Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 18

You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'

But I say unto you, that you resist not the evil one;

but whosoever shall smite you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

And to him who is minded to go to law with you, and to take away your coat, leave to him your cloak also.

Do you see that the former sayings were not concerning an eye, when He legislated to pluck out the eye that offends, but concerning him who harms us under the guise of friendship, and casts us into the pit of destruction? For He who here makes so great an excess, and permits not the plucking out of another's eye even when he is plucking out ours, how could He have legislated that one should pluck out his own? But if anyone accuses the old law, because it commands to avenge oneself in this manner, he seems to me to be utterly ignorant of the wisdom befitting a lawgiver, and to be ignorant of the power of occasions, and of the gain of condescension.

For if he considers who they were that heard these things, and in what condition they were, and at what time they received this legislation, he will greatly commend the

wisdom of the lawgiver, and will see that it is one and the same who legislated both those things and these, and who wrote both very usefully and with the fitting occasion.

For indeed if at the outset He had introduced these lofty and exalted precepts, they would have received neither these nor those;

but as it is, having ordained each at the fitting time, He set right the whole world through both.

Moreover He commanded this also, not that we should pluck out one another's eyes, but that we should keep our hands to ourselves.

For the threat of suffering hindered the impulse to do the deed.

And thus indeed He quietly sows deep a great philosophy, in that He commands one who has suffered to avenge himself only with equal measure;

and yet he who began this transgression was worthy of greater punishment, and this the principle of justice demands.

But since He wished also to temper justice with love toward mankind, He condemns the one who has sinned more grievously to a punishment less than his desert, teaching us to show great equity even in suffering.

Having therefore stated the old law, and read it out entire, He shows again that it was not the brother who wrought these things, but the evil one.

But I say unto you, that you resist not the evil one.

He said not, 'Resist not the brother,' but, 'the evil one;'

showing that it is at his instigation that these things are dared, and by this both slackening and cutting short the great part of the anger against him who has done the wrong, by transferring the blame to another.

What then? Ought we not to resist the evil man?

We ought indeed, yet not in this manner;

but as He Himself enjoined, by yielding oneself up to suffer wrong;

For fire is not quenched by fire, but fire by water.

And that you may learn that even under the old law it is rather the one who suffers wrong who prevails, and it is he who receives the crown, examine the very thing that happens, and you will see how great his precedence is.

For he who lays unjust hands upon another will himself have destroyed both eyes—both his neighbor's and his own.

Therefore he is justly hated by all, and is assailed with countless accusations.

But the one who has been wronged, even after he has retaliated in kind,

will have done nothing dreadful.

Therefore he has many who share his grief, since he is pure even after he has committed this transgression. And the misfortunes are indeed equal for both;

but the matters of reputation are not equal, neither with God nor with men.

Wherefore, in the end, not even the misfortunes are equal.

At the outset, then, He said:

He who is angry with his brother without cause, and he who calls him fool, shall be liable to the hell of fire;

but here He demands a yet greater wisdom, commanding the one who suffers wrong not only to keep quiet, but even to vie in generosity all the more, by offering the other cheek.

And He says this, not legislating merely concerning such a blow,

but also training us in forbearance under all other things as well.

For just as when He says that he who calls his brother fool shall be liable to hell,

He is not speaking merely of this one word, but of every kind of reviling;

so indeed here also, He does not legislate that we should bear nobly only when we are struck, but that we should not be thrown into confusion no matter what at all we suffer.

For this reason there too He selected the extreme insult, and here He has set down the blow that seems most of all to carry reproach—the one upon the cheek, which bears great insolence.

And He gives this command, framing His discourse both on behalf of the one who strikes and of the one who is struck.

For the one who has been insulted will consider that he suffers nothing dreadful, being thus prepared to practice wisdom (for he will not even perceive the insult, inasmuch as he is contending rather than being beaten);

while the one who does the outrage, being put to shame, will no longer inflict a second blow, even were he fiercer than any wild beast, but will rather condemn himself severely even for the first.

For nothing so restrains those who do wrong as the wronged bearing what happens with gentleness;

and it not only restrains them from advancing further in their onset, but also disposes them to repent of what has already been done, and to withdraw in wonder at his gentleness, and it makes them more intimate, and servants,

and not friends only, but makes them so, out of foes and enemies;

just as, on the contrary, retaliation produces all the opposite results;

for it puts both to shame and makes them worse, and fans the anger into a greater flame;

and oftentimes it even ends in death, as the evil advances yet further.

Therefore He commanded not only that the one struck should not be angry, but He enjoined that he should even satisfy the other's desire, so that you might not seem to have endured even the first blow unwillingly.

For thus you will be able to strike him with a more decisive blow, even shameless as he is, than if you had struck with your hand; and though he be yet more shameless, you will make him more gentle.

To him who wishes to go to law with you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak also.

For not in the matter of blows only, but also in that of possessions, does He wish us to display such forbearance.

Wherefore again He sets down the same excess.

For just as there He commands us to conquer by suffering, so also here by being deprived of more than the greedy man expected.

Yet He has not set it down without qualification, but with an addition.

For He did not say, Give your cloak to him who asks it, but, To him who wishes to go to law with you;

that is, if he drag you into court and make trouble for you.

And just as, having said not to call anyone fool, nor to be angry without cause, He went on to demand more, when He commanded us to offer the right cheek also;

so also here, having said to be kindly disposed toward one's adversary, He again intensifies the command.

For He commands us to give not only what one wishes to take, but to display yet greater munificence.

What then? Am I to go about naked? he says.

We should not be naked, if we obeyed these things with exactness;

but we should be clothed far more abundantly than all men.

For, first, no one would set upon those so disposed;

and second, even if someone chanced to be so savage and untamed as to proceed even so far, yet far more numerous would appear those who would clothe such a lover of wisdom not with garments only, but even with their own flesh, were it possible.

But even if one had to go about naked for the sake of such wisdom, not even so would it be shameful.

Since Adam too was naked in paradise, and was not ashamed;

and Isaiah was naked and unshod, and was more illustrious than all the Jews;

and Joseph, when he was stripped, then most of all did he shine.

For it is not to be thus naked that is evil, but to be thus clothed as we now are, in costly garments—this is both shameful and ridiculous.

For this very reason God praised those men, but blames these, both through the prophets and through the apostles.

Let us not, therefore, think the commands impossible.

For, together with their profit, they are exceedingly easy, if we are sober;

and so great is the gain, that it profits in the highest degree not only ourselves, but even those who do us despite.

And this is most especially their excellence, that while persuading us to suffer wrong, through the very same means they also teach those who do the wrong to practice wisdom.

For when that man thinks it a great thing to take what belongs to others, but you show him that it is a light matter for you to give even what he does not ask, and you bring in a munificence to counterbalance his beggarliness, and a wisdom to counterbalance his greed—consider how great an instruction he will enjoy, being trained, not by words, but by the very deeds, to despise vice and to long after virtue.

For God wishes us to be useful not to ourselves only, but to all our neighbors as well.

If, then, you give and do not go to law, you have sought your own advantage only;

but if you give something more besides, you have sent him away made better as well.

Such is the salt which He wishes them to be;

for it both holds itself together, and preserves the other bodies with which it comes into contact;

and it gives light both to itself and to others.

Since, then, He has appointed you in the rank of these, benefit also the one who sits in darkness, and teach him that he did not even take the former thing by force;

for thus you yourself will be more venerable and more dignified, if you show that you bestowed a favor and were not plundered.

Make, therefore, his sin, through your own gentleness, an act of generosity of your own.

But if you think this a great thing, wait, and you will clearly see that you have not yet arrived at perfection.

Here the One who lays down the laws concerning forbearance does not halt for you, but advances yet further, saying thus:

If anyone compel you to go one mile, go with him two.

Do you see the surpassing height of this heavenly wisdom? For after giving up the tunic and the cloak, even if the enemy should wish to use one's naked body for hardships and toils, not even so, He says, ought one to hinder him.

For He wills that we hold all things in common—both our bodies and our possessions—both toward those who are in need and toward those who insult us; for the one belongs to courage, the other to loving-kindness.

For the one belongs to courage, and the other to loving-kindness.

'If anyone compels you to go one mile, go with him two.'

leading you up yet higher, and bidding you display the same generous zeal.

For if the things He spoke of at the beginning, which are far lesser than these, carry so many blessings, consider what an inheritance awaits those who accomplish these things, and what they become even before the prizes are given—achieving, in a human and passible body, a complete freedom from passion.

For when they are stung neither by insults and blows, nor by the loss of their goods, nor yield to any other such thing, but rather lavish themselves even more freely upon suffering, consider what kind of soul is being fashioned in them.

For this very reason, what He enjoined concerning blows and concerning possessions, this also He commanded to be done here.

'For why do I speak,' He says, 'of insult and of money? Even if he should wish to use your very body for labor and toil, and that unjustly, again conquer and rise above that unjust desire of his.'

For to compel service means precisely this: to drag someone unjustly, and without any reason, and out of spite.

Yet even for this be prepared, so as to suffer more than he wishes to inflict.

'Give to him that asks you, and from him that would borrow from you turn not away.'

For this He is ever wont to do, mingling the small things with the great.

But if these things are small compared with those, let them give ear—those who seize what belongs to others, who squander their own upon harlots, and who kindle for themselves a twofold fire, both through their unjust income and through their ruinous expenditure.

By 'lending' here He does not mean the contract with interest, but simply the granting of a loan.

But elsewhere He even heightens it, bidding us give to those from whom we do not expect to receive back.

'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.'

'Love your enemies, and pray for those who spitefully use you;'

'bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you;'

'that you may be like your Father who is in heaven;'

'for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.'

See how He has set the crowning ornament of all these good things at the very last.

For on this account He trains us, not merely to bear being struck, but also to offer the right cheek; not merely to add the cloak to the tunic, but also to journey two miles with him who compels us to go one—so that you may receive with all readiness that which is far greater than these.

'And what,' one asks, 'is greater than these?'

That he who does these things has not even an enemy;

or rather, there is something even greater than this.

For He did not say, 'Do not hate,' but, 'Love;'

He did not say, 'Do no wrong,' but, 'Do good.'

But if one should examine it closely, he will see even in these very things another addition far greater than these.

For He did not simply command us to love, but also to pray.

Do you see how many steps He has ascended, and how He has set us upon the very summit of virtue? Consider, counting from the top.

The first step is not to begin a wrong;

the second, after it has begun, not to avenge it in equal measure;

the third, not to do to him who wrongs you the very things you have suffered, but to keep quiet;

the fourth, to offer oneself even to suffer ill;

the fifth, to give up even more than he who does the wrong wishes;

the sixth, not to hate him who has wrought these things;

the seventh, even to love him;

the eighth, even to do him good;

the ninth, even to entreat God on his behalf.

Do you see the height of this heavenly wisdom? For this reason too its reward is glorious.

For since the command was great, and required a valiant soul and much diligence, He appoints for it such a reward as He gave to none of the others.

For here He makes no mention of earth, as in the case of the meek;

nor of comfort and mercy, as in the case of them that mourn and of the merciful;

but that which was more awe-inspiring than all these—to become like God, so far as it is possible for men to become so.

'For that you may become,' He says, 'like your Father who is in heaven.'

But mark this for me: how neither here, nor in what went before, does He call Him His own Father;

but there He called Him God and the great King, when He was discoursing about oaths.

And He does this, reserving the teachings concerning these matters for the fitting season.

Then, bringing forward the likeness, He says that 'He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.'

'For He Himself,' He says, 'not only does not hate, but even does good to those who insult Him.'

And yet in no way is the thing done equal, not only because of the surpassing greatness of the benefit, but also because of the superiority of His worth.

For you are despised by a fellow-servant, but He by a servant who has moreover been benefited in countless ways;

and you bestow mere words when you pray on his behalf, but He bestows deeds exceedingly great and wonderful, kindling the sun and giving the yearly rains.

But nevertheless, even so I grant that it is equal, so far as it is possible for a man to be equal.

Therefore do not hate him who does you evil, since he becomes to you the procurer of such great blessings, and leads you to so high an honor;

do not curse him who spitefully uses you;

for you have undergone the toil, yet you would be deprived of the fruit;

and you would bear the loss, yet forfeit the reward;

which is the utmost folly—having endured the harder thing, not to bear that which is less than it.

'And how can this come to pass?' one asks.

When you have seen God become man, and descend to such a depth, and suffer so many things for your sake, do you still ask and doubt how it is possible to forgive your fellow-servants their wrongs? Do you not hear Him saying upon the cross,

for they know not what they do'? Do you not hear Paul saying that 'He who ascended on high and sits at the right hand makes intercession for us'? Do you not see that even after the cross and after the ascension, He sent the apostles to the Jews who had slain Him, bearing countless blessings, and that too though they were about to suffer at their hands countless dreadful things? But have you been greatly wronged? And what have you suffered such as your Master suffered—bound, scourged, buffeted, spat upon by servants, enduring death, and death the most shameful of all deaths, after countless benefits? But if you have indeed been greatly wronged, for this very reason above all do him good, that you may both make your own crown more glorious, and deliver your brother from his uttermost sickness.

Since physicians too, when they are kicked and insulted by those who rave in delirium, then most of all pity them and set themselves to their cure, knowing that the insult springs from the excess of the disease.

Do you also, therefore, hold this same judgment concerning those who plot against you, and so deal with those who wrong you;

for it is they above all who are sick and who endure all the violence of the disease.

Deliver him, then, from this grievous malady; grant him to lay aside his wrath, and set him free from a cruel demon—namely, anger.

For indeed, if we see men possessed by demons, we weep, and do not ourselves strive to become possessed.

Let us do this now too in the case of those who are angry;

for indeed those who are enraged resemble those others.

Nay rather, they are more wretched than those, since they rave while yet possessing their senses.

Wherefore also their derangement is beyond pardon.

Do not, therefore, trample upon him that is fallen, but rather have pity. For indeed, if we see one troubled by bile, seized with giddiness, and struggling to vomit up this evil humour, we stretch out a hand and support him in his convulsions; and even if we soil our garment, we do not turn away, but seek one thing only—how we may deliver him from this grievous distress. This, then, let us do also in these cases, and let us bear up those who vomit and are torn with convulsions.

And let us not release him beforehand, until he has cast off all his bitterness.

And then he will owe you the greatest thanks;

for he will clearly perceive from how great a tumult you have delivered him.

And why do I speak of the thanks from him? For God will straightway crown you, and will requite you with countless blessings, because you have freed your brother from a grievous malady;

and he too will honour you as a master, ever reverencing your forbearance.

Do you not observe women in travail, how they bite those who stand by, and yet these are not vexed? Or rather, they are indeed pained, yet bear it nobly, and share the pain of the women who are in anguish and torn by their throes.

These do you also emulate, and become not softer than women. For when these women have brought forth (since they are more faint-hearted than women), then will they own you for a man.

But if the injunctions seem grievous, consider that for this very cause Christ came, that He might plant these things in our understanding, and might render us useful both to enemies and to friends.

For this cause He commands us to have care for both these classes;

for the brethren, when He says, 'If you bring your gift';

and for the enemies, when He enjoins us to love and to pray on their behalf.

And He leads us to this not only from the example that is according to God, but also from its opposite.

For 'if you love,' He says, 'those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same?' This also Paul declares;

'You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.'

If, then, you do these things, you stand with God;

but if you forsake them, with the publicans.

Do you see how the distance between the commandments is not so great as the difference between the persons? Let us not, therefore, reckon this—that the injunction is difficult—but let us rather consider the prize, and reflect to whom we become like when we succeed, and to whom equal when we fail.

To the brother, then, He commands us to be reconciled, and not to withdraw first, until we have taken away the enmity;

but when He is discoursing concerning all men, He no longer subjects us to this necessity, but requires only what is on our part, thereby also making the law easy.

For since He had said, 'They persecuted the prophets who were before you,'

in order that they might not for these very reasons be ill-disposed towards them, He commands them not only to bear those who do these things, but even to love them.

Do you see how He roots up anger, and the desire that is set upon bodies, upon riches, upon glory, upon the present life? For this indeed He did from the beginning, but much more now.

For both the poor man, and the meek, and he that mourns, empties out wrath;

and the righteous and the merciful empties out the desire of riches;

the pure in heart is delivered from evil desire;

he that is persecuted, and endures insults, and is evil spoken of, henceforth practises all contempt of present things, and is pure from pride and vainglory.

Having, then, loosed the hearer from these bonds, and having anointed him for the contests, He again by another method plucks up these passions, and with greater exactness.

For beginning from anger, and everywhere cutting away the sinews of this passion, and having said, 'Let him that is angry with his brother, and he that calls him fool, and he that says Raca, be punished';

and, 'Let him that offers the gift not first approach the altar, until he has dissolved the enmity';

and, 'Let him that has an adversary, before he sees the tribunal, make a friend of his enemy';

He passes over again to desire, and says:

'Let him that looks with unchaste eyes be punished as an adulterer';

'let him that is caused to stumble by an unchaste woman, or by a man, or by any other of those belonging to him, cut off all these';

'let him that holds a wife by the law of marriage never cast her out and look towards another.'

For by these things He took away the roots of evil desire.

Then, from this point, He restrains the love of money, commanding neither to swear, nor to lie, nor even to cling to the very tunic which one may chance to be wearing;

but even to give up one's cloak to him that wishes it, and the use of the body itself, out of great abundance taking away the longing that is set upon riches.

Then, after all these things, He adds the varied crown of these injunctions, saying:

'Pray for those who despitefully use you,'

leading up to that very topmost summit of virtue.

For just as it is greater than being meek to be smitten, and greater than being merciful to give up one's cloak together with the tunic, and greater than being just to bear even being wronged, and greater than being a peacemaker to follow even when smitten and pressed into service;

so also, to bless while being persecuted is greater than being persecuted.

Do you see how little by little He leads us up to the very vaults of heaven? Of what, then, should we be worthy, we who are commanded to have zeal towards God, and perhaps do not become even equal to the publicans? For if to love those who love us belongs to publicans and sinners and heathen;

when we do not even do this (for we do not do it, out of envy at our brethren who are well esteemed), what penalty shall we not undergo, we who are commanded to surpass the scribes, yet stand lower than the heathen? How then, tell me, shall we see the kingdom? How shall we set foot upon those sacred portals, becoming not even better than the publicans? For this He darkly signified when He said:

'Do not even the publicans the same?' And this indeed is most to be admired in His teaching, that everywhere He sets down the prizes of the contests with great abundance;

such as to see God, and to inherit the kingdom of heaven, and to become sons of God, and to be like God, and to obtain mercy, and to be comforted, and the great reward;

and if anywhere it was needful to make mention of things grievous, He does it sparingly.

For the name of hell He has set down but once in so many discourses;

and in certain other places too but sparingly, and using the word rather to shame than to threaten, He corrects the hearer, saying:

'Do not even the publicans the same?' and, 'If the salt have lost its savour';

and, 'He shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.'

And there is a place where He sets down the very sins in the stead of punishment, giving the hearer to perceive the burdensomeness of the punishment, as when He says:

'He has committed adultery with her in his heart';

and, 'He that puts her away makes her to commit adultery';

and, 'What is more than these comes of the evil one.'

For to those who have understanding, in the stead of the name of punishment, even the greatness of the sin suffices for their bringing to soberness.

Wherefore indeed here also He brings the heathen and the publicans into the midst, shaming the disciple by the quality of the person.

This also Paul did when he said:

'Sorrow not, even as the rest who have no hope';

and, 'Even as the Gentiles who know not God.'

And showing that He requires nothing excessive, but only a little more than is customary, He says:

'Do not even the Gentiles the same?' Yet nevertheless He does not stay His discourse here, but brings it to a close upon the prizes and the good hopes, saying:

'Be therefore perfect, as your Father which is in heaven.'

And He scatters abroad much the name of the heavens everywhere, rousing up their minds even from the very place.

For as yet they were somewhat weaker and grosser in their disposition.

Considering, therefore, all that has been said, let us show much love even towards our enemies, and let us cast out that ridiculous custom which many of the more senseless endure, waiting for those they meet to greet them first—not being zealous for that which has great blessedness, but pursuing that which is ridiculous.

For what reason, then, will you not greet him first? 'Because he is waiting for this,' he says.

For this very reason, then, you ought most of all to rush forward, so that you might be the one to receive the crown.

And what could be worse than this irrationality? For since he has been eager, one says, to become to me a means of reward, I am unwilling to lay hold of this opportunity.

Now if that man greets you first, you gain nothing more even by returning his greeting;

but if you rush first to the greeting, you have turned his arrogance to profit, and from his conceit you have reaped a bountiful harvest.

How then is it not the utmost folly, when we stand to reap so much from mere words, to betray the gain, and—while he condemns himself—to fall into the very same faults? For if you blame him on this account, that he waits for another to greet him first, why do you emulate the very thing you censure?

and the very thing you said was evil, that you have been eager to imitate as though it were good? Do you see how nothing is more senseless than a man who lives with malice? Therefore I exhort you, let us flee this evil and ridiculous custom.

For indeed this disease has overturned countless friendships, and has wrought many enmities.

For this very reason let us anticipate them.

For we who are commanded to be struck and pressed into service and stripped by our enemies, and to bear it—what pardon should we deserve, if in a mere greeting we display such contentiousness? 'For we are despised,' one says, 'and spat upon, whenever we grant him this.'

And in order that a man may not despise you, do you offend God? And in order that your fellow-servant who is out of his mind may not despise you, do you despise the Master who has bestowed on you so many benefits? For if it is monstrous that your equal in honour should despise you, much more so is it that you should despise God who made you.

And along with this, consider also that, when he despises you, then he becomes to you the means of a greater reward.

For it is for God's sake that you endure these things, since you have hearkened to His laws.

And of what honour would this not be worthy? Of how many diadems? May it be mine both to be insulted and to be despised for God's sake, rather than to be honoured by all the kings;

for nothing—nothing—is equal to this glory.

Let us therefore pursue it in this way, even as He Himself commanded, taking no account of human things, but displaying exact self-discipline in all things, and thus let us order our own life.

For even the good things of heaven and of the crowns there we shall already reap from here, walking as angels among men, going about upon the earth like the angelic powers, remaining free of every desire and of every disturbance;

and along with all these things we shall also receive the ineffable good things;

which may it be granted us all to attain, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the might and the worship, together with the Father who is without beginning and the holy and good Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.