Part 2 of ONT notes
Gospel of St Mark Chapter 1:6-8
1:6a Saint Ambrose:"The Forerunner of Christ did not suffer the skins of unclean beasts to go to waste, signifying even by the very token of his clothing that Christ would come; He Who took upon Himself the sins of the nations....doffed the garment of our flesh in the victory of the Cross." [Exposition, Bk. II, §69.] (ONT. p. 185)
1:6b Saint Bede: "By the locusts, which fly briskly up but quickly settle back to earth, and the wild honey, which he was eating as well, are suggested the brevity as well as the sweetness of his preaching; for when he was preaching, the people willingly listened to him; and by coming so quickly to the Lord, he put an end to his own preaching and baptism." [Ib., 5] (ONT. p. 185)
Saint Ambrose: "In the locusts we fittingly denote the Gentile people, who by no practise of labor, no fruit of their work, without dignity, without voice, produce the sound of complaint and ignore the word of life. So this people is the food of the prophets, for the more numerous a people is assembled, the more abudant the use of the prophet's mouth. Furthermore, the grace of the Church is prefigured in the wild honey, discovered not among the offspring of the Jewish people in the apiary of the law, but scattered by the error of the Gentiles in the plains and leaves of the forest, as it is written: 'We have found it in the plains of the wood [Ps. 131(132):6].' And he indeed ate wild honey, preaching that the peoples would be filled with the honey from the rock, as it is written: 'He satisfied them with honey out of the rock [Ps. 80(81):15(16)].'" [Exposition, Bk. II, §§ 71, 72.] (ONT. p. 185)
1:7 Blessed Jerome: "This seems to be an expression of humility, as though he were saying, 'I am not worthy to be His servant,' but, in these very simple words, there is evidence of another mystery, which is what we read in the Old Testament [Deut. 25:7-10; Ruth 4:7]." [Homily 75 (1), Homilies 60-96, Vol. 2, in FC, 57:127.] (ONT. p. 185-186)
Saint Ambrose: "By law, when a man died, the marriage bond with his wife was passed on to his brother, or to another man that was next of kin, in order that the seed of the brother or next of kin might renew the life of the house. This is what happened in the case of Ruth who first loosed the shoe from the foot of him whose wife she ought, by the law, to have become [Deut. 25:5-10; Ruth 4:5-7]. The story is simple, but it is a foreshadowing of One Who was to arise from Jewry--whence Christ was, after the flesh--Who should, with the seed of heavenly teaching, revive the see of His dead kinsman, that is to say, the people, and to Whom the precepts of the law, in their spiritual significance, assigned the sandal of marriage, for the espousals of the Church. Moses was not the Bridegroom [Ex. 3:5]...nor Jesus of Navee [Josh. 5:16(15)]....None other is the Bridegroom but Christ alone, of Whom the Evangelist John spoke [Jn. 3:29]. They, therefore, loose their shoes, but His shoe cannot be loosed, even as John the Baptist said." [Of the Christian Faith, Bk. III, Ch. X (70,71), in Nicene, 2nd Ser., X:253.] (ONT. p.186)
Saint Bede: "The people believed that John was the Bridegroom. But he does not allow them to believe that he was the Bridegroom, lest he lose the Bridegroom's friendship, which is the meaning of his bearing witness that he was not worthy of undoing Christ's sandals. Moses and Jesus of Navee also, when they were established as leaders of the synagogue, were commanded to undo their sandals." [Ib., 6.] (ONT. p. 186)
Gospel of St Luke Chapter 18:35-43
18:35 Saint Ambrose: "In the Gospel according to St. Matthew, two men are depicted [Mt. 20:30], but here one; there, as He was leaving Jericho [Mt. 20:29], here, as He was approaching it. But there is no diversity; for the image of the Gentile people is in this case one man who, through the divine blessing, received the clarity of his lost sight. It makes no difference whether he (as an image of the Gentiles) received the healing through one or two, since, taking their origin from Ham and Japhet, sons of Noah, he (St. Matthew) sets forth the two authors of his race (the Gentiles personified in the blind man) in two blind men." [Ib., Bk. VIII, § 80.] (ONT. p.376)
18:38 Saint Kyril: "Did he not know that the sight of the blind man cannot be restored by human resources? How then does he call Him the Son of David? This, I think, is perhaps the explanation: He was a Jew by race having been brought up in Judaism; the predictions contained in the law and the holy prophets concerning Christ had not escaped his knowledge. He heard the passage in the Psalms: 'The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David, and He will not annul it: "Of the fruit of thy belly will I set upon thy throne [Ps. 131(132):11.]."' He knew also from Prophet Esaias, 'There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a blossom shall come up from his root [Is. 11:1].' And again he knew, 'Behold, the Virgin shall conceive in the womb [Is. 7:14].' As one already who believed that the Logos, being God, had been born in the flesh of the holy Virgin, he draws near, saying, 'Son of David,' for this was his state of mind in offering his supplication. This Christ affirms afterwards, saying, 'Thy faith hath made thee well.'" [Hom. 126, Commentary, Ch. 18, 499, 500.] (ONT. p. 376)
18:41 Saint Kyrill: "Was his request then unknown to Him? Was it not plain that he sought deliverance from the malady that afflicted him? He asked him purposely that those who were standing by and accompanying Him, might learn that it was not money he sought, but rather that, regarding Him as God, he asked of Him a divine act and one appropriate soley to the nature that transcends all." [Ib., 500] (ONT. p. 376-377)
18:43 Saint Kyrill: "He was set free, therefore, from double blindness; for not only did he escape bodily blindness, but also from that of the mind and heart. For he would not have glorified Him as God had he not possessed spiritual vision. And further, he became the means of others also giving Him glory." [Ib.,501] (ONT. p. 377)
