Christ declines to specify the times and seasons, 23

I. 7.

13, 32.

Acts 1,

7.

17-20.

9.

Mark

Mat.16,

27.

objects, seeing they were not yet become better than those AcTS who were before them: here they have henceforth high conceptions concerning Christ. Since then their minds are elevated, He also speaks to them in a higher strain. For He no longer tells them, Of that day not even the Son of Mark Man knoweth; but He says, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power. Ye ask things greater than your capacity, He would say. And yet even now they learned things that were much greater than this. And that you may see that this is strictly the case, look how many things I shall enumerate. What, I pray you, was greater than their having learned what they did learn? Thus, they learned that there is a Son of John 5, God, and that God has a Son equal with Himself in dignity; they learned that there will be a resurrection; that when Mat.17, He ascended He sat on the right hand of God; and what is Luke22, still more stupendous, that Flesh is seated in heaven, and 69. adored by Angels, and that He will come again: they learned what is to take place in the judgment: learned that they shall then sit and judge the twelve tribes of Israel; learned Luke21, that the Jews would be cast out, and in their stead the Gentiles should come in. For, tell me, which is greater? 28. to learn that a person will reign, or to learn the time when? 24. Paul learned things which it is not lawful for a man to 2 Cor. utter; things that were before the world was made, he 12, 4. learned them all. Which is the more difficult, the beginning or the end? Clearly to learn the beginning. This, Moses learned, and the time when, and how long ago: and he enumerates the years. And the wise Solomon saith, I will make mention of things from the beginning of the world. And that the time is at hand, they do know: as Paul saith, Phil. 4, The Lord is at hand, be careful for nothing. These things they knew not [then], and yet He mentions many signs. Matt. But, as He has just said, Not many days hence, wishing them to be vigilant, and did not openly declare the precise moment, so is it here also. However, it is not about the general Consummation that they now ask Him, but, Wilt Thou at this time, say they, restore the kingdom to Israel?

a

a Cod. C. omits this sentence here, is evidently out of place. The passage and inserts it below, (p. 24.) where it referred to seems to be Ecclus. 51, 8.

27.

Mat. 19,

Luke21,

5.

ch. 24.

8.

II.

24

not because hidden from Him,

HOMIL. And not even this did He reveal to them. They also asked this [about the end of the world] before: and as on that occasion He answered by leading them away from thinking that their deliverance was near, and, on the contrary, cast them into the midst of perils, so likewise on this occasion, but more mildly. For, that they may not imagine themselves to be wronged, and these things to be mere pretences, hear what He says; He immediately gives them that at Acts 1, which they rejoiced: for He adds: But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Then, that they may make no more enquiries, straightway He was received up. Thus, just as on the former occasion He had darkened their minds by awe, and by saying, I know not; here also He does so by being taken up. For great was their eagerness on the subject, and they would not have desisted; and yet it was very necessary that they should not learn this. For tell me, which do the Gentiles most disbelieve? that there will be a consummation of the world, or that God is become man, and issued from the Virgin? But I am ashamed of dwelling on this point, as if it were about some difficult matter. Then again, that the disciples might not say, Why dost thou leave the matter in suspense? He adds, Which the Father hath put in His own power. And yet He declared the Father's power and John 5, His to be one: as in the saying, For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. If where need is to work, Thou actest with the same power as the Father; where it behoves to know, dost Thou not know with the same power? Yet certainly to raise up the dead is much greater than to learn the day. If the greater be with power, much more the other. [2.] But just as when we see a child crying, and pertinaciously wishing to get something from us that is not expedient for

21.

b The connexion must be supplied:
e. g.
It was not that this point of
knowledge was too high for them; for,
as has been shewn, they knew already,
or were soon to know, things much
higher than this, and which their hearers

would find much harder to believe. For tell me, &c.

Also

e Here C. has the sentence; the wise Solomon saith, &c." p. 23.

note a.

but because the knowledge was not good for them. 25

25.

I. 8.

him, we hide the thing, and shew him our empty hands, ACTS and say, "See, we have it not:" the like has Christ here done with the Apostles. But as the child, even when we shewd him [our empty hands], persists with his crying, conscious he has been deceived, and then we leave him, and depart, saying, "Such an one calls me:" and we give him something else instead, in order to divert him from his, desire, telling him it is a much finer thing than the other, and then hasten away; in like manner Christ acted. The disciples asked to have something, and He said He had it not. And on the first occasion He frightened them. Then again they asked to have it now: He said He had it not; and He did not frighten them now, but after having shewn [the empty hands], He has done this, and gives them a plausible reason': Which the Father, He says, hath put in His own power. What? Thou not know the things of the Father! Thou knowest Him, and not what belongs to Him! And yet Thou hast said, None knoweth the Father but the Son; and, The Luke10, Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God; and 1 Cor. Thou not know this! But they feared to ask Him again, 2, 10. lest they should hear Him say, Are ye also without under- Mat.15, standing? For they feared Him now much more than before. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. As in the former instance He had not answered their question, (for it is the part of a teacher to teach not what the disciple chooses, but what is expedient 4 Καὶ δεικνύντων ἡμῶν, C. the mo- Church. See the two Treatises of S. dern text has μή. Augustine, De Mendacio, ('Lib. of Fathers,' Seventeen Short Treatises of S. Aug.) The stricter doctrine however is maintained by S. Basil, who in his shorter Monastic Rule peremptorily condemns all οἰκονομία, and pious fraud (officiosum mendacium) of every description, on the ground that all falsehood is from Satan, John 5, 44. and that our Lord has made no distinction between one sort of lying and another. Again, the monk Johannes of Lycopolis in Egypt: All falsehood is foreign from Christ and Christian men, be it in a small or in a great matter : yea, though a good end be served by it, it is never to be allowed, for the Saviour hath declared, that all lying is from the Wicked One." Pallad. Hist. Lausiac. Bibl. Patr. t. xiii. p. 965.

e 'Aλλà μeтà rò deîçai, (as above, καὶ δεικνύντων ἡμῶν, sc. γυμνὰς τὰς χεῖρας,) τοῦτο πεποίηκεν, sc. φοβεῖ. The Mss. except C and A, and the Edd. have & before πεποίηκεν, which gives no sense.

f Chrys. therefore explains these sayings of our Lord (polemically against the Arians) as oikovouía: i. e. the thing said is not objectively true, but the morality of all actions depends on the subjective condition of the προαίρεσις, οι purpose, (παρὰ τὴν τῶν χρωμένων προαίρεσιν γίγνεται φαῦλον ἢ Kaλdy, de Sacerdot. i. 8.) so that where this is right and good, a deception is lawful. This lax view of the morality of Truth was very general in the Greek Church: not so in the early Latin

26.

5.

v. 9.

26

The Apostles reassured by the Ascension.

HOMIL. for him to learn;) so in this, He tells them beforehand, for this reason, what they ought to know, that they may not be troubled. In truth, they were yet weak. But to inspire them with confidence, He raised up their souls, and concealed what was grievous. Since He was about to leave them very shortly, therefore in this discourse He says nothing painful. But how? He extols as great the things which would be painful: all but saying, "Fear not:" for ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria. For since. Mat. 10, He had said, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not, what there He left unsaid, He here adds, And to the uttermost part of the earth; and having spoken this, which was more fearful than all the rest, then that they may not again question Him, He held His peace. And having this said, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight. Seest thou that they did preach and fulfil the Gospel? For great was the gift He had bestowed on them. In the very place, He says, where ye are afraid, that is, in Jerusalem, there preach ye first, and afterwards unto the uttermost part of the earth. Then for assurance of what He had said, While they beheld, He was taken up. Not while they beheld did He rise from the dead, but while they beheld, He was taken up. Inasmuch, however, as the sight of their eyes even here was not all-sufficient; for in the Resurrection they saw the end, but not the beginning, and in the Ascension they saw the beginning, but not the end: because in the former it had been superfluous to have seen the beginning, the Lord Himself Who spake these things being present, and the sepulchre shewing clearly that He is not there; but in the latter, they needed to be informed of the sequel by word of others: inasmuch then as their eyes do not suffice to shew them the height above, nor to inform them whether He is actually gone up into heaven, or only seemingly into heaven, see then what follows. That it was Jesus Himself they knew from the fact that He had been conversing with them, (for had they seen only from a distance, they could not have

The Cloud betokens His Godhead.

27

3.

recognised Him by sight;) but that He is taken up into ACTS Heaven the Angels themselves inform them. Observe how it is ordered, that not all is done by the Spirit, but the eyes also do their part. But why did a cloud receive Him? This too was a sure sign that He went up to Heaven. Not fire, as in the case of Elijah, nor fiery chariot, but a cloud received Him; which was a symbol of Heaven, as the Prophet says"; Who maketh the clouds His chariot; it is Ps. 104, of the Father Himself that this is said. Therefore he says, "on a cloud;" in the symbol, he would say, of the Divine power, for no other Power is seen to appear on a cloud. For hear again what another Prophet says: The Lord sitteth Is. 19, 1. upon a light cloud. For it was while they were listening [3.] with great attention to what He was saying, and this in answer to a very interesting question, and with their minds fully aroused and quite awake, that this thing took place. Also on the mount [Sinai] the cloud was because of Him: since Moses also entered into the darkness, but the cloud there was not because of Moses. And He did not merely say, "I go," lest they should again grieve, but He said, John16, "I send the Spirit;" and that He was going away into 5.7. heaven they saw with their eyes. O what a sight they were granted! And while they looked stedfastly, it is said, v. 10.11. toward heaven, as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven-they used the expression "This" demonstratively, saying, this Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall thus-demonstratively, "in this way"—come, in like manner as ye have seen Him going into heaven. Again, the outward appearance is cheering:

8 Πόρρωθεν γὰρ οὐκ ἐνὴν ἰδόντας yvava: i. e. had they but seen the Ascension from a distance, and not been conversing with the Lord at the moment of His Assumption. Cod. E. transposes the clause to the end of the sentence; meaning that they could not by mere sight have been cognisant of the fact of His ascension into heaven.

sentence were out of place here. But the connexion may be thus explained: this circumstance, of the cloud, is not idle, but very significant; and the minds of the disciples were alive to its import, as betokening His Godhead. True, might it not also be said of Moses on the mount Sinai, that a cloud received him out of their sight? For "Moses entered into the darkness," Exod. xx. 21. But the cloud there was because of Him, "where At first sight it looks as if this God was," not because of Moses.

b Ps. 104, 3. & Tidels Vépei Thy TíBaow avтoû: "Who maketh on a cloud His stepping," or, "going."