Matthew 8:18
comments by Bishop Hilary of Poitiers (Gaul in
Ancient Church) - FC vol. 125, ch. 7 #8
When Jesus saw the great crowd gathered
around him, he gave orders for his
disciples to go across to the other side of
the sea. And a certain scribe approached
him and said, 'Teacher, I will follow you
wherever you go!'
. . .The crowd is large and the Lord
instructs the disciples to go across the
sea to the other side. I do not think that
it was a lapse in the Savior's goodness
that he wanted to leave those who were
around him and to choose a secret place
for the imparting of salvation. Then a
scribe approached him saying that he was
going to follow the Teacher wherever he
might go. We read that the scribe said
or did nothing offensive. . .The name
disciple should not be applied to the
apostles only. For we read that there
had been a great many disciples besides
the Apostles. . .For the Church is just
like a ship -- as it has been called in
numerous places -- a ship which,
having taken on board a very great
diversity of races and nations, is
subjected to everything: the blowing
of the wind and the motion of the sea.
Accordingly, the Church is buffeted by
the attacks of the world and of unclean
spirits. Even though it is exposed to
so many dangers, we enter the ship of Christ
. . .knowing that we have to be tossed
around by the sea and the wind. In order
to make a figurative meaning [ Latin
typicae significantiae ] coherent and
to make sense of the proportion of
believers who remain behind, the role
[ Latin persona ] of the scribe and that
of the disciple are joined together!
. . .While everyone has been invited
into the Church to board the ship, it
happens that only a few will follow
because of their fear of the sea, that
is, fear of the world.
(Translation in 2012 by Prof. D.H.
Williams, Baylor University)
ISBN: 9789813201252
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