A His custom is, He suddenly turns the crowd into joy. Behold, even today, encompassed by the crowd, He shines forth the hem of His garment, and with the rain of faith He has flooded nature. For what has the evangelist recently set forth to us, bringing in the manifold gains of faith? "For there was a certain ruler of the synagogue, a minister of the laws of Moses, and an instructor of the people, their name being Jairus. Nature had granted to him one favor: an only-begotten daughter, B towards whom the crowd was necessarily occupied, as is the custom of a parent who loves his children. But, as it seems, he was unaware that he was taking care of her not for succession, but for an untimely burial. For a certain grievous disease had come upon her, rendering her a neighbor to death, and cutting off the father from his pleasant hope regarding her. Yet this suffering did not conquer faith; for Jairus immediately proceeds to the Savior and beseeches Him to reach his house. But the Lord anticipates the one calling Him by His readiness; for, having arisen, He followed him. C But look, O believer, at what kind of righteous violence is innovated by a woman, what kind of wise theft is managed, what kind of harmless plunder is devised by a female, for it is necessary for Him, hastening toward his movement, to complete that journey quickly. A woman, it says, having an issue of blood for twelve years, coming up behind, touched the hem of His garment; for she said within herself, "If I only touch, I shall be saved." For this one, she says, is the physician who has arrived from heaven; He does not command the material of costly medicines, He does not cut with iron, He does not bring on pains; He knows the D things of the female; for He came down from a virgin mother just as He willed; He is not defiled by investigating hidden sufferings; He is the overseer of secret things. I am a woman, and I carry a shameful and hidden suffering; for I have an inexhaustible stream of blood and fountains of impure discharges that do not cease. I am in need, therefore, of a fountain, which is He Himself, so that He may secretly cleanse my unseemly nature; for the law does not admit such a disease. The crowd pushes me away, the wretch, as though I were defiled; but the present Physician, being the Creator of nature, who refashioned [man] from a rib, would not refuse to deliver [me] from decay; for by word alone He commands, and the suffering does not remain; 212 He is perturbed in Spirit, and He exacts the dead from Hades; from a few loaves He fills thousands, He is washed by tears and causes forgiveness to spring forth. But no one dares this unless it be faith alone, having no doubt; having taken this, therefore, as a guide for my soul, I step forward secretly, and in silence I plunder the healing by a touch; and if I remain hidden, the gain is entire, for I know that I shall be saved; but if, not remaining hidden, I should be called into the midst, I would not be condemned for having dared for the sake of healing, nor would I be made to pay back what faith has stolen; for all of her gifts are without repentance, as they belong to God; for He who said to the sea, "Be silent, be muzzled," will also speak to my hidden fountain. Come, therefore, O faith, direct the future, and quickly cut through the wave of the crowds, so that I may moor my fragile skiff of a body into that calm harbor; for a drop of His help is able to tirelessly drown the abyss of blood within me; having thus deliberated these things well, she dares the undareable, and she fears neither time, nor does she reckon poverty, nor does she count the multitude; but having vaulted over all these things through faith, or rather with faith, having secretly touched the robe of the Master, she opportunely plundered the gain of healing, believing that the union with Him was to be a riddance of her suffering; truly a riddance; for she was healed immediately from the scourge. For she had been boxing with the disease for twelve years daily and yearly, she was stealing her life away, being slaughtered at all times, and yet not dying; for the first year, and she began to have sensation of certain pains and toils; it was the second year, and it was disturbing the hidden things of this obscure city; the third year was present, and she was gripped by the swelling of nerves and veins; it was the fourth year, and a fountain of blood was proceeding from her; the fifth year, and physicians were running together from every side, uncovering limbs which it is not lawful for males to see; the sixth year was being completed, and the terrible thing was intensifying; the seventh year, and with so much wealth being emptied, the corruption of blood remained inexhaustible; the eighth year arrived, and those treating her confessed defeat; the ninth year was, and leaving her as completely hopeless, they were departing; the tenth year drew near, and the woman was wholly destitute of substance and health; the eleventh year, and no helper was standing by the pain-stricken one; the twelfth year was being counted, and the Physician of souls was present at the final hour, healing the diseases by touch and word and faith. Meeting Him, and believing in the future, she received what she wanted; but she was trembling, knowing that she had not been hidden. For what says the Savior? "Who is it that touched me? For I perceived power going out from me." He did not say, "Who is it that touched me [female]?" so that the bystanders might not occupy themselves in an ambiguous questioning of a woman; but He said, "Who is it that touched me [male/neuter]," leaving the voice in suspense, so that each one hearing might think that the undertaking was a man's: "Who is it that touched me? For I perceived power going out from me." 213 What are you saying, O Master? Have you come to be plundered? Have you set forth the kingdom for the faithful to steal? And why do you ask what you know, and seek what you do not ignore? If you were not willing to let out the power that went out, you ought to have held it back; but if you were plundered when you so willed, why are you annoyed, giving what faith forces you to give? You granted without being asked, and after giving, you accuse? You healed invisibly, and after the healing you convene a court? Yes, He says; I know who plundered me, I do not ignore who successfully stole; but I desire her to come into the midst, so that she may become a herald of the grace she obtained. For, having been so willingly plundered by her, I have purposed to confirm her gift before all: "Be of good courage, daughter, your faith has saved you." Keep, He says, what you have cleverly stolen; hold, woman, what you have invisibly snatched; possess a genuine possession, which faith has provided for you; for instead of a slave you have been named a daughter, instead of a defiled one [you are] anointed today. Be healthy from your scourge. You see, beloved, how much faith can do, how in a single moment it accomplished miracles; in silence encouraging the trembling one, having prevailed upon the Physician. Thus the Church from the Gentiles, having envied the woman with the issue of blood, and having approached the Master in faith and silence, has un-mouthed the fountain of the defiled legal bloods, and having been called a daughter, she exists as a mother of many, possessing as witness the one who long ago cried out: "For many are the children of the desolate more than of her who has a husband"; I mean the synagogue, whose husband is the law, the ruler of the synagogue, calling the Master today to the raising of the deceased child. But as the hour presses me to be a debtor of the miracle concerning her, I proclaim the Lord, the Giver of wealth, sitting by you as a surety; to whom glory is due unto the ages of ages. Amen.
VI. BY THE SAME, THAT THIS LIFE IS LIKE THE SEA, AND CONCERNING THE PASSAGE, "WHEN JESUS WENT UP WITH HIS DISCIPLES INTO THE BOAT AND FELL ASLEEP" (Luke VIII, 22, 23; Matth. VIII, 23).
Those who sail the sea, whenever they are blown upon by a straight-aiming wind and complete their voyage, becoming joyous of face, they adjust their appearance in imitation of the calm; but whenever the serenity of the calm, continuing, relaxes the sailors, and causes some to fall asleep, and others to entrust the rudders of the vessel to boys, and with the pilot being carefree, and the sailors having unloosed the labor of their art due to the stillness, and suddenly a storm of the roughest kind having splattered, the winds unexpectedly dash out upon the sea, and the sea begins to roar, becoming savage, and the multitude of waves to hinder the ship, and the stretchings of the many-folded ropes hanging about the mast, being lashed by the violent impact of the winds, hiss—then indeed, beloved, a clamorous and wailing noise arises from the passengers, expecting a watery death beside the natural one. And it is possible to see the sailors being tossed by the gale surrounding them from without, but more so by the lamentations from within.
insomuch that the helmsman himself, having become trembling from fear, can no longer use his hand to steer the ship; and all of them, crying out, despair of being able to save their lives among men. Such a thing also happened to the disciples; for B do you transfer yourself with me to the Gospel. Jesus ascended with his disciples into a boat (Luke VIII, 22), and easily crossed the sea. As long as the Lord Christ was awake, every contrary wind was repressed; the sea was flat for them, as if it were solid ground, nor did a wave rise up against the ship carrying Christ. But when Jesus, according to his providence, was sleeping in the boat, in accordance with the nature of the body, and not according to the dignity of the Godhead (for the eye of the Godhead is immune to sleep); then the winds, seeing their Master and Prefect sleeping—just as horses despise a charioteer held by sleep—exhaling a fierce tempest with an impetuous blast, were borne against the apostolic boat; and, a gale having arisen, which threatened an unexpected death with such a blast, with the sea surging and casting its fierce waves with a roar onto the bank—the shaper of the sands—the disciples, seeing the raging tempest, invoked Christ the most celebrated defender; saying what? Lord, save us, we perish (Matt. VIII, 25). By Economy the Lord was sleeping in the boat, not unaware of what was about to happen, nor lacking the power to induce serenity; but knowing that the sea was about to be troubled, he was sleeping for two reasons: that he might by the tempest rebuke the wavering and weak faith of the disciples, and might liquidly demonstrate to them the power of his divinity. It was possible to see, therefore, O beloved, the Lord, awake in body, becoming more vehement than himself, and the wind fleeing stealthily into its own cave, and the sea no longer intent on threats against the apostolic boat, but the waves converting themselves to adoration. Such is the course of this life, so that things never remain in the same state, but are sometimes tranquil in peace and abound in an abundance of provisions; at other times, however, they are moved and tossed by waves, like the sea, partly by the incursions of barbarians, partly by the machinations of tyrants and the perplexities of affairs, and by many other disturbances C and agitations. For the aforementioned history concerning the apostolic boat has this meaning; nothing indeed was done by the Lord that did not have a mystery. This life is like the sea; human nature is like the boat, carrying thoughts and mind like passengers and a helmsman. This boat, therefore, that is to say human nature, is tossed in this life by the wickedness of the devil, by the hostile demons who excite the waves of the passions; they cast the false foam of pleasures into the internal mind, and move the mind, the helmsman, with passions and submerge it into sin. But whatever human being, moved by the flame of pleasures, may be submerged into sin—that, asserting my discourse, the prophet David testifies. For when he had made shipwreck concerning continence, he was crying out, saying: "I came into the depth of the sea, and a tempest submerged me" (Ps. LXVIII, 3). For we nowhere find this in history concerning David: when did David sail? Or in what sea traveling was he submerged? Nowhere indeed. What then does it mean? Being in this life as if in a sea, and tossed by pleasures as if by waves, and with the structure of his thoughts loosened, having admitted within the wave of cupidity, and having been despoiled of the strength of a man through the wife of Uriah, he suffered a shipwreck of continence. Therefore he was saying: "I came into the depth of the sea, and a tempest submerged me." Then again repenting, and again recovering the tiller of continence from the depth of sin, and tempering his life with chastity, he was praying to God saying: "Let not the tempest of water submerge me, nor the deep D swallow me" (Ps. LXVIII, 16). Such a thing the Apostle also mentions, mystically indicating human nature: "Thrice I made shipwreck." For what does he say? "Thrice I made shipwreck; a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea" (II Cor. XI, 25). For human nature made shipwreck thrice: once, in paradise through the transgression; secondly, in the flood of Noah; thirdly, after the law was received, the people fell into the worship of idols, until Christ, the helmsman of our souls, coming and planting the veil of the cross in the middle of the earth, provided for us a navigation free from tempests unto the heavenly city. "A night and a day I was in the depth of the sea." He calls "night" that delay in murky error, which preceded the advent of Christ; and "day," that state in the lucid baptism, which followed the advent of Christ. Since, therefore, the whole of human nature was being tossed through the wickedness of the devil, as we have said: seeing this, the Word of God, coming into this life, enters into the hollow of the boat of the virgin Mary: the type of which we find expressed in the prophet Jonah. For Jonah is sent to Nineveh; Christ comes into this life: Jonah departs into the boat, and sleeps in the hollow of the boat; the Word also of God for nine months was sleeping, so to speak, in the womb of the virgin Mary, silent to men. Then the gale of devilish wickedness was more excited, just as against Jonah. But when Jonah was thrown into the sea, that is, when Jesus came forth from the womb of the Virgin into this life, and every wind against him also grew silent, until he should arrive at the underworld, he brought forth many signs and wonders while sailing in this life. Jonah entered into the whale, and he entered into the underworld: three days and three nights, as many as Jonah, he spent in the underworld. Jonah is cast out from the whale into Nineveh; Christ rises from the dead, and comes into this world... preaching repentance; the Ninevites repent, and the inhabitants of this world: for three days they fast, and numerous multitudes are saved; just as also in Nineveh twelve myriads of men and very many cattle. For the Lord preaching repentance and faith to this world, the twelve tribes of Israel are saved. "When the fullness of the nations shall have entered, then all Israel shall be saved" (Rom. XI, 25). That Jonah was a type of Christ, the Lord himself says in the Gospel: "As Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights" (Matt. XII, 40). To him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.