A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture/XVI. Jesus at the Well of Jacob

by Friedrich Justus Knecht

Lord entered into conversation with her, and spoke to her about the wonderful living water. The woman believed that He could give her such water and asked Him for some. She was ashamed and humbled herself, when He reminded her of her sins. She accepted the hard truth, and acknowledged her guilt without excusing it. Then Jesus gave her further grace and revealed Himself to her as the Messias. She believed and with an apostolic spirit tried to spread the faith among her townsfolk.

---

Application. Do you honour God merely with your lips? Do you pray with attention? Do you worship God in spirit and truth by hearing Mass, and hearing it with devotion and with a clean conscience in the state of grace? Make a resolution to say all your prayers from this time forward with recollection and devotion.

Chapter XVII.

JESUS PREACHES AT NAZARETH.

[John 4, 43 — 45. Luke 4, 16 — 30. Mark 6, 1—6. Mat. 13, 54.]

FROM Sichar Jesus returned to Nazareth, in His own country^[1], and preached the word of life^[2], as He went. Now in Nazareth He entered the synagogue^[3], on the Sabbath-day, and stood up^[4] to read. They^[5] gave Him the book of Isaias^[6] the prophet. He unfolded ^[7] the book and found ^[8] the place where it was written ^[9]: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; wherefore He hath anointed^[10] me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal^[11] the contrite of heart, to preach deliverance^[12] to the captives^[13] and sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year^[14] of the Lord and the day of reward.”^[15]

When He had closed the book, He returned it to the minister and sat down^[16]. But the eyes of all the synagogue were fixed upon Him. He then told them: “This day is fulfilled ^[17] this scripture in your ears.”

As He thus continued His discourse, all wondered^[18] at the words of grace that fell from His lips. Still they did not believe in Him; for they said one to another: “Is not this the son of Joseph?” ^[19]

But He, answering them, said: “Amen, I say to you that no prophet is accepted^[20] in his own country^[21]. There were many widows in the days of Elias in Israel, when heaven was shut three years and six months, when there was a great famine throughout all the land. Yet to none of them was Elias sent but to a widow at Sarepta of Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; yet none of them was cleansed but Xaaman the Syrian.” ^[22]

Now all those who heard these things in the synagogue were filled with anger^[23]. And rising up, they drove Him out of the city, and took Him to the brow of a mountain to cast Him down headlong. But He, striking them with a sudden terror, passed through their midst^[24] and went His way.

COMMENTARY.

Jesus is the Messias. He proclaimed Himself to be such, when He said: “What the prophet says about the Messias is fulfilled in and by Me.”

Jesus is God. He proved this by the miracle He wrought at Nazareth, passing through the crowd of the furious Nazarenes, who were thirsting for His Blood, without any one among them being able to withstand Him.

Resistance of Grace. In the last chapter we saw how salvation comes to those who correspond with grace. In this chapter we have a terrible example of how salvation is forfeited by resisting grace. The Nazarenes were impressed by the discourse of Jesus, but they did not obey the call of grace which was knocking at their hearts. They resisted it, and would not believe.

Causes of unbelief. The Nazarenes had heard of the great miracle which Jesus had worked close to them at Cana. They had also been to Jerusalem for the Pasch and had witnessed the miracles He worked there (chapter XV); and now He came to them and revealed Himself to be the Messias. Still they did not believe in Him, but tried to kill Him. What was the cause of their unbelief? Firstly, their carnal-mindedness. They expected an earthly Messias, who would be a great prince, and would drive away the Romans and make Israel great in the eyes of the world. The lowliness and poverty of Jesus, therefore, offended them. They wanted their Redeemer to bring them great worldly advantages; they did not care for truth, grace and salvation. Secondly, they despised Jesus, because they had known Him from His childhood; for, as a rule, men do not respect those with whom they are very familiar. Thirdly, a feeling of envy probably arose in them: “Is this man, who is poorer than any of us, to be greater than we are!” The same causes, antipathy to the supernatural, pride &c. &c., are in the present time at the root of much unbelief.

The Sanctification of the Sabbath by frequenting divine services and hearing the word of God. Jesus was in the habit, from His youth up, of going to the synagogue every Sabbath.

Labour honourable. Jesus has sanctified and raised labour and all handicraft to a position of dignity, because, until He began His public life, He followed the trade of a carpenter.

The Sufferings of Jesus. It wounded our Lord's Sacred Heart to be ignored and rejected by His own townsfolk. The Samaritans believed, but the Nazarenes would not believe, and even maltreated Him. Jesus left Nazareth and wandered about without a home, among the very people whom He had come down from heaven to save.

Anger, a capital sin. It was anger which made the Nazarenes attempt to kill Jesus.

Holy Scripture. Jesus, by His reading and subsequent discourse, testified that the prophecies of Isaias were inspired by God. Also, by citing the cases of Elias and Eliseus, He attested that these holy men were indeed sent by God, and that they really worked the miracles which are related of them in Holy Scripture.

---

Application. You have been accustomed from your childhood to the Presence of Jesus in the most holy Sacrament of the Altar, and to the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Take care that you do not think lightly of them! “If this most holy Sacrament were only in one place, and consecrated by only one priest in the world, how great a desire would men have to go to that place and to such a priest of God, that they might see the divine mysteries celebrated” (Imit. of Christ 4, 1). Should your reverence and devotion be less, because Jesus of His infinite love is present on so many altars, and is daily offered up? Would not this be a shameful want of gratitude?

Chapter XVIII.

MIRACLES OF JESUS AT CAPHARNAUM.

[Luke 4, 31—44. Mark x, 21—39. Mat. 4, 13 — 17 and 8, 13.]

FROM Nazareth Jesus went to Capharnaum^[25], and there He taught them on the Sabbath-days. The people were astonished at His doctrine, and at the wonderful force and unction of His preaching. There was, in the synagogue, a man who had an unclean spirit^[26], and he^[27] cried aloud, saying: “Let us^[28] alone, what have we to do with Thee^[29], Jesus of Nazareth? Art Thou come to destroy us?^[30] I know Thee, who Thou art, the Holy One of God.” ^[31]

Jesus rebuked the spirit, commanding him to be silent^[32], and to go out from the man. Then the devil, throwing the man into the midst of the crowd, went out of him, and left him unharmed^[33]. A great fear^[34] came upon all who witnessed this miracle, and they said one to another: “What word is this? For with authority and power He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they go out.”

From the synagogue Jesus went to the house of Simon Peter. It so happened that the mother-in-law of Peter was grievously sick^[35], and Jesus was asked^[36] to cure her. He drew near her bed, commanded the fever, and it left her. Immediately^[37] she arose, cured of the fever, and waited on them as they sat at table.

When the sun was down^[38], the sick and infirm^[39] of the city were brought to Jesus, and He laid His hands upon them, and they were healed.

Early next morning He left Capharnaum and retired to a desert place^[40]. But the people followed Him in crowds, beseeching Him not to leave them. He said to them: “I must preach the kingdom of God^[41] in other places also; for therefore am I sent.”

1. His own country. Galilee was called thus, because Jesus had hitherto lived there with His foster-father.
2. Word of life. The good new's that the reign of the Messias, of redemption and of grace had begun.
3. The synagogue. This was the name given to the house of prayer in every town, in which the Jews assembled in order to pray together and to read the Old Testament Scriptures.
4. Stood up. As a sign that He too wished to read out of the sacred books. The reading was preceded by prayers in which the speedy coming of the Messias was urgently asked for. The holy Scriptures were read standing as an outward token of respect for the word of God.
5. They. i. e. the servers of the synagogue.
6. Isaias. It being the turn for this book.
7. Unfolded. The books of the ancients were written, not printed, and were rolled up, something like a school-map, instead of being laid flat and bound up.
8. Found. Not accidentally, but with a wise purpose.
9. Written. The passage which Jesus read was taken from Isaias 61, I 2. It was acknowledged by all the Jews to relate to the Messias, who is himself uttering the words quoted.
10. Anointed. The Lord hath made me God and man; therefore am I His anointed. His Christ.
11. To heal. From their sins.
12. Deliverance. Spiritual.
13. The captives. Of sin and the devil.
14. Year. The jubilee or year of restoration.
15. Reward. Or of judgment.
16. Sat down. As a sign that He wished to expound what He had read, such explanatory discourses being made sitting.
17. Fulfilled. The Messias who is foretold in this passage sits now before you. Thus Jesus explicitly declared that He was the Messias, who had brought grace and truth to all men.
18. All wondered. The words of Jesus were so full of grace, so persuasive and moving, and they flowed from His mouth so easily and sweetly that they made a great impression on His hearers and astounded them. The impression, however, was only a passing one. Soon the doubt occurred to them: Is not this the carpenter’s son, whom we have known from his youth? He is of poor parents and is a carpenter (Mark 6,3); how can this be the Messias? They were offended at His poverty and lowliness, despised His honourable trade, and would not, therefore, believe in Him. Jesus saw with pain the scepticism of His own fellowcitizens and said to them with solemn earnestness: Amen, I say to you &c.
19. Joseph. As if they wished to say that He was of poor parents, and that He had not received a liberal education.
20. Accepted. Well received.
21. His own country. It is with me as it was with the prophets, who found no hearing among their fellow-countrymen, to whom they were sent. Then our Lord quoted the examples of the two prophets, Elias and Eliseus, who worked such great miracles, and who yet found less belief among the Israelites than among the heathen (Old Test. LXII).
22. The Syrian. No Israelite had as much faith as the pagan Naaman (Old Test. LXV).
23. With anger. They felt the severity of our Lord’s reproof. The truth, however, irritated them instead of converting them. As they could not refute His words, they tried to kill Him, for falsely (as they said) setting Himself up to be the Messias.
24. Their midst. To the edge of the mountain, where there were several precipices which can still be seen. He allowed them to force Him thither; but once there, He turned round and passed with calm majesty through the crowd of persecutors, who, subdued by a supernatural force, stood there helpless and, as it were, paralysed.
25. Capharnaum. Capharnaum, situated on the north-west shore of the Lake of Genesareth, was a busy commercial town, much frequented by travellers, in which many Gentiles lived. Here Jesus dwelt, not as a house-holder, but merely as a guest in the house of Simon Peter. Simon was a native of Bethesda, and had probably obtained possession of his house in Capharnaum by his marriage. From this house Jesus went forth on His many journeys for the conversion of sinners; and for this reason Capharnaum is spoken of as "his town".
26. Unclean spirit. A devil had taken possession of this man, governing his senses and bodily organs. A man thus possessed was no longer his own master. His consciousness and free-will were impeded and governed by the evil spirit, under whose despotism he lived.
27. lie. The possessed man uttered the words, but it was the devil who really cried out through him. The near presence of Jesus, the Most Holy One, who had overcome the tempter, filled the evil spirit with anguish and terror.
28. Us. He used the plural number, because he felt sure that Jesus had come to destroy the power of all the infernal spirits.
29. With Thee. We wish to have nothing to do with you: leave us in peace.
30. Destroy us. To take from us the dominion of the world, and banish us to hell.
31. The Holy One of God. How did the devil know this? He knew it by the irresistible authority of Jesus, which he was constrained to obey. He knew that the power which rested both in His commands and in the very touch of His Hands, was a divine power.
32. To be silent. Jesus refused to receive testimony to His Godhead from the spirit of lies, who only speaks the truth with an evil intention. According to the plan of divine wisdom our Lord’s Divinity was to be revealed little by little. Men were to come to the knowledge of it by degrees, and not by the premature testimony of the devil. Thus Jesus refused to be questioned by this evil spirit, and said to him: “Be still.” Hence Spiritism is unlawful.
33. Unharmed. The devil was obliged to obey the command of Jesus and come out of the man; but, before he did so, he showed his spite against his victim by throwing him to the ground. His rage, however, was futile, for he could not hurt the man, and left him quite restored to himself.
34. Great fear. A holy awe.
35. Sick. Of fever.
36. Asked. It was the disciples Simon and Andrew as well as James and John (these according to Mark I, 29 being also present), who made this petition. James, the brother of John, had therefore also become a disciple.
37. Immediately. She prepared and served food for them. This shows that she had immediately recovered her full strength, whereas generally a person who has had a fever remains weak and exhausted for a long time.
38. The sun was down. i. e. when the Sabbath was over. The Sabbath of the Jews began at sunset on Friday evening, and ended at sunset on Saturday. The Feasts began and ended in the same way.
39. The sick and infirm. Besides those actually sick there were present those who carried them, as well as many of their friends and relations, who were attracted by curiosity. Picture the scene to yourselves — the sick moaning and crying for help, while those possessed by evil spirits raged and howled; and all present turning their eyes on Jesus, full of expectation and wonder whether He would be able to cure all who were there. Picture Jesus passing from one sick person to another, laying His Hand on each, and behold, each one was cured, whatsoever his malady!
40. Desert place. On a neighbouring mountain.
41. The kingdom of God. i. e. the message of salvation.