ACC ~ Matthew 15 v29 - 39

OVERVIEW:

What follows immediately after the Gentile people are prefigured in the daughter of the Canaanite woman? The crowd offers to the Lord those afflicted with different kinds of diseases. The faithless and the sick are instructed by believers to fall down and adore, and they are made well again. All the functions of mind and body are restored for hearing, gazing and praising (HILARY OF POITIERS). In the case of the Canaanite woman Jesus delayed healing in order to manifest her constancy. To the crowds he bestowed the gift immediately to stop the mouths of unbelievers and cut away every excuse (CHRYSOSTOM). Even those who simply come to the feet of Christ are healed (ORIGEN).

Jesus provides for the needs of both body and soul (THEODORE OF HERACLEA). Jesus did not feed the four thousand on the first or second day but only when all the provisions had all been consumed (CHRYSOSTOM). Lest his people weaken in the course of their workaday world, he wants now to feed them with his food and fortify them with his mystery of his bread. In this way they can complete the formidable task of their entire journey (HILARY OF POITIERS). The Lord himself is the one who earlier had fed Israel in the desert (THEODORE OF HERACLEA). The fact that four thousand men gather together suggests a multitude of countless people from the four corners of the earth, who come to the Lord to receive the gift of heavenly food (HILARY OF POITIERS). Each one partook according to need. They did not receive food in order to take it away with them. Fragments were left as a symbol for measuring use according to need (THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA). Significant differences remain in the various narratives of the feeding of the multitudes (ORIGEN).

15:29 | Going to the Hills

JESUS WENT UP INTO THE HILLS

CHRYSOSTOM: Now he goes to the mountain awaiting those who are diseased. The lame are brought up the mountain. They are no longer merely touching the edge of his garment. They have advanced a higher step. They are being brought to his feet! Therein they are showing their faith doubly, first by struggling up the mountain even though lame, then by wanting nothing else but only to be cast at his feet. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 52.4. [1]

[1] PG 58:523; NPNF 1 10:323.

15:30 | Great Crowds Come to Jesus

THEY PUT THE LAME AT HIS FEET

ORIGEN: Again Jesus went up on the mountain where he sat down. Not only people who were healthy but also those suffering from various disorders went up on the mountain where Jesus was sitting. Think of this mountain to which Jesus went up and sat as the church. It has been set up through the word of God over the rest of the world, and all sorts of people come to it. To this assembly have come not only the disciples, as if they were leaving behind the multitudes, as they did in the case of the Beatitudes. Rather, there are great crowds here, many of whom are deaf or suffer from many afflictions. Look at the crowds who come to this mountain where the Son of God sits. Some of them have become deaf to the things that have been promised. Others have become blind in soul, not looking toward the true light. [1] Others are lame and not able to walk according to reason. Others are maimed and unable to work profitably. Each of these who are suffering in soul from such things go up along with the multitudes into the mountain where Jesus sits.

Some who do not draw near to the feet of Jesus are not healed. But those who are brought by the multitude and cast at his feet are being healed. Even those who come only to the edges, just the extremities of the body of Christ, who feel themselves unworthy to obtain such things, are being healed. So now you come into the congregation of what is more commonly called the church.

See the catechumens? They are, as it were, cast in the far side or back of those who are the extreme end of the body, as if they were coming merely to the feet of the body of Jesus—the church. They are coming to it with their own deafness and blindness and lameness and crookedness. In time they will be cured according to the Word. Observing this you would not be wrong in saying that these people have gone up with the multitudes into the church, up to the mountain where Jesus sits, and have been cast at his feet and are being healed. And so the multitudes are astonished at beholding the transformations that are taking place. They behold those who are being converted from such great evils to that which is so much better. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11.18. [2]

[1] The hermeneutic ratio of Origen interprets the material aspects of Jesus’ life as symbolic of spiritual realities. In this sense the various diseases of the body symbolize the different sins of the soul.

[2] GCS 40:65; ANF 9:447.

15:31 | Glorifying God

FROM THE PROMISE TO THE GENTILES TO THE HEALING OF THE MULTITUDES

HILARY OF POITIERS: Remember that the context is the plea of the Canaanite woman. Remember that the Lord’s silence with her had proceeded from a consideration of the gradual timing of revelation and not from any problem of her volition. So when he said, “O woman, great is your faith,” [1] she is now certain of being saved. Indeed, he also comes to the whole Gentile community, when those who accordingly believe will at once be freed like the girl from any power of the unclean spirits. And faith in the deed therefore follows. What follows immediately after the Gentile people are prefigured in the daughter of the Canaanite woman? Those afflicted with different kinds of diseases are offered by the crowd to the Lord on the mountain. That is, the faithless and the sick are instructed by the believers to fall down and adore. They are made well again, and all the functions of mind and body are being restored for hearing, contemplating, praising and following the Lord. ON MATTHEW 15.5. [2]

[1] Mt 15:28.

[2] SC 258:38-40.

THE REQUEST OF THE CANAANITE WOMAN AND THE HEALING OF THE CROWDS

CHRYSOSTOM: Great was the marvel and strange, to see them that were carried walking, the blind having no need for any to lead them by the hand. Yes, both the multitude of the healed and their rapid cure amazed them.

Remember how long Jesus had delayed healing the Canaanite woman. But now he heals these immediately. This is not because these are better than she; indeed, she was more faithful than they. In her case he defers and delays in order to manifest her constancy. In the case of these, he bestows the gift immediately to shut the mouths of unbelievers and cut away from them every excuse. For the greater the favors one has received, so much the more is one held accountable and liable if unresponsive. This is why we see the rich turning more wicked and being more severely punished than the poor. Why? They have not been softened, even by their prosperity. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 52.3. [1]

[1] PG 58:522; NPNF 1 10:323-24.

THEY GLORIFIED THE GOD OF ISRAEL

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: They had not yet thoroughly understood the Lord’s dignity as God but supposed him to be a mere man. For this reason they offered up glory to the God of Israel. FRAGMENT 188. [1]

[1] MKGK 214.

15:32 | Lest They Faint on the Way

UNWILLING TO SEND THEM AWAY HUNGRY

THEODORE OF HERACLEA: In this way, by his speech, Christ had so disposed their souls that they had even become self-forgetful and had taken no care to provide for food or other inevitable needs. They had not grown weary, even in the desert, of being with Christ. But Christ understood the weakness of our nature and that we require food for the health of our bodies. He makes preparation even for this, that it might be evident that he is concerned not only about our souls but about our bodies as well. For he himself is the Creator of both soul and body. He is not merely the Lord of one or the other, as the lunacies of the Manichaeans hold. [1] They teach different creators, one for the soul and another for the body. FRAGMENT 97. [2]

[1] In the complicated Manichaean mythology, the creation of the world occurred in several stages and was the work of beings different from the supreme God of creation in the Hebrew and Christian religions.

[2] MKGK 83.

15:33 | Finding Enough Bread

THE BREAD OF THE PASSION IS FOR GENTILES AS WELL AS JEWS

HILARY OF POITIERS: This was in response to everything that had happened before. So we must probe the corresponding reason for this entire situation and especially of the relation of Jews and Gentiles. We will then see that the promises that had earlier applied to the Jewish people were to be received by the Gentile people.

There is an order, then, in the Lord’s words that holds true in the receiving of grace. Those who approach baptism declare first that they believe in the Son of God and in his Passion and resurrection; a commitment is then made to this sign of profession. In this way a certain truth about the things themselves may result from this verbal promise. Those who devote the entire time in fasting to commemorate the Lord’s Passion are joined to the Lord in a sort of fellowship of compassion. Therefore both by the sign of their promise and by their fasting, they spend all the time involved in the Lord’s Passion with the Lord.

Do you see the mystery? The Lord has compassion on this hopeful following of believers and says they have been with him for three days! Lest they weaken in the course of their worldly lives, in their workaday world, he wants now to feed them with his food and fortify them with his bread. In this way they can complete the formidable task of the entire journey, for the disciples were complaining that there was no bread in the desert. Indeed, they had previously imbibed the lesson that nothing is impossible with God. But what is signified by certain events can exceed the measure of our understanding. Indeed, how greatly favored the apostles were in saving Israel is told in the epistles of blessed Paul. And so, with the same devotion but now in the gathering of Gentiles, both the multiplying of bread and the silence of fasting are introduced. ON MATTHEW 15.7-9. [1]

[1] SC 258:42-44.

15:34 | Seven Loaves and a Few Small Fish

HOW MANY LOAVES HAVE YOU?

CHRYSOSTOM: Why had he earlier said to his disciples, “Send away the multitude,” but now he does not send them away, even though three days had passed? It may be that they themselves had changed and improved by this time. Or it may be that since the people were glorifying God for what had been done, they had no great sense of hunger.

Observe in this instance that he does not proceed immediately to the miracle but calls them out even into the desert. The multitudes who had come for healing were not even daring to ask for food. But he is here seen to be the benevolent and provident one who gives even to those that do not ask. He said to his disciples, “I have compassion and will not send them away hungry.” And lest someone might say that they came having provisions for the way, he noted, “They have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat, so that even if some came with provision, it has by now been consumed.” Therefore Jesus did not do this on the first or second day but only when everything had been entirely consumed, in order that having first been in need, they might more eagerly receive the miracle of food. He offered them compassion, saying, “Lest they faint in the way”; he implied that both the distance to food was great and that they had nothing left. Then disciples asked, if you are not willing to send them away hungry, “Where are we to get bread enough in the desert to feed so great a crowd?” Jesus responded, in order to stimulate their faith and make them more compassionate: “How many loaves have you?” But even then they did not fully understand the motive of his question. Hence afterwards he said to them, as Mark relates, “Are your hearts so hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? Having ears, do you not hear?” [1] GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 53.1. [2]

[1] Mk 8:18.

[2] PG 58:525; NPNF 1 10:326-27.

15:35 | The Crowd Commanded to Sit Down

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NARRATIVES OF THE LOAVES AND FISHES

ORIGEN: Be attentive to the difference between those things that are written in the various places in regard to the loaves. [1] I think that this passage belongs to a different order than the others. Note the differences. Those were fed on a mountain, these in a desert place. These were fed after they had continued three days with Jesus, but those one day, on the evening of which they were fed. Is there an implication that those to whom Jesus shows kindness are superior when he fed them on the spot to demonstrate his kindness? And according to John, the twelve baskets contained leftovers of barley loaves, [2] but nothing of this kind is said here. Is one preferred to another? In the one case he healed the sick, but in this case he is healing, along with the multitudes, those who are blind, lame, deaf and maimed. Note that the four thousand marveled, but no such thing is said about the sick. And I think we can distinguish those who ate of the seven loaves, for which thanks were given, from those who ate of the five loaves, which were blessed. These who ate the few little fishes are distinguished from those who ate of the two. Those who sat down upon the ground are distinguished from those who sat down on the grass. Note that those from fewer loaves left twelve baskets, but these from a greater number left seven baskets. Perhaps they were able more fully to receive. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11.19. [3]

[1] Cf. Mt 14:13-21; Mk 6:30-44; 8:1-10; Lk 9:10-17; Jn 6:1-13. Origen interprets in an allegorical manner the two accounts of the multiplication of the loaves, finding in the seven thousand beneficiaries of the second account a superior level of perfection to the five thousand of the first; the number seven is the symbol of perfection, whereas five is the symbol of the senses (see Matthew 1-13 [ACCS], p. 260 n. 4). To this he adds other details, which confirm this superiority.

[2] Jn 6:13.

[3] GCS 40:68; ANF 9:449.

15:36 | Distributing the Food

THE DISCIPLES DISTRIBUTED FOOD TO THE CROWDS

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: The Lord wanted to provide by means of this food a miraculous work for the sake of their faith. This was his will and they perceived it. This is seen even in their questioning him: “Where are we to get bread enough”? Jesus wanted his disciples’ souls to be exercised in believing in his divine power. It was not only with words that he taught his followers but also with deeds. He then says that he “gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.” It was fitting that this should be observed both by the disciples and by the Lord. It was appropriate that the ministry should redound to the glory of those who serve, according to what pertains to the service of discipleship. The goodness shown to those who are most in need, by means of the service of the saints, is kept as though it were an individual act of obedience. Note that they partook according to their need. They did not receive food in order to take it away with them. Fragments were left, as a symbol for measuring use according to need, rather than introducing acquisitiveness that goes beyond what is needful. FRAGMENTS 86, 87. [1]

[1] MKGK 127-28.

15:37 | All Ate and Were Satisfied

SEVEN BASKETS

HILARY OF POITIERS: They brought forward seven loaves of bread. The Gentiles received no salvation from the law and the prophets. However, they live because of the grace of the Spirit whose sevenfold light, as noted by Isaiah, is a gift. [1] Therefore through faith in the Spirit the Gentiles receive salvation. They recline on the ground, for they were not subject to any works of the law or the flesh but were called in their earthly condition to the Spirit of the sevenfold light. The indefinite number of fish signifies the variety and dispensing of gifts and charisma, by which a diversity of graces satisfied the faith of the Gentiles. Moreover, the fact that seven baskets are filled indicates the overflowing and multiplied abundance of the Spirit of sevenfold light. What he generously gives, abounds. Having been satisfied, the gift becomes ever more richly endowed and full. The fact that four thousand men gather together refers to a multitude of countless people from the four corners of the earth. In terms of the future, a calculated number of people are satisfied in as many thousands of places as there are thousands of believers who hasten to receive the gift of heavenly food. Having been fully fed, the crowd is dismissed. And since the Lord remains with us all the days of our life, a great number of Gentile believers go on board the ship—namely, the church. ON MATTHEW 15.10. [2]

[1] Is 30:26.

[2] SC 258:44-46.

15:38-39 | Four Thousand Men, Plus Women and Children

HE FED ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS

THEODORE OF HERACLEA: He does this not only once but also a second time, in order that we should know his strength. This strength by which he feeds the multitudes when he wishes and without bread finds its source in his divinity. He does this in order to bring them to believe that he himself is the one who earlier had fed Israel for forty years in the wilderness. [1] And Jesus not only fed them with a few loaves of bread, but he even produced a surplus of seven baskets, so that he might be shown as incomparably surpassing Elijah, who himself also caused a multiplication of the widow’s small quantity of oil and flour. [2] Nevertheless, when Jesus produced a multiplication of seven baskets from seven loaves, he did not go beyond what was needed, lest the difference between these miracles should again be forgotten by the disciples. FRAGMENT 98. [3]

[1] HE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST | MATTHEW 14:1-12

[2] 1 Kings 17:8-16.

[3] MKGK 84.