Marvel not if sometimes our words and actions should cause offence, though in themselves they are not in fault; since oftentimes this happened to our Lord Himself, who could not err. Thus when, on a certain occasion, the Pharisees asked our Lord why the disciples did not wash their hands before eating bread, our Lord severely answered them, blaming them for thinking more of exterior cleanness than of interior.1 At which they were offended ; but our Lord was not moved thereby. At another time, when He spake spiritual truths in the synagogue, some of His disciples took them in a carnal sense, not understanding them, and consequently withdrew themselves from Him. Whereupon, turning to the twelve disciples, he said, “Will ye also go away ?” And Peter said for himself and for the rest, “Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life .”2 Contemplate our Lord, then, on these occasions, and on similar ones, how He spake with power, and taught the truth, not paying account to the offence of the corrupt and foolish. It should, therefore, first be noted, that we ought not to shrink from that which is just and right, because what we say or do may be made a ground of offence. Secondly, that concerning inward purity we should be more careful than outward cleanliness, which our Lord more expressly teaches elsewhere in S. Luke, — how we should live in the spirit ; so that the words of Christ should not seem strange to us, as they did to those disciples who, according to S. John, could not bear the saying, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man,” etc., but went back. On the contrary, let us rather acknowledge them as the words of eternal life, that, together with the Twelve, we may perfectly imitate Him.
← Chapter 37 · Contents · Chapter 39 →