Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 21.1–21.4

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other.” Do you see how little by little he draws them away from possessions, and brings in at greater length the discourse about poverty, and casts down the tyranny of the love of money? For he was not content with what came before, many and great as it was, but adds other things too, more and more fearful. For what is more fearful than what is now said, if we are going to fall from the service of Christ because of money? And what more desirable, if by despising it we are going to have a precise goodwill and love toward him? For what I always say I will say now too, that he pushes the hearer to obedience to what is said by both means, both by the profitable and by the harmful, like an excellent physician, showing both the disease that comes from heedlessness and the health that comes from obedience. See, at any rate, what kind of gain he shows again, and how he establishes the advantage from release from the opposite. “For wealth harms you not only,” he says, “because it arms robbers against you, nor because it darkens the mind with all intensity, but because it casts you out of the service of God too, making you captives of lifeless money and harming you on both sides, both by making you slaves of what you ought to rule, and by casting you out of the service of God, whom above all you must serve.” For as there he showed a double harm, in laying up here where moth consumes and in not depositing there where the keeping is safe from loss, so here too he shows the loss as double, both in what draws us away from God and in what subjects us to mammon.

But he does not put it at once, but first establishes it from common reasonings, saying thus: “No one can serve two masters,” meaning here two who command opposite things; since if this were not so, they would not even be two. For “the heart and soul of the multitude of those who believed were one”; and yet they were divided into many bodies, but nevertheless their concord made the many one. Then, intensifying it, he says: not only will he not serve, but he will even hate and turn away. “For either he will hate the one,” he says, “and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other.” And it seems that the same thing is said a second time; yet he did not compose it so at random, but to show that the change for the better is easy. For so that one may not say, “I have been enslaved once, I have been tyrannized by money,” he shows that it is possible to change over, and as one went from there to this, so to go from here to that. Having, then, spoken indefinitely, so as to persuade the hearer to become an incorruptible judge of what is said and to give his verdict from the very nature of the things, when he had got him to agree, then he reveals himself too. He added, at any rate, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Let us shudder when we consider what we have made Christ say, setting gold beside God. And if this is fearful, it is much more fearful that it should happen in deeds, and that the tyranny of gold should be preferred to the fear of God. “What then? In the case of the ancients was this not possible?” Not at all. “How then,” someone says, “did Abraham, how did Job win approval?” Do not tell me of those who were rich, but of those who served wealth. For Job too was rich; but he did not serve mammon, but possessed it and ruled it, and was master, not slave. As a steward of another’s money, so he possessed all those things, not only not seizing what belonged to others, but even giving up his own to those in need. And what is greater, he did not even rejoice in them when present, which he showed when he said, “If I rejoiced because my wealth was great”; that is why he did not grieve when it departed either. But such are not the rich now, but they are in a worse state than any slave, paying tribute as to some harsh tyrant. For as though it had seized their mind as a citadel, the love of money sends them from there every day commands full of every lawlessness, and no one disobeys.

Do not, then, philosophize superfluously. For God has pronounced once for all and said that it is impossible for this service and that to agree. Do not you, then, say that it is possible. For when the one commands robbery and the other giving up one’s possessions; the one chastity, the other sexual immorality; the one drunkenness and luxury, the other restraining the belly; the one despising possessions, the other being nailed to present things; the one admiring marbles and walls and ceilings, the other dishonoring these and honoring philosophy: how can these agree? And here he called mammon “master,” not because of its own nature but because of the wretchedness of those who bow down to it. So too he calls the belly a god, not from the dignity of the mistress but from the misery of those who serve; which is worse than any punishment, and enough even before the punishment to chastise the one caught. For than what condemned men would they not be more wretched, who, having God as Master, desert from that gentle kingdom to the harsh tyranny, and that when so great harm comes from the thing even here? For from it comes unspeakable loss, and lawsuits and abuse and contests and toils and maiming of the soul; and, what is most grievous of all, one falls from the highest goods, which is the service of God.

Having, then, taught by all means the advantage of despising money, both for the keeping of the money itself, and for the pleasure of the soul, and for the acquisition of philosophy, and for the safety of godliness, he now establishes that this exhortation is also possible. For this is above all the mark of excellent legislation, not only to command what is advantageous, but also to make it possible. That is why he goes on, saying, “Do not be anxious for your life, what you will eat.” For so that they might not say, “What then? If we throw away everything, how shall we be able to live?” he now very opportunely faces this objection. For as, if he had said at the beginning, “Do not be anxious,” the word would have seemed heavy, so, since he has shown the ruin that comes from the love of money, he now makes the exhortation easy to receive. That is why even now he did not simply say, “Do not be anxious,” but added the reason before giving this command. For after saying, “You cannot serve God and mammon,” he added, “Therefore I say to you, do not be anxious.” Therefore: why? Because of the unspeakable loss. For the harm to you is not in money only, but the blow is in the most vital things, and in the overthrow of your salvation; for [it casts you out from] him who made you, and … . [Therefore I say] to you, “Do not be anxious.” For since he had shown the harm to be unspeakable, he also intensifies the command. For he bids them not only throw away their possessions, but not even be anxious about necessary food, saying, “Do not be anxious for your life, what you will eat”; not because the soul needs food, for it is bodiless, but he spoke according to common usage. For even if it does not need food, it would not otherwise endure to remain in the body unless the body were fed. And having said this, he does not put it simply, but here too he stirs up reasonings, some from what has already been given us, others from other examples. From what has been given, saying thus: “Is not the life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” He, then, who gave the greater, how will he not give the less? He who formed the flesh that is fed, how will he not provide the food? That is why he did not simply say, “Do not be anxious what you will eat and what you will put on,” but “for the body” and “for the life,” since he was going to make his proofs from these, leading his discourse by comparison. But the soul he gave once, and it remains such; but the body grows every day. Showing both of these, the immortality of the one and the perishability of the other, he added, “Which of you can add one cubit to his stature?” And keeping silent about the soul, since it receives no increase, he spoke only of the body, showing by this that it is not food that makes it grow but the providence of God. Paul too showed this by other words when he said, “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but God who gives the growth.”

From what has been given, then, he urged them thus; and from other examples, saying, “Look at the birds of the air.” For so that no one may say that we profit by being anxious, he turns them away both from the greater and from the less: from the greater, the soul and the body; from the less, the birds. “For if he takes so much account of things far inferior, how will he not give to you?” he says. And to them he spoke so, for the crowd was still of the common sort; but to the devil not so, but how? “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” But here he mentions the birds, and very shamingly; which has the greatest force for exhortation. But some of the ungodly have come to such a pitch of folly as even to attack the example. For he ought not, they say, when training the will, to lead men to this from natural advantages; for these things belong to the birds by nature. What then should we say to this? That even if it belongs to them by nature, it is possible for us too to have it by choice. For he did not say, “Look how the birds fly,” which was impossible for man, but that they are fed without anxiety, which is easy for us too to achieve if we will. And those who accomplished it by deeds have shown this. That is why the wisdom of the lawgiver is above all to be admired, that though he could have offered the example from men, and could have spoken of Elijah and Moses and John and others like them who were not anxious, in order to touch them he mentioned the irrational creatures. For if he had spoken of those righteous men, they could have said, “We have not yet become like them.” But as it is, by keeping silent about them and bringing forward the birds of heaven, he cut off every excuse, here too imitating the old law. For the Old Testament too sends us to the bee, and to the ant, and to the turtledove, and to the swallow. And this too is no small proof of honor, when what they have by nature we are able to achieve by choice. If, then, he takes such care of the things made for us, much more of us; if of the servants, much more of the master. That is why he said, “Look at the birds”; and he did not say that they do not trade or do business, for these things were strictly forbidden, but what? “They neither sow nor reap.” “What then? Must we not sow?” he says. He did not say that we must not sow, but that we must not be anxious; nor that we must not work, but that we must not be faint-hearted and wear ourselves out with cares. For he bade us …, but not be anxious. David too laid down this saying long before, saying in a veiled way, “You open your hand and fill every living thing with good pleasure”; and again, “To him who gives the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that call upon him.”

“Who then were not anxious?” someone says. Did you not hear how many of the righteous I brought forward? Do you not see with them Jacob going away from his father’s house stripped of everything? Do you not hear him praying and saying, “If the Lord gives me bread to eat and a garment to put on”? which was not the act of one anxious, but of one seeking everything from God. This the apostles too achieved, throwing away everything and not being anxious, and the five thousand and the three thousand. And if, hearing so many words, you do not bear to loose yourself from these grievous bonds, consider the uselessness of the thing and dissolve your anxiety. “For which of you,” he says, “by being anxious can add one cubit to his stature?” Do you see how from the plain he made the hidden clear too? “For as by being anxious you will not be able to add even a little to your body, so neither to gather food, even if you think so.” From this it is clear that it is not our zeal but the providence of God that accomplishes everything even in what we seem to be doing; so that if he forsakes us, no care, no anxiety, no toil, nor anything else of the kind will ever appear, but all will be gone.

Let us not, then, think the commands impossible; for there are many who achieve them even now. And if you do not know them, it is no wonder; for Elijah too thought he was alone, but he heard, “I have left for myself seven thousand men.” From this it is clear that even now there are many showing the apostolic life, like the three thousand and the five thousand then. And if we do not believe it, it is not because there are none who achieve it, but because we are far from the thing. As, then, the drunkard would not easily believe that there is a man who does not even taste water (and yet many monks in our time have achieved even this), nor the man who mingles with countless women that it is easy to live in virginity, nor the man who seizes what belongs to others that anyone would readily give up even his own, so neither would those who wear themselves out every day with countless cares easily accept this. That there are many who have achieved this, then, we could show from those who practice this philosophy even in our own generation. But for the time being it is enough for you to learn not to be covetous, and that almsgiving is good, and to know that we must share what we have. For if you achieve these things, beloved, you will quickly walk on to those too. For the time being, then, let us put away superfluous extravagance, and be content with moderation, and learn to acquire from just labors all that we are going to have; since the blessed John too, when he spoke to those occupied with tax collecting and to the soldiers, commanded them to be content with their wages. For he wanted to lead them to another, greater philosophy too; but since they were not yet fit for it, he tells them the lesser things; since if he had told them things loftier than these, they would neither have attended to those, and would have fallen from these. That is why we too exercise you in the lesser things. For we know for the time being that the burden of poverty is greater than you can bear, and that as far as heaven is from earth, so far is that philosophy from you. Let us, then, lay hold at least of the last of the commands; for this too is no small consolation. And yet among the Greeks some achieved even this, though not with the fitting purpose, and stripped themselves of all their possessions. But nevertheless we are content, in your case, with your giving abundant alms; for we shall quickly come to those things too if we advance in this way. But if we do not do even this, what pardon should we deserve, who are commanded to surpass those in the Old Testament, and appear inferior even to the philosophers among the Greeks? What shall we say, when, though we ought to be angels and sons of God, we do not even keep our being men? For robbing and covetousness belong not to the gentleness of men but to the cruelty of wild beasts; or rather, those who attack what belongs to others are worse even than they. For in them this is present by nature; but we, honored with reason and falling into this ignobility contrary to nature, what pardon shall we enjoy? Considering, then, the measures of the philosophy set before us, let us at least reach the middle, so that we may both be freed from the punishment to come, and, advancing step by step, come to the very summit of good things; which may we all obtain, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen.