Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 40.1–40.5

“And departing from there, he went into their synagogue; and behold, a man having a withered hand.” Again he heals on the sabbath, defending what had been done by the disciples. And the other evangelists say that he set the man in the midst and asked them whether it is lawful to do good on the sabbath. Behold the tender compassion of the Master. He set him in the midst so that he might bend them by the sight; so that, broken down by the spectacle, they might cast out their wickedness, and, put to shame by the man, might cease from their brutality. But the untamed and man-hating rather choose to harm the glory of Christ than to see this man saved, showing their wickedness on both sides, both by warring against Christ, and by doing so with such contentiousness as even to spite the benefits done to others. The other evangelists, then, say that he himself asked; but this one that he was asked: “And they asked him,” it says, “saying, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath?’ that they might accuse him.” And it is likely that both happened. For being vile, and knowing that he would certainly come to the healing, they hastened to forestall him by the question, expecting in this way to hinder him. Therefore they also asked, “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath?”, not that they might learn, but that they might accuse him. And yet the deed was enough, if they wished to accuse him; but they wished to find a handle through words too, preparing for themselves beforehand an abundance of charges. But the lover of mankind does this too, and answers, teaching his own gentleness, and showing it, turning everything back upon them, and he shows their inhumanity. And he sets the man in the midst, not fearing them, but hastening to benefit them and to bring them to mercy. But when not even so did he bend them, then he was grieved, it says, and angry with them because of the hardness of their heart, and he says, “What man is there among you who will have one sheep, and if this falls into a pit on the sabbath, will he not lay hold of it and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep! So it is lawful to do well on the sabbath.” For so that they might not be able to be shameless, nor again to accuse him of transgression, he reasons with them by this example. But consider, I pray you, how variously and suitably everywhere he brings in his defenses about breaking the sabbath. For in the case of the blind man he does not even defend himself to them when he made the clay, though even then they accused him, but the manner of the creative act was enough to show the Master of the law. But in the case of the paralytic, when he carried his bed and they accused him, he defends himself now as God, now as man: as man, when he says, “If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath, that the law may not be broken” (and he did not say, “that a man may be benefited”), “are you angry with me because I made a man wholly sound?”; and as God, when he says, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” And when accused on behalf of the disciples he said, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those with him? How he entered into the house of God and ate the loaves of the presentation?” And he brings the priests forward. And here again: “Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good, or to do evil? Which of you will have one sheep?” For he knew their love of money, that they were this rather than lovers of mankind. And yet the other evangelist says that he also looked around while asking these things, so as to draw them by his look as well; but not even so did they become better. And yet here he only speaks, while elsewhere in many places he heals by laying on his hands as well. But nevertheless none of these things made them mild; but the man was healed, while they through his health became worse. For he himself wished, before healing that man, to heal them, and set in motion countless ways of healing, both by what he did before and by what he said; but since they were sick incurably, he proceeded to the deed. “Then he says to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And he stretched it out, and it was restored sound like the other.” What then did they do? “They go out,” it says, “and take counsel to destroy him.” “For the Pharisees,” it says, “went out and took counsel against him, how they might destroy him.” Though they had suffered no wrong, they were attempting to kill him. So great

an evil is envy. For it wars always not against strangers only, but against one’s own too. And Mark says that they took this counsel with the Herodians. What then does the gentle and meek one do? He withdrew when he learned these things. “But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, withdrew from there,” it says. Where then are those who say that signs ought to have been done? For by these things he showed that the ungrateful soul is not persuaded even by them, and he made clear that they accused the disciples too without cause. But this one must observe, that they grow especially savage at the benefits done to their neighbors; and when they see someone being freed from disease or from vice, then they both accuse and become wild beasts. For when he was going to save the harlot, they slandered him; and when he ate with tax collectors; and now again, when they saw the hand restored. But consider, I pray you, how he neither leaves off his care for the sick and appeases their envy. “And great crowds followed him, and he healed them all; and he charged those who were healed not to make him known.” For the crowds everywhere both marvel and follow; but those men do not leave off their wickedness. Then, so that you may not be troubled at what happens, and at the strangeness of their madness, he brings in the prophet too, foretelling these things. For so great was the exactness of the prophets that they did not leave out even these things, but prophesied both his journeys and his removals, and the intention with which he did these things; so that you may learn that they spoke all things by the Spirit. For if it is impossible to know the secret things of men, much more was it impossible to learn the aim of Christ, unless the Spirit had revealed it. What then does the prophet say? The evangelist added at any rate: “That what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim judgment to the Gentiles. He will not strive nor cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench, until he sends forth judgment to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.’” He celebrates his meekness and his unspeakable power, and opens to the Gentiles a great and effectual door, and foretells the evils that would overtake the Jews, and shows his oneness of mind with the Father. “For behold,” he says, “my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased.” And if he chose him, he does not break the law as an opponent, nor as an enemy of the lawgiver, but as one of one mind and doing the same things. Then, proclaiming his meekness, he says, “He will not strive nor cry aloud.” For he himself wished to heal in their presence; but since they repulsed him, he did not resist even this. And showing both his own strength and their weakness, he says, “A bruised reed he will not break.” For it was easy to snap them all like a reed; and not simply a reed, but one already bruised. “And smoking flax he will not quench.” Here he sets forth both their kindled anger and his strength, which was able to put down their anger and quench it with all ease; from which great gentleness is shown. What then? Will it always be so? And will he bear to the end those who plot such things and rage? Away with the thought! But when he has displayed his own part, then he will do those things too. For he made this clear by saying, “Until he sends forth judgment to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope”; as Paul too says, “Being ready to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” And what is “when he sends forth judgment to victory”? “When he has fulfilled all that is his part,” he says, “then he will bring on the vengeance too, and a complete vengeance.” Then they will suffer the terrible things, when the trophy stands brilliant, and his righteous acts have prevailed, and he leaves them not even a shameless pretext for gainsaying. For Scripture knows how to call righteousness “judgment.” But the dispensation will not stop at this, at the punishment of the unbelievers only, but he will also draw the world to himself. Therefore he also added, “And in his name the Gentiles will hope.” And so that you may learn that this too is according to the Father’s will, the prophet in the opening placed this too in pledge together with what went before, saying, “My beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased.” For it is clear that the beloved did these things too according to the will of the one who loves him. “Then they brought to him one possessed by a demon, blind and dumb; and he healed him, so that the blind and dumb man both spoke and saw.” O the wickedness of the demon! He had stopped up both entrances, through which that man was going to believe, both sight and hearing; but nevertheless Christ opened both. “And all the crowds were amazed, saying, ‘Can this be the Son of David?’ But the Pharisees said, ‘This man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.’” And yet what great thing had they said? But nevertheless they did not bear even this; so, as I said before, they are always stung by the benefits done to their neighbors, and nothing grieves them so much as the salvation of men. And yet he had both withdrawn and given their passion time to abate; but the evil was kindled again, since again a benefit had been done; and they were more indignant than the demon. For he went out of the body, and withdrew, and fled, uttering nothing; but these men at one time tried to kill him, at another to slander him. For since that did not succeed, they wished to harm his reputation. Such is envy, than which there could be no worse vice. For the adulterer at least reaps some pleasure, and completes his sin in a short time; but the envious man punishes and torments himself before the one he envies, and never ceases from his sin, but is continually in the doing of it. For as a pig delights in mire, and demons in our harm, so he too delights in his neighbor’s evils; and if something unpleasant happens, then he rests and breathes again, counting the misfortunes of others his own cheerfulness, and the good things of others his own evils; and he considers not what might be pleasant to himself, but what painful to his neighbor. Is it not right, then, to stone such men and beat them to death, like mad dogs, like avenging demons, like the very Furies? For as beetles (…), being common enemies and foes of nature. And others pity a brute beast being slaughtered; but you, seeing a man receiving benefits, become a wild beast and tremble and turn pale? And what could be worse than this madness? For this reason fornicators and tax collectors were able to enter the kingdom, while the envious, who were inside, went out. “For the sons of the kingdom,” he says, “will be cast out.” And those, freed from the wickedness in which they were, attained what they never expected; while these lost even the good things they had, and with good reason. For this makes a devil out of a man; this makes him a savage demon. So the first murder was committed; so nature was disregarded; so the earth was defiled; so afterward, opening its mouth, it received alive and destroyed those with Dathan and Korah and Abiram, and all that people. But someone might say that to accuse envy is easy; we must consider also how they may be freed from the disease. How then shall we be freed from this wickedness? If we consider that, as it is not lawful for the fornicator to enter the church, so neither for the envious man, and much more for him than for the other. For now it seems even a matter of indifference; therefore it is neglected; but if it becomes clear that it is evil, we shall easily withdraw from it. Weep then and groan; lament and entreat God. Learn to feel and to repent as about a grievous sin. And if you are so disposed, you will quickly be freed from the disease. “And who does not know,” someone says, “that envy is evil?” No one is ignorant of it; but they do not hold the same opinion about this passion as about sexual immorality and adultery. When at least did anyone bitterly condemn himself for having envied? When did he entreat God about this disease, that he might become merciful to him? Never at all; but if he fasts and gives a poor man a little silver, even if he is ten thousand times envious, he thinks he has done nothing terrible, though held by the vilest passion of all. Where then did Cain become such? Where Esau? Where the sons of Laban? Where the sons of Jacob? Where those with Korah and Dathan and Abiram? Where Miriam? Where Aaron? Where the devil himself? With

these things consider this too, that you do not wrong the one you envy, but thrust the sword against yourself. For how did Cain wrong Abel? Did he not send him, even against his will, more quickly to the kingdom, while he pierced himself through with countless evils? How did Esau harm Jacob? Did not the one grow rich and enjoy countless good things, while he himself was driven out of his father’s house and wandered in a strange land after that plot? And how did his sons make Joseph worse off, though they went as far as blood? Did not they endure famine and run the risk of the utmost dangers, while he became king of all Egypt? For the more you envy, the greater the good things you procure for the one you envy. For it is God who oversees these things; and when he sees the one who does no wrong being wronged, he raises him the more and makes him illustrious by this, but punishes you. For if he does not let those who exult over their enemies go unpunished (“For do not rejoice,” it says, “at the fall of your enemies, lest God see it and it displease him”), much more those who envy those who have done no wrong. Let us then cut off the many-headed beast; for many are the forms of envy. For if he who loves the one who loves him has nothing more than the tax collector, where will he stand who hates the one who does no wrong? And how will he escape Gehenna, becoming worse than the Gentiles? Therefore I grieve exceedingly that we, who are commanded to imitate the angels, or rather the Master of the angels, emulate the devil. For there is much envy in the church too, or rather among us more than among those who are ruled. Therefore we must speak to ourselves too. For what reason, tell me, do you envy your neighbor? Because you see him enjoying honor and kind words? Then do you not consider how much evil honors bring to those who do not pay attention, lifting them to vainglory, to pride, to arrogance, to contempt, making them more careless? And besides these evils, they also wither easily. For this is the most grievous thing, that the evils from it remain undying, while the pleasure no sooner appeared than it flew away. Is it for these things, then, that you envy, tell me? “But he has great authority with the ruler, and leads and carries everything wherever he wishes, and grieves those who offend him and benefits those who flatter him, and has great power.” These words belong to worldly men and to men nailed to the earth. For nothing will be able to grieve the spiritual man. For what terrible thing will he do to him? Will he depose him from his rank? And what of this? For if it is justly, he is even benefited; for nothing so provokes God as being a priest unworthily; but if unjustly, the charge passes again to the other, not to this man; for he who suffers something unjustly and bears it nobly gains by this greater boldness before God. Let us not then consider this, how we may be in positions of power and in honors and in authority, but how we may be in virtue and philosophy. For authority persuades us to do many things that do not seem good to God, and it needs a very vigorous soul to use authority as one ought. For he who is deprived of it practises philosophy willingly or unwillingly; but he who enjoys it suffers something like this, as if someone living with a beautiful and lovely girl were to receive a law never to look at her licentiously. Such a thing is authority. Therefore it has thrown many even against their will into insolence, has roused anger, has taken away the bridle of the tongue, and torn the door off the mouth, fanning the soul as by a wind, and sinking the ship into the lowest depth of evils. Do you then admire the man in so great danger and say he is to be envied? And how great is the folly of this! Consider at least, besides what has been said, how many enemies and accusers, how many flatterers he has besieging him. Are these things worthy of being called blessed, tell me? And who would say so? “But he is in good repute with the people,” someone says. And what of this? For the people is not God, to whom he is going to give account. So when you say “the people,” you are saying nothing else than other projecting rocks, and crags, and sunken reefs, and hidden rocks. For good repute among the people, the more illustrious it makes a man, the greater the dangers, the cares, the despondencies it has. For such a man cannot breathe again or stand still at all, having so harsh a master. And why do I say stand still and breathe again? Even if such a man has countless good deeds, he enters the kingdom with difficulty. For nothing is accustomed to throw men headlong as the glory that comes from the many does, making them cowardly, ignoble, flatterers, hypocrites. For what reason at any rate did the Pharisees say that Christ had a demon? Was it not because they desired the glory that comes from the many? And how did the many cast the right vote about him? Was it not because they were not held by this disease? For nothing, nothing so makes men lawless and senseless as gaping after the glory of the many; nothing makes them of good repute and illustrious as despising it. Therefore there is need of a very vigorous soul in one who is going to hold out against so great a rush and violence of wind. For when he prospers, he sets himself before all; and when he suffers the opposite, he wishes to bury himself; and this is to him both Gehenna and kingdom, when he is submerged by this passion.

Are these things then worthy of envy, tell me, and not rather of laments and tears? It is clear to everyone. But you do the same thing in envying the man in such good repute as if someone, seeing a man bound and scourged and dragged about by countless wild beasts, were to envy him his wounds and stripes. For as many men as the people has, so many bonds this man too has, so many masters; and what is more grievous, each of these has a different opinion, and all of them decree whatever comes into their heads about the one who serves them, examining nothing, but confirming whatever seems good to this one and that one. What waves then, what storm, is not less grievous than these things? For such a man is suddenly puffed up by pleasure, and is easily sunk again, being always in unevenness and never in calm. For before the theater and the contests of speaking he is held in anguish and trembling; and after the theater he is either dead with despondency or again rejoices beyond measure, which is more grievous than grief. For that pleasure is no less an evil than grief is clear from how it disposes the soul; for it makes it light, and lifted up, and given wings. And this one may see from the men of former times too. When at any rate was David good: when he rejoiced, or when he was in distress? When the people of the Jews: when they groaned and called on God, or when they rejoiced in the wilderness and worshiped the calf? Therefore Solomon too, who knew best of all what pleasure is, says, “It is good to go to the house of mourning rather than to the house of laughter.” Therefore Christ too calls the one blessed, saying, “Blessed are those who mourn,” and bewails the others: “For woe to you who laugh, for you will weep.” And with good reason. For in luxury the soul is slacker and softer, but in mourning it is drawn together and sober, and freed from the whole swarm of passions, and becomes loftier and stronger. Knowing all these things, then, let us flee the glory that comes from the many and the pleasure that comes from it, so that we may attain the glory that truly is and abides forever; 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.