Homilies on Luke 35–38

On the text: “When you go with your adversary,” and the rest, up to the place where he says, “And you will pay the last mite.” If it were not implanted in our nature to judge what is just, the Saviour would never say, “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is just?” (Luke 12:57). But lest we wander too far in proving this statement, especially since many more difficult things are attached to this chapter, it will be enough to have touched on it. Let us rather spread the sails of our souls to God and pray for the coming of his word, that it may interpret the parable of which it is written: “When you go with your adversary to the ruler, make an effort on the way to be freed from him, lest he hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not come out from there until you pay the last mite.” I see four persons set down: the adversary, the ruler, the judge, and the officer. And since the evangelist Matthew seems to say something similar where he says, “Be well disposed to your adversary while you are on the way with him,” I ask whether the sense is the same or whether there is some resemblance, since in Matthew one person is omitted and another changed. The ruler is omitted, and in place of the officer the attendant is put in; but the adversary and the judge are set down alike by both. We go, then, with our adversary to the ruler, and while we are still on the way we must labour hard to be freed from him. For the word is ambiguous and can refer either to the ruler or to the adversary: “lest he hand you over” (whether the adversary or the ruler) “to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and you will not come out from there until you pay the last mite”; for which Matthew says, “until you pay the last quadrans” (Matt 5:26). Both write the word “last”; but they seem to differ in that one put “quadrans” and the other “mite.” Certain more hidden things must be touched on, so that we may understand that the adversary is one thing and the other three persons, the ruler, the judge, and the officer, another. We read (if anyone is willing to accept a writing of this kind) of angels of righteousness and of iniquity disputing over the salvation and destruction of Abraham, each band wishing to claim him for its own company. If this displeases anyone, let him turn to the book entitled the Shepherd, and he will find that two angels attend every person: an evil one who urges to perverse things, and a good one who persuades to all that is best. It is written elsewhere that two kinds of angels attend a person, for good or for evil. Of the good ones the Saviour too makes mention, saying, “Their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt 18:10). Ask at the same time whether the angels of the little ones in the church always see the face of the Father, while the angels of others do not have freedom to look upon the Father’s face; for it is not to be hoped that the angels of all see the face of the Father who is in heaven. If I belong to the church, however least I may be, my angel has freedom and confidence always to see the face of my Father who is in heaven. But if I am outside, not of that church which has neither spot nor wrinkle nor anything of the kind, and am proved by the fact itself to be a stranger to such a congregation, my angel has no confidence to look upon the face of my Father who is in heaven. For this reason the angels are anxious for the good, knowing that if they have guided us well and brought us to salvation, they too have confidence to see the face of the Father. For as, if salvation is obtained for human beings by their care and diligence, they always behold the Father’s face, so, if a person falls through their negligence, they know well that it is a matter of danger for themselves too. And as a good bishop and an excellent steward of the church knows that it belongs to his merit and virtue if the sheep of the flock entrusted to him have been kept safe, so understand it also of the angels. It is a disgrace for an angel if a righteous man has been entrusted to him and has sinned; as, on the contrary, it is a glory for an angel if the one entrusted to him, even the least in the church, has remained so. For they will see the face of the Father who is in heaven, not now and then but always, while others do not see it always. For according to the merit of those whose angels they are, the angels will contemplate the face of God always, or never, or less, or more. Clear knowledge of this matter belongs to God, and to anyone, though such is rarely found, whom Christ has enlightened. Let us see first, then, who is the adversary with whom we make the journey. The adversary is always with us. Unhappy and wretched are we! Whenever we sin, our adversary exults, knowing that he has the opportunity, before the prince of this age who had sent him, to exult and boast that he, the adversary of this or that person, for example, has made him subject to the prince of this age through so many sins of such a kind, through this and that offence. But it sometimes happens that, if someone is equipped with the armour of God and has covered himself on every side, the adversary tries indeed to inflict a wound but has no means of striking. The adversary always walks with us and never leaves us; he looks for an opportunity to lay snares, to see if he can somehow overthrow us, so as to slip an evil thought into the ruling part [ἡγεμονικόν] of our heart. “When you go to the ruler.” Who is this ruler? “When the Most High divided the nations, when he scattered the sons of Adam, he fixed the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God, and his people Jacob became the Lord’s portion, Israel the cord of his inheritance” (Deut 32:8–9). So from the beginning the earth was divided among rulers, that is, angels. For Daniel testifies more plainly that those whom Moses had named angels are rulers, saying, “The prince of the kingdom of the Persians, and the prince of the kingdom of the Greeks, and Michael the prince of the nations.” And each of us has an adversary clinging to him, whose work is to lead us to the ruler and say: O ruler, for example, of the kingdom of the Persians, this man who was under you I have guarded as was necessary; none of the other rulers could take him over to himself, not even he who boasted that he had come for this purpose, to snatch people from all the inheritances of the Persians or the Greeks and of all nations and make them subject to the inheritance of God. Christ our Lord conquered all the rulers and, passing their boundaries, transferred captive peoples to himself for salvation. You too were of the portion of some ruler; Jesus came and snatched you from the perverse power and offered you to God the Father. Our adversary, then, walks along, leading us to his ruler. Hence, believing that all the words of the Scriptures have a reason, I do not think it is for nothing that “judge” is set down in Greek with the article, which signifies singularity, while “ruler” is written simply, without the article. “When you go with your adversary.” He says pointedly “your.” For not all are adversaries of all, but each has his own, who follows him everywhere and is his companion. “When you go with your adversary to a ruler.” He did not put “ruler” with the article, lest he seem to indicate a definite one, but without the article, to show that he is one of many, which is better understood in Greek. For each of us does not have a ruler of his own. One who is a Syrian is under the ruler of the Syrians, and each is under the ruler of his own nation; it is enough that I have gone so far, without passing from this discussion to another, greater one, so as to mention the other nations too. Hence it is said: “See Israel according to the flesh.” For one who is wise, to have made a beginning is to have said enough, though it is right to have begun this discourse before the people. He who wants, he says, to lead you to his own ruler and take you away from another ruler: “When you go with your adversary to the ruler, make an effort on the way to be freed from him.” Unless you labour with all zeal while you are still on the road, before you enter in to the ruler, before the ruler hands you over to the judge prepared by the adversary, you will try afterwards in vain. Make an effort, then, to be freed from him, or from the ruler to whom the adversary drags you. Make an effort to have wisdom, justice, fortitude, and temperance, and then will be fulfilled: “Behold the man, and his works before his face.” Unless you make an effort, you will not be able to break the pact of the adversary, whose friendship is set against God. “When you go with your adversary to the ruler, make an effort on the way.” Something lies hidden in this place, and there is a secret in “make an effort on the way.” The Saviour says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). If you make an effort to be freed from the adversary, be in the way; and when you stand in him who says, “I am the way,” it is not enough to have stood, but make an effort to be freed from the adversary. Unless you make an effort to be freed from the adversary, listen to what follows for you. … the adversary, or the ruler … from the adversary, drags you to the judge. How fitting is the word “drag,” showing in a sense that those who resist and are unwilling are dragged and forced to go to condemnation! For what murderer goes to the judge with quick step? Who hastens gladly to his own condemnation, and is not dragged unwilling and resisting? For he knows that he is going to receive the sentence of death. “Lest he drag you to the judge.” Who do you think this judge is? I know no other judge but my Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it is said elsewhere: “And he will set the sheep on his right, but the goats on his left” (Matt 25:33). And again: “Whoever confesses me, I too will confess him before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father who is in heaven” (Matt 10:32–33). “He drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer.” Each of us suffers loss for each sin, and the size of the loss is reckoned according to the quality and nature of the offence. I should bring some testimony from the Scriptures about loss and fines of money. One suffers a loss of five hundred denarii and owes them; another is condemned for fifty denarii; and the sum is forgiven to both by the creditor. Again, another, as Scripture says, “there was brought to him one who owed ten thousand talents” (Matt 18:24), is condemned for ten thousand talents. Why need I pursue more? Each one pays a different fine according to the quality and quantity of his sin. If what you sin is little, you will be struck with the loss of a mite, as Luke wrote, or, as Matthew wrote, of a quadrans. Nevertheless it is necessary to pay even that for which one was found a debtor; for you will not come out from there unless you pay even the least things. But one who is faithful is struck by no loss, but is enriched daily; for the whole world of riches is his. The unbeliever, however, has not even an obol. One is condemned for a denarius, another for a mina, another for a talent. And the investigator of this business is he who knows the measures of all sins: this offence is condemned to a talent; that sin deserves a fine of such a kind. For it is written, “When he had begun to settle accounts.” Account must be rendered by all of us. There is no other time for settling accounts except the time of judgment, when it will be clearly known what was entrusted to us, and what gain or loss we have made, which of us received a mina, which one talent, which two, which five (Matt 25:15). There is no need to point out more, since it is enough to have said in general that we shall render an account, and that, if we are found debtors, we shall be dragged to the judge and handed over by the judge to the officer. Each of us has his own officers; but the whole multitude is handed over to several, according to what is written in Isaiah: “My people, your officers strip you, and those who are powerful rule over you” (Isa 3:12). The officers rule if we owe anything. But if we have confidence and have lived with a free brow, I will gladly keep the commandment: “Render to all their dues: tax to whom tax, fear to whom fear, toll to whom toll, honour to whom honour” (Rom 13:7). If I have rendered everything to everyone, I come to the officer and answer with fearless mind: I owe you nothing. The officer comes to demand; I resist him. For I know that if I owe nothing, he has no power over me. But if I am a debtor, my officer will throw me into prison, in the order described above. For the adversary leads me to the ruler, the ruler to the judge, and the judge will hand me over to the officer, and the officer will throw me into prison. What is the law of this prison? I do not come out of it, nor does the officer let me go out, unless I pay the whole debt. The officer has no power to remit to me even a quadrans or the least portion; there is one who can forgive debtors who have nothing to pay. “There came to him,” it says, “one who owed five hundred denarii and another fifty; and when they had nothing with which to repay, he forgave them both” (Luke 7:41–42). He who forgave is the Lord; but this one who is the officer is not the lord but is appointed by the lord to exact debts. You were not worthy to have five hundred or fifty denarii forgiven you, nor did you deserve to hear, “Your sins are forgiven you”; but you will be thrown into prison, and there payment will be exacted from you through labour and works, or through punishments and torments, and you will not come out from there until you pay the quadrans, or the last mite, which in Greek can be called “thin.” Our sins, however, are fat; for it is written, “The heart of this people has grown fat” (Matt 13:15; Acts 28:27). Or a sin is thin and slight by comparison with a greater one. Blessed, then, first, is he who does not sin; and second, he who by comparison has at least a thin sin. And even among the thin and slight there is a difference of sins. Unless there were small money, it would never be said, “You will not come out from there until you pay the last quadrans.” How, without small money, would he speak of the last mite, which is a denarius, or a coin, or an obol, or a stater? But if we owe a great sum, like the one who is written to have owed ten thousand talents (Matt 18:24), how long we shall be shut in prison until we pay the debt I cannot plainly declare. For if one who owes little will not come out unless he pays the small quadrans, surely for one who is bound by so great a debt endless ages will be counted for paying it. Therefore let us make an effort to be freed from the adversary while we are on the way, and let us be joined to the Lord Jesus, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

On the text: “Whoever wishes to save his soul will lose it,” up to the place where he says, “The kingdom of God is within you.” “Whoever seeks,” he says, “to save his soul will lose it, and whoever loses it will save it.” Martyrs seek to save their souls; therefore they lose them, in order to save them. But those who wish to save their souls so as not to lose them destroy both body and soul together in Gehenna. Therefore, he says, do not fear those who can kill the body, but fear rather him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Let this much be said briefly on the subject, according to the powers of our understanding. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit (1 Cor 2:14), and therefore cannot be saved. It is sown a natural body, it rises a spiritual body (1 Cor 15:44). Moreover, he who clings to the Lord becomes one spirit (1 Cor 6:17). If, then, he who is joined to the Lord, though he was natural, is by that very fact turned into a spiritual being and is one spirit, let us too lose our soul, so that, clinging to the Lord, we may be transformed into one spirit. And when asked about the kingdom of God, the Saviour answered the Pharisees: “The kingdom of God,” he says, “does not come with observation, nor will they say, Behold here, or behold there; for the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20–21). The Saviour does not say to all, “The kingdom of God is within you”; for in sinners there is the kingdom of sin, and without any doubt either the kingdom of sin or the kingdom of God rules in our heart. Hence let us consider more attentively what we do, what we say, and what we think, and then we shall see whether the rule of God reigns in us or the rule of sins. Knowing this difference, the apostle warns some, saying, “Let not sin reign in your mortal body” (Rom 6:12). If any of us desires the kingdom of God, he is ruled by it. If anyone is tormented by the fire of avarice, he is ruled by avarice. Moreover, one who has injustice as his queen is ruled by her. One who is puffed up by the ambition of vainglory is ruled by popular favour. One who grieves, who fears something, who loves, who desires: each of these things rules him, according as he is possessed by various passions. Knowing all these things, and how many kinds of kingdoms there are, let us rise and pray to God to take away from us the kingdom of the enemy, so that we may be under the kingdom of almighty God, that is, under the kingdom of wisdom, peace, righteousness, and truth, all of which are understood in the only-begotten Son of God, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

On the colt of the ass being untied by the disciples. It was read in the Gospel according to Luke how, when the Saviour had come to Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples to untie the colt of an ass which was tied, and on which no man had ever sat (Luke 19:29–30). This seems to me to belong rather to a higher understanding than to simple history. The ass was tied. Where? Opposite Bethphage and Bethany. Of these, Bethany is interpreted “house of obedience,” and Bethphage “house of jaws,” a priestly place; for the jaws were given to the priests, as is commanded in the law. There, then, where there is obedience, where there is a place assigned to the priests, the Saviour sends his disciples to untie the colt of an ass on which no man had ever sat. But what else can sit upon an ass besides a man? I want to take an example for a moment, so that what I am going to say may be understood. It is written in Isaiah: “The vision of the four-footed beasts in tribulation and distress,” and the rest, up to the place where he says, “The riches of asps will not profit them” (Isa 30:6). Let each of us consider how great a wealth of asps he carried before, how great riches of beasts, and how no rational man ever sat upon our ass, not the word of Moses, not of Isaiah, not of Jeremiah, nor of all the other prophets; and he will see that the Word and Reason of God sat upon us when the Lord Jesus came and commanded his disciples to go and untie the colt of the ass, which before had been tied, so that it might go free. So the colt of the ass, untied, is brought to Jesus, who, sending the disciples to untie it, had said: “If anyone asks you why you are untying the colt, tell him that the Lord has need of it.” This colt had many masters before the Saviour had need of it; but after he began to be its master, the many masters ceased to be. For no one can serve God and mammon. When we served wickedness, we were subject to many passions and vices. The colt, then, is untied, because the Lord has need of it. You are the colt of the ass: what need does the Son of God have of you? What does he seek from you? He needs your salvation; he longs for you to be loosed from the bonds of sins. Then the disciples put their garments on the ass and seat the Saviour on it. They take up the word of God and set it upon the souls of the hearers. They strip off their garments and spread them on the road. The garments of the apostles are upon us: their good works are our adornment; the apostles want their clothing to be trodden by us. And indeed the ass untied by the disciples and carrying Jesus walks upon the garments of the apostles when it imitates their teaching and life. Which of us is so blessed that Jesus sits upon him? As long as he was on the mountain, he stayed with his apostles; but when he began to approach the descent, then the crowd of people met him. Had he not come to the descent, the multitude could not have met him. He came down and sat upon the colt of the ass, and all the people with one voice praised God. Seeing this, the Pharisees said to the Lord: “Rebuke them.” He answered them: “If these are silent, the stones will cry out.” When we speak, the stones are silent; when we are silent, the stones cry out. For the Lord is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. At what time shall we be silent? When the love of many grows cold, when what was foretold by the Saviour is fulfilled: “Do you think the Son of Man, when he comes, will find faith on earth?” Therefore let us pray for the Lord’s mercy, that the stones may not cry out while we are silent; but let us speak and praise God in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

On the text: “And when he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it,” up to the place where he says, “He drove out all who were selling doves.” Chapter 19. When our Lord drew near to Jerusalem, seeing it he wept and said: “If you too had known on this day the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes, for days will come upon you, and your enemies will surround you with a rampart.” What is said contains mysteries, and we hope, as God opens them, to be able to disclose what lies hidden. First, then, his weeping must be considered. All the beatitudes that Jesus spoke in the Gospel he confirms by his own example, and what he taught he proves by his witness. “Blessed,” he says, “are the meek.” Like this is what he says of himself: “Learn from me, for I am meek” (Matt 11:29). “Blessed are the peacemakers”: and who else is such a peacemaker as my Lord Jesus, who is our peace, who dissolved the enmity and destroyed it in his own flesh? “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake”: no one so suffered persecution for righteousness’ sake as the Lord Jesus, who was crucified for our sins. The Lord, then, showed all the beatitudes in himself. On the same pattern, since he had said, “Blessed are those who weep,” he himself wept, to lay the foundations of this beatitude too. He wept over Jerusalem, saying: “If you too had known on this day the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes,” and the rest, up to the place where he says, “because you did not know the time of your visitation.” Someone among the hearers may say: What is said is plain, and has been fulfilled in deed concerning Jerusalem. For the Roman army surrounded it and laid it waste to the point of extermination, and the time will come when stone will not be left upon stone in it. I do not deny that that Jerusalem was destroyed because of the crimes of its inhabitants; but I ask whether this weeping concerns this Jerusalem of ours too. For we are the Jerusalem that is wept over, we who seem to ourselves to have greater insight. For if, after the mysteries of truth, after the word of the Gospel, after the teaching of the church, after the sight of its sacraments, any of us has sinned, he is lamented and wept over. For no pagan is wept over, but he who belonged to Jerusalem, because after his sins his enemies, namely the opposing powers and wicked spirits, surround him, and set a rampart around him, and besiege him, and do not leave stone upon stone; above all if, after much self-control, after some years of chastity, someone has been overcome and, enticed by the blandishments of the flesh, has lost his endurance and purity. If you have committed sexual immorality, they will not leave stone upon stone in you. For he says in another place: “I will not remember his former righteous deeds; in his sin, in which he has been caught, in that I will judge him.” This, then, is the Jerusalem that is wept over. After this it is said: “He entered the temple.” And when he had entered, he drove out those who were selling doves. He did not drive out the buyers, for those who buy also possess what they have bought. Jesus drove out of his Father’s temple those who sell and throw away what they had, after the likeness of that prodigal son who received his substance from his father and lost everything by excessive drinking (Luke 15:13). If anyone sells, then, he is driven out, especially if he was selling doves. Why did he name no other birds but doves? This creature is simple and comely. I fear lest a fault of this kind be found in us too. For if I sell for a price what has been revealed and entrusted to me by the Holy Spirit to bring out to the people, and do not teach without a fee, what else am I doing but selling doves, that is, the Holy Spirit? And when I have sold him, I am driven out of the temple of God. Therefore let us ask the Lord that we may all buy rather than sell. For if we do not sell, we know and understand our salvation; otherwise the enemies will surround our city. And if once the hostile army has encircled us, we shall not deserve God’s tears. Let us rise, then, at dawn and beseech the Lord that we may at least eat the crumbs that fall from his table. Scripture marvels that the queen of Sheba came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and when she had seen his meal and furnishings and the service of his house, she was astonished and was wholly in wonder (1 Kgs 10:1–5). If we do not gladly embrace such great riches of our Lord, so great a store of his word and abundance of his teachings, if we do not eat the bread of life, if we are not fed on the flesh of Christ and do not drink his blood, if we despise the banquet of our Saviour, we must know that God has both kindness and severity. Of these, let us pray rather for his kindness, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.