As he promised, he giveth them a sight of the glory, unto which Suffering doth bring; (9) and then again doth inculcate his Passion. (14) A Devil also he casteth out which his Disciples could not for their incredulity and lack of praying and fasting. (22) Being yet in Galilee, he revealeth more about his Passion (24) and the tribute that the Collectors exacted for all, he payeth for himself and Peter; declaring yet withal his freedom both by word and miracle.
AND after six days Jesus taketh unto him Peter, and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them into a high mountain apart: 2And he was • transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun: and his garments became white as snow. 3And behold there • appeared to them Moyses and Elias talking with him. 4And Peter answering, said to Jesus: Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moyses, and one for Elias. 5And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. And lo a voice out of the cloud, saying: This is my well-beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him. 6And the Disciples hearing it, fell upon their face, and were sore afraid. 7And Jesus came and touched them: and he said to them, Arise, and fear not. 8And they lifting up their eyes, saw no body, but only Jesus. 9And as they descended from the • mount, Jesus commanded them, saying: Tell the vision to nobody, till the Son of man be risen from the dead.
10And his Disciples asked him, saying: what say the Scribes then, that * Elias must come first? 11But he answering, said to them, • Elias indeed shall come, and restore all things. 12And I say to you, that Elias is already come, and they did not know him, but wrought on him whatsoever they would. So also the Son of man shall suffer of them. 13Then the Disciples understood, that of John the Baptist he had spoken to them.
14And * when he was come unto the multitude, there came to him a man falling down upon his knees before him, 15saying: Lord have mercy upon my Son, for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for he falleth often into the fire, and often into the water. 16And I offered him to thy Disciples, and they could not cure him. 17Jesus answered and said: O faithless and perverse Generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. 18And Jesus rebuked him, and the Devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour. 19Then came the Disciples to Jesus secretly, and said: • why could not we cast him out? 20Jesus said to them, because of your incredulity: For, Amen I say to you, if you have • faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove from hence thither, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you. 21But this kind is not cast out but by • prayer and fasting.
22And * when they conversed in Galilee, Jesus said to them: The Son of man is to be betrayed into the hands of men: 23and they shall kill him, and the third day he shall rise again. And they were stricken sad exceedingly.
24And when they were come to Capharnaum, there came they that received the didrachmes, unto Peter, and said to him, Your master doth he not pay the [a] didrachmes? 25He saith, Yes. And when he was entered into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying: What is your opinion Simon? The kings of the earth, of whom receive they tribute or cense? of their children, or of strangers? 26And he said: Of strangers. Jesus said to him: Then the • children are free. 27But that we may not scandalise them, go thy ways to the sea, and cast a hook: and that fish which shall first come up, take: and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a [b] stater: take that, and give it them for • me and thee.
Footnotes
ANNOTATIONS. CHAP. XVII.
↑ 2. Transfigured.) Mark in this Transfiguration many marvellous points: as, that he made not only his own body, which then was mortal, but also the bodies of Moyses and Elias, the one dead, the other to die, for the time as it were immortal; thereby to represent the state and glory of his body and his Saints in Heaven. By which marvellous transfiguring of his body, you may the less marvel that he can exhibit his body under the form of bread and wine, or otherwise as he list.
↑ 3. Appeared Moyses.) By this that Moyses personally appeared and was present with Christ, it is plain that the Saints departed may in Person be present at the affairs of the living, August. de cura pro mort. ch. 15, 16. For even as Angels elsewhere, so here the Saints also served our Saviour; and therefore as Angels both in the old Testament and the new, were present often at the affairs of men, so may Saints.
↑ 9. Mount.) This mount (commonly esteemed and named of the ancient Fathers Thabor) St. Peter calleth the holy Mount because of this wonderful vision, like as in the old Testament, where God appeared to Moyses in the bush, and elsewhere to others, he calleth the place of such Apparitions, holy ground. Whereby it is evident that by such Apparitions, places are sanctified, and thereupon groweth a religion and devotion in the Faithful toward such places, and namely to this Mount Thabor (called in St. Jerom Itabirium Ep. 17) there was great Pilgrimage in the Primitive Church, as unto all those places which our Saviour had sanctified with his presence and miracles: and therefore to the whole land of promise, for that cause called the holy Land. See St. Jerom in Epitap. Paulae and ep. 17 & 18 ad Mercellam.
↑ 11. Elias shall come.) He distinguisheth here plainly between Elias in Person, who is yet to come before the judgement; and Elias in name, to wit, John the Baptist, who is come already in the spirit and virtue of Elias. So that it is not John Baptist only, nor principally of whom Malachy prophesieth (as our Adversaries say) but Elias also himself in Person.
↑ 19. Why could not we.) No marvel if the Exorcists of the Catholic Church which have power to cast out Devils, yet do it not always when they will, and many times with much ado; whereas the Apostles having received this power * before over unclean Spirits, yet here cannot cast them out. But as for Heretics, they can never do it, nor any other true miracle, to confirm their false faith.
↑ 20. Faith as mustard seed.) This is the Catholic faith, by which only all miracles are wrought: yet not of every one that hath the Catholic faith, but of such as have a great and forcible faith, and withal the gift of miracles. These are able, as here we see by Christ’s warrant, not only to do other wonderful miracles here signified by this one, but also this very same, that is, to move mountains indeed, as St. Paul also presupposeth, and St. Jerom affirmeth, and Ecclesiastical histories namely telleth of Gregorius Neocaesariensis, that he moved a mountain to make room for the foundation of a Church; called therefore, and for other his wonderful miracles, Thaumaturgus. And yet faithless Heretics laugh at all such things and believe them not.
↑ 21. Prayer and fasting.) The force of fasting and praying; whereby also we may see that the holy Church in Exorcisms doth according to the Scriptures, when she useth beside the name of JESUS, many prayers, and much fasting, to drive out Devils, because these also are here required beside faith.
↑ 26. Children are free.) Though Christ to avoid scandal, paid tribute, yet indeed he showeth that both himself ought to be free from such payments (as being the King’s Son, as well by his eternal birth of God the Father, as temporal of David) and also his Apostles, as being of his family, and in them their successors the whole Clergy, who are called in Scripture the lot and portion of our Lord. Which exemption and privilege being grounded upon the very law of nature itself, and therefore practised even among the Heathen (Gen. 42:27) good Christian Princes have confirmed and ratified by their laws, in the honour of Christ, whose ministers they are, and as it were the King’s Sons, as St. Jerom declareth plainly in these words: We for his honour pay not tributes, and as the King’s Sons, are free from such payments. Jerom. upon this place.
↑ 27. Me and thee.) A great mystery in that he paid not only for himself, but for Peter bearing the Person of the Church, and in whom as the chief, the rest were contained. Aug. q. ex. no. Test. q. 75 to. 4.
Margin Notes
- 1–9. The Transfiguration of our Lord, celebrated in the Church the 6th of August. The Ghospel of the said feast, and of the 2nd Sunday in Lent: and on Ember Saturday before.
- annot. 2. Christ can exhibit his body under what form he list.
- annot. 3. Saints after their death deal with, and for the living.
- annot. 9. Holy places.
- annot. 9. Devotion and Pilgrimage to the same.
- annot. 9. The holy land.
- annot. 11. Elias.
- annot. 19. True miracles only in the Catholic Church.
- annot. 20. Gregorius Thaumaturgus.
- annot. 21. Prayer and Fasting.
- annot. 26. The privileges and exemptions of the Clergy.
- annot. 27. Peter’s pre-eminence.
Margin References
- 1. Mar. 9, 2. Luc. 9, 28. 2. Pet. 1, 17.
- 10. Mal. 4, 5.
- 14. Mar. 9, 14. Luc. 9, 37.
- 22. Mar. 9, 31. Luc. 9, 44.
- annot. 9. 2 Pet. 1, 18.
- annot. 9. Exo. 3, 5.
- annot. 11. Luc. 1, 17. Mal. 4, 5.
- annot. 19. Mat. 10.
- annot. 20. 1 Cor. 13. Jerom in vita St. Hilarionis Niceph. lib. 6, 17. Greg. Nyss. de vit. Gregory.
