---
title: "Catena Aurea: The Four Gospels"
author: "Thomas Aquinas"
translator: "John Henry Newman (ed.)"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 154 of 394
url: https://scriptura.si/works/thomas-aquinas-catena-aurea-the-four-gospels/154/
cite: "Thomas Aquinas, tr. John Henry Newman (ed.), Catena Aurea: The Four Gospels, section 154. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/thomas-aquinas-catena-aurea-the-four-gospels/154/"
---

# Catena Aurea: The Four Gospels

*Thomas Aquinas, tr. John Henry Newman (ed.)*

The four Gospels read through chains of quotations from the Church Fathers.

## 154. Mark 1 · 2 of 5

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/thomas-aquinas-catena-aurea-the-four-gospels/154/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/thomas-aquinas-catena-aurea-the-four-gospels/154/#p-N

[¶0] For such is the nature of locusts, leaping on high and again falling. In the same way the people ate honey, which had come from bees, that is, from the prophets; it was not however domestic, but wild, for the Jews had the Scriptures, which are as honey, but did not rightly understand them.

[¶1] Gregory, Moral., xxxi, 25: Or, by the kind itself of his food he pointed out the Lord, of whom he was the forerunner; for in that our Lord took to Himself the sweetness of the barren Gentiles, he ate wild honey. In that He in His own person partly converted the Jews, He received locusts for His food, which suddenly leaping up, at once fall to the ground. For the Jews leaped up when they promised to fulfil the precepts of the Lord; but they fell to the ground when, by their evil works, they affirmed that they had not heard them. They made therefore a leap upwards in words, and fell down by their actions.

[¶2] Bede: The dress and food of John may also express of what kind was his inward walk. For he used a dress more austere than was usual, because he did not encourage the life of sinners by flattery, but chid them by the vigour of his rough rebuke; he had a girdle of skin round his loins, for he was one, "who crucified his flesh with the affections and lusts." [[Gal 5:24]] He used to eat locusts and wild honey, because his preaching had some sweetness for the multitude, whilst the people debated whether he was the Christ himself or not; but this soon came to an end, when his hearers understood that he was not the Christ, but the forerunner and prophet of Christ. For in honey there is sweetness, in locusts swiftness of flight. Whence there follows, "And he preached, saying, there cometh one mightier than I after me."

[¶3] Gloss: He said this to do away with the opinion of the crowd, who thought that he was the Christ; but he announces that Christ is "mightier than he," he was to remit sins, which he himself could not do.

[¶4] Pseudo-Jerome: Who again is mightier than the grace, by which sins are washed away, which John signifies? He who seven times and seventy times seven remits sins [[Mat 18:22]]. Grace indeed comes first, but remits sins once only by baptism, but mercy reaches to the wretched from Adam up to Christ through seventy-seven generations, and up to one hundred and forty-four thousand.

[¶5] Pseudo-Chrysostom:, Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.: But lest he should be thought to say this by way of comparing himself to Christ, he subjoins, "Of whom I am not worthy, etc."

[¶6] It is not however the same thing to loose the shoe-latchet, which Mark here says, and to carry his shoes, which Matthew says. And indeed the Evangelists following the order of the narrative, and not able to err in any thing, say that John spoke each of these sayings in a different sense. But commentators on this passage have expounded each in a different way.

[¶7] For he means by the latchet, the tie of the shoe. He says this therefore to extol the excellence of the power of Christ, and the greatness of His divinity; as if he said, Not even in the station of his servant am I worthy to be reckoned.

[¶8] For it is a great thing to contemplate, as it were stooping down, those things which belong to the body of Christ, and to see from below the image of things above, and to untie each of those mysteries, about the Incarnation of Christ, which cannot be unravelled.

[¶9] Pseudo-Jerome: The shoe is in the extremity of the body; for in the end the Incarnate Saviour is coming for justice, whence it is said by the prophet, "Over Edom will I cast out my shoe." [[Psa 60:9]]

[¶10] Gregory: Shoes also are made from the skins of dead animals. The Lord, therefore, coming incarnate, appeared as it were with shoes on His feet, for He assumed in His divinity the dead skins of our corruption. Or else; it was a custom among the ancients, that if a man refused to take as his wife the woman whom he ought to take, he who offered himself as her husband by right of kindred took off that man’s shoe.

[¶11] Rightly then does he proclaim himself unworthy to loose his shoe-latchet, as if he said openly, I cannot make bare the feet of the Redeemer, for I usurp not the name of the Bridegroom, a thing which is above my deserts.

[¶12] Theophylact: Some persons also understand it thus; all who came to John, and were baptized, through penitence were loosed from the bands of their sins by believing in Christ. John then in this way loosed the shoe-latchet of all the others, that is, the bands of sin. But Christ’s shoe-latchet he was not able to unloose, because he found no sin in Him.

[¶13] Bede: Thus then John proclaims the Lord not yet as God, or the Son of God, but only as a man mightier than himself. For his ignorant hearers were not yet capable of receiving the hidden things of so great a Sacrament, that the eternal Son of God, having taken upon Him the nature of man, had been lately born into the world of a virgin; but gradually by the acknowledgment of His glorified lowliness, they were to be introduced to the belief of His Divine Eternity. To these words, however, he subjoins, as if covertly declaring that he was the true God, "I baptize you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost." For who can doubt that none other but God can give the grace of the Holy Ghost.

[¶14] Jerome: For what is the difference between water and the Holy Ghost, who was borne over the face of the waters? Water is the ministry of man; but the Spirit is ministered by God.

[¶15] Bede: Now we are baptized by the Lord in the Holy Ghost, not only when in the day of our baptism, we are washed in the fount of life, to the remission of our sins, but also daily by the grace of the same Spirit we are inflamed, to do those things which please God.

[¶16] Ver. 9. And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.10. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:11. And there came a voice from heaven, saying, "Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

[¶17] Pseudo-Jerome: Mark the Evangelist, like a hart, longing after the fountains of water, leaps forward over places, smooth and steep; and, as a bee laden with honey, he sips the tops of the flowers. Wherefore he hath shewn us in his narrative Jesus coming from Nazareth, saying, "And it came to pass in those days, etc."

[¶18] Pseudo-Chrysostom:, Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.: Forasmuch as He was ordaining a new baptism, He came to the baptism of John, which, in respect of His own baptism, was incomplete, but different from the Jewish baptism, as being between both. He did this that He might shew, by the nature of His baptism, that He was not baptized for the remission of sins, nor as wanting the reception of the Holy Ghost: for the baptism of John was destitute of both these.

[¶19] But He was baptized that He might be made known to all, that they might believe on Him and "fulfil all righteousness," which is "keeping of the commandments:" for it has been commanded to men that they should submit to the Prophet’s baptism.

[¶20] Bede, in Marc., i, 4: He was baptized, that by being baptized Himself He might shew His approval of John’s baptism [Source note: ed. note: vol i, pl 109, note h] , and that, by sanctifying the waters of Jordan through the descent of the dove, He might shew the coming of the Holy Ghost in the laver of believers.

[¶21] Whence there follows, "And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit like a dove descending, and resting upon him."

[¶22] But the heavens are opened, not by the unclosing of the elements, but to the eyes of the spirit, to which Ezekiel in the beginning of his book relates that they were opened; or that His seeing the heavens opened after baptism was done for our sakes, to whom the door of the kingdom of heaven is opened by the laver of regeneration.

[¶23] Pseudo-Chrysostom:, Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.: Or else, that from heaven sanctification might be given to men, and earthly things be joined to heavenly. But the Holy Spirit is said to have descended upon Him, not as if He then first came to Him, for He never had left Him; but that He might shew forth the Christ, Who was preached by John, and point Him out to all, as it were by the finger of faith.

[¶24] Bede: This event also, in which the Holy Ghost was seen to come down upon baptism, was a sign of spiritual grace to be given to us in baptism.

[¶25] Pseudo-Jerome: But this is the anointing of Christ according to the flesh, namely, the Holy Ghost, of which anointing it is said, "God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." [[Psa 45:7]]

[¶26] Bede: Well indeed in the shape of a dove did the Holy Ghost come down, for it is an animal of great simplicity, and far removed from the malice of gall, that in a figure He might shew us that He looks out for simple hearts, and deigns not to dwell in the minds of the wicked.

[¶27] Pseudo-Jerome: Again, the Holy Ghost came down in the shape of a dove, because in the Canticles it is sung of the Church: "My bride, my love, my beloved, my dove."

[¶28] "Bride" in the Patriarchs, "love" in the Prophets, "near of kin" in Joseph and Mary, "beloved" in John the Baptist, "dove" in Christ and His Apostles: to whom it is said, "Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." [[Mat 10:16]]

[¶29] Bede: Now the Dove sat on the head of Jesus, lest any one should think that the voice of the Father was addressed to John and not to Christ. And well did he add, "abiding on Him;" for this is peculiar to Christ, that the Holy Ghost once filling Him should never leave Him.

[¶30] For sometimes to His faithful disciples the grace of the Spirit is conferred for signs of virtue, and for the working of miracles, sometimes it is taken away; though for the working of piety and righteousness, for the preservation of love to God and to one’s neighbour, the grace of the Spirit is never absent.

[¶31] But the voice of the Father shewed that He Himself, who came to John to be baptized with the other, was the very Son of God, willing to baptize with the Holy Spirit, whence there follows, "And there came a voice from heaven, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased." Not that this informed the Son Himself of a thing of which He was ignorant, but it shews to us what we ought to believe.

[¶32] Augustine, de Con. Ev., ii, 14: Wherefore Matthew relates that the voice said, "This is my beloved Son;" for he wished to shew that the words, "This is My Son," were in fact said, that thus the persons who heard it might know that He, and not another, was the Son of God.

[¶33] But if you ask which of these two sounded forth in that voice, take which you will, only remember, that the Evangelists, though not relating the same form of speaking, relate the same meaning. And that God delighted Himself in His Son, we are reminded in these words, "In thee I am well pleased."

[¶34] Bede: The same voice has taught us, that we also, by the water of cleansing, and by the Spirit of sanctification, may be made the sons of God. The mystery of the Trinity also is shewn forth in the baptism; the Son is baptized, the Spirit comes down in the shape of a dove, the voice of the Father bearing witness to the Son is heard.Pseudo-Jerome: Morally also it may be interpreted; we also, drawn aside from the fleeting world by the smell and purity of flowers, run with the young maidens after the bridegroom, and are washed in the sacrament of baptism, from the two fountains of the love of God, and of our neighbour, by the grace of remission, and mounting up by hope gaze upon heavenly mysteries with the eyes of a clean heart.

[¶35] Then we receive in a contrite and lowly spirit, with simplicity of heart, the Holy Spirit, who comes down to the meek, and abides in us, by the never-failing charity. And the voice of the Lord from heaven is directed to us the beloved of God; "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God;" [[Mat 5:9]] and then the Father, with the Son and the Holy Spirit, is well-pleased with us, when we are made one spirit with God.

[¶36] Ver. 12. And immediately the spirit driveth Him into the wilderness.13. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto Him.

[¶37] Chrys., Hom. in Matt., xiii: Because all that Christ did and suffered was for our teaching, He began after His baptism to dwell in the wilderness, and fought against the devil, that every baptized person might patiently sustain greater temptations after His baptism, nor be troubled, as if this which happened to Him was contrary to His expectation, but might bear up against all things, and come off conqueror.

[¶38] For although God allows that we should be tempted for many other reasons, yet for this cause also He allows it, that we may know, that man when tempted is placed in a station of greater honour. For the Devil approaches not save where he has beheld one set in a place of greater honour; and therefore it is said, "And immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness."

[¶39] And the reason why He does not simply say that He went into the wilderness, but was driven, is that thou mayest understand that it was done according to the word of Divine Providence. By which also He shews that no man should thrust himself into temptation, but that those who from some other state are as it were driven into temptation, remain conquerors.

[¶40] Bede, in Marc., 1, 5: And that no one might doubt, by what spirit he said that Christ was driven into the wilderness, Luke has on purpose premised, that "Jesus being full of the Spirit returned from Jordan, " and then has added, "and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness;" lest the evil spirit should be thought to have any power over Him, who, being full of the Holy Spirit, departed whither He was willing to go, and did what He was willing to do.

[¶41] Chrys., in Matt., Hom., xiii: But the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness, because He designed to provoke the devil to tempt Him, and thus gave Him an opportunity not only by hunger, but also by the place. For then most of all does the devil thrust himself in, when he sees men remaining solitary.

[¶42] Bede: But He retires into the desert that He may teach us that, leaving the allurements of the world, and the company of the wicked, we should in all things obey the Divine commands.

[¶43] He is left alone and tempted by the devil, that He might teach us, "that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution;" [[2Ti 3:3]] whence it follows, "And He was in the wilderness forty days and forty nights, and was tempted of Satan."

[¶44] But He was tempted forty days and forty nights that He might shew us that as long as we live here and serve God, whether prosperity smile upon us, which is meant by the day, or adversity smite us, which agrees with the figure of night, at all times our adversary is at hand, who ceases not to trouble our way by temptations.