Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 70.1–70.4

“Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk.” Then, when? When above all they ought to have been pricked to the heart, when they ought to have been astonished at his love for mankind, when they ought to have feared what was to come, when from the past they ought to have believed about the future too. For what had been said was crying aloud in the events. For tax collectors and harlots had believed, and prophets and righteous men had been slain; and from these they ought not to have contradicted what was said about their own destruction, but to have believed and come to their senses. Yet not even so does their wickedness cease, but it travails and goes further. And since they could not lay hold of him (for they feared the crowds), they went another way, thinking to throw him into danger, and they send to him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God in truth, and you care for no one; for you do not regard the person of men. Tell us, then, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay tax to Caesar, or not?” For they were by then subject to tribute, their affairs having passed under the rule of the Romans. Since, then, they saw that those before this had died for this reason, the followers of Theudas and Judas, as having planned revolt, they wished to throw him too into such suspicion by these words. For this reason they sent both their own disciples and Herod’s soldiers, digging, as they thought, a double pit on either side, and setting the snare on every side, so that whatever he said they might seize on it: if he answered in favor of the Herodians, they themselves would accuse him; but if in their own favor, those would bring the charge. And yet he had paid the double drachma; but they did not know this. And they expected to catch him either way, but they desired rather that he should say something against the Herodians. That is why they send the disciples, to push him to this by their presence, so that they might hand him over to the governor as a usurper. Luke too, hinting at this, made it plain by saying that they asked even in the presence of the crowds, so that the testimony might be greater. But the very opposite happened; for before a larger audience they gave the proof of their own folly. And see the flattery and the hidden guile. “We know,” they say, “that you are true.” How then did you say that he is a deceiver and deceives the crowd, and has a demon, and is not from God? How a little before were you plotting to kill him? But everything comes about that the plot suggests. For since a little before, having said with insolence, “By what authority do you do these things?” they obtained no answer to the question, they expect to puff him up by flattery and persuade him to say something against the established laws and contrary to the ruling government. That is why they bear witness to his truthfulness, confessing what is the fact, though not with a right intention nor willingly; and they add, saying, “You care for no one.” See how they are plainly wishing to drive him into those words that would make him offend Herod too, and incur the suspicion of usurpation, as one rising against the laws, so that they might punish him as a seditious man and a usurper. For in saying “You care for no one” and “You do not regard the person of man,” they were hinting at Herod and Caesar. “Tell us, then, what do you think?” Now you honor him and consider him a teacher, when you have often despised and insulted him when he spoke to you of your salvation. And so they have become of one mind. And see the malice. They do not say, “Tell us what is good, what is profitable, what is lawful,” but, “What do you think?” So fixed were they on this one thing, to betray him and make him an enemy of the ruler. And Mark too, making this plain, and uncovering more clearly their insolence and their murderous intent, says that they said, “Shall we pay tax to Caesar, or shall we not pay?” So they breathed anger and travailed with a plot, but pretended deference. What then does he do? “Why do you test me, you hypocrites?” Do you see how sharply he speaks to them? For since their wickedness was complete and manifest, he cuts deeper, first confounding and silencing them by bringing their secrets into the open and making plain to all with what intent they were coming to him. And he did this to check their wickedness, so that they might not be harmed by attempting the same things again. And yet their words were full of great deference; for they called him teacher, and bore witness to his truthfulness and his impartiality; but being God, he was deceived by none of these. Hence they too ought to have inferred that the rebuke was not a guess but a sign that he knew their secrets.

Yet he did not stop at the rebuke, though it was enough to expose their intent and put their wickedness to shame; but he does not stop at this, but sews up their mouths in another way too. “For show me,” he says, “the coin of the tax.” And when they showed it, as he always does, he brings out the verdict through their own tongue, and makes them vote that it is lawful; which was a brilliant and clear victory. So that when he asks, he asks not from ignorance, but wishing to make them answerable by their own answers. For when, being asked, “Whose is the image?” they said, “Caesar’s,” he says, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” For this is not to give but to render back; and this is shown both from the image and from the inscription. Then, lest they should say, “You subject us to men,” he added, “and to God the things that are God’s.” For it is possible both to fulfill to men what is theirs, and to give to God what we owe to God. That is why Paul too says, “Render to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear.” And when you hear, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” know that he means only those things that in no way harm godliness; for if anything is such, such a tribute and custom is no longer Caesar’s but the devil’s. Hearing these things, they were silenced, and marveled at his wisdom. Then they ought to have believed, then to have been astonished. For he had given them a proof of his Godhead by uncovering their secrets, and he silenced them with gentleness. What then? Did they believe? By no means; but leaving him they went away; and after them the Sadducees came to him. O the folly! When those had been silenced, these attack, when they ought to have become more hesitant. But such is rashness: shameless and reckless, and attempting even impossibilities. That is why the evangelist too, astonished at their folly, marks this very thing, saying that they came “on that day.” On which day? On the day on which he exposed the malice of those others and put them to shame. And who are these? Another sect of the Jews besides the Pharisees, and far inferior to them, saying that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit. For these were duller men, excited about bodily things. For there were many sects among them too. That is why Paul too says, “I am a Pharisee, of the strictest sect among us.” And these say nothing directly about the resurrection, but they invent a story and compose an affair that, as I at least think, never even happened, thinking to throw him into perplexity, and wishing to overthrow both: both that there is a resurrection, and that there is such a resurrection. And again these too attack with apparent gentleness, saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.’ Now there were among us seven brothers; and the first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second and the third, up to the seventh. Last of all the woman died too. In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be?” See him answering these like a teacher. For even if they came with malice, yet the question was rather one of ignorance. That is why he does not say to them “hypocrites.” Then, lest he should accuse them, “Why did seven have one woman?” they put forward Moses; though, as I said before, it was an invention, as I at least think. For the third would not have taken her, seeing two bridegrooms dead; and if the third did, yet not the fourth, nor the fifth; and if these did too, much more would the sixth or the seventh not have come near her, but would have taken the woman for an ill omen. For such are the Jews. For if many now feel this, much more did they then; when even apart from this they often fled such a marriage, though the law compelled them. So at any rate Ruth, that Moabite woman, was passed on to the more distant kinsman; and Tamar for this reason was compelled to steal offspring from her father-in-law. And why did they not invent two or three, but seven? In order to ridicule the resurrection, as they thought, abundantly. That is why they say, “All had her,” as though throwing him into some impasse. What then does Christ do? He answers both, standing not to the words but to the intention, and everywhere uncovering their secrets, and sometimes making a show of them, sometimes leaving the conviction to the conscience of those who ask. See, at any rate, how here he shows both: both that there will be a resurrection, and that it is not such a resurrection as they suppose. For what does he say? “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.” For since they put forward Moses and the law as though they knew them, he shows that the question is above all that of men ignorant of the Scriptures. For from this came their testing him too, from not knowing the Scriptures and not knowing God’s power as they ought. “What wonder then,” he says, “if you test me, who am still unknown to you, when you do not know even the power of God, of which you have had so much experience, and you have not known it either from common notions or from the Scriptures?” For even common reasonings make it possible to know this, that to God all things are possible. And first he answers what was asked. For since the cause of their not believing in a resurrection was their thinking that the state of things would be such, he heals the cause, and then also the symptom (for from this the disease too had arisen), and shows the manner of the resurrection. “For in the resurrection,” he says, “they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as angels of God in heaven.” And Luke says, “as sons of God.” If, then, they do not marry, the question is superfluous. It is not, however, because they do not marry that they are angels, but because they are like angels they do not marry. By this he did away with many other things too, all of which Paul hinted at in one saying, “For the form of this world is passing away.” And by these words he showed how great the resurrection is; and that there is a resurrection, he shows too. And yet this too was shown together with what was said; but nevertheless he adds it to the argument again abundantly. For he did not stop at the question only, but went also to their thought. So when they do not ask with great malice but from ignorance, he even teaches beyond what is asked; but when from malice alone, he does not even answer what is asked. And again he silences them from Moses, since they too had put Moses forward, and says, “But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” “Not of those who are not,” he says, “and have vanished once for all and will no longer rise.” For he did not say “I was,” but “I am,” of those who are and are living. For just as Adam, though he lived on the day he ate from the tree, died by the sentence, so these too, though they had died, lived by the promise of the resurrection. How then does he say elsewhere, “That he might be Lord of both the dead and the living”? But this is not contrary to that. For here he calls dead those who are themselves going to live. And besides, “I am the God of Abraham” is one thing, and “that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living” another. And he knows another deadness too, about which he says, “Let the dead bury their own dead.” “And when the crowds heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.” Not even here the Sadducees; but they withdraw defeated, while the unbiased multitude reaps the benefit. Since, then, such is the resurrection, come, let us do everything to obtain the first places there. And if you like, let us show you, even before the resurrection, some who already practice these things here and reap their fruits, going again into the deserts. For I will take up the same subject again, since I see that you listen with more pleasure. Let us see, then, today too the spiritual camps; let us see the pleasure pure of fear. For they are not encamped with spears like soldiers (for it was here that I ended my discourse the other day), nor with shields and breastplates; but you will see them stripped of all these, and doing such things as those men do not even with weapons. And if you can see it, come, give me your hand, and let us both go to this war, and see the battle line. For these too fight every day, and slay their adversaries, and conquer all the desires that plot against us. And you will see these thrown on the ground, not even able to gasp; but that apostolic saying shown in deeds, that “those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Do you see a multitude of dead lying, slain by the sword of the Spirit? For this reason there is no drunkenness there, nor gluttony. And the table shows it, and the trophy set up on it. For drunkenness and gluttony lie dead, routed by water-drinking, this many-shaped and many-headed beast. For as with the fabled Scylla and Hydra, so with drunkenness one may see many heads: here fornication, there anger, elsewhere sloth, elsewhere absurd loves growing up; but all these have been destroyed. And yet all those armies, even if they survive countless wars, are taken by these; and neither weapons nor spears nor anything else can stand against these phalanxes; but the giants themselves, the champions, those who perform countless brave deeds, you would find bound without bonds by sleep and drunkenness, lying without slaughter and wounds like the wounded, or rather worse. For those at least gasp; but these not even that, but fall down at once. Do you see that this camp is greater and more wonderful? For the enemies who overcome those men it destroys by willing alone. For so they make the very mother of all evils weak, so that she no longer even troubles them; and when the general lies dead and the head is destroyed, the rest of the body too is still. And one may see each of those who stay there achieving this victory. For it is not as in these wars, where, if someone receives a wound from one, having once fallen he is no longer a burden to another; but all must strike this beast; and whoever has not struck it and thrown it down is certainly troubled by it.

Do you see a brilliant victory? For what all the armies of the world gathered together cannot set up as a trophy, each of those men sets up; and everything is mixed up and wounded: frenzied words of madness, mad thoughts, everything that drunkenness arms. And they imitate their own Master, whom Scripture admires, saying, “He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.” Do you wish to see another multitude of dead too? Let us see the desires that come from luxury, from the cooks, the chefs, the table-setters, the pastry-makers. I am ashamed to describe everything; yet I will speak of the birds from the Phasis, the broths mixed in quantity, the moist and dry dishes, the laws laid down about these. For as though inhabiting a city and drawing up armies, so these men legislate and arrange: this and this first, and this and this second. And some bring in first birds roasted on coals, stuffed inside with fish; others make the beginnings of these lawless dinners from elsewhere; and there is great rivalry about these things, over quality, over order, over quantity; and they pride themselves on things for which they ought to be buried, some because they spent half the day, others the whole of it, others because they added the night too, saying so. See the measure of the belly, wretched man, and be ashamed of this measureless zeal. But there is nothing of the kind with those angels; even these desires are all dead. For their food is not for surfeit and luxury, but for need. There are no hunters of birds or fish there, but bread and water. And this confusion and uproar and turmoil are all far away from there, both from the cell and from the body; there the harbor is calm, but with these men the tempest is great. Rip open, then, in word, the belly of those who eat such things, and you will see the great filth, the unclean sewer, the whitewashed tomb. And what follows I am ashamed even to mention: the disgusting belchings, the vomitings, the discharges below and above. But come and see these desires too lying dead there, and the more vehement loves that come from them, I mean those of sexual pleasure. For you will see these too all thrown down, along with the horses, along with the baggage carriers. For baggage carrier and weapon and horse of a shameful deed is a shameful word. But you will see horse and rider of this kind together, and weapons lying there; and there, on the contrary, souls thrown down dead. And not only at the table is the victory brilliant for those saints, but also in the other matters: over money, over glory, over malice, over all diseases. Does not this camp seem to you stronger than that one, and this table better? And who will contradict it? No one, not even of those men themselves, even if he is quite mad. For the one sends us on to heaven, the other drags us to Gehenna; the devil arranges the one, Christ the other; luxury and licentiousness legislate the one, philosophy and self-control the other; here Christ is present, there the devil. For where there is drunkenness, there is the devil; where there are shameful words, where there is surfeit, there demons dance. Such a table the rich man had; that is why he was not even master of a drop of water. But these men have no such table, but already practice the life of the angels. They neither marry nor are given in marriage, nor do they sleep their fill, nor live in luxury; but, apart from a few things, they have become as if bodiless. Who, then, conquers his enemies so easily as to set up a trophy while taking his meal? That is why the prophet too says, “You have prepared a table before me in the presence of those who afflict me.” For one would not be wrong in saying this oracle about this table too. For nothing so afflicts the soul as absurd desire, and luxury, and drunkenness, and the evils that come from these; and those who have had experience know this well. And if you learn where this table is gathered from and where that one, then you will see well the difference between them. Where then is that one gathered from? From countless tears, from widows defrauded, from orphans robbed; but this one from just labors. And this table is like a beautiful and comely woman, who needs nothing from outside but has a natural beauty; but that one is like an ugly and ill-favored harlot, with many cosmetics, yet unable to cover her ugliness, but the nearer she comes the more she is exposed. For that table too, when it comes nearer to the one who consorts with her, then shows its shame the more. For do not look at the guests going up to it, but also coming down, and then you will see its shamefulness. For the former, being free, lets those who keep company with her say nothing shameful; but the latter nothing honorable, being a harlot and dishonored. The one seeks the profit of the one who is with her, the other his harm. And the one does not let him offend God; the other does not let him avoid offending. Let us go away, then, to those men. From there we shall know with how many bonds we are bound; from there we shall learn to set a table full of countless good things, most pleasant, without expense, free of anxiety, free of envy and malice and every disease, full of good hope, and having many trophies. There is no tumult of the soul there, no grief, no anger; all is calm, all is peace. For do not tell me of the silence of the servants in the houses of the rich, but of the clamor of those at the meal; I do not mean their clamor to one another (for that too is ridiculous), but the clamor within, in the soul, which brings great captivity: the tumults of the thoughts, the storm, the gloom, the winter, through which everything is mixed up and confounded, and is like a battle at night. But in the tents of the monks there is nothing of the kind, but great calm, great quiet. And that table is followed by a sleep like death, but this one by sobriety and wakefulness; that one by punishment, this one by the kingdom of heaven and the immortal prizes. Let us pursue this one, then, so that we may also enjoy its fruits; 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.