Homilies on Matthew, Homily 16

“Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets.” Why, who suspected this? Who accused Him, so that He needed to defend Himself against this charge? Certainly nothing that had come before gave rise to any such suspicion. Commanding people to be meek, gentle, merciful, and pure in heart, and to strive for righteousness, suggested no such intention, but exactly the opposite. Why, then, did He say this? Not at random or without a purpose. He was about to establish commandments greater than the old ones, saying, “You have heard that it was said to people long ago, You shall not kill; but I say to you, Do not even be angry,” and to lay out a divine and heavenly way of life. So, to keep its unfamiliarity from troubling His hearers or turning them completely against what He said, He used this means to prepare their minds beforehand. Although they did not fulfill the law, they still felt a strong conscientious regard for it. While they nullified it every day by their actions, they wanted its written words to remain unchanged, with no one adding anything to them. Or rather, they tolerated their rulers’ additions, which made things worse rather than better. In this way, through additions of their own, they used to set aside the honor due to our parents, and through these inappropriate additions they released themselves from very many other commands as well. So, since Christ was, first, not from the priestly tribe, and, second, about to introduce teachings that were a kind of addition, strengthening virtue rather than diminishing it, He knew beforehand that both circumstances would trouble them. Before writing those wonderful laws in their minds, He drove out what was sure to be lurking there. And what was lurking there and creating an obstacle? 2. They thought He spoke this way in order to abolish the ancient institutions. He therefore cures this suspicion, not only here but elsewhere too. For example, because He did not keep the Sabbath, they regarded Him as nothing less than an enemy of God. To cure their suspicion, He again presented arguments in His defense. Some were appropriate to His own dignity, as when He says, “My Father works, and I work.” Others involved considerable condescension, as when He brings up the sheep lost on the Sabbath day and points out that the law is set aside to save it, or again mentions circumcision as having the same effect. This is also why we see Him often speaking in terms somewhat beneath His dignity, to remove the appearance of being an enemy of God. For this reason, He who had raised thousands of the dead with only a word also added a prayer when calling Lazarus. Then, to keep this from making Him appear inferior to Him who begot Him, He corrected that suspicion by adding, “I said these things because of the people standing here, so that they may believe that You have sent Me.” He does not do everything as someone acting by His own power, so that He can fully correct their weakness; nor does He do everything with prayer, so as not to give those who come afterward grounds for the harmful suspicion that He lacks strength or power. Instead, He combines the latter with the former, and the former in turn with the latter. He does not do this indiscriminately, but with His own distinctive wisdom. He performs the greater works with authority, while in the lesser ones He looks up to Heaven. Thus, when forgiving sins, revealing His secrets, opening Paradise, driving away demons, cleansing lepers, bridling death, and raising the dead by thousands, He did everything by command. But when doing something much less than these—making many loaves spring from a few—He looked up to Heaven, showing that He does not do this out of weakness. For if He could do the greater things with authority, how could He need prayer for the lesser ones? As I was saying, He does this to silence their shamelessness. I ask you to apply the same reasoning to His words when you hear Him speak in humble terms. There are indeed many reasons for words and actions of this kind: to keep people from thinking Him estranged from God; to instruct and attend to everyone; to teach humility; because He is clothed in flesh; because the Jews cannot hear everything at once; and to teach us not to speak highly of ourselves. For this reason, He often says many humble things about Himself in person, while leaving the great things for others to say. Thus, when reasoning with the Jews, He Himself said, “Before Abraham was, I Am.” His disciple, however, did not speak that way, but said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Again, He nowhere expressly said in His own person that He Himself made Heaven, earth, the sea, and everything visible and invisible. But His disciple, speaking plainly and holding nothing back, affirms this once, twice, indeed often, writing that “all things were made by Him,” and “without Him not one thing was made,” and “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him.” And why be surprised that others have said greater things about Him than He said about Himself? What is more, in many cases He did not openly state in words what He demonstrated by His deeds. Thus, through that blind man He clearly showed that He Himself made humanity. But when speaking about our formation in the beginning, He did not say, “I made,” but, “He who made them made them male and female.” Again, He demonstrated that He created the world and everything in it through the fish, the wine, the loaves, the calm on the sea, the sunlight He turned away at the Cross, and very many other things. Yet He has nowhere said this plainly in words, although His disciples—John, Paul, and Peter—continually declare it. For consider those who heard Him speak night and day and saw Him work miracles; to whom He explained many things in private and gave such great power that they could even raise the dead; whom He brought to such maturity that they gave up everything for Him. If even they, after so much virtue and self-denial, could not bear it all before receiving the Spirit, how could the Jewish people, lacking understanding and falling far short of such excellence, and present only by chance when He did or said something, have been persuaded that He was anything but estranged from the God of all, unless He had shown such great condescension throughout? For this reason, we see that even when abolishing the Sabbath, He did not introduce His legislation as a direct, deliberate announcement, but assembled many different arguments in its defense. Now, if He spoke with such restraint when about to end one commandment, so as not to startle His hearers, He needed much greater care and attention when adding another complete code of laws to the existing law as a whole, so as not to alarm those listening to Him. For this same reason, we do not find Him everywhere teaching clearly about His own Godhead. If His additions to the law were sure to perplex them so greatly, declaring Himself God would do so much more. 3. This is why He says many things far beneath His proper dignity. Here, as He is about to proceed with His additions to the law, He takes great care to correct their misunderstanding beforehand. He did not say just once, “I do not abolish the law.” He repeated it and added something further and greater: to the words, “Do not think that I have come to destroy,” He added, “I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” This not only checks the Jews’ stubbornness but also silences those heretics who say that the old covenant is from the devil. For if Christ came to destroy the devil’s tyranny, how is this covenant not destroyed, but even fulfilled by Him? He did not merely say, “I do not destroy it,” although that would have been enough, but, “I even fulfill it.” These are the words of someone who, far from opposing it, actually establishes it. And how, someone may ask, did He not destroy it? In what way did He instead fulfill either the law or the prophets? He fulfilled the prophets by confirming through His actions everything that had been said about Him. This is why the evangelist repeatedly said, “So that what was spoken by the prophet might be fulfilled.” At His birth, when the children sang that wonderful hymn to Him, when He sat on the donkey, and in very many other instances, He brought about this same fulfillment. All these things would have remained unfulfilled if He had not come. But He fulfilled the law not in just one way, but in a second and a third as well. One way was by breaking none of its commands. To hear that He fulfilled it all, listen to what He says to John: “For in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” He also said to the Jews, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” And again to His disciples, “The prince of this world is coming and finds nothing in Me.” The prophet too had said from the beginning that “He committed no sin.” This, then, was one sense in which He fulfilled it. Another was that He did the same through us as well. This is the wonder: He not only fulfilled it Himself but granted this to us too. Paul also declared this when he said, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” He also said that “He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh.” And again, “Do we then nullify the law through faith? Absolutely not! Rather, we establish the law.” For the law was striving to make humanity righteous but lacked the power. He came and introduced the way of righteousness through faith, and so established what the law sought. What the law could not accomplish through its written commands, He accomplished through faith. This is why He says, “I have not come to destroy the law.” 4. But anyone who examines the matter carefully will find yet another, a third sense in which this was done. What is it? It concerns the code of laws He was about to give them. For His sayings did not repeal the earlier commands, but extended and completed them. Thus, “Do not kill” is not annulled by the saying, “Do not be angry,” but is instead completed and made more secure. The same is true of all the others. You see, just as He had earlier planted the seeds of this teaching without arousing suspicion, so now, when His comparison of the old and new commandments would make people more distinctly suspect that He was setting them against each other, He corrected that impression beforehand. He had already scattered those seeds indirectly through what He said. Thus, “Blessed are the poor” is the same as saying that we must not be angry; “Blessed are the pure in heart,” that we must not “look at a woman with lust”; and “not storing up treasures on earth” agrees with “Blessed are the merciful.” Likewise, “mourning,” “being persecuted,” and “being insulted” correspond to “entering through the narrow gate.” And “hungering and thirsting for righteousness” is nothing other than what He says afterward: “Whatever you want people to do to you, do the same to them.” After declaring “the peacemaker blessed,” He said almost the same thing again when He commanded us “to leave the gift” and hurry to reconcile with the person who was hurt, and spoke about “coming to terms with our adversary.” But there He laid out the rewards for those who do right; here, rather, the punishments for those who neglect to practice it. So, just as He said there, “The meek will inherit the earth,” here He says, “Whoever calls his brother a fool will be in danger of hellfire.” There, “The pure in heart will see God”; here, whoever looks lustfully is an adulterer in the fullest sense. And after calling “the peacemakers sons of God” there, here He alarms us from another direction, saying, “So that the adversary does not hand you over to the judge at any time.” Likewise, in the earlier part He blesses those who mourn and those who are persecuted; in what follows, He establishes the very same point by threatening destruction to those who do not take that path. For He says, “Those who walk ‘on the broad road’ ‘meet their end there.’” And “You cannot serve God and mammon” seems to me the same as “Blessed are the merciful” and “those who hunger for righteousness.” But as I said, He is going to state these things more clearly, and not only more clearly, but also add more to what He has already said (for He no longer merely seeks a merciful person, but commands us to give up even our coat; not simply a meek person, but someone who also turns the other cheek to whoever would strike us). Therefore, He first removes the apparent contradiction. For this reason, as I have already stated, He said this not just once but again: to the words, “Do not think that I have come to destroy,” He added, “I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” “For I tell you truly, until Heaven and earth pass away, not one smallest letter or one tiny stroke will ever disappear from the law until everything happens.” What He means is this: it cannot remain unfulfilled; even the very smallest thing in it must be fulfilled. He Himself did this, completing it with perfect precision. Here He also hints that the form of the whole world is being changed. He did not say this without a purpose, but to awaken His hearer and show that He had good reason to introduce another way of life, since the very works of creation are all to be transformed, and humanity is to be called to another country and to a higher training in how to live. 5. “Therefore, whoever breaks one of these least commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of Heaven.” Having cleared Himself of this harmful suspicion and silenced those eager to contradict Him, He finally proceeds to alarm them, laying down a severe warning in support of the commands He was about to introduce. To see that He said this on behalf of the laws He was about to establish, rather than the ancient laws, listen to what follows: “For I say to you,” He says, “unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of Heaven.” For if His threat concerned the ancient laws, why did He say, “unless it exceeds”? Those who did exactly the same as the people of old could not surpass them in righteousness. But what kind of greater righteousness did He require? Not being angry, not even looking at a woman lustfully. Why, then, does He call these commandments “least,” although they were so great and lofty? Because He Himself was about to establish them. Just as He humbled Himself and often speaks modestly about Himself, so He speaks of His own commands, again teaching us to be modest in everything. Besides, because there seemed to be some suspicion of novelty, He spoke with restraint for a while. But when you hear “least in the kingdom of Heaven,” understand nothing other than hell and torments. By “the kingdom,” He often meant not merely its enjoyment but also the time of the resurrection and that terrifying coming. How could it make sense that someone who called his brother a fool and broke only one commandment falls into hell, while someone who breaks them all and encourages others to do the same should be inside the kingdom? That, therefore, is not what He means. He means that such a person will then be least—that is, cast out, last. And whoever is last will certainly fall into hell then. For, being God, He foresaw how careless many people would be. He foresaw that some would think these sayings mere exaggerations, argue about the laws, and say, “What? If someone calls another person a fool, is he punished? If someone merely looks at a woman, does he become an adulterer?” For this very reason, to destroy such insolence beforehand, He laid down the strongest warning against both kinds of people: those who break the commands and those who lead others to do so. Knowing His threat, then, let us neither break these commands ourselves nor discourage those who are inclined to keep them. “But whoever practices and teaches them,” He says, “will be called great.” For we should benefit not only ourselves but others as well. The reward is not as great for someone who guides himself rightly as for someone who brings another along with himself. Just as teaching without practicing condemns the teacher (for it is said, “You who teach another, do you not teach yourself?”), so practicing without guiding others reduces our reward. We should therefore excel in both tasks, first setting ourselves right and then going on to care for the rest. This is why He Himself put practicing before teaching: to show that this above all enables someone to teach, and that there is no other way. Otherwise, someone will say to him, “Physician, heal yourself.” Anyone who cannot teach himself but attempts to set others right will have many people laughing at him. Or rather, such a person will have no power to teach at all, because his actions speak against him. But if he is complete in both respects, “he will be called great in the kingdom of Heaven.” 6. “For I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of Heaven.” Here by righteousness He means virtue as a whole, just as when speaking of Job He said, “He was a blameless man, righteous.” Paul used the word in the same sense when he called “righteous” the person for whom, as he said, no law is even laid down. “For,” he says, “a law is not made for a righteous person.” In many other places too, you could find this word standing for virtue in general. But notice, please, the increase of grace: He wants His newly arrived disciples to be better than the teachers of the old covenant. For by “Scribes and Pharisees” here He did not mean merely the lawless, but those who did good. If they were not doing good, He would not have said they possessed righteousness, nor would He have compared something unreal with something real. Notice here too how He commends the old law by comparing it with the other. This kind of comparison implies that they belong to the same family and kind, since more and less apply within the same kind. You see, He does not find fault with the old law, but wants it made stricter. Had it been evil, He would not have required more of it or made it more perfect; He would have rejected it. And how, someone may ask, if it is like this, does it fail to bring us into the Kingdom? It does not now bring in those who live after Christ’s coming, because they have been given greater strength and are bound to strive for greater things. But it does bring in every one of those it raised under its care. Yes, for He says, “Many will come from east and west and recline in the bosoms of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Lazarus too is shown receiving the great prize and dwelling in Abraham’s bosom. All who shone with excellence under the old order shone through it, every one of them. And if it had been in any way evil or foreign to Him, Christ Himself would not have fulfilled it all when He came. For if He did this only to attract the Jews, rather than to prove that it was related to the new law and worked in harmony with it, why did He not also fulfill the laws and customs of the Gentiles, so as to attract the Gentiles too? So every consideration makes it clear that its failure to bring us in comes from no evil within itself, but from the fact that the time has now come for higher commands. And if it is less perfect than the new law, that does not imply that it is evil. On that principle, the new law itself would be in exactly the same position. For our knowledge of it, compared with what is to come, is partial and imperfect, and passes away when the other comes. “For when,” He says, “what is perfect has come, what is partial will be done away with,” just as happened to the old law through the new. Yet we must not blame the new law for this, even though it too gives way when we reach the Kingdom. For “then,” He says, “what is partial will be done away with.” Despite all this, we call it great. Since its rewards are greater and the power given by the Spirit more abundant, it reasonably requires our virtues to be greater too. For the reward is no longer “a land flowing with milk and honey,” or a comfortable old age, or many children, or grain and wine, flocks and herds. It is Heaven and the good things in the Heavens, adoption and brotherhood with the Only-Begotten, sharing in the inheritance, being glorified and reigning with Him, and those countless rewards. And to hear that we have received more abundant help, listen to Paul when he says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit; for the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death.” 7. Now, after threatening those who break the commands, setting great rewards for those who do right, and showing that He justly requires something beyond the former standards, He begins to legislate. He does so not simply by issuing commands, but by comparing them with the ancient ordinances, wishing to indicate two things: first, that He establishes these commands in close harmony with the earlier ones, rather than in opposition to them; and second, that it was fitting and very timely for Him to add these further commands. To make this even clearer, let us listen to the Lawgiver’s words. What, then, does He Himself say? “You have heard that it was said to people long ago, You shall not kill.” And yet He Himself gave those laws too, but at this point He states them impersonally. For if He had said, “You have heard that I said to people long ago,” the saying would have been hard to accept and would have presented an obstacle to all His hearers. On the other hand, if He had said, “You have heard that it was said to people long ago by My Father,” and then added, “But I say,” He would have seemed to be claiming even more for Himself. So He stated it simply, establishing just one point in this way: that He had come to say these things at the right time. For by the words, “It was said to people long ago,” He pointed out how long it had been since they received this commandment. He did this to shame the hearer who shrank from advancing to the higher level of His commandments, just as a teacher might say to a lazy child, “Don’t you know how much time you have spent learning syllables?” This is what He too indirectly suggests by the expression “people long ago,” and so He now calls them onward to the higher level of His instructions. It is as if He had said, “You have been learning these lessons long enough, and from now on you must press on to higher ones.” And it is fitting that He does not disrupt the order of the commandments, but starts with the one that comes earlier, with which the law also began. This too suits someone showing the harmony between them. “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of judgment.” Do you see His perfect authority? Do you see a manner suited to a lawgiver? Which of the prophets ever spoke this way? Which righteous man? Which patriarch? None. Instead, they said, “This is what the Lord says.” But the Son does not speak that way. They proclaimed their Master’s commands; He proclaims His Father’s. And when I say “His Father’s,” I mean His own. “For Mine,” He says, “are Yours, and Yours are Mine.” And they legislated for their fellow servants; He, for His own servants. Let us now ask those who reject the law, “Is ‘Do not be angry’ contrary to ‘Do not murder’? Or is one commandment the completion and development of the other?” Clearly, one fulfills the other, and it is greater for this very reason. Someone who is not stirred to anger will be even more certain to refrain from murder; someone who restrains his anger will be even more certain to keep his hands to himself. For anger is the root of murder. And you see that someone who cuts out the root will be even more certain to remove the branches—or rather, will not allow them even to sprout. He therefore established these commands to secure fuller observance of the law, rather than to abolish it. For what purpose did the law command these things? Was it not to keep anyone from killing his neighbor? It follows that someone opposing the law would have to command murder, since murdering is the opposite of not murdering. But if He does not allow someone even to be angry, He establishes the law’s intention more completely. Someone who tries to avoid murder will not refrain from it as fully as someone who has put away even anger, since the latter is further removed from the crime. 8. But to refute them in another way too, let us bring forward all their claims. What, then, do they maintain? They assert that the God who made the world, who “makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, who sends rain on the just and the unjust,” is in some sense an evil being. The supposedly more moderate among them decline to say this, but while affirming that He is just, they deny that He is good. They assign Christ another Father, someone who does not exist and made none of the things that exist. They say that the one who is not good remains among his own possessions and preserves what belongs to him, while He who is good seeks what belongs to another and suddenly wants to become a Savior to those whose Creator He was not. Do you see how the devil’s children speak from their father’s fountain, separating the work of creation from God, while John cries out, “He came to His own,” and, “The world was made by Him”? Next, they criticize the law in the old covenant, which commands putting out “an eye for an eye” and taking “a tooth for a tooth.” They immediately hurl insults and say, “Why, how can He be good if He speaks this way?” What, then, do we say in answer? That this is the highest kind of love for humanity. He made this law so that fear of suffering at others’ hands would restrain us from doing such things to them, rather than so that we would knock out one another’s eyes. In the same way, He threatened the Ninevites with destruction to make them better through fear and so quiet His anger, rather than to destroy them (for if that had been His will, He should have remained silent). So too He appointed a punishment for those who recklessly attack others’ eyes, so that if good principles do not move them to refrain from such cruelty, fear may restrain them from injuring their neighbors’ sight. And if this is cruelty, then restraining a murderer and checking an adulterer are cruelty too. But these are the sayings of senseless people, people mad to the utmost degree. Far from saying that this comes from cruelty, I would say that its opposite would be lawless by human standards. You say, “Because He commanded that ‘an eye for an eye’ be taken, He is cruel.” I say that if He had not given this commandment, then, in most people’s judgment, He would have appeared to be what you say He is. For suppose this law had been completely abolished, and no one feared the punishment that followed, but all the wicked had been given freedom to follow their own inclinations with complete impunity: adulterers, murderers, thieves, those who commit perjury, and those who murder their parents. Wouldn’t everything have been turned upside down? Wouldn’t cities, marketplaces, houses, sea and land, and the whole world have been filled with countless defilements and murders? Everyone can see it. For if our evil inclinations are barely checked even with laws, fear, and threats, what would stop people from choosing vice if even this safeguard were taken away? What degree of evil would not then run riot throughout human life? All the more so because cruelty consists not only in allowing the wicked to do whatever they want, but equally in overlooking and neglecting someone who has done no wrong and is suffering harm without cause or reason. Tell me: if someone gathered wicked men from every quarter, armed them with swords, and told them to go through the whole city massacring everyone in their path, could anyone be more like a wild beast than he? And if someone else bound and securely confined the men he had armed, and rescued those about to be butchered from their lawless hands, could there be any greater humanity than this? Now apply these examples to the law as well. He who commands putting out “an eye for an eye” has placed fear like a strong chain on the souls of the wicked, and so resembles the person who keeps those assassins in prison. But someone who appoints no punishment for them practically arms them by giving them such impunity, and plays the part of the other person, who put swords in their hands and let them loose throughout the city. Don’t you see that these commandments come from abundant mercy, far from coming from cruelty? And if because of them you call the Lawgiver harsh and hard to bear, tell me which command is more demanding and severe: “Do not murder,” or, “Do not even be angry”? Who goes further: someone who imposes a penalty for murder, or for mere anger? Someone who subjects an adulterer to punishment after the act, or someone who imposes a penalty even for the desire itself—and an everlasting penalty at that? Don’t you see how their reasoning turns into the exact opposite? According to their madness, the God of the old covenant, whom they call cruel, will turn out to be mild and meek, while He of the new, whom they acknowledge to be good, will be harsh and severe. We, however, say that both covenants have one and the same Lawgiver, who arranged everything fittingly and adapted the differences between the two systems of law to the differences between the times. So neither are the first commandments cruel nor the second harsh and severe; all come from one and the same providential care. To hear that He Himself also gave the old covenant, listen to the prophet’s declaration—or rather, as we must say, the declaration of Him who is both prophet and Lawgiver: “I will make a covenant with you, not according to the covenant I made with your fathers.” But if someone infected with Manichaean doctrines will not accept this, let him hear Paul saying the very same thing elsewhere: “For Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and another by the free woman; and these are two covenants.” Just as in that case the wives are different but the husband is the same, so here too there are two covenants but one Lawgiver. And to prove to you that both came from one and the same gentleness, in the one He says, “An eye for an eye,” but in the other, “If someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other to him too.” For just as in the first case He restrains the wrongdoer through fear of suffering this, so He does in the second. “How so,” someone may ask, “when He commands us to turn the other cheek too?” Well, what of it? He did not give this command to remove the wrongdoer’s fear, but to charge you to let him fully satisfy himself. Nor did He say that the other person goes unpunished, but, “Do not punish him yourself.” In this way, He both increases the fear of the person who strikes, if he persists, and comforts the person who is struck. 9. We have said these things as a kind of aside concerning all the commandments. Now we must return to the one before us and follow the thread of what was said. “Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of judgment”: this is what He says. So He has not done away with anger altogether. First, because as human beings we cannot be free from passions. We can indeed gain mastery over them, but being completely without them is out of the question. Next, because this passion is even useful if we know how to use it at the right time. See, for instance, how much good Paul’s anger against the Corinthians accomplished on that well-known occasion. Just as it delivered them from a terrible plague, by the same means he also restored the people of Galatia, who had gone astray, and others besides them. What, then, is the proper time for anger? When we are checking others in their lawless outbursts or forcing them to pay attention when they are negligent, rather than avenging ourselves. And what is the wrong time? When we act to avenge ourselves. Paul forbids this too, saying, “Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but instead make room for anger.” Or when we are fighting over wealth; for he has ruled this out too, saying, “Why not rather accept being wronged? Why not rather let yourselves be defrauded?” Just as this latter kind of anger is unnecessary, the former is necessary and useful. But most people do the opposite, becoming like wild beasts when they themselves are injured, but careless and cowardly when they see someone else mistreated. Both are directly opposed to the laws of the Gospel. Being angry, then, is not a transgression; being angry at the wrong time is. This is why the prophet also said, “Be angry, and do not sin.” 10. “And whoever says to his brother, Raca, will be in danger of the council.” By the council here He means the Hebrews’ tribunal. He mentions it now deliberately, so that He will not seem in every respect to be an outsider introducing innovations. But this word, “Raca,” does not express extreme insolence, but rather a certain contempt and disregard on the speaker’s part. Just as we, when giving orders to our servants or to someone far beneath us, say, “Get away; you there, tell so-and-so,” so those who use the Syrians’ language say “Raca,” using that word in place of “you.” But God, the lover of humanity, roots out even the smallest faults, commanding us to behave decently and respectfully toward one another, with the aim of destroying the greater faults through this as well. “But whoever says, You fool, will be in danger of hellfire.” To many people this commandment has seemed harsh and oppressive, if we really must pay so great a penalty for a mere word. Some even say that it was spoken as an exaggeration. But I fear that after deceiving ourselves with words here, we may suffer that extreme punishment in reality there. Tell me, why does the commandment seem too burdensome? Don’t you know that most punishments and most sins begin with words? Blasphemies are committed through words, and so are denials, insults, reproaches, perjury, and false testimony. So do not focus on its being a mere word; ask instead whether it carries great danger. Don’t you know that in a time of hostility, when anger is inflamed and the soul is on fire, even the smallest thing seems great, and something that is not particularly insulting is considered intolerable? Often these little things have even given birth to murder and overthrown whole cities. Just as even serious things are easily borne where friendship exists, so mere trifles seem intolerable where hostility lies underneath. However innocently a word is spoken, people assume it was spoken with a malicious meaning. It is like fire: if there is only a small spark, it does not easily catch, even with thousands of planks lying nearby. But if the flame has grown strong and high, it readily seizes not only planks but stones and every material in its path. Even the things that usually put it out make it burn more fiercely (for some say that at such a time not only wood, loose flax fibers, and other combustible materials, but even water thrown on it only intensifies its power). So it is with anger: whatever anyone says instantly becomes fuel for this evil blaze. To check all such evils beforehand, Christ first condemned anyone angry without a cause to judgment (this being the very reason He said, “Whoever is angry will be in danger of judgment”), and then anyone who says “Raca” to the council. But these are not yet great penalties, since the punishments are here. So for someone who calls another a “fool,” He added the fire of hell, mentioning hell by name for the first time. After speaking much about the kingdom, only then did He mention this, implying that the former comes from His own love and kindness toward humanity, the latter from our negligence. 11. See how He increases His punishments little by little, almost explaining Himself to you and showing that He does not want to threaten anything of this kind, but that we drag Him into such warnings. Notice: “I told you,” He says, “not to be angry without a cause, because you are in danger of judgment. You have despised the first commandment. See what anger has produced: it has led you straight into insult, for you have called your brother ‘Raca.’ Again, I set another punishment, ‘the council.’ If you disregard even this and go on to something worse, I no longer impose these limited punishments, but the undying penalty of hell, so that you do not then break out even into murder.” For there is nothing, nothing in the world more intolerable than insolence; it has tremendous power to sting a person’s soul. But when the word spoken is itself more wounding than the insolence, the blaze becomes twice as great. So do not think it a small thing to call someone a “fool.” For when you rob your brother of what separates us from the beasts and especially makes us human—namely, the mind and understanding—you deprive him of all his dignity. So let us not consider the words alone. Let us recognize what they mean and how he feels, and consider how great a wound this word makes and how much evil it leads to. This is why Paul too excluded from the kingdom not only “the adulterous” and “the effeminate,” but also “the revilers.” And with very good reason: an insolent person ruins all the beauty of love, brings countless evils on his neighbor, builds up lasting hostilities, tears apart the members of Christ, and daily drives away the peace God so desires. Through his abusive behavior he gives the devil a great advantage and makes him stronger. So Christ Himself introduced this law to cut the sinews of the devil’s power. For He places great value on love, since it is above all the mother of every good thing, the mark of His disciples, and the bond that holds our whole life together. With good reason, then, He takes such care to remove the roots and sources of the hatred that completely ruins it. So do not think these sayings are exaggerations in any way. Consider the good they do, and admire the gentleness of these laws. For there is nothing God takes greater pains over than making us united and bound together with one another. That is why, both in His own person and through His disciples in the Old and New Testaments alike, He places such great value on this commandment, and severely avenges and punishes those who despise this duty. In truth, nothing admits and establishes every kind of wickedness so effectively as the removal of love. This is why He also said, “When lawlessness abounds, the love of the many will grow cold.” This is how Cain became his brother’s murderer; this is how Esau acted, and Joseph’s brothers; this is how our countless crimes have come running riot, when this bond has been severed. You see why He Himself so carefully roots out on every side whatever harms it. 12. He does not stop with the commands already mentioned, but adds still more, showing how much He values this. After threatening us with “the council,” “judgment,” and “hell,” He added further sayings in harmony with the earlier ones, speaking this way: “If you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go away; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” Oh, what goodness! What surpassing love for humanity! He sets aside the honor due to Himself for the sake of our love toward our neighbor, showing that He spoke those earlier threats entirely out of tender affection, without any hostility or desire to punish. For what could be gentler than these sayings? “Let My service,” He says, “be interrupted so that your love may continue, since being reconciled to your brother is itself a sacrifice.” This is why He did not say “after the offering” or “before the offering.” Instead, while the gift itself lies there and the sacrifice is already beginning, He sends you to be reconciled to your brother. He tells you to hurry there neither after rushing through the sacrifice nor before presenting the gift, but while it lies before you. What, then, is His motive for commanding this, and why does He do so? It seems to me that He is indicating and providing for two purposes. First, as I said, He wants to show that He highly values love and considers it the greatest sacrifice, and that without it He does not accept even the other sacrifice. Second, He makes reconciliation a necessity that allows no excuse. Anyone commanded not to offer until he is reconciled will hurry to the person who has been hurt and put an end to the hostility, if not out of love for his neighbor, at least so that the gift will not remain unoffered. This is why He expressed everything so pointedly, to alarm and thoroughly awaken him. After saying, “Leave your gift,” He did not stop, but added, “before the altar” (making him tremble again by the very place), “and go away.” And He did not merely say, “Go away,” but added, “first, and then come and offer your gift.” Through all this He makes it clear that this table does not receive those who are at enmity with one another. Let the initiated hear this, all who approach in hostility; and let the uninitiated hear it too, for the saying applies to them as well. They too offer a gift and a sacrifice: I mean prayer and almsgiving. To hear that this too is a sacrifice, listen to what the prophet says: “A sacrifice of praise will glorify Me”; and again, “Offer to God a sacrifice of praise”; and, “The lifting up of my hands is an evening sacrifice.” So even if it is only a prayer you are offering in such a state of mind, it would be better to leave your prayer, be reconciled to your brother, and then offer your prayer. Everything was done for this purpose. For this purpose God even became man and arranged all those works: to make us one. And while here He sends the wrongdoer to the sufferer, in His prayer He leads the sufferer to the wrongdoer and reconciles them. For just as He says there, “Forgive people their debts,” so here He says, “If he has something against you, go to him.” Or rather, even here He seems to me to be sending the injured person. For some such reason He did not say, “Reconcile yourself to your brother,” but, “Be reconciled.” While the saying seems to concern the aggressor, all of it really concerns the injured person. “If you are reconciled to him,” Christ says, “through your love for him you will also have My favor, and you will be able to offer your sacrifice with great confidence. But if you are still angry, consider that even I readily command that what belongs to Me be set aside so that you may become friends, and let these thoughts soothe your anger.” He did not say, “Be reconciled when you have suffered some great wrong,” but, “Even if he has only something minor against you.” Nor did He add, “Whether justly or unjustly,” but simply, “If he has something against you.” For even if it is justly, you must not prolong the hostility. Christ too was justly angry with us, yet He gave Himself to be killed for us, “not counting those trespasses against us.” This is why Paul too, urging us toward reconciliation in another way, said, “Do not let the sun go down on your anger.” Much as Christ urges us toward this very point through the argument about the sacrifice, Paul does so through the argument about the day. For he fears that night may overtake the wounded person alone and make the wound greater. During the day many people can distract him and draw his attention away; but at night, when he is alone and thinking it over by himself, the waves swell and the storm grows greater. To prevent this, you see, Paul wants him to enter the night already reconciled, so that the devil will have no opportunity through his solitude to rekindle the furnace of his anger and make it fiercer. Likewise, Christ does not allow even the smallest delay, for fear that once the sacrifice is completed the person will grow more careless and put things off from day to day. He knows that the case requires very prompt treatment. Just as a skilled physician provides not only ways to prevent our diseases but also remedies for them, so does He. Forbidding us to call someone a “fool” prevents hostility; commanding reconciliation removes the diseases that follow hostility. Notice how earnestly both commands are stated. Just as He threatened hell in the former case, here He refuses the gift before reconciliation, showing great displeasure and by all these means destroying both the root and its fruit. First He says, “Do not be angry,” and then, “Do not insult.” For each intensifies the other: hostility produces insults, and insults produce hostility. This is why He treats now the root and now the fruit, preventing the evil from sprouting in the first place. But if it happens to sprout and bear its most evil fruit, then He takes every measure to burn it down. 13. So, you see, after mentioning first judgment, then the council, then hell, and after speaking about His own sacrifice, He adds further considerations, saying: “Come to terms with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him.” That is, so that you cannot say, “What if I am being wronged?” or, “What if I am being robbed and dragged before the tribunal too?” He has removed even this occasion and excuse, for He commands us not to remain hostile even then. And since this command was demanding, He bases His advice on present circumstances, which generally restrain the less spiritually minded more than future things do. “Why, what are you saying?” He says. “That your adversary is stronger and wrongs you? Then of course he will wrong you more if you do not settle, but are forced to go to court. In the first case, by giving up some money you will keep yourself free. But once you come under the judge’s sentence, you will both be imprisoned and pay the full penalty. If you avoid the contest there, you will gain two benefits: first, you will not have to suffer anything painful; second, the good done will be your own voluntary act, rather than the result of his compulsion. But if you will not follow these words, you wrong yourself more than him.” See here too how He urges him to hurry. After saying, “Come to terms with your adversary,” He added, “quickly.” He was not satisfied with this, but required even greater speed, saying, “While you are on the way with him,” pressing and urging him with great earnestness. For nothing turns our life upside down so much as delay and procrastination in doing good works. Indeed, this has often caused us to lose everything. So, just as Paul says, “Before the sun sets, end the hostility,” and as He Himself said above, “Before the offering is completed, be reconciled,” here too He says, “Quickly, while you are on the way with him,” before you reach the court’s doors, before you stand at the bar and come under the judge’s authority. Before entering, you have everything under your own control. But once you step across that threshold, you will not be able to arrange your affairs as you wish, however hard you try, because you have come under another’s compulsion. But what does “come to terms” mean? He means either “agree instead to suffer wrong” or “argue the case as though you were in the other person’s place,” so that you do not corrupt justice through self-love, but consider another’s case as your own and then cast your vote accordingly. If this is a great demand, do not be surprised. This is why He first pronounced all those blessings: to smooth and prepare His hearer’s soul beforehand and make it readier to receive all His commands. Now some say that by the name “adversary” He indirectly means the devil himself, and commands us to possess nothing of his (for this, they say, is what it means to “come to terms” with him). On this interpretation, after we leave this life, no settlement is possible, and nothing awaits us but that punishment from which no prayers can deliver us. But to me He seems to be speaking of judges in this world, the road to the court of justice, and the prison here. For after bringing people to a sense of shame through higher and future things, He also alarms them through things in this life. Paul does this too, using both the future and the present to move his hearer. For example, when deterring someone inclined toward evil, he points to the armed ruler, saying, “But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not carry the sword for nothing, for he is a minister of God.” Again, when commanding us to submit to him, he presents not only the fear of God but also the ruler’s threat and watchful care. “For you must submit, not only because of anger, but also because of conscience.” As I have already said, the more irrational are generally corrected sooner by these visible, immediate things. This is why Christ mentioned not only hell but also a court of justice, being dragged there, prison, and all the suffering there, using all these means to destroy the roots of murder. For how will someone who neither insults nor goes to law nor prolongs hostility ever commit murder? This too makes it clear that our own benefit lies in our neighbor’s benefit. Someone who comes to terms with his adversary will benefit himself much more, freeing himself by his own action from courts, prisons, and the misery found there. 14. Let us therefore obey His words. Let us not work against ourselves or be contentious. For even before their rewards, these commands bring pleasure and benefit in themselves. And if to most people they seem burdensome and the trouble they cause seems great, remember that you are doing it for Christ’s sake, and the pain will become pleasant. If we always keep this way of thinking, we will find nothing burdensome but will reap great pleasure from every side. Our labor will no longer seem like labor; the greater it becomes, the sweeter and more pleasant it grows. So when the habit of evil and the desire for wealth keep enchanting you, fight them with this thought: “We will receive a great reward for despising pleasure that lasts only a short time.” Say to your soul, “Are you so dejected because I deprive you of pleasure? Take courage, for I am leading you into Heaven. You are doing this for God’s sake, not for a human being’s. So be patient a little while, and you will see how great the gain is. Endure for this present life, and you will receive confidence beyond words.” If we speak to our own soul this way, considering not only what is burdensome in virtue but also the crown that comes from it, we will quickly draw it away from all wickedness. For if the devil is strong and prevails by offering pleasure for a short time but pain forever, while our situation is exactly the reverse—temporary labor, but immortal pleasure and benefit—what excuse will we have if we fail to pursue virtue after such great encouragement? The purpose of our labors, and our firm conviction that we endure all this for God’s sake, are enough to outweigh everything. For if someone who has the king as his debtor thinks he has security enough for his whole life, consider how great someone will be who, through good deeds both small and great, has made the Gracious and Everlasting God his debtor. So do not bring up labors and sweat to me. God has made virtue easy not only through hope for the things to come, but also in another way: He helps us everywhere and lends His hand to our work. If you will only contribute a little zeal, everything else follows. He wants you to labor a little too, precisely so that the victory may also be yours. Just as a king would want his own son present in the battle line and showing himself so that the trophy may be counted as his, while the king himself accomplishes everything, so God acts in our war against the devil. He requires just one thing from you: that you show sincere hatred for that enemy. If you contribute this to Him, He brings the whole war to an end by Himself. Even if you burn with anger, desire for riches, or any tyrannical passion whatever, if He only sees you stripping for the struggle and ready to oppose it, He quickly comes to you, makes everything easy, and places you above the flame, as He did those children long ago in the Babylonian furnace. They too brought nothing in with them but their willing resolve. So, to extinguish the whole furnace of disordered pleasure here and escape the hell there, let these be our daily thoughts, concerns, and practice. Let us draw God’s favor toward us both through our firm resolve to do good works and through our frequent prayers. Then even the things that now seem unbearable will become very easy, light, and lovely. As long as we remain caught in our passions, we think virtue rough, harsh, and difficult, and vice desirable and very pleasant. But if we stand back from these passions even a little, vice will appear disgusting and ugly, and virtue easy, gentle, and highly desirable. You can learn this clearly from those who have done well. Listen, for instance, to how Paul is ashamed of those passions even after his deliverance from them, saying, “For what fruit did you have then from the things you are now ashamed of?” But even after his labor, he declares virtue light, calling the toil of our affliction momentary and “light,” rejoicing in his sufferings, boasting about his afflictions, and taking pride in the marks with which he had been branded for Christ’s sake. So that we too may establish ourselves in this habit, let us guide ourselves each day by what has been said, and “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, let us press on toward the prize of the high calling.” 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.