Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 45.1–45.3

“And the disciples came and said to him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ And he answered and said to them, ‘Because to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.’” It is worth admiring the disciples, how, though they desire to learn, they know when they ought to ask. For they do not do this before all; and Matthew showed this by saying, “And they came.” And that what has been said is not a conjecture, Mark set it forth more clearly, saying that they came to him privately. This his brothers and his mother too ought to have done, and not to call him outside and make a display. And consider their affectionate care too, how they take great account of the others, and seek their good first, and then their own. “For why,” they say, “do you speak to them in parables?” They did not say, “Why do you speak to us in parables?” For elsewhere too they are seen in many ways to be affectionately disposed toward all, as when they say, “Send the crowds away,” and, “Do you know that they were offended?” What then does Christ say? “Because to you it has been given,” he says, “to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” And he said this not bringing in necessity, nor some allotment made simply and at random, but showing that they are the cause of all their evils, and wishing to set forth that the thing is a gift and a grace given from above. Yet because it is a gift, free will is not therefore taken away; and this is clear from what follows. See at any rate how, so that neither those might despair nor these grow careless on hearing that “it has been given,” he shows that the beginning is with us. “For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” And what has been said is full of much obscurity, but it shows unspeakable justice. For what he says is this: when someone has eagerness and zeal, all the things from God will be given to him too; but when he is empty of these and does not contribute his own part, neither are the things from God given. “For even what he seems to have,” he says, “will be taken from him”; not God taking it away, but not counting him worthy of his gifts. This we too do: when we see someone listening carelessly, and after exhorting him much to attend we do not persuade him, we are silent at last. For if we are going to persist, his carelessness is increased. But the one eager to learn we draw on and pour much into him. And he said well, “even what he seems to have”; for he does not even have this. Then he made what he had said clearer too, showing what is meant by “to him who has it will be given, and from him who does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” “For this reason,” he says, “I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see.” “Then he ought to have opened their eyes,” someone says, “if they do not see.” But if the blindness were of nature, he ought to have opened them; but since the blindness is voluntary and self-chosen, for this reason he did not simply say, “They do not see,” but, “Seeing they do not see”; so the blindness is of their own wickedness. For they saw demons too going out, and they said, “He casts out the demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” They heard him bringing them to God and showing great concord with him, and they say, “This man is not from God.” Since then they declared the contrary both of what they saw and of what they heard, “for this reason,” he says, “I take away from them even the hearing.” For no more comes to them from it, but even greater judgment. For they not only disbelieved, but also rebuked and accused and plotted. But he does not say this; for he does not wish to be burdensome in accusing. So at the beginning he did not speak to them so, but with great clearness; but since they perverted themselves, he now speaks in parables. Then, so that no one may think that what was said is mere accusation, and that they may not say, “Being our enemy, he accuses and slanders us with these things,” he brings in the prophet too, voting the same things with him. “For in them is fulfilled,” he says, “the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and shall not perceive.’” See the prophet too accusing with this exactness. For neither did he say, “You do not see,” but, “You will see and shall not perceive”; not that “you will not hear,” but that “you will hear and shall not understand.” So they deprived themselves first, stopping their ears, shutting their eyes, making their heart fat. For not only did they not hear, but they also heard heavily. And they did this, he says, “lest they should turn, and I should heal them,” speaking of their intense wickedness and their eager turning away.

And he says this drawing them on and provoking them, and showing that if they turn, he will heal them; as if someone were to say, “He did not wish to see me, and I am grateful; for if I had been counted worthy, I would at once have given way.” And he says this showing how he might be reconciled. So here too he says, “lest they should turn and I should heal them,” showing both that turning is possible and that it is possible for those who repent to be saved, and that he did everything not for his own glory but for their salvation. For if he had not wished them to hear and be saved, he ought to have kept silence, not to speak in parables; but now by this very thing he moves them, by speaking in veiled sayings. “For God does not desire the death of the sinner, so much as that he should turn and live.” For that sin is not of nature, nor of necessity and force, hear what he says to the apostles: “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear,” not meaning this sight nor this hearing, but that of the mind. For these too were Jews, and had been brought up in the same things; but nevertheless they were in no way harmed by the prophecy, since they had the root of good things well disposed, I mean their choice and their mind. Do you see that “to you it has been given” was not of necessity? For they would not have been called blessed unless the achievement had been theirs. For do not tell me that it was spoken obscurely; for they could have come and asked, as the disciples did; but they were unwilling, being careless and lax. And why do I say they were unwilling? They even did the opposite. For they not only disbelieved, nor only did not listen, but even made war and were very ill-disposed toward what was said; which is why the prophet is brought in accusing them, by saying, “They heard heavily.” But those others were not such; therefore he also called them blessed. And from another side too he confirms them again, saying, “For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it”: “my coming,” he says, “the very wonders, my voice, my teaching.” For here he sets them above not only these corrupt men, but also above those who had done well; for he says that they are more blessed even than those. Why? Because these see not only what the Jews did not see, but also what those men desired to see. For those beheld only by faith, but these by sight too, and far more clearly. Do you see how again he joins the old covenant to the new, showing that those men not only knew the things to come, but even desired them exceedingly? But they would not have desired them, if they had belonged to some strange and opposite God. “Hear then the parable of the sower,” he says; and he says what we stated before, about carelessness and zeal, about cowardice and courage, about wealth and having nothing, showing the harm from the one and the benefit from the other. Then he brings in different ways of virtue too. For being a lover of mankind, he did not cut one road only, nor did he say, “Unless one produces a hundred, he has fallen away”; but he who produces sixty is saved too, and not he only, but also he who produces thirty. And he did this making salvation easy. And you, then, cannot practise virginity? Marry chastely. You cannot become one who possesses nothing? Give from what you have. You cannot bear that burden? Share your possessions with Christ. You do not wish to give him all? Give him at least the half, at least the third part. He is your brother and fellow heir; make him your fellow heir here too. Whatever you give him, you will give to yourself. Do you not hear what the prophet says? “You shall not overlook those of your own seed.” And if one must not overlook kinsmen, much less the Master, who besides his lordship has the claim of kinship upon you too, and many other claims. For he made you a sharer in his own things, having received nothing from you, but even having begun this unspeakable benefit. How then is it not the height of folly not even to be loving toward men in return for this gift, nor to give a recompense for grace, and that a smaller one for greater things? For he made you heir of heaven; but you do not share with him even the things on earth. He reconciled you when you had done nothing good, but were even an enemy; but you do not repay him even though he is a friend and benefactor? And yet even before the kingdom and before all other things, ought we not to be grateful to him for this very thing, that we may give? For servants too, when they invite their masters to a meal, think that they are not giving but receiving; but here the opposite has happened. For not the servant the master, but the master first invited the servant to his own table; and do you not invite him even after this? He first brought you under his own roof; and do you not do so even second? He clothed you when you were naked; and do you not even after these things take him in when he is a stranger? He first gave you to drink of his own cup; and do you not share even cold water? He gave you the Holy Spirit to drink; and do you not even relieve his bodily thirst? He gave you the Spirit to drink, though you deserved punishments; and do you overlook him even when he is thirsty, and that when you are going to do all these things from his own possessions?

For do you not think it a great thing to hold the cup from which Christ is going to drink, and to bring it to his mouth? Do you not see that it is lawful for the priest alone to hand the cup of the blood? “But I am not exacting at all about these things,” he says; “but even if you yourself hand it, I receive it; even if you are a layman, I do not refuse. And I do not require such as I gave; for I do not seek blood, but cold water.” Consider whom you give to drink, and shudder. Consider that you become a priest of Christ, giving with your own hand, not flesh but bread, not blood but a cup of cold water. He clothed you with the garment of salvation, and clothed you by himself; do you at least clothe him through your servant. He made you glorious in heaven; do you free him from shivering and nakedness and shame. He made you a citizen with the angels; do you at least share your roof with him, at least give him a lodging as you would to your servant. “I do not turn away from this lodging, and that though I opened all heaven to you. I set you free from a most grievous prison; this I do not require, nor do I say, ‘Set me free’; but if you only see me bound, this is enough for my comfort. I raised you up when you were dead; this I do not require from you, but I say, ‘Only visit me when I am sick.’” When then the things given are so great and the things required very light, and we do not furnish even these, of how great a Gehenna would we not be worthy? With reason we go away into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels, being more insensible than rocks. For how great is the insensibility, tell me, that we who have received so much and are going to receive so much should be slaves of money, from which a little later we shall depart even unwillingly? And others gave even their life and poured out their blood; but you do not give up even your superfluities for heaven, for so many crowns? And of what pardon would you be worthy, what defense, when in sowing the earth you give up everything gladly, and in lending to men you spare nothing, but in feeding your Master through those in need you are cruel and inhuman? Considering all these things, then, and reckoning what we have received, what we are going to receive, and what we are asked for, let us display all our zeal in spiritual things. Let us at length become gentle and loving toward men, so that we may not draw upon ourselves the unbearable penalty. For what is not enough to condemn us? To have enjoyed so many and such great things; to be asked for nothing great; to be asked for such things as we shall leave here even unwillingly; to display great love of honor in worldly things. For each of these by itself is enough to condemn us; but when all come together, what hope of salvation will there be? So that we may escape all this condemnation, then, let us display some generosity toward those in need. For so we shall enjoy all the good things both here and there; 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.