Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 87

'Now Jesus stood before the governor;

and the governor asked Him, saying,

Art Thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said,'

'And when He was accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.'

Do you see what is examined first? That which above all they continually turned this way and that.

For since they saw that Pilate made no account of matters of the Law, they carried the accusation over to public crimes.

So also did they in the case of the apostles, ever bringing forward these charges, and saying that they went about proclaiming a certain King Jesus, speaking of Him as though of a mere man, and fastening upon them a suspicion of usurpation.

Whence it is plain, that the rending of the tunic also, and the being dismayed, was but a pretense.

For they mixed up and twisted everything, so as to cast Him into death.

This accordingly Pilate also then asked.

What then said Christ? 'Thou sayest it.'

He confessed that He was a King, but a heavenly King;

which also elsewhere He said more plainly, answering Pilate, that 'My kingdom is not of this world;'

that neither those men, nor this one, might have any excuse in bringing such accusations.

And He sets forth an irrefutable argument, saying,

'If I were of this world, My servants would have fought, that I should not be delivered up.'

For this very reason, in order to repel this suspicion, He both paid the tribute, and commanded others to pay it;

and when they wished to make Him a king, He fled.

Why then, one asks, did He not bring these things forward at that time, when accused of usurpation? Because, though they had countless proofs from the facts themselves of His power, His meekness, His gentleness, they willingly blinded themselves and acted maliciously, and the tribunal was corrupt.

For this reason He answers nothing, but keeps silence, and yet answers briefly, so as not to incur the appearance of arrogance from a continual silence, when the high priest put Him on oath, and when the governor questioned Him;

but to their accusations He says nothing more;

for indeed He was not likely to persuade them.

Even as the prophet also, foreshowing this very thing of old, said,

'In His humiliation His judgment was taken away.'

At these things the governor marvelled.

For indeed it was worthy of wonder to behold Him displaying such great forbearance, and keeping silence, He who had countless things to say.

For neither did those men accuse Him from any consciousness of some evil in Him, but only out of envy and jealousy.

When, then, they set up false witnesses, why, when these had nothing to say, did they still press on; and when they saw Judas gasping out his life, were they not pricked in conscience, nor when they saw Pilate washing his hands? For indeed at that very season He wrought many things, that they might come to their senses.

yet by none of these things did they become any better.

What then does Pilate do? 'Do you not hear how many things these testify against you?' For he was minded that Jesus, making His defense, should be acquitted.

But since He made no answer, he contrives yet another device.

What kind of device was this? It was their custom to release one of the condemned; and by this means he attempted to deliver Him.

'For if you are not willing,' he says, 'to release Him as innocent, at least grant Him to the feast as one condemned.'

Do you see the order reversed? For the request on behalf of the condemned was wont to belong to the people, and the granting to the ruler.

but now the contrary came to pass: the ruler asks the people, and not even so do they become gentle, but are made the more savage and thirst for blood, being driven into a frenzy by the passion of envy.

For neither had they anything to accuse Him of, even though He was silent, but they were being confuted even so, on account of the superabundance of His righteous claims; and though silent He prevailed over those who spoke ten thousand things and raged madly.

And as he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying:

'Have nothing to do with that righteous man;

for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of Him.'

See what happens again, a thing sufficient to recall them all.

For together with the proof from the facts, the dream also was no small thing.

And for what reason does he himself not see it? Either because she was the more worthy;

or because, had he himself seen it, it would not have been believed in like manner, or he would not even have told it forth.

For this reason it is providentially ordered that the woman should see it, so that it might become manifest to all.

And she does not merely see it, but also suffers many things, so that from his sympathy toward his wife the husband too might become more reluctant about the murder.

And the time too contributed not a little;

for it was during that very night that she saw it.

'But it was not safe for him,' one says, 'to release Him, since they had said that He made Himself a king.'

He ought then to have sought for proofs and refutations, and whatever tokens there are of usurped rule;

such as, whether He was enrolling armies, whether He was gathering money, whether He was forging weapons, whether He was attempting any other such thing.

For this reason neither does Christ acquit him of the charges, saying:

'He who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.'

So that the concession was an act of weakness, and the scourging Him and then handing Him over.

This man, then, was unmanly and weak;

but the chief priests were wicked and mischievous.

For since he had found out a certain device, the law of the feast which commanded that a condemned man be released, what do they contrive against this? 'They persuaded the crowd,' it says, 'that they should ask for Barabbas.'

Do you see how much forethought he uses, so as to rid them of the charges, and how much zeal they use, so as not to leave themselves even the shadow of an excuse? For which was fitting: to release the confessed criminal, or the one in dispute?

For if in the case of confessed offenses one ought to be released, much more in the case of doubtful ones.

For surely He did not seem to them worse than confessed murderers.

For on this account it did not merely say, 'They had a robber,' but 'a notable one';

that is, notorious in wickedness, having wrought ten thousand murders.

Yet nevertheless they preferred even him to the Saviour of the world;

and they reverenced neither the season, that it was holy, nor the laws of loving-kindness, nor any other such thing;

but envy had blinded them once for all.

And together with their own wickedness they corrupt the people also, that they might pay the uttermost penalty for their deceit as well.

Since, then, they had asked for that man, he says:

'What then shall I do with the Christ?' desiring by this again to shame them, by making them lords of the choice, so that even if only out of shame they might ask for Him, and the whole matter might spring from their own generosity.

For to say, 'He hath not sinned,' made them the more contentious;

but to plead out of loving-kindness that He might be spared carries a persuasion and a request that admits no gainsaying.

'For what evil hath He done?' But they cried out the more, 'Let Him be crucified.'

But when he saw that it availed nothing, he washed his hands, saying, 'I am innocent.'

Why then dost thou deliver Him up? Why didst thou not rescue Him, as the centurion did Paul? For that man too knew that he was gratifying the Jews;

and there arose on his account a tumult and an uproar;

yet nevertheless he withstood it all.

But not so this man; rather he was exceedingly unmanly and soft;

and they all together were ruined.

For neither did this man stand firm against the multitude, nor the multitude against the Jews;

on every side their defense was taken away.

For, 'They cried out the more,' that is, they cried out the more vehemently, 'Let Him be crucified.'

For they wished not only to slay Him, but to slay Him on a wicked charge; and though the judge spoke against it, they persisted, shouting the same things.

Seest thou how much Christ did in order to win them back? For just as He often restrained Judas, so also did He hold these men in check, both throughout the whole Gospel and at the very time of the judgment.

For indeed, when they saw the ruler and judge wash himself and say, 'I am innocent of this blood,' they ought to have been pricked in heart, both by his words and by his deeds;

and when they saw Judas hang himself, and when they saw him beseeching to receive another in his stead.

For when the accuser and betrayer condemns himself, and he that pronounces sentence puts off the charges, and such a vision appears in that very night, and he pleads for Him as one condemned—what defense will they have? For if they were unwilling that He should be accounted innocent,

yet ought they not at least to have preferred Him above the robber, who was confessedly and notoriously guilty?

What then did those men do? When they saw the judge wash his hands and say, 'I am innocent,' they cried out:

'His blood be on us, and on our children.'

Then indeed at last, when they had brought the sentence upon their own heads, He permitted all things to come to pass.

But mark here also the great madness.

For such is the impulse and the wicked desire;

it suffers one to see nothing of what is right.

For be it so, ye call down curses upon yourselves;

why do ye draw the curse upon your children also? Yet nevertheless the loving God, though they used such frenzy both against themselves and against their children, not only did not ratify the sentence upon their children, but not even upon themselves; but rather from both these and those He received such as repented, and counted them worthy of countless blessings.

For indeed Paul also was of them, and the tens of thousands of those who believed in Jerusalem, ('Thou seest, brother,' saith he, 'how many myriads of Jews there are which have believed';) they were of these.

But if any remained in unbelief, let them reckon the punishment to their own account.

'Then released he Barabbas unto them; and having scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.'

And why did he scourge Him? Either as one condemned, or wishing to give a semblance of due process to the judgment, or to gratify those men.

For indeed even before this he had said:

'Take ye Him, and judge Him according to your law.'

And there were many things that might have restrained both him and them: the signs, the wonders, the great long-suffering of Him who was enduring these things, and above all His unspeakable silence.

For since both by what He said in His defense and by what He prayed He had shown His humanity, again He displays His loftiness and greatness of nature both through His silence and through His disdain of what was said, leading them by all means to the wonder that was proper to Him.

For when once the reasonings are held fast, as it were by drunkenness or by some strange madness, it is hard for the soul that is falling to recover itself, unless it be exceedingly noble.

For it is a terrible thing, a terrible thing, to give place to these wicked passions;

wherefore we must by every means beat them back and thrust out their entrance.

For when they lay hold of the soul and master it, then, like fire falling upon fuel, they kindle so bright a flame.

Wherefore I exhort you to do all things, so as to wall up their entrance against them;

and not, consoling ourselves with this cold reasoning, to bring in every wickedness, saying:

What difference does this make, and what difference does that? For from such thinking countless evils are born.

For the devil, being foul, employs great [malice and vehemence and] condescension unto the ruin of men, and makes his assault beginning from the lesser things.

He wished to cast Saul into the folly of the ventriloquist witch.

But had he counselled this from the very outset, that man would not have given heed to it;

for how should he, who was even driving such persons out? Therefore gently and little by little he leads him into it.

For when he had disobeyed Samuel, and had brought it about that the whole burnt-offering was offered up before the prophet's arrival, being called to account he says, 'The pressure of the enemy had grown too great';

whereas he ought to have lamented, he behaved as though he had done nothing amiss.

Again God commanded him concerning the matters of the Amalekites;

and from this he went out into his acts of daring against David, and thus, slipping gently and little by little, he did not stop until, coming to the very pit of destruction, he cast himself in.

He did not straightway urge him to slay his brother, since he would not have persuaded him;

but first he prepares him to bring the inferior offering, saying:

'This is no sin at all';

secondly, he kindled envy and malice, saying, 'There is nothing in this either';

thirdly, he persuaded him to slay and to deny the bloodshed;

and he did not desist until he had set the crowning point upon the evils.

Wherefore we must beat back the beginnings.

For most of all, even if the first sins stood by themselves, not even so ought one to despise the first transgressions;

but as it is, they even mount up to something greater, whenever the mind is careless.

Wherefore we must do everything so as to root out their beginnings.

For do not look to the nature of the sin, that it is small, but to the fact that it becomes, when neglected, the root of a great one.

For if one must say something wonderful, great sins do not require such diligence as do the small and trifling ones.

For those the very nature of the sin disposes us to turn away from;

but the small ones, by this very fact, cast us into slothfulness, and do not allow us to rouse ourselves nobly unto their removal.

Wherefore they also quickly become great, while we are asleep.

This one may see happening in the body also.

Thus too in the case of Judas this great evil was brought to birth.

For if it had not seemed to him a small thing to steal the money of the poor, he would not have been carried out into this betrayal.

If it had not seemed a small thing to the Jews to be taken captive by vainglory, they would not have slid down into becoming slayers of Christ.

And one may see all evils coming to pass from this.

For no one leaps swiftly and all at once into wickedness.

For the soul has, yes it has, a certain shame lodged within us, and a reverence toward what is good; and it would not all at once become so shameless as to fling everything away in a single moment, but gently and little by little it perishes, whenever it is careless.

Thus too idolatry entered in, when men were honoured beyond measure, both the living and those who had departed; thus too carved images came to be worshipped;

thus too fornication prevailed, and the other evils.

Another has loosed his fear by saying, 'There is nothing in this.'

For what is laughter? For what harm could come of this? From this was born jesting buffoonery, from this filthy talk, then filthy deeds.

Again another, being called to account for slandering his neighbour and reviling and speaking evil, made light of it, saying:

'It is nothing to speak ill.'

From this it bred unspeakable hatred, implacable enmity, boundless revilings;

from the revilings, blows;

from the blows, oftentimes murder.

From small things, then, that wicked demon leads us on to great ones;

but from great things he leads to despair, having discovered in this yet another method no less powerful than the former.

For it is not so much the sinning that destroys, as the despairing.

For he who has transgressed, if he keeps sober, quickly repents and sets right what has been done;

but he who has given up in despair and does not repent, for this very reason falls away from this setting-right, since he does not apply the remedies that come from repentance.

He has also a third grievous ambush;

namely, when he clothes the sin with an appearance of piety.

'And how,' someone says, 'has the devil grown so strong as to deceive men even to this extent?' Listen, and be on your guard against his devices.

Christ commanded through Paul that a wife should not separate from her husband, and that they should not deprive one another, except by mutual consent;

yet certain women, out of a supposed zeal for self-control, withdrawing from their own husbands, thinking they were doing something pious, drove them into adultery.

Consider then how great an evil it is: that after enduring so much toil, they are charged as having done the gravest wrong, and pay the uttermost penalty, and thrust those who dwell with them into the pit of destruction.

Others again, abstaining from foods by rule of fasting, gradually went on to abhor these things;

which very thing also brings the greatest [harm].

And this happens when some establish their own preconceptions against what the Scriptures seem to teach.

The people among the Corinthians also thought it a mark of perfection to taste indiscriminately of all things, even of what was forbidden;

yet this was not a mark of perfection, but of the utmost lawlessness.

For this reason Paul also rebukes them vehemently, and said that they were liable to the uttermost penalty.

Others again suppose it to be piety to let the hair of their heads grow long.

But this too is among the forbidden things, and has in it much disgrace.

Others again pursue immoderate grief over their sins as though it were profitable;

but this too is of the devil's craft, as Judas also made plain;

for from this it was that he even hanged himself.

For this reason Paul also feared on behalf of the man who had committed fornication, lest he should suffer some such thing, and exhorted the Corinthians quickly to snatch him away, 'lest such a one be swallowed up by excessive grief.'

Then, showing that such a thing belongs to that one's ambush, he says:

'lest we be taken advantage of by Satan;'

'for we are not ignorant of his devices,' he says, 'that he assails with much guile.'

For if he made war openly and with boldness, the victory would be easy and simple;

or rather, even now, if we keep sober, it will be easy.

For indeed, against each of these ways God has armed us.

For, persuading us not to despise even these small things, hear what He exhorts, saying:

'He who says to his brother, Thou fool, shall be liable unto hell;'

and, 'He who looks with unchaste eyes is already a complete adulterer.'

And He pronounces woe upon those who laugh, and everywhere roots out the beginnings and the seeds of evils, and says that we shall give account even for an idle word.

For this reason Job also used to heal even the thoughts of his children.

And concerning not despairing He says, 'Shall not he who falls arise? or he who turns away, not return?' And again:

'I desire not the death of the sinner, but rather that he should turn and live;'

and, 'Today, if you will hear His voice.'

And many other such words and examples are laid down in the Scripture.

And that we may not be destroyed under an appearance of piety, hear Paul saying:

'lest such a one be swallowed up by excessive grief.'

Knowing these things, therefore, let us throw up a rampart against all the roads that turn the slothful away from the understanding that comes from the Scriptures.

For what does it matter, you say, if I look at a beautiful woman with prying curiosity? For if you commit the adultery that is in the heart, you will soon dare also the adultery that is in the flesh.

For what does it matter, you say, if I pass this poor man by? For if you pass this one by, you will pass the next one by also;

and if that one, then still another.

For what does it matter, you say, if I covet what belongs to my neighbour? For this, this very thing, was what brought Ahab to ruin; and yet he did pay a price, but he took it from an unwilling man.

For one ought not to buy by force, but by persuasion.

But if he who paid the fitting price was nevertheless thus punished, because he took it from an unwilling man,

then he who does not even do this much, but plunders from the unwilling, and that too while living under grace, of what punishment will he not be worthy? Therefore, that we may not be punished, let us keep ourselves pure from all violence and rapine, guarding against sins together with their very beginnings, and with all diligence let us give heed to virtue;

for thus shall we also enjoy the eternal good things, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.