The Crowds Outside

In illo die exiens Jesus de domo sedit secus mare, et congregatae sunt ad eum turbae multae... Et congregatae sunt ad eum turbae, quae domum intrare non poterant, ubi apostoli intus audiebant mysteria. Et ideo exivit ut congregarentur ad eum, quia misericors est. Alioquin nisi exisset de illa occulta habitione sua, in qua semper cum Deo Patre est, nunquam ad eum congregarentur, qui dispersi erant, et vexati variis languoribus. Sedet autem juxta hujus saeculi mare, ut turbae congregentur ad eum, et audiant secus littus quae intus non merebantur audire. Sed benignissimus Magister in suis indicat factis etiam ea quae agit. Ascendit autem in naviculam, et resedit in mediis fluctibus, ubi navis hic inde, de montuosis valde tunditur procellis. Sed turba foris stat, ut ex subjectis rebus ratio monstretur, quae in parabolis erat locuturus. Quo nimirum facto significat eos qui foris sunt extra Ecclesiam, nullam divini sermonis capere posse intelligentiam. Navis enim typum praefert Ecclesiae, intra quam verbum vitae positum est et praedicatur. Qui autem extra sunt, arenae comparantur et sunt steriles sine fructu, atque inutiles. Idcirco quae propununtur in parabolis intelligere non possunt. Aut certe ideo stant in littore fixo gradu, ut diligentius audiant quae dicuntur: quoniam necdum cum Jesus, neque apostolis, pericula et tentationes, quibus jam premebatur Christus a suis insidiatoribus, ferre poterant. Sanctus Paschasius Radbertus Corbeiensis, Expositio In Evangelium Matthaei, Lib VII, Cap XIII Source: Migne PL 120.483b-d

On that day Jesus left the house and sat beside the sea, and great crowds gathered about Him... 1 And those great crowds gathered about Him that were not able to enter the house within which the Apostles heard the mysteries. And therefore He went out that they might gather about Him, because He is merciful. Besides, unless He had gone out from His hidden habitation, in which He is always with the Father, they would have never gathered about Him, they who were scattered, and troubled with various diseases. And He sat beside the sea of this world, that the crowds might gather about Him and they might hear on the shore what they did not merit to hear within. But the most benevolent teacher with His own acts reveals the things which He does. He goes up into the boat, and reseats Himself in the midst of the waves, where a boat is knocked back and forth by mountainous storms. But the crowd stands apart, so that from things done reason might be revealed, which He was going to speak of in parables. Certainly this signifies those who are outside the Church, who have no understanding capable of grasping the Divine words. The boat is a type of the Church within which the word of life is placed and is preached. But those outside, they are as the sands which are sterile and fruitless and useless. Therefore they cannot understand what is proposed in the parables. Or indeed they stand on the shore with fixed feet, so that they might more diligently hear the things which are said, because they are not yet with Jesus, nor are they with the Apostles, they are hardly able to bear the perils and trials whch even now press on Christ because of those who oppose Him. Saint Paschasius Radbertus, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 7, Chap 13 1 Mt 13.1