98. The Lord lived in so humble a way as to be scarcely distinguished from an ordinary man, and not in splendour as God. This was lest the Jews should, from externals and not from internals, acknowledge Him as the Messiah. For the same reason He was unwilling to give them signs from heaven. For if they had acknowledged Him from externals and had not seen afterwards that this was exalting themselves as lords of the earth, they would have fallen back and become profaners. So He did not wish to give them a sign as may be seen. That He possessed all things may be manifest from this - that He fed the five thousand, then the four thousand, also that He provided them with wine at Cana and that He was able to pay the tribute money from a fish. But that He wished to seem poor was for the reason already stated.