Qualiter aliqui ex verbis Domini scandalizati sunt
Stumbling Blocks from the Lord's Words
The text introduces the theme that even faithful words and deeds can cause scandal, as happened to the Lord himself, and notes that this has occurred often rather than seldom.
Do not be surprised if stumbling blocks sometimes arise from our words and deeds, no matter how faithfully and well they are done; since it happened even to the Lord himself, who — Psalm. Chapter 4, verse 12. — M Iirn. , book, 17. XU. It could not happen seldom — it has happened often.
The Pharisees Scandalized by Harsh Truths
The Lord rebuked the Pharisees for seeking outward cleanness rather than inward purity, and they were scandalized, yet he did not soften his teaching.
For on one occasion, when the Pharisees were questioning the Lord about why his disciples did not wash their hands when they were eating, the Lord answered them harshly, rebuking them because they were seeking outward cleanness, not inward cleanness.✦ About this they were scandalized; but the Lord did not care.
The Disciples Who Turned Away
When the Lord taught spiritual truths in the synagogue, some disciples withdrew, yet he pressed the Twelve with the question of whether they too wished to leave, and Peter confessed that only Christ has the words of eternal life.
On one occasion, when he was teaching spiritual truths in the synagogue, some of his disciples — being carnal and failing to understand — withdrew from him.✦ But he said to the twelve disciples: 'Do you also wish to go away?'✦ And Peter answered for himself and the others: 'Lord, to whom shall we go?'✦ 'You have the words of eternal life.'✦
Imitating Christ's Uncompromising Truth
The reader is urged to imitate the Lord's bold authority in teaching truth, to prefer inner purity over outward respectability, and to recognize Christ's words as the words of eternal life.
Consider, then, how in these and similar matters he spoke with authority and taught the truth, unconcerned about the scandal of the wicked or the foolish. Note, then: first, that we must not withdraw from the virtue of justice because of another's stumbling block; second, that we ought to care more for inner purity than for outward respectability — as the Lord also said more explicitly in Luke — and that we must live spiritually, so that the Lord's words do not seem foreign to us, as they did to those disciples who, when Christ said in John, 'Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man,' and so on, could not bear it and withdrew. But rather, let us recognize that these are the words of eternal life, so that together with the twelve, we may imitate him perfectly.✦✦
Read the original Latin
Non mireris, si ahquando ex verbis et factis nostris scandala oriuntur, quantumcumque fideUter et bene fiant; cum ipsi Domino, qui er* Psai. CiV, 12. — M Iirn. , l, 17. XU. rare non poterat, pluries contigerit. Dum enim quadam vice Pharisa^i Dominuminlerrogarent*, quare discipuli non lavabaut manus quando manducabant; Dominus dure respondit ois, increpans, quod exteriorem munditiam, non interiorem quserebant. De quo ilU scandalizati sunt; sed Dominus non curavit.
AUa vice, cum spirituaUa verba doceret in synagoga, aUqui ex discipuUs ejus, tanquam carnales, non inteUigentes recesserunt. Sed ad duodecim discipulos ait ^: Numquid et vos vultis abire? Et Petrus pro se et aUis respondit: Domine, ad quem ibimus? verba vitoR ceternce habes. Considera ergo eum in prnedictis et aUis simiUbus, quomodo cum potestate loquebatur, et docebat veritatem, non curans de scandalo pravorum, sive insipientium. Notandum igitur primo, quod propter alterius scandalum non debemus recedere a virtute justitise; secundo, quod de interiori munditia magis, quam de exteriori honestate curare debemus, quod etiam aUbi expressius Dominus dixit in Luca *; quod spirituaUter vivere debemus, ita quod verba Domini non videantur nobis extranea, sicut ilUs discipuUs, qui quando Christus dixit in Joanne ^: Nisi manducaveritis carnem fllii hominis, etc, non poterant sustinere, sed recesserunt: sed potius recognoscamus ipsa esse verba vitae aeternae, ut una cum duodecim, ipsum imitemur perfecte
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.15.1-Matt.15.2;Mark.7.1-Mark.7.5 — Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, Matt.15.2 — Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before eating bread. Mark.7.1 — Now the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him. Mark.7.2 — and saw that some of his disciples were eating bread with common hands, that is, unwashed hands. Mark.7.3 — For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands according to the prescribed ritual, holding to the tradition of the elders. Mark.7.4 — And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash themselves. And there are many other traditions they have received and hold to: washings of cups, pitchers, bronze vessels, [and dining couches]. Mark.7.5 — And so the Pharisees and the scribes ask him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?"
- ↩John.6.60-John.6.66 — Therefore, when many of his disciples heard it, they said, 'This saying is hard. Who can listen to it?' John.6.61 — And Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Does this cause you to stumble?" John.6.62 — What then if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? John.6.63 — It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no benefit. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. John.6.64 — But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him. John.6.65 — And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by the Father." John.6.66 — After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
- ↩John.6.67 — So Jesus said to the Twelve, 'You do not want to go away too, do you?'
- ↩John.6.68 — Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."
- ↩John.6.68 — Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."
- ↩John.6.53 — So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves."
- ↩John.6.66 — After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
Meditationes Vitae Christi (Pseudo-Bonaventure), Castilian court context companion
A scene a day, for life
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