Luke 5:1-11 NRSV
1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
Augustine on the Good Samaritan Luke 10:29-37, from Questiones Evangelicarum 2.19
A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho : Adam himself is meant; Jerusalem is the heavenly city of peace, from whose blessedness Adam fell; Jericho means the moon, and signifies our mortality, because it is born, waxes, wanes and dies. Thieves are the devil and his angels. Who stripped him, namely, of his immortality; and beat him, by persuading him to sin; and left him half-dead, because in so far as man can understand and know God, he lives, but in so far as he is wasted and oppressed by sin, he is dead; he is therefore called half-dead. The priest and Levite who saw him and passed by, signify the priesthood and ministry of the Old Testament, which could profit nothing for salvation. Samaritan means Guardian, and therefore the Lord Himself is signified by this name. The binding of the wounds is the restraint of sin. Oil is the comfort of good hope; wine the exhortation to work with fervent spirit. The beast is the flesh in which He deigned to come to us. The being set upon the beast is belief in the incarnation of Christ. The inn is the Church, where travellers are refreshed on their return from pilgrimage to their heavenly country. The morrow is after the resurrection of the Lord. The two pence are either the two precepts of love, or the promise of this life and of that which is to come. The innkeeper is the Apostle (Paul). The supererogatory payment is either his counsel of celibacy, or the fact that he worked with his own hands lest he should be a burden to any of the weaker brethren when the Gospel was new, though it was lawful for him ‘to live by the Gospel’.
Honi and Hanina
Honi the circle-drawer lived in the first century BC.
Josephus describes him as ‘a righteous man and dear to God’, who ‘in a rainless period prayed to God to end the drought, and God had heard his prayer’
(Ant 14, 22-4)
The Mishnah in more detail describes how he drew a circle and told God “‘I swear by thy great name that I will not move hence until thou have pity on thy children’. Rain then began falling drop by drop. He said, ‘Not for such rain have I prayed, but for rain that will fill the cisterns, pits and caverns.’ It began to rain with violence. He said ‘Not for such rain have I prayed, but for rain of goodwill, blessing and graciousness.’ Then it rained in moderation.” .
mTaan 3:8
Hanina ben Dosa, a Galilean who lived in the first century AD, is described as a man of great devotion. The evidence we have for his miraculous work dates from long after his time, but apparently he was famous for his long distance healings.
Once he prayed for the ill son of rabbi Gamaliel, saying ‘Go, the fever has left him’; the boy was found to have recovered at that moment.
bBer.34b
He is also credited with controlling the weather, halting a downpour when he was walking home once.
bTaan 24b
Early testimony about the Gospels (p 135)
Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis in the early second century, is reported as saying
‘Mark became Peter’s interpreter and wrote accurately all that he remembered, ¼¼Matthew collected the oracles in the Hebrew language, and each interpreted as best he could.
Eusebius Hist. eccl. 3.39.12-16
Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons later in the second century, said
‘Matthew among the Hebrews issued a writing of the gospel in their own tongue, while Peter and Paul were preaching the Gospel at Rome and founding the Church. After their decease Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, also handed down to us in writing what Peter had preached. Then Luke, the follower of Paul, recorded in a book the gospel as it was preached to him. Finally, John, the disciple of the Lord, who had also lain on his breast, himself published the Gospel, while he was residing at Ephesus in Asia’.
Irenaeus, Haer. III.1.4
Josephus on the John the baptist (p 168)
Here is a link to Antiquities 18 online: https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-18.html
