3. Thereupon, "he came to Nazareth, when he had been reared, and, according to custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. And he opened the scroll and found the place where it is written, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. For this reason he anointed me.'" 3. Itwas no accident that he opens the scroll and finds the chapter of the reading that prophesies about him. This too was an act of God's providence. For Scripture says, "A sparrow does not fall into a net without the Father's willing it," 4. and, "The hairs of the head" of the apostles "have all been counted." 5. So perhaps this too should be thought to have happened not by accident or by chance, but by the providence and disposition of God. Precisely the book of Isaiah was found, and the reading was no other but this one, which spoke about the mystery of Christ: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; for this reason he anointed me." For it is Christ who says these words. 4. So we should consider what those things are that he spoke through the prophet and later proclaims about himself in a synagogue. He says, "He sent me to preach the Gospel to the poor." 6. The "poor" stand for the Gentiles, for they are indeed poor. They possess nothing at all: neither God, nor the law, nor the prophets, nor justice and the rest of the virtues. For what reason did God send him to preach to the poor? "To preach release to captives.'' 7. We were the captives. For many years Satan had bound us and held us captive, and subject to himself. Jesus has come "to proclaim release to captives, and
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3.	Lk 4.16-18.
4.	Mt 10.29; Lk 12.6; cf. Commentary on John 20.36.333.
5.	Lk 12.6-7.
6.	Lk 4.18.
7.	Lk 4.18.

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sight to the blind.'' 8. By his word and the proclamation of his teaching the blind see. Therefore, his "proclamation" should be understood ἀπὸ ϰοινου + ̃ 9. not only of the "captives" but also of the "blind." 5. "To send broken men forth into freedom. . . ." 10. What being was so broken and crushed as man, whom Jesus healed and sent away? "To preach an acceptable year to the Lord. . . ." 11. Following the simple sense of the text, some say that the Savior preached the Gospel in Judea for only one year, 12. and that this is what the passage "to preach an acceptable year of the Lord and a day of retribution" means. But perhaps the divine word has concealed some mystery in the preaching of a year of the Lord. For, other days are to come, not days like those we now see in the world; there will be other months, and a different order of Kalends. 13. Just as those will be different, so too will there be a year pleasing to the Lord. But all of this has been proclaimed so that we may come to "the acceptable year of the Lord," when we see after blindness, when we are free from our chains, and when we have been healed of our wounds. 6. But, when Jesus had read this passage, he rolled up "the scroll, gave it to the servant, and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.'' 14. Now too, if you want it, your eyes can be fixed on the Savior in this synagogue, here in this assembly. For, when you direct the principal power of seeing in your heart to wisdom and truth, and to contemplating
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10.	Lk 4.28.
11.	Lk 4.19.
12.	A Gnostic interpretation of Lk 4.29, which Irenaeus had already refuted; cf. Against the Heresies 2.22.1.
13.	The Kalends were the first day of each month in the Roman calendar. Origen does not explain here what this future calendar is.
14.	Lk 4.20.
8.	Lk 4.18.
9.	Jerome keeps the Greek expression, which is the name of a figure of speech. It means "from the common attribution"; that is, the modifier of one word of a pair is intended to modify the other also. Thus, as Origen interprets the passage, Jesus' proclamation is addressed both to captives and to the blind: that is, he proclaims both release and sight. Jerome liked the Greek expression. Pierre Courcelle , Late Latin Writers and Their Greek Sources, trans. Harry E. Wedeck ( Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969), p. 51, lists the places where Jerome retains this Greek technical literary term and others like it. Cf. Frag.209.

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God's Only-Begotten, your eyes gaze on Jesus. Blessed is that congregation of which Scripture testifies that "the eyes of all were fixed on him"! How much would I wish that this assembly gave such testimony. I wish that the eyes of all (of catechumens and faithful, of women, men, and children)--not the eyes of the body, but the eyes of the soul--would gaze upon Jesus. For, when you look to him, your faces will be shining from the light of his gaze. You will be able to say, "The light of your face, o Lord, has made its mark upon us.'' 15 To him is glory and power for ages of ages. Amen.
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15

Ps 4.6-7.

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On the passage from, "Doubtless you will quote me this saying," and so on, up to the point where it says, "But none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."

I NSOFAR AS LUKE' S narrative is concerned, Jesus has not yet stayed in Capernaum. Nor is he said to have performed any sign in that place, because he had not been there. Before he comes to Capernaum, it is recorded that he was in his native territory, that is, in Nazareth. He says to his fellow-citizens, "Doubtless you will quote me this saying: 'Physician, cure yourself. Do here, too, in your native territory, whatever we heard was done in Capernaum.'" 1. For this reason, I think that some mystery is hidden in this passage before us. Capernaum, a type of the Gentiles, takes precedence over Nazareth, a type of the Jews. Jesus knew that he had no honor in his own native territory--neither he, nor the prophets, nor the apostles. So he was unwilling to preach there. Instead, he preached among the Gentiles, so that the people of his native territory would not say to him, "Doubtless you will quote me this saying: 'Physician, cure yourself.'" 2. There will be a time when the people of the Jews will say, "'Whatever we have heard was done in Capernaum'"--that is, signs and wonders among the Gentiles--"'do among us, too, in your native territory.' 2. What you have shown to the whole world, show to us as well. Preach your word to the people of Israel, so that at least 'when the full number of the Gentiles has entered in, then all of Israel will be saved.'" 3. For this reason, it
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1.	Lk 4.23.
2.	Lk 4.23.
3.	Rom 11.25-26.

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seems to me that the Savior answered the Nazarenes' question logically and correctly: "No prophet is accepted in his native country.'' 4. And I think this word he speaks is truer according to the mystery than according to the letter. 3. It is true that Jeremiah was not accepted in Anathoth, his native land; nor was Isaiah, whatever his native land was, nor the rest of the prophets. But it seems to me that the passage should be understood this way: we say that the native land of all the prophets was the people of the circumcision. This people received neither the prophets nor their prophecies. But, then, the Gentiles, who had been far from the prophets and had no knowledge of them, received the prophecy of Jesus Christ. So, "no prophet is accepted in his native country," that is, among the people of the Jews. We were foreign to the covenant and alien to the promises. But we received the prophets with all our hearts. We "have Moses and the prophets,'' 5. who preached about Christ much more than they do. Since they did not receive Jesus, they did not receive those men, either, who proclaimed him. 4. This is why he adds something else to what he said. After, "No prophet is accepted in his native country," he adds, "For, in truth I say to you, that in the days of Elijah there were many widows in Israel, when the heavens were closed for three years and six months.'' 6. What he is saying is this. Elijah was a prophet, and he was among the people of the Jews. But, when he was about to do something miraculous, although there were many widows in Israel, he left them and went "to a widow in Sarepta of Sidonia" 7. --that is, to a little Gentile woman. Elijah was revealing the form of a future reality. "It was not hunger for bread or thirst for water, but hunger for hearing the word of God" 8. that occupied the people of Israel. Elijah comes to a widow, about whom a prophet says, "The sons of the deserted woman are more numerous than those of her who has a husband." 9. When he comes, he multiplies her bread and her foodstuffs.
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4.	Lk 4.24.
5.	Lk 16.29.
6.	Lk 4.25.
7.	Lk 4.26; cf. 1 Kgs 17.9.
8.	Am 8.11.
9.	Is 54.1.

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You were a widow in Sarepta of Sidonia. The "Canaanite woman comes" 10. from that territory and wants her daughter to be cured. Because of her faith she deserved to receive what she was asking for. "So there were many widows in the people of Israel, but Elijah was sent to none of them, but to a widowed woman in Sarepta." 11. 5. He also says something else which pertains to the same meaning: "There were many lepers in Israel in the days of Elijah the prophet, and not one of them was made clean, but only Naaman the Syrian.'' 12. He too was not from Israel. Consider that right up to the present day there are many lepers in "Israel according to the flesh." 13. Realize, in contrast, that men covered with the filth of leprosy are cleansed in the mystery of Baptism by the spiritual Elijah, our Lord and Savior. To you he says, "Get up and go into the Jordan and wash, and your flesh will be restored to you." 14. Naaman got up and went. When he washed, he fulfilled the mystery of baptism, "and his flesh became like the flesh of a child.'' 15. Which child? The one that is born "in the washing of rebirth" 16. in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and power for ages of ages. Amen.
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10.	Mt 15.22.
11.	Lk 4.26.
12.	Lk 4.27.
13.	1 Cor 10.18.
14.	2 Kgs 5.10.
15.	2 Kgs 5.14.
16.	Ti 3.5.

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On the passage from, "Master, what shall I do to possess eternal life?" up to the point where it says, "Go and do likewise."

W HILE IN THE Law there are many precepts, in the Gospel the Savior laid down only two. By a kind of short cut, they lead those who obey them to eternal life. In this regard, the teacher of the Law had questioned Jesus and said, "Master, what shall I do to possess eternal life?" 1. This passage, from the Gospel According to Luke, was read to you today. Jesus responded to this as follows: "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" [The teacher replied,] "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with all your strength and with your whole mind; and your neighbor as yourself." 2. Then Jesus said, "You have answered well. Do this, and you shall live." Without any doubt it is eternal life about which the teacher of the Law had questioned Jesus, and with which the Savior's words dealt. At the same time, a precept in the Law clearly teaches us to love God. In Deuteronomy the Law says, " Israel, the Lord your God is one God," and, "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole mind," 4. and so forth, and "your neighbor as yourself." 5. The Savior bore witness about these commands and said, "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the prophets." 6. 2. But the teacher of the Law "wanted to justify himself" and show that no one was a neighbor to him. He said, "Who is my
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3.

Lk 10.28.

1.	Lk 10.25.
2.	Lk 10.27.
4.	Dt 6.4-5.
5.	Lv 19.18.
6.	Mt 22.40.

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neighbor?" The Lord adduced a parable, which begins, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem into Jericho,' and so on. 7. And he teaches that the man going down was the neighbor of no one except of him who willed to keep the commandments and prepare himself to be a neighbor to every one who needs help. For, this is what is found after the parable, at its end: "Which of these three does it seem to you is the neighbor of the man who fell among robbers?" Neither the priest nor the Levite was his neighbor, but--as the teacher of the Law himself answered--"he who showed pity" was his neighbor. Hence, the Savior says, "Go and do likewise.'' 8. 3. One of the elders 9. wanted to interpret the parable as follows. The man who was going down is Adam. Jerusalem is paradise, and Jericho is the world. The robbers are hostile powers. The priest is the Law, the Levite is the prophets, and the Samaritan is Christ. The wounds are disobedience, the beast is the Lord's body, the pandochium (that is, the stable), 10. which accepts all who wish to enter, 11. is the Church. And further, the two denarii mean the Father and the Son. The manager of the stable is the head of the Church, to whom its care has been entrusted. And the fact that the Samaritan promises he will return represents the Savior's second coming. 4. All of this has been said reasonably and beautifully. But we should not think that it applies to every man. For, not every man "goes down from Jerusalem into Jericho," nor do all dwell in this present world for that reason, even if he who "was sent on account of the lost sheep of the house of Israel" 12. went down. Hence, the man who "went down from Jerusalem into Jericho" "fell among robbers" because he himself wished to go down. But the robbers are none other than they of whom the Savior says, "All who came before me were thieves and robbers.'' 13. But still, he does not fall among thieves, but among robbers, who
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10.	Jerome keeps the Greek word, which means "inn," and glosses it as "stable."
11.	This is the sense of the Greek word πανδνχει + ̃ον, which is compounded from the words for "all" and "receiving."
12.	Mt 15.24.
13.	Jn 10.8.
7.	Lk 10.30.
8.	Lk 10.36-37.
9.	Cf. Commentary on Matthew a 16.9.

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are far worse than thieves. He fell among them when he was going down from Jerusalem. "They robbed him and inflicted blows on him." 14. What are the blows? What are the wounds that have wounded a man? They are vices and sins. 5. Then the robbers, who had stripped and wounded him, do not help the naked man, but they strike him again with blows and leave him. Hence, Scripture says, "They robbed him and inflicted wounds on him; and they went away and left him"--not dead, but "half-dead." 15. But it happened that first a priest, and then a Levite, were going down on the same road. Perhaps they had done some good to other men, but not to this man, who had gone down "from Jerusalem to Jericho." For, the priest saw him--I think this means the Law. And the Levite saw him--that is, in my view, the prophetic word. When they had seen him, they passed by and left him. Providence was saving the half-dead man for him who was stronger than the Law and the prophets, namely for the Samaritan. The name means "guardian.'' 16. He is the one who "neither grows drowsy nor sleeps as he guards Israel.'' 17. On account of the half-dead man, this Samaritan set out not "from Jerusalem into Jericho," like the priest and the Levite who went down. Or, if he did go down, he went down to rescue and care for the dying man. The Jews had said to him, "You are a Samaritan and you have a demon." 18. Though he denied having a demon, he was unwilling to deny that he was a Samaritan, for he knew that he was a guardian. 6. So, when he had come to the half-dead man and seen him rolling about in his own blood, he had pity on him. He drew near to him, in order to become his neighbor. "He bound his wounds, poured in oil mixed with wine,'' 19. and did not say what the prophet records: "There is no poultice to put on, neither oil nor bandages." 20. The Samaritan is that man whose care and help all who are badly off need. The man who was going down from Jerusalem and fell among thieves, who was wounded and
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14.	Lk 10.30.
15.	Lk 10.30.
16.	Origen gives the same explanation in Commentary on John 20.35.320.
17.	Ps 121.4.
18.	Jn 8.48.
19.	Lk 10.34.
20.	Is 1.6.

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left by them half-alive, needed the help of this Samaritan most of all. You should know that, according to God's providence, this Samaritan was going down to care for the man who had fallen among thieves. You learn that clearly from the fact that he had bandages, oil, and wine with him. I do not think that the Samaritan carried these things with him only on behalf of that one, half-dead man, but also on behalf of others who, for various reasons, had been wounded and needed bandages, oil, and wine. 7. He had oil. Scripture says of it, "to gladden one's face with oil" 21. --without doubt, it means the face of him who was healed. He cleans the wounds with oil, to reduce the swelling of the wounds, but also with wine, adding in something that stings. And the man who had been wounded "he placed on his own beast," that is, on his own body, since he deigned to assume a man. 22. This Samaritan "bears our sins" 23. and grieves for us. He carries the half-dead man, and brings him to the pandochium-that is, the Church, which accepts everyone 24. and denies its help to no one. Jesus calls everyone to the Church when he says, "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I shall refresh you.'' 25. 8. After he has brought him in, he does not depart immediately. He remains for a day at the inn with the half-dead man. He cares for his wounds not only during the day, but also at night. He devotes all his attention and activity to him. And, when he wants to set out in the morning, "he takes two denarii" from his tested silver, from his tested money, and pays the innkeeper. Without a doubt the inn-keeper was the angel of the Church, whom the Samaritan bade to care for the man diligently and bring him back to health. For a short time he himself cared for the man. "Two denarii" appear to me to be knowledge of the Father and the Son, and understanding of how the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. An angel is given this knowledge as if it were a payment. He is to care diligently
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21.	Ps 104.15.
22.	Hominem assumere; see Hom. 29.5.
23.	Mt 8.17.
24.	See note 11 above.
25.	Mt 11.28.

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for the man entrusted to him. The promise is made to him that whatever of his own money he spends on healing the half-dead man will be repaid directly to him. 9. The Samaritan, "who took pity on the man who had fallen among thieves," is truly a "guardian," 26. and a closer neighbor than the Law and the prophets. He showed that he was the man's neighbor more by deed than by word. According to the passage that says, "Be imitators of me, as I too am of Christ," 27. it is possible for us to imitate Christ and to pity those who "have fallen among thieves." We can go to them, bind their wounds, pour in oil and wine, put them on our own beasts, and bear their burdens. The Son of God encourages us to do things like this. He is speaking not so much to the teacher of the Law as to us and to all men when he says, "Go and do likewise." 28. If we do, we shall obtain eternal life in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and power for ages of ages. Amen.
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26.	Cf. note 16 above.
27.	1 Cor 4.16.
28.	Lk 10.37.

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