Mateus 8
Cyril of Alexandria · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Mateus 8:4
What then was the gift that was to be brought by the leper according to the law? "Two small birds," one of which the priest killed "over running water." Taking "cedar wood and broken scarlet and hyssop" and the living bird, he dipped them "in the blood of the slain bird, over running water." He anointed the right ear, hand and foot of the leper who was cleansed. He sent the living bird outside the city, "into the open field." Observe, therefore, how perfectly Christ depicts these things for us. By the living bird you may understand the living, heavenly Word. By the blood of the slain bird, you should understand the blood of our suffering Lord, for whom we say that he suffered "in the flesh," rather than "in his own body." The cedar is a wood not prone to rot. The incorruptible flesh, the body of Christ, "did not see corruption." Hyssop symbolizes the effervescence, activity and power of the Spirit. Scarlet intends the confession of the covenant made with blood. The running water signifies the life-creating gift of baptism.… Through this baptism, whoever has become a leper through sin may be cleansed. The sending of the living bird outside of the city teaches us to abandon this world, as did Christ in his ascension into heaven. Having thus come into the presence of God the Father, he makes intercession for all of us, and we therefore shall be cleansed. By the anointing of the leper's right ear, hand and foot, we are taught that we must be, in contemplation and in action and in our way of life, in touch with divine things. — FRAGMENT 93
Mateus 8:16
Why didn't anyone bring them by day? Maybe it was out of respect for the scribes and Pharisees, or like Nicodemus, from embarrassment at their infirmities. Maybe it was because the sick people had no one to carry them to Jesus. — FRAGMENT 95
Mateus 8:18
But it is only to the disciples that Jesus "gave orders to cross over to the other side," lest, from the crowds pressing about him, his disciples should be prevented from hearing those very teachings that were most appropriate for them. To the disciples he revealed God's future mysteries more deeply than in the things that were spoken to the crowds only "in parables." Only the disciples had left behind all present goods and followed him through love of learning. He commands them to cross over from temporary things to eternal things, from the earthly to the heavenly, from the carnal to the spiritual. — FRAGMENT 97
Mateus 8:21
In this place the question is raised as to whether the honor due God does not take precedence over the duty to honor one's parents. When the two conflict, it is necessary to hold to the one and despise the other, especially if honoring parents gets in the way of pleasing God. The worship of God requires putting God before all other things we think of as precious. In this way we will not, like Cain, be found relegating secondary things to God. In a similar way, the old law prohibited the priests from drawing near to dead bodies and commanded them to keep away even from services for their own family and not to succumb to excessive fleshly sympathy. But while the law taught through shadows, Christ teaches in a way wholly transparent and undisguised. Whoever wishes to serve God must not let any ties of kinship become an excuse, on grounds of preoccupation, for not following Christ. Christ himself, for the benefit of those who were with him, even slighted his own mother and brothers, saying, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" and "Such a one is my mother." — FRAGMENT 98
Mateus 8:26
The exclamation "save us" is commendable, since it shows faith. But to say "we are perishing" brings a charge of littleness of faith against those who were in deep distress. They indeed put their hope in Christ who was sailing with them. They were not totally faithless but were at that point "of little faith," since in their danger they did not take courage from the fact of Christ's being with them. — FRAGMENT 99
Mateus 8:28-29
The divine nature of the only begotten Son was already scorching the demons in unspeakable flames. Christ was shutting up the fiercest demons in blocked roads. He was undoing the devil's tyranny. "You have come before the time," they cried out. For they knew from the Scriptures that Christ was going to come and would judge them. Treating the incarnation as if it had happened at the wrong time, they pled that he had come in an untimely way. This misrepresentation is not surprising. In their deceptiveness, they did not hesitate to say even this. Yet, although they know that vengeance is to fall upon them, they still say haughtily, "What have you to do with us?" They know that the final Judge in fact has a score to settle with them, inasmuch as they had broken his commandments. — FRAGMENT 101