Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 29

And entering into a boat He passed over, and came into His own city.

And behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying upon a bed.

And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic:

Be of good cheer, child; thy sins are forgiven thee.

By 'His own city' He here means Capernaum.

For the one that bore Him was Bethlehem;

but the one that had Him dwelling in it continually was Capernaum.

This paralytic, however, is another than the one recorded in John.

For the one lay beside the pool, but this one in Capernaum;

and the one had been thirty-eight years, but concerning this one nothing of the kind is said;

and the one was destitute of any to take charge of him, but this one had those who cared for him, who also lifted him up and bore him.

And to this one He says, 'Child, thy sins are forgiven thee';

but to that one He says, 'Wilt thou be made whole?' And the one He healed on a sabbath, but this one not on a sabbath;

for otherwise the Jews would have laid this also to His charge;

and in the case of this one they held their peace, but in the case of that one they pressed on, persecuting Him.

These things have been said by me not without purpose, but that no one, suspecting the paralytic to be one and the same, may think there is a discrepancy.

But do thou consider for me the freedom from pride and the gentleness of the Master.

For indeed even before this He had thrust away the crowds;

and having been cast out by those in Gadara, He made no resistance, but withdrew—yet not far off.

And again entering into the boat He crossed over, though He was able to cross even on foot.

For He did not wish always to be working marvels, lest He should mar the principle of the economy.

Now Matthew indeed says that they brought him;

but the others, that having also broken through the roof, they let him down.

And they set the sufferer before Christ, saying nothing indeed, but committing the whole matter to Him.

For at the beginning He Himself also went about, and did not require so great faith from those who came to Him;

for 'seeing,' it says, 'their faith'—that is, of those who let him down.

For He does not everywhere seek faith from the sufferers only;

as, for instance, when they are delirious, or otherwise beside themselves through the disease.

Or rather, here also the faith was the sufferer's own;

for he would not have submitted to be let down, had he not believed.

Since, then, they displayed so great faith, He too displays His own power, loosing sins with all authority, and showing through all things that He is of equal honour with Him that begat Him.

He had shown it from above through His teaching, when He taught them as having authority;

through the leper, when He said, 'I will; be thou cleansed';

through the centurion, who, when he said, 'Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed,' caused Him to marvel, and to proclaim him above all others;

through the sea, when He curbed it by a word alone;

through the demons, when they confessed Him as Judge, and He cast them out with great authority.

Here again, in yet another and greater manner, He constrains His very enemies to confess His equality of honour, and through their own mouth makes it manifest.

For He, on His part, showing His freedom from ambition (for indeed a great throng surrounded and walled off the entrance, wherefore they even let him down from above), did not straightway rush to heal the body of him who was brought, but took His starting-point from them;

and first He healed that which was unseen, the soul, forgiving its sins;

which indeed saved that man, but brought Him no great glory.

For they, being troubled by their own wickedness and wishing to find fault, even against their will made that which had come to pass to shine forth.

For being Himself full of resource, He turned their malice to good account for the manifestation of the sign.

Since then they were troubled and said:

'Who can forgive sins, save God alone?' let us see what He Himself says.

Did He then do away with the suspicion? And yet, if He had not been equal, He ought to have said:

'Why do you fasten upon me a supposition that does not befit me? Far am I from that power.'

But as it is, He said none of these things;

on the contrary, He wholly confirmed and ratified it, both by His own voice and by the demonstration of the miracle.

For since a man's speaking about himself seemed to be offensive to His hearers, He confirms the things concerning Himself through others;

and what is indeed marvellous, not through His friends only, but also through His enemies;

for this is the abundance of His wisdom.

Through His friends, then, when He said, 'I will; be thou cleansed,' and when He said, 'I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel';

For since they had said that no one can forgive sins save God alone, He added:

'But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins'—

(then saith He to the paralytic:) 'Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.'

And not here only, but also elsewhere again, when they said:

'For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because thou, being a man, makest thyself God';

not even there did He set aside this glory, but again ratified it, saying, 'If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not;'

'but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works.'

Here indeed He shows also another no small sign of His own Godhead, and of His equality of honour with the Father.

For they said that to loose sins belongs to God alone;

but He not only looses sins, but before this displays yet another thing which belonged to God alone—to bring forth the secrets hidden in the heart.

For they had not brought out into the open that which they were thinking.

'For behold,' it says, 'certain of the scribes said within themselves:'

'And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said:'

'Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?' And that to know the secret things belongs to God alone, hear what the prophet says:

'Thou alone knowest hearts';

and again, 'God trieth the hearts and reins.'

'The heart is deep above all things, and it is a man; and who shall know him?' and, 'Man looketh on the face, but God on the heart.'

And through many passages one may see that to know the things of the mind belongs to God alone.

Showing therefore that He is God, equal to Him who begat Him, the things which they were reasoning within themselves (for, fearing the multitude, they dared not bring their opinion out into the open), these He uncovers and makes manifest, here too displaying much freedom from offensiveness.

For 'Wherefore,' He says, 'think ye evil in your hearts?' And yet, if there was need for anyone to be indignant, it was the sick man who ought to have been indignant, as one deceived, and to have said:

'to heal, and to set right another matter? For whence is it plain that my sins are forgiven?' But as it is, that man utters no such thing, but gives himself over to the authority of Him who was healing;

but these men, being superfluous and envious, plot against the benefits done to others.

Wherefore He rebukes them, yet with all gentleness.

'For if ye disbelieve,' He says, 'the former thing, and account what was said to be a boast, behold, I add yet another to it—the uncovering of your secrets;'

and after that, yet another again.

What then is this? The knitting together of the body of the paralyzed man.

And when He said to the paralytic, He did not say it plainly declaring His own authority;

for He said not, 'I forgive thee thy sins,' but, 'Thy sins are forgiven thee.'

But when those men constrained Him, He shows His authority more plainly, saying:

'But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins.'

Seest thou how far He was from not wishing to be accounted equal to the Father? For He said not that the Son of man needs another, nor that another gave Him authority, but that 'He hath authority.'

And not even this does He say for the sake of ambition, but 'That I may persuade you,' He says, 'that I blaspheme not in making myself equal to God.'

For everywhere He wishes to furnish proofs clear and irrefutable, as when He says:

'Go, show thyself to the priest';

and when He shows Peter's mother-in-law ministering, and permits the swine to be cast down the steep.

So too here, as a token of the forgiveness of sins He makes the knitting together of the body;

and of the knitting together, the taking up of the bed;

so that what had come to pass might not be thought to be a phantom.

And He does not do this until He had first questioned them.

'For which,' He says, 'is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee;'

'or to say, Take up thy bed, and go unto thine house?' And what He says is of this kind:

'Which seems to you the easier, to knit together a body that is dissolved, or to loose the sins of a soul?' It is plain that to knit together a body.

For by so much as the soul is better than the body, by so much is the loosing of sins greater than this;

'but since the one is unseen and the other manifest, I add that which is indeed the lesser, yet more manifest;'

'that through this the greater and the unseen may receive its proof,' already fore-revealing through His works that which was spoken by John, that 'He taketh away the sins of the world.'

Having raised him up, therefore, He sends him to his house;

here again showing His freedom from vainglory, and that what had come to pass was no phantom;

for those who had been witnesses of the sickness, these He makes witnesses also of the health.

'For I indeed wished,' He says, 'through thy suffering to heal also those who seem to be in health, but are diseased in mind;'

'but since they will not, go home, to set right those who are there.'

Do you see how He shows that He is the Maker of both soul and body? He heals the paralysis of each substance, and makes the hidden manifest through the visible.

But nevertheless they still grovel upon the ground.

For when the crowds saw it, it says, they marvelled, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

for the flesh stood in their way.

Yet He did not rebuke them, but goes forward through His works to rouse them and to lift their minds on high.

For meanwhile it was no small thing that He should be reckoned greater than all men, and to have come from God.

For if they had firmly established these truths within themselves, advancing along the way they would have come to know that He was also the Son of God.

But they did not clearly grasp these things;

and for this reason they were not even able to draw near.

'This man is not from God;'

'how is this man from God?' And continually they kept turning these things about, putting them forward as veils for their own passions.

This is what many do even now: while seeming to vindicate God, they are gratifying their own passions, when they ought to pursue all things with fairness and forbearance.

For indeed the God of all, though able to send down a thunderbolt upon those who blaspheme Him, makes His sun to rise, and sends down His rains, and bestows all other things in abundance;

and Him we ought to imitate, exhorting, admonishing, and warning with gentleness, not being angry, nor becoming savage.

For no harm reaches God from the

blasphemy, that you should be enraged;

but the one who blasphemed has himself received the wound.

Therefore groan, lament;

for indeed the affliction is worthy of tears.

And nothing can heal the one who has been wounded so well as forbearance.

For forbearance is mightier than all violence.

Consider, then, how He Himself, the One who was outraged, converses with us, both in the Old Testament and in the New:

there saying, 'My people, what have I done to you?' and here, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?' And Paul too commands us to correct in gentleness those who oppose themselves.

And when the disciples came to Christ asking that fire might come down from heaven, He rebuked them exceedingly, saying:

'You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.'

And here too He did not say, 'O you defiled and deceitful ones,'

'O you malicious ones and enemies of the salvation of men;'

but, 'Why do you think evil in your hearts?' We must therefore remove the disease with forbearance.

For he who has been made better through human fear will quickly return again to his wickedness.

For this reason He also commanded the tares to be left, granting a period for repentance.

Indeed many of them repented and became zealous, though formerly they were base—such as Paul, the publican, the robber;

for these, being tares, became ripe wheat.

For in the case of seeds this is impossible;

but in the case of the will it is both easy and simple;

for this is not bound by the limits of nature, but has been honoured with the freedom of choice.

Whenever, then, you see an enemy of the truth, tend to him, care for him, lead him back to virtue by displaying an excellent life, by furnishing speech beyond reproach, by extending patronage and solicitude, by employing every mode of correction, imitating the best of physicians.

For they too do not heal in one way only, but when they see that the sore does not yield to the first remedy, they add another, and after that yet another;

and now they cut, and now they bind up.

And you, therefore, having become a physician of souls, employ every mode of healing according to the laws of Christ, that you may receive a reward both for your own salvation and for the benefit of others, doing all things to the glory of God, and thereby being yourself also glorified.

'For those who glorify Me I will glorify,' He says;

'and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.'

Let us therefore do all things to His glory, that we may attain to that blessed portion;

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