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Translated by R. Payne Smith
St Cyril of Alexandria Resources Online and in Print
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This Part: 128 Pages
Page 41
4:28. And all in the synagogue were filled with anger.
They then were inflamed with anger, because he had branded their wicked thought; and also because He had said. To-day is this Scripture fulfilled, namely, that "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me;" for they considered that He made Himself equal to the prophets. Moreover, they cast Him out of their city, decreeing thereby their own condemnation, and confirming; what the Saviour had said: for they themselves were banished from the city that is above, for not having received Christ. And that He might not convict them of impiety in words merely, He permitted their audacity against Himself to proceed even unto deeds: for their violence was unreasonable, and their envy untamed. Leading Him therefore to the brow of the hill, they endeavoured to throw Him from the crags: but He went through the midst of them without taking any notice, so to say, of their attempt: not as refusing to suffer,----for for this reason He had even come,----but as awaiting a suitable time. For it was now the commencement of His preaching, and it would have been unseasonable to have suffered before He had proclaimed the word of truth. For it depended on Him to suffer, or not to suffer; for He is Lord of times as well as of things. And this is a proof, that when He suffered He suffered voluntarily, and that neither then could He have suffered, had He not yielded Himself thereto.
4:31. And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee.
Those whom argument cannot bring to the sure knowledge of Him Who by nature and in truth is God and Lord, may perhaps be won by miracles unto a docile obedience. And therefore usefully, or rather necessarily, He oftentimes completes His lessons by proceeding to the performance of some mighty work. For the inhabitants of Judaea were unready to believe, and slighted the words of those who called them to salvation, and especially the people of Capernaum had this character: for which reason the Saviour reproved them, saying, "And thou Capernaum, that art exalted unto heaven, "shalt be brought down unto hell." But although He knows them to be both disobedient, and hard of heart, nevertheless He visits them as a most excellent physician would those who were suffering under a very dangerous disease, and endeavours to rid them of their malady. For He says Himself, that "those who are in health, have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." He taught therefore in their synagogues with great freedom of speech: for this He had foretold by the voice of Isaiah, saying, "I have not spoken in secret, nor in a dark place of the earth." The holy apostles moreover He oven commanded to publish their words concerning Him with full boldness of speech, saying, "What I tell you in darkness, speak ye in the light: and what ye have heard (whispered) into the ear, proclaim upon the housetops." On the Sabbath also, when they were at leisure from labour, He conversed with them. They therefore wondered at the power of His teaching, and at the greatness of His authority: "For the word, it says, was with authority;" for He used not flatteries, but urged them to salvation. For the Jews indeed thought that Christ was nothing more than one of the saints, and that He had appeared among them in prophetic rank only: but that they might entertain a higher opinion and idea concerning Him, He exceeds [8] the prophetic measure; for He never said, Thus saith the Lord, as of course was their custom, but as being the Lord of the law He spake things that surpass the law.
8.[o] Cr. reads ἀναβαίνει for ἐκβαίνει, and proceeds thus; "for neither did He ever speak these things in the way of argument, but as one enunciating law, He spake things that surpass the law, and with godlike authority rebuked the unclean spirits." Aq. agrees with M., but adds, "changing the letter to the truth, and the figures to the spiritual meaning," with which the conclusion of M.'s next extract agrees.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/cyril-alexandria/luke-commentary.asp?pg=41
