ABSTRACT
In matters of Christian folly Nicholas was already on the same track as Erasmus, who never acknowledged any debt to him. Despite Nicholas weaknesses and errors, which Erasmus delighted to throw into relief, he too wrote fascinating comments on the madness of Jesus in the third chapter of Mark. He explained that the kindred of Jesus on his mother's side witnessed Christ's 'unwonted ferment'. That ferment caused Jesus to skip his meals. With that 'shining face', Nicholas was assimilating what was happening to Jesus when his relatives came to lay hands on him with what was to happen at the Transfiguration. Then the countenance of Jesus became 'shining like the sun'. Nicholas explains that the kindred of Jesus 'also heard him talking of difficult matters concerning things divine'; they were unusual matters, which they did not understand.
