Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 85.1–85.4

“Then they spat in his face and struck him; and others slapped him, saying, Prophesy to us, Christ, who is it that struck you?”

Why did they do these things, when they were about to kill him? What need was there of this comedy? So that you may learn their licentious character through everything; and that, as if they had found a prey, so they displayed their drunken insolence and glutted themselves with their madness, making this a feast, and attacking him with pleasure, and displaying their murderous character. But marvel, I pray, at the philosophy of the disciples, with what exactness they report these things. From this their truth-loving character is shown, that they narrate with all truth what seems to be shameful, hiding nothing and not being ashamed, but even thinking it the greatest glory, as indeed it was, that the Master of the world bore to suffer such things for us. This showed both his unspeakable care, and the unpardonable wickedness of those who dared these things against one so gentle and meek, who sang over them such words as were enough to make even a lion a lamb. For neither did he fall short in any gentleness, nor they in insolence and harshness, by what they did and by what they said. All of which the prophet Isaiah too foretold, proclaiming it beforehand thus, and showing all this insolence in one word: “As many will be astonished at you,” he says, “so will your appearance be without glory from men, and your glory from the sons of men.” For what could equal this insolence? On that face, which the sea saw and reverenced, which the sun beheld on the cross and turned back its rays, they spat and slapped it, and struck him on the head, glutting themselves abundantly with all their madness. For they inflicted the most insulting blows of all, buffeting and slapping, and to these blows they added the insult of spitting. And again they uttered words full of much mockery, saying, “Prophesy to us, Christ, who is it that struck you?” since the many called him a prophet. And another evangelist says that they also covered his face with a garment and did these things, as if they had taken some worthless three-obol fellow into their midst. And not free men only, but slaves too then poured out this drunken insolence upon him.

Let us read these things continually, let us hear them as we ought, let us write them in our minds; for these are our glories. In these I pride myself, not only in the countless dead whom he raised, but also in the sufferings which he suffered. These things Paul turns over up and down: the cross, the death, the sufferings, the revilings, the insults, the jests. And now he says, “Let us go out to him, bearing his reproach”; and now, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.” “But Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard; and a servant girl came to him, saying, You too were with Jesus the Galilean. But he denied it before them all, saying, I do not know what you are saying. And when he went out to the gateway, another girl saw him, and says to those there, This man too was with Jesus the Nazarene. And again he denied it with an oath. And after a little while those who stood by came and said to Peter, Truly you too are one of them, for your speech also betrays you. Then he began to curse and to swear, I do not know the man. And immediately the cock crowed. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, who had said, Before the cock crows you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly.” O new and strange things! When he saw the Teacher only being seized, he was so heated as to draw his sword and cut off the ear; but when it was more fitting to be indignant and fired and inflamed, on hearing such revilings, then he denies him. For whom would not the things then happening have kindled to madness? But nevertheless the disciple, overcome by fear, not only shows no indignation but even denies him, and does not bear the threat of a wretched and paltry girl; and not once only, but a second and a third time he denies, and in a short time, and not even before judges; for he was outside; for they questioned him when he had gone out to the gateway; and he did not even quickly perceive his fall. And Luke says this, that Christ looked at him, showing that not only did he deny, but he did not even remember of himself, and that though the cock had crowed, but he needed the Teacher’s reminder again, and the look took the place of a voice for him; so very fearful was he. And Mark says that when he had denied once, then the cock crowed the first time, and when he had denied the third time, then the second, explaining more exactly the disciple’s weakness, and how he was utterly dead with fear, having learned these things from his teacher himself; for he was a follower of Peter. Hence especially one might be amazed at him, that not only did he not hide his teacher’s defect, but declared it more clearly than the others, for the very reason that he was his disciple.

How, then, is what was said true, when Matthew says that he said, “Truly I say to you, before the cock crows you will deny me three times,” and Mark says after the third denial that the cock crowed a second time? It is indeed both true and consistent. For since at each crowing the cock is accustomed to crow a third and a fourth time, Mark, showing that not even the sound restrained him and brought him to remembrance, says this. So both are true. For before the cock had completed the one crowing, he denied a third time. And even when reminded of his sin by Christ, he did not dare to weep openly, lest he be accused through his tears; but he went out and wept bitterly. “And when it was day, they lead Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate.” For since they wished to kill him, but could not themselves because of the feast, they lead him to the governor. And consider, I pray, how the matter was driven on so as to happen at the feast. For so it had been prefigured from above. “Then Judas, who had betrayed him, seeing that he was condemned, repented and returned the thirty pieces of silver.” This is an accusation both of him and of them: of him, not because he repented, but because he did so late and slowly, and became self-condemned; for he himself confessed that he had betrayed him; of them, because, though they were able to change, they did not repent. And see when he repents: when the sin was completed and had taken its end. For such is the devil: he does not let those who are not sober see the evil beforehand, lest the one caught should repent. At any rate, when Jesus said so many things, he was not bent; but when the offense had been completed, then repentance came upon him, and not even then usefully. For to condemn himself, and to throw down the silver, and not to respect the Jewish people—all these are acceptable; but to hang himself, this again is unpardonable and the work of an evil demon. For the demon led him out of repentance beforehand, so that he might reap no fruit from it; and kills him by a most shameful death, manifest to all, persuading him to destroy himself. And consider, I pray, the truth shining out from every side, even through what the adversaries do and suffer. For the very end of the traitor sews up the mouths of those who condemned him, and does not let them have even a shadow of shameless defense. For what could they say, when the traitor is seen passing such a sentence against himself? And let us see the words too that he says: “He returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests, and says, I have sinned in betraying innocent blood. But they said, What is that to us? See to it yourself. And throwing down the silver into the temple, he withdrew, and went away and hanged himself.” For he could not bear his conscience scourging him. And consider, I pray, the Jews too suffering the same things. For these too, though they ought to have been corrected by what they suffered, do not stop until they have filled up their sin. For his sin had been completed—for it was betrayal—but theirs not yet. But when they too had completed it and nailed him up, then they too are troubled, now saying, “Do not write, This is the King of the Jews” (and yet what do you fear? Why are you troubled at a dead body nailed on a cross?), and now they guard him, saying, “Lest his disciples steal him, and say that he has risen, and the last error be worse than the first.” And indeed, if they say it, the thing is refuted, if it is not true. And how will they say it, who did not even dare to stand their ground when he was seized, and whose chief even denied him three times, not bearing a little girl’s threat? But, as I said, they were troubled henceforth. For that they knew the thing was lawlessness is plain from their saying, “See to it yourself.” Hear, you lovers of money; consider what that man suffered: how he both lost the money, and committed the sin, and destroyed his own soul. Such is the tyranny of the love of money. He did not enjoy the silver, nor the present life, nor the one to come; but he threw away everything at once, and having received an evil reputation even among those very men, so he hanged himself. But, as I said, it is after the deed that some then see clearly. See, at any rate, these too, not yet wishing to perceive their crime clearly, but saying, “See to it yourself”; which itself was their greatest charge. For this belongs to men who bear witness to their own daring and lawlessness, but who are drunk with passion and not willing to abstain from the satanic undertaking, but wrapping, with the curtain of a feigned ignorance,

themselves, foolishly. For if these things had been said after the cross and after his being killed, indeed not even then would what was said have had reason, yet it would not so condemn them; but now, while still having him with you, and being masters of releasing him, how could you say these things? For this defense would be the greatest accusation against you. How and in what way? Because, bringing the whole charge on the traitor (“See to it yourself,” they say), when they could themselves have been freed from the murder of Christ by releasing him, they even pressed on with the crime, adding the cross to the betrayal. For what prevented them, having said to him, “See to it yourself,” from themselves withdrawing from the crime? But as it is they do the opposite, adding the slaughter, and everywhere, both by what they do and by what they say, entangling themselves in inescapable evils. For after this too, when Pilate gave them the choice, they chose rather that the robber be released than Jesus; and him who had done no wrong, but had even done them so many benefits, they killed.

[3] What, then, did that man do? When he saw that he labored in vain, and that they would not bear to receive the silver, he threw it into the temple, and went away and hanged himself. “But the chief priests took the silver and said, It is not lawful to put it into the treasury, since it is the price of blood. And taking counsel, they bought with it the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him who was priced, and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.” Do you see them again condemned at once by their conscience? For since they knew that they had bought the murder, they did not put the money into the treasury, but bought a field to bury strangers in. And this too became a testimony against them and a proof of the betrayal. For the name of the place proclaimed their bloodguilt to all more clearly than a trumpet. And they did not do it simply, but having taken counsel, and so everywhere, so that no one might be innocent of the crime, but all liable. And these things the prophecy foretold from of old. Do you see not the apostles only, but the prophets too, narrating the shameful things with exactness, and everywhere proclaiming and foreshowing the passion? This the Jews too underwent without knowing it. For if they had put it into the treasury, the thing would not have become so manifest; but as it is, by buying a place they made the whole thing plain to later generations too. Hear, all you who think to do good works from murders, and take the price of men’s souls. These alms are Jewish, or rather satanic. For there are, there are even now, those who, having seized countless things from others, think they make full defense for everything if they put down ten or a hundred gold pieces. About whom the prophet too says, “You covered my altar with tears.” Christ does not wish to be fed by covetousness; he does not accept this food. Why do you insult the Master, bringing him unclean things? It is better to overlook him wasting with hunger than to feed him from such things. That is the part of a cruel man; this of one both cruel and insolent. It is better to give nothing than to give others’ goods to others. For tell me, if you saw two men, one naked, the other having a garment, and then, stripping the one who had the garment, you clothed the naked one, would you not have done wrong? It is plain to everyone. And if, by giving to another all that you took, you have done wrong, not shown mercy, when you do not give even the smallest part of what you seize, and call the thing almsgiving, what punishment will you not undergo? For if men who offered lame beasts were charged, you who do worse, what pardon will you obtain? For if the thief, even when restoring to the owner himself, still does wrong, and does such wrong that with a fourfold addition he scarcely dissolves the charge—and that in the Old Testament—then he who does not steal but uses violence, and gives not even to the one robbed but to another in his place, and not fourfold, nor even half, and who lives not in the Old Covenant but in the New, consider how much fire he gathers on his own head. And if he does not yet pay the penalty, for this very reason lament him, that he is storing up greater wrath for himself, unless he repents. For what? “Do you think,” he says, “that those were the only sinners on whom the tower fell? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you too will suffer the same.” Let us repent, then, and give alms pure of covetousness and of great abundance. Consider that the Jews fed eight thousand Levites, and with the Levites widows and orphans too, and performed many other public services, and besides this served in the army; but now fields and houses and rents from buildings, and carriages and muleteers and mules, and much such array are in the church, because of you and your inhumanity. For this treasure of the church ought to be with you, and your eagerness ought to be its revenue; but now two absurdities happen: you remain fruitless, and the priests of God do not handle what befits them. For was it not possible in the time of the apostles for the houses and the fields to remain? Why, then, did they sell them and give? Because this was better.

[4] But now fear seized your fathers—you being so mad for worldly things, and gathering instead of scattering—lest the bands of widows and orphans and virgins should be destroyed by famine; for this reason they were compelled to provide these things. For they did not wish to cast themselves into such unseemliness, but desired that your goodwill should be their revenue, and to gather the fruits from there, and themselves to attend to prayers alone. But now you have compelled them to imitate the houses of those who do public business; whence everything has been turned upside down. For when both you and we are held by the same things, who is the one propitiating God? For this reason it is not possible for us to open our mouth, because the church is in no better state than worldly men. Have you not heard that the apostles would not even consent to distribute money collected without trouble? But now the bishops have outdone stewards and managers and hucksters in their care about these things; and when they ought to be anxious about souls and to take thought for your concerns, they are distressed every day about the things which receivers of revenue and tax collectors and accountants and treasurers worry about. I say these things not simply lamenting, but so that some correction and change may come about, so that we may be pitied, serving a grievous slavery, and so that you may become the revenue and the treasure of the church. But if you are not willing, look, the poor are before your eyes: as many as we can suffice for, we will not cease feeding; but those for whom it is not possible, we will leave to you, so that you may not hear on the fearful day those words that are spoken to the unmerciful and cruel: “You saw me hungry, and did not feed me.” For this inhumanity makes us laughable along with you, because, leaving prayers and teaching and other holiness, we spend all our time fighting, some with wine-sellers, some with corn-sellers, some with those who retail other wares. From this come battles and quarrels and daily revilings, and reproaches and jests, and names are attached to each of the priests that are more fitting to worldly houses; when instead we ought to exchange them for others, and to be called by those things which the apostles too laid down: from the feeding of the poor, from the protection of the wronged, from the care of strangers, from the help of those abused, from provision for orphans, from alliance with widows, from the oversight of virgins; and to distribute these stewardships instead of the care of fields and buildings. For these are the treasures of the church, these the treasures befitting it, providing much ease for us and benefit for you—or rather ease for you too, along with the benefit. For by the grace of God I think that those who gather here amount to the number of a hundred thousand; and if each shared one loaf with one of the poor, all would be in plenty; if one obol only, no one would be poor; we would not have endured so many reproaches and jests from our care for possessions. For the saying, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor, and come, follow me,” might fitly be said to the presidents of the church too, about the church’s possessions. For otherwise one cannot follow as one ought, unless freed from every grosser and more worldly care. But now the priests of God sit by at the vintage and the harvest, and at the selling and buying of produce; and those who served the shadow had complete exemption from such things, although they were entrusted with a more bodily service; but we, who are called to the very inner sanctuaries of the heavens and enter the true Holy of Holies, take on the cares of merchants and retailers. From this comes much neglect of the Scriptures, and slackness in prayers, and disregard of everything else. For it is not possible to split oneself between both with fitting zeal. Therefore I beg and entreat that many springs gush out for us from every side, and that your eagerness become our threshing floor and winepress. For so both the poor will be fed more easily, and God will be glorified, and you will advance further in love for mankind, and enjoy the eternal good things; which may we all obtain, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory to the ages of ages. Amen.