Sacred-Texts Christianity Index Previous Next
OF OUR LORD'S FAST; OF THE STRIFE WHICH HE WAGED WITH THE DEVIL5; AND OF THE MIGHTY DEEDS THAT HE WROUGHT.
TWO days after His baptism, He chose eight of the twelve disciples; and on the third day He changed the water into wine in the city of Cana. After He went forth from the wilderness, He completed the number of the twelve, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel and according to the number of the months. After the twelve disciples, He chose seventy and two, according to the number of the seventy-two elders. When He went out to the desert after He had changed the water into wine, He fasted forty days and forty nights. p. 92 Some say that our Lord and the devil were waging war with one another for forty days; others say that the three contests took place in one day. After He had conquered the devil by the power of His Godhead, and had given us power to conquer him, He began to teach the nations. He wrought miracles, healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, cast out devils, opened the eyes of the blind, made the lame walk, made cripples stand, gave hearing to the deaf, and speech of tongue to the dumb. He satisfied five thousand with five loaves, and there remained twelve basketfuls; and with seven loaves and two fishes He satisfied four thousand (men), besides women and children, and there remained seven basketfuls. And some writers say that our Lord satisfied forty thousand men and women and children with five loaves. He walked upon the water and the sea as upon dry land. He rebuked the sea when it was disturbed, and it ceased from its disturbance. He raised up four dead; the daughter of Jairus, the widow's son, the servant of the centurion, and His friend Lazarus after (he had been dead) four days. He subjected Himself to the ancient law of Moses, that it might not be thought He was opposed to the divine commandments; and when the time came for Him to suffer, and to draw nigh to death that He might make us live by His death, and to slay sin in His flesh, and to fulfil the prophecies concerning Him, first of all He kept the Passover of the law; He dissolved the old covenant, and then He laid the foundation for the new law by His own Passover.
4 In the Oxford MS. chap. xlvi.