ACC ~ Mark 4 v12

AN OPEN UTTERANCE PARTIALLY VEILED

AUGUSTINE: Jesus did not ordinarily assume that his teaching would remain hidden. He expected it to be proclaimed openly in every direction. Yet it is possible, in defensive circumstances, to utter something openly and yet veiled at the same time. Something may be said not strictly in secret, but in a secret way. Note that it was not in secret that Jesus said “they may indeed see but not perceive.” [1] If this had not been spoken openly, there would have been no sense to the phrase “not seeing.” The same hearer may not perceive the level on which something is spoken openly, yet on another level secretly understood. The very things which his detractors had heard without understanding were such as could not with justice or truth be turned into a criminal charge against him. As often as they tried by their questions to find something by which to accuse him, he gave them such replies as utterly confounded all their plots and left no ground for the calumnies they devised. TRACTATES ON JOHN 113. [2]

[1] Mk 4:12.

[2] Cetedoc 0278, 113.3.38; NPNF 1 7:419**; cf. FC 92:12-13.

THE EYES OF THE MIND

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Parables are word pictures not of visible things, but rather of things of the mind and the spirit. That which cannot be seen with the eyes of the body, a parable will reveal to the eyes of the mind, informing the subtlety of the intellect by means of things perceivable by the senses, and as it were tangible. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 8.5.4. [1]

[1] TLG 4090.108, 72.624.41-8; SSGF 1:398*.