Homilies on Matthew, Homily 2

“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” Do you really remember the instruction we recently gave you, urging you to listen to everything that is said in complete silence and sacred stillness? Today we are about to step inside the holy entrance hall, which is why I have reminded you of that instruction. For if the Jews, when they were about to approach “a mountain that burned, and fire, and blackness, and darkness, and storm”—or rather, when they were not even to approach it, but only to see and hear these things from a distance—were commanded to abstain from their wives for three days beforehand and wash their clothes, and were trembling and afraid, both they themselves and Moses with them, how much more should we practice greater self-denial when we are about to hear such words and enter Heaven itself, instead of standing far from a smoking mountain? We must wipe clean the robe of our soul rather than wash our clothes, and free ourselves from all entanglement with worldly things. For you will see no blackness, smoke, or storm, but the King Himself sitting on the throne of that indescribable glory, with angels and archangels standing beside Him, and the tribes of the saints, with those countless multitudes. For such is the city of God, with “the Church of the firstborn, the spirits of the righteous, the general assembly of the angels, the blood of sprinkling,” through which all are joined together as one. Heaven has received the things of earth, and earth the things of Heaven, and that peace has come which both angels and saints longed for long ago. Here stands the trophy of the cross, glorious and clearly visible, the treasures Christ won in battle, the firstfruits of our nature, the treasures captured by our King. All these things, I tell you, we will come to know fully through the Gospels. If you follow in proper silence, we will be able to lead you everywhere and show you where death is displayed crucified, where sin is hung up, and where the many wonderful offerings from this war, this battle, are. You will also see the tyrant bound here, the multitude of captives following, and the citadel from which that unholy demon once overran everything. You will see the robber’s hiding places and dens now broken open and exposed, for our King was present even there. But do not grow weary, beloved. If someone were describing a visible war, with trophies and victories, would you ever get tired of it? Indeed, you would prefer neither drink nor food to that account. But if that kind of story is welcome, this one is much more so. Consider what it means to hear how, on one side, God in Heaven rose “out of the royal thrones, leaped down” to earth, and even into hell itself, and took His place in the battle line; and how, on the other side, the devil drew up his forces against Him—or rather, against God hidden in human nature, instead of God unveiled. And amazingly, you will see death destroyed by death, the curse extinguished by a curse, and the devil’s dominion overthrown by the very things through which he had prevailed. So let us wake ourselves up completely and stop sleeping, for look, I see the gates opening to us! Let us enter in proper order and with trembling, stepping directly into the entrance hall itself. 2. But what is this entrance hall? “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham.” “What are you saying? Didn’t you promise to speak about the Only-begotten Son of God? And now you mention David, a man born after a thousand generations, and say that he is both His father and His ancestor?” Wait. Do not try to learn everything at once, but take it slowly, little by little. You are standing in the entrance hall, right by the porch. Why are you rushing toward the inner sanctuary? You have not yet taken a good look at everything outside. For the time being, I am not explaining that other generation to you—or rather, not even this later one, for it is beyond words and cannot be described. Before me, the prophet Isaiah told you this. When he proclaimed His suffering and His great care for the world, marveling at who He was, what He became, and where He descended, he cried out loud and clear: “Who will declare His generation?” So we are now going to speak about this generation below, which took place on earth before ten thousand witnesses, rather than that other one. And we will tell of this one too as well as we can, having received the grace of the Spirit. For no one can explain even this one with complete clarity, since this too inspires the deepest awe. So do not think you are hearing about small things when you hear of this birth. Wake up your mind and tremble at once when you are told that God has come to earth. For this was so marvelous and unexpected that the angels themselves formed a choir and offered their praise for these things on the world’s behalf. The prophets, too, were amazed from the beginning that “He was seen on earth and lived among men.” Yes, it is far beyond all thought to hear that God, the Unspeakable, the Unutterable, the Incomprehensible, He who is equal to the Father, has passed through a virgin’s womb and has chosen to be born of a woman and to have Abraham and David as ancestors. But why do I say Abraham and David? For even more amazing are those women whom we recently mentioned. 3. When you hear these things, rise up and think nothing unworthy of Him. Above all, marvel at this very thing: although He is the Son of the God who has no origin, and His true Son, He allowed Himself to be called the Son of David as well, so that He might make you a Son of God. He allowed a slave to be His father so that He might make the Lord your Father, though you are a slave. Do you see, right from the beginning, what the Gospels are like? If you doubt the things that concern you, believe them on the strength of what concerns Him. For by human reasoning, it is far more difficult for God to become man than for a man to be declared a Son of God. So when you are told that the Son of God is the Son of David and Abraham, no longer doubt that you too, a son of Adam, will be a son of God. For He did not lower Himself so greatly at random or for no purpose; He did it because He wanted to lift us up. Thus He was born according to the flesh so that you might be born according to the Spirit. He was born of a woman so that you might cease to be the son of a woman. His birth therefore had a twofold character: it was both like ours and beyond ours. For being born of a woman was indeed what we shared, but “to be born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of man,” but of the Holy Spirit, proclaimed beforehand the birth beyond ours, the birth to come, which He was about to give us freely through the Spirit. Everything else was like this too. His baptism was of the same kind, for it shared in both the old and the new. Being baptized by the prophet marked the old, while the descent of the Spirit foreshadowed the new. Suppose someone stood between two people who were standing apart, stretched out both hands, took hold of one on each side, and tied them together. That is what He has done, joining the old covenant with the new, God’s nature with human nature, and what belongs to Him with what belongs to us. Do you see the city’s flashing brightness, how brilliantly it has dazzled you from the very beginning? How it has immediately shown you the King in your own form, as though in a military camp? For there too, the king does not always appear in the dignity of his rank. He often lays aside his purple robe and crown and disguises himself in the clothes of an ordinary soldier. There he does it so that being recognized will not bring the enemy down on him. Here, by contrast, He does it so that being recognized will not make the enemy flee from the conflict with Him, and so that He will not overwhelm all His own people. For His purpose was to save them, not terrify them. 4. This is also why the evangelist immediately called Him by this title, naming Him Jesus. For the name Jesus is not Greek; in the Hebrew language He is called Jesus, which translated into Greek means “A Savior.” And He is called a Savior because He saves His people. Do you see how he has given the listener wings, speaking of familiar things while at the same time using them to point us toward things beyond all hope? I mean that both these names were well known to the Jews. For because the things that were going to happen were beyond expectation, even the names had forerunners in the types, so that from the very beginning everything unsettling about their newness might be removed. Thus the man who brought the people into the promised land after Moses is called Jesus. Have you seen the type? Look at the reality. That one led them into the promised land; this One into Heaven and the good things in the heavens. That one did so after Moses died; this One after the law had ceased. That one acted as a leader; this One as a King. But so that hearing the name Jesus would not confuse you because the name was the same, he added, “Jesus Christ, Son of David.” That other man was not descended from David, but belonged to another tribe. 5. But why does he call it a “book of the generation of Jesus Christ,” when this book contains His whole saving work, as well as His birth? Because this is the central point of the whole saving work, and it becomes the source and root of all our blessings. Just as Moses calls it the book of heaven and earth, although he speaks about everything within them as well as heaven and earth themselves, so this man has named his book after the central point of all the great things that were done. For what fills us with amazement and goes beyond hope and every expectation is that God should become man. Once this has happened, everything afterward follows as a reasonable consequence. 6. But why did he not say “the Son of Abraham” and then “the Son of David”? It is not, as some suppose, because he means to work upward from the lower point, since then he would have done the same as Luke, whereas he does the opposite. Why, then, has he mentioned David? Everyone spoke of the man, both because of his distinction and because of when he lived: he had not been dead nearly as long as Abraham. Although God made promises to both, the older promise was passed over in silence, while everyone repeated the fresher, more recent one. For example, they themselves say, “Doesn’t Christ come from the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the town where David was?” No one called Him Son of Abraham; everyone called Him Son of David. This was because David was more firmly in everyone’s memory, both because of when he lived, as I have already said, and because he was a king. For this same reason, all the kings they honored after his time were called by his name, both by the people themselves and by God. For Ezekiel and other prophets speak of David coming and rising again, meaning those who imitated his virtue, rather than the man who had died. And He says to Hezekiah, “I will defend this city for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.” He also told Solomon that for David’s sake He would not tear away the kingdom during Solomon’s lifetime. For the man’s glory was great, both with God and with people. For this reason he begins at once with the better-known man and then traces the line back to his father, considering it unnecessary, as far as the Jews were concerned, to carry the genealogy any further back. For these were the people they chiefly admired: one as a prophet and king, the other as a patriarch and prophet. 7. “But how is it clear that He is descended from David?” someone may ask. For if He was born from a woman alone, without a man, and the Virgin’s genealogy is not traced, how will we know that He belonged to David’s line? So two questions arise: why His mother’s genealogy is not given, and why the evangelists mention Joseph, who had no part in the birth. The latter seems unnecessary, while the former seems an omission. Which, then, must we discuss first? How the Virgin is descended from David. How will we know that she is descended from David? Listen to God telling Gabriel to go to “a virgin betrothed to a man (whose name was Joseph), of the house and lineage of David.” What could you want that is clearer than this, when you have heard that the Virgin belonged to the house and lineage of David? From this it is clear that Joseph also belonged to the same line. For there was a law that forbade a man to take a wife from any other stock, requiring him to marry within the same tribe. The patriarch Jacob also foretold that He would arise from the tribe of Judah, saying: “Judah will never lack a ruler, nor will his own body cease to produce a governor, until He comes for whom it is appointed, and He is the expectation of the Gentiles.” “Well, this prophecy does make it clear that He belonged to the tribe of Judah, but not that He also belonged to the family of David. Was there only one family in the tribe of Judah, David’s family, or were there not many others? And couldn’t someone belong to the tribe of Judah without also belonging to the family of David?” To prevent you from saying this, the evangelist has removed your doubt by saying that He was “of the house and lineage of David.” And if you want to learn this through another line of reasoning as well, we will have no trouble finding another proof. For a man was not allowed to take a wife even from another lineage—that is, another family—much less from another tribe. So if we connect the words “of the house and lineage of David” with the Virgin, what has been said remains valid; or if we connect them with Joseph, this same point is proved by that fact as well. For if Joseph belonged to the house and lineage of David, he would not have taken a wife from a different family than his own. “What then,” someone may say, “if he broke the law?” This is precisely why the evangelist has already testified that Joseph was righteous: so that you would not say this, but, having been told of his virtue, would be sure that he would not have broken the law either. For if he was so kind and free from passion that, even when driven by suspicion, he did not want to try to punish the Virgin, how could he have broken the law out of lust? If he showed wisdom and self-restraint beyond what the law required (for divorcing her, and doing so privately, showed self-restraint beyond what the law required), how could he have done anything against the law, especially when nothing was driving him to it? 8. These things make it clear that the Virgin belonged to David’s line. But why the evangelist gave Joseph’s genealogy rather than hers still needs explaining. What was the reason? Among the Jews, it was not the established rule to trace women’s genealogies. So, to keep the custom and avoid seeming to introduce changes from the very beginning, while still making the Virgin’s ancestry known to us, he passed over her ancestors in silence and traced Joseph’s genealogy. For if he had traced the Virgin’s genealogy, he would have seemed to be introducing something new; and if he had passed over Joseph in silence, we would not have known the Virgin’s ancestors. So, to let us learn who Mary was and where she came from, while leaving the laws undisturbed, he traced the genealogy of the husband to whom she was betrothed and showed that he belonged to the house of David. Once this has been clearly proved, the other fact is proved along with it: that the Virgin also came from that line, because this righteous man, as I have already said, would not have accepted a wife from another line. There is also another, more mystical reason one could mention for passing over the Virgin’s ancestors in silence. But this is not the right time to explain it, since so much has already been said. 9. So let us stop our discussion of these questions here, and in the meantime let us remember accurately what has been revealed to us: for instance, why he mentioned David first; why he called the book “a book of the generation”; why he said “of Jesus Christ”; how the birth is both like ordinary birth and unlike it; how Mary was shown to be descended from David; and why Joseph’s genealogy is traced while her ancestors are passed over in silence. For if you remember these things, you will encourage us all the more as we turn to what follows. But if you reject them and throw them out of your mind, we will be more reluctant to continue. In the same way, no farmer would want to tend soil that had destroyed the seed he previously sowed. So I urge you to think these things over. For reflecting on such matters produces a great good in the soul that leads toward salvation. Through these meditations we will be able to please God Himself. Our mouths will stay free of insults, filthy talk, and abuse as they practice spiritual sayings. We will become terrifying to the demons as we arm our tongues with such words. We will draw more of God’s grace to ourselves, and it will sharpen our sight. For this is why He gave us eyes, a mouth, and ears: so that all our members might serve Him, that we might speak His words and do His deeds, that we might sing continual hymns to Him, that we might offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and through these things thoroughly purify our consciences. For just as a body becomes healthier when it enjoys the benefits of pure air, so a soul grows in practical wisdom when nourished by exercises like these. Do you not see that even the eyes of the body are always watering when they remain in smoke, but become sharper and healthier in clear air, in a meadow, and among springs and gardens? The soul’s eye is like this too. If it feeds in the meadow of spiritual utterances, it will be clear, penetrating, and sharp-sighted. But if it wanders into the smoke of the things of this life, it will weep without end and wail both now and in the life to come. For the things of this life really are like smoke. This is also why someone said, “My days have faded like smoke.” He was referring to how briefly they last and how little substance they have. But I would say that we should take these words as referring also to their murky character, as well as to those things. For nothing harms and dims the soul’s eye so much as the crowd of worldly anxieties and the swarm of desires. These are the wood that feeds this smoke. Just as fire produces much smoke when it catches damp, soaked fuel, so this fierce, burning desire, when it catches hold of a soul that is (so to speak) damp and morally loose, produces a great deal of smoke in its own way. This is why we need the dew of the Spirit and that air, to put out the fire, scatter the smoke, and give wings to our thoughts. For it is impossible, impossible for anyone weighed down by such great evils to soar up to Heaven. Even with nothing hindering us, we can barely cut our way there—or rather, even then it is impossible unless we receive the wing of the Spirit. Now if we need both an unburdened mind and spiritual grace to rise to that height, what if we have neither, but instead draw to ourselves everything opposed to them, a satanic weight? How will we be able to soar upward when such a heavy load drags us down? For if someone tried to weigh our words on accurate scales, so to speak, among ten thousand talents of worldly talk he would scarcely find spiritual words worth a hundred denarii—or rather, I should say, not even ten obols. Isn’t it disgraceful and utterly ridiculous that when we have a servant, we mostly use him for necessary tasks, but when we have a tongue, we do not treat this member of our body even as well as a slave, but instead use it for useless things and mere filler? If only it were just filler! As it is, we use it for things that work against us, harm us, and do us no good at all. For if the things we said benefited us, they would certainly please God too. But as it is, we say whatever the devil suggests: now laughing, now making witty remarks; now cursing and insulting, now swearing, lying, and taking false oaths; now grumbling, now babbling pointlessly and talking more nonsense than old women, saying all sorts of things that are none of our concern. For tell me, which of you standing here could recite a single Psalm, or any other part of the divine Scriptures, if asked? Not one. And the terrible thing is not only this, but that while you have become so sluggish about spiritual things, you are fiercer than fire when it comes to what belongs to Satan. If someone wanted to ask you for songs of demons and impure, effeminate melodies, he would find many who know them perfectly and repeat them with great pleasure. 10. But what is your answer to these charges? “I am not one of the monks,” you will say. “I have a wife and children and a household to care for.” This is what has ruined everything: your assumption that reading the divine Scriptures belongs only to them, when you need it much more than they do. For those who live in the world and receive wounds every day are the ones who most need medicine. So considering it “unnecessary” is far worse than failing to read, for that claim is an invention of the devil. Do you not hear Paul saying “that all these things are written for our instruction”? If you had to pick up a Gospel, you would not choose to do it with unwashed hands. Yet do you not consider the things stored inside it absolutely necessary? This is why everything has been turned upside down. For if you want to learn how much the Scriptures benefit you, examine yourself: what you become when you hear Psalms, and what you become when you listen to a song of Satan; how you feel when you spend time in a church, and how you feel when you sit in a theater. You will see how great the difference is between the soul in one state and in the other, although it is the same soul. This is why Paul said, “Evil talk corrupts good habits.” This is why we constantly need those songs that act as protective charms from the Spirit. Yes, this is how we surpass irrational creatures, since in every other respect we are far inferior to them. This is the soul’s food, its adornment, its protection, just as failing to hear is famine and wasting away. For He says, “I will give them, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord.” What could be more miserable than this? You are freely bringing down on your own head the very evil God threatens as a punishment, bringing a terrible kind of famine into your soul and making it the weakest thing in the world. For words can both cause it to waste away and save it. Yes, words lead it into anger, and words also make it gentle. A filthy expression tends to inflame it with lust, while serious, dignified speech trains it in self-control. But if a mere word has such great power, tell me, how can you despise the Scriptures? And if instruction can accomplish so much, how much more can instructions accompanied by the Spirit accomplish? For a word from the divine Scriptures, spoken into the ear, softens the hardened soul more effectively than fire and makes it ready for everything good. 11. This is also how Paul calmed the Corinthians and made them more thoughtful when he found them swollen with pride and inflamed. For they were taking pride in the very things they should have been ashamed of, things over which they should have hidden their faces. But listen to the change in them after they received the letter, a change to which the Teacher himself testified when he said: “This very thing, that you grieved in a godly way, what earnestness it produced in you, yes, what eagerness to clear yourselves, yes, what indignation, yes, what zeal, yes, what punishment.” This is how we bring servants and children, wives and friends into order, and turn our enemies into friends. This is also how the great men who were dear to God became better. David, for example, reached that outstanding depth of repentance after his sin through the benefit of certain words. In this way the apostles too became what they became and drew the whole world after them. “And what good does it do,” someone may ask, “when a person hears but does not do what is said?” Even hearing will do considerable good. For he will go on to condemn himself and groan inwardly, and in time he will also come to do the things spoken of. But someone who does not even know that he has sinned—when will he stop being negligent? When will he condemn himself? So let us not despise hearing the divine Scriptures. For this is Satan’s scheme: he keeps us from seeing the treasure so that we will not gain the riches. This is why he says that hearing the divine laws is worthless: so that he will not see us go from hearing them to putting them into practice as well. Knowing this evil trick of his, let us fortify ourselves against him on every side, so that, protected by this armor, we may remain unconquered ourselves and strike him on the head. And so, having crowned ourselves with the glorious wreaths of victory, may we attain the good things to come, through the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might forever and ever. Amen.