Homilies on Matthew, Homily 19

“Be careful not to give your alms before people to be seen by them.” In what follows, He roots out the most tyrannical passion of all: the raging madness of craving empty praise, which springs up in those who do right. At first He had said nothing about it. Before He had persuaded them to do any of the things they ought to do, there was no need to teach them how to practice and pursue them. But after He had led them to self-control, He goes on to clear away the impurities secretly mixed with it. For this disease does not arise at just any time, but when we have properly carried out many of the commandments. So virtue had to be planted first, and then the passion that spoils its fruit had to be removed. And notice what He begins with: fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. These good deeds are its favorite haunts. This, for example, was what puffed up the Pharisee who said, “I fast twice a week; I give tithes of my possessions.” And he was consumed by a craving for empty praise even in his prayer, offering it for show. Since no one else was present, he drew the tax collector’s attention to himself, saying, “I am not like other people, or even like this tax collector.” And notice how Christ began, as though He were speaking about a wild beast, hard to catch and cunning enough to deceive anyone who was not very watchful. “Be careful,” He says, “about your alms.” Paul speaks the same way to the Philippians: “Beware of dogs.” And with good reason, for this evil beast slips in secretly, silently blows everything away, and carries off everything inside without being noticed. He had spoken at length about almsgiving and brought forward God, “Who makes His sun rise on the evil and the good.” He had urged them toward it with motives drawn from every side and persuaded them to rejoice in giving abundantly. Now He finishes by removing everything that weighs down this beautiful olive tree. That is why He says, “Be careful not to give your alms before people,” for the almsgiving mentioned earlier is “God’s.” 2. After saying, “not to do it before people,” He added, “to be seen by them.” Although this seems to repeat the same thing, anyone who pays close attention will see that the two are different. The distinction provides great protection and shows care and tenderness beyond words. Someone may give alms before people without doing it to be seen by them; and someone who does not give before people may still do it to be seen by them. So it is not simply the act but the intention that He punishes or rewards. Without this precision, many would become more reluctant to give alms, because it is not always entirely possible to do it secretly. To free you from this restriction, He bases both the penalty and the reward on the giver’s intention rather than the outcome of the act. That way you cannot say, “What? Am I worse off, then, if someone else sees?” “That is not what I am examining,” He says, “but your state of mind and the spirit in which you act.” His will is to put our soul entirely in order and free it from every disease. Now, as you see, after forbidding people to act for show and teaching them the resulting penalty—that their action is futile and gains them nothing—He lifts their spirits again by reminding them of the Father and of Heaven. He wants not only to sting them with the loss but also to make them ashamed by recalling the One who gave them life. “For you have no reward,” He says, “with your Father who is in Heaven.” He did not stop even there, but goes further, using other motives to increase their disgust. Just as earlier He brought forward tax collectors and pagans, shaming those who imitate them by the character of those people, here He brings forward the hypocrites. “So when you give your alms,” He says, “do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do.” They did not actually have trumpets. He uses this figure of speech to expose the extent of their madness, ridiculing them and putting them on display. And He rightly called them “hypocrites,” for their mask was mercy, but their spirit was cruelty and inhumanity. They do it not because they pity their neighbors but to gain credit for themselves. It was the height of cruelty to seek empty admiration while someone else was dying of hunger, instead of putting an end to his suffering. So what is required is not merely giving alms, but giving as we ought, giving for the proper purpose. After thoroughly ridiculing those men and treating them in a way that would make His hearers ashamed even of them, He again thoroughly corrects the mind afflicted with this disease. Having said how we ought not to act, He explains how we ought to act. How, then, should we give our alms? “Do not let your left hand know,” He says, “what your right hand is doing.” Here again His veiled meaning is not about hands; He has expressed it as a deliberate exaggeration. It is as though He said, “If you can keep even yourself from knowing, make that your aim, so that, if possible, it may be hidden from the very hands that give.” He does not mean, as some say, that we should hide it from wrongheaded people, for here He has commanded that it be hidden from everyone. Then consider how great the reward is. After speaking of the punishment for one course, He also points out the honor that comes from the other, urging them from both sides and leading them to lofty lessons. Yes, He is persuading them to recognize that God is present everywhere, that our concerns do not end with this life, and that when we leave this life, a more fearsome tribunal awaits us, where we must give an account of all our deeds and receive honors and punishments. No one will escape notice in doing anything great or small, even if he seems hidden from people. He hinted at all this when He said, “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” He provides a great and majestic audience for him, giving him in abundance the very thing he desires. “What do you want?” He says. “Isn’t it to have spectators watching what is happening? Look, then, you have them—not angels or archangels, but the God of all.” And if you also want people as spectators, He does not deprive you of that desire at the proper time; instead, He grants it far more abundantly. If you put on a show now, you will be able to display yourself to only ten or twenty or, let us say, a hundred people. But if you take care to remain hidden now, God Himself will proclaim you before the whole universe then. So, above all, if you want people to see your good deeds, hide them now, so that everyone may look on them with greater honor then, when God reveals them, praises them, and proclaims them before all. Besides, those who see you now will be more likely to condemn you for craving empty praise; but when they see you crowned, far from condemning you, every one of them will admire you. Since by waiting a little you can both receive a reward and gain greater admiration, consider how foolish it is to shut yourself out of both. While seeking your reward from God, and while God is watching, you summon people to view what is happening! Why, if we must display our love, we should display it above all to our Father, especially since our Father has the power both to crown and to punish. And let me add that even if there were no penalty, someone who desires glory should not give up this theater of ours in exchange for a human one. Who could be so wretched that, when the king was hurrying to see his achievements, he would send him away and assemble an audience of poor people and beggars instead? That is why He commands not only that we make no display but also that we take care to remain hidden. Not seeking publicity and seeking concealment are very different things. 3. “And when you pray,” He says, “you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on street corners. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.” “But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret.” These people, too, He calls “hypocrites,” and very rightly. While pretending to pray to God, they are looking around for people. They wear the appearance of people making fools of themselves rather than people making a plea. Someone who is making a plea puts everyone else aside and looks only to the one who has the power to grant his request. But if you leave that one and wander about, looking everywhere, you will go away empty-handed. That was your own choice. That is why He did not say, “Such people will not receive a reward,” but, “They have received it in full.” They will indeed receive one, but from those from whom they themselves want it. God does not want this. For His part, He wanted to give people the reward that comes from Himself. But since they seek what comes from people, they can no longer rightly claim to receive anything from Him, for whom they have done nothing. But notice, please, God’s kindness and love: He promises to give us a reward even for the good things we ask Him for. After discrediting those who fail to carry out this duty properly, both in their choice of place and in their state of mind, and showing how ridiculous they are, He introduces the best way to pray and again offers the reward, saying, “Go into your private room.” “What, then?” someone may ask. “Shouldn’t we pray in church?” Certainly we should, but in this spirit. Everywhere God looks at the intention behind everything we do. Even if you go into your private room and shut the door, if you do it for show, the doors will do you no good. Here, too, notice how precise His wording was when He said, “So that people may see them.” Even if you shut the doors, what He wants you to do carefully, more than shutting those doors, is to shut the doors of your mind. Freedom from the craving for empty praise is good in everything, but especially in prayer. If we wander and become distracted even without it, how will we pay attention to what we are saying if we enter with this disease as well? And if we who pray and plead do not pay attention, how do we expect God to pay attention? 4. Yet even after such strong and earnest warnings, some people behave so improperly in prayer that, even when their bodies are hidden, they make themselves known to everyone by their voices. They shout in a disorderly way and make themselves ridiculous through both their gestures and their voices. Don’t you see that even in a marketplace, someone who approaches like this, begging loudly, will drive away the person he is petitioning? But if he approaches quietly and with a proper bearing, he is more likely to win over the person who can grant the favor. So let us pray through the earnestness of our minds rather than through bodily gestures or the loudness of our voices. Let us pray with complete restraint, a contrite mind, and inward tears, rather than with noise and shouting and a desire to be seen, disturbing even those near us. But is your mind in pain, and can you not help crying aloud? Surely someone in deep pain should pray and plead just as I have described. Moses, too, was in pain, and he prayed this way and was heard. That is why God said to him, “Why are you crying out to Me?” Hannah, too, accomplished everything she wanted without her voice being heard, because her heart cried out. And Abel prayed not only in silence but even as he was dying, and his blood sent out a cry clearer than a trumpet. You, too, may groan like that holy man; I do not forbid it. “Tear,” as the prophet commanded, “your heart, and not your clothes.” Call on God out of the depths, for it is said, “Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord.” Draw a voice from deep within your heart; make your prayer a mystery. Don’t you see that even in kings’ houses all commotion is put aside and deep silence prevails everywhere? You, too, then, should enter as though entering a palace—not an earthly one, but the far more awe-inspiring palace in heaven—and behave with great reverence. For you are joining the choirs of angels, sharing communion with archangels, and singing with the seraphim. All these hosts display beautiful order, singing that mystical song and their sacred hymns with great awe to God, the King of all. Join them, then, when you pray, and imitate their mystical order. For you are praying to God, not to people: to the One who is present everywhere, who hears even before you speak, who knows the secrets of the mind. If you pray this way, you will receive a great reward. “For your Father,” He says, “who sees in secret, will reward you openly.” He did not say, “will give you freely,” but, “will reward you.” Yes, He has made Himself your debtor, and even by this He has greatly honored you. Because He Himself is invisible, He wants your prayer to be invisible as well. 5. Then He gives the very words of the prayer. “When you pray,” He says, “do not use empty repetitions, as the pagans do.” You see that when He spoke about almsgiving, He removed only the harm that comes from craving empty praise and added nothing more. Nor did He say where the money for alms should come from—for example, from honest work rather than robbery or greed—because everyone already fully acknowledged this. Besides, He had thoroughly clarified this point earlier, when He blessed those “who hunger for righteousness.” But in speaking about prayer, He adds something more: “Do not use empty repetitions.” As He ridicules the hypocrites there, so He ridicules the pagans here, everywhere shaming His hearers above all by how contemptible the people concerned are. Since in most cases it especially bites and stings to seem comparable to outcasts, He uses this argument to discourage them. Here He calls frivolous talk “empty repetition,” as when we ask God for inappropriate things: kingdoms, glory, victory over enemies, abundant wealth, and, in general, things that do not concern us at all. “For He knows,” He says, “what you need.” Along with this, it seems to me that here He also commands us not to make our prayers long. By “long” I mean not the time they take but the number and length of the things mentioned. We do have a duty to persevere in the same requests, for His word is, “Persist in prayer.” And He Himself, too, gave the example of the widow who prevailed over the pitiless and cruel ruler by continuing her appeals, and the friend who came late at night and got the sleeper out of bed because of his persistence rather than their friendship. What was He doing but laying down a rule that everyone should continually plead with Him? Yet He does not tell us to compose a prayer of ten thousand clauses and come to Him merely to repeat it. This is what He hinted at when He said, “They think they will be heard because they say so much.” “For He knows,” He says, “what you need.” And if He knows what we need, someone may ask, why must we pray? To persuade Him, not to inform Him; to become close to Him by continuing to plead; to be humbled; to be reminded of your sins. 6. “So pray in this way,” He says: “Our Father, who is in heaven.” See how He immediately stirred His hearer’s spirit and reminded him at the outset of all God’s generosity. Anyone who calls God Father acknowledges in this single title forgiveness of sins, removal of punishment, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, adoption, inheritance, brotherhood with the Only-Begotten, and the gift of the Spirit. For no one can call God Father without having received all these blessings. So He awakens their spirit in two ways: by the dignity of the One they call on and by the greatness of the benefits they have received. But when He says, “in Heaven,” He does not mean to confine God there. He means to draw the person praying away from earth and establish him in the heights, in the dwellings above. He also teaches us to include our brothers and sisters in our prayers. He does not say, “my Father, who is in Heaven,” but, “our Father,” so that the person praying offers petitions for the whole body, looking everywhere to his neighbor’s good rather than his own. In this way He immediately removes hatred, subdues pride, drives out envy, introduces love, the mother of all good things, wipes out the inequalities of human circumstances, and shows how far equality extends between the king and the poor man, since we all share equally in the greatest and most essential things. What harm can our earthly family ties do, when in what is above we are all bound together and no one has anything more than another: neither the rich than the poor, the master than the servant, the ruler than the subject, the king than the common soldier, the philosopher than the barbarian, nor the skilled than the uneducated? He has given everyone the same nobility by graciously agreeing to be called the Father of all alike. 7. Now that He has reminded us of this nobility, the gift from above, our equality with our brothers and sisters, and love; now that He has taken us away from earth and established us in Heaven, let us see what He next commands us to ask. Even that opening statement alone is enough to teach us every virtue. Anyone who calls God Father, and the Father of all, is rightly bound to live in a way that does not disgrace this nobility and to show diligence worthy of the gift. Yet He is not satisfied with this, but adds another clause, saying, “May Your name be hallowed.” It is fitting for someone who calls God Father to put nothing before his Father’s glory in prayer, but to consider everything secondary to praising Him. For “hallowed” means glorified. His own glory is complete and always remains the same, but He commands the person praying to ask that He may also be glorified through our lives. He had already said this very thing: “Let your light shine before people so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” And the seraphim, too, gave glory when they said, “Holy, holy, holy.” So “hallowed” means “glorified.” That is, the person praying says, “Grant that we may live so purely that through us everyone may glorify You.” This, too, belongs to perfect self-control: to present everyone with a life so blameless that everyone who sees it may offer the Lord the praise due to Him for it. “May Your kingdom come.” This, too, is the language of a sensible child: not to cling to visible things or consider present things particularly important, but to hurry toward our Father and long for what is to come. This springs from a good conscience and a soul freed from earthly things. Paul himself longed for this every day. That is why he also said, “Even we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our body.” Anyone who has this love can neither be puffed up by the good things of this life nor brought low by its sorrows. Instead, as though living in the heavens themselves, he is free from either kind of disturbance. “May Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Look at this excellent progression of thought! He has told us to long for the things to come and hurry toward that dwelling place; meanwhile, as long as we remain here, we are to be earnest in living the same life as those above. You must long, He says, for heaven and the things in heaven. Yet even before heaven, He has told us to make earth a heaven and, while we remain here, to do and say everything as people whose life is there. These things, too, should be part of our prayer to the Lord. Living on earth does not prevent us from reaching the perfection of the powers above. Even while we remain here, we can do everything as though we were already placed on high. So what He says is this: “As everything there is done without hindrance, and the angels are not partly obedient and partly disobedient but yield and obey in everything (for He says, ‘Mighty in strength, carrying out His word’), grant that we humans, too, may not do Your will halfway but may do everything as You will.” Do you see how He has also taught us humility by making it clear that virtue comes not only from our efforts but also from grace above? Again, He has commanded each of us who prays to take responsibility for the whole world. He did not say, “May Your will be done” in me or in us, but everywhere on earth, so that error may be destroyed, truth established, all wickedness driven out, and virtue restored, and so that in this respect there may no longer be any difference between heaven and earth. “For if this happens,” He says, “there will be no difference between things below and things above, though their natures are distinct, since the earth will show us another host of angels.” 8. “Give us today our daily bread.” What is “daily bread”? Bread for one day. He had said, “May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” but He was speaking to people clothed in flesh, subject to nature’s necessities, and incapable of the same freedom from passions as the angels. So, while He commands us to carry out the commandments just as they do, in what follows He also accommodates the weakness of our nature. Thus He says, “I require the same perfection of conduct, but not freedom from passions, for nature’s tyranny does not allow that: it requires the food necessary for life.” But notice, please, how even in bodily matters the spiritual element abounds. He has commanded us to pray neither for riches, luxurious living, expensive clothes, nor anything else of that kind, but only for bread. And for “daily bread,” so that we do not “worry about tomorrow.” That is why He added “daily bread,” meaning bread for one day. He is not even satisfied with this expression, but afterward adds another: “Give us today,” so that we may not go beyond this and wear ourselves out worrying about the next day. Why take on the worries of that day when you do not even know whether you will live through the time between now and then? As He went on, He commanded this more fully as well, saying, “Do not worry about tomorrow.” He wants us free of burdens on every side and winged for flight, yielding to nature only as much as necessity compels us to. 9. Then, because we do sin even after the washing of regeneration, He shows His great love for humanity even in this case. He commands us to come for the forgiveness of our sins to God, who loves humanity, and to say, “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” Do you see this extraordinary mercy? After removing such great evils and giving a gift of unspeakable greatness, He still considers people capable of being forgiven if they sin again. Both the laws of the church and the beginning of the prayer teach us that this prayer belongs to believers, for the uninitiated could not call God Father. If, then, the prayer belongs to believers, and they pray and plead for their sins to be forgiven, clearly the benefit of repentance is not taken away even after the washing. If He had not intended to convey this, He would not have laid down a rule that we should pray this way. He reminds us of sins, tells us to ask for forgiveness, teaches us how to obtain forgiveness, and so makes the way easy. Clearly He introduced this rule of prayer because He knew, and wanted to show, that even after the baptismal font we can wash ourselves clean of our offenses. By reminding us of our sins, He urges us to be humble; by commanding us to forgive others, He frees us from every vengeful passion; and by promising in return to pardon us as well, He gives us good hopes and teaches us to think highly of God’s unspeakable mercy toward humanity. But what we should notice most is this. In each clause He had mentioned the whole of virtue and thus also included letting go of injuries (for “May His name be hallowed” means living a perfect life in every detail; “May His will be done” declares the same thing again; and being able to call God “Father” is a profession of a blameless life, all of which included the duty to let go of our anger against those who have wronged us). Yet He was not satisfied with these. To show how seriously He takes the matter, He also states it specifically; and after the prayer, He mentions no other commandment but this, saying: “For if you forgive people their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” So the beginning lies with us, and we ourselves have control over the judgment that will be passed on us. So that no one, even the most senseless, may have any complaint, great or small, when brought to judgment, He makes the sentence depend on you, the person who must give an account. “Whatever judgment you have passed for yourself,” He says, “I pass the same on you.” And if you forgive your fellow servant, you will receive the same favor from Me, although the two are not equal. You forgive while in need, but God needs no one; you forgive your fellow slave, but God forgives His slave; you are liable to countless charges, but God is without sin. Yet even so He shows His kindness and love toward humanity. He could indeed forgive all your offenses even without this, but He wants you to benefit through it as well. He provides you on every side with countless opportunities for gentleness and love for humanity, drives out what is brutish in you, quenches your anger, and in every way binds you to the person who is a member of your own body. What can you say? That your neighbor has unjustly made you suffer some harm? (Only such acts are offenses; if something is done justly, the act is not an offense.) But you, too, are approaching to receive forgiveness for such things, and for much greater ones. Even before forgiveness, you have received no small gift in being taught to have a humane soul and trained in every kind of gentleness. And along with this, a great reward will be stored up for you elsewhere: you will not be called to account for any of your offenses. What punishment, then, do we not deserve when, after receiving this privilege, we betray our salvation? And how can we claim a hearing in our other concerns if, in matters that depend on us, we will not spare ourselves? 10. “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one: for Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” Here He plainly teaches us our own lowliness and subdues our pride, instructing us to pray to be spared every conflict rather than rushing into them. This will make our victory more glorious and the devil’s defeat more ridiculous. I mean that, just as we must stand nobly when dragged into conflict, when we are not summoned we should remain quiet and wait for the time of conflict. In this way we may show both freedom from the craving for empty praise and nobility of spirit. Here He calls the devil “the wicked one,” commanding us to wage a war against him that admits no truce and implying that he is not wicked by nature. Wickedness does not belong to what we are by nature, but is something added by our own choice. He is called this above all others because of his extreme wickedness and because, though we have done him no harm at all, he wages a relentless war against us. That is why He did not say, “deliver us from the wicked ones,” but, “from the wicked one.” He teaches us never to hold anger against our neighbors, whatever wrongs we may suffer at their hands, but to transfer our hostility from them to him, since he himself is the cause of all the wrongs we suffer. After making us alert as before a battle by reminding us of the enemy and stripping away all our carelessness, He again encourages us and lifts our spirits. He reminds us of the King under whom we serve and shows that He is more powerful than all. “For Yours,” He says, “is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory.” Doesn’t it follow, then, that if the kingdom is His, we should fear no one, since no one can resist Him and divide His empire with Him? When He says, “Yours is the kingdom,” He presents even the one waging war against us as subject to Him, although he seems to resist, with God permitting it for a time. In truth, he, too, is among God’s servants, though among the degraded and guilty ones. He would not dare attack any of his fellow servants without first receiving permission from above. And why do I say “his fellow servants”? He did not dare to commit any outrage even against pigs until He Himself allowed him, nor against flocks or herds until he had received permission from above. “And the power,” He says. So, however many your weaknesses may be, you have every right to be confident, since the One who reigns over you can fully accomplish everything, easily, even through you. “And the glory, forever. Amen.” Thus He not only frees you from approaching dangers but can also make you glorious and renowned. For just as His power is great, His glory, too, is beyond words, and all these things are boundless and without end. Do you see how He has anointed His Champion in every way and made Him full of confidence? 11. Then, as I said before, to show that He loathes and hates holding grudges above everything else, and especially welcomes the virtue opposed to that vice, He reminds us again after the prayer of this same act of goodness. Both the punishment He sets and the reward He appoints urge His hearer to obey this command. “For if you forgive people,” He says, “your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive, neither will He forgive you.” With this in mind He again mentions heaven and their Father, using this reminder, too, to make the hearer ashamed: that he, of all people, with such a Father, should turn into a wild beast, and, though called to heaven, should cherish an earthly, worldly mind. You see, we should become His children not only by grace but also by our deeds. And nothing makes us so like God as being ready to forgive the wicked and those who do wrong, just as He had already taught when He spoke of His “making the sun shine on the evil and on the good.” For this same reason, in every clause He commands us to pray for everyone, saying, “Our Father,” and, “May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” and, “Give us the bread, and forgive us our debts,” and, “do not lead us into temptation,” and, “deliver us.” Everywhere He commands us to use these plural words so that we may not retain even a trace of anger against our neighbor. What great punishment, then, must those deserve who, after all this, instead of forgiving, actually ask God for vengeance on their enemies and directly violate this law, while He is doing and arranging everything to keep us from quarreling with one another? Since love is the root of everything good, He removes from every side whatever spoils it, brings us together, and binds us to one another. For there is no one, no one—whether father, mother, friend, or anyone else—who has loved us as much as the God who created us. His daily benefits and His commands make this clearer than anything else. But if you speak to me of the pains, sorrows, and evils of life, consider how many ways you offend Him every day. Then you will no longer be surprised even if greater evils than these come upon you; instead, if you enjoy anything good, you will be surprised and amazed. As it is, however, we look at the calamities that come upon us but fail to consider the offenses we commit every day. That is why we are perplexed. If we carefully counted the sins of even one day, we would know very well how great the evils we deserve must be. Let us pass over the other wrongs each of us has committed and speak of those committed today. Of course I do not know how each of us may have sinned, but our wrongs are so abundant that even someone who knew them all exactly would not be able to choose from among these alone. Which of us, for example, has not been careless in prayer? Who has not been insolent or hungry for empty praise? Who has not spoken evil of his brother, entertained a wicked desire, looked with lustful eyes, or remembered things with hostility until his heart swelled with anger? And if, while we are in church, we have become guilty of such great evils in so short a time, what will happen when we leave here? If the waves are so high in the harbor, will we even be able to recognize ourselves again when we go out into the channel of wickedness—I mean the public square, public business, and our cares at home? Yet God has given us a short and easy way to escape our many great sins, a way that involves no hard work. What hard work is there in forgiving someone who has hurt us? Rather, the hard work lies in refusing to forgive and maintaining our hostility. Being freed from anger brings us great relief and is very easy for anyone who is willing. There is no sea to cross, no long journey to make, no mountain peaks to pass over, no money to spend, no need to torment your body. Merely being willing is enough, and all our sins are wiped away. But if, instead of forgiving him yourself, you appeal to God against him, what hope of salvation will you have? At the very moment when you should be appeasing God, you provoke Him. You take the posture of someone pleading for mercy but utter the cries of a wild beast, directing the wicked one’s arrows against yourself. That is why Paul, too, when speaking of prayer, insisted above all on keeping this commandment. For He says, “Lifting up holy hands without anger and doubting.” If you will not let go of your anger even when you need mercy, but instead cling to it fiercely, knowing that you are thrusting the sword into yourself, when will you ever be able to become merciful and spit out the evil venom of this wickedness? But if you have not yet seen the full extent of this outrage, imagine it happening among people, and then you will understand how extreme its insolence is. Suppose someone approached you, a human being, seeking mercy, and then, while lying on the ground, saw an enemy, stopped pleading with you, and began beating him. Wouldn’t you become angrier with him? Consider that the same thing happens with God. You, too, while pleading with God, interrupt your plea, strike your enemy with your words, and insult God’s laws. You call on the One who made a law that we must put aside all anger to act against those who have offended you, asking Him to do things contrary to His own commands. Is breaking God’s law yourself not enough revenge for you? Must you ask Him to do so as well? What? Has He forgotten what He commanded? What? Was it a human being who said these things? It is God, who knows everything and wills that His own laws be kept with the greatest exactness. Far from doing what you ask Him to do, He regards you who say such things with aversion and hatred simply for saying them, and exacts the most extreme penalty from you. How, then, can you ask Him to do things He so earnestly commands you to avoid? Yet some have reached such a level of brutality that they not only appeal against their enemies but even curse their children and would taste their very flesh if only they could. Or rather, they are already tasting it. Do not tell me that you have not sunk your teeth into the body of the person who offended you. As far as your own part is concerned, you have done something much worse: you have demanded that anger from above fall on him, that he be handed over to undying punishment, and that he be overthrown along with his entire household. What bites could be as savage as this? What weapons as cruel? This is not how Christ taught you; this is not how He commanded you to stain your mouth with blood. Mouths bloodied with human flesh are less shocking than tongues like these. How, then, will you greet your brother? How will you touch the sacrifice? How will you taste the Lord’s blood with so much venom in your mind? When you say, “Tear him to pieces, overthrow his house, and destroy everything,” calling down ten thousand deaths on him, you are no different from a murderer—or rather, from a wild beast that devours people. Let us stop this disease and madness, then, and show those who have offended us the kindness He commanded, so that we may become like “our Father who is in heaven.” We will stop it if we remember our own sins, if we carefully search out all our misdeeds at home, away from home, in the marketplace, and in church. 12. Even if for nothing else, surely our disrespect here deserves the utmost punishment. While prophets are chanting, apostles are singing hymns, and God is speaking, our minds wander outside, and we bring the turmoil of worldly business in with us. We do not give God’s laws even as much quiet as theater audiences give the emperor’s letters, for which they keep silent. There, when those letters are read, deputies, governors, senate, and people all immediately stand upright and listen quietly to the words. If anyone suddenly leaps up and shouts amid that profound silence, he receives the utmost punishment for insulting the emperor. But here, when the letters from heaven are read, there is great confusion on every side. Yet the One who sent these letters is far greater than our emperor, and the assembly is more venerable, for it includes angels as well as people. And the triumphs whose good news the letters bring us are far more awe-inspiring than earthly triumphs. That is why not only people but angels and archangels, the nations of heaven and all of us on earth, are commanded to give praise. For it is said, “Bless the Lord, all His works.” His achievements are no small things; they surpass all human speech, thought, and understanding. The prophets proclaim these things every day, each announcing this glorious triumph in a different way. One says, “You have gone up on high; You have led captivity captive and received gifts among people.” And, “The Lord strong and mighty in battle.” Another says, “He will divide the goods captured from the strong.” Indeed, this is why He came: to “preach deliverance to captives and recovery of sight to the blind.” And raising a loud cry of victory over death, he said, “Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Grave, is your sting?” Another, announcing the good news of the deepest peace, said, “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” While one calls to Jerusalem, saying, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, for look! Your King comes to you, gentle, riding on a donkey and a young colt,” another also proclaims His second coming, saying, “The Lord whom you seek will come, and who will endure the day of His coming? Leap like calves set free from bonds.” And still another, amazed at such things, said, “This is our God; no other will be considered comparable to Him.” Yet while these and many more sayings are being spoken, when we ought to tremble and not even think of ourselves as being on earth, we make an uproar and disturbance as though we were in a public square. We spend the entire time of our solemn assembly talking about things that do not concern us. When we are so negligent in small things and great, in hearing and doing, away from home and at home and in church, and on top of all this also pray against our enemies, where can we find any hope of salvation? We add to such great sins another terrible offense, equal to them all: this unlawful prayer. Do we have any right after this to be surprised if something unexpected and painful happens to us? We should be surprised when no such thing happens. The former is in the natural order of things; the latter is beyond all reason and expectation. Surely it is beyond reason that those who have become God’s enemies and provoke Him to anger should enjoy sunshine, rain, and everything else. Though human, they surpass the brutality of wild beasts, setting themselves against one another and staining their own tongues with blood by biting their neighbors, after the spiritual table, His great benefits, and His countless commands. So, considering these things, let us spit out that venom, put an end to our hostilities, and offer prayers fitting for people such as we are. Instead of the brutality of demons, let us put on the gentleness of angels. Whatever injuries we have suffered, let us soften our anger by considering our own situation and the reward appointed for keeping this commandment. Let us calm the waves, so that we may pass peacefully through this present life and, when we have gone to the next, find our Lord treating us as we have treated our fellow servants. If this is a heavy and frightening prospect, let us make it light and desirable. Let us open the glorious gates of confidence before Him. What we did not have the strength to accomplish by refraining from sin, let us accomplish by becoming gentle toward those who have sinned against us (for surely this is neither difficult nor burdensome). By doing good to our enemies, let us store up abundant mercy for ourselves in advance. For then everyone will love us during this present life, and above all, God will befriend and crown us and consider us worthy of all the good things to come. May we all attain them through the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might forever and ever. Amen.