Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 72.1–72.4

“… Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses. All, then, that they tell you to do, do; but do not do according to their works.’” Then, when? When he had said these things; when he had silenced them; when he had brought them to no longer dare to test him; when he had shown them to be incurable. And since he had mentioned the Lord and the Lord, he runs back again to the law. “And yet the law said nothing of the kind,” someone says, “but, ‘The Lord your God, the Lord is one.’” But Scripture calls the whole Old Testament the law. And he says these things showing by everything his great concord with the one who begot him. For if he had been opposed, he would have said the opposite about the law; but as it is, he bids them show such reverence for it that, even when those who teach it are corrupt, he bids them cleave to it. And here he speaks also about life and conduct, since this above all was the cause of their unbelief: a corrupt life and the love of glory. Correcting his hearers, then, he enjoins abundantly what contributes first and most to salvation: not to despise their teachers, nor to rise up against the priests. And he not only enjoins it but also does it himself. For though they were corrupt, he does not bring them down from their honor, making the judgment heavier for them, while leaving those who were being taught no pretext for disobedience. For lest anyone should say, “Because my teacher is bad, for this reason I have become more careless,” he takes away this pretext too. So firmly, at any rate, did he establish their authority, though they were wicked, that even after so great an accusation he said, “All that they tell you to do, do.” For they do not speak their own things, but the things of God, which he legislated through Moses. And see how much honor he pays to Moses, again showing his agreement with the Old Testament, since even from this he makes them worthy of respect. “For they sit on the seat of Moses,” he says. For since he could not make them trustworthy from their life, he does it from what was possible, from the seat and the succession from him. And when you hear “all,” do not understand the whole legislation, for example the rules about foods, about sacrifices, and all such things; for how would he say these things, which he had already abolished? But he means all that corrects character and makes conduct better and agrees with the laws of the New Testament, and no longer allows us to be under the yoke of the law. Why then does he lay these things down not from the law of grace but from that of Moses? Because it was not yet the time, before the cross, to speak plainly of these things. And it seems to me that besides what has been said he is preparing something else too in saying this. For since he was about to accuse them, lest he should seem to the foolish to covet this authority of theirs, or to do these things from enmity, he first removes this suspicion, and having made himself above suspicion, then begins the accusation. And why does he convict them and stretch out long discourses against them? Guarding the crowds, so that they may not fall into the same things. For forbidding is not the same as pointing out those who have stumbled, just as exhorting to what is right is not the same as bringing those who do right into the middle. That is why he says beforehand, “But do not do according to their works.” For lest they should think that because they listened to them they must also imitate them, he uses this correction, and turns what seems to be their honor into an accusation. For what could be more wretched than a teacher whose disciples are saved by not paying attention to his life? So what seems to be their honor is the greatest accusation, when they are seen to have such a life that those who imitate it are corrupted. That is why he falls into the accusations against them. And not for this reason only, but to show that both their former unbelief and the cross they afterward dared were a charge not against the one crucified and disbelieved, but against their ingratitude. And see where he begins and how he increases the charges. “For they say,” he says, “and do not do.” For everyone who transgresses the law deserves charges, but above all the one who has the authority of teaching; for he deserves to be condemned doubly and triply: for one thing, because he transgresses; for another, because, though he ought to correct others, he limps, and deserves greater punishment because of his honor; and third, because he corrupts the more, since he breaks the law in the position of a teacher. And besides these he names another charge against them, that they are harsh to those under them. “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger.” He names here a twofold wickedness: demanding unpardoningly from those they rule a great and extreme strictness of life, while allowing themselves great license; whereas the best ruler should have the opposite: in his own affairs he should be an unpardoning and harsh judge, but in those of the ruled forgiving and gentle; the opposite of which these men did.

For such are all who philosophize in words: unpardoning and severe, as having no experience of the difficulty of deeds. And this is no small vice either, nor does it increase the former accusation in an ordinary way. And see, I pray you, how he increases the charge in this too. For he did not say “they cannot,” but “they will not”; and he did not say “carry,” but “move with their finger,” that is, not even come near, nor touch. But where are they earnest and vigorous? In what is forbidden. “For they do all their works,” he says, “to be seen by men.” He says these things accusing them of vainglory, which destroyed them. For the former things were of cruelty and sloth, but these of the madness for glory. This separated them from God; this made them contend in another theater, and corrupted them. For whatever spectators a man has, since he is eager to please them, such contests he displays as well; and the one who wrestles before noble spectators pursues contests of the same kind, while the one before cold and slack spectators himself becomes more careless. For example, someone has a spectator who delights in laughter? He too becomes a jester, to delight the spectator. Another has a serious spectator who loves philosophy? He too is eager to be such, since such is the mind of the one who praises. And see again here too the charge intensified. For they do not do some things in this way and others otherwise, but simply all things so. Then, having accused them of vainglory, he shows that they are vainglorious not even over great and necessary things (for they did not have these, but were destitute of good deeds), but over cold and paltry things, things that were proofs of their wickedness: “… their phylacteries,” he says, “and they enlarge the fringes of their garments.” And what are these phylacteries and fringes? Since they continually forgot God’s benefits, he commanded that his wonders be written in small scrolls and fastened to their hands (that is why he said, “They shall be immovable before your eyes”), which they called phylacteries, as many women now hang Gospels from their necks. And so that they might be reminded from another side too, as many often do who, being forgetful, tie their finger with a thread of linen or wool, this God bade them do as children: to sew a blue thread on their garments at the hem around the feet, so that, attending to it, they might remember the commandments; and these were called fringes. In these things, then, they were earnest, broadening the straps of the scrolls and making the fringes large; which was the mark of the utmost vainglory. For why are you ambitious and broaden these? Is this your good deed? Does it profit you at all, if you do not gain what comes from them? For God does not seek that you enlarge and broaden these, but that you remember his good deeds. And if one must not be ambitious over almsgiving and fasting, though these are toilsome and our own, how do you pride yourself on these things, O Jew, which above all accuse you of carelessness? And they were sick in this way not only in these things but in other small things too. “For they love,” he says, “the first couch at dinners, and the first seats in the synagogues, and the greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men ‘Rabbi.’” For even if one thinks these things small, they are the causes of great evils. These have overturned both cities and churches. And it comes over me to weep now, when I hear of the first seats and the greetings, and reckon how many evils have been born from this for the churches of God; which it is not necessary to tell you now; or rather, as many as are older do not even need to learn these things from us. But consider, I pray you, where vainglory prevailed: where they were commanded not to be vainglorious, in the synagogues, where they came in to regulate others. For to suffer this at dinners, in whatever way, does not seem so terrible; and yet there too the teacher ought to be admired, not in the church only but everywhere. And just as a man, wherever he appears, is plainly distinct from the irrational animals, so the teacher too, whether speaking or silent or at his meal or doing anything whatever, ought to be plain from his word, his glance, his bearing, and simply from everything. But they were ridiculous on every side and disgraced everywhere, pursuing what they ought to flee. “For they love,” he says. And if to love it is a charge, how great a one to do it! And to hunt for these things and be eager to get them, how great an evil!

The other things, then, he left at the accusation of those men, as small and paltry, and as the disciples did not need correction about these too; but what was the cause of all the evils, the love of rule and the seizing of the teacher’s chair, this he brought into the middle and corrects earnestly, laying a strong charge on them too about it. For what does he say? “But you, do not be called Rabbi.” Then the reason too: “For one is your teacher, and you are all brothers”; and one has nothing more than another, in that no one knows anything of himself. That is why Paul too says, “For who is Paul, and who is Apollos, and who is Cephas, but servants?” He did not say “teachers.” And again, “Do not call anyone father,” not that they should not call anyone so, but that they may know whom they ought properly to call father. For as the teacher is not the teacher in the primary sense, so neither is the father. For he is the cause of all, both of teachers and of fathers. And again he adds, “Nor be called leaders; for one is your leader, the Christ.” And he did not say “I.” As he said above, “What do you think of the Christ?” and did not say, “of me,” so also here. But I would gladly ask here what they would say who often apply the “one” and “one” to the Father alone, to set aside the Only-begotten. Is the Father a leader? All would say so, and no one will contradict. And yet he says, “One is your leader, the Christ.” As, then, Christ, being called the one leader, does not exclude the Father from being leader, so too the Father, being called the one teacher, does not exclude the Son from being teacher. For the “one” and “one” is said by way of contrast with men and the rest of creation. Having forbidden them, then, this grievous disease and corrected it, he also teaches how they might escape it: by humility. That is why he adds, “But the greatest among you shall be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” For nothing equals modesty; that is why he continually reminds them of this virtue, both when he brought the children into the middle and now; and when beginning on the mountain with the beatitudes he began from this; and here he plucks it out by the roots, saying, “He who humbles himself will be exalted.” Do you see how he leads the hearer away to the diametric opposite? For he not only forbids loving the first places, but bids pursue the last. “For so you will obtain your desire,” he says. Therefore the one who pursues the desire for the first places must pursue the last rank. “For whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” And where shall we find this humility? Do you wish us to go again to the city of virtue, the tents of the saints, I mean the mountains and the glens? For there we shall see this height of humility. For men who are illustrious, some from outward ranks, others from wealth, restrain themselves on every side, by their clothing, by their dwelling, by those who serve them; and as in letters they write humility through everything. And the things that are tinder for boastfulness (being finely dressed, building splendidly, having many servants), which often throw men into boastfulness even against their will, are all done away there. And they themselves light the fire, they themselves split the wood, they themselves cook, they themselves serve those who come. There one hears no one insulting, nor sees anyone insulted, nor anyone commanded or commanding; but all are of those who serve, and each washes the feet of the strangers, and there is great rivalry over this. And he does this not examining who the man is, whether slave or free, but performs this service for everyone. There no one is great or small. What then? Is there confusion? God forbid! But the first good order. For even if someone is small, the great one does not see this, but considers himself lower even than him, and in this way becomes greater. One table for all, both for those served and for those serving; the same food, the same garments, the same dwellings, the same way of life. Great there is the one who seizes the meanest work. There is no “mine” and “yours”; but this word, the cause of countless wars, has been banished.

And why do you wonder if their dwelling and table and robe are one for all, when even their soul is one for all, not according to essence only (for this is so with all men), but according to love? How then could it ever be lifted up against itself? There is no poverty and wealth there, no glory and dishonor; how then could arrogance and boastfulness find a way in? For there are indeed small and great according to the measure of virtue; but, as I said, no one sees this. The small one is not pained as though despised, for there is no one who despises; and even if someone spits on him, this above all is what they are trained in: to be despised, to be spat upon, to be made of no account, by words, by deeds. And they live with the poor and the maimed, and their tables are full of these guests; for this reason they are worthy of heaven too. And one tends the wounds of those who are disfigured, another leads the blind by the hand, another carries the one lame in the leg. There is no crowd of flatterers there, nor of parasites; or rather they do not even know what flattery is; how then could they ever be lifted up? For there is great equality among them; and therefore great ease of virtue. For the lowlier are trained by these things more than if they were compelled to yield the first places to them. For just as the one who is struck and gives way trains the rash man, so the one who does not lay claim to glory but despises it trains the ambitious man. And this they do there in abundance; and as great as the battle among us to obtain the first places, so great is the contest among them not to obtain them but to thrust them away, and great is the earnestness over who shall have more of honoring others, not of being honored. And besides, their very works persuade them to be modest and do not let them swell. For who, tell me, digging the ground and watering and planting, or plaiting baskets and weaving sackcloth, or handling any other such work, will ever think highly of himself? And who, living with poverty and wrestling with hunger, will be sick with this disease? There is no one. For this reason humility is easy for them. And just as here it is hard to be modest because of the multitude of those who applaud and admire, so there it is very easy. For he attends only to the desert, and sees birds flying, and trees swaying, and the west wind blowing, and streams rushing through ravines. How then could one who lives in such solitude be lifted up? Yet we shall not have a defense from this, because, living in the midst of things, we think highly of ourselves. For Abraham, living among the Canaanites, said, “But I am earth and ashes”; and David, in the midst of armies, “But I am a worm, and no man”; and the apostle in the midst of the world, “I am not worthy to be called an apostle.” What consolation, then, shall we have, what defense, when, though we have so many examples, we are not modest? For just as those who first went the road of virtue are worthy of countless crowns, so we are liable to countless punishments, who are drawn to equal zeal neither after those who have departed and are set down in writings, nor after these who are living and admired for their deeds. For what could you say, if you are not corrected? You do not know letters, nor have you looked into the Scriptures, to learn the virtues of the men of old? This itself above all is a charge, that when the church is always open you do not go in and share in those pure streams. Yet even if you did not know those who have departed through the Scriptures, you ought to have seen these who are living. But there is no one to lead you by the hand? Come to me, and I will show you the dwellings of these saints; come and learn something useful from them. These are lamps shining everywhere on the earth; they surround the cities like walls. For this reason they took possession of the deserts, so as to teach you too to despise the tumults in the midst of things. For they, being strong, can enjoy calm even in the middle of the surge; but you, drenched on every side, need quiet, and a little breathing space from the waves that come one after another. Go there continually, then, so that, cleansing your continual stain by their prayers and exhortations, you may both pass the life here in the best way and obtain the good things to come, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father be glory, might, honor, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.