Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 39

At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the cornfields;

and His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat.

But Luke says, 'On the second-first sabbath.'

And what is 'on the second-first'? When the rest is twofold—both that of the Lord's sabbath, and of another feast succeeding it.

For they call every day of rest a sabbath.

And why in the world did He who foreknew all things lead them thence, unless He wished the sabbath to be dissolved? He wished it indeed, yet not without reason;

wherefore He never dissolves it without cause, but gives reasonable pretexts, that He may both give the law rest, and yet not offend those men.

But there are cases where He dissolves it even directly, not under any pressing circumstance;

As when He smeared the clay upon the eyes of the blind man.

'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.'

And He does these things, in the one case glorifying His own Father, in the other soothing the weakness of the Jews.

This very thing He is here establishing, putting forward the necessity of nature.

And yet, in the case of acknowledged sins there could never be any defence.

For neither could the murderer put forward his anger as an excuse, nor the adulterer his lust; nay, rather, he could allege no other cause at all.

But here, by mentioning hunger, He freed them from every charge.

But do thou marvel with me at the disciples, so restrained and taking no account of bodily things, but making the table of the flesh a secondary matter, and continually contending with hunger, and not even so departing.

For unless hunger had exceedingly constrained them, they would not have done even this.

What then say the Pharisees? 'When they saw it,' he says, 'they said unto Him:'

'Behold, Thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath day.'

Here indeed they are not very vehement (although this would have been the natural consequence).

But nevertheless they are not greatly provoked, but simply bring a charge.

But when He stretched forth and restored the withered hand, then they were so enraged as even to take counsel concerning His slaughter and destruction.

For where nothing great and noble is being done,

but where they see certain ones being saved, they grow savage and troubled, and become more grievous than all men;

so hostile are they to the salvation of men.

How then does Jesus make His defence concerning them? 'Have ye not read,' He says, 'what David did in the temple, when he was an hungred, himself and they that were with him? how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which it was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?' For when He makes His defence on behalf of the disciples, He brings David into the midst;

but when on His own behalf, the Father.

And behold how reprovingly:

'Have ye not read what David did?' For great indeed was the glory of the Prophet, so that even Peter afterwards, in his defence before the Jews, spoke thus:

'It is lawful to speak unto you with boldness concerning the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried.'

But why does He not call him by his title of dignity, neither here nor afterwards? Perhaps because it was from him that He derived His lineage.

If then they had been of a forgiving disposition, He would have led His argument to the suffering of hunger;

but since they were foul and inhuman, He also reads them a history.

But Mark says, 'In the days of Abiathar the high priest,' not speaking contrary to the history, but showing that he was of two names;

and he adds that it was that man who gave it to him;

showing from this also that the defence was a great one, seeing that the priest too permitted it;

and not only did he permit it, but he also ministered to him.

For say not to me that David was a prophet;

for not even so was it lawful, but it was the prerogative of the priests;

wherefore He also added, 'but only for the priests.'

For though he were ten thousand times a prophet, yet he was not a priest;

and even if he were a prophet, yet not so were those with him;

for indeed to those also he gave.

Are these men equal to David? Why speakest thou to me of dignity, where there seems to be a transgression of the law, even though it be a necessity of nature? For by this very thing He the more freed them from the charges, when even the greater man is shown to have done the same.

And what is this to the matter in question? one says;

for surely that man did not break the sabbath.

Thou tellest me the greater point, and that which most of all displays the wisdom of Christ, that leaving the sabbath, He brings forward another example greater than the sabbath.

For it is not the same thing to transgress a day, and to touch that sacred table, which it was lawful for none to touch.

For the sabbath was often broken, or rather is ever being broken, both in circumcision and in many other works;

and in the matter of Jericho too one may see the same thing come to pass;

but this happened at that time only.

So that from the greater comes the victory.

How then did no one bring a charge against David, and yet there was another and greater charge, namely, that of the murder of the priests, which took its beginning from this? But He does not adduce it;

for He confines Himself to the matter before Him alone.

Then again He solves it in yet another way.

For at the beginning He brought forward David, by the dignity of that person putting down their madness;

but when He had stopped their mouths and cast down their arrogance, then He brings in also the more authoritative solution.

And what was this? 'Know ye not, that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?' For there, He says, the circumstance made the loosing;

but here the loosing is even apart from any circumstance.

Yet He did not straightway loose it thus;

but first by way of indulgence, then by way of firm insistence.

For it was fitting to bring forward the stronger argument later, even though the former also had its own proper force.

For say not to me that it is not possible to be freed from a charge by bringing forward into the midst another who committed the same offence.

For when the doer is not called to account, that which was ventured becomes a law of defence.

Nevertheless He was not content with this, but brings in also the more authoritative point, saying that what was done was not even a sin;

which was most of all a matter of splendid victory, to show that the law was loosing its own self, and doing this doubly, both from the place and from the sabbath;

or rather even triply, in that the work was both a double one, and along with this yet another, namely, that done by the priests;

and, what is indeed the greater point, that it is not even a charge;

'For they are blameless,' He says.

Sawest thou how many things He set down? the place;

for He said not 'they loose,' but the more forcible word, 'they profane;'

the fact of their not only not paying a penalty, but even being freed from all blame;

Think not then that this is like the former, He says.

For that was done but once, and not by a priest, and was of necessity;

for this reason they became worthy of pardon;

but this is done on every sabbath, and by priests, and in the temple, and according to the law.

Wherefore not by way of pardon, but according to law, are they freed from the charges.

For not by way of accusation did I say these things, He says, nor as freeing them from blame by way of pardon, but according to the principle of what is just.

And He seems to be speaking in defense of those men, yet He sets these free from the charges.

'Much more these,' He says.

For here is present in person the very Lord of the temple;

'But I say to you, that something greater than the temple is here.'

Yet even so, though they heard such great things, they said nothing;

for the salvation of man was not the matter then in question.

Then, since it seemed grievous to His hearers, He quickly veiled it over, bringing His discourse back once more to the ground of pardon, and speaking even so together with a rebuke:

'But if you had known what this means, "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice," you would not have condemned the guiltless.'

Do you see how once again He brings His discourse round to pardon, and once again shows them to be above the need of pardon? For 'you would not have condemned,' He says, 'the guiltless.'

In the former case He brought the matter of the priests together to the same point, saying, 'They are guiltless.'

But this He advances of Himself;

or rather, this too from the Law;

for He read out a prophetic saying.

Then He states yet another reason;

'For the Son of Man,' He says, 'is Lord of the Sabbath,' speaking concerning Himself.

But Mark says that He spoke this concerning the common nature as well;

'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.'

For what reason, then, was the man who gathered the sticks punished? Because, if the laws were going to be despised even at the very beginning, still less would they have been kept afterward.

For indeed the Sabbath conferred many and great benefits at the beginning;

for instance, it made men gentle and kindly toward their own households;

it taught them the providence and the creative work of God;

it trained them little by little to abstain from wickedness, and disposed them to give heed to spiritual things.

For since, in giving the law of the Sabbath, had He said, 'Do good things on the Sabbath, but do not do evil ones,' they would not have borne it;

'For do nothing at all,' He says;

but He, even in giving the law of the Sabbath, hinted also in this way that He willed them only to abstain from evil deeds.

'For do nothing,' He says, 'except what shall be done for a soul.'

And in the temple everything was being done, and that with greater diligence and twice the labor.

Thus, even by means of the shadow itself, He opened up the truth to them.

'Did Christ, then, abolish so great a gain?' one asks. God forbid!

For it was the time for them to be instructed in all things through loftier means, and it was not fitting that the hands should be bound of one who was already delivered from wickedness, and winged toward all good things.

nor to learn even from this that God made all things;

nor that those who are called to imitate God's love for mankind toward it should be gentle;

(for He says, 'Be merciful, even as your Father which is in heaven is merciful';) nor that those who are commanded to keep the whole of life as a feast should keep a single day;

(for he says, 'Let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth';) for those who have the very Master of all as their indwelling guest, and who commune with Him through all things—through prayer, through offering, through the Scriptures, through almsgiving, and through having Him within—have no need to stand beside an ark and a golden altar.

What need, then, has he of the Sabbath who keeps festival continually, whose citizenship is in heaven? Let us therefore keep festival unceasingly, and do nothing wicked;

let us pursue spiritual things, and let earthly things give way, and let us keep a spiritual rest, withdrawing our hands from covetousness, freeing the body from superfluous and unprofitable toils, even such as the people of the Hebrews then endured in Egypt.

For we who heap up gold differ in nothing from those who were bound to the clay, and worked at that brickmaking, and gathered straw, and were scourged.

For even now the devil bids us make bricks, just as Pharaoh did then.

For what else is gold but clay? and what else is silver but straw? For like straw it kindles the flame of desire, and like clay the gold thus defiles its possessor.

For this reason He sent us not a Moses out of the wilderness, but the Son out of heaven.

If then, after His coming, you remain in Egypt, you shall suffer the fate of the Egyptians;

but if, leaving her behind, you go up together with the spiritual Israel, you shall behold all the wonders.

Yet not even this suffices unto salvation.

For one must not only depart out of Egypt, but also enter into the land of promise.

Since the Jews also, as Paul says, both passed through the Red Sea, and ate manna, and drank spiritual drink, yet nevertheless were all destroyed.

In order, then, that we too may not suffer the same things, let us not be sluggish, nor draw back;

but when you hear even now wicked spies slandering the strait and afflicted way, and saying the very things which those spies said then, let us emulate not the great multitude, but Joshua, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh;

and do not withdraw before you lay hold of the promise, and set foot upon the heavens.

Nor think the journey to be a hard one.

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved.

'But strait and afflicted,' one says, 'is this way.'

But the former one, through which you passed, was not only strait and afflicted, but also trackless, and full of wild beasts.

And just as it was not possible to pass through the Red Sea unless that miracle had taken place, so it was not possible for those who remained in their former life to ascend into heaven, unless baptism had appeared as a means between.

But if the impossible has become possible, much more shall the difficult be easy.

'But that,' one says, 'was of grace only.'

For on this very account you would be all the more justified in taking courage.

For if where grace alone was, it wrought together with you, where you also display labors, will it not much more cooperate? If it saved you when idle, will it not much more help you when you work? Now above I said that from what is impossible you ought to take courage even for what is difficult;

but now I will say this, that if we are watchful, not even these things will be difficult.

Death has been trodden underfoot, the devil has fallen, the law of sin has been quenched, the grace of the Spirit has been given, life has been shortened to a little span, the burdens have been curtailed.

And that you may learn these things also by the very deeds, consider how many have outstripped the commandments of Christ;

yet you fear even the mere measure of them? What excuse, then, will you have, when others leap beyond the barriers, while you shrink even from what is enjoined? For to you we exhort to give alms out of your possessions, but another has stripped himself even of all his possessions;

we deem it fitting that you live temperately with your wife, but another has not so much as approached marriage;

and you we exhort not to be envious, but we have another who even gives up his own soul for the sake of love;

and you we exhort to be forgiving and not harsh toward those who sin, but another, when smitten, turned also the other cheek.

What, then, shall we say, tell me? And what defense shall we make, when we do not even these things, while others so far surpass us? And they would not have surpassed us, unless the matter had had great ease.

For who wastes away—he who envies the good things of others, or he who rejoices and delights together with them? Who suspects everything and trembles continually—the temperate man, or the adulterer? Who is gladdened by good hopes—he who plunders, or he who shows mercy and imparts of his own to the needy? Considering these things, then, let us not grow numb toward the races that are for the sake of virtue, but with all eagerness let us strip ourselves for these noble contests, and toil for a little while, that we may receive the perpetual and

unfading crowns;

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