Homilies on Hebrews 21

But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings;

partly, being made a spectacle both by reproaches and afflictions;

and partly, becoming partakers with those who were so treated.

For you both had compassion on the prisoners, and accepted with joy the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better and an abiding substance in the heavens.

The best of physicians, whenever they make a deep incision and intensify the pain by the wound, comfort the suffering part, and soothe and restore the troubled soul; and they do not apply a second incision, but attend to the one already made with gentle medicines able to remove much of the anguish, thus giving comfort.

This also Paul did: having shaken their souls and pierced them with the remembrance of hell, and having assured them that he who has insulted the grace of God must surely perish—showing this also from the laws of Moses, that they shall both perish and be more severely punished, and sealing what he had said with other testimonies, saying, 'It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God';

so that, lest the soul, giving up under the great fear, be swallowed up by grief, he comforts them by means of encomiums and exhortation;

and he brings to bear upon them their own zeal drawn from themselves.

'For call to remembrance,' he says, 'the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings.'

Great is the encouragement that comes from deeds;

for one who has begun a matter ought, as he goes forward, to make further progress.

When you were being led in, when you were in the rank of learners, you showed such eagerness, such nobility.

And he who exhorts, thus especially exhorts—from what is their own.

And observe, he did not say simply,

'You endured a conflict,' but with the addition of 'a great' one.

And he did not say 'temptations,' but 'a conflict,' which is a name of commendation and of the highest praise.

Then he also recounts them one by one, expanding his discourse and multiplying his praises.

How? 'Partly,' he says, 'being made a spectacle by reproaches and afflictions.'

For reproach is a great thing to reach the heart, and able to pervert the soul and to darken the reasoning;

for hear what the Prophet says:

'My tears have been my bread day and night, while it is said to me each day,

Where is your God?' And again:

'If an enemy had reproached me, I could have borne it.'

For since the human race is exceedingly vainglorious, therefore it is easily caught by this very thing.

And he did not say simply, 'By reproaches,' but this too with much emphasis: 'being made a spectacle,' he says.

For when one is reproached by himself, it is grievous; but far more so, when it is before all.

For consider with me how great an evil it was: that men who had departed from the lowliness of Judaism, and had passed over as to a better life, and had despised the customs of their fathers, should suffer ill at the hands of their own kinsmen, and that with no relief.

'I cannot say,' he means, 'that you suffered these things but grieved under them; rather, you even rejoiced exceedingly.'

And this he made clear by saying:

'And partly, becoming partakers with those who were so treated;'

'for you had compassion on the prisoners;'

and he brings the very apostles into the midst.

'Not only,' he says, 'were you not ashamed at your own sufferings, but you also shared with the others who suffered these things.'

This too is part of his exhorting them.

He did not say, 'Bear my afflictions, share with me,' but simply, 'You had compassion on the prisoners.'

Do you see that he speaks of himself and of the others who were bound? Thus you did not regard the bonds as bonds, but stood firm as noble athletes;

so that not only did you need no comfort in your own trials, but you even became comfort to the others.

'And you accepted with joy the plundering of your possessions.'

Wonderful! How great the full assurance of faith!

Then he also states the reason, exhorting them not only unto the conflicts themselves, but also that they be not shaken from the faith.

'Seeing your wealth being plundered,' he says, 'you bore it;'

'for already you were beholding the unseen as though it were seen;'

which was the mark of a sincere faith;

and by the very deeds you displayed it.

Now the being plundered was perhaps due to the violence of those who plundered, and no one could have prevented it;

so that it is not yet clear from this that you endured the plundering on account of the faith.

And yet this too is clear;

for it was possible, had you so wished, not to be plundered, by not believing;

but you did what is far greater than this—namely, to bear such things even with joy;

which was wholly apostolic, and worthy of those noble souls who, when they were scourged, rejoiced.

'For they departed,' it says, 'from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for His name.'

But he who bears it with joy shows that he has some reward, and that the matter is not a loss but a gain.

And the word 'accepted' indicates their voluntary endurance.

How, then, did you choose and welcome it? 'Knowing,' he says, 'that you have for yourselves a better and an abiding substance in the heavens.'

What is 'abiding'? Secure—not perishing as this one does.

Then, having praised them, he says:

'Do not, then, cast away your confidence, which has a great reward.'

What do you mean? He did not say, 'You have cast away your confidence, so recover it,' lest they should give up in despair;

But rather, since you have it, do not cast it away;

which the more encouraged them and made them grow strong.

For to recover again what has been cast away requires more labor, whereas not to lose what is being held fast is not so hard.

But to the Galatians he writes the opposite:

'My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.'

For those were disposed to greater laxity, wherefore they needed a more piercing word;

but these were more faint-hearted, wherefore they rather needed a more soothing treatment.

'Cast not away therefore,' he says, 'your confidence.'

So that they were in great boldness toward God.

'Which,' he says, 'has great recompense of reward.'

What is this? 'Then,' he says, 'shall we receive these things.'

Therefore, if it is laid up for the time to come, we must not seek it here.

Then, lest anyone should say, 'Behold, all that is ours has already been accomplished,' for this reason he anticipated them and their supposition, saying:

'If you know that you have in the heavens a better and abiding substance, seek nothing here;'

for you have need of endurance, not of adding further struggle, that you may remain in the same state, that you may not fling away what has been entrusted to you.

You need nothing else, save only to stand as you have stood, that having come to the end, you may receive the promise.

'For you have need,' he says, 'of endurance, that having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.'

Therefore you need but one thing only, that you await the delay, not that you contend anew.

'You are at the very crown itself,' he says; 'you have borne all the contests, the bonds, the afflictions; your goods were plundered;'

what then? You are now standing ready to be crowned;

this alone bear, the waiting for the crown.

Thus he exhorts them, as one might say to an athlete who has thrown down all his opponents, and

who has no adversary left, and is then about to be crowned, but cannot bear that interval during which the president of the games comes and sets the crown upon him;

but he, being unable to endure, would wish to go out and flee, as not bearing the thirst and the scorching heat.

This then he hints at; what does he say? 'Yet a little while, how little, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.'

For that they might not say, 'And when will He come?' he comforts them from the Scriptures;

for indeed the saying, 'Now is our salvation nearer,' when he says it elsewhere, consoles them, as though but little of the remaining time were left.

And this he says not of himself, but from the Scriptures.

But if from of old it was said, 'Yet a little while, how little, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry,'

it is clear that now He is nearer.

So that even the very waiting is a reward, and no small one.

'But the just,' he says, 'shall live by faith;'

'and if he draw back, my soul has no pleasure in him.'

Great is this consolation, when one shows men who have achieved the whole, yet are losing it through a little negligence.

'But we are not of them who draw back unto destruction, but of them that believe unto the saving of the soul.'

'Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.'

'For by it the elders obtained a good report.'

What an expression he used in saying, 'The evidence of things not seen';

for 'evidence' (proof) is a word used of things exceedingly manifest.

Faith therefore is the seeing of things unseen, he says, and it brings the things not seen to the same full assurance as the things which are seen.

It is not possible, then, to disbelieve in the things that are seen; nor again, unless one has been assured concerning the things invisible more clearly than of the things visible, can there be faith.

For since the things that are in hope seem to be without substance, faith bestows substance upon them;

or rather, it does not bestow it, but faith itself is their very being.

For instance, the resurrection has not come to pass, nor does it exist in substance, but hope gives it subsistence in our soul.

This is 'the substance of things hoped for.'

If then it is the evidence of things not seen, why do you wish to see them, so as to fall away from faith and from being righteous, if indeed the just shall live by faith? But if you wish to see them, you are no longer among the faithful.

'You have toiled,' he says, 'you have contended;'

do not seek the whole here.

These things were indeed spoken to the Hebrews, but the exhortation is common also to many of those here gathered together.

How, and in what manner? To the faint-hearted, to the small-souled.

For when they see wicked men prospering, and themselves in adversity, they are distressed, they are impatient;

when they long for those men's punishment and vengeance, or when they await the reward of their own labors.

'Yet a little while, how little, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry,' said Paul then.

And we too, therefore, let us say these things to the slothful:

'There will assuredly be punishment; it will assuredly come; the things of the resurrection are now at the very doors.'

'Whence is this clear?' one says. I do not argue from the prophets;

for it is not to Christians only that my discourse is now addressed, but even if he be a Greek, I am wholly confident, and I furnish the proofs, and I will teach him;

'If those things did not come to pass, then do not believe these either;'

but if all came to pass, why do you doubt concerning the things that remain? And yet it would have been very unlikely, when nothing had come to pass, to believe concerning those things;

or, when all had come to pass, to disbelieve these.

But rather, I will make the matter plain by an example.

Christ said that Jerusalem should be taken, and taken with such a capture as never was before, and that it should no more rise again;

and the prediction came to pass in deed.

He said that there should be great tribulation, and it came to pass.

He said that, even as a grain of mustard seed being sown, so should the preaching be spread abroad;

and this we see day by day overrunning the whole inhabited world.

He said that those who had forsaken father, or mother, or brothers, or sisters, should have both fathers and mothers;

and this too we see fulfilled through the deeds.

He said, 'In the world you shall have tribulation;'

'but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world' — that is, No one shall prevail over you;

And this too we see fulfilled through the events themselves.

He said that the gates of hades shall not prevail against the Church, and this while she is persecuted, and that no one shall quench her.

And to this prediction also the experience of events bears witness.

And yet, when He spoke these things at that time, He was exceedingly hard to believe.

Why so? Because all was but words, and as yet He furnished no proof of the things spoken.

So that now they have become far more worthy of belief.

He said that when the Gospel shall have been preached among all the nations, then shall the end come.

And behold, we have now well-nigh arrived at the end.

For the greater part of the inhabited world has heard the proclamation.

So then the end is at hand.

But tell me, why are you anxious about the consummation of the world? For that indeed is near at hand, but the life of each one of us, and its end, is much nearer still.

For 'the days of our years,' it says, 'in them are seventy years.'

'but if by reason of strength, they be eighty years.'

The day of judgment is near.

'A brother does not redeem; shall a man redeem?' Much shall we repent there.

'But in death no one shall make confession to Him.'

'Let us come before His face with confession'—

that is, before His coming.

For here indeed whatever we do has power to avail, but there no longer.

If someone, tell me, were to set us in a blazing furnace for a little while, should we not undergo all things to be delivered, even if we had to give up our money, even if we had to endure slavery? How many have fallen into grievous diseases, and would readily have chosen to give everything so as to be delivered, had the choice but been set before them? If then here a short-lived sickness so distresses us, what shall we do there, when repentance shall be of no avail? With how many evils are we now laden, and perceive it not? We bite one another, we devour one another, wronging, accusing, slandering, stung with envy at the reputations of our neighbors.

When someone wishes to undermine his neighbor's good name, he says:

'So-and-so said this about him; God pardon me, do not examine me too closely; I only owe an account of what I heard.'

Why then do you speak at all, if you do not believe it? Why do you speak? Why do you make it credible by the wide report? Why do you spread abroad a report that is not true? You disbelieve it, and yet you entreat God not to examine you? Speak not then, but hold your peace, and you are freed from all fear.

But I know not whence this disease has fallen upon men.

We have become babblers; nothing remains stored up within our soul.

Hear a certain wise man exhorting and saying: 'Have you heard a word? Let it die within you.'

And again: 'A fool has heard a word, and travailed with it, as a woman in labor from the face of her infant.'

We are ready for accusations, prepared for condemnations.

And even if we had wrought no other evil, this alone were enough to destroy us and to lead us away to hell, this to involve us in ten thousand evils.

And that you may know it exactly, hear the Prophet saying: 'You sat and spoke against your brother.'

'But it was not I,' he says, 'but that other.'

For if you had not spoken, the other would not have heard.

But even if he was going to hear it in any case, still you were not the cause of the sin.

When you ought to be overshadowing and concealing the faults of your neighbors, do you instead parade them abroad under the pretext of a love of goodness? You are no accuser, but a babbler, a trifler, a fool.

You disgrace yourself along with him, and perceive it not. See how many evils arise from this.

You provoke God to anger, you grieve your neighbor, you make yourself liable to punishment.

Do you not hear Paul speaking concerning widows? 'And not only idle,' he says, 'but they learn also to be babblers and busybodies, going about from house to house, and speaking things which they ought not.' So that even when you believe the things spoken against your brother, not even so ought you to repeat them, much less when you disbelieve them.

But do you everywhere look to your own interest, fearing to be examined by God? Fear then, lest you also be examined for your idle talk.

For here you cannot say, 'Let not God examine me for my idle talk';

for the very thing is idle talk.

Why did you parade it abroad? Why did you magnify the evil? This has power to destroy us.

For this reason Christ said:

'Judge not, that you be not judged.'

But no account of this do we make, nor does the case of the Pharisee bring us to our senses.

He said a true thing, that 'I am not as this publican,' and

he said it with no one listening, and yet he was condemned.

If he who spoke the truth was condemned, and that when speaking with no one to hear him,

what dreadful thing shall they not suffer who spread everywhere things that are false, and of which they are not even persuaded, like babbling women? What shall they not endure? Let us then set a door and a bolt upon our mouth.

For countless evils have come from idle talk;

households have been overthrown, friendships torn asunder, and ten thousand other grievous things have come to pass.

Do not busy yourself, O man, with your neighbor's affairs.

But are you a talker, and have you this failing? Speak of your own concerns to God.

So it shall no longer be a failing, but an advantage.

Speak of your own concerns to your friends, those who are true friends and righteous, and in whom you have confidence, that they may pray on behalf of your sins.

If you speak of the affairs of others, you have profited nothing, you have gained nothing, but you have even perished;

if you confess your own to the Master, you have great reward.

'For I said,' it says, 'I will confess against myself my iniquity to the Lord, and You forgave the ungodliness of my heart.'

Do you wish to judge? Judge your own concerns.

No one accuses you, if you condemn yourself;

but he does accuse you, if you do not condemn yourself;

he accuses you, if you do not reprove yourself.

Have you seen so-and-so wrathful, provoked, or doing some other unseemly thing? Straightway call to mind your own faults as well, and thus you will neither condemn him severely, and will free yourself from the burden of your own sins.

If we thus order our own life, if we thus manage our existence, if we condemn ourselves, perhaps we shall not sin in many things, but shall work many good works, being gentle and moderate, and shall enjoy all the good things that are promised to those who love God;

which may it be granted us all to attain, by the grace and love toward mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.