Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 19 part 2/2

For this reason He did not even say, 'Deliver us from the evil ones,' but, 'From the evil one;'

teaching us in no case to be bitterly disposed toward our neighbours for whatever wrongs we may suffer at their hands, but to transfer our enmity from these to him, as being the author of all our evils.

Having therefore made us anxious by the remembrance of the Enemy, and having cut off all our slothfulness, He again encourages us and raises up our spirits, by reminding us of the King under whom we are ranged, and showing that He is more powerful than all.

'For Thine,' He says, 'is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory.'

Therefore, if the kingdom is His, we ought to fear no one, seeing there is none that withstands Him, nor that divides the dominion with Him.

For when He says, 'Thine is the kingdom,' He shows that even that one who wars against us is made subject to Him, even though he seem to resist, God permitting it for a while.

For he too is of the servants, even though of those that are dishonoured and have given offence;

and he would not dare to set upon any of his fellow-servants, unless he had first received the authority from above.

And why do I speak of fellow-servants? Not even against swine did he presume to venture, until He Himself gave leave;

nor against flocks nor herds, until he had received the authority from above.

Therefore, though you were ten thousand times weak, you would have good reason to be of good courage, having such a One as your King, who is able easily to accomplish all things even through you.

'And the glory for ever.'

For He not only delivers you from the terrors that assail you, but can also make you glorious and illustrious.

For as His power is great, so also is His glory unspeakable, and all His things are boundless, and of them there is no end.

Do you see how on every side He has anointed the champion, and prepared him to be of good courage? Then, as I said before, wishing to show that beyond all things He turns away from and hates the remembrance of wrongs, and that above all things He accepts the virtue opposed to this vice, even after the prayer He again reminded him of this very good work, and, drawing the hearer both from the punishment that is laid up and from the honour that is appointed, He led him on to the obedience of this commandment.

For if you forgive men, He says, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;

but if you do not forgive, neither will He forgive you.

For this reason He made mention again of the heavens and of the Father, that by this too He might shame the hearer, seeing that, though he has such a Father, he should turn savage as a beast, and, though called to heaven, should still harbour an earthly and worldly disposition.

For it is not enough to become sons by grace only, but we must be so also in our works.

And nothing makes us so like God as being forgiving toward the wicked and those who wrong us;

even as He had already taught before, when He spoke of the sun rising upon the wicked and the good.

For this very reason, in each of the petitions He commands us to make the prayers in common, saying, 'Our Father';

and, 'Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth';

and, 'Forgive us our debts';

and, 'Lead us not into temptation';

everywhere commanding us to use this plural form, so that we may not retain even a trace of anger toward our neighbour.

Of how great a punishment, then, would they be worthy, who after all this not only refuse to forgive themselves, but even call upon God to take vengeance on their enemies, and, as it were, transgress this law in the very opposite direction—and that too when He does and contrives all things so that we should not fall into strife with one another? For since love is the root of all good things, by removing whatever mars it He gathers us together from every side and knits us to one another.

There is no one—not father, not mother, not friend, nor anyone whosoever—who has loved us as has God who made us.

And this is especially plain both from the benefits He bestows each day, and from the things He enjoins.

But if you speak to me of your griefs, and pains, and the ills of life, consider how many times each day you offend Him, and you will no longer marvel even if more of these ills should come upon you;

rather, whenever you enjoy any good thing, then you will marvel and be astonished.

But as it is, we look at the calamities that befall us, yet we do not consider the offences we commit against Him each day;

whereas if we but reckoned up with exactness the sins of a single day, then we should well understand of how many evils we are guilty.

And, to pass over all else—the transgressions that each has privately committed—let me speak of those done this very day;

and yet I know not what each of us has sinned;

but nevertheless so great is the abundance of transgressions, that not even one who knew all things exactly could reckon them up even from these.

Who among us, then, has not been slothful in prayer? who has not been presumptuous? who has not been vainglorious? who has not spoken ill of his brother, or admitted an evil desire? who has not looked with unchaste eyes? who has not remembered an enemy with passion, and made his heart to swell? Now if, being in church and in a brief space of time, we have become liable to so many evils, what shall we be when we go out from hence? If in the harbour the waves are so many, when we go forth into the surging strait of evils—I mean the marketplace, and public affairs, and household cares—shall we then be able so much as to know our own selves? Yet nevertheless, for deliverance from sins so many and so great, God has given us a short and easy road, free from all toil.

For what toil is it to forgive one who has grieved you? Nay, the toil is rather in not forgiving, but in holding fast one's enmity;

whereas to be rid of one's wrath brings much relief, and is exceedingly easy for one who is willing.

For there is no need to cross the sea, nor to journey a long road, nor to pass over mountain peaks, nor to spend money, nor to strain the body; it suffices only to be willing, and all one's sins are loosed.

But if you not only refuse to forgive yourself, but even entreat God against him, what hope of salvation will you then have left, when at the very moment you must propitiate Him and beseech Him, you then provoke Him—wearing the guise of a suppliant, yet uttering the cries of a wild beast, and hurling against yourself those very darts of the Evil One? For this reason Paul too, when he made mention of prayer, sought nothing so earnestly as the keeping of this commandment;

for 'lifting up holy hands,' he says, 'without wrath and doubting.'

For if, when you have need of mercy, not even then do you lay aside your anger, but even cling to it exceedingly—and that though you know that you are thrusting the sword against yourself—when will you ever be able to become loving toward men, and to spit out this venom of the Evil One? But if you have not yet perceived the greatness of this absurdity, consider it as taking place among men, and then you will see the excess of the outrage.

For if, while you were a man, someone came to you asking to be pitied, and then, as he lay meanwhile upon the ground, he caught sight of an enemy, and, leaving off supplicating you, began to beat that man—would you not be the more provoked to anger? Reckon that this same thing happens with respect to God.

For you too, while supplicating God, in the midst break off your entreaty and strike your enemy with words, and outrage God's laws—Him who has ordained the laying aside of all anger against those who have grieved us as a good thing—and you deem it right to do the opposite of His own commands.

Is it not enough to account you worthy of punishment, that you yourself transgress the law of God, but must you also call upon Him to do this? For has He forgotten what He enjoined? Is He a man, He who spoke these things? He is God, who knows all things, and who wills that His own laws be kept with all exactness, and who is so far from doing the things you ask, that He turns away from and hates even you who say these things—yea, even for the mere saying of them—and exacts of you the uttermost penalty.

How then do you deem it right to obtain from Him the very things from which He commands you with much diligence to abstain?

But indeed there are some who have come to such a pitch of unreason, as not only to imprecate curses upon their enemies, but even to lay curses upon their enemies' children, and, if it were possible, to taste of their very flesh;

or rather, they do even taste of it.

For do not tell me this, that you have not fastened your teeth into the body of the one who grieved you;

for you have done something far worse, at least as far as depends on you, in that you deem it right that wrath be brought down from above against him, and that he be delivered to undying punishment, and be overthrown together with his whole household.

For what bites are not less grievous than these? what darts are not less bitter? Not these things did Christ teach you;

not thus did He command you to make your mouth bloody.

For such tongues are more grievous than mouths that have been made bloody from human flesh.

How then will you greet your brother? how will you touch the sacrifice? how will you taste of the Lord's blood, having so much venom upon your mind? For when you say, 'Dash him down, and overthrow his house, and destroy everything, and imprecate ten thousand ruins upon him,' you differ in nothing from a murderer—nay rather, from a man-eating beast.

Let us therefore cease from this disease and this madness, and let us show forth toward those who have grieved us the kindliness which He commanded, that we may become like our Father who is in the heavens.

And we shall cease, if we call to mind our own sins;

if we examine with exactness all our transgressions—those within, those without, those in the marketplace, those in the church.

For if for nothing else, at least for our heedlessness here we are worthy to undergo the uttermost penalty.

For while prophets are chanting, and apostles are singing hymns, and God is discoursing, we wander abroad, and bring in the tumult of worldly affairs;

and we do not render to the laws of God even so much quietness as the spectators in the theatres afford of silence to the letters of the emperor.

For there, when those letters are read, consuls and prefects and senate and people all stand upright, hearkening in quietness to what is said;

and if in the midst of that deepest quietness anyone should suddenly leap up and cry out, he, as having insulted the emperor, pays the uttermost penalty;

but here, while the letters from heaven are being read, from every side arises much tumult.

And yet He who sent these letters is far greater than this emperor, and the assembly is more august;

for it is not of men only, but also of angels;

and these victories, which the letters proclaim as glad tidings, are far more awe-inspiring than those upon earth.

Wherefore not men only, but also angels and archangels, and the hosts of the heavens, and all those on earth, are commanded to give praise.

For 'Bless the Lord,' He says, 'all His works.'

For not small are the things accomplished, but they all surpass human speech and mind and understanding.

And these things the prophets proclaim aloud each day, each of them heralding this splendid trophy in a different manner.

For one says, 'Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive, and hast received gifts among men';

and, 'The Lord strong and mighty in battle.'

And another says, 'He shall divide the spoils of the strong.'

For to this end He came, that He might proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind.

And crying aloud the triumphant shout against death, He said:

'O death, where is thy victory? O Hades, where is thy sting?' And yet another again, bringing glad tidings of the deepest peace, said:

'They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles.'

And one calls upon Jerusalem, saying:

'Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, for behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, riding upon a beast of burden and a young colt.'

And another proclaims aloud His second coming also, saying thus:

'The Lord whom ye seek shall come, and who shall endure the day of His coming? Leap ye like calves loosed from their bonds.'

And yet another again, being astonished at such things, said:

'None other shall be reckoned in comparison with Him.'

Nevertheless, though these things and far more are spoken, it behooves...

And we do not even consider that we are upon the earth, but as though in the midst of a marketplace we make an uproar and cause confusion, and by conversing about matters that are nothing to us we squander the whole time of the assembly.

When, therefore, both in small things and in great, both in hearing and in action, both without and within the church, we are thus slothful, and along with all these things we even pray against our enemies, whence shall we have any hope of salvation, when to so many sins we add yet another grievous one, of equal weight with them, offering up this lawless prayer? Is it then still just to be astonished if something unexpected and painful should befall us, when rather we ought to be astonished when it does not befall us? For the one belongs to the natural sequence of events;

but the other transcends all reason and expectation.

For indeed it surpasses reason that men who have become enemies of God and who provoke Him to anger should enjoy the sun and the rains and all the other blessings—men who surpass the ferocity of wild beasts, who set themselves against one another, and who redden their tongue with the wounds inflicted on their neighbours, and this after the spiritual table, after so many benefits, after the countless commandments.

Considering these things, therefore, let us vomit forth the poison, let us dissolve our enmities, and let us make the prayers that befit us;

instead of the beastliness of demons, let us take on the gentleness of angels;

and however greatly we may have been wronged, considering our own doings and the reward laid up for us in return for this commandment, let us soften our anger and calm the waves, that we may both pass through the present life without disturbance, and, departing hence, may find such a Master there as we ourselves have been toward our fellow-servants.

But if this seems burdensome and fearful, let us make it light and desirable, and let us open wide the splendid doors of confidence toward Him;

and what we were not strong enough to accomplish by abstaining from sins, this let us accomplish by becoming gentle toward those who have sinned against us (for neither is this burdensome, nor grievous);

and by doing good to our enemies, let us lay up beforehand for ourselves abundant mercy.

For thus, both in the present life all men will love us, and above all others God will love us and crown us and account us worthy of all the good things to come;

which may it be granted to us all to attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.