Homilies on Luke 21–24

On the text: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,” up to the place where he says, “Make his paths straight.” Chapter 3. When the prophetic word was sent to the Jews alone, Jewish kings were put in the title. For example: “The vision which Isaiah son of Amos saw against Judaea and against Jerusalem in the reign of Uzziah and Jotham and Ahaz and Hezekiah” (Isa 1:1); and I see no one else named for Isaiah’s time except the kings of Judaea. In some prophets we read the kings of Israel too, as here: “And in the days,” it says, “of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel” (Amos 1:1). But when the mystery of the Gospel was to be preached and the Gospel sown throughout the whole world, with John in the desert as its first herald, the rule of Tiberius governed the Roman world; and then the word of the Lord is described as coming to John in the fifteenth year. And if salvation were to be announced only to those of the nations who were going to believe, and Israel wholly excluded, it would have been enough to say: “In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea.” But because many from Judaea and from Galilee were going to believe, these realms too are put in the title, and it is said: “Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, under the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, the word of the Lord came to John son of Zechariah in the desert.” Long ago the word of God came to Jeremiah son of Hilkiah in Anathoth in the days of Josiah king of Judah (Jer 1:1–2); now the word of God comes to John son of Zechariah in the desert, as it never came to the prophets in the desert. But because the children of the desolate woman were to be more than those of her who has a husband (Gal 4:27; Isa 54:1), the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. And consider at the same time that it makes more sense if the desert is understood mystically and not according to the simple letter. For one who preaches in a desert does a pointless thing, shouting where no one hears him speak. The Forerunner of Christ, then, the voice of one crying in the desert, preaches in the desert of the soul, which had no peace. Not only then but now too, first the burning and shining lamp comes and preaches the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; then the true light follows, when the lamp itself says, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). The word comes in the desert, and he goes into all the region around the Jordan. For what other places should the Baptist have gone round but those near the Jordan, so that whoever wished to repent would be close at hand for the washing of water? Moreover, Jordan is interpreted “descending.” And the descending river of God, running with a broad rush, is our Lord the Saviour, in whom we are baptized. He preaches this true saving water, for the remission of sins as well, in baptism. Come, catechumens, repent, so that you may receive baptism for the remission of sins. He receives baptism for the remission of sins who ceases to sin. For if anyone comes to the washing still sinning, there is no remission of sins for him. Therefore I beseech you, do not come to baptism without caution and careful circumspection, but first show fruits worthy of repentance. Spend some time in good conduct, keep yourselves clean from all filth and vices; and then remission of sins will come to you, when you yourselves have begun to despise your own sins. Forgive your offences, and they will be forgiven you. What is now quoted from the Old Testament we read written in the prophet Isaiah; for there it is said: “The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Isa 40:3). The Lord wants to find a way in you, so that he may enter your souls and make his journey. Prepare for him the path of which it is said, “Make his paths straight.” “The voice of one crying in the desert”: the voice cries, “Prepare the way.” For first the voice reaches the ears; then after the voice, or rather with the voice, the word penetrates the hearing. In this sense Christ was announced by John. Let us see, then, what the voice announces about the Word. “Prepare,” it says, “the way for the Lord.” What way are we to prepare for the Lord? A bodily one? Can the Word of God travel by such a road? Or is the way to be prepared for the Lord within, and a straight and level path laid in our heart? This is the way by which the Word of God has entered, a way that lies within the capacity of a human being. The heart of man is great, wide, and capacious, if only it is pure. Do you want to know its greatness and breadth? See how great a wealth of divine understanding it contains. “He himself,” it says, “gave me knowledge of the things that are, to know the order of the world and the working of the elements, the beginning and end and middle of the ages, the changes of the seasons and the passing of the months, the cycles of the years and the positions of the stars, the natures of animals and the rage of wild beasts, the violence of winds and the thoughts of men, the varieties of trees and the powers of roots.” You see that the heart of man is not small, since it contains so much. Understand this not of bodily size but of its power, which contains so great a knowledge of truth. And so that I may lead even the simple to believe, from everyday examples, that the heart of man is great, let us look. Whatever cities we have passed through we hold in our mind, and their character and the layout of their streets, walls, and buildings turn over in our heart. The road we have travelled we retain in the picture and description of memory; the sea we have sailed we embrace in silent thought. The heart of man, as I said, is not small, since it can contain so much. And if it is not small, containing so much, then the way of the Lord is prepared in it, and the path made straight, so that the Word and Wisdom of God may walk in it. Prepare the way for the Lord by good conduct, and keep the path by excellent works; let the Word of God walk in you without any stumbling and grant you knowledge of his mysteries and of his coming; to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

On the text: “Every valley shall be filled,” up to the place where he says, “God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” Chapter 3. Let us see what is foretold at the coming of Christ; the first thing written among them concerns John: “The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” What follows properly concerns the Lord Saviour. For not every valley was filled by John, but by the Lord Saviour. Let each consider himself, what he was before he believed; then he will notice that he was a low valley, a steep valley sunk into the depths. When the Lord Jesus came and sent the Holy Spirit as his deputy, every valley was filled. It was filled with good works and the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Love does not let you remain a valley. And if you have peace and wisdom and goodness, you will not only cease to be a valley but will begin to be a mountain of God. We see this happening and being fulfilled more every day among the Gentiles: “Every valley shall be filled”; and in the people of Israel, which has been brought down from on high: “Every mountain,” it says, “and hill shall be brought low.” That people was once a mountain and a hill, and it has been brought down and destroyed. “By their offence salvation has been given to the Gentiles, to make them jealous” (Rom 11:11). And if you say that the opposing powers, which were raised up against mortals, are the mountains and hills that have been brought down, you will not be wrong. For that valleys of this kind may be filled, those must be brought low. But let us consider whether this too, which was prophesied of Christ’s coming, has been fulfilled. For it follows: “And all crooked things shall become straight.” Each of us was crooked, if indeed he does not remain so to this day; and through the coming of Christ, which has taken place in our soul, all crooked things have been made straight. For what does it profit you that Christ once came in the flesh, unless he has also come to your soul? Let us pray that his coming may happen to us daily, and that we may say, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). For if Christ lives in Paul and does not live in me, what will it profit me? But when he has come to me too, and I have enjoyed him as Paul enjoyed him, then I too shall speak like Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Let us consider, then, the other things foretold at the coming of Christ. Nothing was rougher than you. Look at your former impulses, look at your anger and the other vices, if indeed they have ceased to be what they were, and you will understand that nothing was rougher than you, and, to speak more pointedly, nothing more uneven. Your conduct was uneven, your speech and works uneven. Then my Lord Jesus came and levelled your rough places, turned all that was disordered into level ways, so that there might be in you a road without stumbling, smooth and most pure, and God the Father might walk in you, and Christ the Lord make his dwelling with you and say: “My Father and I will come and make our dwelling with him” (John 14:23). It follows: “And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” You were once flesh; or rather, to say something more wonderful, while you are still in the flesh you see the salvation of God. What is meant by “all flesh,” so that none is excepted that does not see the salvation of God, I leave to be understood by those who know the mysteries of the Scriptures. We must attend to what John says to those who were coming out to baptism. If anyone wants to be baptized, let him come out. For one who remains in his former state and does not leave his habits and custom does not come to baptism rightly. And so that you may understand what it is to come out to baptism, take the testimony and listen to the words in which God speaks to Abraham: “Go out from your land” (Gen 12:1), and the rest. To the crowds coming out to the washing, then (not those who had come out, but only those coming out), John speaks what follows. For if they had already come out, he would never have said to them, “brood of vipers.” Whatever, then, he says to them, he says to you, catechumens, men and women. You who are planning to come to baptism, take care that it may not perhaps be said to you, “brood of vipers.” And what follows too will be said to you, unless you expel the crookedness and venom of serpents from your heart: “Who showed you how to flee from the wrath to come?” A great wrath hangs over this world: the whole world is to suffer the wrath of God; the wrath of God will overturn the vastness of heaven and the breadth of the earth, the choirs of stars, the splendour of the sun, and the nightly comfort of the moon. For all these things will pass away because of the sins of men. Long ago the wrath of God came only upon all things on earth, “because all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth” (Gen 6:12); but now the wrath of God is to come upon heaven and upon earth: “The heavens will pass away, but you will remain” (it is said to God), “and they will all grow old like a garment” (Ps 102:26). See of what kind and how great the wrath is that is to consume the whole world; it will punish those who deserve punishment, and will find material on which to work. Each of us, by what he has done, has prepared material for the wrath. For “according to your hardness and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,” it is said to the Romans (Rom 2:5). Then follows: “Who showed you how to flee from the wrath to come? Bear, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance.” And to you who come to baptism it is said: “Bear fruits worthy of repentance.” Do you want to know what the fruits of repentance are? Love is the fruit of the Spirit; joy is the fruit of the Spirit; peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control, and the rest of that kind (Gal 5:22–23). If we have all these, we have borne fruits worthy of repentance. Again it is said to those who came to John’s baptism: “And do not begin to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as our father; for I tell you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” John, the last of the prophets, prophesies the casting out of the former people and the calling of the Gentiles. For to those who boasted of Abraham he says: “And do not begin to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as our father.” And of the Gentiles he says: “For I tell you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” From what stones? He was surely not pointing to irrational, bodily stones, but to human beings without sense and once hard, in whom, because they worshipped stones and wood, was fulfilled what was sung in the psalm: “Let those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them” (Ps 115:8). Truly those who make idols and trust in them are like their gods: without sense, without any reason, they have been turned into stones and wood. For though they see such great order, beauty, and function in creation, such great beauty of the world, they will not understand the Creator from his creatures, nor do they consider that there is some providence in so great an ordering, some ruler; but they are blind, seeing the world only with those eyes with which irrational cattle and beasts see. For they do not notice that in the things they see, which are governed by reason, some reason is present. This because John had said: “God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” Let us too, then, beseech God that, if we were ever stones, we may be turned into children of Abraham in place of those wretched ones who were cast out and lost the promise and the adoption by their own fault. I will set down one more testimony about stones. In the song of Exodus it is written: “Let them be turned into stones, until your people pass over, O Lord, until this people of yours whom you have acquired pass over” (Exod 15:16). God is asked, then, that we be turned for a while into stones (for this is what the Greek, ἀπολιθωθήτωσαν, expresses more pointedly) until the people of the Jews passes over. There is no doubt that, after they have passed over, the Gentiles will cease to be stony and, in place of a hard heart, will receive in Christ a human and rational nature; to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

On the text: “Behold, the axe is laid at the root of the trees,” up to the place where he says, “Tax collectors also came to be baptized by him.” Chapter 3. John was saying already at that time, “Behold, the axe is laid at the root of the trees.” If the consummation had already been coming on and the end of the ages at hand, no question would arise for me. For I would say that “Behold, the axe is laid at the root of the tree,” and “For every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire,” were prophesied because they were being fulfilled at that time. But since so many ages have flowed by since then, and so countless years have passed from that time to the present day, we must inquire how the Holy Spirit says in the prophet, “Behold, the axe is laid at the root of the trees.” I think it is prophesied to the people of Israel that its cutting down is near. For to those who were coming out to him to be baptized he said, among other things, “Bear fruits worthy of repentance”; and he said, as if to Jews, “Do not begin to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as our father; for I tell you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” So when he says, “Behold, the axe is laid at the root of the trees,” he is speaking to the Jews. With this sense agrees also the apostle’s statement that by this axe of unbelief the branches were broken off and cut away, so that it cut off from the tree not the root but what had sprouted from the root, so that branches of the wild olive could be grafted onto the root of the original tree (Rom 11:17–20). “Every tree, then, that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire”: for it has this end, to be burned up in the fire. Then three classes are brought in asking John about their salvation: one which Scripture calls the crowds going out to baptism, another which it names tax collectors, the third which is classed under the name of soldiers. “The crowds asked him, saying, What shall we do? And he answered them: Whoever has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and whoever has food, let him do likewise.” I do not know whether this is a fitting command for the crowd. It suits apostles rather than the common people that one who has two tunics should give one to him who has none. And so that you may know that this suits apostles rather than the people, hear what the Saviour says to them: “Do not take two tunics on the road” (Matt 10:10). The double garment, then, with which each is clothed, and the command to give the other to one who has none, have a different meaning. For the Saviour wants us, just as we must not serve two masters, so also not to have two tunics nor to be wrapped in a double garment, lest one be the clothing of the old man and the other of the new. On the contrary, he desires that we strip off the old man and put on the new. Thus far the explanation is easy. But it is asked how, according to this interpretation, we are commanded to give the garment to one who has none. Who is this who has not even one garment upon his flesh, who is naked, who is covered by no garment at all? I do not say this as though generosity and mercy to the poor were not commanded; it is an exceeding mercy that we should cover even the naked with our second tunic. But I say this: that this passage looks also to a deeper understanding, and that the tunic must be given to one who had none at all. Who, then, is this who has no tunic? Surely he who has no God at all. We must strip ourselves, then, and give it to him who is naked. One has God; another, the opposing power, has him not at all. And as it is written that we should cast our sins into the depth of the sea (Mic 7:19), so vices and sins must be thrown away from us and thrown upon him who was the cause of them for us. “And whoever has food,” it says, “let him do likewise.” Whoever has food, let him give to him who has none, so that he may bestow on him not only a garment but also something to eat. “Tax collectors also came to be baptized by him.” Even according to the simple understanding this teaches tax collectors to seek nothing more than is commanded in the law; for those who exact more transgress not John’s command but that of the Holy Spirit who spoke in John. But I do not know whether, according to the anagogical sense, the passage signifies something more excellent, and whether we ought to bring out such mystical things in such an audience, especially among those who do not look into the marrow of the Scriptures but delight only in the surface. It is dangerous, but must nevertheless be touched on briefly and in passing. When we have gone out from the world and this life of ours has been changed, there will be some sitting at the boundaries of the world, as if in the office of tax collectors, searching most diligently to see whether they find anything of theirs in us. The prince of this world seems to me to be like a tax collector; hence it is written of him: “The prince of this world comes, and he has nothing in me” (John 14:30). That too which we read in the apostle, “Render to all their dues: tax to whom tax, toll to whom toll, honour to whom honour; owe no one anything except to love one another” (Rom 13:7–8), is to be understood in a sacred sense. Therefore let us take care lest, when we have nothing we can pay as toll, we ourselves be dragged off for the debt, as happens with the tax collectors of the world too, when someone is shut up to serve the state itself for a debt. Many of us are to be held by tax collectors of this kind. Jacob, that holy man, did not greatly fear them, nor was he afraid that anything owed in the tax collectors’ tolls would be found in him. Hence he spoke boldly to that tax collector Laban: “See whether anything of yours is with me” (Gen 31:32); on which Scripture bears witness, saying: “And Laban found nothing with Jacob.” Our Saviour, then, and the Holy Spirit who spoke in the prophets, teach not only human beings but also angels and invisible powers. Why do I speak of the Saviour? The prophets themselves too and the apostles preach all that they utter not only to human beings but also to angels. That you may know this is true: “Attend, heaven,” it says, “and I will speak”; and, “In the sight of the angels I will sing to you”; and, “Praise the Lord, heavens of heavens, and let the waters that are above the heavens praise the name of the Lord”; and, “Let his angels praise him”; and, “In every place of his dominion, bless the Lord, my soul.” You find in very many places, especially in the psalms, that speech is addressed to angels too, power being given to man, to one, however, who has the Holy Spirit, to speak even to angels. Of these I will give one example, so that we may know that angels too are instructed by human voices. It is written in the Apocalypse of John: “To the angel of the church of the Ephesians write: I have something against you”; and again, “To the angel of the church at Pergamum write: I have something against you.” Surely it is a man who writes to angels and gives them some command. I do not doubt that angels are present in our assembly too, not only in general to every church but also individually; of them the Saviour says: “Their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt 18:10). There is a double church present here, one of human beings, the other of angels. If we say anything according to reason and according to the intent of the Scriptures, the angels rejoice and pray with us. And because angels are present in the church, at least in the church that deserves it and belongs to Christ, women when they pray are commanded to have a covering on the head because of the angels (1 Cor 11:10), namely those who attend the saints and rejoice in the church. We do not see them, because our eyes are smeared with the filth of sins; but the apostles of Jesus see them, to whom he says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (John 1:51). If I had this grace, to see as the apostles saw and to behold as Paul beheld, I would now perceive a multitude of angels, as Elisha saw, while Gehazi, who stood with him, did not. Gehazi was afraid of being captured by the enemy, since Elisha alone could see. But Elisha, as a prophet of the Lord, prays and says: “O Lord, open the eyes of this boy, and let him see that many more are with us than with them” (2 Kgs 6:16–17). And at once, at the holy man’s prayer, Gehazi beheld the angels he had not seen before. We have said this to show that tax collectors were taught by John, not only those who serve the public revenues, but also those who came to repentance. There were other tax collectors besides the bodily ones, as there were also other soldiers, who came out to the baptism of repentance. For not only John the prophet came, but the Saviour himself, to preach saving repentance to human beings and to angels and to the other powers, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:10–11); to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

On the text: “I baptize you with water,” up to the place where he says, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Chapter 3. The people received John, who is less than Christ, wondering and thinking whether perhaps he himself was the Christ; but him who had come, greater than John, they did not receive. Do you want to know the reason? Learn it: John’s baptism was seen; Christ’s baptism was invisible. “For I,” he says, “baptize you in water; but he who comes after me is greater than I; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” When does Jesus baptize with the Holy Spirit, and again when does he baptize with fire? Does he baptize with Spirit and fire at one and the same time, or at different and separate times? “But you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” The apostles were baptized with the Holy Spirit after his ascension into heaven (Acts 2); but Scripture does not record that they were baptized with fire. But just as John by the river Jordan waited for those who came to baptism, and drove some away, saying, “Brood of vipers,” and the rest, but received those who confessed their vices and sins, so the Lord Jesus will stand in the river of fire beside the flaming sword (Gen 3:24), so that whoever, after departing this life, desires to pass over to paradise and needs purification, he may baptize in this stream and send across to what he longs for; but whoever does not have the sign of the earlier baptisms, he will not baptize in the washing of fire. For one must first be baptized with water and the Spirit, so that, when he comes to the river of fire, he may show that he has kept the washings of water and of the Spirit, and then deserve to receive also the baptism of fire in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.