馬太福音講道集 第 36 章

'And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding His twelve disciples, He departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.'

For since He had sent them forth, He thereafter withdrew Himself, giving them place and opportunity to do the things which He had enjoined.

For while He was present and healing, no one would have been willing to approach those men.

...[hearing in the] prison of the works of Jesus, having sent two of his disciples, he asked Him, saying,

'Are You He that should come, or do we look for another?' But Luke says that they themselves also reported the signs to John, and then he sent them.

Nevertheless this point contains no perplexity, but only calls for contemplation;

for this too indicates their jealous zeal toward Him;

but what follows belongs very much to the things sought out.

What then is this? The saying, 'Are You He that should come, or do we look for another?' For he who knew Him before the signs, who learned of Him from the Spirit, who heard of Him from the Father, who proclaimed Him before all—does he now send to learn from Him whether He himself be the One or not? And yet, if you do not know clearly that He is the One, how do you deem yourself worthy of credit, when you make pronouncements concerning things unknown? For he who is to testify to others

must first himself be worthy of credit.

Was it not you who said, 'I am not worthy to loose the latchet of His shoe'? Was it not you who said, 'I knew Him not, but He that sent me to baptize in water, He said unto me,

'Upon whomsoever you shall see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is He that baptizes in the Holy Spirit'—was it not you? Did you not see the Spirit in the likeness of a dove? Did you not hear the voice? Did you not hinder Him, saying, 'I have need to be baptized of You'? Did you not also say to your disciples, 'He must increase, but I must decrease'? Did you not teach all the people that He would baptize them in the Holy Spirit and fire, and that He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world? Did you not, before the signs and the wonders, proclaim all these things? How then now, when He has become manifest to all, and His fame has gone forth everywhere, and the dead have been raised, and demons driven out, and so great a display of signs has been made—now do you send to learn of Him? What then has happened? Were all those words some deception, a stage-show and fables? And who that has understanding would say such things? I do not speak of John—he who leaped in the womb, who proclaimed Him before the birth-pangs, the citizen of the wilderness, who displayed a manner of life like the angels';

but even if he had been one of the many, and of those utterly cast aside, he would not, after so many testimonies both from himself and from others, have been in doubt.

Whence it is plain that neither did he himself send in doubt, nor did he ask through ignorance.

For neither could any one say this—that he indeed knew clearly, but because of the prison had become more faint-hearted;

for neither did he expect to be released thence, nor, even if he had expected it, would he who was arrayed against death have betrayed his piety.

For neither, unless he had been prepared for this, would he have displayed such manliness against a whole people that had practised the shedding of prophetic blood;

nor would he have rebuked that savage tyrant with so great boldness in the midst of city and market-place, chastising him as though he were some very little child, while all listened.

And if he had become more faint-hearted, how did he not feel shame before his own disciples, in whose presence he had borne so many testimonies to Him, but asked through them, when he ought rather to have asked through others? And yet he knew clearly that they were jealous of Him, and were desiring to find some handle against Him.

And how did he not blush before the Jewish people, before whom he had proclaimed so many things? And what did he gain thereby toward the release from his bonds? For he had not been cast into prison on Christ's account, nor because he had proclaimed His power, but on account of the reproof concerning the unlawful marriage.

And to what senseless child, to what raving man, would he not thereby have attached glory to himself? What then is it that is being established? That it belongs not to John to be in doubt about these things—nay, nor to any chance person, nor to one exceedingly senseless and demented—is plain from what has been said;

but it now remains to bring in the solution.

For what reason, then, did he send to ask? The disciples of John were leaping away from Jesus;

And this is surely plain to everyone.

and they were ever jealously disposed toward Him.

And this is evident from what they said to the Teacher:

'For He who was with you,' they say, 'beyond the Jordan, to whom you have borne witness—behold, this One baptizes, and all are coming to Him.'

A dispute arose between John's disciples and the Jews concerning purification.

and coming to him again they said:

'Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?' (2)

For they did not yet know who the Christ was; but suspecting Jesus to be a mere man, and John to be greater than a man, they were stung at seeing this One held in high esteem, while the other, as he himself had said, was thereafter waning.

And this hindered them from coming to Him, their jealousy walling off the approach.

So long, then, as John was with them, he continually exhorted and taught them, and even so did not persuade them;

but when at last he was about to die, he showed the greater diligence.

For indeed he feared lest he should leave behind an occasion for some wicked doctrine, and lest they should remain severed from Christ.

For he himself had been zealous even from the beginning to bring all his own to Him;

but since he did not persuade them, at his death he thereafter showed the greater earnestness.

Now if he had said, 'Go to Him, He is better than I,' he would not have persuaded them, disposed as they were to be hard to detach;

but he would even have been thought to speak thus out of modesty, and they would have clung to him all the more;

and if he had kept silent, again nothing more would have come of it.

What then does he do? He waits to hear from them that He works miracles;

and even so he does not exhort them, nor send them all, but two whom he knew to be perhaps more docile than the rest, so that the inquiry might be free from suspicion, and that from the facts themselves they might learn the difference between Jesus and himself.

'Are you He who is to come, or do we look for another?' But Christ, knowing John's purpose, did not say, 'I am';

for this again would have been an offense to the hearers, although it would have been the natural thing to say;

but He leaves them to learn from the facts.

For it says that when these came to Him, then He healed many.

And yet what consistency was there, when asked, 'Are you He?', to say nothing to this, but forthwith to heal the sick, unless He wished to establish that very thing which I have said? For indeed they esteemed the testimony from deeds to be more trustworthy and more free from suspicion than that from words.

Knowing therefore, as being God, the intent with which John had sent them, He straightway healed the blind, the lame, and many others—not teaching him (for how could He teach one already persuaded?), but these who were in doubt;

'Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:

the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them;

and blessed is he who is not offended in Me.'

showing that He knew even their secret thoughts.

For if He had said, 'I am,' it would have been an offense to them, as I have already said, and they would have thought within themselves—even if they did not utter it—that which the Jews said to Him:

'You bear witness of Yourself.'

For this reason He Himself does not say it, but from the miracles He leaves them to learn everything, making His teaching free from suspicion and more clear.

For this reason too He added the reproof of them secretly.

For since they were offended in Him, by proclaiming their affliction, yet leaving it to their own conscience alone, and making no one a witness of this censure, but only those very persons who were aware of these things, He drew them the more strongly to Himself even by this, saying:

'Blessed is he who is not offended in Me.'

For indeed it was at them that He hinted in saying these things.

But that we may not set before you only the things said by us, but also the things said by others, and by placing them side by side may make the truth clearer to you from the comparison of what is said, it is necessary to state those views also.

What then do some say? That this is not the cause we have stated, but that John was ignorant—yet ignorant not of the whole matter;

but he knew indeed that this One was the Christ, yet whether He was also to die on behalf of men, he did not know;

for this reason he said, 'Are you He who is to come?'—that is, He who is about to descend into Hades.

But this would not stand to reason;

for John was not ignorant even of this.

This indeed, above all other things,

he proclaimed, and to this he first bore witness.

'For behold,' he says, 'the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.'

And he called Him a Lamb, thereby proclaiming the cross;

and by saying, 'who takes away the sin of the world,' he declared this very same thing.

For not otherwise, but only through the cross, did He accomplish this;

'And the handwriting that was against us, this also He took out of the way, nailing it to the cross.'

And his saying, 'He will baptize you with the Spirit,' was a prophecy of the things after the resurrection.

'But that He would rise again,' he says, 'John knew, and that He would give the Holy Spirit;

but that He would also be crucified, he did not know.'

How then was He to rise again, who had not suffered nor been crucified? And how was this man greater than a prophet, who did not even know the things of the prophets? (3)

For that he was greater than a prophet, Christ Himself bore witness;

and that the prophets knew of the passion is surely plain to everyone.

'He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb.'

And before this testimony he says:

'There shall be the root of Jesse, and He who rises to rule the nations; in Him shall the nations hope.'

Then, speaking of the passion, he added also the glory that comes from it:

'And His rest shall be honor.'

And not only did he foretell that He would be crucified, but also with whom:

'For He was numbered,' he says, 'with the transgressors.'

And not this only, but that neither would He make defense:

'For this One,' he says, 'opens not His mouth';

and that He would be condemned unjustly:

'For in His humiliation,' he says, 'His judgment was taken away.'

And before this, David too says this, and describes the tribunal.

'Why,' he says, 'did the nations rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.'

And elsewhere he speaks also of the figure of the cross, saying thus:

'They pierced My hands and My feet.'

And he adds, with all exactness, what was dared by the soldiers;

For it says, 'They parted my garments among themselves, and upon my vesture they cast lots.'

And elsewhere too he tells that they offered him vinegar, saying:

For it says, 'They gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.'

Then, whereas the prophets, so many years beforehand, tell of the tribunal, and the condemnation, and those crucified together with him, and the dividing of the garments, and the casting of lots over them, and many other things besides—

for it is not necessary to set them all forth now, lest we make the discourse too long—

was he then, who is greater than all those prophets, ignorant of all these things? And how could that stand to reason? And for what cause did he not say, 'Art thou he that cometh into Hades?' but simply, 'He that cometh'? And yet that would be far more ridiculous than this.

For this reason he said these things: that when he had also departed thither, he might preach.

To whom it is fitting to say:

'Brethren, be not children in understanding; but in malice be ye babes.'

For the present life is the season for the conduct of our citizenship;

but after our end come judgment and punishment.

For it says, 'In Hades, who shall give thee thanks?' How then were the gates of brass broken, and the bars of iron shattered? By his own body.

For then first was shown a body immortal, and one that dissolved the tyranny of death.

In another way too this shows the power of death abolished, not that the sins of those who had died before his coming were remitted.

But if it were not so, but he had also freed all those before from Gehenna, how does he say, 'It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah'? For this was spoken as of those too being about to be punished—more mildly indeed, yet nonetheless punished.

And yet they paid here too the uttermost penalty;

but nevertheless not even this shall deliver them.

But if these are not delivered, much more those who have suffered nothing.

What then? Were those before his coming wronged, one asks? By no means;

for it was possible even without having confessed Christ to be saved at that time.

For this was not required of them, but rather not to worship idols, and to know the true God.

For it says, 'The Lord thy God, the Lord is one.'

For this reason the Maccabees also were marvelled at, because for the sake of

the keeping of the law they suffered what they suffered; and the three young men, and many others besides among the Jews, having displayed a most excellent life and preserved the measure of this knowledge, had nothing more required of them.

For then it sufficed for salvation, as I said before, merely to know God;

but now no longer so; rather, there is need also of the knowledge of Christ.

'If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin;'

'but now they have no excuse for their sin.'

So also with regard to the conduct of life.

For then murder destroyed the one who committed it; but now even anger.

And then adultery and consorting with another man's wife brought punishment;

but now even to look with unchaste eyes.

For just as the knowledge, so also the standard of conduct is now heightened.

So that there was no need of a forerunner there.

And in another way: if the unbelievers were destined, after they had died, to be saved by believing, then no one would ever perish.

For all will then repent and worship.

And that this is true, hear Paul saying that 'Every tongue shall confess, and every knee shall bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth;'

and that 'The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.'

But there is no profit in that subjection;

for it is not of a well-disposed will, but rather, as one might say, of the necessity of the circumstances that then remain.

Let us not then any longer introduce such old wives' doctrines, and Jewish fables.

Hear at any rate what Paul says concerning these things:

'For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law;'

speaking concerning those in the time before the law;

'And as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;'

speaking concerning all those after Moses;

and, that 'The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men;'

and, 'Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek.'

And yet the Greeks suffered here ten thousand evils;

and this both the histories of those outside make plain, and the Scriptures that are among us.

For who could recount the tragedies of the Babylonians, or those of the Egyptians? And that those too who knew not Christ before his coming in the flesh, but had departed from idolatry, and worshipped God alone, and displayed a most excellent life, shall enjoy all good things, hear what he says:

'But glory and honour and peace to every one that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.'

Seest thou that there are for these many recompenses of good things, and again punishments and retributions for those who have done the contrary? Where then are they who disbelieve in Gehenna? For if those before the coming of Christ, who had heard not even the name of Gehenna, nor of resurrection, both were punished here and shall give account there,

how much more we, who have been nourished with so many words of true wisdom? And how is it reasonable, one asks, that those who have heard nothing about Gehenna should fall into Gehenna? For they will say, 'If thou hadst threatened us with Gehenna, we should rather have feared and lived soberly.'

Quite so—is it not?—seeing that we, who live now, hearing day by day the words about Gehenna, yet give no heed at all.

And apart from these things, this too may be said: that he who is not restrained by the punishments close at his feet will much less be restrained by those.

For those who are more irrational and grossly disposed are wont to be brought to sobriety rather by the things at hand and coming to pass immediately, than by those that will come out only after long times.

'But upon us,' one says, 'a greater fear hangs; and in this those men have been wronged.'

For in the first place, not the same contests are set before us and them, but far greater ones for us.

And those who have undertaken the greater labours needed to enjoy the greater help.

And no small help is the increase of the fear.

But if we have the advantage over them in knowing the things to come, they too have the advantage over us in that punishments are brought upon them severely on the spot.

But the many say yet something else also with regard to these matters.

'For where,' one asks, 'is the justice of God, when someone, having sinned here, is punished both here and there?' Will ye then that I remind you of your own words, so that

ye may no longer give us trouble, but may bring the solution from your own home? I have heard many of our own people, whenever they learned that a murderer had been beheaded in a court of justice, express displeasure and say these very words:

'This defiled and accursed man, having dared thirty murders, or even far more, himself underwent but one single death;

and where is the justice?' So that ye yourselves confess that one death does not suffice for punishment.

How then do ye now vote the contrary? Because ye are judging not for others, but for your own selves.

So great a hindrance does self-love become, to keep us from discerning what is just.

For this reason, when we sit in judgment on others, we scrutinize everything with exactness; but when we pass sentence on our own selves, we are blinded.

But when we adjudicate concerning our very selves, we are shrouded in darkness;

so that, if we would examine these matters in our own case as well, just as we do in the case of others, we should render an incorruptible verdict.

For we too have sins, and not two or three, but such as are worthy of ten thousand deaths.

And to pass over the rest, let us call to mind, all we who partake of the Mysteries unworthily;

for such persons are guilty of the body and the blood of Christ.

So that whenever you speak of the murderer, reckon your own self also among them.

For he indeed slew a man, but you are answerable for the slaying of the Master;

and he did so without having partaken of the Mysteries,

but we did so while enjoying the sacred Table.

And what of those who bite and devour their brethren, and let loose much venom? What of him who takes away the food of the poor? For if he who fails to share is such a one, [how much more he who seizes what belongs to others.] By how much are the covetous worse than robbers? By how much are the rapacious worse than murderers, worse than grave-robbers? And how many, after they have stripped a man, become lusters after blood as well? Away with it! God forbid, someone says.

When you have an enemy, then say, 'God forbid,' and remember the things that have been spoken, and show forth a life full of much exactness, lest the fate of Sodom remain also for us, lest we suffer the things of Gomorrah, lest we endure the evils of Tyre and Sidon;

or rather, that we may not give offense to Christ, which is more grievous than all these things [and more fearful].

For though hell seems fearful to many, yet for my part I shall not cease continually to cry aloud that this is more grievous and more fearful than all hell;

and I exhort you also to be so disposed.

For thus shall we both be delivered from hell, and enjoy the glory which is from Christ;

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