostles so nothing may be concealed from them as to Christ’s words or works and they may later say in confidence: For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.^[1] He sees them not bodily but spiritually, regarding not their appearance but their hearts. And he chooses them not as apostles but because they could become apostles. Just as an artist who sees precious, and not rough-hewn, stones chooses them—not because of what they are but because of what they can become. Like the sensitive artist who does not spurn the unshaped good—so too the Lord, upon seeing them, does not choose their works but their hearts.

Oh, blessed are those fishermen whom the Lord chose from among so many doctors of the law and scribes, from among so many sages of the world, for the task of divine preaching and the grace of the apostolate! Worthy of our Lord, indeed, and appropriate for his preaching was that choice, so that in the preaching of his name all the greater might be the wonder of praise as the humble and lowly of the age preached his word—not that they might capture the world through the wisdom of the word but that they might liberate the human race from the error of death through the simple preaching of the faith, as the apostle says: That your faith may not be in human wisdom but in the power of God.^[1] And in another place: But the foolish things of the world has God chosen to put to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world has God chosen to put to shame the strong, and the base things of the world and the despised has God chosen, and the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.^[2] Therefore he has not chosen the noble of the world or the rich, lest their preaching be suspect; not the wise of the world, lest people believe that they persuaded the human race with their wisdom; but he chose illiterate, unskilled and untutored fishermen, so that the Savior’s grace might be open.

But note both their faith and their obedience. For though they were in the midst of their work (and you know how time-consuming a chore fishing is), when they heard his command they did not delay or procrastinate. They did not say, Let us return home, and talk things over with our family. Instead, they left everything behind and followed, even as Elisha did when he followed Elijah.^[1] For Christ seeks this kind of obedience from us, such that we delay not even for a moment, though something absolutely most necessary should vehemently press in on us.

The kingdom of heaven has no price tag on it: It is worth as much as you have. For Zacchaeus it was worth half of what he owned, because the other half that he had unjustly pocketed he promised to restore fourfold.^[1] For Peter and Andrew it was worth the nets and vessel they had left behind; for the widow it was worth two copper coins;^[2] for another it was worth a cup of cold water.^[3] So, as we said, the kingdom of heaven is worth as much as you have.

Notice that Peter and Andrew are said to have left behind their nets, whereas James and John their father and a vessel. There are generally three things that each person who comes to Christ should leave behind: acts of the flesh, material goods, parents in the flesh. By leaving behind the fishing nets means leaving behind acts of the flesh; by leaving behind the vessel means material goods; by leaving behind their father, all parents. And notice that first they leave behind their nets, then their vessel and, third, their father. It is appropriate to leave behind worldly acts first, for they are particularly harmful to spiritual things. Second, worldly goods, for it is not as harmful to have something in the world as to do some act, though also to have is harmful. Last, one’s parents, for they too can be harmful, though less harmful than the riches and actions of this world. So they left behind their vessel, that they might become helmsmen of the church’s vessel; they left behind their nets, that they might no longer bring fish to the earthly city but people to the heavenly city; and they left behind a father, that they might become the parents of all spiritual beings.

Isaiah predicted this would happen when he said, He himself took our infirmities and bore our sickness. To this end the teacher of life and heavenly physician Christ the Lord had come that by his direction he might educate people to life and with his heavenly medicine cure the sickness of body and soul, that he might free bodies beset by the devil and restore those persons afflicted by various infirmities to true and complete health. By the word of divine power he cured the weaknesses of the body, but by the medicine of heavenly teaching he healed the wounds of the soul. David clearly noted that the wounds of the soul are healed by God alone when he said, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, to which he added, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases.^[1] He is the true and perfect physician therefore who gives healing to the body and restores the soul to health: our Lord and Savior.

He traveled throughout Galilee; like a devoted doctor he attended the seriously ill, dispensing suitable medicines for each and every ailment, because all those weak and suffering people could not come to the doctor.

And this too needs to be added by way of explanation, that the allotment of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali extended to the Gentile city of Sidon. The Jews dwell there interspersed among the Gentiles to this day. Now Zebulun may be interpreted as a sweet smell and blessing, while Naphtali is a sprouted stump, that is to say, a spreading plant. And such things have believers in Christ become. Those who formerly were in Galilee, when they went forth like fragrance,^[1] became worthy of divine blessing and were extended into every good thing. Now Galilee is interpreted under the metaphor of circular, so those believers from Galilee are like wheels rolling against the pits of destruction.

But we must ask how it could be that he demanded faith of none of those he healed. For he did not here say what we later find him saying, Do you believe that I am able to do this?^[1] He had not yet given proof of his power. The very act of approaching him and of bringing others to him exhibited no small faith. For they brought them even long distances. They would never have brought them unless they had persuaded themselves of great things concerning him.

If we have any bodily ailment, we contrive everything possible to be rid of what pains us. Yet when our soul is ailing, we delay and draw back. For this reason we are not delivered from bodily ailments. The indispensible corrective has become for us secondary, while the dispensible secondary matters seem indispensable. While we leave unattended the fountain of our ills, we still hope to have the streams unpolluted.

If anyone asks what is the difference between disease and infirmity, our answer is that an infirmity is a temporary indisposition of the body, whereas disease denotes an abiding disequilibrium of the body’s elements.

You will see the variety of evils in prodigality or avarice, boorishness or licentiousness, in silliness, knavery, insolence, cowardice and every opposing vice; and the soul’s trials are money, fame, poverty, obscurity. And while the demons dishonor bodies, they cause souls to become active in sinning and madness. But the epileptic has a dumb and deaf demon.^[1] Such passions trouble the soul at intervals, rendering it deaf to the saving word; as, for example, anger is a paralysis of souls, such that, when they succumb to it, their vigor is slackened both for action and for living. And weakness of the soul is a term used by Greeks, in a general sense, for any sickness arising from vice; more specifically, for that which is opposed to endurance, a sort of giving up in the face of patience and sufferings and anguish.

When he said disease, this pertains to bodily ailments; when he said every sickness, this pertains to the spiritual ailments of the soul. The ailments of the soul are not fewer than those of the body. And though he said healing every disease and every sickness among the people, we could understand both as pertaining to bodily ailments, so that we understand diseases as being more serious ailments, whereas sicknesses are lesser disorders. Now when he says every disease, he includes every kind of either serious or minor ailment; but the addition of the other clause seems to be superfluous unless we understand one clause as pertaining to bodily ailments and the other to spiritual ailments. However, we could understand both clauses as pertaining to both ailments: that is, every disease whether bodily or spiritual, and every sickness whether bodily or spiritual, so that we understand disease of the soul as being some disorder, infirmity or infidelity, since a person who is subject to the disorder of avarice or lust or empty ambition suffers a disease of the soul. However, the person who ignores the mystery of God’s calling is sick in faith. For many are those who are able to do good works and please God but who do not do them, for they ignore the mystery of God’s calling. These persons are sick. Some people are given up to carnal ailments, so that even though they know the mystery of God’s calling, they are not permitted to do good. These are the ones who have a disease. But he cured bodily ailments by the power of divinity and spiritual ailments by the word of compassion. Even as medicine benefits an ailing body, a word benefits an ailing soul. Notice, also, that he did not say first healing every disease and every sickness but rather teaching and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and then healing. He did this for two reasons. First, because miracles of virtue build souls according to words of compassion. Therefore he says first what he judges to be more necessary. And then, because words of compassion do not set off miraculous powers, but words of truth set off miraculous powers. Therefore it was not believed that Christ was able to do mighty works because he preached the truth, but it was believed that he preached the truth because he was able to do mighty works. They brought to him all who were ill and who were possessed . . . and he cured them.^[1] In certain places it says, And he cured many,^[2] as also And all who touched him were saved.^[3] But here it simply says, And he cured them, meaning that he cured all. A new doctor going to a city and wishing to spread word of his practice treats all who come to him and does not think so much of receiving a fee as of building a reputation, but when his reputation becomes established he begins to demand a fee depending on his work. So too the Lord at the start of his preaching healed not just certain people depending on his judgment, but everyone indiscriminately. Once the entire region of Judea knew him, he sold the benefits of health at a price keyed to one’s faith, saying to each person, Be it done unto you according to your faith.^[4] But not everyone, only those whom he had prepared according to his foreknowledge before they came to him.

Now then, let us too follow him. For we also have many diseases of our soul, and these especially he would gladly heal. With this intent he corrects that other sort, that he may banish these out of our soul.

Let us therefore come to him, and let us ask nothing pertaining to this life but rather remission of sins. For indeed he gives it even now, if we come in earnest. Since as then his fame went out into Syria,^[1] so now into the whole world. And they indeed ran together when they heard that he healed demon-possessed people. And you, after having much more and greater experience of his power, do you not rouse yourself and run?

But whereas they left both country and friends and family, do you not endure so much as to leave your house for the sake of drawing near and obtaining far greater things? Or rather we do not require of you so much as this, but only leave your evil habits, and you can easily be made whole, even while remaining at home with your friends.

Every king about to do battle against an enemy king first gathers together an army, then goes off to war. So too the Lord about to do battle with the devil first gathers together his apostles and thus begins to preach the gospel of the kingdom throughout Galilee. The taking of the devil by storm is the preaching of truth; the deadly arrow in his heart is the speaking of righteousness. Overturning him is the work of signs. The stripping of his powers is the conversion of believers. An earthly king gathers together an army that by its efforts he may attain glory. The Lord gathered together his apostles not that by their efforts he might attain glory but that by his own effort he might win victory for them.