Catena Aurea on Luke
Lecture 35
77. To give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins.
TheophylFor the manner in which the forerunner prepared the way of the Lord he explains, adding, To give knowledge of salvation. The Lord Jesus is salvation, but the knowledge of salvation, i.e. of Christ, was given in John, who bore witness of Christ.
BEDE; For as if desiring to explain the name of Jesus, i.e. the Savior, he frequently makes mention of salvation, but lest men should think it was a temporal salvation which was promised, he adds, for the forgiveness of sins.
TheophylFor in no other way was He known to be God, but as having forgiven the sins of His people. For it is of God alone to forgive sins.
BEDE; But the Jews prefer not to receive Christ, but to wait for Antichrist; for they desire to be delivered not from the dominion of sin within, but from the yoke of man’s bondage without.
Lecture 36
78. Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the day-spring from on high has visited us.
TheophylBecause God has forgiven our sins not for our works sake, but through His mercy, it is therefore fitly added, Through the tender mercy of our God.
ChrysWhich mercy we find not indeed by our own seeking, but God from on high has appeared to us, as it follows; Whereby (i.e. by His tender mercy) the day-spring from on high (that is, Christ) has visited us, taking upon Him our flesh.
Greek ExAbiding on high yet present upon the earth, suffering neither division nor limitation, which thing neither can our understanding embrace, nor any power of words express.
Lecture 37
79. To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
BEDE; Christ is rightly called the Day-spring, because He has disclosed to us the rising of the true light, as it follows; To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
ChrysBy darkness he means not material darkness, but error and distance from the faith, or ungodliness.
BASIL; For in thick darkness were the Gentile people sitting, who were sunk deep in idolatry, until the rising light dispersed the darkness, and spread abroad the brightness of truth.
GregBut the shadow of death is taken to mean the forgetfulness of the mind. For as death causes that which it kills to be no longer in life, so whatever oblivion touches ceases to be in the memory. Hence the Jewish people who were forgetful of God are said to sit in the shadow of death. The shadow of death is taken also for the death of the flesh, because as that is the true death, by which the soul is separated from God, so that is the shadow of death by which the flesh is separated from the soul. Hence in the words of the martyrs it is said, the shadow of death has come over us. By the shadow of death also is represented the following of the devil, who is called Death, in the Revelations, because as a shadow is formed according to the quality of the body, so the actions of the wicked are expressed according to the manner of their following him.
ChrysHe rightly says sitting, for we were not walking in darkness, but sitting down as having no hope of deliverance.
TheophylBut not only does the Lord at His rising give light to those who sit in darkness, but he says something further as it follows, to direct our feet in the way of peace. The way of peace is the way of righteousness, to which He has directed our feet, i.e. the affections of our souls.
GregFor we guide our steps in the way of peace, when we walk in that line of conduct wherein we depart not from the grace of our Maker.
AMBROSE; Mark also, in how few words Elisabeth prophesies, in how many Zacharias, and yet each spoke filled with the Holy Spirit; but this discipline is preserved, that women may study rather to learn what are the Divine commands than to teach them.