Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 36.1–37.1

“And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished commanding his twelve disciples, he departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.” For since he had sent them, he withdrew himself at last, giving them room and occasion to do what he had commanded. For while he was present and healing, no one would have wished to approach them. “Now when John heard in the prison the works of Jesus, he sent two of his disciples and asked him, saying, ‘Are you he who comes, or do we look for another?’” And Luke says that they themselves reported the signs to John, and then he sent them. However, this contains no difficulty, but only matter for reflection; for it shows their jealousy toward him. But what follows is very much among the things that are inquired into. What is this? The saying, “Are you he who comes, or do we look for another?” For he who knew him before the signs, who learned it from the Spirit, who heard it from the Father, who proclaimed him before all, does he now send to learn from him whether he is the one or not? And yet if you do not know clearly that it is he, how do you think yourself trustworthy when you pronounce about things not known? For the one who is to bear witness to others must first be trustworthy himself. Was it not you who said, “I am not worthy to loose the strap of his sandal”? Was it not you who said, “I did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water, he said to me, ‘On whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit’”? Did you not see the Spirit in the form of a dove? Did you not hear the voice? Did you not try to prevent him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by you”? Did you not say to your disciples too, “He must increase, but I must decrease”? Did you not teach all the people that he would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire, and that he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? Did you not proclaim all these things before the signs and the wonders? How then now, when he has become manifest to all, and his fame has gone out everywhere, and the dead have been raised, and demons driven out, and so great a display of signs has taken place, do you then send to learn from him? What then has happened? Were all those words a deceit, a stage play and fables? And who having sense would say this? I do not say John, who leaped in the womb, who proclaimed him before his birth, the citizen of the desert, who displayed the angelic way of life; but even if he had been one of the many, and of those utterly cast off, he would not have doubted after so many testimonies, both his own and those of others. From which it is clear that he did not send because he himself was in doubt, nor did he ask in ignorance. For neither could anyone say this, that he knew clearly, but because of the prison he had become more timid; for he did not expect to be released from there, nor, if he had expected it, would he who was arrayed for death have betrayed godliness. For unless he had been prepared for this, he would not have shown such great courage before a whole people practised in shedding the blood of prophets; he would not have convicted that cruel tyrant with such great boldness in the middle of the city and the marketplace, rebuking him like a very small child, in the hearing of all. And if he had become more timid, how was he not ashamed before his own disciples, before whom he had borne him so great a witness, but asked through them, when he ought to have asked through others? And yet he knew clearly that they were jealous of him and desired to find some handle against him. And how did he not blush before the Jewish people, before whom he had proclaimed so much? And what more would he gain from this toward release from his bonds? For he had not been thrown in because of Christ, nor because he proclaimed his power, but because of his reproof concerning the unlawful marriage. And what senseless child, what madman, would not have brought this reputation upon himself? What then is it that is being brought about? That it is not John’s part to doubt these things, nor even of an ordinary man, nor of one very senseless and deranged, is clear from what has been said; but now we must bring on the solution. For what reason, then, did he send to ask? John’s disciples were turning away from Jesus, and this is clear to everyone, and they were always jealous toward him. And it is clear from what they said to their teacher: “He who was with you,” they say, “beyond the Jordan, to whom you have borne witness, behold, he is baptizing, and all are coming to him.” And again: “There arose a dispute between John’s disciples and the Jews about purification.” And again they came to him and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”

For they did not yet know who Christ was, but suspecting Jesus to be a mere man and John to be greater than a man, they were stung seeing the one held in honor and the other, as he said, already waning. And this hindered them from approaching, their jealousy walling off the approach. So while John was with them, he exhorted them continually and taught them, and not even so did he persuade them; but when he was now about to die, he makes greater effort. For he feared lest he leave behind an occasion for evil doctrine, and they should remain broken off from Christ. For he himself had been eager from the beginning to bring all his own to him; but since he did not persuade them, now as he is dying he shows greater zeal. If then he had said, “Go away to him, he is better than I,” he would not have persuaded them, since they were hard to tear away; rather he would have been thought to be speaking so out of modesty, and they would have been the more nailed to him; and if he had kept silence, again nothing more would have come of it. What then does he do? He waits to hear from them that Jesus is working wonders; and not even so does he exhort them, nor does he send them all, but two whom he knew perhaps to be more easily persuaded than the others, so that the question might be free of suspicion, so that they might learn from the facts the difference between Jesus and himself; and he says, “Go and say, ‘Are you he who comes, or do we look for another?’” And Christ, knowing John’s intention, did not say, “I am he”; for again this would have offended the hearers, although this would have been the natural thing to say; but he lets them learn from the facts. For it says that when these came to him, then he healed many. And yet what sequence was there, on being asked, “Are you he?”, to say nothing to this, but at once to heal the sick, unless he wished to bring about what I have said? For they thought the testimony from deeds more trustworthy and freer from suspicion than that from words. Knowing therefore, since he was God, the intention with which John had sent them, he at once healed blind men, lame men, and many others, not teaching John (for how could he teach one already persuaded?), but these who were in doubt; and having healed them he says, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind recover their sight, and the lame walk, and lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised, and the poor have good news preached to them.” And he added, “And blessed is he who is not offended in me,” showing that he knows even their secret thoughts. For if he had said, “I am he,” this would have offended them, as I said before, and they would have thought, even if they did not say it, what the Jews said to him: “You bear witness about yourself.” For this reason he himself does not say this, but lets them learn everything from the wonders, making the teaching free of suspicion and clearer. For this reason too he brought in his rebuke of them covertly. For since they were offended in him, he made their sickness public, but left it to their conscience alone, and made no witness of this charge except those very men who knew these things, and by this too he drew them the more, saying, “Blessed is he who is not offended in me.” For it was hinting at them that he said these things. But so that we may not set forth only what we have said, but also, placing in the midst what is said by others, may make the truth clearer to you by the comparison of what is said, it is necessary to state those things too. What then do some say? That the cause is not the one we have stated, but John was ignorant; yet he was not ignorant of everything, but he knew that he was the Christ, while whether he was also going to die for men he did not know; therefore he said, “Are you he who comes?”, that is, he who is going to go down into Hades. But this would have no reason; for John was not ignorant even of this. Indeed he proclaimed this even before the other things, and bore witness to this first: “For behold,” he says, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” And he called him a lamb, proclaiming the cross; and by saying, “who takes away the sin of the world,” he showed this same thing. For not otherwise but through the cross did he accomplish this; which Paul too said: “And the bond, which was against us, he took out of the way, nailing it to the cross.” And the saying, “He will baptize you with the Spirit,” was that of one who prophesied the things after the resurrection. “But that he would rise again,” they say, “he knew, and would give the Holy Spirit; but that he would also be crucified he did not know.” How then was he going to rise who had not suffered nor been crucified? And how was this man greater than a prophet, who did not even know the things of the prophets? For that he was greater than a prophet Christ himself bore witness; and that the prophets knew of the passion is clear to everyone. For Isaiah says, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb.” And before this testimony he says, “There shall be the root of Jesse, and he who rises up to rule the nations; in him shall the nations hope.” Then speaking of the passion and the glory that comes from it, he added, “And his rest shall be honor.” And he foretold not only that he would be crucified, but with whom: “For he was numbered with the transgressors,” he says. And not this only, but that he would not even defend himself: “For he,” he says, “does not open his mouth”; and that he would be unjustly condemned: “For in his humiliation,” he says, “his judgment was taken away.” And before him David too says this, and sketches the court of judgment: “Why,” he says, “did the nations rage, and the peoples devise vain things? The kings of the earth stood by, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ.” And elsewhere he speaks also of the figure of the cross, saying thus: “They pierced my hands and my feet”; and he adds with all exactness what the soldiers dared to do: “For they divided my garments among themselves,” he says, “and for my clothing they cast lots.” And elsewhere he says that they also offered him vinegar: “For they gave,” he says, “gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Then do the prophets, so many years before, speak of the court, and the condemnation, and those crucified with him, and the division of the garments, and the lot cast upon them, and many more things besides (for it is not necessary to set out everything now, so as not to make the discourse long), while this man, greater than all of them, was ignorant of all these things? And how would this have reason? And for what reason did he not say, “Are you he who comes into Hades?” but simply, “he who comes”? And yet that other thing would be far more ridiculous than this; for they say that he said these things so that, having gone there too, he might preach. To whom it is timely to say, “Brothers, do not be children in your minds, but in malice be infants.” For the present life is the time for conduct, but after death come judgment and punishment. “For in Hades,” it says, “who will confess to you?” How then were the gates of bronze broken and the bars of iron shattered? Through his body. For then for the first time was a body shown immortal and dissolving the tyranny of death. And besides, this shows the might of death destroyed, not the sins of those who died before his coming loosed. Otherwise, if he set free from Gehenna all those before as well, how does he say, “It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah”? For this is said as though those too will be punished, more gently indeed, but punished nonetheless. And yet they paid the utmost penalty here as well; but nevertheless not even this will deliver them. And if not these, much less those who have suffered nothing. What then? “Were those before his coming wronged?” someone says. By no means; for it was possible then to be saved even without confessing Christ. For this was not required of them, but not to worship idols and to know the true God. “For the Lord your God,” it says, “is one Lord.” For this reason the Maccabees too were admired, because they suffered what they suffered for keeping the law, and the three children, and many others among the Jews, who displayed an excellent life and kept the measure of this knowledge, were required to do nothing more. For then it was enough for salvation, as I said before, only to know God; but now no longer, but there is need also of the knowledge of Christ. For this reason he said, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.” So also in conduct. Then murder destroyed the one who committed it, but now even being angry does. And then to commit adultery and to have intercourse with another’s wife brought punishment; but now even to look with unchaste eyes. For as knowledge, so also conduct has now been made stricter. So there was no need of a forerunner there. And besides, if unbelievers were going to be saved by believing after death, no one would ever perish. For all will then repent and worship. And that this is so (…): “Every tongue will confess, and every knee will bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth”; and that “the last enemy, death, is destroyed.” But there is no profit in that submission; for it is not of a grateful choice, but, as one might say, of the necessity of the facts at last. Let us not then bring in any longer such old wives’ doctrines and Jewish fables. Hear then what Paul says about these things: “For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law,” speaking of those in the time before the law; “and as many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law,” speaking of all those after Moses; and, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men”; and, “Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.” And yet the Greeks suffered countless evils here; and this both the histories of those outside and the Scriptures among us make clear. For who could recount the tragedies of the Babylonians, or those of the Egyptians? And that those too who did not know Christ before his coming in the flesh, but withdrew from idolatry and worshiped God alone and displayed an excellent way of life, will enjoy all the good things, hear what he says: “But glory and honor and peace to everyone who works good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Do you see that there are many rewards of good things for these, and punishments and penalties again for those who have done the opposite? Where then are those who disbelieve in Gehenna? For if those before Christ’s coming, who did not even hear the name of Gehenna, nor of resurrection, and were punished here, will pay the penalty there too, how much more we, who have been nurtured on so many words of wisdom? “And how is it reasonable,” someone says, “that those who heard nothing about Gehenna should fall into Gehenna?” For they will say, “If you had threatened Gehenna, we would have feared more and been sober.” Quite so! As we live now, hearing every day the words about Gehenna and paying no attention at all! And apart from these things, this too may be said, that he who is not restrained by the punishments at his feet will much less be restrained by those. For the more senseless and the grosser are usually brought to their senses by things at hand and about to happen at once more than by things that will come about long afterward. “But over us,” someone says, “a greater fear has been hung, and in this those men have been wronged.” By no means. For first, the same contests are not set before us and them, but far greater ones before us. And those who have taken on greater labors needed to enjoy greater help; and no small help is the increase of fear. And if we have the advantage over them in knowing the things to come, they too have the advantage over us in that severe punishments were brought upon them immediately. But the many say something else against these things too: “For where is the justice of God,” they say, “when someone who sins here is punished both here and there?” Do you wish then that I remind you of your own words, so that you may no longer give us trouble, but bring the solution from home? I have heard many of our people, whenever they learned that a murderer had been beheaded in court, being vexed and saying these words: “This foul and accursed man, who dared thirty murders, or even many more, himself endured only one death; and where is the justice?” So you yourselves confess that one death is not enough for punishment. How then do you now vote the contrary? Because you are judging not others but yourselves. So great a hindrance does self-love become to seeing what is just. For this reason, when we judge others, we examine everything with exactness; but when we judge ourselves, we are blinded. Since if we examined these things in our own case too, as in that of the others, we would give an impartial vote. For we too have sins worthy not of two and three deaths, but of countless ones. And to pass over the other things, let us consider ourselves, as many as partake of the mysteries unworthily; and such are guilty of the body and the blood of Christ. So when you speak of the murderer, reckon yourself too. For he killed a man, but you are answerable for the slaughter of the Master; and he did so without partaking of the mysteries, but we while enjoying the sacred table. And what (…) of us who bite and devour our brothers and shed much venom? And what of him who takes away the food of the poor? For if he who does not share is such, much more he who takes the things of others. How many robbers are the covetous worse than? How many murderers the rapacious? How many grave-robbers? And how many, after stripping, are even eager for blood? “Away with it! God forbid!” someone says. Now you say “God forbid”; when you have an enemy, say “God forbid” then, and remember what has been said, and show a life full of great exactness, so that the things of Sodom may not await us too, so that we may not suffer the things of Gomorrah, so that we may not endure the evils of Tyre and of Sidon; or rather, so that we may not offend against Christ, which is (…) of all. Even if Gehenna seems to many to be fearful, yet I will not cease crying out continually that this is more grievous and more fearful than any Gehenna, and I beseech you to be so disposed. For so we shall both be delivered from Gehenna and enjoy the glory that comes from Christ; which may we all attain, by the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen.

“And as they went their way, Jesus began to say to the crowds concerning John, ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold, those who wear soft things are in the houses of kings. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.’” For what concerned John’s disciples had been well managed, and they went away confirmed by the signs that had just been done; but it remained to heal what concerned the people too. For those disciples would have suspected nothing of the kind about their own teacher; but the great crowd, from the question of John’s disciples, might have suspected many absurd things, not knowing the intention with which he had sent his disciples. And it was likely that they would reason among themselves and say, “He who bore such great witness has now changed his mind, and is in doubt whether it is this man or another who is to come. Is he perhaps saying these things because he is at odds with Jesus? Has he perhaps become more timid because of the prison? Did he perhaps say the former things idly and in vain?” Since then it was likely that they would suspect many such things, see how he corrects their weakness and removes these suspicions. “For as they went their way, he began to say to the crowds.” Why “as they went their way”? So that he might not seem to flatter the man. And in correcting the people he does not bring their suspicion out into the open, but only brings in the solution of the reasonings troubling them in their minds, showing that he knew the secret thoughts of all. For he does not say, as he did to the Jews, “Why do you think evil?” For even if they had thought these things, it was not from wickedness that they reasoned so, but from ignorance of what had been said. For this reason he does not speak to them reprovingly either, but only corrects their thinking, and makes a defense on John’s behalf; and he shows that he had not fallen from his former opinion nor changed, for he is not a man easily moved and blown about, but firm and steadfast, and not such as to betray what had been entrusted to him. And in establishing these things he does not establish them at once by his own pronouncement, but first from their testimony, showing them to be witnesses of his firmness not only by what they said but also by what they did. Therefore he says, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” As if he said, “Why did you all leave the cities and the houses and gather into the wilderness? To see some pitiable and fickle man?” But this would have no reason. For that eagerness, and all running together into the wilderness, does not show this. For so great a people and so many cities would not have poured out at that time with such great zeal into the wilderness and to the river Jordan, unless you had expected to see someone great and wonderful and firmer than a rock. “For indeed you did not go out to see a reed shaken by the wind”; for the fickle and those easily carried about, saying now these things and now those, and standing on nothing, are most like this. And see how, leaving every other vice, he sets down this one, which was most lurking in them at that time, and takes away the ground of the charge of fickleness. “But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold, those who wear soft things are in the houses of kings.” What he says is this: that he was not fickle by nature, and you showed this by your eagerness. Nor could anyone say this either, that he was firm, but afterward, having become a slave of luxury, he grew slack. For of men some are such by nature, while others become so; as, for example, one man is irascible by nature, while another, having fallen into a long illness, acquires this disease. Again, some are fickle and light by nature, while others become so from being slaves to luxury and living softly. “But John,” he says, “neither was such by nature (for you did not go out to see a reed), nor, by giving himself to luxury, did he lose the excellence he had.” For that he was not a slave to luxury his clothing shows, and the wilderness, and the prison. For if he had wished to wear soft things, he would not have dwelt in the wilderness, nor in the prison, but in the palace. For it was open to him, merely by keeping silence, to enjoy countless honors. For seeing that Herod so revered him even after he had reproved him and while he was in bonds, much more would he have flattered him if he had kept silence. How then would one who had given proof by deed of his firmness and endurance justly be suspected of such things?