ACC ~ Luke 8 v43 - 48

THE DAUGHTER REPRESENTS THE SYNAGOGUE, THE WOMAN THE CHURCH

AMBROSE: The assembly of the nations is like the woman who spent all her money on physicians. The assembly of nations also lost all the gifts of nature and squandered the inheritance of life. It was holy, shy, pious, ready in faith, and hesitant in modesty, because it is a sign of modesty to recognize the weakness of faith and not to despair of pardon. The shy woman touched the hem, the faithful approached, the pious believed, the wise knew she was healed. The holy people of the nations that believed in God were so ashamed of their sin that they abandoned it. Brought faith, they believed. They showed devotion, so that they entreated. They put on wisdom, so that they perceived their own health. They took confidence, so that they confessed the alien truth that they snatched. [1]

Why is Christ touched from behind? Is it because it is written, “You shall follow the Lord your God”? [2] Why is it that the twelve-year-old daughter of the ruler was dying and the woman with a flow of blood was afflicted for twelve years, except that it is understood that as long as the synagogue flourished, the church suffered? The weakness of the one is the virtue of the other, because by their offense salvation has come to the Gentiles. [3] The consummation of the one is the beginning of the other, the beginning not of nature but of salvation. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 6.56-57. [4]

[1] Eph 2:12.

[2] :1–24:53 PRELIMINARY REMARKS | ON THE GOSPEL

[3] Rom 11:11.

[4] EHG 212**.

THE WOMAN REMAINS HIDDEN

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: What made that sick woman wish to remain hidden? The law of wise Moses imputed impurity to any woman who was suffering from a flow of blood and everywhere called her unclean. Whoever was unclean could not touch any thing that was holy or approach a holy man. For this reason the woman was careful to remain concealed, for fear that having transgressed the law she should have to bear the punishment which it imposed. When she touched, she was healed immediately and without delay. COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 45. [1]

[1] CGSL 198**.

THE WOMAN TESTIFIES TO JESUS’ DIVINITY, AND JESUS TO HER FAITH

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Glory to you, hidden offspring of Being, because the hidden suffering of her that was afflicted proclaimed your healing. Using a woman whom they could see, he enabled them to see the divinity that cannot be seen. The Son’s divinity became known through his healing, and the afflicted woman’s faith was revealed through her being healed. She caused him to be proclaimed, and she was proclaimed with him. Truth was being proclaimed together with its heralds. If she was a witness to his divinity, he in turn was a witness to her faith.

She poured faith on him by way of reward, and he bestowed healing on her as the outcome of her reward. Since the woman’s faith had become public, her healing also was proclaimed in public. The physicians were put to shame about their remedies because his power became resplendent and magnified the Son. It became evident how great faith surpasses the healing art and how hidden power surpasses visible remedies. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 7.1-2. [1]

[1] ECTD 129**.

SIGNS OF JESUS’ PASSION AND RESURRECTION

AMBROSE: It says, “Servants came to the ruler, saying, ‘Do not trouble him.’” Still they were without faith in the resurrection, which Jesus foretold in the law [1] and fulfilled in the gospel. When he came into the house, he approved a few eyewitnesses to the imminent resurrection, because many did not immediately believe the resurrection. [2] Then, as the Lord said, ” ‘The girl is not dead but sleeps,’ they laughed him to scorn.” Whoever does not believe, jeers. Those who think they are dead will weep for their dead, but when there is faith in resurrection, there is the appearance not of death but of sleep. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 6.61-62. [3]

HIS SACRED HEM

PRUDENTIUS:

Then a woman, weak and timid, touched his sacred garment’s hem:

Instant was his blessed healing, and the pallor left her cheek,

As the hemorrhage she had suffered

Through so many years was stopped.

HYMN FOR EVERY DAY 9.33-44. [4]

[1] See Ps 15:10 LXX.

[2] See Acts 17:32.

[3] EHG 214**.

[4] FC 43:62.

THE POWER TO HEAL IS INHERENT IN JESUS’ NATURE AS GOD

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: “For I know,” he said, “that power has gone out from me.” It transcends our order, or probably that even of the angels, to send out any power of their own nature, as something that is of themselves. Such an act is an attribute appropriate only to the nature that is above everything and supreme. Every created being God endows with power, whether of healing or something similar, does not possess it of itself but as a thing given it by God. All things are given and worked in the creature, and it can do nothing of itself. As God he said, “I know that power has gone forth from me.” COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 45. [1]

[1] CGSL 199**.

THE REASON JESUS HEALS HER WOMB

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: “Who touched me? For a power has gone forth from me.” A detail such as this is not reported about our Physician in any other place. This is because in no other place did our Physician encounter an affliction such as this. This affliction was presented to many physicians, yet only one Physician encountered this affliction to heal it. Many physicians encountered and wearied her. Only one encountered her who was able to give her rest from the toil of many physicians. The art of healing encountered a shameful affliction but added pain after pain to it. The more they came, the worse the affliction got. [1] The fringe of the Lord’s cloak touched her [2] and uprooted this suffering from its root. She perceived within herself that he healed her affliction. [3]

Since the art of healing clothed with all our practical wisdom was reduced to silence, the divinity clothed with garments was proclaimed. He clothed himself in the body and came down to humanity, so that humanity might loot him. He revealed his divinity through signs, so that faith in his humanity alone could not be explained. He revealed his humanity that the higher beings might believe that he was a lower being, and he revealed his divinity so that the lower beings would accept that he was a higher being. He took on a human body so that humanity might be able to attain to divinity, and he revealed his divinity so that his humanity might not be trampled under foot. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 7.16-17. [4]

[1] Cf. Mk 5:26.

[2] Mt 9:20.

[3] See Mk 5:29.

[4] ECTD 136-37*.

DECLARATION OF PEACE A CROWN OF HER VICTORY

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: If the woman once cured had withdrawn from him in secret, our Lord would have deprived her of a crown of victory. It was fitting that the faith that shined out brightly in hidden agony was publicly crowned. He wove an eloquent crown for her, because he said to her, “Go in peace.” [1] The peace he gave was the crown of her victory. When he said, “Go in peace,” he did not end here but also added, “Your faith has saved you,” [2] so that they would know who was this crown’s Lord. This would make known that the peace his mouth wove was the crown that crowned her faith. “Your faith has saved you.” If it was faith that restored her to life, it is clear that he crowned her faith with a crown. This is why he cried out, “Who touched my garments?” [3] He said this so all the people might know who touched more than anyone else did. She chose to honor him more than others do, first, by approaching from behind, and second, in that she touched the fringe of his cloak. It was also fitting that he would honor her before all of these, she who chose to honor him more than all these. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 7.10. [4]

[1] Mk 5:34.

[2] Mt 9:22.

[3] Mk 5:30.

[4] ECTD 133**.

Lk