Homilies on Jeremiah 17.0–18.5

Homily 17. On “The partridge cried out” as far as “and I did not desire the day of man; you know.”

We have come to the celebrated question of seeing who the partridge is, about which Scripture now says: “The partridge cried out; it gathered what it did not hatch, making its wealth without judgment. In the middle of its days they will leave it, and at its end it will be a fool.” From the study of the nature of animals we must take up what is reported about the partridge, so that, knowing the facts about the animal, we may know whether the partridge now spoken of should be placed on the better side or on the worse. It is said to be a most malicious animal, deceitful and crafty, wishing to deceive hunters, and often rolling about the hunter's feet so as to distract him, as though the animal were close, so that he does not come to the nest. And when it judges that it has drawn the hunter away and the chicks have escaped, then it too flies off. And the animal is very unclean, so that the males fight one another over mating and male mounts male. If, then, this animal is malicious, unclean, crafty, and deceitful, clearly to place it on the better side and say that it can be referred to the Savior appears impious. We must see, then, if we wish to interpret it of the adversary, whether the whole interpretation follows for us.

Let us begin, then, with “The partridge cried out; it gathered what it did not hatch.” So the devil does not gather his own creatures; he does not gather what he begot; but when he cries out, he gathers the creatures of another and makes them his own. The partridge cried out through Valentinus, the partridge cried out through Marcion, it cried out through Basilides, through all those of other opinions; for none of them could speak the voice of Jesus: “My sheep will hear my voice.” But the voice of Jesus is in Paul and Peter; that is why Paul said, “Since you seek proof of the Christ who speaks in me.” But the voice of the partridge, which gathers what it did not hatch, is in those who lead astray and deceive the simpler believers because of their guilelessness and lack of preparation. “The partridge,” then, “cried out; it gathered what it did not hatch, making its wealth without judgment.” The partridge has grown rich. See how many tens of thousands are his; many have become the partridge's, the opposing power's. And he made his wealth without caring for judgment or having judgment, acting without discernment. That is why it is said that the partridge is “making its wealth without judgment.” But my Savior makes his wealth with judgment, and his wealth is judged and chosen.

“In the middle of its days they will leave it.” All of us who were once under the partridge that cried out (for it cried out not only through those already mentioned, but also, in a word, through all who deceive and call people to godlessness as if to godliness, to doctrines contrary to the truth) have left it “in the middle of its days.” For all its days are the days of this age; but since Christ Jesus has delivered “us from the present evil age,” for this reason we have left it “in the middle of its days.” “And at its end it will be a fool.” When was it ever wise, that at its end it should become a fool? But we shall say that it was wise; for “the serpent was the wisest of all the beasts on the earth which the Lord God had made.” It was wise according to what is said in Isaiah: “For I will bring it upon the great mind, the ruler of the Assyrians. For he said: By strength I will do it, and by wisdom

[From the Latin:] … you may accept: “If anyone among you,” he says, “thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool.” The one who cried out before resolves it: be foolish and simple, so that you may become wise. If, then, there is a blameworthy wisdom, according to which “the sons of this age are wiser than the sons of light in their generation,” God is good, who overturns opposites by opposites, so that what was said may be fulfilled: “its end will be foolish.” When will its end be foolish? Christ must “reign until God puts all his enemies under his feet,” and when he has subjected all things to him, “the last enemy to be destroyed is death.” When death has been destroyed, then the end of the partridge will come, and its end will become foolish. So much on the partridge. The beginning of the second section read is this: “A throne of glory, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctification, our support, the support of Israel. O Lord, let all who have forsaken you be put to shame as they depart; let them be written on the earth, for they have forsaken the fountain of life, the Lord.” The blessed prophet Isaiah, seeing the Lord and his kingdom, said: “I saw the Lord of hosts sitting on a throne high and lifted up.” Jeremiah too saw how God reigns; that is why, glorifying him, he says: “A throne of glory, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctification.” Whether you wish to understand these words of Christ, you will not sin; or of the Father, you will not think impiously; for the Savior is a throne of glory, exalted and from the beginning. “A throne of glory,” because his kingdom is exalted; [the Greek resumes:] “our sanctification” is Christ; “for he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one.” “The support of Israel.” Just as the Savior is righteousness itself, truth itself, sanctification itself, so he is endurance itself. And it is not possible to be righteous without Christ, nor holy without him, nor to endure without having Christ; for he himself is the endurance of Israel. And even if you refer it to God, not even so will you be impious. “O Lord, let all who have forsaken you be put to shame as they depart.” Each of us, when he sins, forsakes Christ by the things in which he sins, and in forsaking Christ forsakes God. For in doing wrong he forsakes righteousness, and in becoming profane he forsakes sanctification, and in making war he forsakes peace, and in coming under the enemy he forsakes redemption, and in being outside the wisdom of God he forsakes wisdom. So the prophet calls down a curse on all who forsake God, teaching us what will happen to them, saying: “Let all who forsake you be put to shame.” As far as they have departed, so far let them be put to shame. “Let them be written on the earth.” All human beings are written down: the saints in heaven, the sinners on the earth. It is said to the disciples by the [Lord]: “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” So one must rejoice if one becomes such that his name is written in heaven. And as the name of the saints is written in heaven, so the names of those who live earthly lives, who do not pass through the land of Edom but hold the fields and vineyards of the land of Edom, are written on the earth as of those who forsake God. For he says, “Let them be put to shame as they depart; let them be written on the earth”; for “with the measure you measure, it will be measured to you.” Each is the cause for himself of being written down. If you seek the things on earth, you do not seek the heavenly things. If your soul has bent toward the affairs here, you become the cause for yourself, since Jesus says: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” Do you lay up treasure in heaven? You are the cause for yourself of your name being written in heaven. So much on “let them be written on the earth.” And he gives the reason: “for they have forsaken the fountain of life, the Lord.” And at the beginning the same prophet said in the person of God, “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water,” and now, “they have forsaken the fountain of life, the Lord.” Let us too, then, if we wish not to forsake the fountain of life, the Lord, say the words of Jesus' true disciples, which they spoke to the teacher when he said to them, “Do you also wish to go away?” What, then, shall we say? “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Here the second section too came to an end.

Then again there is a prayer that runs thus: “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for you are my boast. Behold, they say to me: Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come. But I have not grown weary following after you, and I have not desired the day of man; you know.” Only to the one who came as physician for those who are sick, and who says, “Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are sick,” can everyone who wishes to be healed of the sickness of his soul say with confidence: “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed.” But if anyone else besides him promises the healing of souls, you could not say to him truthfully, “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed.” For that woman “with a flow of blood” spent “all she had” on physicians, and “could not be healed by any of them”; for it was not reasonable to say to any of them, “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed,” but only to him whose “fringe of his garment” it was enough to touch. So I say to him: “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed”; for if you heal, the end will follow the healing from you, the cure, so that I am saved. But whatever others save, I shall not be saved; the only and true salvation is if Christ saves, since then I shall be saved. “A horse is a false hope for salvation”; false too are all the other things besides God for salvation. That is why I would say to him: “Save me, O Lord, and I shall be saved.” And I say this if I can also say what follows, by renouncing every boast, so as to say, “For you are my boast”; that is, when I fulfill the commandment that says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches; but let him who boasts boast in this, to understand and know that I am the Lord.” Blessed, then, is the one who has renounced every earthly boast, for example in so-called noble birth, in beauty, and in bodily things, in wealth, in glory, and is content with one boast, so as to say: “For you are my boast.”

“Behold, they say to me: Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come. But I have not grown weary following after you.” Jesus says to you, “Take up your cross and follow me,” and “Leave everything and follow me,” and “Whoever does not leave father and mother and follow after me cannot be my disciple.” If, then, you become such as always to follow Jesus, you will also follow, and as long as you follow you will not grow weary; for “there will be no toil in Jacob, nor will pain be seen in Israel.” There is no weariness for one who follows Jesus; following itself takes away weariness. That is why he himself says, so that we may no longer be weary, having grown weary before beginning to follow him: “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” If, then, being weary, we come to him and follow him, we shall say: “But I have not grown weary following after you.” And consistent with this is our saying also, “I have not desired the day of man.” There is a day of man, and there is a day of God. Let each of us desire the day of the resurrection of the saints, not that about which it is written: “Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord; it is darkness and not light.” Who is the one who says, “And I have not desired the day of man”? The plainness of the word will convict us that we have desired the day of man. Often, when we have been ill and have come to the prospect of death at our departure, we beg the brothers who visit us, saying: “Ask leave for me; ask that I may remain in life.” Saying this, we desire not the holy day of God but the day of man. So let us put away love of life and the desire for a human day, and seek to see that day on which we shall obtain blessedness in Christ Jesus, to whom be the glory and the power for ever. Amen.

Homily 18. On “The word that came from the Lord to Jeremiah, saying: Arise and go down to the potter's house” as far as “to make their land a desolation and a hissing.”

There are two visions of Jeremiah read in sequence: the first contains the matter of the clay vessel in the potter's hand, which after breaking admits of repair (for it can be reshaped); the other vision contains the matter of the earthenware flask, for which, once broken, there is no remedy. For while it was clay, if it was broken, even if already shaped, since it was clay it could again become a second lump and be made a second time; but when, after being clay, it has become earthenware and been hardened by the fire, then it was not possible, after the earthenware was broken, for it to be remedied. What these things mean, let us first consider in outline, then, if it is granted, examine them word by word. As long as we are in this life we are being shaped, so to speak, as by a potter, because our vessel is of clay, and we are shaped either according to wickedness or according to virtue. But we are shaped in such a way that our wickedness can be broken so that a new and better creation may come about, and our progress can be undone after it has been shaped into a clay vessel. But when, after the present age, we come to the end of life, and then are fired, whether by the fire of the evil one's flaming darts, whatever we become, or by the divine fire (since “our God is a consuming fire”), if, I say, having become whatever we become under this or that fire, we are broken, whether we were broken and perished after becoming good vessels or after becoming wicked vessels, we are not made anew, nor does our make admit of improvement. That is why, as long as we are here, as it were in the potter's hand, even if the vessel falls from his hands, it admits of remedy and of being made anew. Let this be said somewhat summarily, before we examine what remains in detail, about the two kinds of vessels, the one of clay, not yet fired, and the second, which has already become earthenware.

Let us look, from the text itself, at what is said about the clay vessel in the potter's hand, and how the Word in the prophet himself, the Lord who prophesies in him, gives other, not small, starting points for interpreting what concerns the thing formed in the potter's hand. “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: Arise and go down to the potter's house.” Jeremiah is above; he has gone beyond the clay vessels. The clay vessels are below, and the nature that governs the clay vessels, coming down with the things it governs, is below; that is why the word spoken to Jeremiah from the Lord says to him: “Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there you will hear my words.” To Moses it is said, “Come up to the mountain and hear”; to Jeremiah it is said, “Go down to the potter's house and hear”; for each of those who hear the word is taught either about higher things or learns about lower things. If I am taught the lower things, I go down in thought so as to see the lower things; if I learn the higher things, I go up in thought to the higher things so as to behold what is there. And so that all of you, as far as you are able, may follow what is said, I will use examples from Scripture too, and beside the example I will add clarity that brings you closer to the interpretation given. “At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” There is a wisdom about each of these: wisdom about the heavenly things, how the heavenly things are ordered; wisdom about the things under the earth, since there is a wisdom of God also about the ordering of the things under the earth; and likewise about the earthly things. If I am to contain the wisdom about the heavenly things, I go up to the heavenly things, as Moses went up to the top of the mountain, so that the voice from heaven might be heard by him, as it is written. For he was to be taught heavenly worship; for there is a shadow and copy of heavenly mysteries in the laws of worship that are recorded, as the apostle taught, saying: “who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.” As, then, when I am to be taught about the heavenly things I go up, so, if I need to learn about the things under the earth, even if I become a prophet, I go down. And perhaps that is why Samuel, when he was taught the things under the earth, went down below and came to be in Hades, not condemned to be in Hades, but to become a scout and beholder of the mysteries under the earth. The apostle's words about wisdom can be of this kind too, distinguished as knowing “what is the breadth and length and depth and height.” Are you to know the height? You go up in thought to the height. Are you to know the things between the height and the depth? You know the breadth and the length. Everywhere the mind that can follow the Son of God reaches, guided by the Word, who teaches about all things. And he follows who has renounced the world and takes up the cross; for he can follow Jesus who can say, “The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” It was necessary to explain “Go down to the potter's house, and there you will hear my words.” For it had to be compared with “Come up and you will hear my words.” For of those who hear, some go up to be taught, but go up not at all bodily; others go down and have their soul above, so as to see the highest word about the lowest things. My Lord Jesus Christ himself has gone up and gone down; for “he who went up is the same who also went down, far above all the heavens.” If, then, you too are to understand him who went up to the highest, the word about the highest things, and him who went down to the lowest, who teaches about the lowest things, “do not say: Who will go up into heaven? that is, to bring Christ down; or: Who will go down into the abyss? that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does Scripture say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,” through which you go up into heaven. Both about the ascent, “the word is near you,” and about the lowest things, “the word is near you”; for what can the holy man have in himself but the Word who is everywhere? “For the kingdom of heaven is within you.”

So the prophet goes down to the potter's house and describes what he saw, saying: “And behold, he was making a work on his wheels, and the vessel he was making fell from his hands in the clay; and again he made it into another vessel, as it pleased him to make.” But I do not know what the prophet saw when he was at the potter's. For he saw the potter working; the vessel made was of clay; the vessel fell. Why did he not say precisely, “He dropped the vessel from his hand,” nor attribute the cause to the potter? Because the word is about living vessels, which fall of themselves; that is why it is said, “The vessel fell from his hands.” Take heed, then, to yourself too, lest, while you are in the potter's hands and still being formed, you fall of yourself from his hands. For “no one” snatches “out of his hands,” according to what is said in the Gospel according to John. But it is not written that, as no one snatches, so no one falls out of his hands; for free will is free. And I say: no one will snatch from the hand of the shepherd; no one can take us from the hand of God; but we can, through negligence, fall from his hands.

“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Can I not do with you, house of Israel, just as this potter? says the Lord.” Each understands what is written according to his ability: one more superficially, taking the meaning from them as from a spring at ground level; another more deeply, as drawing from a well. And both can be benefited, since the same thing is to one a spring, to the other a well. The Gospel testifies, when it tells about the Samaritan woman; for there the same thing is named “spring” and “well,” and in turn it is called now a spring, now a well. Let whoever can consider it, so as to know that what is the same in reality is a spring to the superficial and a well to the deeper. This is my introduction to the explanation that is to follow, on the clay vessel that fell from the potter's hand and was formed again. Some have looked at these things more simply and understood them. I will set before you their account and explanation; after that, if we have anything deeper, we will explain that too. Here, they say, the matters of the resurrection can be shown. For if the clay vessel fell from the potter's hands, and from the same material of the same clay he makes “it into another vessel, as it pleased him,” God, the potter of our bodies, the maker of our constitution, can, when it has fallen and been broken for whatever cause, take it up and renew it and make it more beautiful and better, “another vessel, as it pleased him to make.” Let this explanation too have its value.

But let us hear the Lord himself explaining and saying: “Can I not do with you, house of Israel, just as this potter? says the Lord. Behold, as the clay of the potter, so are you in my hands. At last I will speak against a nation and a kingdom, to remove them and to destroy them; and if that nation turns from their evils about which I spoke to it, I too will repent of the evils I planned to do to them. And at last I will speak about a nation and a kingdom, to build it up and to plant it; and if they do evil before me so as not to hear my voice, I too will repent of the good things I spoke of doing to them, says the Lord.” We see that this, concerning the potter's house, is referred not to any single individual but to two nations; for he says at the start that he is going to speak about nations, so as to suggest something to those who can hear secret mysteries: “At last I will speak against a nation.” Seek both the “at last” and the first nation, against which he speaks the things of destruction because of their sins; and having spoken the things of destruction because of the sins, he none the less promises that, if they repent, he will repent of the evils he spoke of doing to them. And again he speaks about another, second nation, “to build it up and to plant it,” a whole nation; and since this nation that is built up and planted has a fair promise, but can sin, he says, after speaking these things, if they depart from good works: “I will repent of the good things I spoke of doing to them.” What, then, are the two nations: the first named, which the word threatens, and the second, to which it makes promises? He threatens so that, if it repents, he may not do what he threatened. He promises so that, if the second nation falls away and does not become worthy of the promises, it will not obtain them. The whole dispensation of God for human beings in the world is set out chiefly about two nations. The first nation was Israel; the second, from the coming of Christ, this nation. To the first God threatened what he threatened, and we see the fulfillment of the threat to the first nation: it has been in captivity, their city has been razed, the sanctuary torn down, the altar thrown down; nothing of their former sacred things is preserved among them any longer. For God said to that nation, “Repent,” and they did not repent. After these things were said to them, God speaks to this second nation about building it up. But he sees that this nation too consists of human beings, who can fall away again. That is why he threatens this one too and says: Even if I have spoken beforehand about building and planting and cultivation, yet this nation too is going to sin, and if it sins, the same things will befall it that were said to those because of their sins, and they will suffer them unless they repent. Search the whole of Scripture, and you will find most things said about these two nations. God chose the fathers, gave them a promise, brought a people of the race of the fathers out of Egypt, was long-suffering toward them when they sinned, disciplined them as a father, brought them in, gave them the land of promise, sent them prophets from time to time, disciplined them and turned them back from their sins. He was always long-suffering, sending those who would heal them, until the chief physician should come, the prophet surpassing the prophets, the physician surpassing the physicians. When he had come, they betrayed and killed him, saying, “Away, away with such a man from the earth; crucify, crucify him.” At once a visitation came upon the nation; the place where my Jesus was crucified was made desolate; God chose another nation. See how great the harvest is, even though the laborers are few. And in another way too God arranges for the net always to be cast into the sea of this life, and fish of every kind are gathered; he sends out “the many fishermen,” he sends out “the many hunters”; they hunt from “every mountain,” they hunt from “every hill.” See how great a dispensation there is for the salvation of the nations. “Note, then, the kindness and the severity of God: on” the first nation, which fell, “severity, but on you,” the second nation, promises and “kindness, if you continue in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off.” For the axe was not laid at the root of the trees only then; the axe is ready to come again. “The axe is laid at the root of the trees,” my Jesus said then, prophesying about Israel, beside whom the axe was. He himself was the axe for the fruitless tree, and he said: “Already the axe is laid at the root of the trees.” All the trees there that did not bear fruit were cut down and thrown into the fire and have been punished. But now another cultivated field has come into being, analogous to the first, about which it is said: “Bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance, in your prepared dwelling place.” God has brought his nation in to the mountain of his inheritance. I seek the mountain not, like the Jews, in lifeless materials. The mountain is Christ. In him we have been planted; on him we have been kept. See, then, even if he is long-suffering, lest the master of the house come and say: “For three years now I have come to this fig tree, and it has borne no fruit; cut it down; why should it use up the ground?” For he uses up the good ground, Christ, the mystery of the church, who comes to the assembly and bears no fruit.