Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 27

And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother laid down and sick of a fever;

and He touched her hand, and the fever left her;

and she arose, and ministered unto Him.

Now Mark added also the word 'immediately,' wishing to indicate the time as well;

but this Evangelist set down only the sign, without noting the time.

And the others say that the one lying sick also entreated Him;

but this Evangelist was silent about this too.

Yet this is no discrepancy, but the one is a matter of conciseness, the other of exact narration.

But for what reason did He enter into Peter's house? To me it seems, in order to partake of food;

this at least He made plain by saying:

'She arose, and ministered unto Him.'

For He lodged with the disciples, as also with Matthew, when He called him, thereby honouring them and making them more zealous.

But consider with me here too Peter's reverence toward Him.

For though he had his wife's mother lying at home and violently sick of a fever, he did not drag Him into the house, but waited both for the teaching to be finished, and for all the others to be healed, and then, when He had entered, he entreated Him.

Thus from the beginning was he trained to set the affairs of others before his own.

Accordingly, neither does he himself bring Him in, but He of His own accord went in, after the centurion had said:

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

showing how much He was gracious to the disciple.

And yet, consider what kind of dwellings these fishermen had;

yet nevertheless He did not think it beneath Him to enter beneath their humble huts, teaching you through all things to trample underfoot the pride of men.

And sometimes He heals by words alone, sometimes He also stretches out His hand, and sometimes He does both of these together, bringing the cure into plain sight.

For He did not wish always to work wonders with excessive display.

For it was needful that for the time He should remain hidden, and especially in the case of the disciples;

for out of their great delight they would have proclaimed everything.

and even after they came up into the mountain He had need to charge them to tell no one.

Having touched the body, then, He did not merely quench the fever, but also restored perfect health.

For since the disease was a slight one, He displayed His power by the manner of the healing;

which the art of medicine could never have accomplished.

For you know that even after the departure of fevers, those who have been sick still need much time to return to their former health.

But in this case all things happened at once.

And not here alone, but also upon the sea.

For there too He did not merely still the winds and the storm, but also immediately stayed the surging swell, which was itself a strange thing;

for even if the tempest should cease, the waters remain heaving for a long while.

But it was not so in the case of Christ; rather, all was calmed at once;

which very thing also came to pass in the case of the woman.

For this reason also the evangelist, making it plain, said:

'She arose, and ministered unto Him';

which was a sign both of Christ's power and of the disposition of the woman, which she displayed toward Christ.

And besides these things we may here perceive yet another point: that Christ grants to the faith of some the correction of others (for here too others besought Him, as also in the case of the centurion's servant);

and He grants it when the one about to be healed does not disbelieve, but either by reason of sickness cannot come to Him, or through ignorance imagines nothing great concerning Him, or is of an untimely age.

And when evening was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils, and He cast out the spirits from them with a word, and healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, He took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses.

Do you see the multitude thereafter growing into faith? For not even when the time pressed for departure would they endure to withdraw;

for they did not think it unseasonable to bring their sick even in the evening.

But consider for me how great a multitude of those healed the evangelists pass over, not recounting them to us one by one and relating them in detail, but with a single phrase passing over an unspeakable ocean of wonders.

Then, lest again the greatness of the wonder should cast anyone into unbelief—seeing that He loosed and set right so great a throng and such varied diseases in a single moment of time—he brings forward the prophet bearing witness to what was done, showing us that everywhere the proof from the Scriptures is a great one, and no less than the signs themselves;

and he says that Esaias also spoke these things, namely, He took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses.

He did not say, He loosed, but, He took and bore;

which seems to me to have been spoken by the prophet rather concerning sins, in agreement with John, who says:

Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.

How then does the evangelist here set it down concerning sicknesses? Either as reading the testimony according to its literal history, or as showing that the greater part of sicknesses arise from sins of the soul.

For if the chief thing of all, death itself, had its root and origin from sin, much more also the greater part of sicknesses;

since our very being subject to suffering came to pass from thence.

Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave commandment to depart unto the other side.

Do you see again His freedom from ostentation? For the other evangelists say that He rebuked the demons, that they should not say that He was the one;

but this one says that He put away the multitudes.

And He did this at once to teach us to be moderate, and at the same time to soothe the Jewish envy, and to teach us to do nothing for display.

For indeed He did not heal bodies only, but also set the soul aright, and trained men in true wisdom, showing Himself through both—both by loosing diseases and by doing nothing for display.

For indeed they were riveted to Him, loving Him and marveling at Him, and desiring to gaze upon Him.

For who would have stood aloof from One working such wonders? Who would not have wished simply to behold the face and the mouth that uttered such things? For not only in working wonders was He wonderful, but even in His mere appearance He was full of much grace;

and this the Prophet also, making it plain, said:

Fair in beauty beyond the sons of men.

But if Esaias says, He had no form nor comeliness, either he says this in comparison with the ineffable and unutterable glory of His Godhead;

or he is describing the things that befell in His passion, and the dishonor which He endured at the time of the cross, and the lowliness which throughout all His life He displayed in all things.

But He did not command them to depart unto the other side before He had healed.

As therefore in the mountain they remained by Him not only while He was discoursing publicly, but also followed Him when there was silence;

so also here they waited upon Him not only while He was working wonders, but also when He had ceased again, receiving much benefit even from His face.

For if Moses had a glorified countenance, and Stephen a face as of an angel, consider what our common Master was likely to appear like at that time.

Perhaps many now have fallen into a longing to behold that image;

but if we are willing, we shall behold one far better than that.

For if we accomplish the present life with boldness, we shall receive Him upon the clouds, meeting Him in an immortal and incorruptible body.

But observe how He does not simply drive them away, lest He should wound them.

For He did not say, Withdraw, but commanded them to depart unto the other side, giving the expectation that He would by all means come there.

And the multitudes displayed so great a love, and followed Him with much affection;

but a certain man, a slave of money and full of much arrogance, came and says, Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.

Do you see how great his pride? For inasmuch as he did not deign to be numbered with the crowd, but showing that he is above the many, he thus draws near.

For such were the Jewish manners;

they are full of unseasonable presumption.

So also another after these things, when all were silent, himself leaping up, says:

Which is the first commandment? Yet nevertheless the Master did not rebuke the unseasonable presumption, teaching us to bear even with such men.

For this reason He does not openly convict those who devise wicked things;

but He answers to their suspicion, leaving the conviction to be known to themselves alone, and benefiting them in a twofold way: both by making plain that He knows the things in their conscience, and by granting, after this demonstration, that it should remain hidden, and giving them again, if they were willing, the opportunity to recover themselves;

which very thing He does also in this man's case.

For this man, seeing the many signs, and many being drawn after Him, expected to make money out of such wonders;

wherefore also he made haste to follow.

And whence is this plain? From the answer which Christ makes, replying not to the question of his words, but to the intent of his mind.

Do you expect, by following Me, to gather money? Then do you not see that I have not even a lodging, no, not so much as the birds have? For the foxes, He says, have holes, and the birds of the air have nests;

but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.

But these things were not spoken by One turning him away, but by One convicting his wicked purpose, while yet granting him, if he were willing, to follow even with such an expectation.

And that you may learn his craftiness: when he had heard these things and been convicted, he did not say, 'I am ready to follow.'

And in many other places also Christ is seen to do this very thing:

openly indeed He does not reprove, but from His answer He discloses the disposition of those who approach Him.

For to that man who said, 'Good Teacher,' and who expected by flattery to draw Him to himself, He answered according to his disposition, saying:

'Why do you call Me good? No one is good but God alone.'

And when they said to Him, 'Behold, Your mother and Your brethren are seeking You,' since they were experiencing something merely human—wishing not to hear anything useful, but to display that they were related to Him and thereby to seek vainglory—hear what He says:

'Who is My mother, and who are My brethren?' And again to those very brethren, when they said to Him, 'Show Yourself to the world,' and wished thereby to gain vainglory, He said:

'Your time,' He says, 'is always ready, but My time has not yet come.'

And He does this also from the contrary side, as in the case of Nathanael, saying:

'Behold, truly an Israelite in whom there is no guile.'

And again, 'Go and tell John the things which you hear and see.'

For here too He answered not to the words, but to the disposition of the one who had sent them.

And to the crowd likewise He speaks with reference to their conscience, saying:

'What did you go out into the wilderness to see?' For since it was likely that they were disposed toward John as toward someone fickle and easily swayed, correcting this suspicion He says:

'What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? Or a man clothed in soft garments?'—showing by both that he was neither of himself easily swayed, nor would be made soft by any luxury.

So then here too He frames His answer with reference to their disposition.

And observe how in this too He displays great moderation.

For He did not say, 'I possess indeed, but I despise them.'

Do you see how much exactness there is together with the condescension? As when He eats and drinks, when He appears to act contrary to John, this too He does for the salvation of the Jews—rather, of the whole world—at once stopping the mouths of the heretics, and at once wishing to draw over those of that time in abundance.

'And another,' it says, 'said to Him:'

'Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.'

Do you see the difference? How the one says shamelessly, 'I will follow You wherever You go,'

while this one, although asking a holy thing, says, 'Allow me'? Yet He did not allow it:

'Let the dead bury their own dead, but you follow Me.'

For everywhere He attended to the disposition.

'And why did He not allow it?' someone asks.

Because there were others who would fulfill that office, and the dead man was not going to remain unburied;

and this man ought not to be drawn away from things more necessary.

And by saying 'their own dead,' He shows that this dead man was not one of His own.

For the deceased was, as I at least suppose, among the unbelievers.

But if you marvel at the young man, that concerning a matter so necessary he asked Jesus and did not depart of his own accord,

marvel much more that even when hindered he remained.

'Was it not then,' someone says, 'the height of ingratitude not to be present when his father was being buried?' If he did it out of laziness, it would be ingratitude;

but if he departed so as not to interrupt a more necessary work, then to have gone would rather have been the utmost thoughtlessness.

For Jesus indeed hindered him, not commanding him to despise the honor due to those who begat us, but showing that nothing ought to be more necessary to us than the things of heaven, and that with all diligence we must hold fast to them and not put them off even a little, though the things drawing us aside be exceedingly urgent and pressing.

For what could be more necessary than to bury a father? And what easier? For it did not require much time to expend.

But if we ought not to spend even so much time as is needed for a father's burial, nor is it safe to be absent from spiritual things even for so long,

consider what we should deserve who withdraw all the time from the things that pertain to Christ, and who prefer the very cheapest things to the necessary ones, and who are slothful when nothing at all is pressing.

And from this too one must marvel at the wisdom of His teaching, that He nailed him firmly to the word;

and along with this He delivered him from countless evils—such as lamentations, and mourning, and the things which follow from these.

For after the burial it would next of necessity have been needful to busy oneself with wills, and the distribution of the inheritance, and all the other things that follow upon these;

and thus wave succeeding wave would have carried him very far off from the harbor of the truth.

For this reason He draws him, and nails him fast to Himself.

But if you still marvel and are troubled that he was not permitted to be present at his father's burial, consider that many people do not allow those who are gravely ill—though it be father, or mother, or child, or any other of their relatives who has died—to learn of it, nor to follow to the tomb;

and we do not charge them with cruelty on this account, nor with inhumanity.

For on the contrary, it would rather have been cruelty, thus

to lead out to mourning those who were so disposed.

But if to have relatives mourn and to have the mind crushed is an evil, much more is it so to be drawn away from spiritual words.

For this reason too He said elsewhere:

'No one having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of heaven.'

For it is far better to proclaim the kingdom and to raise others from death, than to bury a dead man who profits nothing thereby;

and especially when there are those who will fulfill all these offices.

Nothing else, then, do we learn from this, save that we must not waste even a chance moment, though there be countless pressing matters, but must prefer spiritual things to all, even to the most necessary, and must know what life is and what death is.

For many even of those who seem to live differ in nothing from the dead, when they live in wickedness;

rather, these are even worse than those.

For 'he who has died,' it says, 'has been justified from sin;'

but this man is a slave to sin.

For do not tell me this—that he is not devoured by worms, nor does he lie in a coffin, nor has he closed his eyes, nor is he bound with grave-clothes.

For indeed he endures things more grievous than the deceased, being devoured not by worms, but by the passions of his soul which tear him more fiercely than wild beasts.

And if his eyes are open, this too is again far worse than being closed.

For the eyes of the dead man behold nothing evil;

but this man gathers to himself countless diseases, with his eyes wide open.

And the one lies in a coffin, being unmoved toward all things;

but this man is buried in the tomb of countless maladies.

'But do you not see his body decaying?' And what of that? For before his body, his soul has been corrupted and destroyed, and endures a greater rottenness.

For the one has stunk for ten days;

but this man breathes out foulness his whole life through, having a mouth filthier than a sewer.

So then, the former differs from this man by just this much: that the one endures only the corruption which comes from nature, while this man, along with that, brings in also the rottenness which comes from dissoluteness, devising every day countless occasions of corruption.

'But is he carried on a horse?' And what of that? For that other too is carried—on a bier;

and the grievous thing is this: that no one sees the one being dissolved and rotting, but he has the coffin as a covering.

But this man goes about everywhere reeking of foul odor, as though carrying about in his body, as in a tomb, a soul that has been put to death.

And if it were possible to behold the soul of a man who lives amid luxury and vice, you would see that it is far better to lie bound in a tomb than to be constricted by the cords of sins;

and better to have a stone laid upon one than the heavy lid of insensibility.

Therefore it is above all necessary that those who are akin to these dead ones—since these lie without any feeling—should approach Jesus on their behalf, just as Mary then did in the case of Lazarus.

Though he reek of decay, though he be four days dead, do not despair, but draw near, and first take away the stone.

For then you will see him lying, as in a tomb, and bound with the grave-clothes.

And if you are willing, let us bring forward into our midst one of the great and illustrious.

For I shall set forth the example without naming anyone;

or rather, even if I were to speak the name, not even so would there be any need to be afraid.

For who has ever feared a corpse? For whatever it may do, it remains a corpse still;

and a dead man can do a living one no injury, neither small nor great.

Let us then observe their head, how it is bound.

For when they are continually drunk, then, just as corpses with those many wrappings and grave-clothes, so all their senses are shut off and bound fast.

And if you wish also to see the hands, you will behold these too fastened to the belly, as in the case of the departed, and bound tight—not with grave-clothes, but with what is far more grievous, the bonds of covetousness.

For that covetousness does not permit them to be stretched out toward almsgiving, nor toward any other such right deeds, but renders them more useless than those of the dead.

Do you wish to see the feet also bound together? Behold them again constricted with cares, and for this reason never able to run to the house of God.

A dead man? Then look also at the embalmer.

Who then is the embalmer of these? It is the devil, who binds them tightly, and no longer allows the man to appear as a man, but as a dry piece of wood.

For where there is no eye, no hands, no feet, nor any other such thing, how could such a one appear a man? So too may their soul be seen swathed in bands, and being an idol rather than a soul.

Since, then, they lie in a manner without feeling, having become as it were dead, let us approach Jesus on their behalf, let us entreat Him to raise them up, let us take away the stone, let us loose the grave-clothes.

For if you take away the stone—that is, the insensibility toward evils—you will quickly be able to lead them forth also out of the tomb;

and having led them forth, you will more easily deliver them from their bonds.

Then will Christ know you, when you have risen, when you have been loosed;

then also will He call you to His own banquets.

As many, then, as are friends of Christ, as many as are His disciples, as many as love him who has departed, come to Jesus and make your entreaty.

For even if he be full of ten thousand foul odors, yet not even so ought we to abandon our kinsmen, but rather to draw all the nearer;

which very thing the sisters of Lazarus then did;

and let us not withdraw, but keep on beseeching, entreating, supplicating, until we receive him alive.

For if we thus order both our own affairs and those of our neighbors, we shall speedily also attain the life to come;

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