ACC ~ Mark 2 v13 - 17

OVERVIEW:

Following Jesus is not so much a motion of the feet as of the heart (BEDE). To blame Jesus for mingling with sinners would be like blaming a physician for associating closely with sick people (GREGORY NAZIANZEN). Just as surgery gives a sharp pain to the body, so must there be some anguish in the recovering soul (GREGORY OF NYSSA). Health requires the reversal of behaviors that caused illness (IRENAEUS). The obsessive sinner is like one who imagines himself to be in such good health that he pounces upon the physician (AUGUSTINE). Matthew’s corrupt past was spent amid those occupied compulsively with overreaching one another (EUSEBIUS). That righteousness for which we pray we must first know about and wish it to be; we then pray for the grace of the Spirit to empower our wills to receive it (AUGUSTINE). Christ, who willed to save the things that were perishing, did a far greater work by establishing those things that are falling than by holding up those things that were standing (PSEUDO-CLEMENT, JEROME).

2:14a | The Tax Office

THE MILIEU OF COMPULSIVE ACQUISITIVENESS

EUSEBIUS: The Apostle Matthew, if you consider his former life, did not leave a holy occupation, but came from those consumed with tax-gathering and overreaching one another. [1] PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 3.5. [2]

[1] Mt 9:9; Lk 5:27.

[2] TLG 2018.005, 3.5.81.1-3; POG 1:137*.

A NEW NAME FOR LEVI

BEDE: Jesus found him sitting in the tax collector’s place, with his stubborn intellect avid for temporal gain. His new name was Matthew, the gospel says. The name Matthew in Hebrew means “granted” in Latin, a name aptly corresponding to one who received the favor of heavenly grace. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.21. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 1367, 1.21.30; HOG 1:206*.

2:14b | Follow Me

THE GIFT OF FOLLOWING

BEDE: By “follow” he meant not so much the movement of feet as of the heart, the carrying out of a way of life. For one who says that he lives in Christ ought himself to walk just as he walked, [1] not to aim at earthly things, not to pursue perishable gains, but to flee base praise, to embrace willingly the contempt of all that is worldly for the sake of heavenly glory, to do good to all, to inflict injuries upon no one in bitterness, to suffer patiently those injuries that come to oneself, to ask God’s forgiveness for those who oppress, never to seek one’s own glory but always God’s, [2] and to uphold whatever helps one love heavenly things. This is what is meant by following Christ. In this way, disregarding earthly gains, Matthew attached himself to the band of followers of One who had no riches. For the Lord himself, who outwardly called Matthew by a word, inwardly bestowed upon him the gift of an invisible impulse so that he was able to follow. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.21. [3]

[1] Cf. 1 Pet 2:21; 1 Jn 2:6.

[2] Cf. Jn 7:18.

[3] Cetedoc 1367, 1.21.57; HOG 1:207**.

2:16 | Eating with Sinners and Tax Collectors

NO PHYSICIAN CAN AVOID THE ARENA OF SICKNESS

GREGORY NAZIANZEN: When Jesus is attacked for mixing with sinners, and taking as his disciple a despised tax collector, one might ask: What could he possibly gain by doing so? [1] Only the salvation of sinners. To blame Jesus for mingling with sinners would be like blaming a physician for stooping down over suffering and putting up with vile smells in order to heal the sick. ORATION 45, ON HOLY EASTER 26. [2]

[1] Cf. Lk 15:2.

[2] TLG 2022.052, 36.660.20-26; NPNF 2 7:433**.

2:17a | Those Who Are Well Have No Need of a Physician

THE REVERSAL OF PREVIOUS BEHAVIOR

IRENAEUS: What competent doctor, when asked to cure a sick person, would simply follow the desires of the patient, and not act in accordance with the requirements of good medicine? The Lord himself testified that he came as the physician of the sick, saying, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” How, then, are the sick to be made strong? How are sinners to repent? Is it by merely holding fast to what they are presently doing? Or, on the contrary, by undergoing a great change and reversal of their previous behavior, by which they had brought upon themselves serious illness and many sins? Ignorance, the mother of intractability, is driven out by knowing the truth. Therefore the Lord imparted knowledge of the truth to his disciples, by which he cured those who were suffering, and restrained sinners from sin. So he did not speak to them in accordance with their previous assumptions, nor answer according to the presumptions of inquirers, but according to sound teaching, without any pretense or pandering. AGAINST HERESIES. [1]

[1] AHR 2:19-20; LCC 1:377**.

THE TEMPORARY HARM DONE BY SURGERY

GREGORY OF NYSSA: They who use the knife or heat to remove certain unnatural growths in the body, such as cysts or warts, do not bring to the person they are serving a method of healing that is painless, though certainly they apply the knife without any intention of injuring the patient. Similarly whatever material excrescences are hardening on our souls, which have been made carnal by collusion with inordinate passions, will be, in the day of the judgment, cut and scraped away by the ineffable wisdom and power of him who, as the Gospel says, “healed those that were sick.” For as he says, “they who are well have no need of the physician, but they that are sick.” Just as the excision of the wart gives a sharp pain to the skin of the body, so then must there be some anguish in the recovering soul which has had a strong bent to evil. THE GREAT CATECHISM 8. [1]

[1] TLG 2017.046, 8.96-108; NPNF 2 5:483-84**. God’s saving action sometimes requires the enduring of pain.

THE DELIRIOUS ATTACK ON THE PHYSICIAN

AUGUSTINE: By those who are well he means those being made righteous. Sinners are compared to those who are ill. Let the sick man, then, not presume on his own strength, because “he shall not be saved by his great strength.” [1] The strength of self-deceivers is not that strength that well people enjoy, but like those in delirium. They are like those out of their minds, who imagine themselves in such good health that they do not consult a physician, and even fall upon him with blows as if he were an intruder! In the same way, these delirious people, with their mad pride, fall upon Christ with blows, so to speak, because they have felt no need of his kindly help to those who seek to be just according to the prescriptions of the law. Let them, then, put away this madness. Let them understand, as far as they are able, that they have free will, and that they are called not to despise the Lord’s help with a proud heart, but to call upon him with a contrite heart. The free will then will be free in proportion as it is sound, and sound in proportion as it is submissive to divine mercy and grace. LETTER 157, TO HILARIUS. [2]

[1] Ps 33:16.

[2] Cetedoc 0262, 157.44.2.453.15; FC 20:323**.

2:17b | Not to Call the Righteous but Sinners

RESCUE THE PERISHING

PSEUDO-CLEMENT: It is a greater work to establish those things that are falling than those that still stand. Thus also did Christ desire to save those who are perishing. He has saved many by coming and calling us just when we were hastening to destruction. 2 CLEMENT. [1]

[1] TLG 1271.002, 2.6.1-7.2; AF 69**; cf. ANF 7:517.

THE CALL TO SINNERS

JEROME: There are two ways of interpreting the saying “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” The first is by analogy with the accompanying phrase: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” The other way is to put a more literal construction on the statement, like this: Since no one is perfectly righteous, Christ has not come to call those who are not there, but the multitudes of sinners who are there, with whom the world is filled, remembering the Psalm which says “Help, O Lord, for there is no longer any one who is godly.” [1] AGAINST THE PELAGIANS 2.12. [2]

[1] Ps 12:1.

[2] Cetedoc 0615, 2.12.15; FC 53:313**. The second interpretation focuses upon the assumption that since no one is righteous, Christ came for the salvation of more, not fewer.

THE GRACE TO PRAY FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS

AUGUSTINE: Pray for us that we may be saved by that salvation of which it is said: “They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill; for I am not come to call the just but sinners.” [1] Pray, then, for us that we may be made upright. This is indeed something which one cannot do unless he knows and wishes it; and he will become so as constantly as he wishes it fully—but it will not be through his own effort that he is able, unless he is healed and helped by the grace of the Spirit. LETTER 145, TO ANASTASIUS. [2]

[1] Cf. Mt 9:12-13.

[2] Cetedoc 0262, 145.44.8.273.9; FC 20:168-69*.