Homilies on the Statues, Homily 16

1. I commend the Prefect’s thoughtfulness: seeing the city in turmoil and everyone planning to flee, he came here to comfort you and give you reason to hope. But I blushed and felt ashamed for you, because after so many long and frequent sermons, you still needed comfort from outside. I wanted the earth to open and swallow me when I heard him speaking to you, comforting you one moment and rebuking your senseless, ill-timed cowardice the next. You should not have needed him to teach you; you yourselves should have been teachers to all the unbelievers. Paul did not even permit going to court before unbelievers; yet you, after so much instruction from our Fathers, have needed teachers from outside. A few vagabonds and scoundrels have again thrown this great city into confusion and sent it fleeing. How will we ever look unbelievers in the eye again, after being so timid and cowardly? How will we speak to them and persuade them to face approaching troubles courageously, when this alarm made us more timid than any hare? “But what could we do?” someone says. “We are only human!” That is exactly why we should not be terrified: because we are human beings, not animals. Animals are frightened by all kinds of sounds and noises because they lack the power of reason that can dispel fear. But you, who have been honored with the gift of speech and reason, how can you sink to their low condition? Has someone entered the city and announced that soldiers are marching against it? Do not be terrified. Leave him, kneel down, call on your Lord, and groan bitterly, and He will keep away the event you dread. 2. You had heard a false report of the soldiers’ march, and you were in danger of losing your life. But when messengers came to blessed Job one after another, announcing their terrible news and adding to it the unbearable destruction of his children, he neither cried out nor groaned, but turned to prayer and thanked the Lord. Imitate him. When someone comes and announces that soldiers have surrounded the city and are about to plunder its wealth, flee to your Lord and say, “The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it seems good to the Lord, so it is done. Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.” Experiencing the actual events did not terrify him, yet a mere report frightens you. And what must people think of us, when we are commanded to face death itself boldly, yet are so frightened by a false rumor! A bewildered person invents unreal fears and troubles that are nowhere to be seen, but someone whose soul remains steady and calm shatters even real terrors. Don’t you see how pilots behave when the sea rages, clouds rush together, thunder bursts out, and everyone on board is in confusion? They sit at the helm without agitation or disturbance, concentrating on their skill and considering how to ward off the effects of the approaching storm. Follow their example. Take hold of the sacred anchor, hope in God, and remain unshaken and immovable. “Everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand; the rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house; and it fell, and its fall was great.” Do you see that falling headlong and being overthrown are marks of foolishness? Or rather, we were not merely reduced to that foolish man’s condition; our fall was even more miserable. His house fell after the rivers and rain came down and the winds beat against it. But with no winds striking us, no floods invading, no blasts assaulting us, before we experienced any disaster, a mere rumor overturned us, and we immediately abandoned all the spiritual wisdom we had been contemplating. 3. What do you think is going through my mind now? How can I hide—yes, bury myself? How deeply I must blush with shame! If our Fathers had not pressed me so strongly, I would not have stood up or spoken, with my mind darkened by sadness over your cowardice. Even now I have not been able to recover, because anger and sorrow have so fiercely besieged my soul. Who would not feel provoked and indignant that after so much teaching you should need instruction from Gentiles to comfort you and persuade you to face the present alarm courageously? So pray that we may be given freedom to speak when we open our mouth, and that we may shake off this sadness and lift our head a little again. This shame over your cowardice has deeply depressed our spirits. 4. Recently I spoke at length to you, my beloved, about the snares lying all around us; about fear and sadness, sorrow and pleasure; and about the sickle that flies down upon the houses of those who swear. Of all these many subjects, I especially want you to remember what I said about the “winged sickle,” how it settles in the swearer’s house, tears down its stones and wood, and consumes the whole structure. Remember this too: it is the height of foolishness to swear while taking hold of the Gospels, turning the very Law that forbids swearing into an oath. It is better to lose property than to require our neighbors to swear an oath, because this greatly honors God. When you say to God, “For Your sake I have not required an oath from this person who robbed and wronged me,” God will richly reward you for this honor, both in this life and in the next. Tell others these things, and practice them yourselves. I know that here we become more reverent and put aside every evil habit. But our aim must be to love wisdom not only here, but also to take this reverence with us when we leave, to the place where we especially need it. People carrying water do not merely keep their vessels full beside the spring and empty them when they get home. At home they put them away with special care so they will not overturn and make their labor useless. Let us all imitate them. When we go home, let us carefully hold on to what has been said. If you have been filled here but return home empty, with the vessels of your minds holding none of what you heard, being filled here will have done you no good. Show me the wrestler in an actual contest, not just in the training ground, and show me religion when it is time to practice it, not just when it is time to listen. 5. You applaud what is being said now. When you are required to swear, remember all these things then. If you quickly put this law into practice, we will move on to teach other, greater things. Look! This is my second year of speaking to you, my beloved, and I have not yet been able to explain a hundred lines of Scripture. The reason is that you need us to teach you things you could put into practice at home on your own, and so most of our exhortation is spent discussing conduct. This should not have happened. You should have learned at home, on your own, how to govern your behavior, leaving the meaning of Scripture and reflection on it to us. But even if you needed to hear these things from us, one day would have been enough. What needs to be said is neither complicated nor difficult, nor does it require elaborate explanation. When God pronounces His judgment, subtle arguments are out of place. God has said, “You shall not swear.” Do not demand that I explain His reasons. It is a royal law. The One who established it knows the reason for it. If forbidding swearing had not been beneficial, He would not have forbidden it. Kings introduce laws, and perhaps not all of them are beneficial, because kings are human and cannot discover what is useful as God can. Nevertheless, we obey them. Whether we marry, make wills, plan to purchase servants, houses, or fields, or do anything else, we act according to the laws they establish, rather than our own wishes. We are not completely free to arrange our own affairs as we please; in many cases we are subject to their will, and anything we do contrary to their judgment becomes invalid and useless. Tell me, then: are we to show so much respect for human laws and trample God’s law underfoot? What defense or forgiveness can such behavior deserve? He has said, “You shall not swear.” So that everything you do and say may be safe, do not establish a law contrary to His by the way you act. 6. But enough of these matters. Let us now set before you one sentence from today’s readings and bring this discourse to an end. “Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,” he says, “and Timothy the brother.” What a great title Paul uses: no title of rule or power, but bonds and chains! Great indeed! Many other things made him illustrious: being caught up into the third heaven, being carried into Paradise, hearing words that cannot be spoken. Yet he lists none of these, mentioning the chain in place of them all, because it made him more conspicuous and illustrious than they did. Why? Because those things were freely given gifts of the Lord’s loving-kindness, while the chains were signs of the servant’s steadfastness and endurance. People who love usually take more pride in what they suffer for those they love than in the benefits they receive from them. A king is not as proud of his crown as Paul was of his chains. And rightly so. A crown merely adorns the head that wears it, while a chain is a far greater ornament and also a protection. A royal crown often betrays the head it encircles, attracting countless traitors and inviting them to covet the throne. In battle this ornament is so dangerous that it must be hidden and put aside. That is why kings change their outward dress in battle and mingle with the mass of fighters: the crown exposes them to so much betrayal. But a chain brings nothing of this kind on those who wear it; it does precisely the opposite. If there is a war, a battle with demons and hostile powers, the man encircled by this chain holds it out and repels their attacks. Many civil magistrates keep their official titles after leaving office, as well as while they hold power. One is called a former consul, another a former praetor. But instead of all such titles, he says, “Paul the prisoner.” And rightly so. Those public offices do not fully prove the soul’s virtue, because they can be bought with money and obtained through the influence of friends. But the distinction gained through bonds proves the soul’s love of wisdom and is the strongest sign of longing for Christ. The former honors soon disappear, but this distinction has no successor to take it over. Just look at how much time has passed from then until now, yet this Prisoner’s name has become increasingly illustrious. All the consuls of earlier times, whoever they were, have passed into silence; most people do not even know their names. But the name of this Prisoner, blessed Paul, is still great here, great in the land of the barbarians, and great among the Scythians and Indians. Even if you traveled to the very ends of the inhabited world, you would hear this title, and wherever anyone could go, he would find Paul’s name on everyone’s lips. And why should it be surprising that this is so on land and sea, when Paul’s name is great even in heaven, among angels and archangels and the powers above, and with their King, God Himself! “But what were these chains,” someone says, “that brought glory to the man bound with them? Weren’t they made of iron?” They were indeed made of iron, but the grace of the Spirit flourished abundantly in them, because he wore them for Christ’s sake. What a wonder! The servants were bound, the Master was crucified, and yet the preaching of the Gospel increases every day! The very means that were supposed to extinguish it kindled it instead. The Cross and bonds, which were thought to be an abomination, have now become symbols of salvation. That iron was more precious to us than all gold, not because of its own nature, but for this reason! 7. But I see a question arising here. If you give me your attention, I will state it precisely and then give the answer. What is the question? This same Paul once appeared before Festus and spoke to him in his defense against the charges the Jews had brought. He told how he had seen Jesus and heard that blessed voice; how he had been struck blind and recovered his sight, had fallen down and risen again; how he had entered Damascus as a captive, bound without chains. He also spoke about the Law and the Prophets, showing that they had foretold all these things, and so captured the judge and almost persuaded him to come over to his side. Such are the souls of holy people: when they fall into danger, they do not think about how to escape it, but try in every way to capture their persecutors. That is just what happened then. He came in to defend himself and left taking the judge with him! The judge himself testified to this, saying, “You almost persuade me to be a Christian.” This should have happened today. When this Prefect came among you, he should have admired your greatness of soul, your courage, and your complete calm. He should have gone away having learned from your good order, admiring your assembly, praising your gathering, and learning from what he actually saw how great a difference there is between Gentiles and Christians! 8. But as I was saying, when Paul had captured him and he said, “You almost persuade me to be a Christian,” Paul answered, “I pray to God that not only you, but everyone who hears me today, might become both almost and altogether as I am, except for these bonds.” What are you saying, Paul? When you write to the Ephesians, you say, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to live in a way worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” And when you speak to Timothy, “For this I suffer hardship as an evildoer, even to the point of being bound.” And again, to Philemon, “Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ.” Again, when arguing with the Jews, you say, “For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” And writing to the Philippians, you say, “Many of the brothers in the Lord, gaining confidence through my bonds, are much bolder in speaking the word without fear.” Everywhere you carry the chain around, everywhere you put your bonds forward and boast about them. But when you come before the court, where you should have spoken most boldly, you betray your spiritual wisdom and say to the judge, “I pray to God that you might become a Christian ‘without’ these bonds!” Yet surely, if the bonds were good—so good that they could make others grow bold in the cause of true religion (for you yourself declared this earlier when you said, “Many of the brothers, gaining confidence through my bonds, spoke the word without fear”)—why do you not glory in them before the judge, instead of doing the very opposite? 9. Doesn’t what I have said raise a question? I will give the answer at once. Paul acted this way from an abundance of wisdom and spiritual understanding, rather than distress or fear. I will explain how. He was speaking to a Gentile, an unbeliever who knew nothing about our faith. So he did not want to introduce him to it through unpleasant things. Just as he said, “To those without law I became as one without law,” so he acted here. His meaning is, “If the Gentile hears about bonds and tribulations, he will immediately run away, because he does not know the power of bonds. First let him become a believer; let him taste the word being preached, and then he will hurry toward these bonds on his own. I have heard the Lord saying, ‘No one puts a piece of new cloth on an old garment, because the patch pulls away from the garment and makes the tear worse. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst.’ This man’s soul is an old garment, an old wineskin. It has not been renewed by faith or made new by the grace of the Spirit. It is still weak and earthly. It is attached to the things of this life. It flutters eagerly after worldly display. It loves present glory. If he hears right away, at the very beginning, that becoming a Christian means immediately becoming a prisoner and being encircled with a chain, he will feel ashamed and indignant and recoil from the word being preached.” That is why he says, “Except for these bonds.” He is not disparaging the bonds themselves—God forbid! He is accommodating the other man’s weakness. He himself loved and welcomed his bonds as a woman fond of adornment loves her gold jewelry. How is this clear? “I rejoice,” he says, “in my sufferings for you, and in my flesh I fill up what remains of Christ’s afflictions.” And again, “It has been granted to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” And again, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations.” So if he rejoices and glories in this and calls it a gift of grace, it is clear that he spoke to the judge as he did for the reason I have given. In another passage too, when he found it necessary to boast, he makes the same point by saying, “Most gladly, therefore, I will glory in my weaknesses……in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in distress, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” And again, “If I must boast, I will boast about the things that concern my weaknesses.” Elsewhere, comparing himself with others and showing us his superiority in the comparison, he says, “Are they ministers of Christ? (I am speaking like a fool.) I am even more so.” To show this superiority, he did not say that he had raised the dead, driven out demons, cleansed lepers, or done anything else of that kind, but that he had suffered those countless hardships. So when he said, “I am even more so,” he immediately listed his many trials: “In beatings beyond measure, in frequent danger of death, in prison more often…..five times I received forty lashes minus one from the Jews, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep”; and all the rest. So Paul everywhere glories in tribulations and takes tremendous pride in them. And rightly so. This especially shows Christ’s power: that the Apostles conquered by such means—by bonds, tribulations, floggings, and the worst of evils. 10. Christ had announced both of these things: tribulation and relief, labors and crowns, toils and rewards, pleasant things and sad things. Yet He assigns the sorrowful things to this present life and has stored up the pleasant things for the life to come. In this way He both shows that He did not intend to deceive people and seeks to lessen the burden of human suffering. A deceiver offers pleasant things first and brings out the unpleasant things afterward. For example, when kidnappers intend to steal little children and carry them off, they do not promise them blows and lashes or anything of that kind. They offer cakes, sweets, and similar things that usually delight children, so that, enticed by them, the children may sell their freedom and fall into the greatest danger. Bird catchers and fishermen likewise entice their prey, first offering its usual food, something it enjoys, and so concealing the trap. Offering pleasant things first and introducing unpleasant things afterward is especially the work of deceivers. But those who truly care for others and look ahead for them do just the opposite. Fathers, for example, behave in the opposite way from kidnappers. When they send their children to school, they place teachers over them, threaten them with lashes, and surround them with fear on every side. But when the children have spent the first part of their lives this way and their habits have been formed, their fathers then give them honor, power, luxury, and all their wealth. 11. This is how God has acted. Like fathers who look ahead for their children, rather than kidnappers, He has first placed us amid painful things, handing us over to present tribulation as though to schoolmasters and teachers. In this way, disciplined and brought to our senses by these things, after showing complete endurance and learning every right discipline, we may inherit the kingdom of heaven once our habits have been properly formed. He first prepares and equips us to manage the wealth He will give us, and then puts the riches into our hands. If He had not acted this way, the gift of riches would have been no blessing, but a punishment and an act of vengeance. A foolish, wasteful son who inherits his father’s estate is hurled headlong into ruin by that very inheritance, because he lacks the practical wisdom needed to manage wealth. But if he is sensible, gentle, sober, and moderate, managing his father’s estate properly, it makes him more illustrious and distinguished. The same must necessarily happen with us. When we have gained spiritual understanding, when we have all reached “perfect manhood” and “the measure of full stature,” He then gives us everything He has promised. But now He disciplines us as little children, while also comforting and soothing us. Receiving tribulation first has another advantage no less great than this. Someone who first lives in luxury and must then expect punishment after his luxurious living cannot even enjoy his present luxury, simply because he expects the troubles hanging over him. But someone who suffers first, expecting to enjoy good things afterward, overlooks present difficulties in the hope of the good things to come. So He has arranged for painful things to come first not only for our safety, but also for our pleasure and comfort, so that hope for the future may lighten our burden and keep us from feeling our present suffering. Paul wanted to show this clearly when he said, “Our light affliction, which lasts only a moment, produces for us a far greater and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at things that are seen, but at things that are not seen.” He calls tribulation light because of the expectation of good things to come, rather than because painful things are light in themselves. Just as the merchant disregards the labor of sailing, buoyed up by the hope of a cargo, and the boxer bravely endures blows to his head, looking ahead to the crown, so we too, looking intently toward heaven and the good things in heaven, courageously endure whatever evils come upon us, strengthened by our good hope for the things to come. 12. So let us go home taking this saying with us. Though it is simple and short, it contains much teaching in spiritual wisdom. Someone in grief and tribulation has in it enough to bring comfort; someone living in luxury and abundance has in it something to bring him firmly to his senses. When you remember this saying as you sit at the table, you will quickly shrink from drunkenness and gluttony, learning from this sentence how necessary it is for us to struggle. You will say to yourself, “Paul lived in bonds and dungeons, while I live in drunkenness and at a luxurious table! What forgiveness, then, will I receive?” This saying is also fitting for women. When those who love adornment and expensive clothes and wrap themselves in gold on every side remember this chain, I am sure they will hate and loathe their adornments and hurry toward bonds like these. Those ornaments have often caused many evils, brought a thousand quarrels into a household, and bred envy, jealousy, and hatred. But these bonds freed the whole wide world from its sins, terrified demons, and drove away the devil. With these, while he remained in prison, he persuaded the jailer; with these he drew Agrippa himself; with these he gained many disciples. That is why he said, “For this I suffer hardship as an evildoer, even to the point of being bound, but the word of God is not bound.” Just as a sunbeam cannot be bound or shut up inside a house, neither can the preaching of the word. More remarkable still, the teacher was bound, yet the word flew far and wide; he lived in prison, yet his teaching swiftly winged its way throughout the world! Knowing these things, then, let us not be discouraged when adversity meets us. Let us become stronger and more powerful then, “for tribulation produces endurance.” Let us not grieve over the calamities that fall on us, but thank God in everything! 13. We have finished the second week of the fast, but that is not what we should consider. Observing the fast does not consist merely in getting through the time, but in getting through it while improving our conduct. Let us consider this: Have we become more diligent? Have we corrected any of our faults? Have we washed away our sins? During Lent everyone commonly asks how many weeks each person has fasted. Some can be heard saying they have fasted two weeks, others three, and others all the weeks. But what good is it if we have gone through the fast without good works? If someone else says, “I have fasted throughout Lent,” you should say, “I had an enemy, but we were reconciled; I had a habit of speaking evil of others, but I stopped it; I had a habit of swearing, but I broke that evil practice.” Merchants benefit from sailing with freight and plenty of merchandise, rather than simply crossing a vast stretch of ocean. The fast will do us no good if we pass through it as a mere routine, without any result. If we merely abstain from food, the fast ends when the forty days are over. But if we abstain from sins, that remains even after the fast has passed and will continually benefit us from then on. It will bring us a considerable reward here, even before we reach the kingdom of heaven. Just as someone living in wickedness suffers punishment even before hell, stung by his conscience, so someone rich in good works will enjoy tremendous joy even before the kingdom, nourished by blessed hopes. 14. That is why Christ says, “I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” A brief saying, but one containing much comfort. What does this mean, “No one will take your joy”? If you have money, many people can take away the joy your wealth brings: a thief by digging through the wall, a servant by carrying off what was entrusted to him, an emperor by confiscating it, and an envious person by insulting you. If you hold power, many people can deprive you of the joy it brings. When your term of office ends, its pleasures will end too. Even while you hold office, many unforeseen events occur that bring difficulties and cares and strike at the root of your satisfaction. If you have bodily strength, the attacks of disease put an end to the joy it gives. If you have beauty and youthful bloom, approaching old age withers them and takes that joy away. Or if you enjoy a lavish table, the joy of the banquet ends when evening comes. Everything belonging to this life is vulnerable to harm and cannot give us lasting pleasure. But godliness and the soul’s virtue are entirely different. If you have given to the poor, no one can take that good work away. Even if an army, kings, or countless slanderers and conspirators surrounded you on every side, they could not take away that possession once it had been deposited in heaven. Its joy remains continually, for it is said, “He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever.” And rightly so, because it is stored in heaven’s storehouses, where no thief breaks in, no robber seizes it, and no moth devours it. If you pour out constant, fervent prayers, no one can rob you of their fruit. That fruit too is rooted in heaven, out of harm’s way and beyond mortal reach. If you have done a kindness when mistreated, patiently endured hearing yourself spoken of maliciously, or returned blessings for insults, these are good works that remain continually, and no one takes away their joy. Whenever you remember them, you are glad and rejoice and reap abundant fruits of pleasure. The same is true if we succeed in avoiding oaths and persuade our tongue to abstain from this destructive practice. The good work will be completed in a short time, but the delight it brings will be continual and unfailing. 15. Now it is time for you to become teachers and guides to others: for friends to undertake to instruct and lead their neighbors, servants their fellow servants, and young people others their own age. If someone had promised you a single gold piece for every person who reformed, wouldn’t you have made every effort and sat beside them all day, persuading and urging them? Yet now God promises you for your labors not one gold piece, or ten, or twenty, or a hundred, or a thousand, or even the whole earth. He gives you something greater than the whole world: the kingdom of heaven. And He gives you something else besides. What is that? “Whoever brings out what is precious from what is vile,” He says, “will be like my mouth.” What can equal this in honor or security? What excuse or forgiveness can remain for those who neglect their neighbor’s safety after so great a promise? If you see a blind man falling into a pit, you reach out your hand and consider it disgraceful to ignore someone about to perish, don’t you? Yet when you see all your brothers plunging every day into the wicked habit of swearing oaths, do you not dare even to say a word? Perhaps you have spoken once and he did not listen. Speak a second time, then, and a third, and as often as necessary until you have persuaded him. God speaks to us every day, and we do not listen, yet He does not stop speaking. Imitate this tender care toward your neighbor. This is why we are placed beside one another, why we live in cities and gather in churches: so that we may bear one another’s burdens and correct one another’s sins. People who share a shop carry on their separate trades but afterward put everything into a common fund. Let us do the same. Whatever benefit each person can offer his neighbor, let him give it without reluctance or hesitation. Let there be this kind of spiritual commerce and mutual exchange, so that, having deposited everything in the common store, gained great riches, and gathered a great treasure, we may all share together in the kingdom of heaven, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom and with Whom, to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory, now and forever, and for all eternity. Amen.