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St Augustine on the Harmony of the Gospels 
(a portion of Homily LX,  XLI and XLIII in Vol X, NPNF (1st))
Book II The Harmony of the Gospels  

Chapter XXXVII.-Of the Consistency of the Accounts Given by Matthew and Luke Regarding the Dumb and Blind Man Who Was Possessed with a Devil. 

84. Matthew then goes on with his recital in the following fashion: "Then was brought unto Him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb; and He healed him, insomuch that he both spake and saw."352 Luke introduces this narrative, not in the same order, but after a number of other matters. He also speaks of the man only as dumb, and not as blind in addition.353 But it is not to be inferred, from the mere circumstance of his silence as to some portion or other of the account, that he speaks of an entirely different person. For he has likewise recorded what followed [immediately after that cure], as it stands also in Matthew. 
 

Chapter XXXVIII.-Of the Occasion on Which It Was Said to Him that He Cast Out Devils in the Power of Beelzebub, and of the Declarations Drawn Forth from Him by that Circumstance in Regard to the Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit, and with Respect to the Two Trees; And of the Question Whether There is Not Some Discrepancy in These Sections Between Matthew and the Other Two Evangelists, and Particularly Between Matthew and Luke. 

85. Matthew proceeds with his narrative in the following term: "And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils but in Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation;" and so on, down to the words, "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."354 Mark does not bring in this allegation against Jesus, that He cast out devils in [the power of] Beelzebub, in immediate sequence on the story of the dumb man; but after certain other matters, recorded by himself alone, he introduces this incident also, either because he recalled it to mind in a different connection, and so appended it there, or because he had at first made certain omissions in his history, and after noticing these, took up this order of narration again.355 On the other hand, Luke gives an account of these things almost in the same language as Matthew has employed.356 And the circumstance that Luke here designates the Spirit of God as the finger of God, does not betray any departure from a genuine identity in sense; but it rather teaches us an additional lesson, giving us to know in what manner we are to interpret the phrase "the finger of God" wherever it occurs in the Scriptures. Moreover, with regard to other matters which are left unmentioned in this section both by Mark and by Luke, no difficulty can be raised by these. Neither can that be the case with some other circumstances which are related by them in somewhat different terms, for the sense still remains the same. 

Chapter XXXIX.-Of the Question as to the Manner of Matthew's Agreement with Luke in the Accounts Which are Given of the Lord's Reply to Certain Persons Who Sought a Sign, When He Spoke of Jonas the Prophet, and of the Ninevites, and of the Queen of the South, and of the Unclean Spirit Which, When It Has Gone Out of the Man, Returns and Finds the House Garnished. 

86. Matthew goes on and relates what followed thus: "Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign of thee;" and so on, down to where we read, "Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation."357 These words are recorded also by Luke in this connection, although in a somewhat different order.358 For he has mentioned the fact that they sought of the Lord a sign from heaven at an earlier point in his narrative, which makes it follow immediately on his version of the miracle wrought on the dumb man. He has not, however, recorded there the reply which was given to them by the Lord. But further on, after [telling us how] the people were gathered together, he states that this answer was returned to the persons who, as he gives us to understand, were mentioned by him in those earlier verses as seeking of Him a sign from heaven. And that reply he also subjoins, only after introducing the passage regarding the woman who said to the Lord, "Blessed is the womb that bare thee."359 This notice of the woman, moreover, he inserts after relating the Lord's discourse concerning the unclean spirit that goes out of the man, and then returns and finds the house garnished. In this way, then, after the notice of the woman, and after his statement of the reply which was made to the multitudes on the subject of the sign which they sought from heaven, he brings in the similitude of the prophet Jonas; and then, directly continuing the Lord's discourse, he next instances what was said concerning the Queen of the South and the Ninevites. Thus he has rather related something which Matthew has passed over in silence, than omitted any of the facts which that evangelist has narrated in this place. And furthermore, who can fail to perceive that the question as to the precise order in which these words were uttered by the Lord is a superfluous one? For this lesson also we ought to learn, on the unimpeachable authority of the evangelists,-namely, that no offence against truth need be supposed on the part of a writer, although he may not reproduce the discourse of some speaker in the precise order in which the person from whose lips it proceeded might have given it; the fact being, that the mere item of the order, whether it be this or that, does not affect the subject-matter itself. And by his present version Luke indicates that this discourse of the Lord was of greater length than we might otherwise have supposed; and he records certain topics handled in it, which resemble those which are mentioned by Matthew in his recital of the sermon which was delivered on the mount.360 So that we take these words to have been spoken twice over, to wit, on that previous occasion, and again on this one. But on the conclusion of this discourse Luke proceeds to another subject, as to which it is uncertain whether, in the account which he gives of it, he has kept by the order of actual occurrence. For he connects it in this way: "And as He spake, a certain Pharisee besought Him to dine with him."361 He does not say, however, "as He spake these words," but only "as He spake." For if he had said, "as He spake these words," the expression would of course have compelled us to suppose that the incidents referred to, besides being recorded by him in this order, also took place on the Lord's part in that same order. 
_________________ 
352 Matt. xii. 22. 
353 Luke xi. 14.  
354 Matt. xii. 23-37. 
355 Mark iii. 22-30. 
356 Luke xi. 14-26. 
357 Matt. xii. 38. 
358 Luke xi. 16-37. 
359 Luke xi. 27. 
360 Matt. v.-vii.  
361 Luke xi. 37.