Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IX/Origen on Matthew/Origen's Commentary on Matthew/Book XII/Chapter 22

22.&#160; Importance of the Expressions &#8220;Behind&#8221; And &#8220;Turned.&#8221;

But you will compare together His saying to Peter, &#8220;Get thee behind me, Satan,&#8221; with that said to the devil (who said to Him, &#8220;All these things will I give Thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me&#8221;), &#8220;get thee hence,&#8221; without the addition, &#8220;behind Me;&#8221; for to be behind Jesus is a good thing.&#160; Wherefore it was said, &#8220;Come ye behind Me and I will make you fishers of men.&#8221; &#160; And to the same effect is the saying, &#8220;He that doth not take his cross and follow behind Me is not worthy of Me.&#8221; &#160;And as a general principle observe the expression &#8220;behind&#8221;; because it is a good thing when any one goes behind the Lord God and is behind the Christ; but it is the opposite when any one casts the words of God behind him, or when he transgresses the commandment which says, &#8220;Do not walk behind thy lusts.&#8221; &#160; And Elijah also, in the third Book of Kings, says to the people, &#8220;How long halt ye on both your knees?&#160; If God is the Lord, go behind Him, but if Baal is the Lord, go behind him.&#8221; &#160; And Jesus says this to Peter when He &#8220;turned,&#8221; and He does so by way of conferring a favour.&#160; And if therefore you will collect more illustrations of the &#8220;having turned,&#8221; and especially those which are ascribed to Jesus, and compare them with one another, you would find that the expression is not superfluous.&#160; But it is sufficient at present to bring forward this from the Gospel according to John, &#8220;Jesus turned and beheld them&#8221;&#8212;clearly, Peter and Andrew&#8212;&#8220;following, and saith unto them, What seek ye?&#8221; &#160; For observe that, when He &#8220;turned,&#8221; it is for the advantage of those to whom He turned.