Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 26 part 1/2

And when He had entered into Capernaum, there came to Him a centurion, beseeching Him and saying:

Lord, my servant lies at home paralyzed, grievously tormented.

The leper came to Him as He came down from the mountain;

but this centurion, when He had entered into Capernaum.

For what reason, then, did neither this man nor that go up into the mountain? Not through slothfulness;

for indeed the faith of both was fervent;

but in order that they might not interrupt the teaching.

My servant lies at home paralyzed, grievously tormented.

Some, then, say that in making his defense he also stated the reason why he did not bring him.

For it was not possible, he says, to carry on a litter one who was paralyzed and racked with pain and drawing his very last breaths.

For that he was indeed about to breathe his last, Luke tells us, saying that he was on the point of death.

But I maintain that this is a sign of his having great faith, and a faith far greater than that of those who let the sick man down through the roof.

For since he knew clearly that a mere command was sufficient to raise up the one who lay stricken, he considered it superfluous to bring him.

What then does Jesus do? What He had nowhere done before, here He does.

For everywhere else He follows the desire of those who entreat Him, but here He even leaps forward, and does not merely promise to heal, but also to come to the house.

And He does this that we may learn the virtue of the centurion.

For if He had not made this promise, but had said, 'Go, let your servant be healed,' we should have known none of these things.

This, indeed, He did in the opposite way in the case of the Phoenician woman.

For here, though not invited into the house, He says of His own accord that He will come, that you may learn the centurion's faith and his great humility;

but in the case of the Phoenician woman He even refuses the gift, and though she persists, He seems at a loss.

For being a wise and resourceful physician, He knows how to bring about contrary results by contrary means.

And here by His self-offered coming, but there by His prolonged delay and refusal, He unveils the faith of the woman.

So too He does in the case of Abraham, saying:

'I will not hide from My servant Abraham.'

that you may learn his tender affection, and his care for Sodom.

And in the case of Lot the messengers who were sent refuse to enter in to him, that you may learn the greatness of the righteous man's hospitality.

What then does the centurion say? 'I am not worthy that You should come under my roof.'

Let us give heed, as many of us as are about to receive Christ;

for it is possible to receive Him even now.

Let us give heed and be zealous, and let us receive Him with such great earnestness;

for indeed, whenever you receive a poor man who is hungry and naked, you have received Him and have fed Him.

'But only speak the word, and my servant shall be healed.'

Observe this man too, like the leper, holding the fitting opinion concerning Him.

For neither did this man say, 'Beseech';

nor did he say, 'Pray and entreat';

Then, fearing lest He should decline out of modesty, he says:

'For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me;

and I say to this one, Go, and he goes;

and to another, Come, and he comes;

and to my servant, Do this, and he does it.'

And what of this, one says, if the centurion so surmised? For the point in question is whether Christ declared and confirmed this.

You speak well and most sagaciously.

Let us then examine this very thing;

and we shall find that what happened in the case of the leper happened here also.

For just as the leper said, 'If You will' — and we assert the matter of His authority not from the leper alone, but also from the voice of Christ;

for not only did He not overthrow the supposition, but He confirmed it all the more, adding what it was superfluous to say, and saying, 'I will, be clean,' so as to ratify that man's conviction —

so likewise here it is right to consider whether any such thing took place;

for indeed we shall find this very same thing to have occurred again.

When the man had spoken and had testified to such great authority, He not only did not rebuke him, but even accepted it, and did something more than accept it.

For the evangelist did not say merely that He praised what was spoken, but, indicating the intensity of the praise, he says that He also marveled;

and He did not marvel simply, but also in the presence of all the people, and He gave to the rest an example, so that they might emulate him.

Do you see how each of those who bore witness to His authority is marveled at? 'And the multitudes were astonished at His teaching, for He taught as one having authority';

and He not only did not rebuke them, but even took them and went down, and by the very means through which He cleansed the leper, He ratified their opinion.

'If You will, You can make me clean';

and He not only did not chide him, but even, healing him just as that man had said, cleansed him.

Again this centurion says:

'Only speak the word, and my servant shall be healed';

and marveling at him He said:

'Not even in Israel have I found such great faith.'

But that you may learn this also from the opposite case:

since Martha said none of these things, but, on the contrary, 'Whatever You ask of God, God will give You,'

she not only was not praised — although she was familiar and beloved and one of those most devoted to Him — but was even rebuked and corrected by Him, as having spoken amiss.

'Did I not tell you that if you believe, you shall see the glory of God?' — thus reproaching her as one who had not yet believed.

And again, since she had said, 'Whatever You ask of God, God will give You,'

leading her away from such a supposition, and teaching her that He has no need to receive from another, but is Himself the fountain of good things, He says:

'I am the resurrection and the life';

that is, 'I do not wait to receive an operation from without, but I work all things from Myself.'

Wherefore He both marvels at the centurion, and sets him before all the people, and honors him with the gift of the kingdom, and calls the rest to the same zeal.

And that you may learn that He said these things for this very reason, that He might train the rest also to believe thus, hear the exactness of the evangelist, how he hinted at it:

'For turning,' he says, 'Jesus said to those who followed Him:'

'Not even in Israel have I found such great faith.'

So then, to entertain great thoughts concerning Him — this above all is the procurer of faith, and of the kingdom, and of the other good things.

For the praise did not stop at mere words, but He also restored the sick man to health in return for his faith, and He weaves for him a splendid crown, and promises great gifts, saying thus:

'Many shall come from east and west, and shall recline in the bosoms of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob;

but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness.'

For since He had displayed many miracles, He thenceforth discourses with them with greater boldness.

Then, lest anyone should think the words were flattery, but that all might learn that the centurion was thus disposed, He says:

'As you have believed, so be it done to you.'

And immediately the deed followed, bearing witness to his purpose of heart.

And his servant was healed from that very hour.

The very same thing happened also in the case of the Syrophoenician woman;

'O woman, great is thy faith!'

But since Luke also, in relating this miracle, inserts several further details which seem to display a discrepancy, it is necessary to resolve these matters for you as well.

What then does Luke say? 'He sent elders of the Jews to Him, entreating Him to come.'

But Matthew says that the man himself came forward and said, 'I am not worthy.'

And some indeed say that this is not the same man as the other, even though he has many features in common.

For concerning that one it is said, 'And he built our synagogue, and he loveth our nation';

but concerning this one it is Jesus Himself who says,

'Not even in Israel have I found so great faith.'

And in the case of that one He did not say, 'Many shall come from the east,' from which it is likely that he was a Jew.

What then shall we say? That this solution indeed is an easy one;

but the question is whether it is true.

To me it seems that this man is the same as that one.

How is it then, one asks, that Matthew says that he himself said, 'I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof,'

while Luke says that he sent others so that He might come? To me it seems that

Luke is hinting to us at the Jewish flattery, and at the fact that those in misfortune, being unsettled, change their minds many times.

For it is likely that when the centurion wished to go himself, he was hindered by the Jews, who flattered him and said, 'We will go and bring Him.'

Observe then how their very entreaty was full of flattery.

'For he loveth our nation,' they say, 'and he himself built our synagogue';

yet they do not even know on what grounds they are praising the man.

For it behoved them to say: 'He indeed wished to come himself and to entreat Thee, but we hindered him when we saw the calamity and the body lying stricken in his house,' and thus to set forth the greatness of his faith;

but out of envy they were unwilling to disclose the man's faith;

rather they chose to cast a shadow over the virtue of the very one on whose behalf they had come to make supplication, lest the one being entreated should seem to be some great person, or lest by proclaiming that man's faith they should accomplish the very thing for which they had come.

For envy is sufficient to maim the understanding.

But He who knows the hidden things proclaimed that man even against their will.

And that this is true, hear Luke himself again interpreting it.

For he himself says thus, that 'When He was not far off, he sent, saying:

for I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof.'

For when he had been rid of their troublesome presence, then he sends, saying:

'Think not that I did not come out of sluggishness, but I deemed myself unworthy to receive Thee into my house.'

But if Matthew says that he spoke this not through friends but by his own person, this makes no difference at all;

for the point in question is whether each evangelist set forth the man's eager willingness, and that he held the fitting opinion concerning Christ.

And it is likely that he also, after sending the friends, came himself and said these things.

But if Luke did not say this, neither did Matthew say that other thing;

which was the mark not of men contradicting one another, but rather of men filling up what was omitted by each other.

Observe too how Luke proclaimed his faith from yet another angle, saying that the servant was about to die.

But nevertheless this did not cast him into despair, nor did it make him lose hope;

but even so he hoped that the man would survive.

But if Matthew says that Christ declared, 'Not even in Israel have I found so great faith,' and by this shows that he was not an Israelite, while Luke says that he built the synagogue;

for it was possible, even for one who was not a Jew, both to build the synagogue and to love the nation.

But do not, I pray thee, examine what was said by him in a bare fashion, but add also his starting-point, and then thou wilt see the man's virtue.

For great is the arrogance of those in positions of authority, and not even in misfortunes do they come down from it.

At any rate, the man recorded in John draws Him to his house, and says:

'for my little child is about to die.'

But this man is far better both than that one and than those who let down the bed through the roof.

For he does not seek a bodily presence, nor did he bring the sick man near to the Physician;

which was the mark of one who imagined no small thing concerning Him, but who held a conception befitting God;

And he does not even at the outset say, 'Speak with a word,' but only describes the affliction;

for out of his great humility he did not expect that Christ would immediately assent and seek out his house.

For this reason, when he heard Him saying, 'I will come and heal him,' then he says, 'Speak with a word.'

And not even the affliction threw him into confusion, but even in his calamity he plays the philosopher, looking not so much to the servant's recovery as to not seeming to do anything irreverent.

And yet it was not he who compelled it, but Christ who promised it;

yet even so he is afraid, lest at any time he should seem to overstep his own rank and to draw upon himself a burdensome matter.

Didst thou see his understanding? Now consider the folly of the Jews, who say:

'He is worthy for whom Thou shouldest grant this favour.'

For whereas they ought to have taken refuge in the loving-kindness of Jesus, they instead put forward this man's worthiness, and

they do not even know from what ground they ought to have made their plea.

But he himself declared that he was exceedingly unworthy, not only of the benefaction, but even of receiving the Lord into his house.

For this reason too, when he had said, 'My servant is laid low,' he did not add, 'Speak,' fearing lest he should be unworthy to obtain the gift, but only announced the calamity.

But when he saw Christ eager to bestow the honour, not even then did he leap forward, but still remains keeping the measure that befitted himself.

But if anyone should say, 'For what reason did Christ not requite him with honour in turn?' this we would answer, that He did indeed requite him with exceeding honour;

first, by displaying his disposition, which became manifest precisely from His especially not coming into the house;

and secondly, by bringing him into the kingdom, and preferring him above the whole Jewish nation.

For inasmuch as he made himself unworthy even of receiving Christ into his house, he became worthy both of the kingdom and of attaining those good things which Abraham enjoyed.

'And for what reason,' one asks, 'was the leper not praised, though he displayed things greater than these? For that man did not say, Speak with a word, but what was far greater, Only will it';

which the Prophet says concerning the Father, that 'Whatsoever He willed, He did.'

For when He says, 'Offer the gift which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them,' He means nothing else than this: 'Thou shalt accuse them, by the very things wherein thou hast believed.'

Besides, it was not an equal thing for one who was a Jew to believe, and for one from outside the nation.

That the centurion was not a Jew is plain both from his being a centurion, and from the saying, 'Not even in Israel have I found so great faith.'

And it was a very great thing, that a man outside the Jewish reckoning should attain to so lofty a conception.

For he imagined, as it seems to me, the armies that are in heaven;

or else that to Him the passions are thus made subject, and death, and all other things, even as the soldiers are subject to himself.

'For I also am a man set under authority.'

That is to say, 'You are God, I am a man;'

'I am under authority, but You are not under authority.'

'If then I, being a man and under authority, can do so much;'

'how much more He, being also God, and not under authority.'

For with exceeding earnestness he desires to persuade Him that he speaks these things not as offering an example of one like Himself, but of one far surpassing.

For, he says, 'If I, being of equal rank with those whom I command, and being myself under authority, yet by reason of the small superiority of my office can do so much, and no one gainsays, but whatsoever I command is done, though the commands be diverse (for I say to this man, Go, and he goes;'

'and to another, Come, and he comes);'

'much more shall You be able.'

But some read this passage also in this manner:

'For if I, being a man,'—and, placing a stop between, they add—'having under me soldiers subject to my authority.'

But do you consider how he showed that Christ is able both to rule over death as a slave, and to command it as a master.

For when he says, 'Come, and he comes,' and 'Go, and he goes,' this is what he means: that if You bid the end not to come upon him, it will not come.

Do you see how full of faith he was? For that which was afterwards to be made manifest to all, this man had already made evident, namely, that Christ has authority both over death and over life, and leads down to the gates of hades and brings up again.

And he spoke not concerning soldiers only, but also concerning slaves;

Yet nevertheless, having so great faith, he still counted himself unworthy.

But Christ, showing that he was worthy that He should enter into his house, did far greater things, marveling at him, and proclaiming him openly, and giving more than he had asked.

For he came seeking bodily health for his servant, and departed having received a kingdom.

Do you see how already was fulfilled the saying, 'Seek the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be added unto you'? For since he displayed much faith and humility, Christ gave him heaven also, and added to him the health besides;

and He honored him not with this only, but also by showing whose casting out was the occasion of his own being brought in.

For from this point onward He now makes it known to all, that salvation is from faith, not from works of the law.

not only, but that the benefit of this gift shall be set before the Gentiles also;

and before those rather than these.

'For do not suppose,' He says, 'that this has come to pass in his case only;'

'for indeed throughout the whole world shall this come to pass.'

And this He said, prophesying concerning the Gentiles, and holding out to them good hopes.

For there were also those following Him from Galilee of the Gentiles.

And these things He said, both not permitting the Gentiles to despair, and pulling down the high thoughts of the Jews.

But that the saying might not stand in the way of His hearers, nor give them any handle, He neither brings in the discourse concerning the Gentiles as a primary matter, but taking an occasion from the centurion, nor does He set down the name of the Gentiles nakedly.

For He said not, 'Many of the Gentiles,' but, 'Many shall come from east and west;'

which was the language of one signifying the Gentiles, yet did not so offend His hearers;

for what was spoken was veiled.

And not by this means only does He soften the seeming novelty of His teaching, but also by naming the bosom of Abraham instead of the kingdom.

For neither was that name unfamiliar to them, and Abraham, set in their midst, stung them the more.

Wherefore John too said nothing at once concerning hell, but that which chiefly grieved them he speaks, saying:

'Think not to say, We are children of Abraham.'

And together with these He also establishes another point, that He might not seem to be an adversary to the ancient polity.

For He who marvels at the patriarchs, and calls their bosoms an allotment of good things, out of great abundance takes away this suspicion also.

Let no one therefore suppose the threat to be single;

for double is the punishment to these, and to those the joy;

to these, not because they fell away, but because they fell away from what was their own;

to those, not because they obtained, but because they obtained what they had not expected;

and a third besides these, that these men received what belonged to those.

And He calls them 'sons of the kingdom,' for whom the kingdom had been prepared;

which also chiefly stung them.

For having shown them to be in the bosom by the promise and the pledge, then He casts them out.

Then, since what was said was a declaration, He confirms it by the sign;

just as indeed He also proves the signs by the prediction which is fulfilled thereafter.

He therefore who disbelieves in the health which was then wrought for the servant, let him believe that also from the prophecy which went forth this day.

For indeed the prophecy also, even before its accomplishment, became plain to all from the sign wrought at that time.

For this cause, having first proclaimed these things beforehand, He then raised up the paralytic, that He might confirm the things to come from the things present, and the lesser from the greater.

For that the virtuous should enjoy good things, and the opposite endure grievous things, is nothing strange, but came to pass according to reason and according to the sequence of laws;

but to brace up the palsied, and to raise the dead, was greater than accords with nature.

But nevertheless, unto this great and marvelous work the centurion also contributed no small part;

which indeed Christ also declared, saying:

'Go your way; and as you have believed, so be it done unto you.'

Do you see how the servant's health proclaimed both the power of Christ and the faith of the centurion, and confirmed the thing to come? Or rather, all these things proclaimed the power of Christ.

For not only did He correct the body of the servant, but also He Himself drew the soul of the centurion into faith through the miracles.

But do not consider this only, that the one believed, and that the other was healed, but marvel also at the swiftness.

For indeed the evangelist, making this plain, said:

'And his servant was healed in that same hour;'

just as indeed also in the case of the leper he said, that 'Immediately he was cleansed.'

For not by the healing only, but also by doing this marvelously, and in an instant's turn, did He display His power.

And He profited them not by this only, but also by continually, in the display of the miracles, opening up the discourses concerning the kingdom, and drawing all men toward it.

For those whom He threatened to cast out, He threatened not that He might cast them out, but that by fear He might draw them toward it through His words.

But if not even hereby did they gain, the whole blame is theirs, and of all who are sick with such maladies.

For one may see this happening not in the case of the Jews alone, but also in the case of those who have believed.

For indeed Judas too was a son of the kingdom, and he heard together with the disciples, 'You shall sit upon twelve thrones'; yet he became a son of hell.

But the Ethiopian, a barbarian man, and those from the east and the west, shall enjoy the crowns together with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

This too takes place among us even now.

For many, it says, that are first shall be last, and the last first.

And this He says, that neither may those be careless, as though unable to return, nor may these be over-confident, as though standing firm.

This also John, proclaiming it beforehand from of old, used to say:

God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

For since this was about to come to pass, it is proclaimed beforehand from afar, so that no one might be troubled by the strangeness of the thing.

But he indeed speaks of it as of something possible;

while Christ speaks of it as of what shall assuredly come to pass, furnishing the demonstration from the works themselves.

Let us then not be over-confident who are standing, but let us say to ourselves:

Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall;

nor let us despair who are fallen, but let us say to ourselves:

Shall not he that falls rise again? For indeed many, having ascended to the very summit of heaven, and having displayed all endurance, and having taken possession of the deserts, and having not even in a dream beheld a woman, by growing a little careless were quickly tripped up, and came to the very abyss of wickedness.

But others again from thence ascended to heaven, and from the stage and the theatre passed over to the angelic manner of life;

and they displayed such great virtue as to drive out demons, and to work many other such signs.

And of these things the Scriptures are full, and life too is full of such examples for us.

And fornicators and effeminate persons stop the mouths of the Manichees, who say that wickedness is unchangeable, being initiated into the devil's mysteries, and slackening the hands of those who wish to be earnest, and overturning the whole of life.

For those who persuade men of these things injure them not only with respect to the things to come, but here also they turn everything upside down, so far as in them lies.

For when will any of those who live in wickedness take heed to virtue, whenever he deems the return to it and the change for the better to be impossible? For if now, when there are laws, and punishments threatened, and glory calling forth the many, and hell expected, and a kingdom promised, and evils reproached, and good things praised, hardly do some choose the toils on behalf of virtue;

if you take away all these things, what is to hinder everything from perishing and being utterly corrupted?

Being aware, then, of the devil's malignity, and that these men, and those who attempt to legislate the doctrines of fate, are set against the outside lawgivers, and against the oracles of God, and against the reckonings of nature, and against the common opinion of all men, and against barbarians, and Scythians, and Thracians, and simply against all; let us be sober, beloved, and having bidden farewell to all those men, let us journey by the narrow way, both taking courage and being afraid;

being afraid, because of the precipices on either side;

taking courage, because of Jesus who leads the way before us.

Let us journey being sober and watchful.

For even if one slumbers but a little, he is quickly cast down.

For we are not more exact than David, who by being a little negligent was hurled down into the very abyss of sin.

Do not therefore look only at the fact that he sinned, but also that he washed away the sin.

For on this account he wrote that history, not that you should behold him fallen, but that you should marvel at him risen again;

that you may learn, whenever you fall, how one ought to rise again.

For just as physicians, selecting out the most severe of diseases, write them down in their books, and teach the method of such correction, in order that having been exercised in the greater ones they may easily prevail over the lesser;

so indeed God also brought into the midst the greatest of sins, in order that those too who stumble in small things may through those find the easy correction of these.

For if those found healing, much more the lesser ones.

Let us then see how that blessed man both fell sick, and how he also quickly rose again.

What then was the manner of his sickness? He committed adultery and murder.

For I am not ashamed to proclaim these things with a loud voice.

For if the Holy Spirit did not count it a shame to dedicate this whole history to writing, much more ought we not to cast a veil over it.

Wherefore not only do I proclaim these things, but I add yet another as well.

For indeed as many as hide these things, these most of all cast a shadow over that man's virtue;

and just as those who keep silence about the war of Goliath rob him of no small crowns, so also do those who pass over this history.

Does not then what is said seem paradoxical? Well then, wait a little, and then you shall know that these things have been rightly said by us.

For on this account I magnify the sin, and make the statement more paradoxical, in order that out of the greater abundance I may prepare the remedies.

What then is it that I add? The virtue of the man;

which makes the accusation also the greater.

For not all things are judged alike in the case of all men;

For the mighty, it says, shall be mightily tested;

and, He that knows his lord's will, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.

So that the greater knowledge is an occasion of the greater punishment.

For this very reason the priest, sinning the same things as those under him, shall not suffer the same, but much more grievous things.

Perhaps, seeing the accusation increasing, you tremble and are afraid, and marvel at me as though coming down over precipices.

But I am so confident on behalf of the righteous man, that I go even further;

for by however much I magnify the accusation, by so much the more shall I be able to show forth the praise of David.

And what more than these things is there to say? one asks. Very much more indeed.

For just as in the case of Cain what took place was not murder only, but even worse than many murders;

for it was not a stranger, but a brother, and a brother who had done no wrong, but had been wronged, whom he slew; not after many murderers, but being himself the first to find out the abomination;

so indeed here too the deed of daring was not murder only;

for it was not a chance man who had done it, but a prophet;

and he slays not the one who had wronged him, but the one who had been wronged;

for indeed he had been wronged in the vital points, his wife having been carried off;

but nevertheless, after that, he added this also.

Did you see how I did not spare the righteous man? how not even with any concealment I told the faults committed by him? But nevertheless I am so confident concerning the defence, that, after so great a mass of sin, I could have wished that the Manichees, who most of all make a mockery of these things, and those who are diseased with the errors of Marcion, were present, in order that out of the abundance I might stop their mouths.

For they indeed say that he murdered and committed adultery;