Homilies on Hebrews 18.1–18.2

“Above, when he said, ‘Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and offerings for sin you did not desire, nor did you take pleasure in them’ (these are offered according to the law), then he said, ‘See, I have come to do your will, O God.’ He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands day by day ministering and offering the same sacrifices many times, which can never take away sins; but this man, having offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down forever at the right hand of God, from then on waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet.” In what came before he showed that the sacrifices were useless for complete cleansing, and that they were a type; and [someone might ask] this: if they are types, how is it that, when the reality is present, they have not ceased or given way, but are still performed? This very point he works out here, showing that they are no longer performed, not even as a type, for God does not accept them. And he shows this not from the New [Testament] but from the prophets, bringing in the strongest testimony from of old, that they come to an end and cease, and that they [the Jews] do everything in vain, always resisting the Holy Spirit. And he shows, more than was needed, that they ceased not only now, but at the very coming of Christ, or rather even before his coming. And how is it that Christ did not abolish them last of all, but they were abolished first, and then he came? They ceased first, and then he himself arrived. For so that they might not say, “Even without this we could have pleased God by those sacrifices,” he waited until they had been proved [useless], and then he himself arrived. “For sacrifice,” he says, “and offering you did not desire.” By this he did away with all of them; and having spoken generally, he also speaks specifically: “Whole burnt offerings and offerings for sin you did not take pleasure in.” An “offering” was everything apart from the sacrifice. “Then I said, ‘See, I have come.’” About whom was this said? About no one else but Christ. Here he brings no charge against those who offer, showing that it is not because of their wickedness that he does not accept them, as he says elsewhere, but because the thing had at last been proved and made plain to have no force, nor any season fitting it. What then does this have to do with the sacrifices being offered many times? It is clear, he says, not only from their being offered many times that they are weak and accomplished nothing, but also from God's not accepting them, as unprofitable and useless. Showing this very thing, he says elsewhere too, “If you had desired sacrifice, I would have given it.” So by this too he shows that he does not desire it. So then it is not the sacrifices that are the will of God, but their abolition; therefore they sacrifice against his will. What is “to do your will”? To give myself up, he says; this is the will of God. “By which will we have been sanctified.” By this he shows in another way too that it is not the sacrifices that cleanse people, but the will of God. So then to sacrifice is not the will of God. And why are you surprised if it is not the will of God now, when it was not his will even from the beginning? “For who required these things,” he says, “from your hands?” How then did he himself command it? By condescension; just as Paul too is seen saying, “I wish all people to be as I myself am” in self-control; and again, giving counsel elsewhere, he says, “I wish the younger women to marry, to bear children.” He sets down two wishes, but the two are not both his own, even though he gives the command; but the one is his own, which is why he states it without giving a reason; the other is not his own, even though he wishes it, which is why it is given with a reason. For he first accused them of having grown wanton against Christ, and then says, “I wish the younger women to marry, to bear children.” So here too, condescending, he makes provision; it was not his primary will that the sacrifices should take place. So too when he speaks about death: “I do not wish the death of the sinner, but that he should turn and live”; and elsewhere he says that he not only wished this but even desired it; and yet these are opposite to each other, for desire is an intensified wish. How then do you not wish it, and elsewhere desire it, which is a sign of wishing it intensely? This one can say here too. “By which will we have been sanctified,” he says. How we have been sanctified he himself will explain, adding: “Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands day by day ministering and [offering] the same [sacrifices…]” … [for standing is a sign of ministering]; therefore sitting is a sign of being ministered to. “But this man, having offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down forever at the right hand of God, from then on waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us.” He said that those [sacrifices] are not offered; he drew the conclusion from what is written [and] from what is unwritten; and besides, he brought forward an explicit prophetic saying, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire.” He said that he forgave sins; again he confirms this too from written testimony: “For the Holy Spirit,” he says, “also bears witness to us. For after saying, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds, and I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.’ Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.” Therefore he forgave sins when he gave the covenant; and he gave the covenant through the sacrifice. If then he forgave sins through the one sacrifice, there is no longer need of a second. “He sat down at the right hand of God, from then on waiting.” And why the delay? “Until his enemies are put under his feet. For by one offering,” he says, “he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” But perhaps someone might say, “And why did he not put them there at once?” Because of the believers who were going to be born and come into being. How then is it clear that they will be put there? From his saying that he sat down. He reminded them again of that testimony which says, “Until he puts his enemies under his feet.” And his enemies are the Jews. Then, since he had said, “Until his enemies are put under his feet,” and they were greatly pressing [for it], for this reason he sets down everything that follows, all that he discusses about faith. But who are the enemies, if not all the unbelievers, the demons? For not only the Jews. And he hints at the completeness of the subjection by “under his feet.” Let us not, then, be among the enemies; for not only those are enemies, the unbelievers and Jews, but also those who are full of an unclean life: “For the mind of the flesh is hostility toward God; for it does not submit to God's law, nor indeed can it.” What then, someone says: is this not a ground of accusation? Very much so indeed; for the wicked man, as long as he is wicked, cannot submit; he can, however, change and become good.

Let us then cast out the fleshly ways of thinking. And which are fleshly? All those that make the body flourish and live in comfort but harm the soul; for example, wealth, luxury, glory: all these belong to the flesh; the love of bodies [too]. Let us not, then, love having more, but always pursue poverty; for it is a great good. “But it makes one humble,” someone says, “and of no account.” This is just what we need; for this contributes much to us. “Poverty,” it says, “humbles a man”; and again Christ: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Are you grieved, then, because you have a road that leads you by the hand to virtue? Do you not know that this gives us great boldness? “But the wisdom of the poor man,” it says, “is despised”; and again someone else says, “Give me neither wealth nor poverty”; and, “Deliver me from the furnace of poverty.” And again, if wealth and poverty are from the Lord, how is poverty an evil, or wealth? Why then were these things said? They were said in the Old [Testament], where much was made of wealth, where poverty was much despised, where the one was a curse and the other a blessing. But no longer now. Do you want to hear the praises of poverty? Christ pursued it, and says, “But the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” And again he said to the disciples, “Do not acquire gold or silver or two tunics.” And Paul wrote, “As having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” And Peter said to the man lame from birth, “Silver and gold I do not have.” And in the Old [Testament] itself, where wealth was admired, who, tell me, were the admirable ones? Was it not Elijah, who had nothing but his sheepskin cloak? Was it not Elisha? Was it not John? Let no one, then, be humble because of poverty: it is not poverty that makes one humble, but wealth, which compels one to need many people and forces one to be beholden to many. And what was poorer than Jacob, tell me, who said, “If the Lord gives me bread to eat and clothing to put on”? Were Elijah and John without boldness? Did not the one rebuke Ahab, the other Herod? The latter said, “It is not lawful for you to have the wife of Philip your brother”; and Elijah said to Ahab with boldness, “It is not I who trouble Israel, but you and your father's house.” Do you see that it is this, poverty, that above all produces boldness? For the rich man is a slave, liable to loss and laying himself open to anyone who wishes to do him harm; but the man who has nothing fears neither confiscation nor sentence. If, then, poverty made people lacking in boldness, Christ would not have sent the disciples out with poverty for a task requiring great boldness. For the poor man is very strong, and has nothing through which he can be wronged or suffer harm. The rich man, however, becomes easy to seize from every side; and it is just as when someone could easily catch a man dragging many long ropes behind him, but could not easily take hold of a naked man. So it happens here too with the rich man: slaves, gold, fields, countless affairs, countless cares, troubles, necessities make him easy prey for everyone. Let no one, then, any longer think poverty a cause of dishonor. For if virtue is present, all the wealth of the world is not even mud, not even a straw, compared with it. Let us, then, pursue it, if we wish to enter the kingdom of heaven. “For sell your possessions,” he says, “and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven”; and again, “It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Do you see that even if it is not present, one must draw it to oneself? So great a good is poverty; for it is a guide by the hand on the road that leads to heaven, an athlete's anointing, a great and wonderful training, a calm harbor. “But I need many things,” someone says, “and I do not wish to accept a favor from anyone.” But in this too the rich man is worse off than you. For you perhaps ask a favor for food; but he for countless things … for his greed. So the rich are the ones who need many people. Why do I say many? Often even people unworthy of them; for example, they often find themselves in need of soldiers in the ranks and of slaves. But the poor man does not need even the emperor himself; and if he does need him, he is admired because he brought himself to this when he could have been rich. Let no one, then, blame poverty as the cause of countless evils, and let no one contradict Christ, who declared it to be the perfection of virtue, saying, “If you wish to be perfect.” For this he both said in words, and showed by deeds, and taught through his disciples. Let us pursue poverty, then; for it is a very great good for those who are sober. Perhaps some of those who hear take it as an ill omen. I do not doubt it; this disease is widespread among most people, and the tyranny of money is so great that they cannot bear even a renunciation of it in words, but take it as an ill omen. Such things are far from the Christian soul; for nothing is richer than the man who chooses poverty willingly and with eagerness. How? I will tell you; and, if you wish, I will prove the man who willingly chooses poverty richer even than the emperor himself. For the emperor needs many things, and is anxious, and fears that provisions for the army may run short; but this man has everything in abundance, and fears for nothing, and if he does fear, not for so much. Who then, tell me, is rich: the man who every day makes demands, and is eager to collect much, and fears that it may some day run short, or the man who collects nothing and lives in great abundance and needs nothing? For it is virtue and the fear of God that give boldness, not money; for money even enslaves. “For gifts and presents,” it says, “blind the eyes of the wise, and like a muzzle in the mouth turn away rebukes.” See how that poor man Peter punished the rich Ananias. Was not the one rich and the other poor? But see him speaking with authority and saying, “Tell me, did you sell the field for so much?” and the other answering with deference, “Yes, for so much.” “And who will grant me,” someone says, “to be like Peter?” You may be like Peter, if you are willing to throw away what you have: scatter, give to the poor, follow Christ, and you will be such a man. “How? He worked miracles,” someone says. Is it this, then, tell me, that made Peter admirable, or the boldness that came from his way of life? Do you not hear Christ saying, “Do not rejoice that the demons are subject to you”? “If you wish to be perfect, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” Hear what Peter too says: “Silver and gold I do not have; but what I have, this I give you.” If someone has silver and gold, he does not have those [other] things. “What then,” someone says, “of the fact that many have neither the one nor the other?” Because they are poor unwillingly; since those who are poor willingly have all good things. For even if they do not raise the dead or the lame, they have what is greater than all: boldness toward God. They will hear on that day that blessed voice which says, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father.” What is better than this? “Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; naked and you clothed me; sick and in prison and you visited me. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Let us flee greed, then, that we may attain the kingdom of heaven; let us feed the poor, that we may feed Christ, that we may become his fellow heirs, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, might, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.