Homilies on Matthew, Homily 14

“Now when Jesus heard that John had been handed over, He withdrew into Galilee.” 1. Why does He withdraw? Again, He is teaching us not to go looking for trials and temptations, but to give way and withdraw. For there is no shame in not throwing yourself into danger; the shame lies in failing to stand courageously once you find yourself in it. So, to teach us this and to calm the Jews’ envy, He withdraws to Capernaum, at once fulfilling the prophecy and hurrying to catch the teachers of the world. For, as you know, they were living there, working at their trade. But notice, please, how every time He is about to go to the Gentiles, the Jews give Him the occasion. So in this instance, by plotting against His forerunner and throwing him into prison, they drive Christ out into Galilee of the Gentiles. For to show that he is neither referring to the Jewish nation by naming part of it nor speaking obscurely of all the tribes, notice how the Prophet singles out that place, saying, “The land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sat in darkness saw a great light.” By darkness here he means not physical darkness, but people’s errors and ungodliness. That is why he also added, “To those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has sprung up.” For to teach you that neither the light nor the darkness he speaks of is physical, when discussing the light he called it not simply light, but “a great light,” which elsewhere he expresses with the word “True”; and when describing the darkness, he called it “a shadow of death.” Then, indicating that they did not seek and find Him on their own, but that God revealed Himself to them from above, he says to them, “Light has sprung up.” That is, the light sprang up and shone out on its own; they did not run to the light first. For in truth, humanity’s condition was at its worst before Christ’s coming. They did more than “walk in darkness”; they “sat in darkness,” a kind of sign that they did not even hope to be delivered. Like people who did not even know where to take a step forward, they sat, overtaken by darkness, no longer able even to stand. 2. “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” “From that time”—what time? After John was thrown into prison. And why did He not preach to them from the beginning? Indeed, what need was there for John at all, when the testimony of His works was proclaiming Him? So that from this too you might learn His dignity: namely, that just as the Father has prophets, so does He. Zechariah also spoke to this effect: “And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High.” And so that He might leave the shameless Jews no opening for accusations—a reason He Himself gave when He said, “John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, he has a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. But wisdom is justified by her children.” Moreover, it was necessary for someone else to speak about Him first, rather than for Him to speak about Himself. For even after so many and such great testimonies and proofs, they said, “You testify about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.” If He had come among them and been the first to testify about Himself, without John saying anything, what would they not have said? For this reason, He neither preached before John nor worked miracles until John was thrown into prison, so that the crowd would not be divided in this way. That is also why John performed no miracle at all: so that by this means too he might hand the crowd over to Jesus, whose miracles drew them to Him. Again, even after so many divine precautions, John’s disciples were jealous of Him both before and after John’s imprisonment, and the people suspected that John, rather than He, was the Christ. What would have happened if none of these precautions had been taken? For this reason Matthew expressly notes that “from that time He began to preach”; and when He began preaching, He Himself also taught the same doctrine that the other had preached. The doctrine He preached said nothing about Himself as yet. For at that point it was a great thing even for this teaching to be accepted, since they did not yet have the right understanding of Him. That is also why, at the beginning, He introduces nothing severe or distressing, as the other did when he mentioned an axe and a tree cut down, a winnowing fan and a threshing floor and unquenchable fire. His opening words are gracious: the Heavens and the kingdom there are the good news He announces to His hearers. 3. “And walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And He says to them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they left their nets and followed Him.” And yet John says they were called in a different way. This makes it clear that this was a second call, and we can see this from many details. For there it says that they came to Him when “John had not yet been thrown into prison,” but here, after he was imprisoned. And there Andrew calls Peter, but here Jesus calls both. And John says that when Jesus saw Simon coming, He said, “You are Simon, the son of Jonah; you will be called Cephas, which translated means a stone.” But Matthew says he was already called by that name, for his words are, “Seeing Simon who was called Peter.” We can also see this from the place they were called from, from many other details, and from their ready obedience and abandonment of everything. For by now they had already been well instructed. Thus, in the other account, we see Andrew coming into His house and hearing many things; but here, after hearing just one word, they followed immediately. For it was natural for them to follow Him at first, and then leave Him again and return to their own trade when they saw both John thrown into prison and Jesus Himself withdrawing. Accordingly, you see that He finds them actually fishing. But He neither forbade them at first when they wanted to withdraw, nor abandoned them altogether once they had withdrawn. He gave way when they turned aside from Him, and He comes again to win them back—which is the most important skill in fishing. But notice both their faith and their obedience. Although they were in the middle of their work (and you know how absorbing fishing is), when they heard His command, they did not delay, they did not put it off, they did not say, “Let us go home and talk with our relatives.” Instead, “they left everything and followed,” just as Elisha did with Elijah. For the obedience Christ seeks from us is such that we do not delay even a moment, even if something absolutely essential is pressing urgently on us. That is also why, when someone else came to Him and asked permission to bury his own father, He did not even allow him to do this, showing that we ought to value following Him above everything. But if you say, “The promise is very great,” that is precisely why I admire them most: before they had seen any sign, they believed a promise that reached so far, and considered everything secondary to following Him. This was because they believed that the same words that had caught them would enable them to catch others too. Such, then, was His promise to these men; but to James and John He says nothing of the kind. For by then the obedience of those who had gone before had paved the way for them. Besides, they too had already heard many things about Him. And see how carefully he also shows us their poverty, in saying that He found them sewing up their nets. Their poverty was so great that they were mending worn-out nets because they could not afford to buy others. And at that time this too was no small proof of virtue: they bore poverty with ease, supported themselves by honest labor, were bound to one another by the power of love, and had their father with them, attending to them. 4. Once He had caught them, He began to work miracles in their presence, confirming by His deeds John’s words about Him. And He kept visiting their synagogues, teaching them even by this that He was no enemy of God or deceiver, but had come in agreement with the Father. And while visiting them, He not only preached but also performed miracles. This is because whenever something unfamiliar and astonishing happens, and a new order of life is introduced, God customarily works miracles as pledges of His power, which He gives to those who are to receive His laws. Thus, for example, when He was about to make man, He created an entire world and then gave him the law he had in Paradise. And when He was about to give laws to Noah, He again displayed great miracles, reducing the whole creation to its elements once more, keeping that terrifying sea in control for a full year, and preserving that righteous man amid so great a storm. In Abraham’s time too, He granted many signs, such as his victory in the war, the plague on Pharaoh, and his deliverance from dangers. And when He was about to give laws to the Jews, He displayed those marvelous and great wonders, and then gave the law. Just so here too, as He was about to introduce an exalted order of life and tell them things they had never heard, He confirmed what He said by displaying miracles. Thus, because the kingdom He was preaching could not be seen, He used visible things to reveal it, though it was invisible. And notice the evangelist’s care to avoid unnecessary words: he does not tell us about every person who was healed, but in a few words passes swiftly over showers of miracles. For “they brought to Him,” he says, “all who were sick with various diseases and torments, and those who were possessed by demons, and those who had epilepsy, and those who were paralyzed, and He healed them.” But our question is this: why did He require faith from none of them? For He did not say what we find Him saying later, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” This was because He had not yet given proof of His power. Besides, the very act of approaching Him and bringing others to Him showed no ordinary faith. For they brought them even from far away; they would never have brought them unless they had become convinced of great things about Him. Now then, let us follow Him too, for we also have many diseases of the soul, and these are what He especially wishes to heal. Indeed, His purpose in curing those other diseases is to drive these out of our souls. 5. Let us therefore come to Him and ask for nothing belonging to this life, but instead for forgiveness of sins. For He gives it even now, if we are earnest. Just as then “His fame spread into Syria,” so now it spreads throughout the whole world. They came running together when they heard that He healed people who were possessed; and you, after experiencing His power far more and in greater ways, will you not stir yourself and run? They left their country, friends, and relatives; can you not bear even to leave your house to draw near and receive far greater things? Or rather, we do not ask even this much of you: just leave your evil habits, and you can easily be healed while staying at home with your friends. But as things are, if we have any bodily ailment, we do and devise everything to get rid of what hurts us; yet when our soul is sick, we delay and hold back. That is why we are not delivered from those other ailments either: essential things are becoming secondary to us, and secondary things essential. We leave the fountain of our troubles alone and try to clean out the streams. For that our bodily ailments are caused by the soul’s wickedness is shown by the man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years, by the man who was lowered through the roof, and by Cain before them. We can also see this from many other things. Let us therefore remove the wellspring of our evils, and all the channels of our diseases will be stopped. For paralysis is not the only disease; our sin is a disease too, and one that is worse in proportion to how much better the soul is than the body. Let us therefore draw near to Him now as well. Let us beg Him to strengthen our paralyzed soul, and, leaving everything that belongs to this life, let us attend only to spiritual things. Or if you cling to these earthly things too, still put them after the others. Nor should you take sin lightly because you feel no pain when you sin. Rather, this is the strongest reason to mourn: you do not feel the anguish of your offenses. This happens not because sin does not bite, but because the soul committing it has lost its feeling. With this in mind, consider those who feel their own sins: how they wail more bitterly than people being cut or burned; how much they do, how much they suffer, how deeply they mourn and lament to be delivered from their guilty conscience. They would do none of this unless their souls were in intense pain. The best thing, then, is to avoid sin in the first place; the next best is to recognize that we sin and thoroughly reform ourselves. But if we lack this, how will we pray to God and ask forgiveness for our sins, when we pay no attention to these matters? For when you yourself, who have offended, are unwilling even to acknowledge the very fact that you have sinned, what offenses will you ask God to pardon? Those you do not know about? And how will you know the greatness of the gift? Name your offenses individually, then, so that you may learn what you are being forgiven for and so become grateful to your Benefactor. But when it is a person you have offended, you appeal to friends, neighbors, and doorkeepers, spend money, and use up many days visiting and pleading. Even if the person you offended utterly rejects you once, twice, ten thousand times, you do not lose heart; instead, you become more earnest and plead all the more. But when the God of all is offended, we yawn, lean back, live in luxury and drunkenness, and do everything as usual. When will we be able to appease Him? And how can this very behavior fail to provoke Him all the more? For it is not so much sinning as sinning without even feeling pain that arouses His indignation and anger. After all this, we ought to sink into the very earth, and not so much as look at this sun or breathe at all, because, although we have so forgiving a Master, we first provoke Him and then feel no remorse for provoking Him. And yet, even when He is angry, He certainly does not act out of hatred or rejection of us, but so that by this means at least He may win us over to Himself. For if He continued to befriend you after being insulted, you would despise Him all the more. So, to prevent this, He turns away for a little while, so that He may have you with Him forever. 6. Let us now, I beg you, take courage from His love for humanity and show earnest repentance before the day comes when we can no longer benefit from it. For now everything still depends on us, but then the Judge alone controls the sentence. “Let us therefore come before His face with confession”; let us weep, let us mourn. For if we can persuade the Judge to forgive our sins before the appointed day, we will not even need to enter the court. But if this is not done, He will hear our case publicly before the world, and we will no longer have any hope of pardon. For no one who has failed to remove his sins here will be able, after leaving this life for the next, to escape giving an account of them. Just as those taken out of earthly prisons are brought in chains to the place of judgment, so all souls that leave here bound by the many chains of their sins are led to the dreadful judgment seat. For in truth, our present life is no better than a prison. Just as, when we enter that room, we see everyone bound with chains, so now, if we look past outward appearances and enter each person’s life, each person’s soul, we will see it bound with chains more oppressive than iron. This is especially true if you enter the souls of the rich. For the more possessions people have around them, the more tightly they are bound. Just as you consider a prisoner especially miserable when you see irons on his back, his hands, and often his feet too, so too, when you see a rich man surrounded by countless affairs, regard him as wretched on that very account, rather than as rich. For along with these bonds he also has a cruel jailer, the wicked love of riches, which will not let him leave this prison but supplies him with thousands of shackles, guards, doors, and bolts. And after casting him into the inner prison, it persuades him even to take pleasure in these bonds, so that he may find not even a hope of deliverance from the evils pressing on him. And if you were to lay that man’s soul open in your mind, you would see it not only bound but also squalid, filthy, and teeming with vermin. For the pleasures of luxury are no better than vermin; they are even more disgusting, and do greater damage to the body, as well as to the soul. They bring ten thousand scourges of sickness on both. For all these reasons, then, let us beg the Redeemer of our souls to break our bonds, remove this cruel jailer of ours, free us from the burden of those iron chains, and make our spirits lighter than any wing. And as we beg Him, let us also do our own part with earnestness, thoughtfulness, and outstanding zeal. For in this way we will be able, in a short time, to be freed from the evils that now oppress us, to learn what condition we were in before, and to take hold of the freedom that belongs to us. May God grant that we all attain it, through the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.