Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 23 part 1/2

'Judge not, that ye be not judged.'

What then? Ought we not to rebuke those who sin? For Paul too says this very same thing:

or rather, there also it is Christ who speaks through Paul, saying:

'Thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? And thou too, why dost thou set at nought thy brother?' And, 'Who art thou that judgest another man's servant?' And again:

'Wherefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come.'

'Reprove, rebuke, exhort.' And, 'Them that sin rebuke before all.' And Christ too said to Peter:

'Go, reprove him between thee and him alone;

and if he will not hear, take also another to thyself;

but if not even so he yields, tell it also to the church;'

and He appointed so many to rebuke, and not only to rebuke, but even to chastise? For him who would hear none of these things, He commanded to be as a heathen and a publican.

And how did He give them also the keys? For if they are not to judge, they shall have authority over nothing, and to no purpose have they received the power of binding and loosing.

And otherwise, if this doctrine were to prevail, all would go to ruin — the affairs of the churches, and of the cities, and of households.

For if the master judge not his servant, and the mistress her handmaid, and the father his son, and the friend his friend, the works of wickedness will increase.

And why do I say, the friend his friend? If we judge not our enemies, we shall never be able to dissolve the enmity, but all things will be turned upside down.

What then can that saying be? Let us attend with exactness, lest one suppose the remedies of salvation and the laws of peace to be laws of overthrow and confusion.

For chiefly by what follows He showed to those who have understanding the virtue of this law, when He said:

'Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?' But if to many of the more careless it still seems rather obscure, I will try to explain it from the beginning.

For here, as it seems to me at least, He does not simply command us not to judge all sins, nor does He simply forbid the doing of such a thing, but He speaks of those who, being full of countless evils, trample upon others for trifling faults.

And He seems to me here also to hint at the Jews, in that, being bitter accusers of their neighbours for small and worthless matters, they themselves committed great sins without perceiving it;

which also toward the end He reproached them with, saying, 'Ye bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, but ye yourselves will not move them with your finger;'

and, 'Ye tithe mint and dill, and have left the weightier matters of the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith.'

He seems then to be aiming at these men also, forestalling them in the very things wherein they were about to accuse the disciples.

For even if those men had committed no such sin, yet nevertheless in the eyes of the others these were reckoned to be transgressions;

such as, not keeping the Sabbath, eating with unwashed hands, reclining at table with publicans.

'Ye who strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel.'

Nevertheless He lays down a common law concerning these matters.

And to the Corinthians too Paul commanded not simply not to judge, but not to judge those above themselves, and that on a matter not agreed upon;

not simply those who sin, not to judge them.

And He rebuked them not indiscriminately, all at that time, but He reproved disciples doing this concerning their teachers, and those who, being themselves guilty of countless evils, slandered the guiltless.

This then is what Christ here also hinted at;

and He hinted at it not simply, but He also attached great fear,

and made the punishment inevitable.

'For with what judgment ye judge,' He saith, 'ye shall be judged.'

For thou dost not condemn him, He saith, but thyself, and thou makest the tribunal fearful to thee, and the reckonings exact.

As, therefore, in the forgiveness of sins the beginnings are from us, so also in this judgment the measures of the condemnation are laid down by us.

For one ought neither to reproach, nor to trample upon, but to admonish;

not to speak evil, but to counsel;

not to set upon him with arrogance, but to correct him with tender affection.

For it is not him, but thyself, that thou deliverest over to the uttermost punishment, in not sparing him when it may be needful to give sentence concerning the faults committed against him.

Seest thou how these two commandments are both light and the causes of great good to those who obey, even as they are of evils to those who give no heed? For he that forgives his neighbour has, before that neighbour, freed himself from the accusations, having toiled at nothing;

and he that examines the faults committed by others with sparing and pardon has, by his very sentence, laid up beforehand for himself a great contribution of pardon.

What then? If one commits fornication, He saith, am I not to say that fornication is an evil, nor to correct the licentious man? Correct him indeed, but not as an enemy, nor as a foe exacting a penalty, but as a physician preparing remedies.

For He did not say, Stop him not from sinning, but, Judge not;

that is, become not a bitter judge.

And moreover, this was said not concerning the great and forbidden sins — as I said before — but concerning those which are not even thought to be transgressions.

'Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye?' For indeed many now do this;

if they see a monk having a superfluous garment, they cast at him the Lord's law, while they themselves plunder countless things and every day are covetous;

and if they see one enjoying more abundant food, they become bitter accusers, though they themselves every day are drunken and given to carousing, not knowing that together with their own sins they thereby heap up for themselves a greater fire, and deprive themselves of all defence.

For that one must examine one's own doings with exactness, thou thyself wast the first to lay down the law, having thus passed sentence upon thy neighbour's affairs.

Do not, then, think it a grievous thing, if you too are destined to render such an account.

'You hypocrite, first cast out the beam from your own eye.'

Here He wishes to display the great wrath which He bears toward those who do such things.

For indeed, whenever He wishes to show that a sin is great, and that great is the punishment and wrath that attend it, He begins with a reproach.

Thus, indeed, He also spoke in indignation to that man who exacted the hundred denarii, saying:

'You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt;'

so also here, 'You hypocrite.'

For such a verdict does not proceed from solicitude, but from a hatred of mankind;

and it puts forward a mask of loving-kindness, while it accomplishes a work of the utmost wickedness, fastening superfluous reproaches and accusations upon one's neighbours, and seizing the rank of a teacher when one is not even worthy to be a disciple.

For this reason He called such a one a hypocrite.

For you who in the affairs of others are so harsh as to observe even trifling faults, how have you become in your own affairs so careless as to overlook even great ones? 'First cast out the beam from your own eye.'

You see that He does not forbid judging, but commands one first to cast out the beam from the eye, and then to set right the affairs of others? For a man knows his own faults better than those of others;

and he sees the greater rather than the lesser;

and he loves himself more than his neighbour.

So that, if you act out of solicitude, care first for yourself, where the sin is both plainer and greater.

But if you despise yourself, it is plain that you judge your brother not out of solicitude, but out of hatred and a desire to expose him to public shame.

For even if it were needful that he should be judged, it should be by one who is guilty of no such thing,

and not by you.

For since He had laid down great and lofty precepts of the higher wisdom, lest anyone should say that it is easy to philosophize about such things in words, wishing to show His boldness of speech, and that He was answerable for none of the things He had said but had accomplished them all rightly, He spoke this parable.

For indeed He too was afterwards to judge, saying, 'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites;'

but He was not liable to the things He had spoken;

for neither did He cast out a mote, nor did He have a beam upon His eyes, but being pure of all these things, He thus corrected the transgressions of all.

For one ought not, He says, to judge others, when one is himself guilty of the same faults.

And why do you marvel if He Himself laid down this law, when even the robber knew it upon the cross, saying to the other robber:

'Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?' — speaking the very same thoughts as Christ.

But you not only do not cast out your own beam, you do not even see it;

yet the mote of another you not only see, but you also judge it and attempt to cast it out;

just as though a man afflicted with a severe dropsy, or with some other incurable disease, should neglect this, but blame another who neglects a slight swelling.

And if it is an evil not to see one's own sins, it is a twofold and threefold evil both to sit in judgment upon others, while insensibly carrying the beams about upon one's own eyes.

For sin is heavier than a beam.

What then He enjoined through the words spoken is this: that he who is himself liable to countless evils should not be a bitter judge of the faults of others, and especially when these are trifling;

not overthrowing reproof or correction, but forbidding a man to neglect his own affairs and to leap upon those of others.

For indeed this made men advance into great wickedness, introducing a twofold depravity.

For he who has made it his practice to neglect his own faults, though they be great, but to scrutinize bitterly those of others, though they be small and paltry, was corrupted in two ways:

both by despising his own concerns, and by taking up enmity and hostility against all men, and by anointing himself day by day for the utmost cruelty and want of compassion.

Having therefore taken away all these things by this excellent legislation, He again added another injunction, saying:

'Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine.'

And yet, He says, further on He commanded:

'What you have heard in the ear, proclaim upon the housetops.'

But neither is this contrary to the former.

For there too He did not simply command to speak to all, but to speak with boldness to those to whom one ought to speak.

And by 'dogs' here He obscurely indicated those who live in incurable impiety, and have no hope of a change for the better; and by 'swine' those who spend their whole life in unbridled living — all of whom He declared to be unworthy of such a hearing.

This indeed Paul also declared, saying:

'But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit;'

and in many other places he says that corruption of life is the cause of not receiving the more perfect doctrines.

Wherefore He commands not to fling the doors open to them;

for they become more insolent after learning.

For to the well-disposed and the intelligent, holy things when unveiled appear venerable;

but to the senseless, they are more so when they remain unknown.

Since, then, from their nature they cannot understand these things, [let them be concealed, He says, so that] they may at least be put to shame through their ignorance.

For neither does the swine know what a pearl is.

Therefore, since it does not know, let it not even see it, lest it trample upon what it does not know.

For nothing more comes of it than greater harm to those who are so disposed and who hear.

For holy things are outraged by such men, who know not what they are;

and they are the more lifted up and armed against us.

'Lest they trample them, and turn again and rend you.'

And yet, He says, they ought to have been so strong that, even after being learned, they should remain invincible, and afford no handles to others against us.

But it is not those holy things that give the handle, but the fact that these men are swine;

just as the pearl also, when trampled, is trampled not because it is contemptible, but because it fell among swine.

For they feign moderation, in order to learn;

then, when they have learned, becoming altogether other men, they lampoon, they mock, they laugh at us as though we had been deceived.

For this reason Paul too said to Timothy:

'for he has greatly withstood our words;'

and again in another place, 'From such turn away;'

and, 'A man that is a heretic, after a first and second admonition, reject.'

It is not, then, from those holy things that they arm themselves, but they of themselves become foolish thereby, being filled with greater madness.

For this reason it is no small gain that they should remain in ignorance;

for so they do not despise it as much.

But if they learn, the loss is twofold.

For they themselves will reap no fruit from it, but will even be more grievously harmed, and will cause you countless troubles.

Let those give heed who shamelessly entangle themselves with everyone, and who make sacred things contemptible.

For it is on this account that we celebrate the Mysteries with the doors shut, and exclude the uninitiated—not because we have condemned as weak the rites we perform, but because the many are still too imperfectly disposed toward them.

For this very reason He Himself also spoke many things to the Jews in parables, since seeing they did not see.

For this reason too Paul commanded that one should know how one ought to answer each person.

Ask, and it shall be given you;

knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

For since He had enjoined great and marvelous things, and had commanded them to be superior to all the passions, and had led heaven itself down to them, and had charged them to be zealous—so far as is possible—to become like, not to angels nor to archangels, but to the very Lord of all; and since He commanded the disciples not only to achieve these things themselves, but also to set others right, and to distinguish the wicked from those who are not such, the dogs from those who are not dogs (though much lies hidden within men)—therefore, lest they should say that these things are hard and unbearable,

for indeed, in what follows, Peter uttered something of this kind, when he said:

Who then can be saved? And again:

If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.

In order, then, that they might not say these things now also, He had chiefly demonstrated already through the foregoing that these things are easy, laying down many continuous arguments able to persuade;

and now He adds the crowning proof of their easiness, devising no ordinary consolation for the labors—namely, the alliance that comes from persevering prayers.

For we must not be zealous ourselves alone, He says, but must also call in the help from above;

and by all means it will come and be present, and will take part with us in our contests, and will make all things easy.

For this reason He both commanded us to ask, and pledged the gift.

Yet He did not simply command us to ask, but with much perseverance and intensity.

For this is the meaning of 'Seek.'

For indeed the one who seeks, casting all else out of his mind, becomes wholly intent upon that one thing which is sought, and gives no thought to any of the things present.

And those know the truth of what I say who, having lost either gold or servants, go in search of them.

By 'seeking,' then, He indicated this;

and by 'knocking' He indicated approaching with vehemence and a fervent mind.

Do not, then, fall down in despair, O man, nor show less zeal for virtue than desire for riches.

For those things you have often sought and not found;

yet nonetheless, though you know that you will by no means certainly find them, you set every manner of search in motion;

but here, though you have a promise that you shall by all means receive, you do not display even the smallest fraction of that zeal.

And if you do not receive at once, do not even so despair.

For it was on this account that He said 'Knock,' to show that even if He does not at once open the door, one must persevere.

But if you disbelieve My declaration, at least believe the example.

For what man is there of you, He says, whom if his son shall ask bread, will he give him a stone? For among men, if you do this continually, you seem to be troublesome and burdensome;

but with God, it is when you do not do this that you provoke Him the more.

And if you continue asking, even though you do not receive at once, you shall by all means receive.

For it is on this account that the door is shut—that it may lead you to knock;

for this reason He does not consent at once—that you may ask.

Continue therefore doing these things, and you shall by all means receive.

'Shall I ask and not receive?' He has fortified you with the parable, again laying down arguments, and from human affairs leading you on to be confident concerning these matters;

showing through these things that we must not only ask, but also ask the things we ought.

For what father is there of you, whom if his son shall ask bread, will he give him a stone? So that if you do not receive, it is because you ask a stone.

For even if you are a son, this alone does not suffice for receiving;

nay, this very thing hinders the receiving—that, being a son, you ask things which are not expedient.

Do you therefore ask nothing worldly, but all things spiritual, and you shall by all means receive.

For Solomon too, since he asked the very things that ought to be asked, behold how quickly he received.

Two things, then, must belong to the one who prays: both to ask earnestly, and to ask the things one ought;

since you also, He says, though you are fathers, wait for your sons to ask;

and if they ask anything unprofitable from you, you withhold the gift;

just as, on the other hand, if it is profitable, you consent and provide it.

And you, considering these things, do not withdraw until you receive;

until you find, do not depart;

do not relax your zeal, until the door be opened.

For if you approach with this mind, and say, 'Unless I receive, I will not depart,' you shall by all means receive—provided you ask such things as are fitting for Him who is asked to give, and profitable for you who ask.

And what are these things? To seek all things spiritual;

to approach asking forgiveness only after having forgiven those who have trespassed against us;

to lift up holy hands without wrath and disputings.

If we ask in this manner, we shall receive.

For as things now are, our asking is a laughingstock, and of men whether drunk or sober.

'What then,' someone says, 'when I ask even spiritual things and do not receive?' By all means you did not knock with zeal, or you rendered yourself unworthy of receiving, or you withdrew too quickly.

'And for what reason,' someone says, 'did He not say what things one ought to ask?' Yet indeed He did say all these things in what precedes, and showed concerning what things one ought to approach.

Do not, then, say, 'I approached, and did not receive.'

For with God there is never any not-receiving—with Him who loves so as even to surpass fathers, and to surpass them by as much as goodness surpasses this wickedness.

For if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven?

But He said these things, not disparaging human nature, nor reviling the race;

but by way of contrast with His own goodness, calling the fatherly tender affection 'wickedness';

so great is the excess of His love for mankind.

Do you see an ineffable argument, sufficient to rouse even one who has utterly despaired unto good hopes? Here, then, He shows the goodness from the case of fathers;

but in what precedes, from the greater things which He gave—from the soul, from the body;

and nowhere does He set forth the sum of good things, nor bring into the midst His own coming;

for He who hastened thus to give up His Son to slaughter, how shall He not freely give us all things? For it had not yet come to pass.

But Paul indeed sets this forth, speaking thus:

He who spared not His own Son, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? But He Himself still discourses with them from human examples.

Then, showing that we must neither be confident in prayer while neglecting our own efforts, nor, being zealous, trust in our own diligence alone, but must both seek the help from above and contribute what is from ourselves, He continually sets down both this and that.

For indeed, having exhorted much, He also taught them to pray; and having taught them to pray, He again came back to the exhortation concerning the things to be done.

Then, from that point He passes again to the need of praying continually, saying:

Ask, and seek, and knock;

and from thence again to the duty that they themselves also be earnest;

For all things whatsoever, He says, that ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them;

in brief summing up all things, and showing that virtue is concise, and easy, and known to all.

And He did not merely say, All things whatsoever ye would;

but, All things therefore whatsoever ye would.

For this word therefore He added not without purpose, but with a hidden meaning:

If ye wish, He says, to be heard, then along with those things which I have spoken, do these also.

whatsoever ye would that men should do to you.

Didst thou see how by this too He showed that together with prayer we need also an exact manner of life? And He did not say, Whatsoever thou wouldest to be done to thee by God, that do thou to thy neighbor;

lest thou shouldest say, And how is it possible? He is God, but I am man;

but, Whatsoever thou wouldest to be done to thee by thy fellow-servant, these things do thou also show forth toward thy neighbor.

What is lighter than this? What is more just? Then also the commendation, before the prizes, is very great.

For this is the law and the prophets.

Whence it is plain that virtue is according to our nature, that we all of ourselves know what is required, and that it is never possible to take refuge in ignorance.

Enter ye in through the strait gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat.

And strait is the gate and narrow the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

And yet, after these things He was saying:

My yoke is easy, and My burden is light;

and in the things but now spoken He hinted at the same;

how then does He here say that it is strait and narrow? Yet indeed, if thou attend, even here He shows it to be very light, and easy, and manageable.

And how, one may say, is the strait and narrow way easy? Because it is a way and a gate;

even as the other likewise, though it be wide, though it be broad, that too is a way and a gate.

But of these things none is abiding, but all pass away, both the grievous and the pleasant things of this life.

And not in this respect only are the things of virtue easy, but by their end also they become again yet easier.

For it is not the passing away of the toils and the sweats, but also the arriving at a good end (for it terminates in life), that is enough to comfort those who are striving.

So that the temporary nature of the toils, and the perpetuity of the crowns, and that these come first while those follow after, may prove the greatest consolation in the toils.

Wherefore Paul also called the affliction light, not by reason of the nature of the things that happen, but by reason of the purpose of them that strive, and the hope of the things to come.

For the light affliction, he says, worketh out an eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

For if the waves and the seas are light to the sailors, and the slaughters and the wounds to the soldiers, and the storms and the frosts to the husbandmen, and to the boxers the bitter blows, all things light and bearable for the hope of prizes that are corruptible and perishing;

how much more, when heaven is set before us, and the unspeakable good things, and the immortal prizes, will no one have any feeling of the present distresses.

But if some account it to be even thus laborious, the surmise is only of their own slothfulness.

See, at any rate, how from another quarter also He makes it easy, bidding them not to engage with the dogs, nor to give themselves up to the swine, and to beware of the false prophets, and on every side keeping them braced for the contest.

And this very thing, His calling it strait, contributed greatly toward making it easy;

for it disposed them to be sober and watchful.

As therefore Paul, when he says, Our wrestling is not against blood and flesh, does this not to cast down, but to arouse the minds of the soldiers;

even so He too, awakening the travelers, called the way rough.

And not by this means only did He make them watchful, but also by adding that it hath many that trip men up—and, what is yet more grievous, that they do not even assail openly, but concealing themselves;

for such is the race of the false prophets.

But look not at this, He says, that it is rough and strait, but at where it ends;

nor that the opposite is wide and broad, but at where it comes to ruin.

And all these things He says, rousing our zeal;

even as also elsewhere He said, that The violent take it by force.

For he that strives, when he clearly sees the judge of the games marveling at the laboriousness of the contests, becomes the more eager.

Let us not therefore be dismayed, when many grievous things befall us from this quarter.

For the way is narrow, and the gate strait, but not the city.

For this reason then, one must not here expect

any relaxation, nor look for aught grievous remaining there.

And having said that Few there be that find it, here again He both declared the slothfulness of the many, and instructed His hearers not to give heed to the prosperities of the many, but to the toils of the few.

For the greater part, He says, not only do not walk in it, but neither do they even choose it;

which is a matter of the utmost reproach.

But we must not give heed to the many, nor be troubled thereby, but emulate the few, and, bracing ourselves on every side, so walk in it.

For besides its being strait, there are also many who trip up them that travel the road that leadeth thither.

Beware of the false prophets;

for they will come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Behold, together with the dogs and the swine, another kind of ambush and plot, far more grievous than that.

For those are confessed and manifest, but these are disguised.

Wherefore also He bade them abstain from the former, but to examine these too with exactness, since it is not possible to discern them at the first assault.

Wherefore also He said, Beware, making them more exact for the discernment of them.

Then, lest hearing that it is strait and narrow, and that one must walk contrary to the many, and beware of swine and dogs, and along with these yet another and more wicked race, this of the wolves;

lest they should sink down under the multitude of the grievous things, being about both to go contrary to the many, and along with these again to have anxious care on their behalf, He reminded them of the things that came to pass in the days of their fathers, calling them false prophets;

for indeed at that time also such things used to happen.

Be not therefore troubled, He says;

for nothing new nor strange will befall.

For the devil ever sets deceit side by side with the truth.

But by false prophets here He seems to me to hint not at the heretics, but at those who are indeed of corrupt life, yet wear about them a mask of virtue—whom the multitude are wont to call by the appellation of the pretended qualities they assume.

By their fruits ye shall know them.

For among heretics it is possible oftentimes to find even a good life;

but among these, of whom I spoke, by no means.

What then, someone asks, if in these things too they play the hypocrite? Yet they will be caught easily.

For such is the nature of this way which I have commanded men to walk: it is toilsome and full of hardship;

but the hypocrite would not choose to labour, only to make a display.

For since He had said that 'Few are they who find it,' He again purges them of those who do not find it but merely feign to, bidding us look not only at those who wear the outward masks, but at those who pursue it in truth.

And for what reason, someone asks, did He not make them plainly manifest, but cast us upon the search? So that we may be watchful, and always on the alert, guarding against not only the open enemies but the hidden ones as well;

even those at whom Paul also hinted when he said that 'By fair speech they deceive the hearts of the guileless.'